Day: January 26, 2005

alan had my camera at the beginning of the view tonight. i thought he had taken pictures of the set up for the view tonight. i was wrong. thus this is the second week in a row that i do not have pictures of the set up of “the view” tonight. thus i’ll describe it. i used matthew 5 tonight dealing with salt and light. therefore we decorated the student center with containers of salt and candles. it was cool because it confused most everyone who walked in.

we finished the “kingdom” series of messages tonight. i took a cue from the ron sider article i mentioned earlier. tonight we talked about betraying the kingdom by not living out the miracle of the new birth that happens when someone becomes a believer. this was not a “be more moral” speech. rather it was a “change your loyalty” message. i wanted to start my message with a flash animation discussing betraying your promise. i spent about two hours on it this morning and was kind of proud of it. this of course, meant that it didn’t work when it was supposed to. they finally got it working after a brief intro from me.

here’s the message opening animation for your viewing enjoyment. SIDE NOTE – if you are british you may view benedict arnold as a hero – i have no problem with that the point of the video was not to vilify arnold, rather it was to talk about being a traitor to your kingdom.

today was clint’s birthday. jessica, alan, and i took him out to “the italian pie” for lunch. since clint is a sunday school teacher it’s kind of work for me to take him to eat. i love my job that i get to consider taking a friend out to lunch as work.

len evans mentioned in a recent post about writing an article for his ministry newsletter. when i read it i decided that i would start posting the monthly articles that i write for our youth ministry newsletter. it’s not that i think they are that greay (i don’t). rather each monthly i desperately search for an idea on which to write about. i figure if nothing else some other desperate youth minister might find my articles and at least their themes will inspire him or her to write a truly great article. that way i get partial credit or something like that. 🙂 anyhow, here’s february’s:

january 24th, 1984 steve jobs of apple introduce the macintosh computer to the world at a large convention. steve jobs walked up to the microphone said “all of the images that you are about to see come from what’s in that bag,” then he walked over to a duffle bag and pulled out a then comparatively tiny macintosh computer and turned it on. when the images started pouring out of the computer the crowd went nuts. No one had ever seen images of this quality or speed come from a computer that anyone could use and afford. that speech and those images changed the computer world. all of the personal computers we use now (including the one i am typing on right now) owe their existence to that moment. it was a simple display of technology but it was a revolutionary moment. you can actually view the video from this moment on my blog (www.parkviewyouth.org/blog/).

According to scripture the moment that JESUS comes into your life is supposed to be “a revolutionary moment.” when JESUS comes into your life HE wants to change everything. He wants to change how you feel about yourself, what you do, how you do it, and what you think about the world and people around you. this doesn’t mean that it was a dramatic moment. they moment you ask JESUS to be your LORD may seem siple or not be very dramatic, but the changes that can come about because of that moment are what makes the moment revolutionary. everything that happens afterwards is supposed to be directed by the fact that CHRIST has come into your life because you are a new creation.

the issue is whether we are letting that moment change us or not. you’re the one who gets to decided that. GOD allows you the free will to live in the light of the moment JESUS came into your life or to ignore it. Yyu get to choose day by day, moment by moment.

so what’s your choice?

i hate it when the feelings of inadequacy start pouring in. those feelings that i should be doing more, that the little bit that i am doing should be better, and that everyone else around me is doing things that are “head and shoulders” above my ability. i hate this.

i know in my head that i shouldn’t compare myself with anyone else. i know that i am loved, valued, and all that other crap. yet i look around, compare myself to what it appears others are doing, and feel like a joke that that the rest of the universe is getting a good laugh from. honestly it’s hard not to feel like a failure when you look around and are convinced that everyone else in the world is doing a better job of parenting, being a husband, making pine wood derby cars, blogging, speaking, being a friend, yard work, organizing their thoughts, music selection, ministry, etc. you name it and right now everyone else is doing a better job at it than i am. i hate these feelings.