The weekend:
Performed a wedding ceremony on Friday evening that started in daylight and ended by moonlight. No, it wasn't that long...it just started about 10 minutes too late, but the photographer said that the shots she got of the full, bright moon over the couple standing before me should be incredible. Pretty bride. Happy groom.
Had to miss the party as I had to catch up with the work crew at Pine Cove. It's a camp about 2 hours away from our church in a secluded area of east Texas. Locals call that part of the Lone Star state "the Piney Woods." The two hour drive helped clear some cobwebs as I listened to an NHL broadcast all the way. Live sports are better than coffee when it comes to being able to keep awake on late night drives in the Piney Woods.
Spent the weekend watching my job be more "pastoral." I mean, sure, I got to goof around with my teens and all that, but I really wasn't needed for the practical stuff of the ministry. I was able to encourage the adult leaders we took as they did the ministry work and have some real life talks about life and what not. I was able to spend more time that usual in prayer...which made me acutely aware of the work God was doing in and among our teens...and the workers. Normally, I only see those in retrospect, but it was pretty cool to be aware of the work God was doing as it was happening.
Side note: Pine Cove Christian Camps might be the finest camping outfit going today. Excellent staff support and great facilities...I can't speak highly enough about them. I'm glad so many of our teens work for them during the summer, and I'm glad we send them on the work crew weekends so they can get a taste of it early on.
Came home in a van yesterday with exhausted teenagers. I listened to the Cowboy game (won in OT), once again giving me some needed "down" time. One change in ministry over the years: The iPod's popularity gives 15 teens the ability to ignore each other and nod off. I understand on the way back from somewhere, but I'm thinking of banning them from the trip "to" places. You lose so much interaction that way...which might be good on an airplane if you want to avoid that, but lousy if you're trying to build group unity. Cell phones are actually helpful for teens to get their parents to the church to pick up their kids on time. Of course, they try to text message their friends all weekend. More rules.
You can definitely tell a lot about how parents parent their teen by how said teens respond to authority.
Taught Sunday School. Came home. Unpacked. Tried to go to bed early. Didn't work. Woke up at 2AM bug-eyed with my mind racing a mile a minute. Tried to read. Couldn't concentrate. Watched SportsCenter two times and fell asleep.
Coffee with one daughter. Biggest news: A crabby teacher and the end of her vegetarian run. The other daughter was in Pine Cove recovery sleep-later-than-usual mode.
Gotta return the rental van today. I'm thinking of going to see the matinee of the movie Elizabethtown today. Maybe I can talk Tracy into it. That'd be a good day off. Of course, so would a soak in a jacuzzi, but with the price difference being somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000, I'll take the movie.
Performed a wedding ceremony on Friday evening that started in daylight and ended by moonlight. No, it wasn't that long...it just started about 10 minutes too late, but the photographer said that the shots she got of the full, bright moon over the couple standing before me should be incredible. Pretty bride. Happy groom.
Had to miss the party as I had to catch up with the work crew at Pine Cove. It's a camp about 2 hours away from our church in a secluded area of east Texas. Locals call that part of the Lone Star state "the Piney Woods." The two hour drive helped clear some cobwebs as I listened to an NHL broadcast all the way. Live sports are better than coffee when it comes to being able to keep awake on late night drives in the Piney Woods.
Spent the weekend watching my job be more "pastoral." I mean, sure, I got to goof around with my teens and all that, but I really wasn't needed for the practical stuff of the ministry. I was able to encourage the adult leaders we took as they did the ministry work and have some real life talks about life and what not. I was able to spend more time that usual in prayer...which made me acutely aware of the work God was doing in and among our teens...and the workers. Normally, I only see those in retrospect, but it was pretty cool to be aware of the work God was doing as it was happening.
Side note: Pine Cove Christian Camps might be the finest camping outfit going today. Excellent staff support and great facilities...I can't speak highly enough about them. I'm glad so many of our teens work for them during the summer, and I'm glad we send them on the work crew weekends so they can get a taste of it early on.
Came home in a van yesterday with exhausted teenagers. I listened to the Cowboy game (won in OT), once again giving me some needed "down" time. One change in ministry over the years: The iPod's popularity gives 15 teens the ability to ignore each other and nod off. I understand on the way back from somewhere, but I'm thinking of banning them from the trip "to" places. You lose so much interaction that way...which might be good on an airplane if you want to avoid that, but lousy if you're trying to build group unity. Cell phones are actually helpful for teens to get their parents to the church to pick up their kids on time. Of course, they try to text message their friends all weekend. More rules.
You can definitely tell a lot about how parents parent their teen by how said teens respond to authority.
Taught Sunday School. Came home. Unpacked. Tried to go to bed early. Didn't work. Woke up at 2AM bug-eyed with my mind racing a mile a minute. Tried to read. Couldn't concentrate. Watched SportsCenter two times and fell asleep.
Coffee with one daughter. Biggest news: A crabby teacher and the end of her vegetarian run. The other daughter was in Pine Cove recovery sleep-later-than-usual mode.
Gotta return the rental van today. I'm thinking of going to see the matinee of the movie Elizabethtown today. Maybe I can talk Tracy into it. That'd be a good day off. Of course, so would a soak in a jacuzzi, but with the price difference being somewhere in the neighborhood of $3,000, I'll take the movie.
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