All about the journey

Good morning!

As you are reading this, if I've figured out my blog editor correctly, I'm currently on the road back home from Vacation. If I can pretend for a moment to predict the future, I am probably staring at the countdown clock on my GPS telling me exactly how many more hours I'm going to have to sit in this car before I can get out, get home, and stretch my legs. Or I'm looking at how far away the next Starbucks break is going to be. 

This particular journey will also be difficult as I will be headed back to work tomorrow. I'm guessing future me is thinking about all the tasks that are ahead of me. In a best case scenario, I'm letting my mind dream a little bit, starting to think about the big ideas that are ahead for Veritas and the upcoming school year. Worst case scenario, I've already activated my e-mail on my phone, and I'm thinking about all the mundane tasks that lie before me. 

What troubles me about this approach, and what I'm hoping I can avoid on Monday, is that I'm letting miles and miles of beautiful Pennsylvania (and at times, significantly less beautiful New Jersey) pass me by without so much as a second glance. What kind of beautiful sights might I miss if I'm not paying attention? What sorts of things might God want to be telling me that I'm just not listening to right now? 

I confess that I do this constantly. I am way more about the destination than I am about the journey. It should really be the other way around. The number of T-shirst in crummy gift shops that tell us that life is a journey ought to be evidence of this enough. It's almost as if some of us have conditioned ourselves to believe that the destination is where life is to be lived, and the journey is just in the way. "I'll be happy when I get that new job." Will you? Or were there points in between job A and job B that were meant to make you happy, but you missed it because your eyes were on the destination? 

I'm going to try my best this morning to enjoy the journey. I hope and pray that whatever journey you find yourself on, you will do the same!

Godspeed,

J

Photo Friday: Vacation

Good morning friends!

I've had some big plans for the series at the J-Blog over the years, but I almost never seem to be able to keep up with them. Hopefully, this new schedule I'm working on will help to keep me on track. So here's how this one works:

At the end of each week, I'm going to find a photograph either that I've taken, or I'll do what I almost always do and steal from Google, that represents what we've learned this week here at the J-Blog. It might be a serious photo, goofy photo, or even the occasional photo caption contest. Who knows. But the main idea is that each Friday's blog post will center around a photograph of some sort. 

Like this one above! Last night, my aunt Beth arrived at the beach house to begin her vacation along with us. If there's been a theme in Sarah and my life this last week, it is that we have the single best family in the world (though we mean no disrespect to your uncle Tom or aunt Suzy). Some people actively avoid their family because they're annoying or distressing or something like that. Sarah and I seek our family out. They're good people.

After Beth shared THE BEST PIZZA IN THE WORLD with us, we went on a quick bike ride along the beach, and then ended up at the bay at a restaurant on the beach. We sat around having conversation and watching the sea gulls dive bomb the fish in the bay. You can see Manhattan from a distance across the bay, and so we just sat and watched the birds and relaxed. And while we were sitting there, I took this picture of my toes in the sand. 

Vacation is such an important thing. I've grown concerned over our cultures need to DO more, to work longer hours, to make more money, to have nicer things, to use our business as a merit badge of accomplishment. And just because I've grown concerned over these things doesn't mean I haven't played right into their hands and done the exact same thing myself. I am too busy. I work too much. I am away from my wife for long periods of time in the summer. And so every now and again, the rest button must be pushed. Relaxation must be allowed to take a hold of me. 

We got to the beach house on Sunday after I was the guest preacher at Hillcrest Church. This photograph was taken on Thursday evening. I truly believe friends that it took me all four days to recover and begin to relax. It took all four days to shake the dust off, to allow myself to let things go and to just BE. This moment with my toes in the sand represents the end of the struggle, of allowing myself to vacation, and frankly to listen to what God had to say to me: 

"Six days you will gather, but one the seventh day, on the Sabbath, there will not be any." [Exodus 16:26]

Sabbath is important. Rest is important. Vacation is important. It gives everything that isn't Sabbath meaning, and purpose, and context. And yet all too often we (or at least I) feel guilty for taking the time off. Perhaps if we did a better job of recognizing that our breaks and Sabbaths aren't for us, they're for God. He designed us flawlessly, and he designed us to need rest. 

