Fear of God: The Wrong Kind…

Occasionally I will have an idea in my mind that I let percolate for quite some time before I put the words onto paper, or in this case, onto the internet. This particular story took place around three months ago and I have been meaning to write about it ever since.

As most of you know, I took my youth group to Texas to work at a camp for foster children back in August. It was a very challenging week, to say the least. You can read about some of the chaos in this post Texas Missions Trip – Day 6… ! It was a life-changing week for my students and I. We saw the hurt that is present in most of the kids at that camp. They came from a wide variety of backgrounds (financial, ethnic, religious, etc…) but they all had one thing in common: they came from broken families. Some of them came from a background of drugs, alcohol, and abuse, while others just came from a background of parents that didn’t want them.

Those kids were not foster kids; they are kids who are forced to live in the foster care system. It wasn’t anything they did, it wasn’t their choice, and they shouldn’t be looked down upon because of it. I developed a heart for those kids that week and I will never forget the relationships built and impact that was made in their lives. There was one thing that deeply moved me, and that is what I will be writing about today…

After the speaker finished his message during one of the final services of the week, each kid was to write down what they were thankful for as well as what they were afraid of on separate post-it-notes. After they were done, they were to take the post-it-note with their fears and stick it to a giant wooden cross that was in the front of the room. This signified that they were surrendering their fears to Jesus and leaving them at the Cross. Since all of these kids were between the ages of 9 and 12, they weren’t very tall, so I went up to help my campers stick their post-it-notes up high on the cross. After I got done helping some of my campers stick their fears on the cross, I went back to see the progress that one particular camper was making (I am not legally allowed to say his name) on his thankfulness and fears. The camp nurse was also helping him. He was saying things like, “I ain’t afraid of nothin’!” To this, to get him laughing, I said, “what about me? I’m way bigger than you are…and I have tattoo’s…you should be afraid of me!” He then leaned over to the nurse and said, “Yeah, that’s true…but I still ain’t afraid of him!” After this, I walked around to a few of my other campers to see their progress and when I came back, the nurse told me she needed to talk to me about something and pulled me into the kitchen…

As soon as we got out of sight of the campers, she started bawling and told me that she got that little boy to tell her what he was really afraid of. He told her that he was afraid of God and that God was punishing him! I saw her heart break right there in front of me for that little boy, and mine broke too. My heart broke because of the unfairness that these kids face everyday due to the poor decisions of their biological parents. As I mentioned earlier, it is not their (the kids) fault that they are in this living situation, but it is the cards that they have been dealt and they have no choice in the matter. It’s just sad to hear that they blame God and think that He is punishing them.

The nurse asked me to please talk to him and let him know that God is not punishing him and that He loves him! I gave her my word that I would and later that afternoon, I pulled the camper aside and did my best to talk to him. He wasn’t very willing to talk, but I know that Jesus’ words, spoken through me, got into his heart and his mind. I pray that they did and that he learns that God is the only person that can fill any void he has in his life!

The organization that we worked for (Arrow Child and Family Ministries) sent me a poster that contained some of the post-it-notes that the campers wrote. Some examples of what they wrote are as follows…

“Afraid of losing my brothers and sisters.”

“Hope to see you in next two months mom. I miss you! And hope you get better.”

“I want to go back home to my mom.”

“I want to go home with my real parents.”

“I want a new family who can love me more.”

“I want to be adopted.”

“My biological father abused my mom.”

These are just a few of the things that these kids wrote. Please pray for the camper I wrote about, as well as the millions of other children who have concerns like the ones listed above! Thank you!

-          paulg

American Ride…

Every once in a while a song hits the radio stations that becomes an instant favorite of mine. Country artist Toby Keith’s song “American Ride” was one of those for me. I recently saw him in concert at the Post Gazette Pavilion in Pittsburgh, PA and he played this song live. I love the energy and emotion he pours into it. You can really tell that he loves his country, (in this, and many of his other songs) but you can also tell that he sees it spinning out of control…The second verse to the song says:

“Daddy works his can off payin’ for the good life.
Kids on the YouTube learnin how to be cool.
Livin in a cruel world, pays to be a mean girl.”

This is illustrating the way things are in America today. The father works hard in order to provide a good life for his wife and children while the kids sit at home and learn how to be cool (or at least what the world thinks is cool) on youtube and other social networking sites. Now, I know I’m not a kid anymore, but 24 is not that far away from being a teenager. I can relate to what Toby says next, in that I saw this kind of thing as I was in my teenage years. The last line does an adequate job of explaining what it’s like to be a kid in this day and age. We truly do live in a cruel world and kids are forced to get tough and be “mean girls (and guys)” in order to survive the cruelty of the world we live in.

The chorus of the song says:

“Thats us, Thats right
Gotta love this American ride.
Both ends of the ozone burnin.
Funny how the world keeps turnin.
Look ma, no hands.
I love this American ride.”

