16 posts tagged “loving others”
Last night we kicked off Gr8ness, our summer youth group, and it was awesome! Here are some quick thoughts about the night:
- Our youth and student leaders are awesome! I can't imagine trying to do ministry alone. "God, thank you for allowing me to do ministry with such incredible servants!"
- Special Shoutout to Quinn: Thanks for the video and for helping all day yesterday. You blessed me more than you realize.
- Video Recap: We set-up our summer skits and videos with a hilarious video about the great cereal mascots of the world being taken out by "The King." Now, "Tommy the Tiger" is on a great quest to save cereal. (Very vague description...I know. However, we might try to get it posted online at some point. If you're a youth, you don't want to miss any of these skits and videos all summer!
- David and Chase were hilarious.
- I didn't realize watching four kids attempt to move straws in their mouths from one side of the straw to the other without using their hands would be so entertaining.
- I love "True/False." Who knew that mosquitos had 47 teeth?
- The band did an incredible job! Thanks guys! I really think we have one of the best youth bands anywhere. I'm blessed to work with them, and I appreciate their humble attitudes. The last song they played was "Everything" by Lifehouse. It's so powerful and brings me to a worshipful spirit every time I hear it.
- I really felt like God moved during the message tonight! Every person was very focused and alert. Never forget: The names of God tell us who He is and what He wants to do in our lives! "God, reveal more and more to us by understanding your great name. May we never put our confidence in anything other than your name alone."
- Pizza moms: Thank you so much for all your service! You may not think you have a huge job, but your service is needed and does not go unnoticed! Thanks again!
- Finally, after the response we've had, the "Michael and Drew Rap Crew" may have to make another appearance before the end of the summer. If you read this and saw the performance last night, please comment on a possible new name for the loosely named "Michael and Drew Rap Crew" that I just made up. If you're wondering what all of this is about, here's a quick recap: Quinn, our tech guy who is awesome, accidentally kicked the power strip as I got up to welcome everyone at the beginning of the night, and the entire computer system was knocked out for a few minutes. Drew and I had to fill in the dead air with randomness, and Drew decided to say, "Let's do some karaoke without music." (Everything I want to say right now is completely sarcastic, and I'm trying to work on being edifying rather than sarcastic all the time, so I can't write anything about Drew's request for karaoke.) Anyway, I just started beatboxing the most simple beat I know, "Ice Ice Baby." What followed was nothing short of...AMAZING or sad! Drew continued the beat as I rapped a couple verses of the old school rap song. Everyone was quite "surprised" by our performance to say the least!
I recently found this link and thought it was very interesting: Learning to Speak Like Generation Millennial
This time last year I was in the process of buying my first home. To describe me as "overwhelmed" during that time is an understatement. I was clueless about loans, insurance, inspections, and closings. Through God's grace, I was able to buy the house and enjoy it over the past eleven months. My parents did a ton of little repairs when I first moved in, and since that point, I've had to do very little. However, this past tuesday, I experienced what owning a house often brings... plumbing problems! One of my sinks decided it was not going to drain properly, so I set out to become "Rhodes, the Roto Rooter." My first step was to call my dad. Yep, I'm 25 and not ashamed to admit that I need dad's help. I'd be dumb not to call a man that can fix everything. You know when you're a kid and you think your dad can do everything. Well, that thought for me never changed. My dad is awesome! I've called him at least a dozen times since saturday. (My lawn mower broke saturday then the sink stopped up tuesday.) Anyway, I call dad first, and he gave me several options. Options 1,2, and 3 did not work, so I'm currently on option 4. Option 4 is using a plumbing snake, and frankly, I've yet to fix the problem! But I'm not going to give up yet.
The last five days were incredible! I just got back last night from our annual youth leadership beach retreat in Fort Morgan, Alabama. Each year we like to say "Thank You" to each of our youth leaders who have served over the past semester or who will be serving over the upcoming summer by taking a few days to the beach. It was so much fun and a much needed break for me. Here are some final thoughts about this year's trip:
- The "Beach Castle" was awesome! The view from the house each night with the moon lighting up the entire ocean was breathtaking. Psalm 19 was so evident.
