Aspergers syndrome

In the news today was the story of a 15 year old boy named Ethan Johnson who ran away from home and rode his push bike to Sydney because he wanted to see more of the city. Initial reactions might have been give the kid a good smack. However this kid sufferers from Aspergers syndrome. This is defined as a pervasive developmental disorder, usually of childhood, characterized by impairments in social interactions and repetitive behavior patterns.

Whilst I'm no childhood expert I have worked with Aspergers kids before and if they have their mind set on something it is almost impossible to change their mind. However I'm not sure his parents had the best approach to keeping him safe. Apparently they were putting money in his account "enough to keep him eating". Well surely police could have tracked his eftpos transactions and stopped him.
Yes He would have been hard to stop but surely the parents have a duty of care instead of leaving him to sleep on park benches and providing him with income to keep going. The police could have picked him up- given him a tour of Sydney and sent him home safely- I mean it took him 6 days to ride to Sydney but then he was gone for almost 2 weeks??? He was found in a western Sydney train station- West Sydney is a dangerous place- people are killed there routinely.
I'm not blaming the child but I am saying parents should be held a bit more accountable- yes he has a disability but that isn't enough of an excuse and neither is passing the buck by blaming it on bullying.

Christian Leadership is Lonely

I've been thinking about this for a while and just thought I'd write a few things down to kick start a discussion- Now it may be this doesn't apply to you or you have such close friends that it isn't an issue but I think at some time in our lives it is a huge issue and one that is worth thinking about.

A few months ago I asked the question what does the word Leadership mean to you? Now the majority (if not all) of the people who reply are involved in active christian leadership (as are the people who are most likely reading this blog, but loneliness wasn't really mentioned. Leah did mention sacrifice however and self sacrifice was mentioned but it isn't something people often think of when thinking of their leaders. Now just to make a side point here- I'm not really talking about about team based leadership- I think being on the Christian union leadership team (the exec) or Impact or adventure club leadership teams are quite different from solo leadership e.g. church pastor, small group leader, chaplain, or any other group where you alone are answerable to people. Now our churches/organisations do often mention the need for accountability in leadership but I think if we filled the loneliness hole we wouldn't have so many christian leaders crash and burn.

Now why is it lonely? well A.W. Tozer gives an answer I like with relation to Christians being lonely in the world :
The loneliness of the Christian results from his walk with God in an ungodly world, a walk that must often take him away from the fellowship of good Christians as well as from that of the unregenerate world. His God-given instincts cry out for companionship with others of his kind, others who can understand his longings, his aspirations, his absorption in the love of Christ; and because within his circle of friends there are so few who share his inner experiences he is forced to walk alone.

The unsatisfied longings of the prophets for human understanding caused them to cry out in their complaint, and even our Lord Himself suffered in the same way.

The man [or woman] who has passed on into the divine Presence in actual inner experience will not find many who understand him. He finds few who care to talk about that which is the supreme object of his interest, so he is often silent and preoccupied in the midst of noisy religious shoptalk. For this he earns the reputation of being dull and over-serious, so he is avoided and the gulf between him and society widens.

He searches for friends upon whose garments he can detect the smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia out of the ivory palaces, and finding few or none he, like Mary of old, keeps these things in his heart.

Now I think that in a Leader this is amplified. For me personally I find it very hard to admit faults or struggles to people I am leading. I think that if people realise how much i am struggling with something they will look down upon me as a leader. Now if our entire network are people we are leading we find that we isolate ourselves very quickly. Thus you withdraw and fill your life with things running away from the loneliness.
Also leaders feel like they are pulling in a direction and no one seems willing/ enthusiastic to go with them. I'm sure as a church pastor it must be draining to preach a real get up and evangelise sermon when the first comment to you at the door is 'Man those cowboys are terrible aren't they...' ' Appreciated the sermon- gotta get home for lunch' 'thanks for that- would you mind locking up for me- just gotta do something'
Often our pastors are the first ones there and the last ones to leave. Your emotions push you from the high of having some many people listen to me to the depression of no one actually listened to what I said tonight. And yes I said Depression... I think many of our leaders do have incidents of depression- most burst out of it but what happens if they don't.
Andy Rau comments in his blog

...depression is the ultimate incurvatus se. You are turned inward, and emotions that are focused outward (like anger or love) are barely on the horizon. Everything is turned inward. So while the good preachers go through themselves in terms of understanding the human condition to preach the Gospel, the depressed person can’t go through themselves. They get stuck. They are in the black hole of their own doubts and fears, and rather than expressing them (theologically in confession, pastorally in preaching, and psychologically in counseling), they simply stew in their own juices so that nothing can come out.