Toby is saying that this is the way it is, and we have no choice but to love it. I really like when he says “both ends of the ozone burnin…funny how the world keeps turnin.” This lyric reminds me of Billy Joel’s hit song “We Didn’t Start the Fire” from 1989. Mr. Joel says “we didn’t start the fire; it was always burning since the world’s been turning.” Now, twenty years later, Toby is saying that it is still the same way and he’s riding it with “no hands.” This is to illustrate living dangerously.

The third verse of the song says:

“Poor little infamous America’s town.
She gained five pounds and lost her crown.
Quick fix plastic surgical antidote.
Got herself a record deal, can’t even sing a note.”

This verse portrays the way society views women. In the song, a woman gained five pounds and lost her crown (probably talking about a beauty contest). She then got the “quick fix” and had plastic surgery, which she thought would be the antidote to her problems. Toby then says that she got herself a record deal and she can’t even sing a note. This is how it is today as well. If a woman is sexy, she can do anything. Record companies will sign them because of their looks, not their talents, or lack thereof!

Lastly, and my main reason for writing about this song, the fourth verse says:

“Plasma gettin bigger, Jesus gettin smaller.
Spill a cup of coffee, make a million dollars.
Customs caught a thug with an aerosol can.
If the shoe don’t fit, the fit’s gonna hit the shan.”

Toby hit the nail on the head with this opening line. He has observed, as most people have, that the plasma TV’s (or worldly possessions) are getting bigger (people want bigger and better things) and Jesus is getting smaller. He’s saying that people are so focused on worldly possessions, wealth, and having the best stuff that Jesus is becoming less important to them. People think that this song is a knock on Jesus, but it’s really a knock on us for allowing possessions to become larger than Jesus in our lives. Toby goes on to say “spill a cup of coffee, make a million dollars.” This is referring to the incident years ago when someone spilled a cup of McDonald’s coffee on them and sued McDonalds because the coffee was hot and burnt them. Coffee is hot…it’s common sense. There’s no reason to sue a company over it. You’re the dummy who spilled it! The last line in this verse is a new realization to me (as of 3 minutes ago). I never realized what he was saying until I looked it up. I won’t spell out what he’s saying, but replace the “f” in “fit” with an “sh” and replace the “sh” in “shan” with an “f” and you got the message of what Toby is saying.I love this song and the rest of Toby’s patriotic songs. I love this country and I support the troops, but like Toby, I see that things are getting far worse.

This is just my interpretation of the song. You may have a different or better one. Regardless, I’d like to hear your thoughts.

P.S. – I fully support Toby Keith’s decision to drive Ford trucks!-          paulg

What Mask Are You Wearing?

On Saturday (Halloween) night, I took some students and leaders from my youth group to my home church for a lock-in/all-nighter. The youth pastor there is one of my good friends whom I have known ever since I was in 8^th grade. We had been working together to plan this event for a few months and we were both excited that it was finally happening! There were between 50 and 60 students and 10-15 leaders there and we all had a blast!

The lock-in was called “Unmasked ‘09” and was a perfect message for Halloween night. The message that my youth pastor friend brought was not to condemn Halloween but to illustrate the fact that we ALL wear masks to hide who we really are from other people and God! We often get comfortable putting on this façade that we have our lives together and that we are perfect, when in reality, we are not perfect, we don’t have our lives in order, and we are hiding who we really are from God and the rest of the world.

The night began with a video I put together, which included a sweet three-minute countdown, an animated announcement puppet, rules given by the announcement puppet, and a video about all-nighters. After that, everyone played a game of “Deal or No Deal” in the church sanctuary. The announcer for the game was one of my friend’s energetic/crazy youth group members. He dressed up in a Mexican sombrero, a cape, and some strange facial hair (it was actually drawn on with a sharpie)! The kids love it and had a chance to win up to $50. Two of them won prizes: one won $7 and the other won $5. Both of their winnings basically off-set the cost of the lock-in! Needless to say, my friend wasn’t too upset that he didn’t have to give away $50. After the game show, everyone went across the parking lot to the event center, where we would stay for the remainder of the night. For me, the cool thing about being in the event center was that I helped build it two summers ago when I did my internship there! It was awesome to see the finished product of what used to be a big mound of dirt and rocks!

