Lights (335/365)

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“An optimist is a person who sees only the lights in the picture, whereas a pessimist sees only the shadows. An idealist, however, is one who sees the light and the shadows, but in addition sees something else: the possibility of changing the picture, of making the lights prevail over the shadows.”
~ Unknown

PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Lights

They decorated the youth center for Christmas. Pretty lights!

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Cappuccino (314/365)

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The voodoo priest and all his powders were as nothing compared to espresso, cappuccino, and mocha, which are stronger than all the religions of the world combined, and perhaps stronger than the human soul itself.
~ Mark Helprin, Memoir from Antproof Case, 1995

PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Cappuccino

Look at him - smirking at me ...

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Bible (307/365)

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We do not read the Bible the way it is; we read it the way we are.
~ Evelyn Uyemura

PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Bibles

Many of the kids who show up on Wednesday nights do so without Bibles.
There's an "Easy Button" for that!

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Straws (286/365)

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There is no brilliant single stroke that is going to transform the water into wine or straw into gold.
~ Coleman Young

PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Straw

You can't drink a slushie without a straw ... or so it seems. We must go through 300 straws on Wednesday nights.

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Floor (279/365)

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“You're not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.”
~ Joe E. Lewis

TIME: 8:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Floor

Sometimes I want nothing more to get drunk and attempt to hold on to the floor on Wednesday nights. OK ... fine! I kind of like the middle schoolers ...

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Line (272/365)

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Ten men waiting for me at the door? Send one of them home, I'm tired.
~ Mae West

TIME: 6:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Line

We try to corral the 350+ kids who attend the middle school youth group on Wednesday nights into nice, neat lines with these shiny stanchions.

It doesn't work ...

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Orange (265/365)

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“A man is not an orange. You can't eat the fruit and throw the peel away”
~ Arthur Miller

TIME: 7:30 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Orange

Middle school youth group is back in full swing and some patient individual skewered about 200 chocolate covered, tangerine segments to feed the kids. Now that is dedication.

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Locker (237/365)

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Remember, I'm the kind of kid who used to get stuffed into a locker by school bullies. I've never felt like I'm a big star at any level of my life.
~ Winona Ryder

TIME: 7:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Locker

Middle School youth ministry is back in action and I am serving with them again. I decided to stay with the middle-schoolers rather than move up to the high school youth group to give Cam a little more independence ... and because it seems to be difficult to find volunteers for the middle school kids. Hmmmm ...

I just hide inside of the locker and wait until they're gone!

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Camp (177/365)

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A lot of parents pack up their troubles and send them off to summer camp.

~ Raymond Duncan

TIME: 8:30 AM

PLACE: Church

SUBJECT: Camp

I sent Cam off to camp today. I think he felt he left his troubles behind!

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Bubblegum (160/365)

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“I had a stick of CareFree gum, but it didn't work. I felt pretty good while I was blowing that bubble, but as soon as the gum lost its flavor, I was back to pondering my mortality.”
~ Mitch Hedberg

TIME: 7:30 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Bubblegum

Although the weekly middle school youth group gig is up for the 2009-2010 school year, we don't get a "real" summer break. Events are scheduled throughout the summer - one or two per month. Last night was the open house for incoming 6th graders and their parents, complete with buckets of balls - bubblegum balls!

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Microphone (139/365)

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“That's called a microphone. It's a big sausage that picks up everything you say - and you're starting early.”
~ Prince Charles

TIME: 9:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Microphone

Tonight was the last night of the middle school youth group for the 2009-2010 school year. It's kind of bittersweet. What started out as a feeling of obligation to help keep Cam on the straight and narrow turned in to the discovery of a passion for kids this age. In the beginning, middleschoolers were scary. In the end? They were just like the rest of us - looking for love and acceptance.

This microphone and I also learned to get along ... but it took some real effort on my part!