I might also add that in dealing with depression, it is also incredibly hard to take anything in. Reading, meditating, discussing the texts of Holy Writ are almost impossible. So if the depressed pastor… is forced to continue preaching, in pretty short order he will be running on nothing, stuck saying words he doesn’t mean, recycling sermons or copying others’ words.

Yikes—that’s something that can affect the health of the entire church body.

I guess what I'm trying to say is When was the last time you took the time to encourage your leader/pastor etc. Have you ever asked them how they are doing? Be prepare though- they might not give you a straight answer as they are leading you. If you are a leader can I encourage you to seek out someone who isn't in your group- to build a friendship with. It took me a while to realise that my small group (who I love dearly) was made up of most of my friends whom I did open up to and so when i became leader over them it became hard to have the same relationship with some of them as before. I'm conscious that being single it is vastly different being married especially the friendship area but now I'm turning it over to you guys: what do you think about loneliness affecting or being a part of ministry- how has marriage changed that?

note: something that helped me work through things was this link, encourage everyone but especially singles to read it-It helped me a fair bit over the last few years

Indoor soccer

I got asked the other day if I'd ever played indoor soccer... :) I didn't take offence as I'm not currently... but it did make me think about how many teams I have played for... I thought I'd have a go at listing them and giving a quick history of some of the names. Some of which I can't remember the names but I'll put a description of them and try and remember who we played with and maybe some one can remind me of team names.
Started off with The Red team (can't remember name)... this team had Robbo, james d, stevo, ben cameron, nathan (can't remeber his last name) and Jude. This was pretty much a feader team for the Blue team. evntually we added tim jones, matty b and adam b. Eventually this team split in two and we had the Custard chunks as well which i also played on.
Some time later we started Eripmu (Umpire spelt backwards as we had 3 umps on the team) and also 4n20. These teams edded up playing against each other in a grandfinal that went down to a penalty shootout- first ever mixed final at willows ISA.
Then I played for the Knightriders, Los conquistotdores and a couple of other teams. At the time i was also umpire co-ordinator at the centre and re wrote the rules for indoor soccer to be easier to interpret.
Moving centres we then had Ben's team, custard chunks (revived) and the strikers. Wobblies and the warriors. At this time i started the Gumbies- the team was mostly made up of people who were keen on playing but probably weren't quite ready to play in the higher levels. The manager of the time asked what level they were at I replied well they'll be a bit gumby so he stuck that as the team name. They ended up being our main mixed team as the other one folded for a while. Then we started Tim's team (which became Tim's team and the terrible betrayal after I quit) and Capitol. I also played for a couple of mens sides when Capitol and ben's team had a break for a season as kind of an outreach sort of thing.
So I count 15 seperate teams though there were 4 other teams I played on a fair bit but don't remember their names. So yes I have played a bit of indoor soccer. I think my favourite one was when i was playing for a team as a witness and got player of the final for a game of A mixed. However if you asked me for a favourite team hmmm... The old Eripmu was fun as was tim's team but is tough to beat the undeafeated season we had for Capitol.... A mens- soccer off season- so a lot of outdoor players were playing for fitness. :) good time good times

Townsville, everyone's home

One of mark's entrys in a competition.... who would want to live anywhere else

Cirque du Soleil - KA - Special 10 Min Teaser

Cold

I just thought I'd make a note about how cold it here in Ohio. It is 2:48 in the afternoon and is 7 degrees. It is so cold that the water in the toilet cistern (the part up the top) is forming moisture outside of the plastic in the slightly less cold apartment I'm in. I will never complain about the NQ weather again.

Fail blogger

Well unfortunately I've failed to do any sort of tracking. My holiday is almost over and I'm posting my first blog. I will try and upload some photos which means you guys rather than my facebook stalkers will see these first.(hey i know I'm deluding myself but...)