After our arrival at the event center, we had the opening service. The service was entitled, “LOL,” which stands for “Live Out Loud.” It is the service that my friend does every Saturday night and Sunday morning at the church. The service opened with some up-beat/energetic worship led by a high school student who God has gifted with an amazing voice. After worship, we heard from a heavily tattooed man named Tom. Tom was a 50-something year old man who was a drug addict and dealer from the time he was 12-years-old until the year 1991! He told his story of how God continued to save his life over and over again, even when he felt that he was unworthy of living and meant to die. He told stories of getting stopped at customs when trying to re-enter the country with hundreds of pounds of marijuana in the trunk of his car, and how he didn’t get caught. He told the story of how he tried to end his life by shooting himself in the chest, and how he lived. And he told the story of how he got busted by the DEA with $70,000 worth of cocaine taped around his stomach and back. God saved him from all of these things and he finally gave his life over to Him. His message was to encourage the kids not to get involved in things that are ungodly, and to teach of God’s grace and mercy. Everyone in the room was silent throughout Tom’s whole testimony. For lack of a better phrase, you could have heard a pin drop in that room!

After Tom was finished speaking, everyone clapped and some gave a standing ovation. Then my friend started praying before he jumped into his message. Throughout the prayer, I was trying to figure out why my friends’ voice was muffled, but I just couldn’t figure it out. At the end of the prayer, I looked up and saw that he was wearing a mask. “Genius,” I thought! He then began to teach from Genesis 3 about the deception that took place in the Garden of Eden. He talked about how Satan deceived Eve and convinced her to disobey God and eat from the tree in the middle of the Garden. He tied this in to the unmasked theme by saying we all deceived ourselves, each other, and God by pretending to be something we are not and hiding behind masks of alcohol, drugs, sex, pornography, pride, jealousy, etc…

He ended by telling everyone that there is freedom from the bondage that is created by the masks that we wear, and that freedom’s name is Jesus. He took his mask off and then told the story of salvation and let the kids know that we (the leaders) are there for them if they needed to talk or if they had any questions. It was a powerful message and it inspired me to get more creative with my teaching and to re-think the way I do things in my youth ministry.

For the remainder of the night, we had the option to play basketball, dodge ball, video games, board games, group games, and watch movies. It was a long night. We ended the lock-in with a short LOL service that served as a reminder to the students to keep their masks off and turn to Jesus whenever they feel the need to create one or put one on.

This message/theme for the event got me thinking, and I would like to hear from you. What kinds of masks have you seen students and leaders wear in your youth ministries (or other professions)?

-          paulg

Night of a Thousand Memories…

Last night was the yearly pastor appreciation service that my church holds for its pastors. Being that I have only been on staff here since February of this year, I have never experienced one of these services (or maybe I should say “roasts”) before. The theme of the night was, “Night of a Thousand Memories,” and it definitely did provide a thousand memories for me. Some were scary (as you will soon read) and some were encouraging, but they were all good!

The evening opened up with a dinner (soup and salad) and then moved into the sanctuary for the pastor appreciation service. The worship band opened with a song my senior pastor picked (God of This City) and one that I picked (Revelation Song). Then one of the MC’s for the night (the head elder) read through and spoke briefly about each pastor’s favorite Bible verse/passage. After the serious stuff was out of the way, the laughs began!

Two of my youth group leaders came out and said a few nice things about me and how they’ve enjoyed working with me for the last 8 months. After they were done with the nice compliments, they presented me with my gifts. I got two garbage cans, some hand towels for my bathroom, some hand towels for my kitchen, and some sponges. I received these “gifts” because I let the girls in my youth group and the female leaders use my apartment a few weeks ago for a “girls only dinner and a movie night!” Apparently, they were not too impressed with the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of my apartment. What did they expect? I’m a 24-year-old dude that lives alone!! It seemed clean to me! Everyone at the service got a good laugh out of my gifts and the stories behind them. After that, a parent of one of my students (also one of my leaders) introduced the next guest. She started out by saying that it was one of my favorite artists/movie stars and that I have been in the fan club for quite some time. She then announced that this artist/actor was a teenage girl named Hannah Montana. After that, our office manager came parading out dressed up as “Olga Oklahoma” (Hannah Montana’s made up cousin)!

Some background info:

I will admit (and am not ashamed to do so) that I went to see the Hannah Montana movie when it was in theaters. I took my friend (now girlfriend) to see it in exchange for her going to see a manlier movie with me sometime. I saw it as an opportunity to hang out with a potentially awesome girl, and to get two dates out of one!!! It was our first time hanging out and the movie wasn’t as bad as people make it out to be. There were a few different country stars that made a cameo appearance in the movie, one of which was one of my favorite groups (Rascal Flatts)! In the movie, Rascal Flatts performed their hit songs “Bless the Broken Road” and “Backwards,” which are very good songs! I really like movies with a down home, country feel to them, and this movie provided just that.

Now that the background info and mini movie review is out of the way, allow me to get back to the service recap from last night!

After Olga Oklahoma made her parade around the sanctuary, I got called to the front to receive a hug from “her.” She then said, “Pastor Paul, is it true that you need a little help with your Sunday wardrobe?” To which I answered, “hmmm…not that I know of!” “She” then went out of the room and came back with a brand new suit that the church purchased for me.

