Author: revkevjr

Wow! What a full few days it has been!

On Monday I was in Manhattan teaching two youth ministry classes at NYACK College. I was guest teaching for my friend Gregg Makin. I Taught American Youth Culture and Intro to Youth Ministry. It was a ton of fun, a great privilege, and a great joy to be in my element! I taught from 2-9 pm, returning home on the train and arriving at 11:30 pm. I tried to go right to bed, but I did not fall asleep until 2 am (my usual bedtime). Unfortunately, I had to get up at 3:30 am on Tuesday so I could catch a 4:30 am bus to Albany as I was chaperoning a trip for the Smithtown/Suffolk County Youth Bureau. We took 300 kids from Suffolk County for the Youth Leadership Forum and to lobby our leaders regarding funding for the youth programs, which would be drastically cut if the governor’s proposal goes through. We met with two of our Assemblymen and three of our Senators, with many of the students telling them what the youth bureau programs have meant to them, and how their lives will be impacted if they are cut. We also asked them not to lump prevention programs with mandated programs, which the governor has also proposed. At 3 pm we loaded the busses and headed home.

I arrived home at 7 pm, just in time to get to the church for Claudia’s first solo in the elementary choir. (See video. Note: I adjusted my hand while holding the camera right before she sang, and I accidentally covered the mic with my finger. You can still hear her on the video, but turn your volume up. Sorry!) She also played flute in the Beginner Band. She was absolutely outstanding and we were so proud of her. I thought I might be able to sleep in a bit on Wednesday morning, but nope! It happened to be the day I was scheduled to speak at the elementary chapel. I had an absolute blast with them, talking about hearing God. After chapel I visited a 6th grade class to talk to them about my book and the process of writing and getting a book published. I asked some questions from the book and the kids were going crazy … the point of the book perfectly illustrated!

Today I facilitated our monthly youth leader’s network meeting. We had a wonderful time of sharing and interaction followed by lunch together. After our meeting I went to the Apple store to pick up my new laptop … a 15″ MacBook Pro! Totally sweet! I had nothing but trouble for 3 1/2 years with my Dell XPS, the latest of which have affected my ability to do my job and the cost of trying to fix it was adding up because the warranty had expired. I am excited to learn the Mac, and hope that I can catch on quickly.

This evening our friend Laurie Crowley came out to see us. She is a youth pastor in Greece, NY and was down in the city visiting her brother. When she arrived on the train we all went to Port Jefferson for dinner after which we returned to the house to sip Starbucks and visit. I am really excited that she has recently joined our Purpose Driven Youth Ministry team as the second New York State mentor. I recommended her to PDYM as New York is so spread out and I felt we needed a rep upstate. We had a nice time together just talking about life and ministry, sharing ideas, and encouraging each other.

Tomorrow I finally, finally have a day to rest. Then, on Saturday, I am taking a team of 24 to Toccoa, Georgia for a week-long missions trip. I am hoping to blog while on the trip, but it will depend on my ability to get internet access.

Bill Gates knows how to make a point! If you didn’t see his object lesson, check it out on this video

Another talking point from the story of the mother of octuplets. Here’s an article from http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090206/ap_on_re_us/octuplets

“Octuplets mom says she longed to escape loneliness”

WHITTIER, Calif. – In her first interview since giving birth to octuplets, Nadya Suleman tells NBC she wanted a huge family to make up for the isolation she says she always felt as an only child.

In a brief excerpt of the interview released Thursday, the 33-year-old single mother tells “Today” show anchor Ann Curry she had a dysfunctional childhood and sought to erase that with the closeness children could bring. NBC says the full interview will air Monday.

Suleman, who now has 14 children, says all were conceived through in vitro fertilization with sperm donated by a friend.

The octuplets, born last week, remain hospitalized. The others range in age from 2 to 7.

Suleman says it took seven years of trying before she became pregnant with her first child.

This was composited by a photographer at the inauguration. You can zoom in and out to see snipers on rooftops, peoples faces, TV camera tents, and some unbelievable detail. You’ll find a few people who have double heads (since it was a composite). Note the white camera tower. Follow the isle just in front of it going toward the podium. Several people are standing. One in a gray cap is Denzel Washington!
http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=033ef14483ee899496648c2b4b06233c

N.T. Wright was once asked, after one of his lectures, about having collaborated with British Bible Society on a spread in British Vogue called “The Prodigal Daughter Returns.” It was a photo essay based loosely on Luke 15:11-32, with various pictures of a model in different urban settings, each with a snippet from the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The questioner asked why he did it, was he not concerned that some people might misunderstand, etc. I don’t remember the exact words of his response, but it was something to the effect that he would gladly and dutifully take the risk of being misunderstood by some in order to get the gospel message into others’ heads. Which brings me to Bible Illuminated: The Book: New Testament. With its pop culture depictions of the New Testament, it’s one of many recent attempts to present the Scriptures in an innovative light. “Well-known figures among the more than 200 photographs are Andy Warhol in drag in the Book of John, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Mother Teresa, cult leader Jim Jones, Bill Gates and John Lennon,” according to columnist Byron Crawford in The Courier-Journal. “Muhammad Ali, Angelina Jolie, Al Gore, Princess Diana and Bono” are also portrayed as characters from the Bible. Read the full article here http://www.theooze.com/articles/article.cfm?id=2181

This would be a good discussion-starter on the ethics of in vitro fertilization as well as un-wed pregnancy. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090131/ap_on_re_us/octuplets

I just finished reading The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey. In typical Yancey fashion, he approaches his exploration of Jesus not as a theologian, but as an investigative journalist. Focusing specifically on the portrayal of Jesus through the accounts of His life as recorded in the four Gospels, Yancey engages in a thorough, inductive investigation, assuming nothing and asking many questions – questions which too many people avoid asking, assuming that they know the answers to them because of what they have been taught either directly or indirectly through tradition. While I personally enjoyed another of Yancey’s books What’s So Amazing About Grace a bit more (most probably because of where I am at on my own spiritual pilgrimage), this book is nonetheless an excellent book, and I highly recommend it as a read for anyone – Christian or not.

CPYU (The Center for Parent & Youth Understanding) has just released their 2009 Super Bowl Commercial Discussion Guide which fosters redemptive conversations about the infamous Super Bowl commercials. You can download it by following this link:

http://www.cpyu.org/files/PDFs/Handouts/Super%20Bowl%20XLIII.pdf

I had an interesting encounter tonight on Facebook. I was reading some messages when suddenly a guy from high school popped up in the chat window asking if I still had contact with someone. I vaguely recognized him, so I went to his page to try to get a visual. Recognizing him we began catching up. At one point he began sharing about some things in life that have been troubling him lately. I could sense that in some way he was attempting to reach out to me. I asked him some questions and prodded him to try and discover what God might be trying to say to him through what he is going through. After several minutes he had to go, but said he would like to continue talking and even invited me to visit him at his home down south.

This was the most recent of a string of interactions I have had with former high school peers. Interestingly, hardly any of them were close friends during our high school years. Never in a million years would I imagine that we would be engaging in meaningful conversations after all these years (16). Yet, I am realizing that while the way I lived my life during my high school days may not have born fruit in terms of lots of kids coming to Jesus back then, it could certainly be accurately described as faithfully letting my light shine and sowing seeds. I don’t know what that led to for most people, but I do know that now, with the advent of social networking and reconnection with former peers, many are recalling that I had something real, and some people, in their times of question, crisis, or confusion, are reaching out to me for a sense of direction, or hope, or encouragement. God is faithful! It’s great to know that when we are likewise faithful to Him, He might just allow us little glimpses of the mosaic He is creating.