Camber had her first T-ball practice last night….what a riot. The coach is great. My favorite line – “Parents, I don’t care if we win a game or not. Your child will know how to properly throw a baseball, hit a baseball, and catch a baseball when this is all over. I’m all about teaching read more
I keep meeting new people every week but no contact cards or info are turning up. Is that odd? Actually, it’s pretty typical. I mean, let’s face it…who of us wants to fill out that stuff. We get enough spam as it is, we get enough phone calls that we don’t want to get as read more
Jer made a comment on this post. I love Jer – even though he’s Canadian. I’d thought I’d share our e-convo thing we’ve got going on because… Well, it’s fun and I hope insightful. Okay, I’m not sure about the insightful part. For my dear Canadian friend Jer, I’m not anti-dating at all. And I read more
If haven’t heard about Katrina by now…I’m sorry to tell you that your medication is wearing off. And of course they’ve got around 9,000 people in the Superdome in New Orleans. From the beginning I thought this was a bad idea. I realize that the city is in deep water (pun intended) and had to read more
After 15+ years of hanging out with teens there is still one thing about the youth culture that I still don’t get…couples. Dating. Going out. Going Steady. Beau. Girlfriend. An item. Significant Other. I mean, I get it on a philosophical level. Most high schoolers date because they either don’t know who they are and read more
Just finished the first of 2 drafts I have this year. Overall, I’m pretty pleased. Only really threw away one pick that I wish I had back… For those who care, in order they were taken: S. Alexander, RB SeaA. Green, RB GBM. Harrison, WR IndR. Brown, RB MiaS. Smith, WR CarJ. Plummer, QB Den read more
Guess who forgot to get a babysitter? That’s right…the youth pastor can’t get a babysitter… this just sucks…. Even I can’t penetrate the Friday night teenage world with the promise of riches beyond their wildest dreams.
From Thomas Kelly, A Testament of Devotion… Out in front of us is the drama of me and of nations, seething, struggling, laboring, dying. Upon this tragic drama in these days our eyes are all set in anxious watchfulness and in prayer. But within the silences of the souls of the men an eternal drama read more
We used to do this all the time – bet you can’t drink a gallon of milk at once -it got this kid suspended from bat boy duties with the Florida Marlins. All is not lost – he’s got offers from other clubs.
Last night was the first night I haven’t done youth stuff in 15 years. Instead, I played legos and cars with my kids. I also taught Cooper and Camber how to play chickenfoot. Overall – it was fine. After the kids went to sleep, I had to compensate for the chick flick I watched last read more
I watched Phantom of the Opera last night. It’s my mom’s favorite musical/story/opera/movie. It is the reason she bought a house with an extra bedroom. She’s seen the Broadway version probably a half-dozen times. First of all – this is definitely a chick flick. Having never seen the musical on stage, I was impressed with read more
Ever wanted to know exactly where the teaching was going to go so that you had a heads up of what to do with your LIFE group? Me, too. So here it is. The basic overview is this is how a life that rocks is achievable. We are going to talk about the answer from read more
As much as I wanted to delete and ignore this, avoidance has hardly every produced something valuable… So, for your reading pleasure and critiques….my response. Dear X, I read the manuscript. I do have some thoughts that I will try to communicate via email. But email has its limits so I’ll not be as thorough read more
I am completely at a new level of torquenessed. Got an email from someone who is NOT AT GRACE that wants my thoughts on the attached document. I should have deleted it. The document asks three questions of every youth group. Where does the idea of youth group comes from?What are the results of modern read more
There is a recent increase of spam comments going around….and just when I was about to seriously look at leaving Blogger for something else – I notice this. Actually, Virginia Steger noticed it. So – you’re comments are welcomed, except from now on going to do the word verification thinga ma jig.