Side note: I do not need help dressing nicely for church. Olga Oklahoma was just doing ad lib and had nothing planned to say. I learned this today when the above mentioned parent/leader called me and made sure I wasn’t offended by Olga’s comment!

Regardless though, it is a very nice suit and I’m happy to have received it.

This was the last of my humiliation for the night. Oh wait, no…it definitely wasn’t!!!! After I got my suit and Olga thanked me for being a fan of her cousin Hannah, “she” put her hand on my shoulder, paused, and then gave me a kiss on the cheek! It was very sweet of “her!” How many other youth pastors can say that they got a kiss from their male office manager while they were dressed up as a female?

At the end of the service, the head elder had both of the pastors come up front and take our shoes off. He then asked those from the church who are willing to support us and go on the journey with us to bring their shoes up front as well. Everyone in the church was shoeless to show that they are along for the ride, no matter what! They showed that they are willing to follow their shepherds and walk with us on the journey. Then he had everyone gather around their pastors to pray for them! It was an excellent ending to an excellent service. It was awesome to see and experience the support that my church shows to its pastors!

I am extremely blessed to be a part of a church that loves its pastors so much. I’m glad to be here and I know that I am where God wants me to be! Thank you!

- paulg

Ways to Connect with God…

The denomination I work for (The Christian and Missionary Alliance) requires its official workers to be licensed and ordained. I received my licensing while still attending Nyack and the Ordination process officially starts once you are placed in a church (February 2009 for me). It is a long and strenuous process filled with monthly reports, going on in-service retreats, meeting with mentors, attending seminars, reading numerous books, reading a few different translations of the Bible, writing numerous papers, etc.  This past weekend, I attended on one of those above-mentioned retreats. Luckily for me, the retreat was held relatively close to home (38 miles away) at the camp I have been going to for the past 8 or 9 years.  I also have a trailer there (Note: It isn’t officially mine yet, but I am currently making payments on it and I will own it in a few months)! Everyone else attending the retreat had to stay in one of the dorms and share a room with someone. Being that I have the trailer, I had my own solitary place to go to. That is where I wrote most of this from…

I’ve enjoyed my time on the retreat so far and I got to sit in on teaching/training from some of the leaders who work in the District Office of my denomination. I’ve learned a few things about myself and my leadership style as well as heard a few things that got me thinking and provided me with things to chew on and consider. I also had the opportunity to meet and have lunch with three other youth pastors from this district, two of which I have never met before. We discussed ways to get plugged-in to the schools in our ministries cities/areas; which is something that I’ve been thinking/praying about a lot lately. I’ve been looking for some ideas and in the course of 15 minutes, God gave me three great ideas through talking to those guys. But that is for another post…One of the speakers this morning taught the session on Spiritual Formation. She taught some key principles from a book written by Gary Thomas called “Sacred Pathways.” The first question she asked us was:

“Remember one or two times in your life when you felt especially close to God…What were you doing?”

This encouraged us to think back to a time in our life when we felt particularly close to God and made us think about what we were doing. Some answers given were:

“Being on a retreat designed for the purpose of making you get close to God,”

“Going through trials,”

“Being at the beach where she (the person who had this answer) gave her life to Jesus,”

Etc…

The speaker then began teaching about things called sacred pathways. A sacred pathway is a means by which God draws a believer into a closer sense of spiritual intimacy and relationship with Him. The remainder of the session was going through the different types of spiritual pathways that exist and determining what we could most relate to. Those pathways were: Naturalists, Sensates, Traditionalists, Ascetics, Activists, Caregivers, Enthusiasts, Contemplatives, and Intellectuals. Before she even started, I looked ahead and pinpointed what I thought I was and it turned out that I was right.

I won’t go into much detail about what each one entails, but I will give a few characteristics of each pathway.

Naturalists sense God’s presence when experiencing God’s creation and can visualize scriptural truths, see God more clearly, and learn to rest. Their temptation is that they can get too carried away and begin to idolize nature (worshiping creation instead of the Creator)!

Sensates are individuals who love God with the senses (sound, smell, touch, sight, taste). Ezekiel is a Biblical example of this type of person (Revelation 1:13-17). Their temptation is that they can often worship without conviction but by emotion (based totally on sensory things). They can also worship worship…a.k.a. – they can get too carried away by the experience of worship rather than the object of it (Christ)!

Traditionalists express love for God through rituals and symbols. A Biblical example of this type of person is Ezra and Abraham. They enjoy celebrations and observances. Scripture meditation is an important source of nourishment for them (rightly so!). Their temptation is that they can often serve God without knowing God (1 Samuel 3:1,7), they judge others, and repeat things mechanically (often prayers)!

Ascetics are individuals who love God in solitude and simplicity. They enjoy disciplines of fasting, obeying as a means of honoring God, hard work, taking retreats, living simply (eliminating distractions), enduring hardships. Their temptation is that they overemphasize personal purity (spiritual refreshment must be balanced with ministry to others) and that they can seek pain for its own sake.

