My New Hobby

I probably shouldn't call this a hobby quite just yet...but I'd like it to be! 

One of my hobbies has been borrowing bikes. It was mostly mountain bikes in Colorado - Jennie's friend, Jeannie's for the summer, Anna's for the Moab girls weekend - all kinds of generous folks. 

But now it's time to buy one of my very own, so I have a big decision to make: road bike or mountain bike? 

Jen lent me her mountain bike a few weeks ago, and we went out to play on the trails of Walnut Creek. It was a good time.

Then Alyson let me borrow her road bike this weekend, and it was Jen first and then Rick who accompanied me all over the streets of Austin. 

And I fell in love. 

Falling in love with Austin...

A combination of events aligned just right to give me a 5-day Memorial Day weekend, and after Day 1, the results are in: It was pretty fantastic.

I started my day at Mozart's Coffee. It was perfect! The squirrel hijacking my biscotti only made it more entertaining.

Hiking the Green Belt...just waiting for the creek to fill and praying for rain!

Sadly, this was the only water that I saw...and this is the same creek in which we went tubing through small rapids two years ago. It shows you how badly we need the rain!

Lunch was at Tacodeli. It's one of my new favorite discoveries in Austin. this particular Taco is called The Heather. Seriously! I ordered it originally because of the name, but it was worth a repeat performance.

Thursday Nights at The Broken Spoke. Texas men can dance! 

Not bad...for a Thursday :)

 

The Little Stinker!

The weather: Perfect. 

The coffee: Delicious. 

The atmosphere: Favorite. 

The location: Mozart's Coffee. 

The treat: Chocolate-Dipped Biscotti.

The view: Lake Austin.

The story: Hilarious.

The pictures: Speak for themselves.

And I didn't even get one bite!

The funniest part of it was when these elderly folks all wanted to go back in Mozart's with me as "eye witnesses to the crime" so that I could get a new biscotti. They wanted to pay for one if I didn't get it for free. One lady even followed me inside and stood next to me in line! I couldn't stop giggling! They were out of biscotti - it had been the last one - so they gave me a chocolate chip cookie instead. After going back to the patio, one of the older gentlemen was taking a picture of the happy squirrel gnawing on his treat. I got out my camera to take a picture, and he got all excited, wanting to take one of me. I figured, why not?! It'll make an amusing Facebook and blog post! 

 

  

To the Senior Class of 2009...

The only reason I didn't cry all through Sunday's Senior Celebration is because I know that these teenagers aren't leaving quite yet. They still have a few weeks until graduation and an entire summer before packing up and heading off to college. An entire summer of memories yet to be made.

I challenged them to remember.

To the Class of 2009...

Good Evening! And welcome to the Senior Celebration for the graduating class of 2009!

Tonight is a special night. We come together as a community to celebrate where these students are going, what they have all accomplished, who God made them to be and what He will continue to do in their lives far beyond their days of youth ministry at Covenant Presbyterian Church.

Tonight was also a little bittersweet. I’ve gotten these students quite well. I met them as sophomores. I met Stefanie on her worksite in Tijuana. Evan, Dani and Eason as middle school leaders. Hannah on our trip to New Orleans. Lauren at Disciple Now. 

And in the fall of 2007 I had the great privilege of becoming their DGroup leader for the women sitting up here today. I had the privilege to pray with them. I had the privilege to wrestle over difficult truths in Scripture. I had the privilege to laugh…laugh a lot…with them. And I had the privilege to get to know who they are – as individuals – and watch them grow together as a community. 

I had no idea what I was getting into. Each week, I go home – giddy like school girl – with something that brought so much joy to my heart that I couldn’t help but tell my roommate. And after several months of this, she looked at me one night and said, “you’re really going to miss these girls, aren’t you?”

And yes, I’m really going to miss them. I’m not a parent, so my love and care for these incredible young people is only a sliver of what most of you feel toward them. The hours you’ve spent praying for and loving them are countless. So as we celebrate one of many farewells that we will have over the next few weeks and months, it feels a little bittersweet.

But it’s also exciting. It’s exciting to be part of God’s plan and see these teenagers become incredible young adults. It’s exciting to see them as leaders in ministry, on sports teams and in their communities. It’s exciting to see them begin to grasp just how far and how wide God’s never-ending love for is for them. It’s exciting to see these young people become disciples. 