So we landed in LA where I got picked by one of my former classmates- In fact they lived across the road from me in PNG, and then we all headed over for breakfast where i was astounded by the size of the meals. There we met up with a bunch of people the majority I hadn't seen for 10 years so that was awesome. The next day we headed down to downtown LA and saw all the stars. I recognized most of the names but I guess that is why they got stars because they are so famous.
The next day we headed out on the cruise and had a few sea days. I really enjoyed just sitting around doing nothing as well as playing table tennis on a boat. That was crazy- the boat was massive so it didn't rock much but it was enough to effect your game. However I still won the Ship's table tennis tournament which was kinda cool.
We had a stop in Acapulco and that was interesting. It is famous for its cliff divers and it's party scene. However the beaches were really nice (which i didn't expect.) We booked this crazy driver who took us around. At one stage when we were on the beach I was hungry and asked him where he had lunch. he took us (Matt and Christine (vic Aus), Charlie (US) and I ) to this little back street canteen where a full mexican meal was purchased for about 4 aussie. Best mexican food I've ever eaten. It was also one of the highlights of my trip. (I will blog more about this and bargaining later) I also bought a corona for $1.5 (double the size of the aussie ones). A place where coronas were cheaper than bottled water :D
We had a few other shore stops highlights of which included 4 wheeling motorbikes, lounging on the beach, kayaking, walking around downtown away from the areas where english is spoken, seeing some nice views, watching cliff divers, eating Italian Mexican and many more.
After the cruise we said good bye to a few people and then headed off to Las Vegas. Now I'm not really a gambler but it was incredible to see the city. Think Melbourne's crown casino multiplied by about 100- absolute madness. Every place had a kind of theme and they decorated accordingly. All were mind blowing but in particular the Venetian which was set up inside like a little Venice (see photo below and to the right- keep in mind this is all indoor and the sky is painted on the roof). Also while we were there we went and saw Cirque de Solice KA which was unbelievable.- thanks Scott for the recommendation. Following that I went to phoenix Arizona for a few days and then on to Columbus Ohio where I got to see an ice hockey game as well as catch up with a few more people I hadn't seen for a while.
So it has been really good catching up with lots of people and I'll be doing more of it tomorrow night then start heading back to Australia.




Yes everything is bigger in the US

Day 1

Well i left 6am and got to LA at 7am. :) One hour. Longest hour of my life. end of story.

Bon Voyagee

As Many of you would know (when i say many i mean all 8 who read the blog and then probably because i said goodbye to you last night) I am embarking on a trip to the US today. Carly Suggested I keep a blog log ala Nathan. So I'm gonna give it a go. However i'm gonna a be on a boat. Did I mention I'm going on a cruise? This boat pictured above is the girl (unless your russian in which case ships are masculine so boy) that I'm travelling on. if you would like to take a virtual tour go here. This is my intinerary below

Saturday, Mar 4

San Diego, CA

4:00pm
View Shore Excursions
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Sunday, Mar 5
Fun Day At Sea



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Monday, Mar 6
Fun Day At Sea

Tuesday, Mar 7
Acapulco, Mexico
12:00pm

View Shore Excursions
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Wednesday, Mar 8
Acapulco, Mexico

1:00am
View Shore Excursions
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Wednesday,
Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa, Mexico
9:00am
6:00pm
View Shore Excursions
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Thursday, Mar 9
Manzanillo, Mexico
7:00am
6:00pm
View Shore Excursions
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Friday, March 10
Fun Day At Sea
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Saturday, march 11
Fun Day At Sea

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Sunday, march 12
San Diego, CA
7:00am

So I'm pretty stoked.

On a small side note I was walking through the brisbane terminal and i was right next to the PNG check in desk- Felt incredibly home sick: this is my overseas trip w/o going to png. But on the plus side my pidgin got a good working over in the customs line.

Anyways it looks like I'm getting booted out of the gate area- Apparently they need to set up the security area and there is a lady approaching with white gloves on :0.

Anyways Have a great week and stay Posted.

The Shack

I just finished the Shack by William P. Young and was intrigued. On the surface it was a real heart warming but sad book which made you wanna cry at the depths of God's love for us. However the more I thought about it the more disturbed I became. If you haven't read it it is receiving rave reviews in the secular world, was on the New York Times best seller list for a long time and has Christians jumping up and down raving about it. The cover ha a message from Eugene Peterson "This book has the potential to do for this generation what John Bunyan's Pilgrim's progress did for his. It's that good." Wow that's a big claim. Then there is Micheal W smith on the back cover "The Shack will leave you craving for the presence of God..." seems like it tick all the right boxes... Well Chuck Colsen doesn't think so- he wrote an interesting article called "Stay out of The Shack"

Stay Out of 'The Shack'

Chuck Colson

BreakPoint.org

May 5, 2008

When the prophet Isaiah and the apostle John caught glimpses of God, they were overcome with despair at their own unworthiness in the light of His glory. The same could be said of Daniel or Paul, or any number of figures from Scripture.

