A Nugget from the Diamond: Stealing First

As many sports fans do, I go through phases of loving various sports. While football is always my constant, right now, I find myself addicted to baseball--particularly the Texas Rangers who are having one of their best seasons in a long time.

One of the lesser-known rules of baseball is that if a batter swings and misses at a 3rd strike and the ball gets past the catcher, the batter has the opportunity to to run to first. If he runs, the play becomes a force out at first in which the catcher (or other member of the fielding team) can throw the ball to first base just as if it was a ground ball to the infield. Rarely, do the batters reach first base safely, but it does happen. If it happens, the pitcher is credited with a strike out, but no out is applied to the batter in the game.

As I thought about this peculiar baseball rule, I thought about our relationship to God. Romans says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. In essence, we've all struck out. Romans also says that while the wages of this sin is death, God's gift to us is eternal life through Jesus Christ. Essentially, despite our striking out, God has allowed us to safely reach base anyway. I think that's pretty cool!

Simplifying and Improvising in Youth Group Meetings

This summer, we tried something new in our youth program. After giving it some serious thought and after listening to what some other youth workers, pastors, and leaders were doing with their groups for the summer, we decided to go low-key and informal. What that means is this. Our regular meetings during the school year consisted of us meeting upstairs in our "big room" (not really big, but it's bigger than the other rooms, so that's what we call it), where our full band (bass, drums, elec. guitar) would lead us in worship and our Bible studies would be enhanced with Power Point, video clips, or other multi-media teaching tools. Well, this summer, we gave the band the summer off to spend time with family, do their summer activities, and not feel the pressure to be at practice every week. We also didn't do as much with PowerPoint and media stuff and just embraced the intimacy of a lazy summer.

Since our summer crowd was smaller because of people travelling and going to band camps, sports camps, etc., we decided not to meet upstairs in the big room and just meet downstairs in the "hang out" area of the youth building. Most weeks we didn't even have music. We just got to sit around and talk about the Bible study topic and let the kids teach themselves as they worked out the scriptures together.

This week, though, one of our musicians called me Wednesday afternoon to see if she could bring her guitar and do a few songs. Of course, I told her "absolutely". Well, we only had a very small portion of our kids show up due to some school activities that were going on. So we scratched our Bible study and just sang with a couple of guitars for about 30 minutes. No band, no power point, no sound system, and our kids were singing their hearts out. Had we been locked into our normal routine we would have missed a very powerful time of worship.

People of Second Chances

This week, a news story really spoke to me and my relationship to God. As a sports fan, I watch my fair share of SportsCenter and other sports-related shows. I also admire athletes who are able to live out their faith in Christ in the national forefront and rise above some of the selfishness, greed, drug-induced cheating, and other criminal behavior that many professional athletes are known for. But a story on SportsCenter caught my attention.

As Michael Vick has served his time for operating a brutal dog-fighting ring, the former record-setting NFL quarterback is now finding his way back to society and to football. And who is the person in his corner leading this effort? Former Super Bowl Champion head coach and Christian author Tony Dungy has been in Vick's corner as a mentor and life coach for several months now. But the one who is spearheading the effort to help Vick get back on his feet is possibly the most unlikely person in the NFL--another starting quarterback who happens to be a dog lover himself.

Eagle's quarterback Donovan McNabb, who owns two American Bulldogs and a Belgian Malinois, according to an article at ESPN.com, began lobbying his organization weeks ago to bring Vick to Philadelphia saying it was a good move for the team. But why would a starting quarterback bring such a spectacular athlete with such a shady past to his own team and put himself in a position to potentially lose his job? According to McNabb in the interview, "I believe in second chances and I have strong faith in God that he forgives our sins...Yes, it was a bad thing and a malicious act, but somewhere in your heart, you have to have forgiveness."

Centuries ago, a man named Saul who had been a murderer of the followers of Christ , has an encounter with Christ and gives his life to the Lord. After his conversion, early Christians are wary of his change of heart and are more than reluctant to welcome him into the fold. But a man named Barnabas testifies to the truth of Saul's change and allows the other believers to open their hearts to him.