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iPod (132/365)

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“Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”
~ Anton Chekhov

TIME: 6:30 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: iPod Touch

Cam is not an overly passionate kid ... unless we're talking about music. Cam watches very little TV (maybe 2-3 hours per week) but spends every waking - and sleeping - moment listening to music.

Last night he took his iPod to youth group at church. When he and a couple of the boys were wrestling around, he took his phone and his iPod out of his pants so that he wouldn't cause any damage to either of them. In the span of about 10 minutes, someone decided to hit Cam's iPod screen with his phone.

I feel terrible for him. He did the right thing. Took care of something he values. And someone else decided to take that from him. This is one of those times when, as a parent, you want to be able to make this right, but it will be quite some time before I can finagle my finances enough to make this one right.

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Mandisa (128/365)

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Do you think that a California girl is supposed to have curls and wear a jean size 3?
All the curves in all the right places, spray tanned faces just like on TV?
And we read in the gospel of Vogue that we're all suppose to dress and move and be
Visions of perfection
Such a misconception
'Cause the real connection is deeper than the eye can see
(from "True Beauty")

TIME: 7:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Mandisa

Mandisa performed at our church tonight. She was truly amazing. I stayed to purchase her CD's and to get an autograph for Cam. I'm not one to be enamored by famous people, but when I got to the autograph table, I decided to suck it up and participate in the photo op ... for the sake of the blog ...

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Bowls (125/365)

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“A table, a chair, a bowl of fruit and a violin; what else does a man need to be happy.”
~ Albert Einstein

TIME: 8:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Bowl

It was a crazy night at middle school youth group. It was transition night and we added 5th graders to the mix and shipped off our 8th graders to the high school youth group. These bowls were full of popcorn the first hour of the program, then washed and put away. It was one of those times when nothing was as it should be yet everything went as planned. Sometimes it better to be lucky than good!

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Purple (118/365)

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“He sometimes ran a purple ribbon through his typewriter and gushed where he should have dammed.”
~ T. E. Kalem

TIME: 8:30 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Purple

This purple paisley lanyard holding a name tag is what gives me the authority to tell 300 middle schoolers what they can and cannot do. I sure wish it worked at home the way is does in church!

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Ignite (115/365)

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“There comes that mysterious meeting in life when someone acknowledges who we are and what we can be, igniting the circuits of our highest potential.”
~ Rusty Berkus

TIME: 6:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Ignite

I took Cam and his girlfriend, Heather, to a concert at the church tonight. Tickets were $5 (they had been free in the past) with all proceeds going to crisis pregnancy centers in the area. The event sold out, raising $10K in donations, and the music was outstanding!

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Dot (112/365)

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Ah! you are so great, and I am so small,
I tremble to think of you, World, at all;
And yet, when I said my prayers to-day,
A whisper inside me seemed to say,
"You are more than the earth, though you are such a dot;
You can love and think, and the earth cannot!"
~ William Brighty Rands

TIME: 8:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Dot

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Criss Cross (104/365)

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Criss Cross Apple Sauce
Spiders crawling up your back
Spiders here, Spiders there
Spiders even in your hair
Cool breeze, tight squeeze
Now you've got the shiveries

TIME: 8:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Criss Cross

I usually take my picture with the flash set to auto and then again with no flash. Sometimes the difference is surprising. This was one of those times.

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Hook (97/365)

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“I see the devil's hook, and yet cannot help nibbling at his bait”
~ Moses Adams

TIME: 8:00 PM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Hook

In the winter, none of these are visible, but in the spring? Seldom do they hold a single jacket.

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Resurrection (94/365)

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“Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
~ Martin Luther

TIME: 8:00 AM
PLACE: Church
SUBJECT: Resurrection

My church is what might be called a multi-media church. Displays in the atrium are often graphic and meaningful. This cross, bearing the nails that held the written sins of Good Friday service attendees, was raised to the top of the atrium today - the sins taken away.

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