I have this really great drawing book that proposes that everyone can draw, everyone can create art, but not everyone has been taught how to do it.  Sure, we learn how to draw houses and stick figures and trees in kindergarten.  If we’re lucky, we might learn a few things about perspective drawing and still life, but most of us have no idea what even the basics of drawing well include.  So, when asked to draw something, we revert back to the old “standbys” from grade school – we draw the same houses, the same stick figures, the same trees and “hairy armpit” suns (as my elementary art teacher described them – two claps if you remember Mr. Muerell!) and eventually we get frustrated and give up any hope of being able to draw because “I’m so bad at it!” We  never think of putting forth the effort to learn.  Compare that picture of a hairy armpit sun up there to the reality of the sun, and you will understand the necessity of growth, of continued learning, of maturity.

This is going somewhere…

Last month at youth group the purpose of the evening was to look at how we relate to the Bible.  If it is what it says it is, then it’s living, it’s tangible, it holds truth that transcends the culture in which it was written.  Do we have a relationship with the Bible?  Students get told “read your Bibles and pray” but they get so frustrated because they try and they just get confused and give up thinking, “I’m so bad at this!” From only two years in youth ministry and many conversations with students about the Bible, I think the same thing happens to our view of the Bible that happens to our drawing abilities.  We learn some Bible stories as children, often in cartoon form, and they’re often condensed and watered down.  I think it’s important to learn these stories as children, but so often we never go beyond the cartoon version, and the isolated stories we learn as children become inadequate and lose their transforming power when looked at from the viewpoint of an adult with fears, struggles, pain, and hard questions.  We’re never told that, like learning to draw or developing a relationship with someone, Bible reading and relating takes practice and intention.  High school students, college students, adults, we all can get lost and don’t know how to relate to the Bible because we often rely on hearsay and faded memories of arks and lion’s dens instead of going to the source and really learning how to relate to it.

Last month our small group leaders each took a few students, and each person in the group picked a Bible story they learned as a child.  The goal for each of them was to go to that story in the Bible and discern what was actually there that they never realized existed.  We wanted to put flesh to the bones we learned as children, to see the big picture, the messy, tragic, beautiful, redemptive truths that exist in the Bible and that can get lost when we only rely on the “hairy armpit” versions we learned as kids.  One student, upon reading the adult Bible version of Noah’s story (the epitome of childhood Bible memories), told Caleb, “This is so much cooler in here!”  Another reading through the story of David and Goliath commented that she always thought David was just David, she didn’t realize that, like herself, he was a “youth” and he had a family with older brothers and sisters, just like she does.  These were small moments that made a huge difference in us, in how we relate to the Bible, and in how we teach others to relate to the Bible!

Baby bubs is not so much a baby any more!  He was walking around today in his little shorts, t-shirt, and big boy shoes, and I was hit by how much of  a little person he is (due to a nasty diaper rash, he was also walking around the deck the other day in his  t-shirt, big boy shoes, and naked little butt…he peed in the flower pot and then tried to eat the “mud” he created…boy to the core!).  His personality is showing up more and more, and he has a ton of it!  Little man is always busy, very social, independent, he loves discovering and learning (he’ll sit for ten minutes just trying to figure out the mechanics of a cup & spoon), and he’s just plain sweet (he gives the best kisses, which of late have been wide open mouth kisses right on the lips).   He’s also stubborn & very strong willed – he’s definitely not afraid to let anyone know when he’s not happy.  Here are a few of his favorite things:

-Dogs.  He can hear them barking from miles away and just gets giddy

-His stuffed wolf, Doug (that he thinks is a dog, named by his daddy, gifted by Aunt Jenna)

-Giving Doug hugs, cuddling Doug, rubbing his face in Doug’s fur, chucking Doug on the ground, using Doug as a pillow, sharing Doug with random passers-by

-Feeding himself with a spoon, feeding other people with a spoon, feeding Doug with a spoon

-Climbing things, walking off things, jumping on things, running away from things

-Copying Mommy’s fishy faces

-Daddy

-Sand, throwing rocks in the big lake, throwing toys off the deck , throwing Doug off the deck

-Talking on the “phone” (or the calculator, hairbrush, wooden spoon, Doug…)

-Saying “Hi!” (or “dog”, “mommy”, “no”, “daddy”, “truck”, “ball”, “eye”)

-Bending over on all fours and looking out between his legs

-Bananas, mangoes, blueberries, avocados, oatmeal

-Sitting on Corban size chairs – he’s been practicing the “no look” sit

-Putting things around his neck (necklaces, towels, long pieces of yarn, Doug) & wearing sunglasses

-Walking around with his eyes covered with something (which translates to walking into things…where is this child’s mother?)

