it’s that time of year again

Jun 28, 2012 |

It’s the end of June, and that means students are breaking away from their prisons… I mean schools… and making their way back into the sunlight for a couple of months. For some, they are now done with this level of education. They are graduating to life, in whatever form it takes.

I can’t believe it’s been 20 years since I took those last steps out of the hallways of Park View Education Centre just outside Bridgewater, NS.

Seems like a good time to reflect back to those first few steps and where they led me in life, and to maybe share some words for those who are embarking on their own new journey.

be yourself

You are who you are. No one else. Sure you may not be entirely sure who you are right now, you’re still figuring some stuff out. But be true to yourself. Don’t try to fit into someone else’s model. Which leads me to….

follow your heart

Something deep inside you gives you life, meaning, purpose. If you found it, follow it. Even if it fails, it may mean you’ve missed the mark, but that’s ok. If you haven’t found your passion, keep looking, it’ll come to you. I found mine when I was 29. So it’ll come, maybe not when you’d like it to, but it will.

don’t rush

There’s a lot of pressure on young adults these days. There’s a huge push to make sure you get education (little has changed in this area in the last 20 years) which makes you feel like you may be forced to make life decisions before you are ready. This is a very costly thing to do. If you end up in university with nothing but questions about your future, you will end up very deep in dept. If you aren’t sure what you working towards, then step back and sort it out. Take your time. You have an entire lifetime ahead of you, there’s no need to rush into anything you aren’t sure about. And finally I’ll end with…

don’t be afraid to work

This one sounds odd, I know. But realize that your dream job is not your next job. If it is, you won the jackpot and are very lucky. There’s a lot of competition out there for jobs, so you need to realize a couple of things. One: you need to work very hard to get noticed. What I mean is if you work hard and focus, you’ll get noticed; goof around, well, that’s not what we’re looking for in the workforce. Also, don’t be afraid to work less glamorous jobs, it’s all about gaining experience. So maybe selling burgers is one way to start as you sort out what’s next. It was my first job.

In short, don’t sell yourself short. Believe in yourself. It’s probably going to be a rough ride for a while, so be smart and make it count.

If you do, when your 20 year reunion comes up, you’ll look back and smile.

Photo by http://www.sxc.hu/profile/hhsara

There Is No Restriction

Jun 25, 2012 |

“There Is No Restriction”
2 Corinthians 6:1-13

Children are born to learn. Babies, when they first emerge from their mother’s womb, they begin to learn. The only thing babies really know are: they need to eat and sleep. The rest is all about what they can learn.

They learn very quickly about what it takes for them to get their primary need. Milk. They learn very quickly which actions will get them milk.

As they grow, they begin to learn other behaviours which will bring them what they desire. As parents and caregivers, it is up to us how we respond to these behaviours which will either reinforce or discourage these actions in the future.

As our children grow into toddlers and preschoolers, it’s our desire to help them learn and prepare for what life will bring to them. We teach them how to cross the street; how to dress and feed themselves; what not to eat or drink that they find in the yard; and so on. read more…

A Plea to the Generations

Jun 21, 2012 |

The other day my wife found this post and shared it with me, “a plea to spiritual fathers to stop eating their young“.

It hit home.

I didn’t grow up in the church. I didn’t know Jesus Christ in my life until my late 20s so I have no ties to the traditional church. I don’t have a church I can call home where I grew up where there is a crowd of folks who I can say influenced greatly my Christian upbringing.

I’m not alone in this as the article above indicates.

I’ve heard stories from fellow young clergy who have been shouted down at meetings by “older and wiser clergy” because of their “new ideas.”  I was at a meeting recently where I was verbally roughed up because I was seen as driving my agenda without consulting the wisdom of the committee I was working with, when all I was trying to do was gather some information so my newly formed committee could further develop their mandate.

It hurts. 

It hurts to know that this church we feel called to serve shuts us out because we think “wrong.”

I talk with many clergy in my generation who are searching for a church that has meaning to us. Yes, we can function in the traditional church, but it’s not our passion.

Part of the problem is that the church (at least the denomination I am in) is in not in a position to free us up to do new things. The way we are structured actually makes it very hard to free us to explore new models of “church” because the church is in crisis.

When in crisis we tend to withdraw, to seek to protect ourselves and minimize risk.

I fully support the need to care for our traditional membership, but it would help me a lot to know I was being supported in such a way by the church fathers and mothers that I was free to take some risks and try new things in an effort to reach these lost generations.

I want people my age to know the love I have found through encountering Jesus Christ, but I also know the traditional church is unlikely to keep them interested for long.

We need to get along. We need to work together. We need to bless one another.

I’m reaching out to the church for help, a place to start, a blessing. 

Will someone respond?

Photo from http://www.sxc.hu/photo/640941