Thugs

I have officially been scared the crap out of by thugs. The other night I was outside my car, parked on the street outside my house. Three thugsta's came running toward me and I almost crapped my pants because I swore I was about to be jumped. They got up by me and said "We're not going to steal your car white boy". They then laughed, smoked their cigarettes, and walked along with their baggy pants almost down to their ankles. Needless to say, never a dull moment in the hood!

And He Is A Christian...

I was at dinner...sitting in a booth...waiting for my friend to arrive. I was just on the other side of the bar where there was a table of 5 or 6 middle aged women. All are drinking and appeared to be unwinding after work. All of a sudden in a loud voice one of the women said "And He Is A Christian!". Made me laugh because you could totally tell they were talking about some guy and something he did and then throwing in the fact that the guy was a Christian. What a wrap Christians have...we have to be perfect to those who see us as part of the Jesus and Pals group.

All in the name of Jesus...

I must confess the past two days have been very challenging for me in the way I think. I began taking a modern civilizations course for summer school yesterday and its been pretty interesting. I really enjoy the professor and am learning a great deal already.

What I have been really challenged with is how people over time did things in the name of Jesus. We are studying the formation of Christianity...Luther, Calvin, and all those guys...and how the different denominations have come into existence. What gets me is how many wars there have been between people of faith, like drop down shoot-um-up wars because they believe in the same God, yet not every single thing they believe has lined up. Or how back in the day some religious leaders did things like make wives public property so different men could have sex with different women. This makes me think of how people have really made religion what they want it to be even from hundreds of years ago. It almost angers me because really Christianity has become whatever man wants it to be. Its been screwed up forever really. And we think to current times and how Christians judge other Christians by whether or not they are having their quiet times, or if they are hanging out with the wrong group of people, or if they wear a hat in church, or don't pray before a meal...you name it the list can go on and on! Why must we judge others like this? Aren't we called to love each other? Were they lovin each other back in the day when they were murdering each other???

Okay, I am really just venting...I do not mean to insult anyone that may be reading this...purely just my thoughts. Feel free to comment.

Week In Recap...

Highlights...
-Went out for the finale of Jen and Juice.
-42 Kids showed up to our CL Skate Night. I was worried we wouldn't have more than 20!
-I finished my Music summer school class. I think I got an A!
-Got to hang out with Jeff...I really enjoy when we get to catch up!
-Had a good counseling session.
-The BMW dealership offered me a rental for free so I didn't have to get stuck car-less.
-Had a great time hanging with students, Andrew & Kelly, and had dinner with their fam.
-Got to attend a wedding (Allie & Jesse), Grad Party (Dustin), Grad/Going Away Party (Katy), saw my fam (Fathers Day), & had a fun time at a birthday dinner (Brad).
-Set up time to go to Bay Area to see my grandma and to get my new truck. New to me that is.

Low Points...
-Lost my one and only key to Bertha the Explorer. Have to pay $150 to have locksmith re-key.
-Got a parking ticket for $25.
-Found out I am not getting summer financial aid. Cost of books almost $500 out of pocket.
-Didn't get to see BK cause she left for Vegas. (Next week fo sho though!)
-Have to miss a really kick-butt party tonight because I have to go to Napa for our annual Ride For Youth for work.
-Scheduled my wisdom teeth to be removed in August. Not looking forward to that!
-Wasted 2 hours trying to fix my broken e-mail!
-It was really, really, really hot and my AC in my new house does not work so well!

Well, off to Napa I go. I shall be back home in 53 hours from now. Until then...have a great weekend!!!

Good to Great...

My boss loaned me his copy of Good to Great by Jim Collins last week. He asked me to read a section on the "Flywheel Effect". I read the short little section and found that it to be very true. Basically the Flywheel Effect is building momentum which allows you to have recognition and support.

Where do you shop? Who do you support? Where are your dollars going? Where do you devote your time? If we look at ourselves we can clearly see that we give of time and money for things we believe in. For some it is more superficial...they have to wear the latest or coolest clothes or whatever. They are buying into an image and supporting it. But look a little deeper...do you maybe give to help a charity? Or do you volunteer your time somewhere? If so, it is probably for a reason. You probably have some emotional tie that holds you to investing in a mission or cause.

My boss wants to see the Flywheel Effect in YFC. Where we build momentum because of great results. Where the community sees the impact we are having and they want to join along side and help. But with the Flywheel comes time. It takes time to build momentum...it starts with one, then two, then fifty, and a hundred and so on. The more the word gets out the more momentum we gain. But in order to create an environment of people who believe in your work you must look at your flaws and correct the problems and mistakes that seem to hurt others or cause them to think poorly based on an experience. So, my question for our chapter of YFC is...what are we doing to build a good reputation and how are we learning from some of the mistakes of our past? Just thoughts in my mind to ponder.

Almost Got Arrested...

