I just got an e-mail at work addressed to "Mr. Monarch." (For those of you who have not been fortunate enough to attend Methodist College... our mascot is a Monarch in the form of a lion referring to the "king of the jungle.") I've received at least 35 e-mails today but I have to admit that one is going to get me through the rest of my 15 hour day.
Sometimes I get e-mails from angry parents/athletes/coaches or grateful parents/athletes/coaches or maybe just perhaps parents/athletes/coaches who think my entire 24 hours in a day should be devoted to them.
Either way... I like the good stuff about the job... particularly days when I'm called a Mr... or even better... Mr. Monarch.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Saturday, October 7, 2006
desert streams
I should probably go to work but procrastinating is so much easier... getting pumped to work football in the rain takes time. This summer I met a high school student... who at first glance appears to have it all together. Her parents are Christians, she grew up in the church and has not denied her faith, but... we had some great conversations questioning is that enough? She isn't breaking any laws... isn't disrespecting her parents... isn't neglecting church... but she decided she wanted to go deeper. Our camp pastor that week suggested she get the devotional "streams in the desert." It was originally written by L.B. Cowman in 1925 and James Reimann has updated it. I bought the book hoping to encourage my new friend I'd read it with her. I'm not sure she ever bought it... but nevertheless I've benefitted from it.
There is obviously a reoccurring theme about dealing with the bad stuff... some of that why do bad things happen to good people... or how to move forward in your faith when things seem to be pulling you back. One analogy was a gardener that told the homeowner that if he was going to tend his grapes he had to prune them all back. For two years they didn't have any grapes but then the vines flourished. At first the gardener probably looked stupid... for two years... there was nothing, but then the fruit came back even stronger.
On September 30th, there's a story about a little plant in the forest whose growth was stunted because it was hidden in the shade of a giant oak tree, but the plant valued the shade and protection the tree provided... until a woodsman came in and chopped the oak down. The plant was upset he was left unprotected and scared he would be uprooted by the wind and storms. But in reality... the plant was exposed to the sunlight that would help the plant grow stronger and bloom flowers making it better than it ever could have been in the shade of the oak. There was a bigger blessing waiting for the plant that it couldn't see beyond the oak.
A quote from streams... "Dear believer, do you understand that God may take away your comforts and privileges in order to make you a stronger Christian? Do you see why the Lord always trains His soldiers not by allowing them to lie on beds of ease but by calling them to difficult marches and service? He makes them wade through streams, swim across rivers, climb steep mountains, and walk many long marches carrying heavy backpacks of sorrow. This is how He develops soldiers-- not by dressing them up in fine uniforms to strut at the gates of the barracks or to appear as handsome gentlemen to those who are strolling through the park. No, God knows the soldiers can only be made in battle and are not developed in times of peace. We may be able to grow the raw materials of which soldiers are made, but turning them into true warriors requires the education brought about by the smell of gunpowder and by fighting in the midst of flying bullets and exploding bombs, not by living through pleasant and peaceful times."
There is obviously a reoccurring theme about dealing with the bad stuff... some of that why do bad things happen to good people... or how to move forward in your faith when things seem to be pulling you back. One analogy was a gardener that told the homeowner that if he was going to tend his grapes he had to prune them all back. For two years they didn't have any grapes but then the vines flourished. At first the gardener probably looked stupid... for two years... there was nothing, but then the fruit came back even stronger.
On September 30th, there's a story about a little plant in the forest whose growth was stunted because it was hidden in the shade of a giant oak tree, but the plant valued the shade and protection the tree provided... until a woodsman came in and chopped the oak down. The plant was upset he was left unprotected and scared he would be uprooted by the wind and storms. But in reality... the plant was exposed to the sunlight that would help the plant grow stronger and bloom flowers making it better than it ever could have been in the shade of the oak. There was a bigger blessing waiting for the plant that it couldn't see beyond the oak.
