SYATP

See You At the Pole was today. I got to the school the same time as Jerrica pulled up with Cylie and Cory in her car, and hung out in the hallways as kids started showing up. Then we went out to the Flagpole for 7:30am....and were the only ones there. I was completely unprepared to 'lead' the time, so it was really akward, but I think the point was that we showed up....still it frustrates me that yet another chance to connect with other pastors in the city seemed to be an utter failure......so frustrating!! But Praise the LORD, Herbie, Jerrica, Olivia, Alice, Sam and Sam's friend showed up. I brought my guitar, but didn't bring it out. I think that would have helped with all the distractions of other friends walking by, to just get into some worship out there. I mean, I was totally distracted, and it wasn't even my friends or teachers walking by. I feel so often like I'm letting God get boring, even though I know He isn't. .....but they keep showing up....that's what Denise always tells me!....so I must be doing something right.....God knows my heart better than I do.

Power Color!....turned out to be my favorite one too...what a coinky-dink!

Your Power Color Is Red-Orange

At Your Highest: You are warm, sensitive, and focused on your personal growth. At Your Lowest: You become defensive and critical if you feel attacked. In Love: You are loyal - but you demand the respect you deserve. How You're Attractive: You are very affectionate and inspire trust. Your Eternal Question: "Am I Respected?"

What's Your Power Color?

What Color Red are you?

You Are Cranberry Red

Peaceful and philosophical, you are almost always at harmony with the world. You're not very social, but you always enjoy a deep, complex conversation with a friend. It's possible that you've been disappointed a lot in your life, but you've gotten over those disappointments quickly. For you, each day is new and glorious. You wake up refreshed and happy, even when things aren't going your way.

What Color Red Are You?

The keys to my heart....today!

Your Candy Heart Says "First Kiss"

You're a true romantic who brings an innocent hope to each new relationship.
You see the good in every person you date, and you relish each step of falling in love.

Your ideal Valentine's Day date: a romantic dinner your sweetie cooks for you

Your flirting style: friendly and sweet

What turns you off: cynics who don't believe in romance

Why you're hot: you always keep the romance alive

The Keys to Your Heart

You are attracted to those who are unbridled, untrammeled, and free. In love, you feel the most alive when things are straight-forward, and you're told that you're loved. You'd like to your lover to think you are optimistic and happy. You would be forced to break up with someone who was insecure and in constant need of reassurance. Your ideal relationship is lasting. You want a relationship that looks to the future... one you can grow with. Your risk of cheating is zero. You care about society and morality. You would never break a commitment. You think of marriage as something that will confine you. You are afraid of marriage. In this moment, you think of love as something you thirst for. You'll do anything for love, but you won't fall for it easily.

What Are The Keys To Your Heart?

God's plan is not that we will be free from suffering, but that even in suffering, we will be free.

stupid me!

locked my keys in the car today! Stupid me! We were talking about trials in my Friday group, and about the difference between 'suffering' because of the stupid stuff we do (like locking your keys in the car) vs. suffering for Christ.
It's the same as having a hangover. You don't blame God for the headache, because the pain is caused by your own stupidity in drinking exorbitant amounts of alchohol. Suffering for the sake of Christ is standing up for what's right, even when it's not popular.

so much concern and generosity, and yet....

Yesterday morning I went out for a walk and happened upon a lady I've talked to in the soup kitchen before. We chatted for a few minutes on her porch, and she invited me to come have lunch with her some time, and asked me not to forget her.
A little later on in the day, I was heading out to pick up some donations for our Harvest auction coming up, and came upon one of my other soup kitchen friends, and she was wandering down the road in hysterics, shouting after a van that was heading down the street.
I stopped her, and asked her what had happened, and she said her wheelchair had just been stolen, and she wasn't supposed to be on her knee but she was trying to get ahold of someone to get her a replacement chair until hers was found. A lady who had been on the phone at the time, came down and placed a call in to the police, and waited with us to help sort out the story and let her use the phone to call her worker.
Even in canvassing for donations for our auction, I've only had two outright no's, which is pretty impressive, since there is a considerable number of non-profit organizations in Bangor, and the few individual businesses in the get hit up for freebies/discounts all the time.
Yet, for all this good stuff happening in the city, there's something holding people back. There's a guard up. Judgmentalism. Control. People wanting things done their way or not at all. I find myself sinking into it really easily, lately. A cutting word here, one of those "if I were you..." statements, when no one asked my opinion in the first place, BLECH it's really not attractive.
Oh, and someone keeps knocking on my door at 4:30 in the morning. Next time, I'm thinking of having a few people over, sneak out the back door and start knocking on their van window and see how they like it. grr!

