Mentors

Today I had my first day of teacher in-service in preparation for the new school year. Now, I know - some of you were snoring by the time I got to serv-, but today was a Flippen Group (that's right Flip Flippen is his name) Capturing Kid's Hearts workshop that was actually kind of interesting.

I have been blessed by a number of wonderful people in my life - youth and college ministers, older peers, and adults that have been willing to invest themselves in me. Thank you Momand Dad. Thank you Paul Irby. Thank you Ricky Cavitt. Thank you Clayton Bullion, John Williamson, Corey Moses. Thank you Colby Brownlee. Thank you Bobby, Andy, and Criner.

If you get the chance, read this blog of Michael Criner college minister at First Woodway on "The Wisdom of Mentors".

Here's a statistic that got me dwelling on it. The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) commissioned a study of at risk behavior in over 90,000 students and their campuses. Any guesses as to what the #1 factor in lowering at-risk behavior in students turned out to be?

Connectedness to an adult.

Flippen sources a student's "lack of a meaningful relationship with an appropriate adult" as being the major contributor to social, discipline, and academic problems we teachers face in the teaching profession.

My brother, Tim Mason, writes in his blog about the idea that in authentic Christian mentoring/accountability we actually intervene to save our brothers lives. What a great thought! But here's the deal: You save your brother or sister from devastating harm to their lives, not just spiritually, but often mentally and physically, and also the lives of a host of others.

Matt Chandler says some great things about the ways that harbored sin affects lives: Maybe you are subjecting your wife to a marriage of strife because you can't check an addiction that started years before you were together. Maybe you are subjecting your husband to a marriage of strife because you don't have an image of yourself and your body the way that God wants you to see yourself as beautiful. Or maybe harboring other insecurities. Maybe you are subjecting your kids to a lifetime of scars as they follow in your footsteps of abuse and sin that they learned from you. We need each other.

Bonhoeffer writes, "God has willed that we should seek and find His living Word in the witness of a brother, in the mouth of man. Therefore, the Christian needs another Christian who speaks God's Word to him. He needs him again and again when he becomes uncertain and discouraged, for by himself he cannot help himself without belying the truth. He needs his brother man as a bearer and proclaimer of the divine word of salvation. He needs his brother solely because of Jesus Christ. The Christ in his own heart is weaker than the Christ in the word of his brother; his own heart is uncertain, his brother's is sure" (from Life Together).

Check out this clip posted a month ago about a river rescue in Iowa. If you were the only one around and someone was in need of rescuing wouldn't you step in?

So I echo Criner's plea, "I plead with you young men and women, find a mentor – and listen to them… listen well friends. I plead with you older men and women, be a mentor… we need you."

SDG

Mindfulness

I have spent the last two work days alone in a room with some 500 pieces of choir uniform. I know that seems completely miserable and it possibly could have been, but I had my trusty ipod to get me through the days! I used the time to get caught up on Watermark sermons I had missed, as well as a few Matt Chandler sermons from the Village. If you get a chance to listen to the "Games People Play" sermons you really should take the time. They are powerful.

The other hours I just played my playlist of hymns and praise songs. It was completely brilliant! It has been a long time since I have been able to just sit and spend hours at a time just letting the Word be breathed over and through me! It reminded me of how much being consistently mindful of our days can change our perspective on everything. Here's a quote from Bonhoeffer:

"For Christians the beginning of the day should not be burdened and oppressed with besetting concerns for the day's work. At the threshold of the new day stands the Lord who made it. All the darkness and distraction of the dreams of night retreat before the clear light of Jesus Christ and his wakening Word. All unrest, all impurity, all care and anxiety flee before him. Therefore, at the beginning of the day let all distraction and empty talk be silenced and let the first thought and the first word belong to him to whom our whole life belongs. 'Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light' (Eph. 5:14)"


SDG

I want to fly

Thoughts from my childhood mind... Ever dream like me?

I want to fly.
I want to jump up and touch the clouds,
To spread my wings and capture the warm summer breeze.
I want to race falcons and heckle the seagulls.
I want to look down on the mountains,
to follow rivers from source to sea.
I want to think of traffic as a flock of geese fleeing the cold.
I want to breathe uncontaminated air,
To feel the cool rush that fills the lungs and the soul.
I want to dodge lightning bolts and play hide and seek in a cloud.
I want to go ten rounds with gravity,
to pull away from its earth-bound net and dance in freedom.
I want to fly.