A quote from streams... "Dear believer, do you understand that God may take away your comforts and privileges in order to make you a stronger Christian? Do you see why the Lord always trains His soldiers not by allowing them to lie on beds of ease but by calling them to difficult marches and service? He makes them wade through streams, swim across rivers, climb steep mountains, and walk many long marches carrying heavy backpacks of sorrow. This is how He develops soldiers-- not by dressing them up in fine uniforms to strut at the gates of the barracks or to appear as handsome gentlemen to those who are strolling through the park. No, God knows the soldiers can only be made in battle and are not developed in times of peace. We may be able to grow the raw materials of which soldiers are made, but turning them into true warriors requires the education brought about by the smell of gunpowder and by fighting in the midst of flying bullets and exploding bombs, not by living through pleasant and peaceful times."
Saturday, September 23, 2006
long time no talk...
Another month has passed and I thought I should probably catch up the stalker space faithful. This might be my first day off in a month. Once games started, I've been going non-stop. This weekend all of the teams are away so I'm just waiting for results to come in so I can update the website. I'm trying to make sure that I don't get caught up in going through the motions and forget to actually live in the moment, but the busy schedule is always threatening my good intentions.
The summer feels so long ago... (well it is fall now) and living and working in Maryland feels like another life entirely. I want to remember the lessons from past experiences, but still move forward with the new knowledge applied to today. MethCo is definitely a different animal when you're on the other side of things... especially after a spending a few years away. I miss some of the things and people from my time as a student... but some things will never change... My whole student experience seems so much more valuable and worthwhile now that I can look back on it with some perspective.
Some random musings from another ccm issue compliments of jars of clay...
"'In Africa,' explains Haseltine, reflecting on the band's visit to the continent, 'People embody their experiences, their emotions. When there's a funeral, there's wailing, and it isn't a bunch of people standing around trying to be strong for everybody else. When they're thankful or happy, they're not taking anything away from that experience because they're dancing or they're singing, and there's real joy. In America, there are structures in place that keep us from actually experiencing the fullness of those emotions in life. You find in Africa they don't have much of a suicide rate-- it's extremely low. Compare that to the U.S., where we have these structures in place to keep us at a certain level of emotional status. And what are we doing with our emotions? We're killing ourselves. It's stuff like that that's definitely informed this record [Good Monsters].'"
I was just talking to one of my good friends a few weeks ago about expressing emotion and he was saying he felt like as a man he had to be strong and will not show emotion in public... anymore. I am known for being everyone's local flood and was trying to justify the value of letting it all out. Expressing emotions... good and bad... can be a healthy alternative to pretending that everything's okay when it's not. Pretending isn't being strong. I need authentic for my own sanity and encouragement... maybe I should move to Africa.
The summer feels so long ago... (well it is fall now) and living and working in Maryland feels like another life entirely. I want to remember the lessons from past experiences, but still move forward with the new knowledge applied to today. MethCo is definitely a different animal when you're on the other side of things... especially after a spending a few years away. I miss some of the things and people from my time as a student... but some things will never change... My whole student experience seems so much more valuable and worthwhile now that I can look back on it with some perspective.
Some random musings from another ccm issue compliments of jars of clay...
"'In Africa,' explains Haseltine, reflecting on the band's visit to the continent, 'People embody their experiences, their emotions. When there's a funeral, there's wailing, and it isn't a bunch of people standing around trying to be strong for everybody else. When they're thankful or happy, they're not taking anything away from that experience because they're dancing or they're singing, and there's real joy. In America, there are structures in place that keep us from actually experiencing the fullness of those emotions in life. You find in Africa they don't have much of a suicide rate-- it's extremely low. Compare that to the U.S., where we have these structures in place to keep us at a certain level of emotional status. And what are we doing with our emotions? We're killing ourselves. It's stuff like that that's definitely informed this record [Good Monsters].'"
I was just talking to one of my good friends a few weeks ago about expressing emotion and he was saying he felt like as a man he had to be strong and will not show emotion in public... anymore. I am known for being everyone's local flood and was trying to justify the value of letting it all out. Expressing emotions... good and bad... can be a healthy alternative to pretending that everything's okay when it's not. Pretending isn't being strong. I need authentic for my own sanity and encouragement... maybe I should move to Africa.
