I had a great Memorial Day Weekend. I went fishing three days in a row and caught quite a bit of fish. With Jen and I combined we caught 6 Sand Bass and 4 large mouth bass. Now we've got some fish in the freezer.
Then we went up to Alabaster Caverns near Woodward, Oklahoma with Jen's parents. A guide takes you through the cave and it's all lit up and really pretty. The tour lasts for about an hour, but it is really cool. We enjoyed it. Then we went to Mazzios Pizza for the lunch buffet. Needless to say, I had a very relaxing weekend.
Now, I've got to get back on the ball and work hard. I have a few loose ends to tie up before camps starts in a couple weeks. Everybody who is reading this, please pray for our camp that we get plenty signed up.
Josh
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Finally!
I have been trying to post something for about a week and my post page would never load up. I don't know what's going on but I hope that these blogger people fixed it.
Things have been going fair since my last post. Our Cordell Christian Camp will be here soon. It's less than three weeks away. The only thing I am worried about is the fact that we don't have very many signed up. I got my signs up all over town and an advertisement in the paper 2 and a half weeks ago (5 weeks before camp starts) and we just haven't had very many kids sign up. Maybe I should have gotten it out a little earlier than that. I'm not sure. Next year I may try to get it out about 8 weeks before camp starts.
I preached last Sunday because my senior minister was gone. It went really well. My sermon was entitled, "The Perks of Kingdom People." It was a sermon geared towards uplifting people to strive to be kingdom people because of all the Perks we have! The perks were: 1) Our names are written in the book of life (Luke 10:17-20) 2) We are powerful even though we seem insignificant at times (Mark 4:30-32) 3) We are sowers not growers (Mark 4:26-29) and 4) We are rich (Luke 6:20). I think it turned out to be a really good lesson.
Right now, I am struggling so much with number 3. I tend to think that the harder I work that more people will grow. But the only thing I accomplish is to wear myself out. Though I know that I cannot be lazy or allow my testimony to fail (which will sow seeds of discord), I have to realize that I cannot grow people. That is God's job and I need to leave it at that. God, give me strength to let you do the work that I cannot do.
I hope you are all having a blessed week!
Josh
Things have been going fair since my last post. Our Cordell Christian Camp will be here soon. It's less than three weeks away. The only thing I am worried about is the fact that we don't have very many signed up. I got my signs up all over town and an advertisement in the paper 2 and a half weeks ago (5 weeks before camp starts) and we just haven't had very many kids sign up. Maybe I should have gotten it out a little earlier than that. I'm not sure. Next year I may try to get it out about 8 weeks before camp starts.
I preached last Sunday because my senior minister was gone. It went really well. My sermon was entitled, "The Perks of Kingdom People." It was a sermon geared towards uplifting people to strive to be kingdom people because of all the Perks we have! The perks were: 1) Our names are written in the book of life (Luke 10:17-20) 2) We are powerful even though we seem insignificant at times (Mark 4:30-32) 3) We are sowers not growers (Mark 4:26-29) and 4) We are rich (Luke 6:20). I think it turned out to be a really good lesson.
Right now, I am struggling so much with number 3. I tend to think that the harder I work that more people will grow. But the only thing I accomplish is to wear myself out. Though I know that I cannot be lazy or allow my testimony to fail (which will sow seeds of discord), I have to realize that I cannot grow people. That is God's job and I need to leave it at that. God, give me strength to let you do the work that I cannot do.
I hope you are all having a blessed week!
Josh
Monday, May 16, 2005
hello
I didn't post anything last week because I had a week long class that lasted from 8-4 every day and then I had to go home and do homework. The class was over Managing conflict and Transitional change. It was a very thought provoking class. I am very thankful that I got to take it. In the future, I may reveal some little jewels of wisdom that I recieved from the class, but not now. Now I have to get back to my house to do some yard work before I have to go to Cordell High School Graduation.
Josh
Josh
Thursday, May 05, 2005
It's hard to let go
As a minister, sometimes I get really down. It seems that for a while, everything is just going awesome. The kids seem to be getting somewhere and they start taking steps in the right direction. Then you find out that some kid is not who they say they are. They are doing things behind my back like smoking, or they are hanging out with kids that are a very bad influence. They know what's right, but they just don't do it. I guess it's just hard to let go and let God. It's hard to let go of my pride, and do my work, not expecting rewards and just let God make my work meaningful.