I’d like to thank these seniors. Thank you for laughter. Thank you for ridiculous pranks that made me want to leave you in Colorado (Evan). Thank you for introducing me to Jon McLaughlin. Thank you for getting me to read Twilight. Thank you, to the girls in my DGroup, who asked questions in a way that made it feel like a seminary exam. Thank you for sharing your hearts. Thank you for your vulnerability at Disicple Now and your incredible hours of hard work in East Austin, Galveston, New Orleans and Tijuana. Thank you for inviting me to your football games, your dance competitions, your orchestra concerts and art shows. Thank you for sharing your hearts and for sharing your lives. It was truly an honor. 

So tonight, we remember. We remember the hilarious a bus to Colorado. We remember the late-night conversation that brought a student to Christ. We remember the weeks of carpool and donuts for Sunday school. We remember camping trips. We remember engaging in worship…and what it might have been like to experience for the first time. We remember mentors, leaders and friends. We remember who God has made us to be and to whom we belong.

We also celebrate. Let’s celebrate the memories. Let’s celebrate the hurdles we’ve conquered together. Let’s celebrate the friendships. Let’s celebrate this community. Let’s celebrate this incredible accomplishment. 

And lastly, we will charge. We will charge these teenagers to be who they were meant to be. We charge to honor God. We charge them to be above the line. To thive. To love. To question. To serve. We charge them to continue to be children of God that they have become and are becoming.

So, Remember. 

Remember.

Over 200 times in Scripture, God tells us to remember. He tells us to take time to remember. There are no new rules. No new encouragement. No new information. He just says to remember. And maybe - just maybe - He knew what he was talking about. 

He knew that we’d forget. He knew that we’d get distracted. He knew that we’d need to be reminded. He knew that we would need to remember. He knew that we would be reminded to remember.

You are going to go off to far and distant places. You will be walking around on strange campuses. You will be in unfamiliar territory. You will meet new people and make new friends. You will wrestle with new challenges and be faced with new ways of thinking. You will be in strange places. You will have new jobs and new majors and new organizations. You will discover new passions, interests and skills. You will go to new worlds and discover new adventures. 

You will have a lot of new and different over the next few years. For some of you, in about three months, everything you ever knew as normal will change. New roommates. New cities. New classes. New surroundings. Lots of new.

So remember. Remember to remember. We are a forgetful people.

When I think of going off into new and distant lands, I think of a guy we know today as Daniel. Yes, Daniel. Daniel from the Lion’s Den. Daniel from the Old Testament. Daniel.

Daniel was a teenager - probably about your age. Daniel was smart, talented and good-looking. He was athletic - at the top of his class. Daniel was recruited to the best leadership training program in the world. Daniel, and Israelite, was one of those faithful God-worshipping people who found themselves living in exile. The Israelites has been put on a sort of time out, and they were taken from their homes. The King of the bad guys recruited the brightest and the best of the Israelites to put through his own personal training program. And Daniel was at the top of his class.

And it was then that Daniel remembered. Being in a strange and foreign land, he remembered two truths. He remembered who he was, and he remembered whose he was.

He remembered that he was a child of God. He remembered to worship. He remembered that he was an Israelite. He remembered to eat kosher. He remembered to pray. Daniel never once compromised who he was as he was in this new and foreign land. He remembered his parents. He remembered his friends. He remembered his name. He remembered the core of who God made him to be despite how hard his surroundings tried to tell him differently. 

You’re going to have a lot of people try to tell you that you’re someone you’re not. You might have someone tell you that you’re a college girl, and that college girls "party." Um...not to have fun you don't have to. You’re going to have someone tell you that you’re not an athlete...guess what? You are! You’re going to have someone tell you that you’re supposed to have a different major. They’re wrong. You’re going to have a lot of opportunities to forget who you are. 

So please, remember. Remember to remember.

Remember your name. And with your name comes your first and your last. So remember your parents. Remember your sibling. Remember your friends. Remember the times at DGroup when you prayed for each other. Remember the long rides in the van on the way to summer camp. And remember what it meant to have a community of believers that met each week to play games, worship, learn and pray together. 

Remember what you know to be true and measure all else against that. Remember God’s truth.

Daniel also remembered whose he was. As an Israelite, a God-worshipping member of the community, Daniel always acted in a way that reflected his position: he was a child of the King. The Babylonians could threaten anything, but nothing could make him disobey the Lord. He didn’t answer to these men; he answered to the Master and Creator of the universe.

So do you.

You are loved. You were bought with a price. You are loved by a God who so passionately loves you, he’d do anything to get to know you. You are loved by a God who cares for your needs and blesses you abundantly. You are loved by a God who wants to use YOU in his plans to serve and love others. You belong to God, first and foremost.

So remember. Remember who you are. Remember that you’re Jake. Remember that you’re John. Remember Kelsey and Katie. Remember that you are a child of God, belonging to the King.