Played golf yesterday…at Western Hills and pretty much stunk it up. Of course it was the same temperature and the melting point of rubber so not much is to be expected. Camber last night, in the course of playing with a golf ball in Coopers room accidently sent it through his window. Yeah. That was read more
Our next sermon series after Ephesians will be called…. A Life That Rocks… At some point I’ll post the schedule, but it’s basically a journey through the Inner Disciplines and the LIFE Group/Community Disciplines. We are going to ask every LIFE group to pause on what they normally do, and let’s all go through this read more
I just got done watching ESPN Sportscenter and I saw some VERY disturbing things. 1. This: Oh. My. I am hoping that this is just a preseason/training camp practice uni and the ‘boys aren’t shifting to a white helmet. It’s not that I don’t like the white helmet…okay – it is that. Plus it looks read more
I think I preached the worst sermon of my life this morning. I felt like I was wrestling a pig in a vat of oil and NOT ONLY was I losing but the pig was enjoying the struggle. The really frustrating thing about it was – all the stuff was there. All the insights, definitions, read more
Well, I thought it went well. Started the evening off with a Mr. Bean clip. If you aren’t familiar with Mr. Bean…your loss. The Church skit – oh my gosh…how many times has that been played out in our churches???? If you’re interested, drop me a note and we’ll watch it together. I have every read more
Tonight is the first confab. Telling folks about it has been quite funny. “So what are we going to learn?” I’m not sure. “Well, what are you going to talk about?” I’ve got about 10 questions I want to ask. “And what are some answers so that I’ll have an inside track!” I can tell read more
This is going to be one heck of journey, full of messes, unexpected turns and miracles. And we are on it together…I think exactly the way God created us to walk. A Franciscan Travel Blessing May God bless you… with discomfort at easy answers,half truths and superficial relationshipsso that you may live deep within your read more
There is a danger for us leaders to be so intent on having a life changing encounter with Jesus that we start manipulating our meetings just to ‘have one.’ There is a temptation to force things to happen in LIFE Group or create unauthentic experiences just for sake of having an emotional ego trip. Obviously, read more
I want to talk about airplanes for a second. What? Yeah – airplanes. Which wing is your favorite? The Right Answer: Both. Everyone realizes that you need two wings to fly, so favoring one wing over another is not only ridiculous, but it can get you killed. Let’s transfer that to developing a leader. A read more
Kinda funny, ain’t it? Me preaching on work? It’s like me preaching on parenting…oh wait…I did that, didn’t I? Seriously – I love work. In fact, one of the coolest traits I got from my mom and dad is a good work ethic. I like work. I like my job. It is hard for me read more
This weekend is the fall confab. (By the way – if you are coming and haven’t emailed us – -please do so. We are catering Corky’s for lunch and want to make sure that we have enough food.) It’s also where I am going to unveil about a decade’s worth of work on a blog read more
Preached on parenting this AM, er yesterday AM… Announced position move to entire church… Figured out what was wrong with AC and fixed it… Didn’t figure out what was wrong with dishwasher… Garage door started making demon possession noises… Led life group… Drank sweet tea at life group… Still wide awake at 1.00 AM… Playing read more
In light of the recent news, I have got TWO major decisions to make. 1. The blog. Should I keep it or pass it on to the next youth pastor, therefore from now until Jesus comes back, Stu’s Rants would be the venting mechanism of Grace Student Ministry? (By the way, I always wanted to read more
The lingering questions about this continue!! Are we still looking for a teaching pastor? Yes.Are we going to look for a youth pastor? Yes. Will the whole student ministry change when we hire another one? No. Some of it will, he or she has got to be able to flex their creative muscle. But the read more
I’m thinking this afternoon, I’m grabbing the kids and playing bocce ball, then swimming. Anybody wanna join us?
Below is the full script of today’s read in My Utmost For His Highest. After this post, I thought how appropriate is this?______________________________________________It is not wrong for you to depend on your “Elijah” for as long as God gives him to you. But remember that the time will come when he must leave and will read more
This doesn’t have anything to do with my back pain, but instead my identity in general. Last night was both a relief and a reality check. Over the last few months, a bunch of us (elders, youth coaches) have been praying through my role at Grace. Should I stay in student ministry AND do adult read more
If this wasn’t so tragic, it’d be hilarious. The irony of it all… Man dies of heart failure in the middle of a 50 hour video game binge. Game he was playing? An online battlefield simulation… If this had happened in the US, you know what would have happened don’t you? “Ban violent games…they’re killing read more
Elders, 6 AM. Grant gets up at 6.05…great start already. Coffee with Steve B. and Rowland, 8.30 Minor detail. All three of us were at the church. Row had to run a quick errand, so Steve and I went on to Java. I rode with Steve – plan on riding back to church with Rowland read more
Interesting flick…not saying I liked it, not saying I hated it. Had a lot of neat pictures of community in it… still think Lost in Translation is the best movie on marriage out there. still think Story of Us was the most overrated piece of dog doo-doo ever filmed. For those who have seen it, read more
I am going to try to do something when I get back to Little Rock…find a place where I can see the skyline of LR and have some MUG time there every week. And pray for the city. In Denver, there was a building (hoping my mom doesn’t read this!) that you could climb the read more
We’re in KC, chilling out. It’s good to have a weekend with my parents. We’ve not had many opportunities to do this lately…like, this year!! We’ll head back Sunday, spend the night with the Schatzmans. Yes, we still love them. Going to surprise Coop and Cammy tomorrow by taking them to see Charlie and the read more
We redesigned our golf course…then set off on a best ball tourney last night. Overall, scores were lower – which means I’m gonna have to lower par on a couple of holes. Best score? Wayne Galli and I claimed the first championship with a 6 under par, just one stroke better than Kurtz and Wenneker.
For those of who were wondering/nervous…I did NOT say bullcrap in the sermon Sunday. I did think about it though…so should I’ve said it anyway since it was in my heart?? haha Seriously – Mike asked this … Does course joking/language include things like “what the heck?” and “bull crap!”? Maybe just crap? Let me read more
and I’m noodling a third one…we’ll see. But Movie Blog – I’ve already ranted about. Language can get dicey over on the sight in the comment section but I’ve found their opinions of movies tend to line up with mine. I’ve yet to find anybody that lines up with Steve…but that is another story. Mike read more
Okay – Rob (see post) has realigned our league into divisions. Going to be fun! Allow me now to wax elequently on comments concerning the upcoming draft… 1. What to do with No. 2 pick? Jason – I hate to disagree with a doctor…but I’m going to. I just can’t see picking anything but a read more
Took the weekend off from the blog. It was good. Did a lot of reading – to which my wife informed last night that trading one addiction for another is not exactly the greatest idea in the world. My wife – what a kidder! Now, back at hand….Over the weekend I met face to face read more
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