Purple it's not just for kids. hahaha

Ok let me start off by first introducing you to the term purple.

As far various youth type work is concerned purple is something that should not exist.

You see when you mix the colors red and blue together you get purple.

Now I have heard that in many youth type events the color blue is ascribed to boys while the girls are designated with the color red. And well they aren't supposed to mix.

Now I hate to say it but in my recent adventures in ministry I have had the misfortune to work with some rather immature adults.

Now believe me I am fond of the opposite sex. I'd be willing to wager that the vast majority of my friends belong to that gender.

But some behaviors are not appropriate at some times.

I have seen lots of youth ministry all over the place. And I have known a lot of people involved in youth ministry. And I have seen situations where it's really cute because everyone behaves like a grown up and as far as I can tell for all outward appearances the relationship is super chaste. And everyone ohhs and ahhs. And I have seen big ugly messes where I have pretended I don't know anyone.

Now in my neck of the woods it's a little more complicated because there is a rule that states that two people cannot be involved with one another and in the same ministry.

At first I thought this was a stupid rule but who cares because it didn't affect me. Now I never asked why this rule was created. Quite frankly I think that some of the people out there who could have given me a definitive answer were either bumblers, or morons out for their own evil ends.

I don't know if the creators of this rule had an actual reason for creating it. But I have seen the practicality of it regardless.

I'm gonna start with the easiest reason to convey first. If you are too busy fawning over that special someone then guess what the possibility of things happening right beneath your nose is suddenly greater.

Now what I consider to be the most important reason has a couple of components.

First some adults are not always capable (or just plain incapable)of acting like adults.

Secondly due to this fact they sometimes set a bad example.

Here's a big one: It is difficult if not impossible to act and speak from a position of authority and credibility when you are busy setting a bad example.

And finally there is a chance you can undermine some if not all of the good you may have done.

I was once at a youth event with two other ministry type people. And the girl ran into one of her friends and the friend was like is this your boyfriend. And she said something along the lines of yes but it's a secret because at my church people working together in youth ministry can't date.

Newsflash:

Making it a secret does not make it ok.

And it's not a secret if kids are coming up to me asking me what's going on with you two.

Fortunately I had with me my plausible deniability device.

(Read that last sentence as Gameboy for any of you out there who believe such a device might come in handy. Apparently the world can burn to the ground around me and I will not notice if my gameboy if charged and on.)

Unfortunately I think that they got a thrill out of getting frisky with me around and getting away with it. (Oh yeah geniuses if I happen to be paying too much attention to the TV or movie or whatever it means I am in plausible deniability mode also. Because you know tv is so complicated I can't do complex math at the same time. But don't worry you're safe because there is no way someone who is a contemplative charismatic could ever figure out anything that not laid out carefully before him.)

This is the same person who told me and I quote "I know it's wrong but I don't have a problem with it." Because you know that makes it all good.

So in summation be good you don't know who is watching and how it will affect the world. Of course God is always watching so we're all in some hot water. But I recommend getting in as little as possible.

Screams to the universe part 2

Ok if you managed to survive reading my last post you know I believe that most people maybe all people scream to the universe.

Now most of those people don't scream out loud. Mostly it's some action or behavior that screams out "LOVE ME!!!" And some people scream out more loudly than others.

If ya didn't read it now you know.

Now some people set out on a quest to grow past this narcissistic selfish attitude. And some of them even succeed. Unfortunately in my experience the vast majority of people who start out on this quest do not.

Now I haven't done any official polling or anything, but I do run into a lot of people in my life. And many of those people have set out on that quest or at least proclaim to the world that they are actively on that journey.

Maybe I am wrong but it appears to me that most of those people are screaming out to the universe the following:

"GOD I LOVE YOU....... except when it gets in the way of what I want."

If am right then I am greatly saddened. If I am right then this reeks incredibly of hypocrisy and makes me sick.

To me it's much worse than the the first group of screamers because they are at least genuine and honest. And the vast majority of them have no idea what they are screaming to the universe or that they are even screaming at all. At times this is very heartbreaking.

Until there is some great change in the way humanity in general thinks I don't know how much hope I can hold out there.

Screams to the universe

Ok this is essentially going to be a repost of another post of mine somewhere else I just feel that going and copying and pasting it here would be lazy.

Plus who knows I might have some new insights. And I think I just might knock out two birds with one stone.

One nifty things about evolution is that certain traits over generations can become more and more pronounced. This is usually a good thing but not always. And sometimes you can also see why those traits stuck around. Pretty cool stuff.

Anyway to matter at hand.