- Erin: Your administrative ability is incredible!
- Matty: The hole was awesome, but the old lady wasn't.
- Cade: "You may want to try some aloe. It works well."
- Chase: aka "Bacon King of the World"
- Jess: I hope your new cell phone comes in handy.
- Abby: You are such an awesome mom! Seriously, everyday I watch you interact with Samantha I'm amazed!
- Jonathan: When you think your muscles are bigger than all of ours, never forget who won the "Small Football Throwing Championships."
- Amy: You're going to be a great mom one day. I constantly saw you putting yourself second to help Abby with Samantha!
- Samantha: She captures the attention of a college guy faster than any other girl alive.
- Erika: Dont' forget that sunscreen will work on your legs too.
- Palmer: There is no way any quarterback in the NFL has your accuracy.
- Kelli: Funfetti balls = awesomeness!
- Emily: Thanks for your putt-putt patience! You were a trooper!
- Jared: I seriously thought you were going to take on the battleship by yourself at Ft. Morgan.
- Kyle: Sweetest sunburn ever!
- Andrea: The phrase "You throw like a girl" does not apply to you.
- David: I knew you were a Clemson fan deep down inside.
Warning: The title of this post may only be accurate for myself and a few others.
One of my favorite words to use is "intentional." It's a word that describes the actions and words of someone with a purpose. Oftentimes, I find myself telling others, especially college and high school students, to be intentional with their time, their conversations, their actions, their time on Facebook, and life in general. It's not only an encouragement that I give to others, but it's also a challenge for myself. I'm constantly telling my leaders to be intentional with their conversations at Crash and One, middle school and high school youth group respectively, and other youth events.
- Forced: The motivation for agenda-driven evangelism is a "have to."
- Performance: Another motivating factor behind agenda-driven evangelism is the desire to perform for those in authority over you or build yourself up higher than your peers.
- Love: The motivation for intentional evangelism is love. It shows the individual you are sharing the Gospel with that you care about him or her rather than JUST caring about seeing them come to Christ. Nobody desires to be a number in your evangelism statistics. Everybody desires to be loved.
- Awareness of the Holy Spirit: Intentional evangelism allows the Holy Spirit to guide a conversation rather than a memorized tract or model.
- God's Work-Not Ours: Intentional evangelism allows God to do the work of convicting and converting. The pressure is not on me, as the evangelist, but on God as Savior.
When I was in high school, our youth ministry did a sports camp for the children in our community. We taught basketball and soccer to 1st-6th graders. Due to my inability to play soccer, I taught b-ball all week. At one point during the week a young kid walked up to me and asked me why I wore the type of socks that I was wearing. Quick sock background: Before ankle socks became the craze, I rocked them! Yes, I am stepping out and saying that I was part of a trend before it was trendy. It is a rare occasion for me to be associated with any type of trendy clothing. Unless an old t-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops become trendy, my style will rarely reflect "new, cool, or trendy." Anyway, I rocked the ankle socks because I was a golfer. You see my life revolved around golf during the summer. Well, you can't really play golf without shoes, so the summer tan line was absolutely ridiculous to say the least. I chose to wear ankle socks, so my tan line didn't come halfway up my leg. Back to the story... so this kid questions sock choice, I explained the reason why I wore them and thought nothing of it until a week later. The kid's mom came up to my mom at church the following Sunday and proceeded to tell my mom that her son had come in from playing basketball one afternoon after camp with his long socks pushed down into his shoes. She asked him why he was doing something like that, and he said, "That's how Michael wears his socks." Wow! I influenced a kid's choice of socks!
Hello World (or two people that read this blog not including my family)! I thought I was going to make it two months between blog posts, but I actually found time to sit at my computer and write. I'm not going to say that this has been the busiest time of my life, but it has been a crazy few months. Needless to say, blogging took a major backseat. Here are the highlights and lowlights of my life since...Thanksgiving:
- Thanksgiving in South Carolina was awesome! I love my family. I love my friends. I miss Charleston. I'm really glad Erica got to join me.