So perhaps you aren't near an area where you can dig your toes in the sand. That's ok. As we head into the weekend, make sure to take some time for a Sabbath. Make sure to rest, relax, and shake the dust off your feet of the work week before. But if you are near an area with ample toe digging sand, there's truly nothing better!

See you Monday!

J

On Writing

Hello friends,

And greetings from my favorite vacation spot in the entire world, Breezy Point NY. After a long summer of trips and events and ministry, it's nice to be able to step back, take a deep breath and recharge the batteries. 

One of the things that I do when I'm going through this recharging stage is to re-evaluate what it is that gives me energy, what it is that is lacking from my life when I'm too busy that brings me joy. When I'm on vacation, I make it a point to make sure that my bike comes along with me because during the sumer I often lose focus on cycling just for fun. I make it a point to bring my guitar along with me to spend some time songwriting. I spend some time in the scriptures, and real deep time at that, not just a surface read through. These are the things that can get neglected when life gets too busy, and it's important to hit the reset button before things get ramped up again in the fall. If I've done vacation right, by the time I get back I'm not only well rested, I'm back in the habit of resting. 

And so last night, I read an e-mail from Examiner.com that reminded me that I am in fact still considered a correspondent for them. I signed up for this news organization in 2009, to write articles about Christianity, if at all possible directly related to the Pittsburgh area. My last article for them was in 2009. It just simply slipped off my radar. So when I read that e-mail, I was reminded that one of the ways that I recharge best is when I'm writing and writing frequently. This usually leads to a sad, sorry attempt to write a not well thought out book. I can't tell you how many "Chapter one" documents exist on my computer that were born at this very beach house only to be forgotten in the return to the real world. So I don't think that a book is the right answer, at least not right now. 

I think the answer is to try to keep myself accountable to writing both here at the J-Blog and on Examiner. I sat down last night and came up with a schedule for myself, and hope to actually be able to keep up with it. You can expect to see posts here at J-Blog on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, and new articles at Examiner on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Again, I don't have the world's best track record when it comes to keeping up with these schedules, but I'm going to do my best for you guys! As always, if you have any topics related to youth ministry, seminary, worship, or book reviews, please leave a comment here below. I have a few posts already swirling around the old noggin to get us kick started, but this blog is way more fun when its a conversation than when its just me ranting. 

See you Friday!

Godspeed,

Jason

Planning and Riding

Hello friends,

A few days ago, I experienced two sides of my personality pretty dramatically. Hard as it might be to believe, I can sometimes be a compulsive planner (my blog posts are not part of this side of me obviously). I can also sometimes drift to wherever my heart is taking me without much planning at all. 

For a few years, I've started to notice that when it comes to teachings at Veritas, we cycle around to the same topics again and again and again and again. This year for instance while we were studying addictions and how they impact our faith, several of the students said "this is nice, but we feel like we've been over this before." After checking with the calendar, they were right. We had been over it before. About 4 times in 5 years. 

And so I sat down at our white board, and crafted something huge. A four year teaching plan for High School Veritas. Each teaching planned out for four years, so that a student who comes in as a freshmen will never hear the same topic repeated twice except in certain instances where repetition is key. And even there, the repetition is once every other year, so that we can break up the monotony. Four years of planning! I can tell you what we'll be talking about each week until 2016. I walked away from the whiteboard feeling really good about where we're going as a ministry!

I got in my car, drove home, and decided to take a training ride. This was one of the first times back on the bike after a two week break with Alive and Vacation Bible School, so I decided that I just wanted to hop on and get my legs spinning. I had no plan. I had no goals. I had no measures of success other than to end with a smile on my face. I actually wound up going faster and longer than I would have thought (10 miles at a 16.9 mph average), but again I had no real goal, so I didn't really have anything to compare it to. But being completely without plan felt good in that moment. I felt free. 