You will have choices every day. Choices to rise above the stereotypes. Choices to love others. Choices to serve your community. Choices to be above the line. Choices to thrive. Choices to seek out Christian community. Choices to worship. Choices to rest. Choices to play. Choices to rest. 

Please...choose to remember.

Out of Focus

The first thing I do each morning is start the coffee pot. That, of course, is only when I don't set it up the night before. Truth be told, I rarely bother to do that. I'm a morning person, and so at night, I drop everything and fall on my face. Clothes, dishes, shoes, books, papers...whatever. I leave everything where it is and give up. I'd rather spend the 20 minutes then cleaning up from the day before in the morning than doing so at night. At night, I'm tired.

But the first thing that I do when I get up is drink coffee. I make too much and start drinking it slowly. Early. I light a candle, crawl back up on my bed and sit for a while. Having only my journal, an Ultra Fine Point Sharpie (I'm a little obsessed with Sharpies, so yes, I journal with them), my Bible and a pencil. I'd use a Sharpie in my Bible, too, but they don't work so well with the thin pages.

It's there that I start my day. It takes a while. I love being awake. Waking up is up is miserable, but being awake early is my favorite.

While I journal and read and pray and forget that the world is ahead of me for the day, everything is blurry. I have yet to put on my glasses or contacts. While I walk around the the kitchen and survey my bedroom floor, it's all a blur. I can't see what needs doing or what's left out from the day before. The temptation to turn in my computer isn't there because I can't see the screen clearly enough to type without an uncomfortable squint. I'm not completely blind, but when everything is just a little bit blurry, I ignore my surroundings.

I couldn't help but wonder this morning - a rainy Saturday, when the first things on my to-do list is to clean the kitchen and do laundry - that it's nice to not notice what needs doing. And why is that? You see, before I put on my glasses and look around, there's nothing to do. There's no lists, there's no concerns and there is nothing out of place.

And even more so, I couldn't help but wonder how much I look at the world like that. I only see that which is right in front of me and can ignore everything else. It takes too much effort to truly see.

When I notice the world, I have to do something. Just like when I put on my glasses and the dishes in the sink suddenly stick out in my path of vision. And doing something about it is a pain. I don't like to do the chores in my own house, let alone in the great wide world out there. It makes me wonder...what opportunities am I missing simply because I fail to see?

Italy Pictures Posted Here

Click here and be my friend to see Italy pictures!

I blinked...um...WOW...

One year ago from today, I knew several things to be true:

• My interim boss, Robbie, was moving to Seattle in July. He was not going to be replaced.
• The only full-time youth ministry interns we had were college students; they would be leaving at the end of the summer.
• Mark, our part-time intern, was finishing seminary and had accepted a position as a senior pastor in Alabama that started in August.
• Melaina, the college ministry intern, was completing her 2-year tenure and getting married in June.
• Besides our admin, I'd have no coworkers in the fall and six jobs. 

I was planning several farewell parties, trying to wrap my mind around the insane summer ahead and had no ability to even imagine the school year to come. I started working in October 2006 on a staff that included four interns, an administrative assistant, a director, an associate director (me!) and a youth pastor. In the summer, we'd add two more to our staff. 

A lot happened.

A year ago, with our staff at the time, I was looking ahead to it being me and our admin. Our internship program was going to be put on pause for a while, and the search for my new boss hadn't even begun.

Yikes.

We survived. I blinked, and the school year is ending: The last Sunday of high school youth group was this past weekend. Our end-of-the-year leader dinner was last night. Tonight's the last night of small groups. And this weekend we'll have our last middle school program and Senior Celebration.

This past year, I've also gone through physical therapy for my knee. Running was my emotional outlet for everything. Dealing with that was new. We also hired Cody in the fall. He had a few months in between seminary and an associate pastor position. He helped immensely in building a high school youth group leadership team of adults. But then he left, too. I created, formed and developed a group of high school student leaders. Travis started as our new youth intern in February. I went to Italy with my mom. We took students to Galveston to do hurricane clean up over spring break. The new building's almost open; the furniture arrives today. I spent Christmas in DC with my entire extended family...the first time since I was in elementary school that we were together for anything but a wedding or a funeral. I went to Colorado twice - for weddings, of course. I started swimming laps again. It's been a long time since I retired from the swim team in 1992. I discovered new adventures in the Hill Country, like Live at the Lake and Hamilton Pool. I had to stop playing volleyball and Ultimate Frisbee. I worked too much in the fall. I began to understand how seriously ridiculous God is. I met Amber in Nashville last fall. I almost moved to Colorado Springs. I became a regular at the Broken Spoke, stopped going completely and am becoming regular again. I moved desks and now have my own office. 