But when the protagonist of a new book called The Shack is introduced to the Father of heaven, he is greeted by a "large, beaming, African-American woman" who goes by the name of Papa.

If you have not heard about The Shack, there is a good chance you will soon. A novel self-published about a year ago by William P. Young, the book has gained quite a following in Christian circles. It is still among the top ten sellers at Amazon.com. And when it receives a glowing endorsement from a scholar whom I respect, like Eugene Peterson, it is not a phenomenon that discerning Christians can ignore.

The story is about a man named Mack, who is struggling in the aftermath of the brutal murder of his young daughter. One day he finds a note in his mailbox-apparently from God. God wants Mack to meet Him at "the shack," the place where his daughter was killed.

When he arrives, the shack and the winter scene around it transform, Narnia-like, into a mystical mountain paradise, perhaps meant to be heaven itself. Now dwelling in the shack are three mysterious figures-the African-American woman, a Middle Eastern workman, and an Asian girl-who reveal themselves as God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

The rest of the book is basically a discussion between Mack and the three persons of the Trinity. While the discussion is mostly on the deep topics of creation, the fall, freedom, and forgiveness, too often the author slips in silly lines that, frankly, seem ridiculous in the mouth of the Godhead. Jesus, looking at Papa, says, "Isn't she great?" At one point, Papa warns Mack that eating too many of the greens in front of him will "give him the trots." And when Jesus spills batter on the floor and on Papa, Jesus then washes Her-or is it His?-feet. Papa coos, "Oh, that feels sooooo good." Ugh.

Okay, it is only an allegory. But like Pilgrim's Progress, allegories contain deep truths. That is my problem. It is the author's low view of Scripture. For example, Mack is tied to a tree by his drunken, abusive father, who "beats Mack with a belt and Bible verses." The author reflects derisively in another spot that "nobody wanted God in a box, just in a book. Especially an expensive one bound in leather with gilt edges, or was that 'guilt' edges."

The Bible, it seems, is just one among many equally valid ways in which God reveals Himself. And, we are told, the Bible is not about rules and principles; it is about relationship. Sadly, the author fails to show that the relationship with God must be built on the truth of who He really is, not on our reaction to a sunset or a painting.

That is not to say The Shack is without merit. The centrality of Christ and God's breathtaking, costly love come through loud and clear. But these truths are available everywhere in Scripture, everywhere in Christian literature. You do not have to visit The Shack to find them.

As Papa warns Mack, God is not who Mack expects He is. But He is also not what our creative imaginations make Him to be, either.

He Is, after all, Who He Is.

I felt that kind hit the nail for me in my thoughts. I was really disturbed by the insinuation of the many roads to God and the lack of God's awesome fall at his feet. But in one scene he sees his daughter playing at God's feet- Happy. What parent wouldn't want that? But God never promises to do this- "Instead we are called to live by faith trusting in the bible. After all isn't that what Job is all about" (Dave Mac)- and I think Dave does hit it on the head. Mark Driscoll also posts regarding this book (yes don't die of shock I'm quoting driscoll- in reality it is just to get Chris to agree with me for once)

Both Colson and Driscoll would tell you not to bother reading the book- but I'm not sure if I'd go that far. I think you should read it because everyone else is reading it. In the same way I think people should read the DaVinci code- read it. enjoy it but distance yourself from your emotions. Just because the book made you cry doesn't mean its right- Charlotte's Webb make me cry still but it is fiction. Just because it answers a deep yearning within your soul doesn't make it from God- Grants book of Fishes answers some deep yearning in my soul but it isn't from God. Read it, and I hope it does make you think about you and your relationship with God BUT DON'T take it as the Word of God. Because it isn't and neither is it Pilgrim's progress (which everyone should read). You can only find that truth from one source where there is only one path.

Why Sign Robbie Fowler

A lot of people have asked me what was so special about Robbie Fowler signing for the Fury. Well I could talk about him being one of the highest scorers in arguably the toughest league in the world. I could mention the worldwide recognition it has already and will continue to give the NQ fury- I could mention how he once scored 3 goals in 4 minutes 38 sec or how he is still called God by more people than who follow Scientology (I'm not agreeing but just stating what people call him). But instead I thought I'd just show this- who hasn't dreamed of doing this in a match scenario and finishing with a goal. Hopefully we see his big smile light up Dairy Farmer's stadium many times over the next 2 years.

