Humility at it's finest

Every Wednesday night we have our Jr. High small groups at the church. We always start off the night with worship. Sometimes I am stuck with out anyone who has any kind of musical talent. The students love to sing so I didn't want to leave them disappointed so I did the only thing that came to my mind. I got my guitar out of my office and got up on the stage and started playing. Can I just say what an experience? It was not my first time, more like my 4th time but here is where I am encouraged. After dropping my pick 27 times, missing a chord 83 times, and playing off rhythm almost every time, my students always come up to me and encourage me and remind me that worship is not about talent. And thank God they know that because I AM BAD!

Honestly, I don't really care too much about me and my playing skills but I think we sometimes underestimate the spiritual maturity of young students. Yes some guys are a.d.d who bounce off the walls, yes the girls love to talk about boys for hours upon hours, and yes they sometimes don't listen, but its great to see them step up and live what we teach at church on a weekly basis.

One more thing I have learned: I will not be trying out for American Idol anytime soon.

How in the heck do you get students excited?

I love my job as a Jr. High youth pastor. It is amazing to see how God can use me to minister to students. It is the norm for these kids to show up Sunday mornings, falling over in their chairs because they are so tired, and doing my best to disciple them and entertain them at the same time. The students seem to love their small groups, mainly because they get to hangout with their friends, but for the life of me, I can not get them excited and signed up for special events.

We have a great event, or so I thought, coming up and thought the students would love it but I cant get them to sign up (especially the guys.)

What do I need to do? Do I need to spice up the announcements? I do have wonderful memories of singing the announcements to the tune of breakaway by Kelly Clarkson. Videos?

I would say all churches have this problem but I know that's not the case. I have worked at other churches. It seemed to not be an issue.

All right, if you are one of the 3 youth pastors who reads this blog, help a brother out.
Even if you have never worked in ministry and have no idea what I'm talking about, I would still love your ideas. Thanks!

God is Amazing

At the time my dad was seeking pastoral positions all over the country, I was looking for a youth position. We landed 15 minutes from each other. A complete God thing. My dads church just finished up the 40 days of purpose and they are celebrating by having a tent service on an orange grove that they own where they want to rebuild in the next few years.

I just got back from seeing the tent. They put a lot of work into this and it should be an amazing service. I think Im going to sneak away after teaching Jr. High and attend the tent service.

Let's Get Ready to Rumble!!!!!

So you might wonder, what do you do in central CA for fun? Well, what every red blooded American does, we go to live professional wrestling events.

This Monday night, I am attending WWE Raw. Words can not describe how amazing this event is going to be.

When I was a kid, my dream was to be a professional wrestler. Seriously. I watched the sport (yes, I said sport) religiously. I watched it a lot in high school and college as well. If I could meet 5 people in the history of people, The Rock would be on that list. I did however hang up my boots because I cant grow muscles and people actually do get hurt. I stopped watching as well so I have no idea whats going on in the wrestling world but it will be interesting to see this Monday Night.

My eyes hurt...

I just started wearing contact lenses. It takes a really long time for me to get them in and out of my eye so I decided to just not take them out. They have been in my eyes for eleven straight days and nights now. This can not be good and I am afraid something terrible is going to happen. I am going to either go blind or one of my contacts is going to get lost in my eye and be stuck in my head forever.

Readers, I have a problem

The other day, I got news at work that didn't sit well with me. Don't worry, I'm not fired.
I have always been blessed, but I sometimes have this problem of being envious of others when I think I deserve something. I know, not good. but at least I'm being honest. And I dont hide it well either. I become very standoffish and Im sure they can read me.

A good friend gave me great advice the other day. The advice was to change my mind set when obstacles take place. Not to look at the situation as an obstacle, but as an opportunity. To swallow my pride and be happy for the person receiving Gods blessings. So this is what I am setting out to do. I am finding that it can be a lot more difficult than I first thought. Please pray for me that I wont be selfish but will enjoy the wonderful life that God has given me.

Secret Admirer

I came into the office today and found out that I had a package. I received a cookie bouquet. The only thing, I don't know who I received it from. The card reads "Puddles, Happy Valentines Day! your secret admirer."

Having a lot of admirers it is very difficult for me to narrow it down to just one. But I am investigating.

Clue 1 - They called me Puddles. (That was my nickname at Saddleback)
Clue 2 - It was delivered from Fresno. (eliminates anyone where I live)

Okay those are the only clues.
Thanks to which ever female that I am friends with at Saddleback for sending me this gift. I really appreciate it!

Oh wait, how do I know its a female? This is harder than I thought.