I see both sides of the argument from different youth leaders. Some insist that you have to be meticulously planned out, to the point where you know every detail of every possible event about 5 years before you actually pull the trigger on it. I get this. It leads to some security and safety. It also frees you up from having to think a whole lot on your feet, because the thinking took place months ago. 

I also know people who say the Spirit needs to move in freedom, and that our plans would get in the way of the Spirits work. If I plan something for a high school event while the Spirit is busy making other plans, I might miss something. I get this line of thinking too. Too many plans can suffocate a movement. 

I think what becomes obvious here is that there is a time for everything. Having a four year teaching plan for us right now is going to alleviate a lot of problems we've been experiencing at Veritas. But at the same time, I love nothing more than the impromptu visits by students, the unplanned movements. I'm even sick enough to love when plans go horribly wrong, and I'm forced to think a bit on my feet. It's got to be both, in certain situations and certain times. And to know the difference takes the spiritual gift of discernment. 

What about you? Are you more of a planner, or a free spirited person? 

Godspeed,

J

God in the mundane

Good evening friends!

I'm trying to write a sermon, but it's not going so well. So of course, I turn to the blog for distraction and/or inspiration. 

I've actually been meaning to write this post for a while now, but my week has gotten away from me. Tuesday, I had to get the packing lists for this year's Alive festival mailed out to all the students. This is typically a tedious project. First, I have to open up the file from last year and change all the dates and times and what have you. Then I proof read it, which was hard this year because Ed was in class, and so I had to proof read it all by my lonesome. And if you've read this blog for any length of time, you know that proof reading is not my style. At all. So if you're going to Alive this year with us, and you got your packing list, please add "lawn chair." Completely slipped my mind. 

Then I had to wage war with the paper folding machine. It's this device that lives in the print room at Westminster, and claims to make life easier on all of us. Wrong. It's sole purpose is to taste human blood. That thing is insane. There are way too many buttons for a machine that is supposed to in essence be a faster pair of opposable thumbs. Luckily, Mariela who runs the print room was there that morning. She commands respect from the machines. They obey her. But that didn't stop the dreaded paper folding machine from scowling at me while neatly creasing the letters in question. It was a scowl, I tell ya!

From there I returned to my desk, and set up an assembly line. A stack of packing lists, a equal sized stack of Veritas envelopes, and a sheet with mailing labels for everyone who is signed up for the trip. I had 15 minutes to get the labels on and the letters stamped before our weekly staff meeting, so I was in go mode. 

But then I thought about something that Dr. Sunquist said during class one evening last term. Every morning, he wakes up and walks to the seminary from his house, and as he passes the dorms, he takes a moment to pray for the students that are just waking up and getting ready to start their day. Because why would you waste an opportunity to pray for someone, even in a mundane moment of life? 

And so I took those words to heart, and spent a little bit of extra time praying while I stuck labels on envelopes. Some of the students I've known for all 6 years we've been going to Alive. Some of them I know, but not incredibly well, maybe because they just moved up into 9th grade. Some of the students I don't know at all, because they're friends of some of the other kids and this will be their first entry into youth group with us. And so I prayed for each one of them. I prayed for this trip, even though it's mostly a fun trip, meant to be an enjoyable start to summer, I prayed that these students would have a profound experience with Jesus along the way. I've been praying the same thing ever since. 

This isn't meant to be bragging. My prayer life is nothing to be bragged about. It is however (hopefully) an awakening, a return to a prayer life consistently for the students and for the ministry that we've been called to at Westminster. Too often I get caught up in the little things, the details, the how and why and when and where that I forget the Who that's behind it all. And that's not right at all.

So take a few moments this week and pray for your kids. Even if you've wrapped things up for the summer, take just a few moments in your office and pray for the students who God has graciously placed in your life, and pray that they would experience Jesus in a new and radical way. Because I'm quite sure that's a prayer that God never tires of hearing.

Ok, sermon time!