Leadership

I'm writing a blog on leadership but I want you to tell me (and the 6 people who occasionally read/check to see if I've updated this blog) what the word Leadership means to you. What thoughts does it bring up. How would you answer the question what is leadership? (both good and bad Christian and non Christian) I just to do a quick survey on what you think.

Every day survival kit

I found this on-line and really liked it and so made one for me :) even got the hershey kiss for it. An Everyday Survival Kit Here's an Everyday Survial Kit: Toothpick Rubber Band Band Aid Pencil Eraser Chewing Gum Mint Candy Kiss Tea Bag Here's Why: Toothpick- to remind you to pick out the good qualities in others...Matthew 7:1 Rubber Band - to remind you to be flexible, things might not always go the way you want, but it will work out...Romans 8:28 Band Aid - to remind you to heal hurt feelings, yours or someone else's...Colossians 3:12-14 Pencil - to remind you to list your blessings everyday...Ephesians 1:3 Eraser - to remind you that everyone makes mistakes, and it's okay...Genesis 50:15-21 Chewing Gum - to remind you to stick with it and you can accomplish anything...Philippians 4:13 Mint - to remind you that you are worth a mint to your heavenly God...John 3:16-17 Candy Kiss - to remind you that everyone needs a kiss or a hug everyday...John 4:7 Tea Bag - to remind you to relax daily and go over that list of God's blessings...1 Thessalonians 5:18

Web site: eDevotions.org - art illustrated Christian devotions
Original image credits: www.corbis.com, www.photostogo.com

Santino Does the Entrance of Melina

hehehehe. Why there?

Trick Free Kicks

In both indoor soccer and futsal i'm struck by how little we think out free kicks. yes there is a fair arguement for improvisation and reading the game but i often think its worth just having a quick chat before the game. Here is some funny free kicks which were obviously planned out.

Life is stranger than X-files

We've all seen it or imagined it in some shape or form. Legs kicking below the surface of the water while the jaws music plays and a shape moves through the water. Then we are grabbed and dragged away by a CATFISH????
Strange but true a huge type of catfish, called a goonch, may have developed a taste for flesh in an Indian river where bodies are dumped after funerals.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/weird/article1784470.ece

Locals have believed for years that a mysterious monster lurks in the water. But they think it has moved on from scavenging to snatching unwary bathers who venture into the Great Kali, which flows along the India-Nepal border.

Reports were emerging about people being grabbed by an 'elongated pig'. Wow considering that the normal diet of cat fish is excrement that's a crappy way to die.

Plagues (Let My People Go) - The Lion King (Simba vs Scar)

This one deserves a mention

Lions of the Caribbean: At World's End

I've been recently introduced to the dubbing of different movies. I'm not such a big fan of lots of clips of different movies thrown together to deceive people but I find this one quite amusing. I'd like to put forth a challenge to have people find ones from more diverse films and well dubbed.

Funny Wrestler's dance

Ummm... Yeah i dunno what to say. Just enjoy.

