Wonderings and Wanderings

In a very ironic turn of events, I own a puppy.  (Don’t freak out, Mom and Dad.) I technically own the puppy but I don’t possess the puppy.  Long story….. ready?

Monday one of my youth boys calls me and tells me he and some friends are at the local animal shelter.  He is adopting a puppy for his girlfriend but he is only 16 so he can’t legally adopt an animal.  He needs someone 18 or older.  So he calls me….  I ask a few questions.  You know … things like…. does she know?  Do her parents know?  Do your parents know?  Etc.  I got satsifactory answers so I drove down to the shelter to meet him, two friends and his girlfriend’s sister.  We explain to the staff who I am and that I’m legal and what they are doing and proceed to the kennel area where the dogs are kept. 

Now its been a good four years since I was last here.  The last time I entered the shelter was the time that I adopted a dog in very poor judgment. I left with a beagle named Muffin and had my dad return her four days later.  I was not ready for that level of commitment.  It really wasn’t fair to her…. I was never home and she was lonely.  I just didn’t think it through well enough.

So, now, I’m back with four eager teenagers and stuck between trying to not rain on their parade and be the lone, rational adult that speaks reason to those who don’t understand reason.  Lots of questions later, a few phone calls to assure parents are okay and aware of what is happening, I’m filling out paperwork to adopt the dog in my name for the moment and then I can give the dog away as a gift and the name can be changed to the "receiver" after the dog is fixed.  It wasn’t until after the signing, the money exchange and some other clarifications that it was mentioned that the puppy could not be fixed until after April due to her young age.  So . . . in legalese, I own a 8-week black labrador retriever until April.  As we left the shelter, I felt a strange sense of abandonment as "Belle" went with her new family.  I hope she understands one day that it was for her own good.  That the family she was going to would be better for her. They had a farm, two other dogs, children that loved dogs, a basic IQ in doggie-care . . . all things I did not have to offer her.

It has been two days now and I’ve not received angry calls from any parents and no calls from the police about animal neglect.  Youth ministry can be a very risky job sometimes…

Sunday morning I give a report to our church about our Mission Trip this summer to San Antonio, Texas.  I only have eight minutes and it is definitely a challenge to convey in 8 minutes an infinite amount of emotions and thoughts.  But I nor anyone else desires to be at the church for an infinite amount of time so I follow the guidelines.   Below is the text of my report followed by the video that I put together for it.  I hope you will be encouraged by these things and will offer up a special prayer for the children of San Antonio and all over the world that are the victims of our many frailities and failures as adults.

San Antonio Trip Report

I wish this morning that I could give each one of you a special pill that would allow you to experience with all your senses what we experienced on our youth mission trip to San Antonio.  I wish you could hear the screams of delight and the words of anger from the children we worked with there.  I wish you could smell the humanity at the Mission Oaks Center for Adults with Mental Disabilities.  I wish you could taste the satisfaction of a hard-earned evening meal prepared by Fred McKay, Carl and Karen Morris and Sondra Allen.  I wish you could see the beautiful brown eyes on the faces of the children and the uncomfortable, itching white of the lice in their hair.  I wish you could feel the weight of a child on your back who refuses to get off because he just wants to feel a loving and appropriate touch from another human.  I wish you could hear the silence of our bus as we drove away from these children on the last day of that week – a silence broken only by the weeping youth and adults who were leaving some of their heart in San Antonio.  As one youth said, “We knew it would be hard to leave, but we never expected it to break our hearts.”

If my wishes were granted, your life would be changed just as our lives were changed by what God taught us.

Forty-eight youth (grades 7 – 12) and 15 adults went to San Antoniowith the purpose of being the presence of Christ.  Our theme verse came from Paul’s letter to the believers of Philippi in which he instructed them to “Go out into the world uncorrupted, a breath of fresh air in this squalid and polluted society. Provide people with a glimpse of good living and of the living God.”

Our youth and leaders did just that because of God at work in them and through them. 

·        They were a breath of fresh air to the children of the San Antonio Housing Projects of Villa Veremendi, Cassiano and Wheatly and the Sunrise Learning Center where we played games, taught songs, shared Bible stories, made crafts and simply loved on the kids from 9 am until 3 pm each day.  Our kids were tired.  It was hot.  One of my girls at the end of the first day said, “That was the longest day of my life.” But they didn’t give up.  They worked hard knowing that their time was short to teach these children a message they don’t often hear – the message that they are beautiful and special and loved by God.

·        They were a breath of fresh air to the adults of the Mission Oaks Disabilities Center whose world is so small and scary and alone.  Our youth brought the gift of music and the gift of youth to these special children of God and we were all blessed by what took place there.

·        They were a breath of fresh air to over 100 youth of the Bexar County Juvenile Detention Center.  Youth ranging in age from 9 to 17 who have followed a path that led them to incarceration. Our youth stood in front of them and sang words about freedom in Christ that is offered to all.  Cori Jenkins, one of our seniors last year, brought a message of grace and love to a group of peers that have a much different story than her own.

·        They were a breath of fresh air to the members of the Crestview Baptist Church in San Antonio and the Gaston Oaks Baptist Church in Plano where they were able to preach through the gift of music that God has given them and that they have committed to give back.

