Nothing Lasts for Long (by The Samples)

I'm not cut out for school.

Spit On a Stranger (by Nickel Creek)

I think I've spent too much of my adult life trying to learn to be tolerant of the poor, of other religions and worldviews, of social outcasts, and of people who suffer from broken homes and relationships; there's a whole other grouping of people of whom I have completely overlooked and have recently discovered I have absolutely no patience, tolerance, or respect for: The rich, spoiled brats of this world!

I spent last week (May 13-19) helping my buddy Jason out with his ministry, Good Neighbors, Inc., in south-eastern Kentucky. This was my first chance to see his two-year-old business/ministry first-hand. On one side of the coin, Jason has grown in his faith and maturity by leaps and bounds since I first met him back in junior high. I've seen him make a lot of mistakes in his life and put himself before God and others for a long time. It's an awesome thing to see him so focused on others and care so little about "things" like he used to. However, the other side of the coin reveals that he still has a whole lot more growth and learning in his theology as well as how to run a ministry. There's great potential in him; my prayer is that he'll utilize and live up to it.

My week in Kentucky with Jason and Good Neighbors, Inc. was shared with a team of 24 students and faculty from Minnehaha Academy. I pretty much left junior highers in my past when I left my volunteer staff position in the Wooddale Junior High Ministry back in 2002. Needless to say, I didn't care too much for being a part of this group - my focus was on being there to help Jason in whatever ways he needed me, not to be a chaperon for the little kiddies.
I did a good job of avoiding the team the first half of the week. I was able to focus on Jason and the business and still allow some time to get my studying done. However, apparently 9th grade kids are drawn to people who try to avoid them. By the end of the week, I couldn't shake most of them. Admittedly, there were a couple of cool ones, but there was one in particular who wore me to the core! I don't think I will ever forget the name Christine Gremillion. I can honestly say I have never met a single person in my life who comes close to being as spoiled, selfish, obnoxious, whiney, and downright annoying as this girl. Her parents have done an absolutely horrible job of raising her. In a team of people doing various construction work - whole lot of manual labor - Christine clearly worked two or three times as hard as the hardest worker, only all her energy was spent complaining, threatening, and avoiding work. Frankly, I could go on and on and on about this girl, but in an effort to restrain myself I'll leave it at this.
My purpose for brining this up is that I have learned that I have an extreme shortness of tolerance and patience for people like this. I simply can't handle people who think that everyone and everything exists for their personal betterment. This is what drives me crazy about America and the state it's in and the direction it's heading. Where did all the discipline go? What happened to community and respect for one another? What happened to respect?! I know these things still exist, but there's no denying that these are dying characteristics of our country. Frankly, I weep for the future of our kids, our society, and our country.

Oh, and on a side note, my first draft of my first term paper in seminary (well, this time around at least) is due on Friday night. Why does school have to be so difficult and time-consuming?!?!

Thirsty in the Rain (by Keller Williams)

I have to admit, I'm a traveling snob. I'm heading to Kentucky on Sunday and I'm distracted from being excited about it by the fact that it's a week's vacation that will be spent inside the boarders of the United States. Needless to say, I'm getting the itch to see and experience new countries, new continents, and new adventures. However, I don't doubt that this week in KY will be a good one. I'll just have to suck it up and be patient until I can head back to my old home on the far side of the world once again this July.

A couple of years ago, one of my best friends started a ministry to the Appalachian people in Kentucky. I've seen him a couple of times since he moved there and have heard a lot about this business, but this will be my first time interacting with it and seeing it for myself. A group of junior highers from Minnehaha are heading down there to do some service projects. We'll be building rooms on houses, fixing places up, and helping in other various ways to prevent people on the brink of welfare from falling into that abyss.

This should be a good week of getting out of MN, visiting an old friend, serving the Lord and His people, getting caught up (and hopefully ahead) on school work as my class is coming to a close in a few weeks, and hopefully even get a little sun! My three biggest concerns are (in no particular order) rest, finances, and studying. I need to stay on top of each of those.

Oh, and I'll be bringing my camera along too, so hopefully I'll capture some golden photos!!!

Nothing (by Edie Brickell)

Once upon a time I had more people reading this thing than I ever realized. When I returned from my travels last year I had people coming up to me that I had never met before, telling me how they've been reading my blog regularly. Now, I know of about two or three people. Sadly, I'm a person who needs feedback to make sure that anything I'm saying or doing matters or is even being received. Without it, I feel like I'm back at WBCS, the Bethel College radio station I used to work at, where there were literally no people listening and I knew that every word I spoke into the microphone and every song I played were for my ears only.

I don't say these things to whine and complain, but rather to make a point. I feel like I have nothing to say lately. I feel like my new-found consistency with writing in here every week is futile and pointless. If no one is reading this, and if I can't seem to find anything worth reading anyways, what's the point? I'm seriously considering putting this blog into hibernation and pulling it out exclusively for my travels, when people's interest in this website tends to peak.

If you have any thoughts one way or the other, I'd love to hear them. Otherwise, I'll take the silence to be an affirmation of my inclination.