The Death of a Mac ... (at least for now)

Yesterday was beautiful, but then tragedy struck. For most of the day things were going well. I met with the new interim principle at Faith Christian; I had lunch with my grandmother while watching the Price is Right, I got more of my mentor group curriculum done, I emailed people, updated this blog, and was feeling super productive. Around 5:30 I got into my car and headed out to pick up a good friend of mine that we might go to the movies. We arrived at Regal a bit early, I purchased my ticket with a free ticket I got back in May, and then we went to terrorize Hobby Lobby till it was time to see the movie. 'Rise of the Planet of the Apes' was the movie, and I must say it was one of the best movies of the summer.

When all that was done, I dropped my friend off at their house and headed home. When I got home I thought to myself, "Ok, I'm going to send out one quick email and then go to bed." I sat down at my desk, flipped open the lid to my Macbook Pro, and swiped the mouse pad - which normally brings it back from sleep mode. Nothing. I pressed the power button. Nothing. I checked the battery, it was half charged, so I made sure the computer was off and tried again. Nothing. I spend about an hour trying to solve the problem. Nothing. I was getting really ticked off, so I called up one of my best friends to get my mind off of it. Meanwhile, my dog wanted to play and kept annoying me.

I decided the best option was to sleep on it ( no no ... not literally on the computer silly). When I woke up I went over to the computer, first thing, and tried it. Nothing. I took it in to the office to see if it might work there. The light of the front blinked and it make more noises, but still nothing came on. At this point I would pray over my computer and try it every hour. Finally, I was desperate so I scheduled an appointment at the 'Genius Bar' at the local Apple store at the Lehigh Valley Mall.

After my time at the office, I went home, changed and headed off for my 2:45 appointment. Traffic wasn't too crazy and I got there about 35 mins early, so I walked around for a while and then went into the Apple store (in the midst of better Macs that decided they would work that day). Signing in at the 'Genius Bar' I waited for my turn. When I was up I explained my situation and after waiting a bit more found out that my 'logic board' was probably shot. The cost of fixing it? A flat rate of $310. Not knowing what to do, I took my Macbook and headed home.

The whole ride home I kept thinking about what I should do, and a bit about why it would happen now, as we always tend to do. My car has currently been out of commission for a month, and so this didn't seem like the best time for my computer to go. But as I thought about it more all I could think of was the fact that the things of the world rot, break and make us want to throw them through the window, but the things of God last forever.

Suddenly, I smiled. I knew I had another computer at home to work on while I made the decision of what to do. I knew that not having it would slow me down a bit. I knew that the fact that it was broken would make me remember to look to God, yet again. I'm so used to calamity in my life that it doesn't seem to faze me much any more. Yeah, my Mac is broken, and I keep trying to look for my hot corners on my Dell (which is extremely annoying), but in the end I know that God has so much more planned for my life than a silly Macbook Pro which I'll always want to update and replace anyway.

New Connections

Today was a good day which started off with some brand-new connections. (Well brand-new in their own way at least). Around 9:15am I made my journey down to Faith Christian School to meet up with their new Interim Principle for High School, in order to talk about the upcoming year. I was super bummed to hear that Mr. Ross was no longer going to be working there, but super stoked to be able to continue the connection already established there, and move forward with the mentor group!

This year we have some awesome plans in mind for the guys at Faith. Not only are we planning on continuing the leadership training and accountability, but we are looking for ways that these guys can mentor each other. The game plan is to start another group up sometime this fall. Once this group is formed there will be 5 guys from the original group in each of the two groups, leading them. I am looking to appoint 2 of the boys as the main leaders of the group they're in and have the other 3 guys help out with other leadership roles. Then we will hopefully have five more brand-new guys come in to each group to grow as leaders and be mentored.

In the end each group will have 10 guys (hopefully) taking part of what is going on. During the meeting times we are going to alternate the focus each week. One week we are going to go through chapters from the book 'Radical' by David Platt, and the following week we will spend solely on accountability and prayer. I'm really excited for this dual focus because one of the hard things about this group is that often we don't have a lot of time to pray and share with each other at the end. This new focus will provide plenty of time for that. My goal is to alternate each week which group I attend, and oversee how the guys are doing with it. However, I want them to always be the core leaders of the group, that they might grow as leaders and learn what it looks like to Mentor each other.

This Saturday I have a BBQ with some of the guys, and hopefully can talk to some of them about this idea. Also, the first few weeks of school we are going to do nothing, but talk about the direction we are going to take as a Mentor Group. In the meantime, I am slowly reading through 'Radical' to put together an outline the guys can follow each week as the group meets up. Please continue to be in prayer for this process and that God uses this to grow these guys to brand-new heights and to develop future leaders/mentors at Faith Christian! I'm uber excited about all of this, and I hope you are as well!