So what about us? Are you and I like Michael Vick and Saul who have messed up and just need a break? Or are we like McNabb and Barnabas who are in a position to help someone who needs a second chance? If we are in one of these situations to offer help to someone who has made a mistake, there are three things we need to remember.

1) Dont try to play God. I Samuel 16:7 says that man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart. Only God knows the true intentions of the heart of someone who is trying to turn their life around. 2) Offer forgiveness, but offer help as well. Forgiving someone in their heart for wrong doing is only half of what we are called to do. True forgiveness comes when we put actions to our words by reaching out and helping those who need it. 3) Leave the results to God. Donovan McNabb doesn't know exactly how Michael Vick will handle his return to life in the spotlight and his NFL paycheck. Will he buckle under the pressure and go back to his old ways or will he rise above the pressure and hype and keep his life on track? McNabb doesn't know the answer to this, but he is evidently willing to trust God with the results.

Parable of the Lost Knife

This is my pocket knife. It is a Moore Maker double-locking blade made in Matador, TX (a pretty expensive knife). This knife is special for several reasons. For one, it uses a chrome vanadium blade, similar to those made by Case, Schrade (Uncle Henry, Old Timer) as opposed to the stainless steel blades that have become really popular which do not rust, but in my opinion do not sharpen up as well or hold their edge. It's also made in Texas at a very small factory, so these knives are more rare than some other brands. Another thing about this knife is that most locking blade knives only have one blade. This knife, obviously inspired by a similar non-locking Case knife, has two blades that lock into place. If you've ever had a knife fold up on your hand while you were using it, you can appreciate this feature. Finally, this knife was a Christmas present from my dad. We have a fine tradition of yellow-handled pocket knives. Maybe it's because they are easier to find or we just like the color. Either way, it's just our thing.

Well, last week, Dad and I were building some shelves in his barn and I put the knife in my pocket as I normally do. After a few days of not seeing the knife and dismissing that I had merely left it somewhere else (the car, the truck, the table by the chair, etc.), I realized that my knife was nowhere to be found. So, I checked my dresser, my night stand, all the usual places. I checked the car, the truck, the consoles and glove compartments. The next day, I checked my dad's truck, my parent's house. Then, I checked my office and all over the youth building. It was nowhere to be found. Finally, after a week of searching, on Sunday afternoon I realized that I had not checked the couch cushions or any of the furniture. After checking both couches, I tipped over our recliner and there it was! For two days, I've been swooning over finding this very special possession.

Then yesterday, it occured to me that Jesus told several stories about lost items in Luke 15...a sheep, a coin, and a son. As a shepherd, he leaves all the other sheep to come find one that is lost. Like the woman with the lost coin, she does nothing else until she finds the coin. And like the loving Father, he stands there watching the horizon waiting for his lost son to come home. To think that God went after me the way I searched (and even more so) for my knife is humbling and overwhelming. It seems that when we remember the great lengths God went to in order to be in a relationship with us, it really puts things in perspective.

Mary, Martha, Baseball, and Me

I haven't written a blog post in several days for a few different reasons. Namely, that I've been gone to another camp (my third camp of the summer), and am currently involved with our church's Vacation Bible School. Next week, I will be heading off to my last camp of the summer. Being called into youth ministry, busy summers seem to be just part of the deal that "comes with the territory". I mean for 91/2 months of the year we "compete" with school, band, sports, scouts, one act play, UIL academics, and all other things that are connected to a life in public education. So summer is a time when kids theoretically have more time to devote to other things--such as church and spiritual development.

I've been doing some reading, though, and have realized that summer, although free of school, is still summer and is a time to be relaxed, laid back, and should be a time to refresh? So why do I feel like a Martha running around like a headless chicken trying to teach kids how to be like Mary? In our youth group, we have scaled down our Bible study times on the week's we've met and haven't met at all when we were gone to church camp or one of our missions camps. So how can I stay refreshed in the midst of being gone so much and being so busy week after week? Well, here's what I've found that seems to work.