True Love Waits

This weekend at our church we are putting on a True Love Waits conference.
It will be great but busy next few days. I have personally never been involved in one before.
I love the idea though and am excited to see all of these youth commit to stay pure until marriage.
However, one of my students asked me "So does this mean if you are not in love you didnt have to wait?" The scary thing is that he wasn't joking.

My Favorites

I got tagged by Treece for this exciting game of ABC's. Im pretty sure I have the concept down so here it goes.

A--Adrenaline rush: Jumping out of a plane.
B--Book that I'm reading. Heartbreak and Triumph: The Story of Shawn Michaels.

C--Comedian: Larry the Cable Guy

D--Dream Girls Character: Eddie Murphy

E--Entertainment on Friday nights: Texas Holdem with 30 guys.

F--Fast food restaurant: Chick-Fil-A

G--Golf Course: Indian Wells in Palm Springs

H--Hollywood moment: Treece and I playing the dating game on the set of Everybody Loves Raymond in front of 300 strangers. I won $20 and an autograph copy of "ice Aged"

I--Instrument: The guitar.

J--Joke to tell: I'm getting married at 33 because that is when Jesus gave up His life.

K--Krisy Kreme Doughnut: Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles

L--Las Vegas Casino: The Wynn

M--Memory of High School: Scoring in wrong goal, getting dumped, and house burning down all on same day.

N--Nickname: Puddles (only other one was "beaver" in the 6th grade)

O--Old Person: My grandfather. He is my hero.

P--Place to live: Dallas TX.

Q--Quote from a high school friend. "Don't expect much out of me and you wont be disappointed." Horrible but funny. Other one, "Common sense isn't so common." That's the truth.

R--Rifle to shoot at squirrels: SKS Assault Rifle from Russia.

S--Superbowl Commercial: KFed dreaming of making it. "Federline; Fries"

T--Trip Overseas: Mission trip to Cambodia. Best food ever!

U--Ultimate Fighter Champion: Ken Shamrock

V-- Vacation: WinterPark CO. I leave in a month.

W--Wedding Crashers Star: Rachel McAdams (also star of the notebook)

X--X-Girlfriend: The only one who didn't dump me.

Y--Youth Pastor: Andy Stephenson. He is the reason I'm in youth ministry.

Z--Zoo animal: the gorrillas. Fun to make them mad.

Okay, thanks for the tag. Am I suppose to tag someone now? I think thats how this works. I tag Kurt Johnston, Josh Griffin, and Pogue.

The Playmaker in the Hall

Congrats to Michael Irvin, the Dallas Cowboys all time leading receiver (and my favorite receiver ever) for making the Hall of Fame. He was shafted the first two times for off the field issues but 3rd times a charm.

He caught 750 passes for 11,904 yards and scored 65 touchdowns in 159 career games. He was named All-Pro once (1991) and to the Pro Bowl five times (1992 to '96). He also won 3 Superbowl's.

The Mean Old Lady Failed Me!

Do you ever have those days where your character is being tested nonstop?
I woke up this morning and turned on the television before work.
I started watching Joel Osteen. Now before you say anything, yes I think his theological views might be a little messed up, but he does encourage me every now and then. His message was on encouraging other people. That didn't last long.

Here is the conversation with the driving instructor after my behind the wheel test. (2 hours after I listened to this uplifting message.)

Lady - I hate to tell you this but you didn't pass.
Me - You are kidding? What do you mean I didn't pass?
Lady - There was one left turn where you didn't look over shoulder and check the blind spot.
Me - So that's it? That was my only mistake?
Lady - Yes, but it was a dangerous, critical, driving error.
Me - That is the most retarded thing I have ever heard. I did so well.
Lady - Not well enough. You will have to take it again.
Me - Do you know how many crazy drivers there are out there and you are not passing me for making one mistake?
Lady - Would you like to sign up to take it again?
Me - That's stupid. No. I guess Ill just have to drive illegally from now on.
Lady - If you get pulled over, you will lose your license.
Me - That's a chance I'm willing to take. You are too strict and your test is impossible to pass anyways.
Lady - Okay then, have a nice day.
Me - Whatever

After 2 hours of cooling off, I signed up with her for tomorrow. Should be interesting.
By then, Ill be my old nice self again, and apologize.

Driving Test

As I posted a while back, my wallet was stolen. Within this wallet was my Texas Drivers License. I loved this license, it was one of the only things remaining that kept me Texan.
The law is that you must get a CA license within 10 days of moving to CA. I have been here for over 3 years and am just now getting one. But I have not received this yet. Not only do I have to pass a written exam, they are making me get behind the wheel. I have not paralleled park in 11 years, when I took my first test. I am nervous to say the least and I am going to have to get rid of all my bad habits before tomorrow morning. This should be interesting.