One Giant Step Back

This month has been odd.

March thru July was a completely jumbled mess of craziness. I had concerts, a retreat, a 30 hour famine, a campout, an amusement park trip, speaking engagements, camps, BBQ's, three sermons to preach, a few concerts to play, lunch meetings, as well as youth group and Barn meetings all crammed together with fundraisers and lesson plans. Needless to say it was pretty chaotic and some nights I could barely think. I would get home and let the TV fill me up like an IV and take me into a world that was as chaotic, if not more, but was being handled by someone else. There I would sit with my mouth hanging open and my shoulders slouched, unable to move.

This month, however, as been quite a large leap back. From August 1st until now, life has seemed like a dream. I've been smiling a lot at the surreal nature of it all. For 10 days, or so, I as on vacation with my family. I was fishing, reading short stories, kayaking, hiking, swimming and trying to teach my dog how to jump off the dock. There was no schedule or plans, just living. During these 10 days I had a friend come up and we would go on such wonderful adventures: star gazing in kayaks, creek stomping with my curious dog, and watching lightning in the distance while we swam and looked for fish with an underwater flashlight. Life was so rustic and crisp I forgot about all else. In fact while my friend was up he asked me, "How's the Barn going?" and I had to do a double take. I thought to myself, "Barn, what Barn... what is he talking about? ... oh yeah I work at a Barn!" Life was running its course and I was being filled back up.

Since August 10th I've been slowly building back into a routine, but I must say August is turning out to be a nice and refreshing month. God is giving me lots of time to think and process life. Without Thursday night meetings I'm able to work more on curriculum for the guy's mentor group, put together worship power points, create a Barn Brochure, prepare for our booth at the West End Fair, and start some new fall fundraisers. August is a wonderful time to accomplish a lot of the behind the scenes stuff that is hard to find time to do, and it is refreshing cause it gives me a break from the norm and opens up my heart to God. In this time it is just as easy to feel oppressed, but it is so much easier to hear God's voice and direction.

I'm so excited to see where God takes the Barn this upcoming year! And at the same moment I'm super excited to see how God refines me in this time where I can do the things that fill me up and bring me closer to Him!

Adventure Is Out There

Today marks the first day of vacation for me! My first real day of vacation in about a year (cause I seem to use other vacation days to speak places). Needless to say, all that is about to come is much needed. We are finishing up the packing and every currently and hopefully by mid-afternoon will be headed out!

Please pray for me during this time, that I can use this time to better reflect on the nature and character of God, and that I can better reflect on the person that he has made me. I always love this time because it reminds me that there is still so much more out there to explore. Sometimes I feel so contained. There are moments, in the midst of life, where I feel like everything is undiscovered and I have nothing more to offer. When I go to my cabin, though, I am reminded that there is always something new to be discovered - and even if it has been discovered before there is so much still undiscovered by me.

So this week I'm seeking to explore the depths of the world. One friend of mine called it my 'Walden' experience, and in so many ways that's true. I will be escaping from the world for a week, and living in a land society has forgotten. I will be reflecting, learning, breathing and growing, and hopefully when I return I will have some words of wisdom to offer about my experience.

Catch you in a week,

Jeremiah

A Month of Sabbath

Tonight is going to be an epic night, well if the rain holds off on us at least: it is the last Barn of the Summer! This day is always bitter sweet for me. I know, I know you are probably saying, "Dude its just a month till you start up again." But honestly, its both tough and refreshing taking a break for the month of August. Here are my thoughts on the pros and cons:

Pros: Teens wear me out... ha ... Or more correctly, I wear myself out when I hang out with teens, so I'm ready for a break, and I'm also ready to cast new vision for the upcoming year. August is a great time for us at the Barn not only to take vacation, but a great time for us to come together and talk about what's going to happen in the upcoming year. It is a time to formulate new ideas and figure out ways to implement them. We have a lot of new ideas and I have some new curriculum to develop for the guys mentor group at Faith Christian School.

Also, it is a great time for students to get ready for the school year and spend time with their families enjoying their summer while they live it for Christ. Summer is always chill to begin with, so it will be a good time for all of us just to take some down time and grow close to Christ personally. I'll still get to spend some time with students one-on-one and to see them at the West End Fair (we have a booth there on Sept. 2nd)! But August is good because it is in essence our Sabbath month - our time to really seek out God without all the craziness.