-”Pound it”, showing off his belly button, eating pine cones, and helping me in the garden

-Showing off.  The only time he will ever do any sign language (he knows more, all done, and please and chooses NOT to use them) is when there are other people around

Bored yet?  I could go on……I’ll show you some pictures instead

THE TRAILER we talked about for SO long sitting at OUR community center!

We left almost immediately after the big FMSC day for a graduation (Cody White!)/wedding (Jared & Breann WHITE!) in Iowa, so we didn’t get a chance to tell you how it went!! It was a huge success!!  It was a little messy in the sense that we had so many people coming together (a total of 503 volunteers came through the door!!) from different points of view and backgrounds, which always makes for things to work through and deal with, but everyone who participated was blessed, excited, and so proud of the youth in this town!  In all, 108,000 meals were packed which will feed nearly 300 children for an entire year, as well as 8,000 people still recovering from the earthquake in Japan.  We aren’t sure where the food is going yet, but we’ll let you know when we know!  On Sunday we celebrated with the youth group at a resort on Lake Superior, and as we were discussing what God had just done (and is still doing!), the students really focused on all of the skepticism leading up to the event, how nobody really thought it could happen in such a small town, and how God uses unexpected circumstances (and even tentative hearts) for His Beautiful Purpose.  John 15 was the focus of the whole project, particularly where Jesus says “apart from me you can do nothing”.  All of us experienced this in the past year, and  this will be a lifelong lesson for every one of us involved.

Students sporting their hairnets at the end of the day!

One of four shifts of volunteers getting trained to pack meals!

High school students cheering because they finished another box (they "won" most number of boxes packed every shift!)

Aaron, Deb, & Terri (three of our amazing youth group volunteer leaders!) setting up for the big day!

"The most fun you'll ever have in a hairnet"

And of course, the CUTEST hairnet in the place

Saturday is a big day up in this little town (1,300 people in town and only 5,000 in the whole county)!  A Feed My Starving Children semi is rolling into town on Friday and 500 (that’s almost half the entire town, folks!) volunteers are meeting at our community center on Saturday to pack meals! Through a community wide effort sparked by the youth group, $21,000 has been raised in this tiny town to pay for 107,000 meals that will be bagged by the community here and then sent around the world (including to earthquake victims in Japan).  If you’re the praying kind, would you pray with me?

Jesus, we thank you for this partnership between several denominations and community members of all different walks and worldviews.  We thank you for the youth in this town and for their heart, for their energy, and their ability to dream big.  It has been a  joy to watch you do things that seem impractical and out of reach, to watch you use our messiness, moments of miscommunication, and anxiety to bring about something beautiful.  Please bring unity on Saturday to this diverse group with diverse opinions and worldviews, please bring people together, build bridges, heal past hurts, and bring JOY to everyone looking to serve outside themselves.  We pray that it would run smoothly, that high school students would be changed by their participation in this year long process, and above all that you would be glorified.  Amen.

If you think of us on Saturday, say a prayer would you, please?  Thank you

I’m convinced that nobody in the world could handle this mess (as in me, thank you very much) as well as this man.  If you don’t know my husband very well, (and you should if you don’t cause you’re missing out!) let me tell you that he is patient in ways that I don’t understand but hope to someday, he loves crazy well (as in he doesn’t keep score, he gives even when he’s not getting a whole lot, and he’s always trying to figure out new ways to love better), he doesn’t shy away from things he’s afraid of (you should have heard him preach last month- I mean two years ago he would have thought you were crazy if you told him he’d be doing that – that was a N.E.V.E.R in his book until God “shoved me through that door”), he’s always willing to learn & try new things often because it’s something I love to do, and his son adores him.  No one can make Corban laugh like Caleb.  Sometimes he just looks at the kid and Corban erupts with laughter.

He knows he’s not perfect.  He survives on grace.  He doesn’t try to fix me or pretend he’s the solution to my deepest fears, needs, and questions.  He just walks beside me, holds my hand, and gently nudges me towards the One who knows me best.  I’m blessed.

-Caleb & I went to the Simply Youth Ministry Conference in Chicago and then had a date night in the city…lots learned, but more importantly my perception of who Jesus is was deepened

- We said goodbye to my best friend from high school and her beautiful family as they prepare to follow God to Australia

-Corban stayed with Grandmas and Grandpa for FOUR days and did better than mommy – who did alright after the first day, in which she tearfully observed every young child that was at the conference and proceeded to ask said child’s mildly confused mother or father a million questions including, but not limited to, “Can I hold your baby?!”

