What are you doing after High School?

I am in the middle of actually reading a book. Yeah, I know it's a rare occasion, but this is actually really riveting. The book is called, "Raising a Modern Day Joseph." I am about 4 chapters in right now, but it is eye opening.
The entire book is written off the premise that somewhere around 80-90% of all kids who grow up in church fall away, if not for just a year, when they graduate from High School and how we, as parents can raise children who do not fall away but stand strong in the knowledge of God and His realness. I left the book at work, so I have to do this from memory (I may have to re-read chapter 4 -- although this is set up like a discussion book -- I may lead a Sunday night Discipleship class during AWANA for parents) but the book starts out with the idea of a parent's MDM - or Most Dramatic Moment. The MDM is the point where a parent loses control of their child and has to let him or her go off into the real world without their guidance. And they do an interesting thing in comparing Jacob with the father of the Prodigal Son -- or more appropriately, their sons.

Looking into the life of Joseph, he was 17 when he was forced to leave home -- much like our children who grow up and stay in the house until they are 25... oh wait. He was thrown into a hostile situation which tried to get him to betray his beliefs. He was alone. He was put into a situation where temptation was strong. He was betrayed. He was accused of a crime he didn't commit. He went to jail. He festered in jail for years. But through it all, he stayed true to his beliefs. How do we raise children like that?

They talk about 5 qualities that Joseph had (of course, I'm only 4 chapters in). These 5 (I hope I remember them) are:
1) He respected fellow humans - He respected Potiphar and the authority he was in his life.
2) He respected human relationships - He would not defile Potiphar's marraige by indulging in the temptation given by Potiphar's wife
3) He knew there was right and wrong - He would not indulge with Potiphar's wife because it was evil
4) He knew God was the source of wisdom
5) He respected God -- He knew that sinning in the flesh with Potiphar's wife was a sin against God

I think that's right, although I'm going to have to re-read chapter 4. That was a heavy chapter.

This is something I have been looking for for quite a while and I think I've found it (well, my wife found it and showed me.) I am going to get pretty gun-ho about this. One of the things they talk about is the having a growth plan from preschool through high school -- something I've talked to Randy and Shawn about recently anyways. I've been talking about doing a vision team with Youth, Children and Preschool ministries and I think this may end up being part of it. I am thinking and praying about it.

In some additional news, Roger, the pastor up at Northwinds, has asked our church if we would help them this year do their harvest festival up at a park in North Fontana. I am actually leaning towards doing that this year. Our area really isn't hungry for another harvest festival since Mt. View does a really good one right up the street while there is nothing in North Fontana. God has been putting some things in motion that we may be moving up to North Fontana as it is (I'm actually hoping we do) and maybe merging back with Northwinds, since we were their mother church so this would be a good opportunity for our people to get to know their people better (I love their people. I had a year working with them and training them how to run an AWANA program. They are great.)

Well, it's nearing midnight and I have work in the morning. Curse you Olympics! That was a nice job by the USA higbar dude :)

I know I should stop but it's too much to resist

Once every four years, people care about sports they usually don't care about. Who can name a celebrity weight lifter? (I did see the featured blog about the female weight lifter and her weight lifter husband, but for that, who?) Are there any well known water polo players in the US? (I like mentioning it because my wife loves water polo.) Olympic trampolining? What? I think London is introducing Olympic Spelling Bee (I don't know how the different languages will work, but they are in the planning stages and they are going to allow ESPN to show it.)
But you know what? I can't get enough of the Olympics right now. Yes, I got sucked in. I am staying up until midnight watching like a junkie. Michael Phelps is amazing but he really isn't the story of the Olympics for me right now. Right now, it's about the Jamaican sprinter Bolt. Are you kidding me? He pulled up with 15 meters (that's the real bad thing about the Olympics -- the rest of the world uses that logical system instead of getting on the American bandwagon and using the real measurement system, the English system -- which England doesn't even use anymore) and still won by 5 meters while pounding his chest and basically doing the Deon Sanders high step towards the endzone. If he would have ran all the way through, I don't think anyone would be breaking the world record for decades. He would have had around a 9.50. That's unreal. As the announcer said, they were entering video game times -- although I don't think I ever got a 9.69 even with the comb trick. This kid is 21. If he doesn't truly run something all the way through, we may never know truly how good he is. What was funnier was after the race, the interviewer asked what he would get if he ran all the way through and the response was, "I don't care about that. I just wanted to win." or something close to that. He made it look easy -- so much so that it kind of blows out the idea that you have to try as hard as you can to do your best. Everyone else looked like they were about to bust an artery while he was showboating. Of course, this doesn't take into account the years of training he has done to make this moment look easy.
Just think about this: how many relay teammates can you name for Mark Spitz? In the same way, the swimmers who were a major part of Michael Phelps' ability to win 8 medals will be the nameless other swimmers who will be a question on Jeopardy in 20 years. Phelps has said the right things about teammates and giving them praise, but it won't help the other 4/5 of them be remembered. The best thing they will have is a gold medal they will show their grandkids and will say, I won this on a relay team with Michael Phelps. And the kids will say, "Who?"
Ok, time to go to work. I guess it's a good thing I don't have MSNBC, CNBC, QNBCWERS, and QWERTNBCY so that Olympics can be on 24/7. Although we have the new D-TV converter for the antenna and it gets amazing reception. If I would have known how good it was, we would have got it months ago (and the kids like that we have 14 PBS channels and Qubo.)
Out.

Well, the good news is...

We are looking for the good news right now in our house. Yeah, there is good news, such as Becca's enjoyment of school, but more things are falling apart than staying together at this point.

• The biggest thing is that the finance committee of the church met on Sunday and decided that they can no longer afford to pay me from the church. I talked to Dale last night and he said that I still had the position of children's pastor, but it was now volunteer if I desired to keep it. At this point, there is nothing pointing me to another church. In fact, there are many things pointing me to get busy at the church getting parents involved in the ministry of their child. AWANA has some exciting things they are doing that I have been dreaming of doing for years and it looks like this fall may be the time to stop dreaming and start working. But it is volunteer. I don't mind working for free, but my bills do mind it.
• Speaking of bills, the mortgage is going up in September and we don't know by how much yet. I have started talking to mortgage companies about refinancing, but we got in at the exact wrong time -- the height right before the bubble started bursting, so the house is worth $60k less than our mortgage is for. So we are trying to refinance. I guess the good news is that the new law they passed to help saps like me takes affect in October, but we will definitely struggle in September if it takes that long.
• I just accidentally published this post, so it's longer than the post was before. Just ignore the accidental post.
• Micah is bored. He's been out of school for two months and I think he is eager to get back (although he'll probably fight it for a while.)
• With church income gone and umpiring done for the season, there is absolutely no extra income. We were looking at our bills and there is absolutely nothing we can cut. So now it's time to start wondering where everything is coming from. I don't know.

I guess the good news is that God is still in control. It's a matter of living a life that is trusting that God keeps his promises and no matter what, we will be taken care of, even if it is not how we think God needs to do so (who am I to tell God that His way is wrong.) This is a concept that we are going to be trying to instill in our children, and parents, in the next few months and beyond so maybe God is instilling that belief in me too.

Verse:
Romans 8:18 (Tony Paraphrase)
I consider the bad things we are going through right now are nothing compared to the great things God has in store for us!