Cons: Teens fill me up. As much as sometimes I go crazy or get worn out working with teens, there are so many times they just fill me up. Yesterday I went canoeing at Beltzville with 3 of them and it was such a refreshing time of exploration (canoeing, swinging off rope swings and looking at waterfalls). This was a time I loved because I was able to live life-on-life with these three guys and I was able to see their appreciation of all that God has placed around them. So, I'm going to miss having a weekly meeting because that is a great time for me to see how God is working in the lives of students and a time where I can share with them how he's working in mine. With this, it becomes a bit harder to invest in all the students lives without a weekly meeting, but I guess this is just a time for us to entrust them to God, and know that it will only be a month before they are back. We will not have our normal hang out and lessons every week, but we must trust that in this 'Sabbath Month' God will pour his Spirit into their lives and be their teacher, just as we trust he will do the same in our lives.

Thus, I love and hate the month of August. I go on Vacation in 4 days and I can't wait to be in the presence of God and in the midst of his creation. I can't wait to be alone with my family in the middle of no where with no running water, no cell phone, and no technology (not even music... gasp). At the same moment, however, I will miss the students I have come to love so dearly, but I'll see them here and there as August moves on, and I'm sure I'll see most of them at the Fair. Then comes September, and I will welcome the craziness again with open arms!! But for now its time to rest, reflect, and prepare for the this month is over and a new year of Barn awesomeness begins again.

Getting With It Again

Its been a while since I've updated here. I'm not quite sure why, because almost every week I think to myself, "You know I should write an article about that on the Barn Blog", but then I guess I forget. Summer has been a combination of super busy and super slow times. At some moments I want to share, but I don't have the time and at others I just don't feel like there is much to share about. But I guess there is always something to share about.

To be honest, I have not been as in tune as I should be, these days. I'm a bit out of sorts lately. Stuck, in some way or another, in what seems a different world, I'm unfamiliar with. A part of me is trying to discover something, while at the same time trying to keep momentum going for all the events and craziness going on around me. Needless to say, trying to do both of these things can throw a person out of whack easily. I don't feel bad that I'm out of whack, cause I know everyone gets there from time to time, I guess I'm just trying to learn from it.

That is, possibly, what I'm getting at by writing in here today. There are so many elements in life that can overwhelm us, but we can't give in to being overwhelmed, we must learn. Most of this Summer I've been overwhelmed and I'm trying now to push the pressure aside and look deep into the things that overwhelmed me. In this process I'm already seeing something beyond me that makes me smile. In this I see a great orchestration; a divine plan, and I see that I was asked to be a part of it.

So from now on this is my goal: to reflect rather than be overwhelmed. I want to see life through a new lens every day, as I try to see each day - and each element of each day - for what it is worth. There is so much that we can miss by allowing the weight of a day to sit upon us unlooked, and I don't want to miss a second of it.

-------------------

I hope this isn't as confusing as it sounded to me as I wrote it.

The Essence of Living

I’ve been up really late and I cannot get this thought out of my head - this thought that we have been living all wrong. Humanity as a whole, Christian and non-Christian, has been living wrong. We’ve heightened our emotions and our desires as if life revolves around them, as if the goal in life is to experience as much of what we want as possible. We simply want to feel good, satisfied, and accepted. Overall, I do not have a problem with these things, but I am sick of how we have based our lives upon them; how I’ve based my life upon them.

The more I look at God the more I see a God who challenges us to live beyond ourselves. I do not see a God who says, “Just be yourself. Just do what feels good, and I’ll be proud of you”, but rather, I see a God who tells us to forget ourselves and remember Him. I do not see a God who tells us, “Follow me and it will get better,” but I see a God who tells us “If you follow me it will be the hardest thing you have ever done. People will persecute you, people will turn their backs on you, you will hurt, but I will be with you, and that alone will make the pain of the journey worth it all.” God tells us to stare into his eyes and look nowhere else. God commands us to distance ourselves from our fleshly desires and seek His Kingdom and His Glory. He speaks boldly for us to drop everything we are, everything we have, everything we love, everything we desire, and follow after Him.

Yet we do not. We live in a culture which claims that self-worship is the most important aspect of life. Our culture promotes sex, self-gratification, materialism, and the pursuit of personal satisfaction above everything that God has been speaking to us, and we have believed it. We have believed that we deserve something when the truth is we don’t deserve a single breath that we breathe. All of mankind has fallen into corruption. This corruption has tainted our desires, dreams, motivations, emotions, orientations, relationships, hopes, and ultimately our view of God. We have fallen from God, and do not deserve to be with Him. Yet we have come to believe we deserve whatever we want and desire?

May it not be so! May the grace of God fall upon us again here in the midst of our corruption. In the midst of our brokenness may the grace of God begin to restore us. May we seek the glory of God over the glory of ourselves, because it is God alone who deserves anything. May we look into his eyes. May we forget the things we’ve been living for, and truly live for Him.

This is not about us. Life was not meant to make us feel good or satisfied, but rather life was to point us to the essence of Life itself. To bring us to our knees before the one who truly deserves our worship: Jesus Christ.