-We spent $14 on 4 DELICIOUS, GLUTEN FREE cupcakes in Lincoln Park, and they were so good I didn’t even feel guilty (for eating two cupcakes in one sitting OR for spending nearly $4 on one cupcake)

-We became big fans of Gungor (conference)

-My study of the Bible has changed form after watching youth workers hold up signs (conference, yet again), one after another, indicating the importance & presence of the Gospel of Jesus in each and every book of the Bible.  So beautiful.

-We got to watch God bring a community together at the 2nd annual Chili Cook-off!  It was a huge success, and I was crazy proud of my husband!!!

These are all of the people who entered chilis in the cook off!

-The youth groups of Grand Marais are officially hosting a Feed My Starving Children Mobile Pack event in May – $19,000 raised to feed 100,000 people  AND bring a community together to do so!

-Corban turned ONE and we had all kinds of celebration going on here in snow-trenched Grand Marais (6-9 inches in the forecast tomorrow, friends).  Grandmas, grandpas, aunts, uncles, great aunt & uncle, cousins – this is one well loved child.

-Corban was dedicated.  His name, after all, means dedicated to God in Hebrew (Mark 7:11).

-Corban’s vocabulary has expanded to include all of the important things in life – Mom-ME, Da, Ba (ball), Ba (bottle), and his newest word is “Doh” (dog – which he is actually terrified of, but Aunt Jenna got him a stuffed wolf for his birthday that he LOVES – it’s also fun to say “WOOF WOOF!” really loud, because he invariably responds by yelling “DOH!”)

-Hubs is going through the Sermon on the Mount on Wed nights, and we had an awesome discussion Wednesday night about the Beatitudes (“Joys of heaven”)

Probably more…

Which, if you don’t speak cryptic, means that Corban started walking   Apparently, the average number of steps a person will take in their lifetime hovers somewhere around 216,262,500.  He took his first step a couple of weeks ago, but I wasn’t sure if it counted because he was basically falling into me and just happened to move his foot at the same time.  After a week or two of doing that, he eventually got better at it and then would do it with one foot after the other, and yesterday he took 3 big old sturdy steps, followed by SIX big old sturdy steps today (and by today, I now mean last week Tuesday ), right into his daddy’s arms .  I’ve continually been surprised by how gradual development happens!  In my dev psych classes, we went over so many “stage theories” of development which made it sound like one second the kid’s not doing x, y, or z, and the next minute they are crawling, walking, talking (graduating from high school).  Not so, Mr. Piaget, I’m a believer in continuous development (and you are welcome for the free psych lesson – you don’t even want to know how much I paid am still paying for that).

And yes, being on the other end of those outstretched arms is indeed the BEST feeling in the world!

These pictures illustrate what each family eats in a week.  It’s a bit of a punch in the stomach to look at isn’t it?

These pictures got me thinking about my own state of eating.  I’m kind of a food snob.  I really love to cook, and I love/want what I eat to taste good – and not just good, but really good.  This can get really complicated when I get tired of certain meals and we wind up with a new recipe for dinner every night.  Now this is an ok thing (tiring but ok), until I get to the point that I feel entitled to food that tastes great and is new & exciting, which happens all the time.  SO in an effort to work on my attitude (read: my – Caleb’s not quite so picky), we’re trying to only make and eat five-ingredient meals for the time being.  These can still taste good, but it’s a reminder that I don’t need an entire picture full of food, to be thankful for a few really good ingredients, and realize that quality and quantity aren’t the same thing.  I’ll let you know when we have some favorites!

I love them.

Coldwater trains its wilderness instructors in experiential education, and it’s this model of teaching that we  also use with the youth group.  We are still in the process of learning how to translate this type of teaching from its setting in the wilderness to its setting in our church’s basement.  One way we do this is through the use of initiatives – structured, game-like activities with a very specific purpose.

On Wednesday night we put together an initiative that went really well.  Our goal was to get the students to think outside of themselves.  In order to do this, we wrote verses on 6 different puzzles in 6 different colors and then hid the pieces throughout the basement.  We broke the group up into 6 teams and told them they needed, as a team, to find all of the pieces and be the team to tell us what the verses said.  They automatically assumed it was a competition – they started stealing and re-hiding the other group’s puzzle pieces immediately.

Some groups got really frustrated, and it was interesting to see other groups begin to help each other after initially being so oriented towards their own success.  What they eventually figured out was that they couldn’t complete the activity without fitting every puzzle together:

Because of the initial piece stealing, two of the puzzles were left with a piece missing.

When read together, the puzzles revealed Philippians 2:1-4:

If you’ve gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don’t push your way to the front; don’t sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don’t be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.