Every day after classes and chapel, I pick up Levi from school and head home with him for a little while before going back to pick up Gloria and our little neighbor buddy. The other day was just like any other day until Levi and I got to school to pick up the other kids. We were standing in the hall waiting when a little girl who looked to be about 7 years old approached us.
"Your little boy is missing some of his fingers, isn't he?" She asked me rather matter of factly.
Most little kids have "that" tone in their voice when they ask about or comment on Levi's fingers. She did not. She was pretty nonchalant about it. Regardless, I took a deep breath and prepared for the conversation. I have it well rehearsed these days and was ready.
"Yes. He is." I answered her.
"Me too!" was her cheerful reply, "See!"
This is where the screeching record sound played in my head. I looked over at her and she was happily displaying her right hand in all its 4.5 fingered glory. Sure enough. . . she was missing half of her index finger.
"Wow!" I said, genuinely surprised, "Were you born like that?"
"Yep!"
"So was he!"
"Some kids used to run away from me in kindergarten and they said, 'EW! She has the finger touch!' but they got over it and so did I and it's all good now. Now I love school and all my friends."
This is the point where I had to start actively holding back the tears.
"Thank you so much for sharing that with us!" I told her.
"I'm in that room," she pointed out the classroom number, "if you ever need anything. You can just come find me."
"Wow. Thanks!" I said.
I showed her which room is Levi's and asked her what her name is. I made sure to thank her profusely for talking to us and fully plan on writing the principal an email about what a sweet, composed, wonderful little girl she is. I have to say that I feel so much better about this school journey knowing that God dropped a kid like her in that school and showed her my son. I wonder if she's betrothed yet and if she's into younger guys.
Thursday, January 12, 2012
Wednesday, December 21, 2011
Book Review: The Christian Zombie Killer's Handbook
Jeff Kinley
Jeff Kinley, according to his bio page on Amazon, does youth minisitry and his book is based on exactly the sort of catchy hook you need to put together a solid series for youth group. Kids (and heck, many adults-including me) love zombies and when you can tie faith into zombies. . . instant winner of a youth group sermon!
Kinley sets out to teach about sin, grace, salvation and Christ by telling a zombie story. This bizarre premise is exactly what drew me to the book. Interspersed between chapters of the zombie story are theological discourses or written sermons of a sort. If you are looking for deep, theological discourse, you may want to look elsewhere. These simple explanations of faith and Christianity are geared toward youth who are not active in or knowledgeable about Christian faith. If you're looking for a book about salvation that you can get a group of teenagers to read, you're on the right track. While the story is written in the trendy new "we're going to ignore tenses and write like we're breathlessly telling a story to the police" style that drives me up the wall, I think that for teens today, this is exactly the right way to go about it.
I will say, that as zombie gore goes, this was a little tame and I was thankful for that. I have a love/hate relationship with zombies and zombie gore. If you're just looking for a gory thriller, go elsewhere. If you're looking for a book that will deepen your already strong faith in Christ, this is not the book for you. If you are looking for a youth group read or a book to help grab a few youth group sermon illustrations/ideas from (cite, please- even pastors have to cite their resources), you are in the right ballpark. After reading this, and being in youth ministry myself, I'm curious to check out some of Kinley's other work.
Overall, 3.5/5 stars because of the breathless storytelling and narrow audience.
www.booksneeze.com was cool enough to supply me with a review copy of this book. I said nice things even though I didn't have to.
Sunday, December 18, 2011
How are you?
The other day a classmate who I know by name, but don't know well asked me on the way into class, "How are you?"
Forgetting that "How are you?" is usually just a greeting in our culture and isn't really a question, I answered, "Well, all three of my kids are sick today, but one of my best friends is going to have a baby any minute now, so that sort of makes up for it. . . how about you?"
He gave me a slightly funny look, but then handled it graciously (he's one of those people who gives a "this guy will be a good pastor some day" vibe and in fact reminds me of a friend who is a really good pastor.) His response was totally appropriate, but it made me think about my response. I realized after I blurted my whole spiel out that he was probably just saying hello.
I wonder why I do that? I almost never just say, "Good, how about you." like a normal person does. I always say something like, "Glad it's rain not snow! How about you?" or "Tired, but glad to be here." Sometimes, I'll even answer with something like, "Ask me when I'm more awake/tomorrow/after finals." I do reciprocate the inquiry, just in case you were wondering if I just use it as an opportunity to unload my life on the other person.
I think perhaps it's because when I ask, "How are you?" I'm expecting an honest answer, not just some polite response. If I just wanted to politely greet someone, I'd say, "Good morning."
It's a little annoying that somewhere along the line, the meaning of "how are you?" changed and now when you ask someone how they are, you have to qualify it with, "Really. .. " or something like that. It makes it hard to ask someone how they actually are. You're sort of stuck on the surface.
