Rick Nier...Woo!

Have you ever gone through a big change in your life and wondered how it would work out? Despite my history of working with teenagers, I’m not actually talking about puberty.  I think my biggest struggle with my current career transition is how I assume people will perceive my identity. ( Should my current colleagues read this, they should understand completely that this has nothing to do with them. They are an amazing team of people who are nothing but encouraging. ) This struggle is about moving from a church job to a non-church job. I imagine the struggle was going to come no matter what I found myself doing. After all, what surprised me most was not what I found myself doing, but I found myself not doing. I assumed I would be continuing as a youth pastor...somewhere.  When God opened up unexpected doors, it left me with gratitude...and questions.  Did I burn out? Did I become uncalled? Did I not have what it takes to be a lifer in ministry? Did I sell...

Disclaimer: I am writing this before I see the latest Marvel move: Avengers: Infinity War. I am doing so with a purpose. You can read this and know there won’t be any spoilers.  Having said that, let me tell you what’s on my mind. My family have been fans of superhero movies for a long time now. We watch them. We talk about them. We buy them. We watch and talk some more.  Because of this, we’re pretty attached to the characters, some of whom we have been watching for the past decade. So we actively avoid spoilers when a new movie is coming out. Yet we still see people’s opinions and thoughts posted on social media. My wife saw that several women were so shook up after the movie they needed cookies as a coping mechanism.  This is a little odd to me, but only because I do not need to be upset in order to need a cookie. However, I do understand being upset. In fact, if an entertaining movie can help us to feel emotion and consider truth, that’s a goo...

Contrarians. Who needs them? After all, they’re usually a disagreeable sort. The rest of us are just out here living our lives when we happen upon one. They get all up in our business with their thinking and their justified applications based on those thoughts. They think they’re better than the rest of us. Or, at least, that’s how it feels. Case in point. Imagine a group of people having a conversation, when two of them say the same thing, almost simultaneously. You already know what he of them is going to say, don’t you? Great minds think alike! Then some tool comes along and says something like, ‘No, great minds think for themselves!’ Now, are they being contrarian? Yes. But are they necessarily being obnoxious? No. I say this for a couple of reasons. First, I am the aforementioned tool who says great minds think for themselves. I’m not trying to be contrary. But I think it’s good to give people another perspective. And that is exactly what I’m getting from Larry Osborn...

Imagine a world, perhaps centuries farther into history than we are now, where there is no concept of satire or sarcasm. First of all, it’s a world I would be incapable of living in. But more importantly it is a world in which this book I’m about to describe could never be appreciated. I present to you  How To Be a Perfect Christian; Your Comprehensive Guide to Flawless Spiritual Living. This literary gem is written by the good humored people at The Babylon Bee. If you haven’t been introduced to their satirical, fake-news style coming across your social media news feeds, you’re missing out. Or you might be the people of which they are making fun. What they’ve brought us here is a fantastic look at the wonderful subculture we call American Christianity, poking fun at some of our more...er...endearing qualities. Giving us insights like how to pick a church that will focus on us to the finer points of how to look spiritual online, they really have thought of everything. Worshippi...

She said to pray for a student who was standing near us. To be clear, she asked all the students in the building to nod so that people near them would know they were a middle school or high school student.  Since I’ve reached the age where everyone under 30 looks like they could still be in high school, this was a smart thing to do. It would be awkward to start praying for someone’s high school career and find out they graduated in 2012. But, for me, it was also unnecessary, because I was standing next to my middle school aged son, with his two sisters just beyond him.  She directed us to pray for these students in light of what recently happened in Parkland, Florida. No problem!  I pray for my three, and several others, every single day. It’s not just guns I fear. It’s temptations of every variety, the peer pressure that comes from every side, the stress of trying to perform well academically and socially, and on and on and on. It’s also that they would stay saf...

If you will indulge me, I will be honest with you. To say last year brought about a little bit of change would be like saying the Titanic’s first voyage was a bit of disappointment. Or that Tom Brady has found a level of success throwing around a football. Or that millenials communicate better through memes than words. Yeah, the changes were big. If you weren’t sitting around, just watching me live my life, let me give you the Sparknotes version; My wife and I each got new jobs, after having worked in the same building, together, for 15 years. After a couple of months of unemployment, my wife got a new job at a new church. After a few more months than that, where I dabbled in construction and pretended to enjoy substitute teaching, I got a job in marketing. All of these changes have left me thinking plenty of thoughts about who I am, what I do, and just how I have come to find myself where I find myself. Be assured, this isn’t about gratitude. I love the story I get to share about ...

Like so many people, I end each year thinking about the year that was, and perhaps even resolving how I want the new year to go. But I guarantee you, no matter how much time I put into thinking last December, I never could have guessed how 2017 was going to go . For starters, here's a couple of sentences I never thought I would speak. I’m dropping the kids off at youth group.  I’m ok being without a job for a few months.  Both sentences go together, because as many of you know, I told the church I had youth pastored at for 15 years that God was telling me it was time to go. Now I know that when someone invokes the voice of God into a decision, it can sound like they're passing the blame onto the Deity. After all, who's going to argue with the voice of the Lord? I imagine people largely fall into 2 categories on this matter. Group #1 imagines the youth pastor just wants a change, but doesn't want people to dislike him for making the choice to leave. Group ...