Would you like to go to jail tonight? A question I never thought I would ever hear being presented to me...especially with a group of Campus Life kids!

Last night was an interesting night to say the least. As I stood in front of the not-so-nice police officer as he read off a list of violations...Trespassing on school property, contributing to the delinquency of minors, violation of youth curfew, causing a public disturbance. All of this started with a fun game of sardines with Campus Life kids and their friends/family.

PTL for Goosey Goosey Gander...as we told the officer who we were with and he said Campus Life as in Goosey Goosey Gander. Yes, this fine fellow knew Campus Life from the Goose Chase Rallies of the 70's! Thank you for YFC and for the crazy activities of the past to get us off in current times!

How did this all happen you may ask? Well you see we met at the school to play a fun game of sardines...we then decided it wasn't as fun outside and we were going to move to an indoors location. But in the meantime we were waiting for a grandparent to come pick up one of the kids before we departed the school for our new destination. One of my amazing graduates...who is 17...decided I should let her drive my car since she graduated. I told her only in the parking let...well her and a freshmen fellow...names left our to protect the innocent, haha...took off to the street! NOT OK! Apparently they went through the neighborhood with the music bumpin and someone decided to call the cops! It was 10:05 when they police arrived at the school...lucky the escape children were back with my car. "Who is the adult here?" asked the popo...I stepped forward as he requested my ID and read off my charges. He then said "Who was driving the car". I did not want to rat out my kids so he said "Ok, I am taking you down to jail and impounding your car". Thank goodness the student stepped forward and admitted to her mistake. Well, lucky he told us to get off the property after finding out who we were with and instructed us to go into Fresno...because if the Clovis PD got another call on us he would be taking us all in!

Needless to say, last night will be a night that will never ever leave my memory. The night in which I was almost arrested for the sake of the children. I have learned my lesson...never give the keys of my car to a student...graduated or not, and never play on school property!!! PTL again for Goosey Goosey Gander!

Post Secrets

Saw this on post secrets after I posted my last blog...thought it was interesting how they relate to each other a bit. Thought I would put up to go with it...

Isaiah 1:14

From The Message:

Meetings for this, meetings for that. I hate them!
You’ve worn me out!
I’m sick of your religion, religion, religion,
while you go right on sinning.

I found this verse really cool. It made me stop and think...how often am I trying to plan another meeting, or event, or outreach with the youth? It typically is one meeting to the next or one event to the next. Maybe what we need to focus on is relationship. Spending time with people, sharing life, and through that may others (specifically our youth) see life change in us and begin to ask questions. And maybe we need to stop the politics and really just look at relationships. What do numbers really mean? Isn't it the heart that matters? Who are we to judge others and place rankings on how successful one group is over another? Religious this and religious that when really we need to stop and evaluate our own lives. We need to stop and take an inventory of what areas we are screwing up in...sinning...and look at how that can impact those who we have an influence on. How can I tell a kid to not do something if I am doing it? Good ole moral inventory. Anywho...just a lot of random thoughts from my head...until next time...

Reflection...

So today I was at church and I saw someone and it stirred something up inside me. I don't see this person often and typically I say hi and that's about it. Today I spoke briefly to him and a flood of emotions came rushing inside. You see when I first accepted Christ this person was an influential person in my life and one day they just decided they didn't want to talk to me or be there for me or frankly even be my friend. So, today when this person talked to me like none of this ever happened it made me feel a little hurt like I did some almost five years ago. You see when this happened some years ago I began to view Christians the same as Non-Christians. I left a pretty difficult past with tons of people hurting me and then I went into the church and began to be hurt by people who claimed to love Jesus.

It was interesting that after talking to this former friend the pastor referenced who we need to be focused on Jesus, not other Christians. That if we try to be like other Christians we are only going to be let down because Christian or Non-Christian we are all human and no one is perfect. Made me realize that regardless of who the person is in my life, I could very well be let down by them (just as I could let down others), thus I need to fix my eyes upon Jesus and Him alone. Hopefully now I can let go of that past situation and move on and love that person regardless of how hurt I felt at the time.

Seven Minute Syndrome

Today concluded my first week in my four week Music Appreciation course. It is pretty intense since we do a semesters work in a month, thus one day = one week. I took my first exam yesterday (day 3 of class), found out today I got a B. Was hoping for an A but hey a B is better than C, D, or F, right? Well, something I found interesting this week is a thing called the Seven Minute Syndrome. Basically over time with the use of the television we have lost our sense of focus. Studies have shown that we usually lose interest or become distracted in something within seven minutes. Thus you will notice that television commercials come on at about seven minute intervals. This allows up to focus on doing something and then coming back to refocus on the program we may be watching. You may ask how this relates to music? Well, most classical pieces are 10, 15, 20+ minutes long and that use to be great in the old days but now we can't focus that long to pay attention. Interesting how our lives have become so busy that seven minutes can become a max for our comprehension on one thing.