Category: Uncategorized (Page 67 of 188)

I see starved people

September 8, 2012 / Michele Minehart

Things I hate:

1. Chips in my ice cream

2. Times New Roman

3. When things don’t work with no apparent reason for breaking (ie, all of a sudden patchy Internet service).

4. When people don’t believe The Rules apply to them

5. When I read a book and feel so immensely challenged and crushed at the soul level and motivated to create change… And feel completely lost as to how to even get started.

One of these happened recently, I’ll let you guess which one.

Oh, okay. I’ll give a hint. I read You Lost Me, a Barna book about the mass exodus of young people in the church. I’m not normally a huge Barna fan, but this one grabbed me based on subject matter, timing and the fact they offered it free for my Kindle. Free things is on the list of things I love (along with time at the lake, wine, car time and New Sheet Night).

The book challenged me to examine my previous work with young people and see the holes. But is also provokes me to want to change the tide. In many ways I resonated with te sentiments of many who are not able to find a home in the church, I’ve just not yet been provoked to the point of giving up (and honestly, I don’t know if I can. I’m too in love with Her to simply give up hope. At times I think we miss that the Church can be a bit prodigal as well, yes?).

But back to my 5am frustrations. I’m not finished with the book and all I want to do is run out and find some 17-year-old and hug her and tell her that together we can seek and discover they ways in which Jesus’ kingdom is right here if we just squint our eyes just right and engage our imaginations in the ways which we can join in.

And then the Practical Beast rears her head and says, “so, how will you do that? Where will you meet this maiden? How does this story even start?” and I simply don’t know. Because, back to 2 paragraphs ago, we’re simply not built for this.

I think to my own recent experiences of church. After one year in a new town, we’re on our third attempt to engage with a body and feel so incredibly thirsty. Each and every church we’ve attempted I took the pro-active approach. I emailed. I asked to meet with a person in leadership. I offered to participate in the ways which fit. And continually instead of connecting with people with like-interests or being introduced to avenues of joining forces, I’ve received invitations to meetings. Or classes. Or a three step process of uncovering my place.

Can someone just give me a freaking teenager who is chomping at the bit to explore God’s ways with the world? Introduce me, share that I love to read and talk and perhaps we can do coffee/ice cream/dessert some time and then send. Send us on our merry little way.

I realize I’m slightly short of the norm. I know much of the free world doesn’t know their giftings or interests, but I can tell you a better way to discover them: meet the person. In a real conversation about their experiences. Watch them get revved up about a topic and say, “let me introduce you to ______. He’s currently trying to ______ and I think you’d really be able to help.”

As churches both flounder in engaging members in service and strive for hospitality, I say the two are holding hands, playing ring-around-the-rosie and we’re busy trying to find the best coffee bar or gift card. As a person who doesn’t want to simply consume but hungrily wants to contribute something, somewhere to someone, I advise you of this: ask. Us. To. Lunch.

Stop telling us how wonderful your church is and ask me if we’re willing to get our hands dirty. And not just in taking a turn in the nursery (though, fine, I will pay my dues there) simply because I use the service. Find 3 passions and look at how one of those meets a need in your circumstance. Not to serve the church: to serve people.

I say this in the most loving and compassionate voice I can muster. But my lip is quivering. Puh-push-puh-please?

I cannot speak on behalf of all people. I can barely speak on behalf of “young adults” as I barely fit into the demographic. But after reading and resonating, I feel I can accurately say that a larger population of us exist, that seek substance of relationship and service over a good morning production.

Growing old with you

September 7, 2012 / Michele Minehart

Today my baby sister turns 30. She walks across that line that officially marks her old. And of course, she’d do it no other way than pregnant.

Ang is the type of person to accept this marker gracefully. I don’t think she shirks the age; she accepts it and buys boots to match. Her bold confidence goes where my quiet insecurities have never dared to venture.

I’ve spent time reflecting on my fortunate position of having a sibling I love and trust and enjoy spending time with, especially through the bond of sisterhood. I realize not everyone came into the world with family that calls nearly daily to discuss the triviality that makes up our current lives. I live with confidence that the person on the other end does actually care about the consistency of the poop or correct substitution method of eggs.

