Snow Day Fun

We are learning how to do snow days around here. So far this year, we have had five snow days this winter (all days we will have to make up) and it's possible there will be more.

I kind of like snow. I mean, I did grow up in an area where it's not uncommon to have two feet of lake effect snow dumped on you practically overnight. It was strange to move to a part of the country where an inch of snow closes practically everything.

And seriously, during my freshman year of college, we got an inch of snow and not only did the campus shut down with all classes canceled, but SHOE CARNIVAL on Green River Road closed, too. I will never forget the snow storm that shut down Shoe Carnival. That's when I knew winters were going to be different.

I'm from an area where kids never get snow days. I can remember a couple of times that my parents kept us home from school because the wind chill was way too low, but I do not remember any snow days. I'm sure we had them every once in awhile, but I'm also sure we went years without school being canceled because of snow.

However, here in Henderson, it's odd to go a winter without at least one snow day. At first, snow days are celebrated. It's exciting. Eventually, though, the realization of make up days sink in. For example, our school Spring Break is nearly two weeks (8 school days and two weekends total). However, we lose the first three school days as snow make up days.

But here is how the Durhams spend a snow day:

1. Sleep in (well, not me. Sam expects me to keep my regularly posted schedule and attend to his needs.)

2. Eat a big breakfast (not me again. I eat Kashi. Which is boring.)

3. Shovel the driveway (again, not me. Jason and Jonas enjoy this job.)

4. Drink lots of coffee (Yes! Me! I do this!)

5. Go sledding and throw lots of snowballs

6. Drink hot chocolate (or more coffee)

7. Watch movies, read, play on the computer, listen to music

8. Take a nap or two

Yesterday was a particularly awesome snow day for me because I was going to spend the day in a meeting in Hopkinsville anyway. Instead, I spent time with my family, spent time at the home of some family friends, and enjoyed a free day. I wouldn't have been working anyway, so I didn't get behind by not working.

A snow day I don't have to make up? That's the best kind!

Stay warm!

Long Winter

We've had lots of snow this winter. But today I was in the garage and looked up and started dreaming of spring! It will come eventually and then we will get to finally take these down again:

Adorable Wins!

According to Blogger, this is post number 666 on Becky's Blog!

Hopefully that doesn't freak you out! But just in case it does...













Awwww! That's better.

Happy Tuesday!

We Are The Church

In case you didn't pick up on this from my myriad of picture postings on facebook, my twitter updates, or my plug for the youth blog, yesterday was what we affectionately and officially call "Youth Sunday" at the Presbyterian Church of Henderson.

The Henderson Presbys love Youth Sunday. The students love it because they love to plan worship. They love to pray, act, sing, dance, read and lead and all of the preparation that goes along with it. You would think they might be reluctant to show up for a three hour rehearsal on a Saturday night, but every single one of them were there, attentive, excited and expectant.

The adults love it, too. In fact, our attendance yesterday was DOUBLE what it was the week before. Oh, there were some visitors, but mostly what happened is that our members didn't want to miss Youth Sunday. There is something so hopeful and exciting about watching a group of teenagers lead worship. I joke with some that anything can happen on Youth Sunday and when it does happen, it's practically the only time that crazy different is embraced joyfully by our congregation.

I love Youth Sunday, too. And not just because it's really fun to be the youth director on Youth Sunday. I am aware that I have the honor and privilege of working with an incredible group of teenagers. They are not perfect, and we have our days that are a lot less encouraging and hopeful, but this group amazes me on a regular basis. In general, they are kind and loving to each other and to "outsiders." They care about justice, they respect each other's beliefs, they are willing to pitch in and help when they are needed (and sometimes even without being asked or instructed). They like to discuss Bible passages, current events, important issues and this week's American Idol with each other. They like to be together and they especially like to work together. That's priceless. (I don't take credit for any of the above. Most of them already possessed these qualities when they got here!)

And I love to see them work together in planning and leading worship. I love to step back and watch them work out a problem or make suggestions to each other in a loving way. And although these are kids who will sometimes push each other out of the way to be the first in the food line, I'm touched at how little each one seems to care about being in the spotlight or being the center of attention. I mean, several of them had scene stealing moments in yesterday's service, but none of them were planned or intentional. It just turned out that way.

Mostly, I'm encouraged to dream about what the church could be. And sometimes, that reminds me of what the church is.

A few days ago, I wrote about grace. Several people sent me messages through facebook and email, but Dana commented on the actual post. I love Dana--she's a mom, mentor, teacher, leader and friend that I admire a lot. And her comment rings true for a lot of people: "My struggle is that I feel so disconnected to those in a church. I feel I cannot be myself."

The Church (with a capital "C" is what I tell the kids I work with--the whole Church of Jesus Christ) can sometimes feel phony and harsh. "If they know what I really think...if they know what I really want to say...if they know what I did, they wouldn't let me come here."

