S.O.S. Prep - All About Love

So imagine you're in middle school and you're sitting outside a busy Dunkin Donuts shop on a beautiful Saturday morning with friends from school walking in & out of the shop.  You say "hi" to some friends from school and try to act cool even though your with your Dad who keeps dunking his donut in his coffee - gross!  Then to top it off, your Dad tells you - in a not so quiet voice - "I want to talk about Love today." If it was 25+ years ago, I probably would have been mortified, but that's about how Caleb's Saturday morning started out as we did our third S.O.S. Prep session together.

We began by listening to the Steven Curtis Chapman song "All About Love." Caleb may not be the biggest SCC fan, as his songs may not match Caleb's style and preference, but these conversations have been about the words and meanings behind the music.  As you might imagine, SCC isn't talking about a romantic kind of love in his song but God's love when he says:

Everything else comes down to this,

Nothing any higher on the list than love.

This is the reason we were made, 

to know the love of our creator

And to give the love he's given us away.

1 Corinthians 13 (NLT)

Caleb acknowledged that he's starting to get a little nervous about going on the trip - he leaves in less than a week now!  When we talked about why he's nervous, I think it comes down to the unknown and uncertainty about what exactly he's going to be doing.  I tried to encourage him that the most important thing he can do while he is on the trip is to love others.  Certainly those he is going to serve, but also his teammates and leaders.  We also did a bit of a dive into 1 Corinthians 13 - the Love Chapter - for some reassurance that it doesn't matter what we know or do in life, but it is that we love and share God's love that is important.  I told Caleb that if he is looking for a manual in the bible on what is expected of you when serving others or when you are on a mission trip, it probably doesn't any better than 1 Corinthians 13. 

As I dunked by cake donut into my coffee, I also made sure to remind him that it also applies to life at home with the family - especially his younger brothers! ;-)

S.O.S. Prep: Give Me Your Eyes

This has been a week full of S.O.S. prep conversations with Thursday night being the highlight evening of our young summer so far.

Northview Church's 2012 S.O.S. Team

Thursday was the Pack-n-Pray for the students and adult leaders going on the S.O.S. trip.  The purpose of the evening is a commissioning by the church for those who are going to serve on short term mission trips.    It's quite the site to see the nearly 100 youth and adult leaders who are giving up part of their summer to go and serve those less fortunate through hard manual labor in the hot summer sun - tangible acts of God's love for the people in the Bing Hampton community. My favorite part of the evening was the time Marcy and I were able to spend with Caleb talking with him individually about what we are praying for regarding this trip and our expectations of Caleb.  Most meaningful to me was the opportunity in this special setting to tell Caleb how special he is to us, how humbled we are that God has entrusted Caleb to us as his parents, and how proud of him we are.  I'm anxious and excited to see how God uses Caleb's gifts on this trip and what he learns from the experience.  I'm also confident that we will have a great conversation around the topic of What's Next? after he returns as God continues to move in our family with a growing focus on outreach and missions.

We also continued our own prep work, just Caleb and I, this weekend as we broke down Brandon Heath's song Give Me Your Eyes, discussed issues of compassion and surrender, and then shared what we both felt we could learn and apply from James 1:22-27.

James 1:22-27 (NLT)

²² But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. ²³ For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. ²⁴ You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. ²⁵ But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.
²⁶ If you claim to be religious but don’t control your tongue, you are fooling yourself, and your religion is worthless. ²⁷ Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.


While there are certainly important points I am wanting to convey to Caleb through these discussions, God is challenging me through this experience in how I can learn from Caleb and his perspective as a 12 year old.  His fresh eyes on scripture or the application to his life he hears in a song is awesome to hear and I am so thankful for his willingness to share them with me in these moments. My prayer is that this openness will extend to his peers on this trip and through that openness he will be able to grow personally and spiritually.

S.O.S. Prep: I Refuse

Counting the days down to my trip to Ghana and sharing the experience leading up to it was a great way for me to focus my attention on the mission trip/opportunity ahead of me.  As we lead up to Caleb's S.O.S. trip, less than a month away I find myself in a different seat for this experience, but one equally exciting.  I am the sending party in this mission trip and as a result have different and new ideas, concerns, and thoughts about the experience.

This will be Caleb's first short-term mission trip.  I'm not quite certain he is really prepared for the manual labor that awaits for him, but I want him to be very aware of the support he has from family and friends in his decision to go and serve in this way.

As his Dad, I feel the responsibility to help him prepare spiritually for the trip.  I know the youth group at church is doing their prep work each Sunday leading up to it, but I have felt compelled to make sure Caleb understands that his mom and I are his partners in this journey and his work for this mission trip has already started as his intentional preparation is equally important as his service during the trip.

I've struggled, however, in HOW TO communicate such a serious topic to the typical attention span challenged 12 year old that is my son.  If I get too serious with him, he would likely just shut down. If I make it too light, he may not understand what I want to convey to him.  I've found myself feeling rather anxious about this issue of communication over the past few weeks, but what I was reminded about during a sermon a couple weeks ago is that I should be lifting this entire process up in prayer and trusting that God will work in both Caleb and I through this process.  No matter how much I want to control it, I can't dictate how much Caleb absorbs of what I have to share or that he even processes and applies the information exactly as I envision.  The reality is that I really shouldn't try to dictate how he applies any lessons learned.  My prayer is that through our studies and conversations in preparation leading up to the trip, Caleb would be 'armed' with knowledge and the spirit to face whatever God has in store for him on the trip.