Sunday, August 20, 2006
fear
I've been a slacker in terms of keeping up with things on stalker space lately... I finished the zone at the end of july. I'm not sure I can honestly put the entire summer into adequate words. I really needed a break from the office grind, and I absolutely love camps. Some day I'm going to own my own camp and just work camps all the time... (and hire people to fill in when I need a vacation).
I left New Mexico on a Friday, went to a bridal shower on Saturday and was back at my new apartment in North Carolina on Sunday... supposed to start work on Tuesday until Monday afternoon I found out I had a work meeting in Williamsburg on Tuesday morning. Another meeting on Wednesday and since I got back, I've spent the last two and a half weeks writing a 52-page football media guide so it can be printed in time for the first football home game. I love my job, but it's definitely keeping me busy.
I have reunited with some old fayettenam friends and met some new people, but it is still a process of getting back into the whole long distance friendship with some others. Life keeps moving so quickly and I don't want to get so caught up in it that I don't have a chance to really live it. Careers, marriage, family, friends... they all take up more space so things get juggled around and hopefully nothing gets neglected.
I stole some wise words, but not particularly related... from Nichole Nordeman from the August CCM...
"Fear is potent and central to our lives... While fear is easy to identify on a global scale and in a time of war, consider the more subtle kinds of fear we breathe in and out all day. Career paths are chosen by our fear of financial instability. Relationships wither and die from a fear of intimacy. Fear of cancer motivates me to pick out certain vegetables in the produce department. Fear of rejection makes me laugh at jokes that are offensive and demeaning. Fear of judgment keeps me from raising important questions about my faith. And I might jeopardize my status as an evangelical, but it astounds me to consider the number of people who continue to enter into a relationship with Jesus because a well-intentioned preacher spent half the sermon hollering about how hot the lake of fire is going to be. And, naturally, people respond... out of fear. I think I got "saved" five different times between the ages of 9 and 13 for the same reason...
'There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear...' 1 Jn 4:18
...Imagine living a life where decisions, both personal and international, were made out of perfect love and not paralyzing fear. Imagine what that would look like to the world to see Christians responding from a place of certainty rather than reacting from a place of panic and damage control."
I left New Mexico on a Friday, went to a bridal shower on Saturday and was back at my new apartment in North Carolina on Sunday... supposed to start work on Tuesday until Monday afternoon I found out I had a work meeting in Williamsburg on Tuesday morning. Another meeting on Wednesday and since I got back, I've spent the last two and a half weeks writing a 52-page football media guide so it can be printed in time for the first football home game. I love my job, but it's definitely keeping me busy.
I have reunited with some old fayettenam friends and met some new people, but it is still a process of getting back into the whole long distance friendship with some others. Life keeps moving so quickly and I don't want to get so caught up in it that I don't have a chance to really live it. Careers, marriage, family, friends... they all take up more space so things get juggled around and hopefully nothing gets neglected.
I stole some wise words, but not particularly related... from Nichole Nordeman from the August CCM...
"Fear is potent and central to our lives... While fear is easy to identify on a global scale and in a time of war, consider the more subtle kinds of fear we breathe in and out all day. Career paths are chosen by our fear of financial instability. Relationships wither and die from a fear of intimacy. Fear of cancer motivates me to pick out certain vegetables in the produce department. Fear of rejection makes me laugh at jokes that are offensive and demeaning. Fear of judgment keeps me from raising important questions about my faith. And I might jeopardize my status as an evangelical, but it astounds me to consider the number of people who continue to enter into a relationship with Jesus because a well-intentioned preacher spent half the sermon hollering about how hot the lake of fire is going to be. And, naturally, people respond... out of fear. I think I got "saved" five different times between the ages of 9 and 13 for the same reason...
'There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear...' 1 Jn 4:18
...Imagine living a life where decisions, both personal and international, were made out of perfect love and not paralyzing fear. Imagine what that would look like to the world to see Christians responding from a place of certainty rather than reacting from a place of panic and damage control."