Activists are individuals who love God through confrontation (righting wrongs and social injustices). They stay active because they feel it is the best way to express love for God. Biblical examples are Elijah and Moses. Their temptations are: ambition and sexual sings, elitism and resentment (of others not like them), preoccupation with activity and statistics, lack of emphasis on personal holiness.

Caregivers express love for God by loving others. A Biblical example is Mordecai (Esther 2:7). Their temptation is that they are judging, they serve themselves by serving others, and they neglect those closest to them (family).

Enthusiasts love God with mystery and celebration. Their temptations are that they seek experiences for experiences’ sake, they are independent, and they equate “good feelings” with “good worship.”

Contemplatives love God through adoration. A Biblical example is Mary (when she sat at the feet of Jesus). These types of people rest in God’s presence. Their temptation is that they lose balance (they want to be alone with God and avoid being with people), they absorb the ego (God is always God and we don’t become absorbed into God), they forget virtue (need to develop self-discipline and self-control), and they get addicted to spiritual experience (not feelings, but God).

And lastly, intellectuals are types of people who love God with the mind. A Biblical example is Solomon (Psalms 49). They love intellectual training (church history, Biblical studies, systematic theology, ethics, apologetics, and creeds). Their temptations can be: loving controversy, knowing rather than doing, and being proud.

At the beginning, I guessed that I was a contemplative and an intellectual and based on the results of my assessments, I was right. After each category, the speaker gave us a 6 question quiz to assess if we fell into that category of sacred pathways. I scored the highest on those two categories.

After the session, we were given free time to go off on our own to think about, pray about, and think about these things some more. The way I process things is to write them down and sort through them in that manner. This is why I wrote this. Before I started writing and sorting, I went for a walk up into the woods behind the camp. I went to do some praying, enjoy nature (am I a Naturalist?, and shoot my gun. I had an excellent walk, did a lot of praying, but only got to fire one round from my pistol due to the sound of a chainsaw nearby (loggers).When I began to write and sort through some of these new concepts, I learned/recalled that there were certain aspects of each of these sacred pathways that I could relate to but there were only two that I scored highly on.

I learned that I am a contemplative and an intellectual. The main thing of a contemplative sacred pathway is that the individual loves God through adoration. This made me think back to one of my first posts on this blog “Reasons to Praise Him” Another reason that this means of connecting with God relates to me is that I often put a lot of thought into things. One of my friends (and former boss) used to tell me that he enjoyed reading my writings because I’m always thinking and bringing new concepts to things. I don’t always agree with this and sometimes feel like I’m just regurgitating what I’ve heard/read from others, but it’s a cool compliment to receivet. Thanks Dan!

I also learned that I am an intellectual. I sometimes don’t agree with this, but the more I think of it, the more real it seems to me. One of an intellectual’s main things is that the individual loves intellectual training (reading, studying, Biblical studies, systematic theology, apologetics, church history, etc..). I can relate to these things. My bookshelf at home and in my office is another confirmation to this intellectual sacred pathway. I am constantly purchasing and reading new books; I can’t seem to get enough!

In no way am I saying that these are the only two things I use to bring me closer to God, but they do seem to be two of the primary ones.

The reason I am writing is to: 1. Process my thoughts and 2. Find out what types of sacred pathways others use. Maybe there are some that I am missing, or maybe there are some corrections or new additions to the ones that I have listed here.

So, what are some ways that you are drawn into a closer sense of spiritual intimacy and relationship with God? I would love to hear your thoughts/ideas!

-          paulg

Handling Distractions Well…

Last night (I wrote this on Monday) I had my youth group over for a football watching party and youth group lesson. I didn’t want to miss the Steelers game, and I definitely didn’t want to miss youth group, so I had the genius idea of combining the two and teaching the lesson at half-time! I had the game playing in my living room (on my 60-inch TV that was given to me for free) as well as in another room on one of my leaders 42-inch flat screen TV’s! It was a great event and everyone seemed to have a blast. I had the opportunity of teaching in front a wide spectrum of ages (from 9 months old to 50 years old). I got to teach in front of other people besides just my youth group kids. There were about 17 people there total. Good thing I have cool neighbors and they don’t mind the noise! The reason I am writing though, is to talk about distractions in youth ministry…

When I think about a distraction, the movie “Shooter” immediately pops into my mind. The part I think of is when Bob Lee Swagger (Mark Wahlberg) is training Nick Memphis (Michael Pena) to not be distracted while being a sniper. He tells him to look through the scope at his target and to never let anything distract him. Right before Pena’s character is about to pull the trigger, Wahlberg’s character sets off and explosive charge he has placed inside of a watermelon 20 feet from the target that Pena’s character is attempting to shoot. Pena’s character jumps off of the ground and gets distracted of course and Wahlberg reminds him that he is not supposed to let distractions distract him.  I guess that’s easier said than done when watermelons are exploding all around you!

