like a fire

Merry Christmas! I hope that you have had a great holiday. I have had one of the best. It was very different being in Florida over being in Pennsylvania for Christmas, that is for sure. Sand instead of snow, shorts instead of parkas, and sun and heat instead of the beautiful blanket of snow I am accustomed to. Christmas seemed very fake this year for some reason. Just like the old tinsel trees from the sixties, this year just felt forced and fake. I can’t say why, but it did get better. I got to spend this season with some of the best friends I have ever had, instead of the people I am normally forced to spend it with. I also didn’t get caught up in the gift game, so I wasn’t really worried about pleasing anyone. And best of all, I got my first real Christmas present from Jane my 2 year old daughter. It was a picture frame that she made. It was the first big water works for Christmas for me. God has really blessed me this year and maybe that is why all of the blessings of Christmas seemed to be less than what they could have. I guess that is a good thing though, if I had the choice.

So everyone has heard the debate about churches closing for Christmas this year. I won’t even go into the debate in this post, but I was just wondering about youth ministry. I have found that it is standard practice for most youth ministries to shut down for the holidays. This isn’t just when Christmas or Easter fall on the day of a normal youth meeting, but for a whole week or two during the holidays.

In light of the recent debate about churches closing for Christmas day, I was wondering if anyone sees anything wrong with this. I have heard many reasons that support closing for a season. It gives families more time together. It also gives the staff a much needed break. It doesn’t make sense to have a regular program if the critical mass that is usually there will not be there for that season. All of these sound very much like the reasons for closing churches on Christmas day though. I would love to hear people’s thoughts who work in youth ministry on this.

Google Fight : Paul Martin VS Erik Hersman

I hate to pick a fight with friends at Christmas but I couldn’t help myself. I looked at this for way too long. Don’t visit the link unless you have some extra time.

BTW, I only win because of the Prime Minister

I know that this is news to anyone reading this but people are crazy. To prove this statement, let me tell you about a trip to get gas today. I pull up at my local BP on Lake Underhill Rd. and start pumping my gas for 2.18 a gallon. OK, that is crazy right there and I could just stop with a nod to the fatc that I’m crazy, but it gets better. I am pumping away just thinking about my day, and suddenly I hear the sound of gas being sprayed outside a car. I look over the pump and there is what I assume is a grandfather and grandson drenched in gas. The grandfather is holding the nozzle in his hand outside the car with gas still dripping from it. Both are soaked. He immediately puts the nozzle back into the gas tank receptacle and starts pumping again as if nothing ever happened. Grandson has this I can’t believe this expression on his face. Then as I am wathcing this debacle, a woman in a white lexus drives off with the pump still in her car. Totally oblivious, she drives off, cracks the end of the nozzle off, dents her car and looses her gas cap, AND DOESN’T EVEN NOTICE! So a man who is very perceptive to these things almost runs her down to point out that she has not been paying attention to the reality going on around her. She then gets out and starts ranting and raving (not the techno kind of dancing) because he has almost hit her. All of this happened within 5 minutes.

I was so amazed at how people could be so oblivious to their surroundings, that I looked around my car 4 times before pulling out. I have concluded from this experience that people are crazy. True. True.

The Source: Welcome

This a shameless plug for a site that I have loved and enjoyed. This guy has been doing what we call youth ministry for such a long time and was even nice enough to share his resources. There are many things on his site from games to Bible studies, but the things I like the most are the tips in ministry that I need to be reminded of constantly. Although I differ in practice than him often, this guy really has some great things to say.