One thing I hope I'm leaving the students I teach, mentor and love is the understanding that when we come to church, we can be ourselves. It's okay to ask questions, it's okay to not know answers, it's normal to have problems, it's all right if you get confused, it's okay if you have doubts, it's okay if you don't think you believe in God, it's all right to believe something different than what I believe, and no one wants to hear the answers you think I expect you to give--just tell me what you really think. I don't think I've learned how to teach this and instill this perfectly, and I'm not sure all of the students are at that place, but I'm hopeful that it's happening and maybe it is a part of their understanding of what church can be.

I do know that on Youth Sunday, they feel free to be who they are. They know that if they are readers, they can read. If they are dancers (or even just if they want to be dancers), they can dance. If they are actors, they act; if they are singers, they sing; if they like to run the technical stuff, they handle sound and the projector. And never, not once in all of our planning did they worry that they wouldn't be liked or that people would be upset or that they couldn't pull it off or there might be a committee meeting because they were doing things too differently or being too outrageous. They planned it, they took on the roles they were comfortable doing and they rocked the church house yesterday for sure!

While speaking about the Gospel, the author of 2 Corinthians 4 writes, "But we have this treasure in clay jars, so that it may be made clear that this extraordinary power belongs to God and does not come from us (v.7)." I love connecting this verse to what I do in youth ministry. We are all clay jars that are easily cracked or broken and often full of imperfections. Yet, in such breakable, earthen vessels, God keeps the greatest news of all. In our brokenness, God is glorified.

I hope for a church like that. Not for a particular type of music or a format of service, but for genuine excitement in worship, for a sense of calling for each follower, for love and grace and life that comes in imperfect, fragile vessels.

United Breaks Guitars

I may learn to the play the guitar just so I, too, can write songs about terrible customer service experiences. It's kind of catchy.

Youth Sunday

There are all kinds of Youth Sunday pictures over at the Youth Blog.

By Grace

I love Jesus. In fact, I try to follow him on a daily basis. If you were putting me in a religious category, you would call me a Christian.

Pretty much everyone either knows that or assumes that. I do believe there are a couple of people who are not so sure. Maybe because I don't listen to the right kind of music or read the right kind of books or wear the right kind of clothes. I don't speak in Bible verses or quote theologians regularly. But the truth is I've known a lot of Christians who dress the part, talk the part, listen and read the part, wear a cross around their necks and then go on to do some pretty atrocious things. Obviously that's not usually the case, but I figure there are better indicators of faithfulness out there...or "in" there.

Salvation through Jesus isn't about clothing or music or books. It's not even about walking the Roman Road, learning the ABC's or understanding a Bridge Diagram. It's not about praying a certain set of words a certain way in a certain place. It's not about anything we do at all. The only thing that ever can save us is the abundant, overwhelming, loving grace of God. Period. No bullet points, no lists of rules.

That's uncomfortable for some, impossible for others. We like rules. We like to-do lists and qualifications. A lot of us are pretty comfortable with the idea that some are in and others are out. I've met people who like the idea of an angry judge, separating the sheep from the goats (see, I'm not ignorant of that Bible passage. I've read it lots of times as I've considered grace and judgment. Matthew 25 is a hard passage).

"You were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once lived, following the course of this world, following the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work among those who are disobedient. All of us once lived among them in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of flesh and senses, and we were by nature children of wrath, like everyone else. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved—and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness towards us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God—not the result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand to be our way of life. Ephesians 2:1-10

"So does that mean everyone goes to heaven?" a sixth grade girl asked me once after we read the above passage. "Does anyone go to hell?" (She's a pretty smart sixth grader.)

'I don't know." Was my reply. Who am I to put limitations on God's grace or try to figure out where the line is drawn. "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not by your own doing (v. 8)." What is grace if it doesn't come freely? Teenagers, it turns out, like lines. They like to figure out black and white areas. I was there once. As I get older, I'm more aware of the grey areas. There are things I don't know and don't understand.

"What then are we to say? Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life." Romans 6:1-4

So what do I believe and teach about that? Well, I don't believe that grace given freely means I can just do whatever I want and nothing matters. As a follower of Jesus, a teacher of God's word, and a shepherd of children and teenagers, I am aware of the call to walk in "newness of life." I'm aware that as a follower, connected to the Vine of Jesus I am called to bear fruit with my life.

I hope I do.

It's true I listen to a variety of music and have a problem with classifying my music as "Christian" or "Secular." I take in a variety of media from various sources. I tend to be a lot more liberal than a lot of my Christian friends. I don't feel the need to make every blog post, facebook update or even every youth group meeting explicitly "Christian." And it's true, I make my share of mistakes and bad decisions, I won't argue with that. It's possible that I'm doing it all wrong.