Anyway, back to my topic of distractions in youth ministry…

In the span of about an hour this afternoon I received two emails complimenting me on my ability to handle distractions well. The reason for this is because there were a few distractions at youth group last night. Some of those were: people arriving late and someone from my group needing to go down to let them in, a baby crying, some students talking and not paying attention, a student breaking my sliding blinds, etc… Although some of the distractions were, well…distracting, God took control and did what I asked him to in my prayer time before the lesson; to speak through me and accomplish what He would want accomplished that night! And I believe that God did that. He spoke through me and I felt 100% comfortable with teaching my lesson in front of all of the visitors that were there!

One of the emails I received was from my pastor and the other was from a parent that was in attendance at the event. They both had some really encouraging words for me, and they couldn’t have come at a better time. I have been feeling down and a bit discouraged as of late due to certain reasons that I will not be discussing publicly and these emails really lifted me up! One of them said:

“I was IMPRESSED with how you handle the youth….last night I got to sit in on a little bit…how you handle the word, the group, distractions, and go with flow! I told the folks at church that our youth are in GOOD HANDS with our Youth Pastor and sponsors….”

And the other said:

“You have a good group of kids to work with – and you handle the minor distractions that you seem to have every week very well.  : )  ”

I’m not writing this to brag or anything, but I am writing to let you know how awesome God is! I was in need of some encouragement, God saw that, and sent me two very uplifting emails…well, God didn’t actually send them, but you know what I mean! God has blessed me with patience beyond belief. Whenever things get out of hand or kids act up, it doesn’t bother me. God geared me that way and trained me by allowing me to be the pastor of a group of 30 crazy middle schoolers for a few years in New York!

I don’t have an amazing and powerful closing to this post, but I would like to hear from others on how you handle distractions in your youth ministries (or in your particular business setting)? Comment and let me know!

-          paulg

Sometimes, God throws a bungee cord at you…

Two weekends ago, my friend Ashley (ok, she’s a little more than a friend…it just isn’t official yet) took a road trip back to where I grew up to watch the Pittsburgh Steeler game, go to a concert (Toby Keith and Trace Adkins), and to visit family and friends. It had the makings to be a fun and relaxing weekend and it was, but the first night was a little stressful and chaotic.

Before we left Altoona to go to Belle Vernon (where I grew up), I received a text from my best friend Billy asking me to pray for him because he was having severe stomach pains. Some background info: He had to get a colonoscopy that morning and something went wrong that didn’t show up until later in the day. Because of this complication, he was having intense pains in his stomach, he had a high fever, and he could barely walk (due to the stomach pain). It was so bad that he couldn’t even stay to watch the Steeler game; and he is a die-hard fan like me! That’s how I knew it was serious! Billy’s fiancé (whose name is Ashley) got off of work, rushed to his house and took him back to the ER (at the same hospital she works at). I did get to pray with and for him before he left, and I was very thankful for that.

While we were waiting on the results, we hung out at his house and watched the first half of the game. When we found out that he was going to need an emergency surgery, we rushed out the door and attempted to get to the hospital as fast as we could. We were making decent time and it looked like we were going to make it there in time to see him and pray with him before his surgery!

I was driving my truck and Ashley and Rob (Billy’s cousin/my friend) were with me while Becky (Billy’s sister) and JORDAN (her boyfriend…who asked me to put his name in all capitals) were in another vehicle. For some reason (which I later realized why) I decided to pass them. No more than three seconds after I passed them, I heard this loud clunking noise that sounded like someone was beating the crap out of my truck with a baseball bat! I immediately pulled off of the road and got out to see what happened while JORDAN and Becky kept on going to the hospital. When I got to the side of the truck that the ruckus was coming from, I found a bungee cord sticking out of my tire…a stinking bungee cord! How does that happen? My tire was flat and the other end of the bungee cord was missing in action. I soon found out what happened to that though. As Rob and I were changing my tire (which was an interesting experience), Ashley noticed that my rear, right taillight cover and taillight were completely shattered. Apparently the other end of the bungee swung back and busted my taillight. All I could do was laugh, because again, it was a bungee cord…how could I get mad at that?

Anyway, we got the tire changed and finally made it to the hospital about a half an hour after Billy went into surgery. JORDAN and Becky made it to the hospital in time to see him before he went in. When we got there, we saw that there were eight people (family, friends, pastor) there waiting for the results of his surgery. It was encouraging to see them all there. We spent some time praying, talking, and laughing while we waited. While Billy’s pastor was praying, I was thinking and asking God why the bungee cord incident happened. Then God helped me to realize that my passing of JORDAN and Becky and getting the flat tire prevented Becky’s car from getting the flat tire and not being able to get to the hospital in time. Then I realized that Billy needed his sister (who is a nurse) by his side before surgery to help calm him down, pray with him, and let him know that everything was going to be ok! He needed his sister there and God knew that, so He orchestrated my running over of the bungee cord and the events that followed! It’s funny/awesome how God works at times!

