Friday, February 27, 2009

Free Swim

To say that I love being around creative people is a bit of an understatement.

There's just something about them. Ideas, possibilities, discussions, thoughts, all slung against a wall to see which ones are sticky. It's the only true limitless art form. Sculptors are bound by how much clay. Musicians are bound by 12 tones.

But the mind. The mind is truly limitless. That's a bit of God's ubiquitousness that one can fathom. (Yeah, go look it up.) When comprehending God's limitlessness, you can't really do it. It's not something you can wrap your brain around. But thinking in terms of possibility...you can get a sense of just how far the rabbit hole goes.

I had heard about a group of literary guys in England that had Tolkein and C.S. Lewis in it, bringing ideas and discussing books. My first thought was, how stinkin' cool is THAT? I found a blurb on about The Inklings.

"The Inklings were a gathering of friends – all of them British, male, and Christian, most of them teachers at or otherwise affiliated with Oxford University, many of them creative writers and lovers of imaginative literature – who met usually on Thursday evenings in C.S. Lewis’s and J.R.R. Tolkien’s college rooms in Oxford during the 1930s and 1940s for readings and criticism of their own work, and for general conversation. “Properly speaking,” wrote W.H. Lewis, one of their number, the Inklings “was neither a club nor a literary society, though it partook of the nature of both. There were no rules, officers, agendas, or formal elections.” An overlapping group gathered on Tuesday (later Monday) mornings in various Oxford pubs, usually but not always the Eagle and Child, better known as the Bird and Baby, between the 1940s and 1963. These were not strictly Inklings meetings, and contrary to popular legend the Inklings did not read their manuscripts in the pub."

Got me thinking about the Think Tank. It's a group that I'm a part of, splashing around in the idea pool. Right now, it's for Faith Kids. Things are changing right before my eyes, ministry, technique, media. People are getting involved where there was no opportunity to before. Ideas are planted, nutured, picked and handed out. Granted, we've only just begun (white lace and promises) but the possibilities of the Think Tank are staggering.

The possibility of the possibilities. Now that's deep. :)

So, I'm wondering. Do you have such a group? Doesn't have to be for writing epic novels...or for changing the face of Children's Ministry globally. Could be just for cooking quick meals for your rushed family. Could be a book discussion club. Could be the I.B. of T.K.D.

That's the International Benefits of Tae Kwan Do, to the commoner.

Bicycling Enthusiasts. Blueprint Collectors. Germans United Against Barney. Do you have a group of men or women that challenge and inspire you? Do you have what I like to call "below the surface" friends?

Hear me, it's NOT an accountablilty group. Didja pray today, Bob? How's your thought life, Gary?

No, this is something inspiring, not invasive. It's building up, not barging in. Find a passion, find others who share that passion, and sit and talk about it.

Heck, why do you think Star Trek Conventions are still around? Comicon is one of the largest gatherings of like-minded people on the planet. Grown men in Jedi robes. Silly to you, but passionate and inspirational to them.

Go. Find. Stir. Drink.

It's good for you.

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Copy Cats


Quit copying me.

The cry of every older sibling. Slightly beside and behind them is a smaller version of them, slyly watching every move. Arm goes up, throat clears, legs are crossed at the ankles, lean over just a bit on the arm of the couch.

Quit it!

What? I'm not doing anything. Head tilted a little, chin on hand.

It's funny when you're the younger one, which I was (am), but if you're the elder, it gets old pretty quick. The saying "Imitation is the highest form of flattery" is lost in translation. The desire for sicofantic followers goes away. The days of wishing you had a slave to order around are past.

It's just annoying. And fun, if you're the mimic-er. Not so much as the mimic-ee.

Now I'm a dad. Talk about living under a microscope. I've noticed my kids, especially Ethan, copy exactly what I do. He watches me walk, watches me eat, watches me play the Wii, watches me as I watch TV.

I was walking along side him outside one day, and spit. Guess what he did.

"Just had to spit, Dad? Me too."

He wants to be like me so bad. But there are things about me that I don't want him to be like.

Isn't that pretty much what we want from our kids? Everything good, nothing bad. I've even prayed that prayer. Lord, I pray that they get everything good from me and nothing bad. But the truth is that they get everything.

Everything. All of it, the good, the bad and the ugly. All of our inconsistencies, all of our moods, all of our hangups. As a parent, you basically have to raise them to be partly not you.

Better than you.

Words are lost, actions scream. They're copy cats, watching us. I can't tell my daughter to stop pointing out everyone's mistakes when I constantly correct her. I can't tell my son not to hit right after I smack him with a pillow. Think about it. It's so cute when your baby mimics you, your crazy faces, a little dance, but the second he makes a face and shows his food to the booth next to you at T.G.I. Friday's, you're horrified.

