The Scoop

Ok, here's the deal about last week. I started the week off well with a good blog on Monday. Tuesday I was at school, so no big deal. Wednesday, I came in, did my research, and sat down to compose one of the best blog posts I had ever done. Great fun, great commentary, I laughed, I cried....*sigh*...it was beautiful. However, I was foiled by my own impatience once again. I clicked to proofread my paper and the spellchecker got IDed as a pop-up. I told the computer to allow it and a window came up with a warning that I quickly got rid of by clicking "yes". Well, the window stated basically that if I navigated away from the page, I would lose anything not already saved. Since I hadn't saved anything up to that point, I lost it all. Oops. It's gone. Not like floating-around-somewhere-in-cyberspace gone, but never-existed-to-begin-with gone! Except for the memmory in my head, there was no post on Wednesday. So I'm back now. Just consider yourself encouraged and enlightened by the fact that you would have been on Wednesday if I would have read just a little closer. Go ahead. There, doesn't that feel good?

Proverbs 29:5 says, "Whoever flatters his neighbor is spreading a net for his feet". This verse may not seem to click with most at first, but think about it with me for a minute and we might find ourselves swallowing somewhat hard afterwards. I think people like to recieve complements. Sure, they may turn red and even tell you they don't like to recieve them, but somewhere deep down, it makes us feel good. This can be abused. Consider any teenage TV show from the past 30 years, where the smart but socially defunct student would do anything to be noticed, recognized, or included with the "in crowd" of the school's hierarchy. The "in crowd" ring leader realizes this and drops a few nice sounding words in the direction of the wannabe. this goes on for sometime and even leads to the inclusion of the student, but at a price. He or she is required to do something, usually cheat on homework, to continue the relationship. When the deed is done, when the "in crowd" has what they want, the services of the wannabe are no longer needed and he/she is dismissed. The point I'm getting at here is that flattery builds one up only to be mercilessly let down. If you and I are guilty of this, we are taking on a selfish attitude with a complete disregard for the other person. We basically (like the verse says) "spread a net", set a trap, "for their feet". Shame on us if we use another person to advance our purposes.

Wednesday: Pure Passion w/ Ryan Dobson in Bloomington. We LEAVE at 5 pm (so be here before then) FREE event, just bring money for fast food. We'll be back 9:30-ish. This is in place of Big Deal this week.

Later.

Catching up

I've gotten to talk to my sisters a lot this weekend. They are all at home right now over the Thanksgiving holiday. Sarah's up from Knoxville for something like 10 days or 2 weeks, which is unheard of for her. Rachel is off-call for the first time since she started her job a month ago and won't be on again until after Christmas. Buffy is finishing school and getting ready for her wedding, and they're all there without me! It's alright, though. I'll be there Wednesday evening to enjoy the Willis family goofiness that we've been known for. It will be short lived, but good times. I spoke with Sarah for just a couple minutes before she handed the phone off to Rachel. We've talked for about an hour and a half over the last 2 days. Not much for most folks, but it's like years for us because we're always so stinkin' busy! Laura got to hang out with the girls on Sunday. They were all trying on bridesmaids dresses in Champaign (IL) and she got to see some more of what makes the Willis' so...um..."special". She had a good time and I'm glad she did. I'll get to see her tonight and I hope to have as good a time or better (hopefully the latter) than they did yesterday. It will be good times catching up with her too.

Proverbs 22:5 says, "In the paths of the wicked lie thorns and snares, but he who guards his soul stays far from them." This verse could raise some questions in some people's minds. Before we get to those, let's deal with what this says outright. The wicked will always have things in they're lives to catch, snag, trip, scratch, trap, etc. them up. If you really value your life, don't walk that path! Guard your soul, stay away from what you know will be bad for you. Seems like an easy enough teaching, right? If you've lived longer than a day, you know that this is usually easier said than done. One might ask, "I'm trying to do the right thing in life, but I always seem to get tripped up. What's up?" I can say two things about this. One, life is not promised to be an easy ride, especially for Christians. Satan desires to trip you up and make you fall on the straight and narrow and so he'll try and get you off of it in whatever way he can. Even when you are doing the right thing, life may seem to have thrown you a curve. Just know that Jesus has overcome the world (John 16:33) and he will guide us through the troubles of this world. Two, you may be getting tripped up in life because you have stepped off the narrow road and are on the path of the wicked! It's not too hard to imagine. Remember, Jesus said the road to destruction is wide and many are on it (Matthew 7:13). There will be a lot of "good" people thinking they are living "good" lives who walk the wide road. I think they'll be surprised to find what lies at the end. Anyways, we have enough examples of people living wrong lives and doing harmful things to themselves that we can know the results of them walking that path. Guard your soul. Like a sign that says, "DANGER", be smart and stay away.

