Every couple of months I have a moment where I want to chuck my cell pone out the window of my car, throw it in a lake, run over it with my car....something that will make it stop ringing. This doesn't happen all the time...but sometimes. (I must have a fairly low threshold for this considering the fact that I am NOT that important of a person and things DON'T demand my attention every waking moment of the day.)
Today was one of those days. Just a desire to escape and be out of touch even if only for an hour or so. Cells phones are great, don't get me wrong. I love that I can just type a quick message to a friend and not too intrusively interrupt their day to ask a question, or people can send me a quick little one liner that makes me smile (I however, have what I call a phone phobia....that is I don't like calling people. I am just worried I am interrupting too much, or bothering them, or catching them when they don't really want to be polite, but feel a social responsibility to be polite and engage in a conversation that they don't really want to be engaged in. I'm currently working through this....) :)
Anyway....I found a great post about just that by a staff member at GCC. I've enjoyed reading books and posts by him and learning as much as I can because let's face it, I'm young, and I've got a lot to learn.
I'll say it again, I am NOT that important of a person....I don't twitter, I don't subscribe to hundreds of blogs or automatic notifications, yet I still crave silence.
I think that was one of the things I loved most about being in Nashville at the National Youth Worker's Convention. Yes, I was still doing some work stuff, and I was busy attending different sessions and seminars. But the great thing was that I could leave a session and just go walk around downtown, or go to the prayer chapel, or back to my hotel and just sit, in silence and actually process and digest what I had just heard. I didn't get a lot of phone calls because people knew I was out of the office, I didn't get a lot of emails, and I didn't even check email all that often. It's been awhile since I've done that...since I've really just stopped to listen and hear what I'm supposed to hear. And it was GREAT!
I need to carve out more time to do just that. Stay offline, turn off the phone, the tv, and even the music and just enjoy the silence.
Showing posts with label Youth Specialties Conference. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Youth Specialties Conference. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Saturday, November 22, 2008
NYWC Session 2
David Crowder Band, Shane Claiborne, Andrew Marin, Tony Campolo
First let me just say that yesterday was the first time I have ever seen Crowder live. It was great! Such energy and passion for what he does...and he is absolutely hysterical. I think my favorite part was when he busted out the keytar and the modified guitar hero-esque guitar. A-Mazing.
Now, I have a confession to make. A lot of my staff, and just a lot of people that I know in general have read Irresistable Revolution and Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. They've talked about it, praised it as a "must read" and seriously contemplated selling all their possessions, and living with the poor and homeless. I have been skeptical of anything that seems like a "fad" book. I was skeptical of books like Velvet Elvis and Blue Like Jazz when they first came out. I don't know, I'm sure there's good stuff, but I kind of like the classics.
After listening to him speak last night though, I had to get his book and see what this is all about...Because he said something that resonated with me 100%, that I have been trying to articulate for 5 years, but haven't really been able to.
He talked about growing up in church, having all the "right" answers, and holding all the "right" beliefs, and all the "right" political opinions. And then he came to a realization:
First let me just say that yesterday was the first time I have ever seen Crowder live. It was great! Such energy and passion for what he does...and he is absolutely hysterical. I think my favorite part was when he busted out the keytar and the modified guitar hero-esque guitar. A-Mazing.
Now, I have a confession to make. A lot of my staff, and just a lot of people that I know in general have read Irresistable Revolution and Jesus for President by Shane Claiborne. They've talked about it, praised it as a "must read" and seriously contemplated selling all their possessions, and living with the poor and homeless. I have been skeptical of anything that seems like a "fad" book. I was skeptical of books like Velvet Elvis and Blue Like Jazz when they first came out. I don't know, I'm sure there's good stuff, but I kind of like the classics.
After listening to him speak last night though, I had to get his book and see what this is all about...Because he said something that resonated with me 100%, that I have been trying to articulate for 5 years, but haven't really been able to.
He talked about growing up in church, having all the "right" answers, and holding all the "right" beliefs, and all the "right" political opinions. And then he came to a realization:
"When I am faced with a 14 year old girl, pregnant and unmarried, how can I be pro-life without being willing to come alongside this 14 year old girl and help her learn how to become a 14 year old mother?"