My wife and I love Texas Rangers baseball. This has been a really good season for the team that has never made it past the first round of the playoffs. At one point they were in first place in their division, and 5 games ahead of the LA Angels. June wasn't a good month, though, and it's taking them a while to hit their stride again. The biggest issue for the Rangers seems to be getting hits with runners in scoring position. At one time this season they hit 14 solo home runs in a row. In order to win games, they have to get their hits with runners on bases. After all, the game is won on runs, not hits. This means that baseball is a game of timing.

For me, this summer, I've tried really hard to embrace the time I have at home with family. I also have tried to spend less time at the office when I'm not away at camp. We took a great vacation this summer and it has helped me stay connected to my family and to God. Capitalizing on opportunities is what has kept me going. If we are in the service of the King, I think there are times where we will inevitably be like Martha and that's not necessarily bad. What we have to do, though, is make sure we have time to spend on the things that matter most and that we make the most of those opportunities.

The Smile of God

I've always been hesitant to quote cliches...especially those that aren't found in Scripture. One of these catch phrases is "The Lord works in mysterious ways." I guess this kind of coincides with the opening passage in the book of James, "2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." What? Consider it joy when we face trials? Are you sadistic or something? How in the world are we supposed to be happy about trials?

Last week we had one such "trial". At a regularly-scheduled doctor's appointment, Cindy and I found out that we had lost our baby some time during the last few weeks since our previous visit to the doctor. After having heard the heartbeat and seeing the ultra-sound and putting the ultra-sound picture up on the refrigerator, now all our hopes and dreams just came crashing down. This was our second miscarriage in the last 18 months, so we just had a lot of questions.

Well, the Lord is all about timing. You see, we had been planning to take a vacation on Friday, but found out on Tuesday that we had lost the baby and that Cindy would have to have a procedure on Wednesday to extract the baby and the tissue. "What in the world was God doing?", I thought. So we weren't even sure at this point if we'd get to go on our much-needed vacation. Well, long story short, we did get to go and had a wonderful time. It was as if God had his hand on us the whole time we were gone. Let me show you what I mean.

Because of our changing plans, we did not book a hotel room until the day we left. The picture above is our room in the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas. Friday morning, we booked the Adolphus (a historic hotel where each of the last 15 presidents has stayed and goes for $350-$500 a night) for three nights at $65 a night. Using some vouchers I had gotten for taking our youth group to a Ranger game, we paid $6 for a child's ticket and parked for $5 because it was a Friday game. That's an $11 Ranger game not counting food. We also took in a day at the Dallas World Aquarium, Ft. Worth Zoo, Ice Age 3 at the historic Inwood Theater and a day at Splash Kingdom water park in Canton, TX. Thanks to some gift cards we had, we also ate at Texas Roadhouse for $13.

Our much-needed vacation was like a big hug from God saying to us, "It's going to be all right." It takes faith to see that God is doing things. I didn't realize what was going on until we pulled up to the hotel and realized what a swanky joint it was. But God is good and he gave us a precious gift by allowing us to enjoy the blessings we DO have. So, yes, the Lord does work in mysterious ways!

Spiritual Windmills

Last year, my dad--who is a rancher--acquired a new plot of land to pasture his cattle. This place had a couple of barns, a small corral, and a stock pond (we call them "tanks" in east Texas). One of the items out at this place was a small decorative windmill that stood about 7 feet tall. It had a yaupon holly bush growing up through the middle of it and was not serving any sort of purpose whatsoever. For the longest time I thought, "Wow, that would be kind of cool in my yard." So, I asked my dad about it and he said I was welcome to have it.

Well, a few weeks ago, I was over at the pasture doing something and while I was there, I picked the windmill up, put it in my pickup, then brought it to my house. It sits in my front yard. I've heard that these small windmills are a deterrent for gophers because they don't like the vibrations they send through the ground. I cannot attest to the success or failure of the windmill as a gopher repellent. What has amazed me, though, is how much I enjoy watching the stupid thing. Yes, I get up in the morning, go to the kitchen window, and look at the windmill to see how hard the wind is blowing and which direction it is blowing from. It's a wonderful surprise in these summer months to see the windmill pointing toward the north and spinning at a brisk rotation!