Godspeed,

J 

Beginnings and Endings

Hello again friends,

Last night was a great night, and deserving of some reflection. I love my job, but if there's anything about it I don't like, or at least have difficulty with, it's the end of the year. Last night was our last Veritas meeting of the 2011-2012 year, and our students showed up big time for the party. We played the first (annual?) Veritas Olympics, which contained elements of all the best Veritas games. We had worship out in the courtyard, and I'll admit that it did seem as though the floor was shaking even though it was firmly attached to the earth. 

As we often do, our last Veritas ended with an open microphone. The sharing came mostly from what turns out to be our largest ever senior class to graduate out of the group. If those sharing weren't seniors themselves, they seemed to talk a lot about the seniors. Their impact on this group was immense. Their weekly presence will surely be missed. Last night was, in a sense, an ending. 

But while that's difficult, and there are moments where my "allergies" were getting to me a bit, last night was also one of my favorite nights of the year. Because watching younger students listen to these seniors share how much this ministry impacted them, you could tell that they were being invited to dive into something with all they had. The mantle is ready to be picked up by a new generation. Last night wasn't just an ending. It was, in a lot of ways, a beginning. 

In 2 Kings, before all the awesome stuff about she-bears, Elijah is about to be taken up into heaven, and he's having a conversation with his student Elisha. When asked what Elisha wanted before Elijah went to be with God, his young student asked for a double portion of his grace, a double awareness of God, and a double ability to bring God to the people. As I was watching the younger students last night, I realize that it happens in our midst every year. As a group of seniors leaves us, each a little harder to say goodbye to as we've gotten to know each other, they leave behind a legacy of wanting to serve God more than those who have gone before them. And younger students see that, and younger students want to serve God even more. I got chills thinking about what things will be like in 6 years, when this team of 7th graders leaves us. Imagine all that God will do in our midsts in that time. 

Youth ministry never stops. Exactly 13 hours after Veritas ended, I was in a planning meeting for next year, getting ready to do it all again. There is no rest for the weary. But there are moments, in my ministry and I'm sure in yours, that need a moment or two of pause, reflection, and celebration. Last night was surely one of those. A time of endings, and a time of beginnings. 

Book Review: This Beautiful Mess

Hello again everybody!

A book a week is a very fast pace for me, and yet here we are two weeks into the summer and that seems to be what I'm up to! Don't forget, I've got this Goodreads account now, so you can follow along with all my reading pleasures. 

One of the things Goodreads makes me do is to finally give stars to books. 5 stars is great, 1 star is I hated it. I'll admit that after I finished Rick McKinley's This Beautiful Mess last night, my mouse had a hard time choosing how many stars to give it. Here's why: 

I think it's a great book. I think all of the information it provides is relevant, and I think the angles McKinley writes from are angles that I appreciate and agree with. But while there were a few new thoughts posed to me in this book, it felt like something I had read before. I think a lot of people are talking about the breaking in of the Kingdom of God into the world we find ourselves living. I think people have written about how our money management and creation care matter a great deal to the King, and how we should approach those decisions with the Kingdom of God. All of that is true, and all of that is needed in this American culture. 

But as I kept reading, and as I kept realizing that I have read countless other books just like this one, I became more and more frustrated both at myself and at the Church. If so many people are aware of how the American Empire and the Kingdom of God are at odds with each other, and books sales on this topic are lucrative, then why hasn't anything changed? If so many in the pews could read McKinley's book and sound their silent "amen", then where's the radical action that is prescribed? 

This may be why this is one of a few books where I actually appreciated a pastor sharing what his church is doing. At least someone gets it. At least someone is making progress in opening the eyes of the community to the Kingdom. 

I think if I was in a different mindset, I would have LOVED this book. As it was, I was looking for something that would challenge me and my way of thinking, and at the end of the day McKinley and I see the world far too similarly for me to be challenged. 

And so at the moment, I've given this book THREE STARS, but with the understanding that I'm going to read it again later sometime this year, and that my mindset being different, it might earn itself more. But for McKinley's part, the writing is solid, and the points made are brilliant. I think I'm just in the mood to read someone who makes me want to punch them!

More reviews to come!

Godspeed,

J