Joe: Mouse Hunter

I think I have taken care of my mouse problem for at least a little while. For the last week to week and a half, I have been on a mission to rid my house of vermin. I realized that I'm unable to keep a cat, so I basically have to be ready to defend my house on my own whenever I see evidence of an intruder. I have tried to be better this year about making my house as unhospitable to critters as possible. Methods such as cleaning, not leaving dirty dishes in the sink, and keeping the house at a relatively low temperature all seemed like logical ways to keep clear of mice. However, a couple weeks ago, all my hopes of having a rodent-free Autumn were dashed when, while doing my homework downstairs, I heard the skittering of tiny feet in the ceiling above me. I don't have a dropped ceiling, but somehow, somewhere, they got in and I could hear them. Needless to say, I was ticked. I didn't see much of them for another week or so, but when they showed up, they "made their presence known" (if you need this spelled out, you've never had mice...and I hate you.) Once I knew they were here, I scrambled to do what I could to make sure it was a short stay. However, the mice that were in my house must have been genetically enhanced and escaped from a science lab, because they were outsmarting me at every turn. They seemed to be mocking me by, first of all, eating what I put in the traps, and secondly, taking and hiding my traps! This didn't sit well so I pulled out the big guns...my wallet. I went to the store and bought some poison and set some of that where the box instructed my to. Also, I altered my traps a bit to make them more sensitive to touch so I wouldn't just be feeding the stinkin' things! Well, within 24 hours, I had evidence that the poison had at least been eaten and caught 2 in the new and improved traps. I am proud to say that I have been critter free for 3 days. We'll just have to see how long that keeps up.

Proverbs 8:4 says, "To you, O men, I call out; I raise my voice to all mankind." It's amazing to me how silly people can be sometimes. I amaze even myself sometimes when I'll do some absolutely ridiculous things. Case in point: looking frantically for my keys while holding them in my hand, turning the wrong way down a one-way street, running upstairs or over to the office to do something important and leaving behind what it was that I was doing it for. All these things are silly, and it seems like we all do them. However, what is sad is the abundance of foolishness in the world. People will subject themselves to all sorts of tragedies and potentially bad ends all in the name of getting ahead or making a quick buck. Foolishness is the cause of a lot of people's financial troubles, marital problems, and social blunders. Scripture, especially here in Proverbs, makes it very clear that foolishness is not the only option. You don't have to keep doing stupid things in life if you don't choose to! Wisdom makes her call to everyone. "O men" is speaking to all of mankind, because regardless of gender, we all need wisdom. It is a universal call and it is universally available. Unfortunately, many people will never accept the call. They will go barrelling through life and hurt themselves and people around them on their way. Understand, also, that this call is for youth ministers too (and, boy, do I know I need it!). But, for my sake, because only people I know well and are around a lot read this, accepte the call. Please? At least, when you know you're going to make a bad decision, call me and tell me, and I'll stay indoors that day.

Friday: Bowl-o-rama @ Brazilian Lanes (7 - 9-ish). Meet me there, not at church.

Later...