It's been quite a year. 

Walking into worship last Sunday, it dawned on me that it's over. The school year is over. Lives were changed. Volunteers took incredible ownership. Not everything on my to do list was checked off, and that's OK. Senior girls asked if I'd teach them how to read the Bible and want accountability. Middle school summer camp registrations are off the chart. My work - a church - started to feel like my church for the first time. 

I wasn't worried or stressed or concerned a year ago. It was more an absolute blank stare of having no idea how everything was going to unfold. There were no plans that seemed fathomable. It was too much for me. But not for God. 

May 2009. We survived. Yes. We also thrived. God's faithfulness in the logistical details of ministry and the hearts of teenagers is beyond what I can fathom. And all I can say is...um...WOW.

Summer 2009 in the Hill Country: What would you add to the list?

1. Blue Hole in Wimberly
2. Wimberly Market Days
3. Comal River
4. Guadalupe River
5. Dancing at Gruene Hall 
6. Kayaking on Town Lake
7. Barton Springs
8. The Green Belt
9. Cliff Jumping 
10. Stand up on water skies
11. Stand up on a wakeboard
12. Tubing
13. Beach...somewhere?
14. Musical in Zilker Park
15. Plans for the State Fair in the Fall
16. Chicago
17. Buy a bike
18. Enchanted Rock
19. Hamilton Pool
20. Natural Bridge Caverns 
21. Sit in the river at Reba's farm reading a book

What else?

 

Halfway there!

I blinked, and it was gone. 

My life disappeared before my eyes. 

Gone were the days of hiking and tubing, weekend adventures, nights downtown, volleyball on Sundays...pretty much everything. 

The combination of a knee injury that made going anywhere that required walking a block or two and standing up at a party miserable and a job that swallowed me alive was a recipe for change. Big change. Big change that I neither predicted nor welcomed.

OK, so I knew as I threw one farewell party after another for coworkers that my job would get busier, but I never saw the cracked, bruised and smashed knee coming. There were lots of blogs written about this. I never realized how much my life revolved around being active. It was "good" to learn these things, but I won't lie; it was a miserable and frustrating much of the time.

I've started to run again - slowly - and remember how much I love it. But I volleyball has fallen apart, Ultimate conflicts with my summer schedule and adventures seem to be...well, what happened to those? 

Life in Colorado was vacation. All the time. I loved it! We'd go to the Springs, ski as much as possible, snowshoe, hike in Aspen, go to concerts, meet on Pearl Street...living out loud as much as possible. Life in Texas was that way, for a while. We went caving, tubed through the drain pipe at Barton Springs (OK, maybe not the wisest of all ideas?) and played in rivers. In fact, the blog links for both states feel endless. You get the picture.

Now it's Summer 2009. It starts early in a state that reaches the 90's by early May. Lakes are rising slowly and there are tubing adventures ahead. Adventures...I hope? I'm not exactly sure what ingredient has fallen out of the equation? Is it that all the people who were excited to go play went off and got too busy? Moved away? Grew up? It's Saturday morning at 11 o'clock, and I'm still in my pajamas drinking coffee. It's nice...kind of? But I'd rather be trekking through the greenbelt, hanging out at Hamilton pool or floating on the Comal. 

It's so easy to get out of a habit, even when it's one that you love and do without thinking. These weekends never planned themselves, but for some reason, they just stopped getting planned. And that's not OK. But I'm halfway there. My knees improving, and I've reclaimed a life on weekends. That's a start. Social events are on the calendar. Evites are sent. Now I just need to get people excited for the great outdoors. 

Here's to seeking out adventures to come! Do you want to come out and play?

 

  

A Good Reminder

It's IB and AP test week for high school students everywhere. Austin is no different. Seniors are studying for hours, dreading the 4-5 hours that they have to sit in a classroom, wondering if their scores will be high enough to earn the college credit of which they dream. Some have two in one day. It's overwhelming.

As I wondered around the patio and mingled with folks at the church family dinner, I secretly hoped that my tired self could go home early. I didn't expect any senior girls to show up for small group and was thinking that if they did, it would be one or two, and we could go to Starbucks instead of doing Bible study. It was muggy and hot and after a day lacking of motivation, I was not excited to be there. Yup - it happens sometimes.