- I had been to the doctor once in my four years in Louisiana, but I've been four times since Thanksgiving.
- I had my first wreck and received my first ticket. I hit a car in the back going at least 2 mph and no more than 10 mph, and the girl called the cops and claimed that she hurt her neck. It was a stupid driving mistake, and I hate that she got hurt. I have a court date for February 29. I'm kind of bummed that it's a leap year now. If it would have been a normal year, I wouldn't have to be in court. (Some of you may get that by the end of the blog.)
- I finished another semester of seminary work!
- I had another wreck. It wasn't my fault this time, and no damage was done to either car. I'm still baffled how someone can attempt to turn into a parking lot from a middle lane of traffic without thinking a car just might be in the right lane that is meant for turning vehicles. For the record, that's two wrecks in two weeks.
- I had another wreck THAT DAY! Yep, you read correctly. That's THREE wrecks in two weeks, AND TWO IN THE SAME DAY! My driving record was squeaky (yes, that is a highly intentional use of that word) clean two weeks prior. Quick summary of wreck number 3: I'm stopped on the interstate, and a car hits the car behind me who hits me and knocks me into the car in front of me. My car looks fairly sad right now, but it's still drivable. It goes into the shop next Monday. Thankfully I didn't get hurt in any of the three wrecks. PRAISE GOD! As I'm writing this, I feel like there has to be some correlation between the number 3 and driving cars. Any rednecks with me?
- Christmas in South Carolina was awesome! I love my family. I love my friends. I miss Williamston. I'm glad Erica got to spend time with her family after sacrificing the previous holiday with them for me.
- New Years was great with the exception of the Clemson loss on Christmas Eve. I got to spend a few days with Erica's family in the Shreveport/Bossier area. They're great! I really enjoy spending time with them.
So today is my brother Brian's birthday! In honor of December 12, this special day, I'm going to give you the top 12 things that I've learned from the most awesome brother in the world:
- Brian taught me how to be ambidextrous. That's right...you read correctly. Due to Brian's height and shot blocking ability in basketball, I had to learn how to play with my left hand.
- Brian taught me how to use wood glue. I'm sure many of you have heard the story of the Christmas mice. If not, I may share it later. Let's just say...I never knew wood glue would work so well!
- Brian taught me how to be myself. Brian has never been at a loss for words, and he always has a joke or two or four to tell. I've constantly watched him be comfortable with who he is, and it always challenges me to be me.
- Brian taught me the importance of the Army-Navy rivalry. Mom and dad, you really have no idea how many times we hurdled the couch when Army and Navy were playing.
- Brian taught me passion. Brian's competitive fire is up there with the best of the best. He's never slacked off, and he's always played sports and lived life with passion.
- Brian taught me how to play golf backwards. Actually, he simply taught me how to run to the previous hole when he decides to duck hook a ball on #5 when he's already aimed fifty yards left. It just so happened that a car and duplex were 100 yards left of the fairway.
- Brian taught me perseverance. He was behind in almost every 400 meter hurdle race going into the last 150 meters, and he never gave up! In fact, he rarely got beat! Sprint out of the gate, take it easy, and then sprint to the finish.
- Brian taught me how to throw a football properly. Thank you UNC football camp.
- Brian taught me how to love people. Everybody loves Brian, because Brian loves everybody!
- Brian taught me how to love my future wife. Brian loves Michelle, his wife, and there's no doubt about it (even when she takes an hour to eat a box of french fries, haha...love you Michelle)!
- Brian taught me how to be excited about ministry. Brian is always talking about his youth and what God is doing in the youth ministry!
- Brian taught me humility. It's not easy to admit to a church you are serving that you just recently found Jesus! Wow! I only hope that I can live my life with a community of believers with this type of humility.