Caleb, like most kids his age, loves to listen to music.  So, as mission prep work, we have decided to meet each Saturday leading up to the trip for breakfast and together we listen to a song (one that I've pre-selected) and discuss the message of the song and how it applies to different aspects of mission work.  I'm trying to focus on themes of Attitude, Surrender, Prayer, and Love.  We met for the first time last Saturday and had a great breakfast and discussion on Attitude as we listened to and discussed Josh Wilson's song I Refuse as well as some corresponding scripture.

I know there are a number of other parents doing similar or other types of prep work with their kids and I would love to hear about their ideas, thoughts, and experiences.

I Will Follow

This song has been part of the worship list each of the past couple weeks.  I have heard it dozens of times before, but it is speaking to me in new ways recently.

December Days - 12.30.10

Last year I did a blog posting about my personal Top Ten Favorite Christmas Movies so I decided this year to create a list of my Top Ten Favorite Christmas Albums/CDs.

First, let me explain the importance of Christmas music in my family.  I have blogged before about how much I like Christmas music but this love was instilled in me by my Mother.  She taught me that it's acceptable to listen to Christmas music anytime of the year, why wouldn't she when you consider the message of most of the songs?  I'm not talking about Santa Claus coming to town or jingling bells, but songs about Christ's birth, Peace on Earth, and Goodwill to Men.  Those are themes any parent would want their child hearing about year round. So before I share my list let me publicly thank my Mom for going against the flow and having Christmas music playing in our house beyond the holiday season.  Thanks Mom!

I have over 100 different Christmas Albums/CD's with a wide variety of music and styles, but these are the 10 that jump to the top of my list as my personal favorites.

10) Faith Hill - Joy to the World: It's a well done collection of classic Christmas songs

9) GLAD - An Acapella Christmas: It's out of print now and not even out there to download, but this one has been a family favorite since 1994!

8) Handel's Messiah - A Soulful Celebration: Handel's Messiah is a classic piece of music and this soulful celebration is a different and fun twist on Handel's masterpiece.  The Hallelujah Chorus in particular is great!

7) Rescue - The First Christmas: Another acapella collection, but this is from a group of guys my sister is friends with in Oregon.  A great collection of original music and original arrangements of some classics.  Even without the family connection, this would be a favorite of mine.

6) Michael Buble - Let it Snow-EP: my only critique of this collection is that I wish there were more songs.  It's primarily a collection of ballads, but they're solid renditions of each classic song.

5) James Taylor - At Christmas: If you like James Taylor, you'll really like this album. If you don't like his music then you might agree with the main review on iTunes.  I happen to really like James Taylor music.

4) Harry Connick Jr. - When My Heart Finds Christmas: The one is Harry from the 90's and if you like his pseudo-jazz sound from the 90's you'll enjoy this one.  The title track is probably the best song.

3) Steven Curtis Chapman - All I Really Want for Christmas: The was SCC's second holiday release and it's primarily his versions of classic Christmas songs with a few originals thrown in, but they're great songs.  Especially All I Really Want which tells the story of Christmas from the perspective of an orphan child.  I had a new baby again when this album was released and I remember listening to that song the first time and being so thankful for my kids and my family.

2) Avalon - Joy: There isn't a bad track in this collection.  It's much more upbeat and energetic than most others on my list but Avalon put together a collection of music that any Holiday music lover would be proud to own.

1) Steven Curtis Chapman - Music of Christmas
In our house, this album is exactly what the title says it is.  This album gets more play than any other on the iPod during the holiday season.  It's primarily original music by SCC, with a couple traditional classics thrown in.  I think this one has been so special to Marcy and Me because it came out right as we were celebrating our first Christmas as a married couple and the song Christmas is All in the Heart connected with where we were in life.

That's my list and I'm sticking to it - for now.  Many of these have been on my list for a long time so it will take something new and amazing to bump any off.

I'd love to hear what your personal favorite Christmas CD's are.  I am always looking for suggestions to continue to build my collection.    

December Days - 12.3.10

One of my favorite parts about Christmas is the music of the season.  In fact, I am a big believer that it is completely acceptable to listen to Christmas music anytime of the year. Admittedly though, it doesn't start to dominate my iPod until after Halloween.  That may seem a little early for some people, but why limit great music to just a few weeks out of the year?

So, understanding how much I enjoy Christmas music you can then understand my anticipation for tonight's Christmas concert at Northview Church.  It certainly helped build the excitement for the event knowing that Marcy was singing in the concert as well.  Kudos to the whole worship team who put on the concert.  The music was great and the technical elements were equally impressive, just check out the opening number for a sample of the evening:

Musical Amazement!

This past weekend was our first weekend of no basketball in about 5 months, even through the holidays! With our party size family though it doesn't mean we slow down, just that our attention turns elsewhere. After 5 months of focus on the boys it was time for Makela to get a little of the spotlight as her middle school band participated in the Indiana Music Educators Association non-competitive music festival. It was the first time she had been to an event like this with a performance, adjudicating, and workshop components. To be honest the whole thing was a sort of reminder of days gone by from when Marcy and I were kids doing the same types of music festivals. It's strange to watch your kids going through the experiences you still have many great memories of yourself.

Anyways, I have heard Makela's band perform before but I was absolutely blown away. These sixth graders were awesome! I was so proud of them all, but especially Makela. Both her band teachers have done a great job of building camaraderie within the group and Makela genuinely enjoys her role as part of something much bigger. "We're like a big family!" is how Makela describes her experience in band. (Big shout out to Mrs. Pote and Mrs. Allen for the positive impact on Makela and the other kids) Clay Middle School has some serious musical talent in their building. It will be fun to watch these kids grow as musicians in the years to come. As great as they seem today, I can only imagine how wonderful they will sound in a few years.

With all the focus on sports in our house, it's nice to have someone interested in the performing arts to help balance it all out. I'm so proud of Makela and how well she and her other family did Saturday.