Working in youth ministry you get to work with lots of kids. And if you are any good you probably observe them.

When I first got started I noticed some of them were attention mongers. Now back in the day I did a lot to curtail and discourage this behavior. Unfortunately in this day and age the problem has become so rampant that the minute you try to plug a leak another three or four pop up.

I'm not complaining because no amount of complaining I am personally capable of doing will fix this problem. But I would like to make my observations known to the world in hope that if enough people complain this will no longer be a problem in few generations.

Now why is there so much attention mongering? In a nutshell it's screaming to the universe.

Now I wonder if perhaps we all scream to the universe. But some people scream out to the universe more loudly than others. And those people are growing in number.

Now what are the people screaming and maybe more importantly what are they screaming.

They are screaming out to the universe love me. And why well obviously because they are not feeling loved enough. The place they are first supposed to receive this love is at home from parents, family members, extended family, and the community. But unfortunately some parents these days are barely adults. And unfortunately maturity sometimes does not grow as fast as the human body.

Now if it was just screaming I would be ok. What has me concerned is the way this screaming manifests itself.

Now let's pick on some people. I know one young man who has so much potential and lots of talent. And he uses his skills for attention and instead of living up to his potential he abandons them for self gratification and is a general pain in the butt. Not entirely a bad thing except that it hinders or quite frankly is disruptive to the growth of those around him. Now keep in mind this is just a mild case.

But this has the potential to manifest its in much more drastic and potentially harmful way. For example I suspect (I haven't looked at any studies or done any research but I am willing to be serious money) that this might be part of the reason children are becoming sexually active at a much younger age and more sexually active. Sure sex is rumored to be fun. But I suspect that there many young ladies out there who mistake young boys using them as toys for their own fun as love.

Now sadly these are relatively tame examples.

So I'm gonna wrap this up because it is becoming rather lengthy. I have other related stuff to say but it is actually enough for another separate but related post.

So some parting points.

Sex is not love. Love is putting up with someone despite their flaws perhaps for the rest of their lives.

Mind the screaming and see what you can do to help alleviate it.

And finally parents love your kids. People love your family. And try to be kind and good to one another.

How I got started..... Again.

Ok so here's how I got suckered back into youth ministry.

I was working a job that I pretty much hated. So I decided to take a vacation day and to alleviate the guilt of abandoning work for a day I went to an event.

So go figure I ran into the new youth minister (a friend from the days of yore) and a bunch of kids on the way.

And quite frankly I had no intention of getting back into ministry. I doubt many people understand the time commitment necessary to be totally rocking in ministry.

I just wanted to take a day and decompress so I could get back to the grind a little less downtrodden.

Now inevitably when you put a bunch of kids and adults together and whatever has brought them together has some relation to religion or something along those lines there will be questions.

Now this was rather interesting to observe.

I hate to say it but some of the questions were stupid. And yes I know people say there is no such things as a stupid question. But they are wrong has anyone taken the time to examine the previous statement. But that is another post.

And I felt that the answers were less than adequate as well.

Eventually I became exasperated and had to weigh in. I felt that some of the questions and the questioners would have been shut down with proper answers. And I felt that some of the questions would result in less than optimum future actions.

Now unfortunately some of these children come from less than perfect backgrounds. And here comes someone who seems known and liked that also happens to appear to know what they are talking about.

So what happened? They jumped on the situation. And due to the fact that I had been away from ministry from a while, I mistook the enthusiasm of some as a genuine desire to grow as young catholics instead of a ginormous scream for attention.

Finally towards the end of the day one young man asked me if I would be involving myself in ministry again. And I flat out told him no. Then he pointed out to me that there are not enough male role models in youth ministry. And I conceded the point with a non answer hoping that would handle him. And finally at the end of the day. This rather persistent young man told me he would be seeing me Sunday.

Now in my arrogance I assumed that maybe God was using this child to prompt me to return to ministry because I might happen to have gifts which could benefit others and were being wasted in my current situations.

I have learned some things since this day. Many children don't want role models they want someone to tell them that the things they are doing are not bad. And that there is a lack of role models in ministry of both sexes period.

This would be the beginning of an eye opening journey.

Greetings

Greetings,

I'm not exactly sure why I'm doing this. A lot of people would be much happier if I just shut my mouth and looked the other way. In the past this has resulted in a good deal of aggravation for me as well as getting kicked in the shins a lot figuratively speaking. And being who I am I don't feel things have escalated enough for me to do any kicking back. But if things should ever get to that point again clear the area it won't be pretty. Maybe someone will be able to use something here to help themselves or someone else. And perhaps someone will reach out and help me be a better person.