I do believe and hope that as much as possible, my motives, my decisions and my actions may glorify God. I hope that this is the reason that people assume or understand that I am a Christian--not a cross around my neck or the fact that I work in a church, but because they see the work and call of God in my life.

Or because they see a hopeful sinner, overwhelmed by God's grace-full love.

Ten Silly Things I Love Right Now

(I just noticed that I've blogged every day for about a week. Didn't want to break my streak because I couldn't think of anything useful to share...because you know that GLEE busting a move was useful.)

TEN SILLY THINGS I LOVE RIGHT NOW:

1. Sea Cotton Island antibacterial hand soap from Bath and Body Works

2. Quaker's chocolate rice cakes

3. Beatles Rockband

4. My laptop

5. The season 6 premiere of LOST

6. The new Super Mario Bros for Wii

7. My glove/mittens

8. The Coffee House (channel 30 on my Sirius radio)

9. My penguin pajamas

10. Handwritten notes in the mail

That was fun! List your silly things you love!

That's News To Me

I have a love/hate relationship with the media.

That's something celebrities say. I am not a celebrity (in case you were confused).

It's just also how I feel about the media. I mean, I watch the news regularly. I often start my morning with local news, the Today Show or Good Morning America. Sometimes I listen to NPR on the way to work. Facebook and Twitter usually turn out to be good sources for things that are going on throughout the day. Jason and I usually watch the local news before we go to bed. I have websites that I check when I know something big is going on, I subscribe to a couple of news podcasts, I like to talk to people about current events. I follow and read several blogs that deal with current events and politics. I listen to our local AM station when I'm home with Jason and he gets to choose what we'll be listening to all day. With wall to wall news coverage and a myriad of print and digital sources, it's easy to ingest a whole lot of stuff.

I think this love for what's going on goes back to a required semester of a class simply called "Current Events" in high school. We each got a subscription to "Newsweek", a daily newspaper, and watched news programs almost daily. We had to write reports on things that were going on and take tests and quizzes about the news. Until that class, I think I was probably like a lot of teenagers who don't really care about the news unless it's gossipy.

Which brings me to this: I don't watch the news tabloids and I only buy "People" or "US" if I'm in serious need of mindless entertainment (like when on vacation on the beach). However, in the interest of honesty, I do have one gossip site bookmarked ("The Wrap") and I follow Perez Hilton on Twitter--and I can't believe I actually admitted that.

But here's the thing: the media makes me so mad so often. The other day, my friend Nibby posted: "You can tell it's TV Ratings week! Sensational news starts to appear!" with a link to a story on a local news website about facebook addiction (as if!). He's right! The news is teasing us with a lot of stories this week. This morning there was a commercial for an upcoming special report about keeping tabs on your kids without them knowing about it. Stories about teen and child safety are always big ratings winners. Adam McClane posted a story about how selling a teen news story that captured this perfectly. If you pay attention, you realize that a lot of news stories are just recycled. This is a pretty common trick in magazines, too. You could pick up a stack of women's magazines from the 90s and you're probably going to learn a lot of the same things that are in the current issues.

The media also causes a lot of the problems they are reporting. For example, earlier this week, a local media outlet ran a story about a college website that is an "anonymous confession booth." They were on the campus of my alma mater, because the University of Evansville has an ACB page. They were interviewing students about it (many of them claimed they had never even heard about it), showing some scandalous posts from the site and basically trying to convince us that this was a bad thing happening on our campuses. One of the young ladies they interviewed summed up exactly what I was thinking was true: "I've never heard about it...but now I'll probably go check it out." I imagine UE's ACB page had a lot more traffic that night. Several months back, the Today Show reported on a food shortage and suggested that people were hoarding staple foods because they were afraid we would run out. All of a sudden, thousands of otherwise well fed Americans with well-stocked cabinets started to hoard rice.

It's true, sometimes the media does accomplish things. The media draws attention to issues that would otherwise be forgotten or unreported (child trafficking, Darfur, deadly floor mats and accelerators in a certain company's vehicles), but it's also disturbing how the media will pick and choose stories to report, and as stories get old they are simply phased out. There are many important stories we don't hear unless we dig for them because they simply are not exciting enough.

We also have to be careful because a lot of us are gullible and many outlets will take advantage of this. We believe everything we hear or read and this is dangerous. Too often friends will forward me an email that contains a story that is entirely false or entirely skewed. People will post warnings they've read or heard about without actually fact checking them. Some people only get their news from one source or one channel. We can't be ignorant that none of the media outlets are entirely fair, unbiased and balanced. As we watch and take in stories, we can't set aside our common sense.

And so, I have this love/hate relationship. I go back and forth between gratitude to the media and disdain for what I feel are manipulative tactics.

What do you think? How do you get your news? What do you think about bias and sensationalism in our media?

GLEEk Out

Dragging a little bit this Tuesday afternoon? This helped me tremendously.



Here's hoping we all find a reason to break into random 90s songs and bust some cool dance moves.