Big sigh of relief

Most of you know that I’m not normally one to stay up until unheard of hours of the morning for just any reason. There was a time, though, when I did regularly stay up until those unheard of hours and that time was known as “freshman year”. I may have told some of you this story at some point in time, but its one of the most amusing in my life, so it bears repeating. Upon my arrival at JBC, I was grinning all over myself with excitement just being there. It was a great atmosphere with lots of new people to meet and things to do. My first day there, my roommate, who was a senior, arrived early to move his sister. Used to going to bed at about 10 pm, I settled in for the night. Saturday was done. The next day, I learned Patrick had come in later and found me asleep walking in around 11 or so. That day many of the upper classmen arrived and Patrick had all his friends over in our room that evening. It was awesome! Me surrounded by a bunch of seniors, who were the cream of the crop guys on campus, just sitting in MY room hanging out. Well, when everyone left, it was 3 am!!! I didn’t feel that bad at the time, but I had testing and meetings all day on Monday. So, I set my watch, which I held in my hand while I slept, to wake me up at 7 for our 8:00 meetings. I got up that morning, not at 7 as planned, but at 8:43!!! Evidently, I flinched when the alarm went off and fell right back to sleep! I had missed our freshman class picture and the first half hour of our orientation meeting! It’s a beautiful story. One for the ages. All that to say I stayed up until 3 doing a paper Monday night (Tuesday morning) that was due in the afternoon. I was dragging all day yesterday but I turned in a quality paper. I went to bed last night without setting the alarm, but got up at 7 anyways (Thanks for the wake-up call, Michael). This morning I can breathe a big sigh of relief that that paper is done and out of the way and I can begin focusing on the end of the semester.

Proverbs 3:3-4 says, “Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart. Then you will win favor and a good name in the sight of God and man”. Love and faithfulness might be the two biggest requirements God has of us. We are commanded to keep them and never let them leave us. How? It says here to “bind them around your neck” and “write them on the tablet of your heart”. It would be silly for me to ask if anyone has ever seen any of the WWJD? material, so I won’t. But this is a pretty good modern example of this principle if it’s used correctly. The idea is to keep the Word of God in front of you at all times. To “write them on the tablet of your heart” is to know and memorize the Word. In this time, a tablet was a piece of stone where the words were carved into it. They weren’t going anywhere! So to have these words on the tablet of your heart is to keep them close and never let them go. In doing so, we’ll win favor with God and everyone around us. Why is this important? To God, we show our allegiance and devotion and commitment to his way of life. To man, these words and behaviors will start to be lived out and people will take notice of our good lives. So, grab your Bible and your nylon jewelry of choice and start taking this Word to heart.

We’re bowling on the 12th (next Friday). Plan on 7-9 pm.

Later…

I'm blushing

I did not realize until late Friday afternoon that I had not blogged that day (and I guess the day before, as well!) and would not be able to. I had been so good up until then writing every day that I was in the office (at least for the last couple weeks!), but I guess I had a lot on my mind last week. Anyways, sorry to those of you who I let down and left in despair waiting anxiously for my next commentary on life as I see it and experience it. Of course, I’m really apologizing to about 3 people, so which ever one of you felt slighted, go get a hug from one of the other two.

Youth Sunday went pretty well yesterday. I say pretty well because I never feel comfortable with it. I think I’m going to start working on the next one next week to be sure that all the bases are covered, even though it’s three months in advance! Oh well, it did go well and the KidKonnection did a good job with their production. Hats off to Kim and her crew.

Proverbs 1:4, says, “for giving prudence to the simple, knowledge and discretion for the young…”. It’s that time again! When we start over in our daily look at Proverbs in using that to guide us toward making good decisions in life. This snippit comes from the prologue of Proverbs which serves to explain the purposes of the book. Two of these purposes are found here. Prudence is defined as wisdom with regard to practical matters. Simple people need this. Even know someone with tremendous book smarts but zero street smarts? This is a perfect example. Discretion is the power or right to decide or act according to one’s own judgment. Young people especially need this power to act and decide and that is the purpose of Proverbs: to train up young people in the right way in order that eventually they will exercise right thinking and doing. This is so valuable for people of all ages today because it seems more and more people think and do rightly less and less! Personally, this book is great encouragement to me. I often find myself in situations remembering something I’ve read from one chapter or another. I think it’s a good testimony of the enduring nature of the word of God.

Let’s go bowling! How’s about Nov. 12? We’ll talk Wednesday.

Later…