Why bother with silly stuff- The times have changed

Well I seem to be making a monthly habit of posting so I thought I'd continue it. One of the things I've been doing is learning the ropes as a chaplain of a local primary school. Having gotten to know a few kids who are really hurting I feel like thinking about the strategy of our youth groups and children's ministries in the context of the changing nature/state of kids. I'm going to be making some pretty bold statements which hopefully may make u think and may even offend you but please don't shut off follow me through.
Point 1 Children are Changing.
And I don't mean for the better. There is a cultural slide down hill. Kids have no respect for authority figures in their day to day lives. Now I don't mean to sound like the old man sitting on the porch saying "these kids today have no respect" but lets have a look why. Firstly there is a break down in the whole family structure. Single parent kids aren't the exception in our schools they are almost the rule. Kids don't have a solid family structure so they aren't being taught how to interact with other people. It is a fight for what you have to, dog eat dog mentality. Now how can we expect a kid who is being bashed up at home to interact with other kids. he'll react and interact in the only way he's been taught: violence.
Kids have never been taught respect. and I don't mean bashing up respect, I'm talking about a respect that come from Love. A respect that comes from fairness. A respect that was taught to me by my dad in that I will get punished for what I do wrong but He still loves me. If a kid doesn't have a father or a loving parent they don't see the love: All they see is the beating. So what hope do we have of a grade 1 kid when he come to school and has never seen tough love before: he will run from punishment. He will swear at a teacher just like he has been sworn at. He will treat teachers just the same as he treats all the rest of the adults in his life. With the same contempt as Adults Treat Him.
Now I am talking about the minority here but this is happening rapidly. And our society and especially our 'Liberated Universities' wont recognize the break down of the family unit as an issue causing this problem. They talk about 'up-skilling' behavior management stragies they pump out drugs to help tone he kids down and mean while our the poor kids drift from school to school- teachers too scared to fail them because they might have them next year, counting the days till their old enough to drop out or their guardians pull them out of school (do we even have Truant Officers anymore?)
Now we bring in strategies to manage these behavior problems. We start good programs to deal with these issues. But the problem is the average grade 1/2/3/4/5/6/7 kid sees the energy and attention we are giving these 'bad' minority and is feeling un-loved themselves (due to the teacher spending more time with the bad kids)- sees in the problem the solution. I'll act up so I get more attention. and it WORKS. Then another kid does it and very rapidly there is a peer pressure in the class to be bad and the poor teacher has gone from having a couple of behavior problems to a host of them. So what does the teacher do? Yell Louder at them? (gets old quick and they are yelled at with a far larger vocabulary at home) Send them all to time out? (great half the class is there so they'll have fun). Send them to the principle's office? (They don't have much power anymore all they can do is threaten to call the parents (which works till grade 3 or so in some cases)). Suspend them... (Woohoo there is no one at home playstation all day or worse case I might get the belt as well tonight on top of the normal beating). You see in the past there was a peer pressure to be good now there is that pressure to be bad.
Well is this just the guys? Well no its girls too. It just manifests itself differently. Carly in her blog writes well of what is means to a girl to be loved.
This basic need isn't met destroying their self esteem and their view of their self-worth which i'll leave for others to talk about. But let me just say again Kids are different to what we were.
2 How do we deal with this in our Churches and Youth groups?
Well Firstly we need to leave the traditional sunday school method behind. Kids wont respond to being sat down and told about a father who loves them when they can't even understand love or even what a good father is.
Well then lets get kids in to play games and have fun and we'll talk about God for 5 minutes and
they'll see from us and how we interact we're just like them. Well No. kids will come because they are bored and some might find the love like a parent but we still aren't getting down to what needs to be fixed so they get bored of the same old games and the extreme fun and go off to the lastest fad or girlfriend or boyfriend that comes along. There is no difference from that to the afterschool program that they go to except the leaders are more easily manipulated. Eventually the leader burns out because the kids are just looking to take take take and they end up as babysitters.
Well I think I have the beginnings of the answer but I'm not going to just say it- I'm going to tell a story.
I was asked to have a chat to a kid who was being bullied and bullying in response. I was talking to him about how kids are different, talking about a kid who had a condition that was annoying this kid until he snapped (thinking to teach tolerance). And His response floored me. He said "Yes Isabelle is different (our Youth minister's kid) I started to tell him off for being mean and then asked 'how so?'
He said Being around her she doesn't let people get her annoyed- she doesn't respond much- she just does the right thing- she is different from most kids.
We discussed this more and he then proceeded to name both the other kids we have in our kids club as also being different EVEN though they are in the grade ABOVE him. Now out of 1000 kids he brought up 3 kids all of whom are 'different' and all are grounded Christians- not prefect Christians but Kids who are Christians.
So I think This is what we need to be doing in our churches and various ministries. Building up our kids- strengthening and equipping them to be able to live their lives as a witness. Preparing them to bring kids into our groups. And when these kids come in we need to be able to adapt. We can't be demanding respect like a teacher. We need to be building relationships with kids/teens. We need to be EARNING respect. How? by Loving them- by showing them we Want to spend time with them. Not Bossing them around but showing them how to do it. We need to be focusing on where that love comes from. You see Kids who find people different aren't going to just come seeking games. They want to know what makes the kid different. And if we have a bible group with the majority of loving Christians they will come in, some for the first time in their live in a group of love and joining in with the majority in striving to go good because that is the cool thing to do in the group. I'm not saying you can't still have games or they wont slip up but The MAIN FOCUS MUST BE DIRECTLY on GOD AND HIS WORD which is what makes us DIFFERENT from every other person they have ever met. And this completely changes our role as leaders. We need to be encouraging our kids, modeling Godly behaviors (being different like in Titus 2 older women showing younger women...) and just being there as support for our kids in this battlefield. But Most of all teaching them from God's word so they are able 'to stand firm in the faith'. Debriefing them, sharing in their good and bad times and being part of the loving foundation which they base their lives.
Our Christian Kids are the ones who are carrying the standard into this battle in our schools. WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO ENCOURAGE AND SUPPORT THEM IN THEIR MINISTRY?