I told a friend recently that Angie’s love language is research. If something is going on in your life, specifically an ailment of the physical nature, she will look and look until a suggestion can be made on your behalf. Sometimes it seems completely absurd. Sometimes you wonder if such a small adjustment could really make a difference.

But with each and every bit of wisdom and knowledge, you can be confident of this: she wants you to live nothing short of a whole life. Her father’s daughter, Angie doesn’t want someone to miss out on living this great adventure because an option has been left unexplored.

Angie lives with an unconquerable spirit. She’s part of the 20, not the 80, doing the hard work of avoiding complacency. Where most of us say “good enough” Angie challenges, “but why not more?”

I have a sister that sees the world as big, beautiful and full of blessings. She sees the diversity of others’ experiences as a means to expand her options and seek the very best. Common, normal and standard are hurdles for her to jump because she knows that a richness lives on the other side, waiting to be explored. She sifts through the muck in order to find that nugget of beauty.

So, today I celebrate the beautiful woman Angie has become and is becoming. In Hebrew culture, the women would cheer “eshet chayil” (Woman of Valor/Strength/”noble character”) to one another as they met the world head-on and won (sort of a kosher you go girl!). I echo those words of praise

“Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”

Charm is deceptive and beauty is fleeting, but a woman who fears the Lord shall be praised.

Honor her for the things she has done and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

School: It’s in the Bag

September 6, 2012 / Michele Minehart

Today I pack H Boy’s bag for preschool. Yes, he’s that old. I’m not really into weepy-mom mode, lamenting how time has flown (though it has). Instead I found myself hung up on the fact that I didn’t buy him the “official” school bag with his name on it for $8.

At the time we initially registered him, I opted out of The Bag because we were already over-justifying what we spend on pre-education education. So the cute blue backpack my mom gave him as a church bag worked perfectly. Also, he loves that bag. He’ll often ask if he can pack his backpack and take it with him when we venture places, like the park or the grocery. (Related: He also has a hard, small blue suitcase that says “Going to Grandma’s” that used to be his father’s. He’ll equally ask to pack that bag and take along. We’re bag packers in this family.)

Then last week at our open house/ Ice Cream Social, the teachers had laid out the Bags that everyone else had ordered. There were approximately as many bags as kids in the room. Minus one. Okay, maybe two, but there are some returning students.

I’m already that mom. And I’m entering that world.

The world where I’m being told what to buy my kids and that what I have isn’t ever good enough. The world where kids begin to judge how they fit in by what they own, where they go and who accompanies them.

Also, it’s the world where I as the parent begin to feel that I’m always one step behind enough. That if I just bought him the bag like everyone else, then he’ll have what he needs.

Welcome to the world of feeling inadequate if we don’t have – or even perhaps don’t want – the very best of everything.

If I’m to be honest – and I do try – I’m not naturally a parent that steps back and says, “is this good enough for my kid(s)?” I wonder if my kids – and myself – don’t need the best of everything.

I recently read a blog of a mom whose greatest summertime stress was which of the local schools she would send her children. Some were better than others for certain reasons, but mainly she wanted it to be good enough for her exceptionally smart kindergartener. I was taken aback by the luxury of choice that we enjoy here; it’s not enough that we get a free education in this country, but now we’ve become consumers of educational systems and providers.

Says the girl sending her 3-year-old to a private preschool because of its Emilio approach with an emphasis on art and nature.

We’re already sending him to a school over-and-above the norm. Do we really need to buy him a bag, too? And my heart and mind cry, “NO” while my ego says, “it’s only $8”.

But preschool is just the orientation. It’s the Intro to School Life 101. And much like the rest of my life, I’m not walking in without considering the greater implications of how we react and interact with what our world is offering us. Do we want to raise our kids thinking that they need everything that others have in order to be happy or successful?

A bag that looks like everyone else’s won’t make him smarter. It won’t build character. It won’t challenge him to do what is right in a difficult situation. A bag won’t remind him to choose truth over winning or ask him to do the hard things of learning.

Yet here I am, lamenting the challenge already. Secretly wondering if I mean it when these words drift out of my mouth. Defensive and concerned. The first day has barely begun and I’m ready to hand over my $8 and join in the rest of the world telling myself that it must work for them. Following the herd is a tried and true method, right?

Category: Uncategorized (Page 67 of 188)

I see starved people

Growing old with you

School: It’s in the Bag

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