Yestereday, Wednesday, I decided to do a class on music. I looked up MTV's Bilboard top 20. I recognized and had heard many of them from some of our teens and my own radio and MTV and VH1 experiences. Then I decided to look up the lyrics on lyrics.com. It was eyeopening and very sad. Those top 20 songs were about such unholy things that it made me sick. And it made me sicker to know that I had listened to some of them and enjoyed it. God put a great burden on my heart yesterday and I really let our kids and myself have it for listening to that crud. I saw the sour looks on their faces which said, "I'm not giving up my music!" It broke my heart. Sometimes I really don't know how to get across the idea of giving up everything for Christ. I got really hard on myself, questioning whether I am doing a good job or not. Am I showing them a good example? I started examining the way I live my life. There are many inconsistencies. I looked at my music and movies and my TV shows. Are they what a Christ himself would be listening to and watching? I think not. Do I take every chance I have to spread Christ? I think not. I need to let go. Lord God, Father, make me let go.
The other question I have about being a youth minister is something I heard in one of my graduate classes. If adolescence is all about finding out who you are and Christianity is about denying self, how can I ask these kids to deny the self that they haven't even found? I think that is why I disagree with baptizing kids early. I believe that my job is to equip them for the time when they realize what they want and they have to choose between that and Christ. Lord God help them to make the right choice when the time comes.
Josh
Yestereday, Wednesday, I decided to do a class on music. I looked up MTV's Bilboard top 20. I recognized and had heard many of them from some of our teens and my own radio and MTV and VH1 experiences. Then I decided to look up the lyrics on lyrics.com. It was eyeopening and very sad. Those top 20 songs were about such unholy things that it made me sick. And it made me sicker to know that I had listened to some of them and enjoyed it. God put a great burden on my heart yesterday and I really let our kids and myself have it for listening to that crud. I saw the sour looks on their faces which said, "I'm not giving up my music!" It broke my heart. Sometimes I really don't know how to get across the idea of giving up everything for Christ. I got really hard on myself, questioning whether I am doing a good job or not. Am I showing them a good example? I started examining the way I live my life. There are many inconsistencies. I looked at my music and movies and my TV shows. Are they what a Christ himself would be listening to and watching? I think not. Do I take every chance I have to spread Christ? I think not. I need to let go. Lord God, Father, make me let go.
The other question I have about being a youth minister is something I heard in one of my graduate classes. If adolescence is all about finding out who you are and Christianity is about denying self, how can I ask these kids to deny the self that they haven't even found? I think that is why I disagree with baptizing kids early. I believe that my job is to equip them for the time when they realize what they want and they have to choose between that and Christ. Lord God help them to make the right choice when the time comes.
Josh
Tuesday, May 03, 2005
I'm back!
Well, I finally have my computer back online. It was a long and painful process and it's still not over yet. I've still got to get my antivirus program back up and running. I also need to get an anti spyware program put on my computer.
It is a wonderful, rainy day here in Cordell. I had an amazing trip to Oklahoma City last week for my anniversary and my sister's wedding. For our anniversary, Jen and I stayed at a bed and Breakfast called the Arcadian Inn in Edmond. Jen and I very much needed the break. We did a little shopping, saw a movie, and slept a whole lot! It was great! We also took a little spin into OC (Oklahoma Christian University) to watch some of my friends graduate on Friday.
My sister's wedding was beautiful. They are now in Mexico for the honeymoon. I hope that they are having a great time. I would put pics of the wedding on my website, but during the whole process, I dropped my camera and broke it. Now, I can't even unload pics off of it. I'll just have to take my memory card to Wal-Mart and get them off that way.
This week, I am mainly working on Cordell Christian Camp (CCC). Every summer, my church does a camp where 3-6 grades stay the night and 1-2 grades are daycampers. It's a mad house with those ages, but it is very rewarding and if you have the right attitude, very fun. Everybody out there please pray for our camp.
Next week, I will be taking a week-long summer course about managing conflict. I have already started reading for it and I think it promises to be very interesting. Well, I've got to get back to work.
Josh
It is a wonderful, rainy day here in Cordell. I had an amazing trip to Oklahoma City last week for my anniversary and my sister's wedding. For our anniversary, Jen and I stayed at a bed and Breakfast called the Arcadian Inn in Edmond. Jen and I very much needed the break. We did a little shopping, saw a movie, and slept a whole lot! It was great! We also took a little spin into OC (Oklahoma Christian University) to watch some of my friends graduate on Friday.
My sister's wedding was beautiful. They are now in Mexico for the honeymoon. I hope that they are having a great time. I would put pics of the wedding on my website, but during the whole process, I dropped my camera and broke it. Now, I can't even unload pics off of it. I'll just have to take my memory card to Wal-Mart and get them off that way.
This week, I am mainly working on Cordell Christian Camp (CCC). Every summer, my church does a camp where 3-6 grades stay the night and 1-2 grades are daycampers. It's a mad house with those ages, but it is very rewarding and if you have the right attitude, very fun. Everybody out there please pray for our camp.
Next week, I will be taking a week-long summer course about managing conflict. I have already started reading for it and I think it promises to be very interesting. Well, I've got to get back to work.
Josh
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