But God wasn't going to have any of that laziness. Four girls came. And they were excited to be there. My co-leader arrived, and we started talking about college life, tests and boys. It was fun. My mind was flip-flopping, wondering if we really had to do Bible study...or if we could just hang out. I'm not sure what made me change the subject, but all of a sudden, I started the DVD. We're doing a series that includes a video component. In fact, it's one of the best Bible studies I've done in youth ministry when it comes to relationships. Good Sex: A Whole-Person Approach to Teenage Sexuality and God. Seriously. Good stuff. We've talked about intimacy, homosexuality, parents, marriage, boundaries, desires, pornography, lust, abortion, friendships, dating...you name it, we've brought it up...or the book has. We've asked questions and giggled. Lots of giggling. My co-leader is currently 7 months pregnant, too, so she served as the "object lesson" for what happens if you do have sex. At least that was the running joke.

We watched the DVD and went through some of the questions. There's no way to cover everything in this series because there's just too much good stuff. We stretch each one-week series into two and are still left with many options. There have been weeks when girls left affirmed. Some where they've left angry. And others have truly been confusing. But at the end of the evening, they've always been encouraged and challenged by God's Word, and that's been an incredible privilege.

Toward the end of our time, I asked if there was anything that surprised them about the series or what we have discussed. What followed was truly a gift from God. It's a rare treat to see how the Lord is transforming lives. Several opened up with personal stories. Other's shared how they began to understand God's love and care and how it reaches every corner of their lives. I am tempted to write paragraphs sharing these stories, but it's too personal to share. 

I left feeling humbled. I left having an attitude check. I left giddy - on cloud nine like a school girl with a crush - reminded that it's moments like this that make it all worth it.

Youth ministry...there's nothing like it.

  

  

I'm in love.

It's true. I'm head-over-heals, can't-get-enough-of-it in love...

...with running.

It's been a long time. There were lots of blogs written. xRays. MRIs. Visits to the orthopedic surgeon. Countless trips to physical therapy. An attempt to get back into it too quickly, which only made it take longer. 

But now we've been reunited. It's amazing. It's wonderful. And I'm reminded why I love it so much. 

I tried to explain this to my Pilates-loving roommate. She thinks I'm crazy. I think Pilates is boring. 

There's this quotation from the silly movie with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt that sums it up. And I can't believe I'm quoting What Women Want. But it's true. And I love to run.

"She's running. It's early, it's quiet. Just the sound of her feet on the asphalt. She likes to run alone. No pressure, no stress. This is the one place she can be herself. Look any way she wants, dress, think any way she wants. No game playing, no rules."

 

Point. Taken.

I'm 29-years-old and not dating any one person seriously. Let's just start with those two basic facts.

A few weeks ago, at happy hour with the ladies, I found myself telling a friend, "but he's just not my type."

Her response, "oh yeah, how's that 'type' working out for you?"

Point. Taken.

We - most of the non-married female half of the species - claim to never have a "type," but then when we're not into a guy who is into us, we use that "type" as an excuse. It's true. Seriously. Of course, we may deny this endlessly, and that's OK. We have the right to do so. Sorry.

We have expectations and hopes and thoughts and ideas about the person who we will date or marry. We don't like to admit that because it feels shallow and also might stop someone fabulous from asking us out. And sometimes, that "type" gets in the way of us ever giving some guy a chance.

But we're not alone. It may having nothing to do with dating or relationships, but we all have "types" and seem to expect them to come true. We have the "type" of job we expect - either low expectations that lead us to settle for subpar and being miserable...or ones so high that it's years beyond where we need to start on the totum pole, failing to be humble enough to ever get where we want to go.

My "type" of life wouldn't have moved to Texas. My "type" loudly refused to ever work at a publishing company. My "type" has often been incorrect. And that's a good thing.

*It might just be the best dating advice. Ever.

  

 

Proud Momma

I don't have children. Well, not technically. 

But last week, as I sat in the front row, hanging on every word of what Evan and Alex preached, watching Liz nervously walk to the pulpit and laughing as Anne and Katherine gave the children's sermon, I felt like a nervous proud mom.

These are my kids.  There are almost a hundred of them, but only about 20 participated in leading the congregation in worship. And

 it was a big deal. A real big deal. Two students wrestled with John 15 and gave sermons. Official sermons. We had 19 join the church after completing a 12-week mentor-based confirmation program, which was our biggest Stand class in years. 

It's a strange feeling. My eyes filled with tears. I knew that they had worked so hard. I knew that they were nervous. And I knew that they were scared. 

When I was in high school, I never understood why my parents

parents made such a big deal out of stuff like this - and orchestra concerts, tennis tournaments and awards. It was lame, and my mom and dad seemed determined to embarrass me. But this one Sunday a year, I'm given a taste of being that proud mom, sitting in the front row, smiling, listening to every word and being so excited for what these teenagers are doing. 

And they're pretty amazing people :)