Billy’s surgery lasted over four hours and he is currently recovering successfully! He has forty-four staples in his stomach and is not allowed to go back to work for four weeks! Thank you to those of you who saw my updates on twitter and the church prayer chain and were praying for him. God answered those prayers! Please continue to pray for a safe and successful recovery with no complications!

This story happened on September 11 and I am just now finding the time to write about it. I think God wanted me to write about this today, as opposed to last week, because I needed to be reminded of how God is in control of every situation. No matter how bad things seem, no matter how worried we get, no matter what we think will happen, God KNOWS what will happen and has everything under control!

Thanks for reading!

-          paulg

When “The Big One” Hits…

Yesterday was a very long and productive day for me. I was at the office for eleven hours and got a lot of work done that has been piling up for quite some time. I was focused and driven. During my lunch break, I went with my Pastor to a luncheon/information seminar that a senior citizens group from my church was sponsoring. The speaker was an ex-cop who is a current Red Cross worker. He was informing everyone on what to do in the face of a disaster (natural disaster, terrorism, viruses (H1N1), etc…). He has been involved in many disasters over the last few decades (Oklahoma City Bombing, Columbine, Hurricane Katrina, The World Trade Center attacks…a.k.a. 9-11, and many more). It was very interesting to hear what he had to say and to hear him speak from experience. He went into great detail about how many cities, places, and organizations in the US have a very poor plan of action for when disasters strike! He referred to these plans as “disaster plans.” He talked about what could have been done differently to save people in the city of New Orleans more effectively. He talked about how when “The Big One” hits (whatever that may be), there are many people that will suffer due to the poor disaster plans that are in place!

This got me thinking: How can I apply this idea to youth ministry? In my experience in youth ministry so far, I can’t even begin to count how many times a student has come to me with a problem or a concern, looking for someone to talk to or for some advice. I’ve taken numerous classes at Nyack that have prepared me for some of the things I’ve run into thus far, but there are just some things that cannot be taught in a classroom setting!  I’ve heard some pretty serious things from my students in the past, but I wonder what would happen when they have a problem that I (or my leadership team) have no idea how to deal with! What would happen when “The Big One” hits in one of my student’s lives? Will I be prepared with a disaster plan to adequately help and be there for them? Or will I let the disaster take over that student’s life because my plan was not in existence or perfected and I didn’t know what to do?

There is another set of questions I could be asking as well. Am I the kind of youth pastor and friend that my students will want to go to when disasters hit their lives? Have I built up enough rapport with them that they will be comfortable enough to grant me access into their disasters?

I don’t have any answers right now. In fact, I most likely won’t have the answers until I am faced with a certain situation. What I do know, however, is that I will do everything in my power to get my students through their “Big Ones” that hit them hard! I will be a pastor, a shepherd, a listener, and a friend walking along side of them on their journey through life…disasters and all!

-          paulg

The Art of Doing Nothing…

For the last 3 days I have been on vacation. This is the first vacation I have taken in an extremely long time. I am at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina and I’m loving every minute of it, except for the extreme sunburn I have on every part of my upper-body, but I guess it’s my own fault for only putting sun screen on my tattoos! I’ve mastered the art of lying on the beach; the art of lying on the couch and reading; the art of eating good food; the art of trying to take on the waves with lowered shoulders; but I have not been successful thus far in the art of doing nothing…

The art of doing nothing that I am referring to is simply that, the art of actually not doing anything important! I am on vacation and I promised myself and friends that I would not do any work while at the beach. I have had a busy and stressful summer, and I was in very high need of a break from it all. I thought it would be easy to not do ministry or think about work related things for a week but so far it’s proved to be extremely difficult.

Almost every day I make a to-do-list and a “things to get done in the next week” list and most of the time, I get these lists done.  However, some of those times (which has happened a lot as the summer nears to an end), I get extremely unmotivated and only get about half of each list done in a given day or week. The reason I mention these lists is to lead into my topic for this post…

I have an extremely hard time mastering the art of doing nothing…

I am here to relax, be refreshed, and get away from the stresses of youth ministry and all I can think about is work. I feel like I should be doing something productive. I feel guilty for relaxing and not having anything to do.

I think my time in New York trained me for this. While up there, I was constantly going. While I was in school, I took 18-24 credits a semester and went from class to class. After classes I would go to work. After work I would go to the next activity. After I graduated from college, I stayed in New York and spent 8 months working 3 jobs and having a girlfriend who lived 40 miles away from me. I ran two youth ministries (one at a Christian and Missionary Alliance Church and one at a Lutheran Church), and I worked part time at an auto repair shop. When I wasn’t working (and I don’t know how I found any time where  I wasn’t working), I drove 80 miles round trip to spend time with my girlfriend (now my ex). I was constantly going and I rarely had time to relax and just do nothing.