That's about as close to a direct quote as I could get....I wanted to stand up and say thank you for putting into words far better than I have ever been able to figure out how to, exactly what has always bothered me. I get frustrated (with this issue specifically for some reason) that we seem to condemn young women and girls who find themselves in this situation....regardless of the choice they make...Make the "Pro-life" decision to keep the baby, and be ostracized and condemned for being pregnant out of wedlock...Make the "Pro-choice" decision to have an abortion, and be ostracized and condemned for having an abortion. These girls are in a no win.
Unless we choose to come alongside them and walk with them into and along a path that doesn't seem to have clear-cut, easy decisions.
I had to go to his late-night talk back session to hear more, and I am glad I did. He talked more about the community he lives in and answered some of the questions I have wondered: How do you just do what you do? What about issues of safety? Do you ever feel like you have been taken advantage of?
It was good stuff. Challenging stuff. And I am still thinking about it. I feel like I have so much more to think about and process. But it's been great so far.
And by the way....I love this city.
Unless we choose to come alongside them and walk with them into and along a path that doesn't seem to have clear-cut, easy decisions.
I had to go to his late-night talk back session to hear more, and I am glad I did. He talked more about the community he lives in and answered some of the questions I have wondered: How do you just do what you do? What about issues of safety? Do you ever feel like you have been taken advantage of?
It was good stuff. Challenging stuff. And I am still thinking about it. I feel like I have so much more to think about and process. But it's been great so far.
And by the way....I love this city.
NYWC Session 1
As ridiculous as it may seem, the thing that stood out to me the most from the first session at YS was Joe Castillo. Joe Castillo is a sand artist. I had no idea what that even meant when they introduced him, and to be honest, I was a little skeptical about what he was doing. But then I sat and watched him tell the story of the Prodigal Son through sand art. It was incredible. It left me in tears.
You can watch it here
Not everyone learns the same, or is affected by the same things. What if someone has come to church every Sunday in their life and still hasn't really gotten it? There has to be a way to reach them. What if we started using the arts in different, out of the box ways? What kind of change might take place if we stop doing what we've always done, take a risk, and try something new.
It was incredible.
You can watch it here
Not everyone learns the same, or is affected by the same things. What if someone has come to church every Sunday in their life and still hasn't really gotten it? There has to be a way to reach them. What if we started using the arts in different, out of the box ways? What kind of change might take place if we stop doing what we've always done, take a risk, and try something new.
It was incredible.
NYWC Nashville
This week I am in Nashville for the National Youth Worker's Convention put on by Youth Specialties. It has been a great trip so far with the exception of me being sick since it started (I go between sounding like a man, to no voice, to incredibly squeaky....It's been entertaining.)
I am so thankful that right at the outset, the first thing Mark Oestreicher said in the first session was "make this event what you need it to be." Don't go to all the sessions and seminars. You will be ragged by the end if you do. It's hard going into something like this with that mindset, because I am the type of person who wants to get as much out of it as I can, so to me that means "hit as much as possible!!!"
But after the second session tonight, I feel like already in just the few hours worth of seminars and sessions, I have so much to process and think about that I'm close to overload. So tomorrow morning, I'm processing. No seminar, just processing. Maybe I'll spend some time in the prayer chapel too....
I'm excited. I'm fired up. And my mind is racing (despite the fact that it's 12:30 in Nashville meaning it's 1:30 back home. I definitely have more to say about the sessions, but it will have to wait. I am going to try to shut my brain off for awhile and sleep. More processed thoughts to come.
I am so thankful that right at the outset, the first thing Mark Oestreicher said in the first session was "make this event what you need it to be." Don't go to all the sessions and seminars. You will be ragged by the end if you do. It's hard going into something like this with that mindset, because I am the type of person who wants to get as much out of it as I can, so to me that means "hit as much as possible!!!"
But after the second session tonight, I feel like already in just the few hours worth of seminars and sessions, I have so much to process and think about that I'm close to overload. So tomorrow morning, I'm processing. No seminar, just processing. Maybe I'll spend some time in the prayer chapel too....
I'm excited. I'm fired up. And my mind is racing (despite the fact that it's 12:30 in Nashville meaning it's 1:30 back home. I definitely have more to say about the sessions, but it will have to wait. I am going to try to shut my brain off for awhile and sleep. More processed thoughts to come.
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