I don't think there's really anything we can do to fix this. It just is what it is. And I don't think I'm going to stop answering honestly. Do me a favor though. . . next time we bump into each other and I ask, "How are you?" remember that I mean it.
Forgetting that "How are you?" is usually just a greeting in our culture and isn't really a question, I answered, "Well, all three of my kids are sick today, but one of my best friends is going to have a baby any minute now, so that sort of makes up for it. . . how about you?"
He gave me a slightly funny look, but then handled it graciously (he's one of those people who gives a "this guy will be a good pastor some day" vibe and in fact reminds me of a friend who is a really good pastor.) His response was totally appropriate, but it made me think about my response. I realized after I blurted my whole spiel out that he was probably just saying hello.
I wonder why I do that? I almost never just say, "Good, how about you." like a normal person does. I always say something like, "Glad it's rain not snow! How about you?" or "Tired, but glad to be here." Sometimes, I'll even answer with something like, "Ask me when I'm more awake/tomorrow/after finals." I do reciprocate the inquiry, just in case you were wondering if I just use it as an opportunity to unload my life on the other person.
I think perhaps it's because when I ask, "How are you?" I'm expecting an honest answer, not just some polite response. If I just wanted to politely greet someone, I'd say, "Good morning."
It's a little annoying that somewhere along the line, the meaning of "how are you?" changed and now when you ask someone how they are, you have to qualify it with, "Really. .. " or something like that. It makes it hard to ask someone how they actually are. You're sort of stuck on the surface.
I don't think there's really anything we can do to fix this. It just is what it is. And I don't think I'm going to stop answering honestly. Do me a favor though. . . next time we bump into each other and I ask, "How are you?" remember that I mean it.
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Book Review: Chazown
I honestly wasn't sure what to expect when I picked this book up for review. I'm a big fan of the modern Christian movement to explore life purpose and vision, but frequently the resources are shallow, over the top or written for "baby" Christians who still need spiritual milk. I'll be leading a bible study group through a series on vision and purpose this spring and I've been looking for "steak" for them. I believe this book fits the bill nicely.
The title of the book comes from the Hebrew word חזון, which is pronounced in English, "Chazown" (make sure you make that "ch" sound nice and guttural). The word means "vision, dream or revelation." Knowing what I now know about the Hebrew language it probably has about 40 other uses as well, but that is the usage that the author is going for in this book. I'm not entirely sold on his use of the word, but frankly, the book is good overall, so that's just me being picky.
Groeschel approaches the topic in an orderly fashion, keeping the reader engaged at the same time. He breaks the book up into sections: Why you need a new kind of vision, where to find your vision, how to name your vision and get started reaching for it, the small changes that make a big difference and finally, the importance of community and accountability in relation to having a vision and purpose in your life. I really like his build up and approach. Not only does Groeschel provide good exploration exercises in the book, he has provided a whole website (http://www.chazown.com/) with more exercises to work through in conjunction with reading the book. This interactive feature makes it a valuable resource for group leaders and is a big reason I plan on integrating this book into the study I'm leading soon.
The voice of this book is humorous and friendly, keeping the audience interested and engaged. It moves the reader to action and a desire for more of the abundant life that Christ promises his people (John 10:10). This is a good book for an individual seeking deeper meaning in their life or for a church or small group leader hoping to move people to a greater feeling of importance and need for action. That said, I want to warn that we as an American church culture need to be careful when using resources like this. Self-exploration is vital. The more we know about ourselves, the better able we are to open ourselves up fully to the purpose God created us for. That said, the "me" focus is a dangerous place to be if left to run amok. I'm not saying that the author approaches this from an individualistic viewpoint- his section on community shows otherwise. What I'm saying is that it's easy to see this as a "what can God do for me to make my life better" book rather than "what is in me that God wants to use to build up His Kingdom."
Obviously, as I'm planning on putting this book in as part of my small group curriculum next year, I recommend this book. It's not ground-breaking or surprising in any way, but it is well thought out and carefully organized. It's engaging and relevant. This is a great little workhorse of a book that will get much use in any pastoral library.
And. . . like always. . . gotta tell you that the publisher (http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/bloggingforbooks/) was nice enough to send me a reviewer copy of the book just so I could review it on the ol' blog. I didn't have to say anything nice about it, but I did anyway.
Also. . . please take a sec to rank my review. When you rank my review of this book, you are entered for a chance to win a copy of the book.
Friday, December 09, 2011
A short post
So. . . sorry about that last whiny post. In retrospect, it was just whiny and could potentially have hurt someone's feelings, so I've deleted it entirely and would like to start over.
That said, I don't have much to talk about today. So. .. um. . . yeah.
That said, I don't have much to talk about today. So. .. um. . . yeah.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)