It's been quite some time since we've made a post here, so I'll try to catch you up on all of our happenings. It shouldn't take long as it doesn't seem like much has happened.
About a month or so ago my car decided that it didn't like it's normal operating temperature, and so I had to put a new thermostat in it. Well, that didn't seem to take care of the problem, so I took it to a mechanic that goes to our church. Greg took a look at it and bled some more air out of the system, that I had apparently not gotten out, which turned out to not fix the problem either. So, now it appears that I have a leaking head gasket; an $800 procedure on a $1000 car, not ideal. So it's car shopping time...boy do I love doing that.
Jessica is about 25 weeks along now...15 more to go. This month for the last couple of Saturdays we have our child-birth classes at the hospital. Which apparently last for five hours a piece. I can't tell you how much I'm looking forward to these classes. I am, however, getting pretty excited that our baby's going to be here before we know it.
Things at church are going pretty good. We're winding down the school year with the kids and gearing up for the summer. It definitely seems like we're about to turn a corner with these students, so we're looking forward to what the summer may bring. It's been exciting to see how many students have been baptized in the last three months. You can definitely feel some momentum being built around here.
One thing that I've begun to notice is how unprepared college gets you for ministry. I'm sure that there is an immeasurable amount of wisdom that I got from college for certain situations, but as far as the practical side of things, I'm lacking big time. Every day I am surrounded by kids who come from backgrounds that I wouldn't wish on my worst of enemies, but none-the-less they need help. And they come to me as a person who is suppose to be trained in dealing with these type of issues, and I'm not. I don't know what to do with a 5th grader who is is lashing out in anger towards a situation that quite frankly I would want to as well. I don't know what to say to a student who has two different families environments that do nothing but cause more animosity towards the other.
When it comes to this stuff I'm stupid. Why can't these kids come and ask me whether you have to be baptized to be saved, or if Jesus really was married to Mary Magdalene? Why can't I get questions about if evolution is true or false, and if it's true, what does that mean for account in Genesis? Where are these questions that Ozark prepared me for? I can talk with you for hours on these subjects. But instead I'll just glance over my Josh McDowell book on counseling youth that Doug Gibson gave me (thanks Dougie) and continue to not have answers for families that need them.
Thursday, April 12, 2007
A Month's Review
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comments:
Take cheer, you may be more prepared than you realize. All of those questions Ozark prepared you to answer include "why do bad things happen" and "what did God ever do about it." Perhaps the two most important and relevant questions ever asked. I know that seems a bit esoteric but you have answers in a world of confusion and that makes you an anchor to those kids.
I've been in ministry in for 13 years and I know how hopeless some people's situations can be. But we have to realize that we're not there to fix their problems; there's only One who can fix their problems. Our job is to keep pointing those kids to Him. You'll have no idea until later how effective that actually was.
You're already doing the most important thing you can. Those kids see you and have hope. Hope that there there are answers in this world. Hope that they can be loved unconditionally. Hope that a life of purpose with stability, love, and fulfillment exists in this world. Hope that there is a life other than one bound up in sin. You and your wife may represent the only example of these things that some of these kids will see and that will have a profound impact on them.
Just trust that it can. Trust that He can.
Post a Comment