Worship and Justice: Isaiah 58

Check out this site: ififtyeight.com
A group of teens from the southern US territory are working together to teach others about injustice in their area and the world.

Fighting injustices is more than just a good thing to do, it is our duty as Christians. Jesus calls us to the poor and the oppressed. How does God justify their cause and lift them up, if not for the helping hand of their christian brothers/sisters? Where are the oppressed in your neighborhood? Or do you count yourself as one of them? No matter what you've been through, or what kind of family background you come from, you have something to offer to your community and to the kingdom of God. If you still feel like you're the bottom of the feeding pool of your community, take a look at the global perspective:

75% of the worlds' population (Africa, China, Russia, Packistan, Iran, Iraq) vs. 75% of the worlds' financial resources. (USA, Canada, Australia, England, Japan)


Here in Bangor, you can get two meals a day, no questions asked.
You can apply for food stamps, and have medical coverage, and have your gas paid by the state of Maine. You can get baby diapers to tide you over until your next check comes in, and free bread. There's also a lady in town who's been able to get her hands on a mostly-paid-for motorized wheelchair, even though she can still walk. Even our jails spend money on keeping libraries and weight rooms stocked for their prisoners.


In Uganda children are taken from their families and forced to become soldiers. They watch their parents die in front of them. They are told to kill the farmers, or else they themselves will be killed.
In Thailand the living situation is so bad that families will actually sell their children to men and women who promise to give their daughters and sons paid work....that work being sex with strangers. They have no option to 'quit' or go home, because the generous amount of money their parents received for them immediately becomes the debt they have to pay off.
In Laos the only way to get a meal in prison is if someone in your family brings it to you. If you die, you die. You are a prisoner. Forget about reading material, or using your time 'productively' in a weight room....you need to save your energy and focus on simply staying alive one more day.


This can hardly be considered Just. If you don't know what to do, simply try SOMEthing. SOMEthing is always better than NOthing, yeah? And if that fails, try SOMEthing else. Adjust your strategy. Ask someone's advice. Find out where the need is, and do that. Volunteer at a shelter a hospital, an old folk's home, a call-in hotline. Call someone you think might be lonely. Stop by at someone's house when they're sick. Offer to babysit someone's kid for free, or take them out 'just because'.

Or, here's an idea. Join the "ififtyeight" group. Young people from 16 states and one province are getting together to spread the word and inform the masses about injustices in the world. The first step is to get informed. The second is to spread the word (through posters/pamphlets/presentations). Every month is a different focus. This month is invisible children. Check it out. Get informed. DO SOMETHING!

Living Worship

A buddy of mine once shared with me a verse he was trying to dig into that year...like, every year, he asks God for a verse to be his focus for that year. SO I figured I'd try one on for size. This year for me, it's John 4:24. "God is spirit, and His worshippers must worship Him in Spirit and in Truth." So, I'm thinking God wants to teach me a little about worship.
Worship is more than the songs we sing on a sunday or a midweek service. Worship is more than saying some nice memorized prayer. This I know, but do I live it?
Worship is life, and life is worship. If the words I speak don't match up to the life I live, than my worship is empty. It's just religion. But if I live out my faith every day, looking for ways to glorify God in every aspect of my life, THAT'S what worship is. This I know, but do I live it?
Worship means to literally "prostrate oneself" or "bow down low"...so, humility is a part of worship. I can't force people to go where I want them to go, or do what I want them to do. (Wouldn't life be so much easier that way? But then who gets to say who's the one who tells everyone else what to do?)
Deb laughed at me the other day because I told her there was a time when I didn't speak up much...as most of you know, I love to have my voice heard. But if all I'm doing with that voice is ranting and raving about how I would do things better, and yet all I do is sit on my butt and criticize the people who are actually doing something, than what good am I? Wouldn't it be much better for me to offer a hand and help out the person in charge by doing some small task for them and lighten their load a little? Yes, I know, but do I live it?