Well, a few days ago, I was admiring the windmill and I was thinking about a verse of scripture. In the second chapter of Acts, the Holy Spirit is described as "a mighty, rushing wind". In the passage, it appears to be a literal wind as the spirit comes down and inhabits the believers at Pentecost. In John 3, Jesus is having his famous night-time conversation with Nicodemus and he says, "The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit." One of my favorite quotes from Billy Graham is that God is like the wind. We cannot see the wind. We can see the effects of the wind, but cannot see the wind itself.

Several years ago, I went through the study "Experiencing God" by Henry Blackaby. One of the teachings in the study is that we should find what God is doing through the Holy Spirit and join him there. I think every Christian would probably rather work alongside the Holy Spirit than work alone. But the working is not the hardest part. For most of us, it is finding where the Hoy Spirit is at work. What if we had a spiritual windmill to tell us what direction the "wind" was blowing and how powerful it was? Or do we have some of these spiritual windmills already? What are the indicators that God is at work? I think we often assume rapid growth of a church is a sign of God's movement. So what things serve as indicators of what God is doing?

A Fun New Toy for Worship

Okay, so I didn't set this blog up to be a forum for product reviews, but I wanted to share some experiences I had this weekend with incorporating

some new media technology into our youth worship experience. Several weeks ago, our adult praise team members informed me that they were going to be out much of the summer. Our piano player use the digital rhythm section on our keyboard to be kind of a "one man band" that we supplement with acoustic rhythm guitar. When he's not there we don't have any kind of rhythm section. Although, I play drums, we don't have anyone else in our church who plays bass. So when the piano player is out, it's just been me on bass and our guitar player on acoustic--until now. As a remedy to our situation, I purchased the Alesis SR-18. It has 100 different drum sets (pre-grouped drum sounds placed together), 100 preset rhythm patterns (that can not be edited), 100 user patterns (preset patterns that the user can edit), and additional storage space for more patterns the user wants to create. My sales rep at Sweetwater Music recommended, as an accessory, the Boss FS6 dual footswitch. Each pattern on the drum machine has an A sub-pattern and a B sub-pattern. Using the footswitch, the user can tap out his tempo, start the pattern, then can play fills on either the A or B sub-pattern or have a fill that transitions from A to B or vice versa. (This footswitch can also be used with any TRS (tip ring sleeve) cable to select channels on a guitar amp or control a keyboard. The pedal can be set for latching or non-latching where the pedal will stay on after pressed or it will only be activated when pressed. This could allow a keyboard player to use it for a permanent sustain function for organ sounds)

The drum machine has two mono outs for true stereo output, plus a third auxillary out as well as a headphone jack. It also has a midi in and midi out/thru. The display is backlit and easy to see. It has plenty of acoustic drum sounds that will be great for using in our church praise services, but one thing I wanted was a set of patterns that I could use with an acoustic drum set in the youth worship times. So this is what we did in our youth service, yesterday. We used an "industrial" patch (similar to a Nine Inch Nails sound) for the intro to "My Glorious" then cut the machine off and rocked in with acoustic drums and full band. Then we used the machine to play a "beat box" pattern (almost like 80's rap with vocal "drums") as an underlying groove for the song "Your Love, Oh Lord" by Third Day. While it took some rehearsing, this was a fun addition to our worship band. The unit was pretty easy to use and with about 5 or 10 minutes in the manual I was rockin' out. I have not begun to nearly tap into everything this unit will do, but considering the amount of time I've spent with it, it's already been a huge addition to our youth worship set-up.

It also comes with bass sounds on every rhythm patch (kind of cheesy, but functional) so if you just want to jam over a groove, you can do it. Or you can program your bass sounds to fit a particular song using the drum/bass pads on the unit. If you just want to use the drum sounds, you can mute the bass sounds on each pattern. Another cool feature is it has an instrument input where you can plug your guitar or keyboard straight into the unit with a 1/4 inch instrument cable. This would be a handy feature if you were in a situation where you were short on channels in the sound board.