I wish I could give you such a pill that would share all these things with you but I can’t.  The most I can do is to thank you on behalf of the youth and adults that gave a week of their summer and the children of San Antonio who shared that week with us. Thank you for giving money to help make this trip possible; thanks for praying for us while we were away.  But most importantly, thank you for continuing to give and for continuing to pray so that First Baptist Church can continue to be a breath of fresh air in our community and around the world.

Enjoy these snapshots from our trip this summer.

** Video was deleted by author because it took too freaking long to load.  However, if you really, really want to see it you may go here.

I took several of my youth this weekend to an outdoor Christian concert event called Rock the Light in Kansas City. This is our fifth year attending and it is very popular with my youth for many reasons.  One is indeed because they speak the language of music and there is good music.  Red, Kutless, Thousand Foot Krutch, Audio A. They love it because they have a whole Saturday where they can run around without major supervision or expectations.  They get to just be for 10 hours with rocking music pounding all around them.  It is a highlight trip for all of us.  Except for one aspect.  The Christian merchandise.  Every year I get nauseated at the newest products available for purchase to these young consumers. Here are a few from this year:

Nice shirts, huh?  I mean, "Liars go to Hell" in big letters.  That is just beautiful, isn’t it?  Exactly the type of shirt the Jesus would wear to communicate his love to a world in need.  "I am . . .  Satan’s Worst Nightmare".   Are you serious?  Yes, "Satan" or the evil of the world cowers in fear of us.  Reminds me of the old saying, "Grabbing a tiger by the tail."

And my favorite . . 

I’m speechless on this product.  Any comment from readers?  "Born Again" shoes??? I think that perhaps they misunderstood the "sole" care.

These type of things provide a good opportunity to talk with my youth about critical thinking. Similar to a time four years ago when we were on a mission trip with an organization and they gathered us in the mornings to teach us songs to share with local children at the afternoon.  One of the songs they taught our youth was a song about "blowing up the devil".  That evening at our youth group devotional I talked with them about how the words we sing can convey a message we don’t want to – which is violence.  I don’t care that we are talking about fighting evil – I don’t propose we bomb anything or anyone.  To kids in a neighborhood where violence is all they have witnessed, let’s make the radical claim of Jesus Christ which is the way of peace.

We need to think about what we buy and what we sing and what it says to the world around us about the nature of God.  Believe me . . . they do.

I wanted to share this video with you from World Vision.  This past weekend at our youth Back to School Retreat we spent most of the time talking about God’s call to us from Micah 6:8 – "Do justice.  Love mercy.  Walk Humbly with our God."  We watched a video titled "Invisible Children" and we discussed ways that we can make a difference. We’ve each been given one life by God.  Do something with that one life.

The video is a 2 minute poem that will touch your heart and give you a glimpse of what God sees everyday in parts of the world.  What God sees that breaks God’s heart.  What God calls us to do something about.

Get this video and more at MySpace.com

We believe in you.
We dream for you
to know the God who loves you so.
He’ll never ever let you go.

We hope for you.
We pray for you
to find a way through the night.
God will be your guiding light.

Children of Villa Vermendi – we love you.

We returned Sunday night from an 8-day youth mission trip to San Antonio, Texas, and it was simply amazing.

First – I love my youth.  I love them, I love them, I love them.  They are amazing, beautiful, giving, imperfect humans who sometimes get it right and sometimes get it wrong but their hearts and motives are good.  I had such a blast hanging out and working with all of you last week.  I could have traveled to San Antonio and back again with you.  I’ve missed you the past two days and thank God every day that He gives me the opportunity to share life with you.  You inspire me.

Second – I love some children in San Antonio that I never knew existed before last week.  I see them in the day and I see them in my dreams and my heart hurts for them.  It truly does.  I worry about them and wish I could give them a different environment to grow up in.  An environment where they were safe and they had plenty of food and clothing.  A place where they would have adults loving them and telling them each day how beautiful and special they are.  A place where people believed in them and helped them become the best person they could be.  An environment where everything around them reminded them of the God that loves them.  Some people are born with several hurdles in front of them that others don’t have to jump. I wish it wasn’t so.  To Erik – you are gifted and smart. You are here for a purpose.  You are better than what you’ve been born into. You are loved and cherished by God.  Never forget this.

Third – My heart broke at the Mission Oaks Center for adults with disabilities.  I spent the time talking with an older lady who was sentenced to a wheelchair and a disease that stole her memories.  We listened to the youth sing. We cried.  She shared memories that didn’t make sense to me but communicated something deep in her mind.  That place really saddened me as my heart hurt for those who are forgotten and cast to the side in society.  Those adults were someone’s mother or father; someone’s son or daughter.  Some had not always been the way we found them in that place.  Some had lost their ability to function normally along the journey of life. My heart really cannot stand someone’s dignity being taken from them.  Nothing makes me angrier than seeing this kind of injustice.  Every individual – every adult, every child, every race, every station in life, every homosexual, every heterosexual, every person as a creation of God – deserves to be treated with dignity.  Shame and pain on those of us whom treat people otherwise.

Youth and sponsors – you were a breath of fresh air this week in San Antonio.  You were the face, the hands, the feet, the shoulders, the heart of Christ in San Antonio.

Now – may we commit to being a breath of fresh air in Jefferson City.  May we be the face, the hands, the feet, the shoulders, the heart of Christ in Jefferson City.

We are on our Mission Trip to San Antonio this week.  To read updates and see pictures of our trip, go to www.refugeonline.org/pictures.htm and click on "San Antonio"!!

Mel