Saturday, August 5, 2006
summer pictures
I haven't had time to do a picture blog so I just put all of my summer pictures on webshots... in case you're interested...
http://community.webshots.com/user/skirbster
http://community.webshots.com/user/skirbster
Wednesday, July 12, 2006
summer thinking...
I'm hanging out in new mexico for the next two and a half weeks. We flew in late Sunday night after a couple of weeks in north carolina. I feel a bit like a nomad this summer "running" back and forth between everything.
Some of you probably know I can be a bit organized or perhaps over-organized. I like to know what's going on and know what I'm getting into. I'm not too big on uncertainties... I get nervous and would rather plan ahead. I'm not in a certain, safe, or comfortable time in my life right now. I've had to learn more about rolling with the punches and being flexible with what I've been given. I have met a ton of cool people and despite any drama that myspace might bring, I'm thankful for another avenue to help everyone keep in touch as long as it doesn't take priority in your life... or mine.
Camp is an interesting concept... particularly Christian camps... we all hang out for a weekend or a week and trust each other with some pretty personal information and hopefully grow a little bit and try to uncover some new concepts to go deeper in our relationship with God. It's easy to sound like you have it all together or have some emotional moment committing yourself to Christ... and then you go home... not as easy. I don't ever want to get comfortable here, or even appear like I have it all together when I know I'm just hanging out in this safe haven called camp. I hope students continue to challenge me and stretch me and ask me the tough questions that bring me back to reality. I hope God can use my words to say something worthwhile when all I see is glazed eyes and bored expressions. I'm thankful God is bigger than anything I could even attempt to describe... I pray that I can continue to surrender my life not just today, but every day... especially in the "real world" post-"zone".
Keep digging and hold me accountable...
Some of you probably know I can be a bit organized or perhaps over-organized. I like to know what's going on and know what I'm getting into. I'm not too big on uncertainties... I get nervous and would rather plan ahead. I'm not in a certain, safe, or comfortable time in my life right now. I've had to learn more about rolling with the punches and being flexible with what I've been given. I have met a ton of cool people and despite any drama that myspace might bring, I'm thankful for another avenue to help everyone keep in touch as long as it doesn't take priority in your life... or mine.
Camp is an interesting concept... particularly Christian camps... we all hang out for a weekend or a week and trust each other with some pretty personal information and hopefully grow a little bit and try to uncover some new concepts to go deeper in our relationship with God. It's easy to sound like you have it all together or have some emotional moment committing yourself to Christ... and then you go home... not as easy. I don't ever want to get comfortable here, or even appear like I have it all together when I know I'm just hanging out in this safe haven called camp. I hope students continue to challenge me and stretch me and ask me the tough questions that bring me back to reality. I hope God can use my words to say something worthwhile when all I see is glazed eyes and bored expressions. I'm thankful God is bigger than anything I could even attempt to describe... I pray that I can continue to surrender my life not just today, but every day... especially in the "real world" post-"zone".
Keep digging and hold me accountable...
Monday, June 12, 2006
o canada...
I just got back from my first trip outside of the US... I went all the way to Canada... small steps okay! I went to visit my friend Ciara and in the process I saw some good soccer, met some good people, and tried some good food. I know Canada isn't far and it's not that much different from here... but not all Canadians are exactly full of love for the Americans... and yet we don't have a clue... probably because we're too caught up with ourselves to notice... or care. It was a good week to spend on the other side of the border taking a look at another perspective all while having a mini-SOI reunion four years later.
I tried to post some pictures... hope this works... some of the vancouver sights... including the top brazilian dancer in british columbia... ciara's on the move to take over the crown next year... and listening to some anna begins in honor of the trip soundtrack...
I tried to post some pictures... hope this works... some of the vancouver sights... including the top brazilian dancer in british columbia... ciara's on the move to take over the crown next year... and listening to some anna begins in honor of the trip soundtrack...
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