If you are frequently in a drummerless situation or you are just wanting to add another dimension to your band's sound, this drum machine is available for around $260 from many retailers. It's predecessor, the SR-16 began production in the early 1990s and had about a 15-year run. Hopefully this one will do the same.

So, what products have changed the way you do worship? What would you recommend? What would you stay away from?

Sin and Consequences (What I Learned from Mud Volleyball)

This weekend, I took my youth group to an event at Lon Morris College in Jacksonville, TX called Omega Fest. This was a fun Saturday event that featured a crawfish boil, live music, and a mud volleyball tournament. The sun was hot, the music was great, the mudbugs were spicy, and the volleyball was...well...muddy. You can't participate in a mud volleyball tournament and expect to stay clean. But on a hot summer day, the mud was cool and wet.

As our team was called up, we eased into the cool mud and it actually felt kind of good. It was at least six inches deep throughout the entire court, so none of us were quite sure what was underneath it. After a showdown of Rock, Paper, Scissors, our team got the first serve. I bumped the muddy ball up over the net and it was vollied right back at me just a few feet up from where I was standing. I jumped forward and went down on my knees to get my hands up under the ball. As I watched the ball go back over the net, I realized there was much more than mud in the pit. It seems as I attempted to return the ball, my knees had landed on a pile of rocks under the soft cool mud. After a hose-down and later a real shower I noticed scabs forming on both my knees as I suffered the consequences of a seemingly innocent game of mud volleyball. (The picture above is a shot of my knee taken on Monday after the Saturday match.)

As I pondered my experience, I began to realize that this is how sin is. Just like that soft cool mud (although dirty) looked good on the surface, I didn't realize until after I got in the pit that there were rocks in there. Once the rocks had cut me (both on my knees and the bottom of my feet), I didn't seem to notice it as much as long as I was covered in the cool mud. But when I got out of the pit and cleaned off, I really noticed the pain of what I'd done. James 1:13-15 says: "When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed.Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death." As sin entices us, and we give in, it brings pain in our lives and sometimes it seems like the only way to mask the pain is to keep on sinning (remain in the pit). However, God is light and what light does is expose the pain of our sin. 1 John 1:7 says "But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin." If you will allow me to extend the metaphor, God is the one who gets us out of the pit and washes us off and allows our wounds to heal. Thanks be to God that he calls us out of the pit of sin and cleanses us from our pain to bring about healing!

How Often Do You Meet?

As a youth worker, I've always felt the struggle between the actual amount of time I get to spend teaching and working with youth and the amounts of time they spend doing other things that are required of their time such as school, school sports, choir, band, drill team, cheerleading, one act play, UIL events, Academic Decathlon, sleeping, chores, hanging out with friends, going to the movies, etc., etc. Naturally, I've always thought that an easy way to combat this was to give students more opportunities to meet for Bible study throughout the week and through more events and activities on weekends. Many churches meet only once a week, but I've always tried to meet on Sunday and Wednesday nights--Sundays for small groups and Wednesday for a combined group meeting. At each meeting we have about 30 minutes of hang-out time (refreshments, video games, table games, Christian music videos playing on the TVs), then about 15-20 minutes of worship, then we have Bible study (everyone together or split into small groups). After Bible study is over, we have about 30 minutes more of hang-out time. We also have Sunday School, however, that has never been an outreach-oriented time. That is mainly attended by the kids whose parents are members of the church and are attending a class of their own and our church services.

Today, though, I was emailing back and forth with one of our youth workers discussing some of the issues in our youth program. Although he was very supportive of our twice-a-week meetings, he seemed open to the possibility that having more than one meeting a week (besides Sunday School) may actually be a deterrent for some kids who feel like if they can't make all of them, then why should they come to any of them? I've always thought if they couldn't make one, they could always make the other, so in my mind, more meetings was a good concept. However, the more I think about it, I think he may be on to something.

So, I'm posing this question to you, my peers in youth ministry. How often does your group meet? What format(s) are those meetings. Do you have any outdoor recreation? Give me your thoughts on how your group responds to your scheduled meetings and leave them in the form of a comment to this blog. Your input is valued and appreciated.