Ever since I moved back to PA in February and started at my new church, I have struggled with taking time off. I am required to take one day off a week, for which I am very thankful, but during those off-days I find it hard to get away from ministry and not do any work. I guess I’ve just been too busy for too long and there are a few things that I need to do. I need to train myself to find peace in my off time! I need to remember that my ministry won’t fall apart if I turn my thoughts and efforts away from it for a day or a week. I need to remember that “nothing essential stops when I rest!” I need to discipline myself to master the art of doing nothing!

***I found the quote in the last paragraph in Mark Oestreicher’s book “Youth Ministry 3.0” (page 114…side of page…written by a youth worker named Ben Kraker…original author of quote is unknown)***

-          paulg

Texas Missions Trip: Day 7…

I guess the saying that “all good things must come to an end” is true! This week has been an extremely exhausting time for all of us due to the busyness, chaos, and heat! Although it was all of these things and more, it was still an incredible trip that we were blessed by. As I mentioned in a previous post, I doubted at first if this trip was from God or from me. Each day confirmed that this WAS from Him. We loved every minute of it and I am praying that we made an impact in those foster children’s lives!

I went to two morning activities (fishing/boating and the sports pavilion). The former activity went off without a hitch while the latter was another chaotic event for my cabin. We had to make at least five different kids sit out from playing for a while so they could calm down and think about what they did. Being that it was almost the end of camp; most of them were out of control. Kids that had been perfect angels all week were acting up. It was as if a switch was flipped in them over night and I got to see what they were really like. Most of the time, when we made a kid sit out; I saw tears and true sadness in their eyes. It broke my heart to see such sadness on those kids faces. I can’t begin to imagine what they have been through in their lives and the tough situations they have been dealt and forced to live in.

We started packing up before lunch on Friday and then ended up leaving the camp around 2:00 PM (Texas time…which is one hour behind PA). We got to the airport around a little before 3:00 and were on our plane shortly before 4:00. Before we even took off in Texas, I was already talking to my group about the possibility of coming back next year or the year after. This was the most surprising thing to me about the trip. I went there uncertain of whether or not we would make an impact, and left KNOWING that we did and that I myself was impacted.

We flew to Atlanta for a layover. After we boarded our plane in Atlanta, we sat there for nearly two hours as the technicians were trying to fix a problem that the plane was having with some hydraulic system. They attempted to fix it but were unable to do so, so they de-boarded us, and then boarded us onto another plane. As we were sitting in the new plane, I reached into my bag and tried to find a youth ministry magazine that I had been reading, and then it hit me that I had left it on the other plane. I told Keith and the rest of my group and laughed about it, and then Keith brought something else to my attention. He said “did you get your iPod?” AHHHHHHH, I immediately realized that I didn’t. While we were on the first plane, I didn’t imagine that I wouldn’t be on that plane until I got to Harrisburg, PA. I was a bit upset, but wasn’t going to let it get me down. It was just an iPod and magazine and I could have bought another one of each.

Here is a conversation I had with the flight attendant after I realized I left my iPod on the other plane:

Me: “Excuse me…I have a problem…I left my iPod and a magazine on the other plane in the back of the seat in front of where I was sitting…”

Flight Attendant Lady: “you’re kidding me?” then she rolled her eyes and started to walk away saying “I’ll be right back!”

What was funny/frustrating/ironic about this is that I was actually going to say “can you have the airline mail them to me?” but she cut me off before I could get to that part. She got off the plane and walked 5 or 6 gates down to get my iPod off of the other plane. She couldn’t find my magazine (because I had it placed behind the fold down tray table). All is well now though because I have my iPod back, and I called the magazine today and they are going to ship me out a new one tomorrow morning…free of charge! God definitely answers prayers, even ones about lost iPods and magazines that seem insignificant!

In closing, this past week was an extremely amazing week of ministry. I got to work alongside of my students, and they became my co-workers for a week. I enjoyed it and learned new things about them all. I also developed a heart and compassion for foster children. I didn’t know much about them before this week of working with them, but after, I know that I want to help them more in the future. Although the kids were cruel towards each other and a bit hard to handle at times, I loved every minute of getting to know and working with them. If we come back, it wouldn’t surprise me if I asked to be placed in a cabin with the same kids next year (or the year after…if next year won’t work out)!!! I developed a bond with those campers and I will definitely be praying for and thinking about them all!

Lastly, I want to thank all of you for your interest in what our group was doing down in Texas and for all of your prayers! I am certain that we wouldn’t have made as much of an impact as we did if we didn’t have people back home praying for and thinking about us!

Thank you so much!

- paulg