We celebrate when our kids are pottie training and they poop in the pottie with candy, balloons, sticker charts and prizes, but as soon as they get into school, "Poop" is a bad word.

In order for our kids to learn peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and the like it's not a matter of prayer.

It's a matter of living it ourselves, in front of them to see.


Monday, February 23, 2009

A Good Day

Yesterday was a good day.

I taught the kids about patience, what to do when you are standing in front of your little brother who is in between you and Zach and Cody, and you're watching your patience run the other direction.

I felt inspired teaching, stepped away from what I had written, and spoke to the kids where they were living. I was funny and entertaining, and I wrote a new killer Memory Verse that the kids LOVED.

I say all of that to say this:

I'm tired.

It takes a lot out of you to be plugged in, engaged, "on". It takes a lot out of you to perform two shows Sunday morning, only to come back in the evening for a small group for 1st and 2nd grade girls.

I've found that it makes me crabby. Ethan, finish your dinner.

There is light at the end of the tunnel, however. Last night I witnessed something I haven't witnessed in the entire time I've been doing Children's Ministry. I saw the kids, all of them, 40+ kids, having an insanely fun time.

Without me.

Is it possible? Can it be done?? Is there anything that the kids will think is cool with Adam???

Apparantly so; and I'm so stinkin' excited about that prospect I could spit. However, along with the excitement comes a few questions.

How will I mentor and guide and lead these people, these incredible leaders? Will I have the knowledge to set them up to succeed, or will I just dump on them? Will I place them in position too soon? Will they get burned out because I pushed them too far? Once they're in position, what will I do? How long will they be here?

Time to pray. Time to read. Time to study. Time to learn. Because God knows that I don't know enough about leadership to handle these guys properly. This is God's directing, God's timing, and I do NOT want to mess this up. I have a feeling that this opportunity won't come around again.

Yes, yesterday was a good day. Here's to hoping tomorrow is a great one.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Atmosphere Is Key

I was reading a gaming magazine (research, I SWEAR, honey) and the editor, as most editors do, gave a bit of a blurb at the front, a "From The Desk" note. In it, he described the games of 2008, separating the bad from the good, and the good from the REALLY great. The one thing that sets the impressive games apart from the not-so, he offered, was due to one thing.

ATMOSPHERE.

If the game can transport you, enwrap you, and keep you submersed in a totally different atmosphere, where you lose your sense of surrounding (and time, if you've ever played Final Fantasy), then you'll most likely find it on every Top Ten list for games in 2008.

And, as most things do, it got me thinking.

Atmosphere. The surrounding. I guess it shouldn't surprise me that atmosphere is probably the most important thing. You can't be creative, peaceful, focused, relaxed, enraptured without the right atmosphere.

How many times have you sat down to accomplish some task and it just doesn't feel right?

Atmosphere.

How many times have you gone to see a movie that got terrible reviews, and like, 15% on Rotten Tomatoes, and you had an awesome time because of the people you were with and the crowd? Paul Blart, anyone?

Atmosphere.

In college, I got the best grade in composition class on a piece where we could only pick four notes and one instrument to write a whole piece. I figured, since I was limited by the notes and the instrument, there was nothing in the rules that said I couldn't manipulate the environment. So, I wrote a piece for piano about the crucifixion, turned out the lights in the classroom, lit candles, had someone read passages from Matthew as I slammed the lid to the piano to mimic the nails being hammered into Christ's hands. I got an A.

Atmosphere.

So, should it be any different for ministry? Isn't that what we are striving for, an atmosphere conducive for healing? For restoration? For peace? For the Holy Spirit to work, and move, and do His thing?

If you're having problems, change the atmosphere. Music works best. Different scenery works second best. If you're frustrated in your current place, move. It doesn't have to be to a different state in the union, either. It can just be to a different state of mind.

Atmosphere. Man, that's a big revelation. I think I'll start doing that.

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Okay, More Discipline.

It's not like I'm not disciplined.

I am, I swear.

I just feel as though it's time to be more disciplined. Especially about writing, reading, studying. Don't get me wrong, I do all three things routinely, week in and week out; but mostly it's for something. A sermon, a lesson, research, etc.

I rarely do anything for myself, just to do it.

So, here it is. My blog. My personal thoughts, my ideas, my observations. My wife kept telling me that I needed to start a blog, so here it is, in all it's glory. I'm actually wondering how many blogs started in the exact same fashion that this one is...

At any rate, it's started. And the first thought for this inevitably popular blog?

I really hope I can say something profound.