To say the last few days have been "exhausting" would be quite the understatement. I read a lot of blogs that begin in this way. For example, "Sorry for not blogging lately, I've been really busy." "Life is so busy right now." "I'm so tired from how busy I've been recently." First off, this blog is not about the Sabbath, resting, or resisting laziness. However, maybe I need to take the time to write a blog about that if I ever get a chance, haha. Onto my issue (since this is my blog)...you may be wondering why the last few days have been more than exhausting. After spending five days at the National Youth Workers' Convention, I proceeded to head home to South Carolina for the Thanksgiving holidays for five more days. I had such a wonderful time at both of these places. I love youth ministry but being at home with my family in friends is so much better! I really cherish the time that I get to spend at home now that I only get to do it about three times a year. Honestly, those ten days weren't exhausting at all. I came back to Baton Rouge very well rested and refreshed. The only exception was the sinus infection I gained while at home.
Fast forward to this past Thursday...I wake up with a pounding sinus
headache thinking my head could really explode from the pressure at any
moment. That afternoon I went to take care of Erica, my wonderful
girlfriend, who was really sick herself with a fever. She felt
much worse than I did. While I'm with her, my stomach decided to
begin doing gymnastics...only a few of the light gymnastic events like
the pommel horse and rings. I didn't think much of it. When
I get home that night, a few more of the events were added like the
uneven and high bars. The entire male and female all-around
gymnastics programs, including the floor exercise, continued in my
stomach through Monday when I was finally able to go to the doctor for
major stomach issues and a fever on top of the sinus stuff I've had
forever it seems. The doc proceeds to prescribe antibiotics,
anti-diarrhea medicine (i'm not ashamed), an IV because I was so
dehydrated, cough syrup, and a nice prick in the left buttock area with
some steroids. If I was in the NFL, I'd be suspended quicker than
Ricky Williams right now. If I was in the MLB, I'd be breaking
the rules...i mean the records. I would
definitely have an asterisk by my name in the Lamb's Book of
Life. And if I was a professional wrestler, they wouldn't find
out until I died or was still being put in the figure four by the
Nature Boy at age 75. Needless to say, I have a whole bunch of
junk in me right now, because I didn't have anything left in me that my
toilet hadn't captured over the past few days! I'm so exhausted
but getting more energy daily! I definitely would appreciate your
prayers right now. I'm trying to do youth ministry stuff and
finish up the school semester with a lack of energy.
I've had plenty of time to think over the past few days though. And the biggest thing God's showed me is that He loves me and so do a whole lot of people! There are a few people I really want to thank! Josh and Christian, thanks for putting up with a sick roommate over the past few days. I wasn't much fun to be around. Thanks for your patience and grace. Palmer, thanks for your phone call. I'm sure you thought it was short and insignificant, but it meant a lot that you would take the time to check on me. Erin, thanks for holding down the fort at the office for me. Erica, thanks for everything you've done...cleaning the kitchen, getting me cold rags to put on my feverish head, spending your money and bringing me food and gatorade, and just being here for me while you didn't feel good either! Mrs. Lev, thanks for being my bullpen mom. I have the most wonderful mom ever without a doubt, but it's hard for her to take care of me when I'm eleven hours away. I know she would have jumped in the car immediately if I would have really needed her. Thankfully, God's given me so many people in Baton Rouge that really do love and care about me, like Mrs. Lev. Seriously, thank you for the food, the advice, the ability to be blunt and honest about my problems with you, picking up my medicine, and for the great conversation we had tonight when you brought me my first real meal in a few days. You're great, and I really appreciate you! Finally, if you're reading this and thinking "Michael, I'm sorry I didn't help you out. I didn't even know you were sick." Quit apologizing! You didn't know. I didn't tell many people. I know you love me, and you would have helped if you would have known.
In conclusion, the past few days have literally been physically exhausting. I'm excited about eating more than jello, crackers, and gatorade in the upcoming days. I'm excited about getting to connect with all sorts of amazing people that I haven't had a chance to connect with for a LONG time. This time has caused me to appreciate a lot. One of the things I appreciate now more than ever is Kerri Strug's gymnastic performance at the 1996 Olympics. Anyone that can finish all those gymnastic events with a broken ankle deserves a gold medal. If I would have had a broken ankle this week, I really think I would have died from all the gymnastics I went through!
God is love,
Rev Run (Sorry! I've had a lot of time to sit on the couch and watch TV over the past few days, hahaha!)
