Rick Nier...Woo!

Have you ever been part of a panel? I'll bet you have. I imagine you've done something impressive enough in your lifetime that someone has asked for your opinion to be shared with others. Maybe it was a panel on grocery store couponing, or the best practices of educating your children on the finer points of dressing themselves, or even a panel on solar panels. I'm not sure what that last one would be like. This may come as a surprise, but I have never been part of a panel. Until now. I received an opportunity to be part of the YouthWorker Journal  panel review. I know, it sounds glamorous. You know what it means? I read a book. The book is called Nelson's Youth Minister's Manual . It is part of their series of ministry books. This one was written by Theresa Plemmons Reiter, a 30-year youth ministry veteran. She's seen and done a lot of stuff and decided to go back and write about it. It's a short book, just over 200 pages, making this a handy resourc...

Tomorrow is February 29! Woo hoo! I don't remember what I did last year on February 29. Or the year before. Or the one before that. If you're on to me, you know it's because it only comes once every 4 years. But to tell the truth, I don't recall what I did 4 years ago on the last February 29. I suppose if I was one of those people who celebrated a birthday only once every 4 years, it would feel different to me. But it's not different to me. I celebrate my birthday every single year. It's pretty much me taking off from work, eating cake and soaking in all the joy of everyone being focused on me. (Yeah, I struggle with center-of-the-world syndrome on my birthday.) But I see February 29 coming and I feel like I should do something special with it. It's a gift. I know, I know every day is a gift, but this one is rare. It only happens once every 4 years. I look at this like those rare days when there is nothing on my calendar and nothing on my to-do list. Whe...

Whenever we hear stories of sacrifice on the part of people, we marvel. We admire their ability to give up something for the sake of another. Obviously, the bigger the sacrifice, the more we revere that person. It's nice when someone gives up a seat for another person. It's really nice when one gives up a kidney. Yeah, I think I'm ok with that last line. Giving up a kidney is nice. I wrote that nonchalantly, as if you can just call someone up and borrow a kidney like you might borrow a cup of sugar. Does anyone borrow sugar anymore? If they do, have you heard of them measuring out a cup in return? I'm a little off topic by now, but here's my point. In our world, where newscasters say 'Good evening' and then proceed to tell you why it's not a good evening, we like hearing stories of people helping one another. It reminds us that the bad news is not, in fact, all the news. But Jesus did this long ago, in a fashion that is beyond words. By doing so, h...

Ah, the Bible. A useful tool for teaching, correcting, rebuking and training in righteousness, right? Just don't assume it should always make you feel better. The other morning a bird flew right into our bay window. My wife commented that the window must be too clean and that the commercials are correct. My two young girls, 10 and 5, both started crying. We looked as the bird just dropped to the ground and sat there. Its neck was a little to the left. Anything could have caused that, right? Just because it wasn't moving didn't mean anything. It was right before we were leaving for school, so I didn't want them leaving upset. So I was trying to think of a soothing scripture to share. So I said, "You know that God saw that too, right?" My 10 year old looked at me with tear-filled eyes and didn't say anything. She had to wonder what kind of robot monster I was to implicate God in the death of this bird. Thus I figured out another way we use scripture in...

If you take time away from TV and internet at all, you can find people that talk about how not staying connected constantly affords them a lot of extra time to get things done. Yeah, I get that. But you can also find lots of people on the internet saying the same thing. And as I take a close look at certain Bible stories, I  can see the truth. Let's look at Exodus 19 as an example. Moses and the Israelites have left Egypt and come to Mount Sinai. Look at what happens. Exodus 19:3 - Moses goes up to the top of the mountain and receives a message from God. Exodus 19:7 - Moses goes back down the mountain to give the people the message. Exodus 19:8 - Moses goes up (one would guess to the top) to tell God what the people said. Exodus 19:14 - Moses goes back down the mountain to prepare the people for when God will come to the mountain in a way that all the people can see. Three days pass. Exodus 19: 20 - Moses goes up the mountain to meet with God. Exodus 19:21 - God tells Mose...

There is so much name-calling in our world. It might be ok if they were nice names. But sadly, as my childhood would attest, they are not. It might even be ok if we left such things behind as children. But sadly, again, we do not. Whether it is the more subtle way we, as adults, barrage each other with names, or the way each of us chooses to live in response to those names, we live the results of these names. As children, we lack subtlety. The name calling is cruel and with no concern for feelings. If a child sees it a certain way, he calls it out. Big noses, facial blemishes, funny smells, awkward laughs; children will notice it all and identify one another by those differences. And as much as we'd like to think we mature, our calling out of political differences, awkward mannerisms and choices will be called out. Then we identify and distinguish and place people in boxes that we don't often or easily let them out of. Even in the church, we wield our judgments like we ho...

This picture always cracks me up. Every time, without fail. But it hits me that this is the exact question everyone is asking, not just Lionel Richie. We want to know that someone, somewhere is looking for us. It is our felt need to be needed. The good news is that God came looking for us. Ever since the fall of Man, when God asked where we were, He has been the One seeking us. We get this confused and assume it is the other way around. It's not. If you look, you can see it in God's eyes. Once we answer this, we can get over ourselves. Instead of looking for some sign that people find us significant, we can turn our attention to the only One who can truly find us...oh, and show us how significant we are to Him. Now I believe you know just what to do.