Something that I have been working through lately is the concept that “The Medium is the Message” I’m going to post more about it on Monday but here’s a quick post. Marshall McLuhan wrote the book “Understanding Media” back in the 60′s. He was way ahead of his time with his understanding of what the impact media would have on society and how it would drive and shape culture. Take the current church as an example. In Western Chrisendom (especially in Southern California) we are constantly looking for new ways to be efficient and effective. We use marketing tools such as Constant Contact to make our e-mail simplier and to track it better. But, in doing that we tend to move away from face to face dialogue, phone calls and personal interaction. We also make the statement that if you have a computer and accesss to the internet you are somehow more valuable (or at least more in-the-know) to our ministry. Our message is that efficiency in what we do and in what you do is a high value. But, haven’t we lost something there. I’m working through this idea and more of an analysis of how the Church interacts with pop media in the form of the written word this semester for my D.Min. Stay tuned for more good stuff. (or at least I think its good) Ironic don’t you think that I’m talking about the Media being the message and then I’m posting it on a blog. But, if you comment something is working right?

I had a great weekend up in the mountains. First HS wintercamp of the year. I’m lucky to be one of the speakers. Took the whole family. Lucky for us it was also the first big snow of the year. It snowed all 3 days. My boys loved it. I really enjoyed the opportunity to speak. It’s my favorite place to be in all of California. I was around some friends I’ve known for a long time. My old youth group was there and I got to reconnect with some amazing students.

On another cool positive note I met with my trainer today. Big workout and a weigh in. I’m down 18 pounds since December. Pretty cool.

Man’s chief and highest end is to glorify God, and fully to enjoy him forever.

What happened to this? Why have we forgotten or did we ever even understand this statement? I have often struggled with this statement in my reformede heritage because I don’t have an understanding of what “ENJOY” means. Often times in my life ENJOY has been the experience that happens when church gets out and someone in a benediction (sometimes even my own benediction) will say “Enjoy the rest of your day.” The enjoyment hasn’t come from the service or my connection with God but mostly is dragged along in my overall view of the “package of my life.” I “ENJOY” because I have everything working in a very solid pattern that keeps me on even keel.

Art is something we enjoy. If not for the enjoyment of it we struggle to understand what its purpose is. Do we “ENJOY” it as we are meant to “ENJOY” God?

I’m asking more questions here than giving answers but I’m finding more and more that is a comfortable place for me to be.

I like my church, I like the pastors I work with, I like the guys I went to lunch with today, I like it that tomorrow I get to go on a pastors retreat, I like it that my wife gets to go too, I like it that my church believes we should stay at a nice place, I like spending the evening with my kids while my wife leads her core group, I like that my son and I got to sit on the couch eating fig newtons tonight, I liked taking a nap this afternoon and it being ok, I liked finding some books in my bookshelf tonight that said my dads name in them, I like that they were teenage boys books and I like that I’ve read them too, I like that I’m watching the Grammy’s, I like U2 and I liked Mary J. Blige singing with them tonight, I like that Kelly Clarkson won a couple of grammys because it validates her as a singer, I like that this morning 13 of us went to Starbucks together after our meeting, I like that it was a short walk to get there, I like how sunny it was today, I like that my car runs, I like my friends and I like that I just saw Randy Jackson from American Idol playing bass on the grammys, I like my friend Bobby’s band This Holiday Life and I like that they had a show in Hollywood tonight, I like that God is good and I like that he forgives me in spite of me, I like knowing that my friends Don, Rhett, Drew, Jake and Mike all read my blog and like to comment on stuff, I like that I don’t take myself to seriously, I like it that there are people way smarter than me that I get to read their stuff, I like that I got to spend time with some of those people this morning in a chat room.

Finally I like being a Youth Pastor, I like hanging out with students and I like that I want to be better at it.

Peace,

Even if we lose. I will alwasy be a fan.

I still love you even though you struggled…….

So I’m in bed. It’s pretty sweet actually I had a small surgergy yesterday morning and now I have 48 hours that I’m supposed to be immobile. I’m using my time pretty wisely, sleeping, reading and posting. It’s been a long time since I’ve had this much forced time to do nothing. One thing I’m realizing about 28 hours into it is that my life is too busy. I’ve actually been enjoying it a lot. Blessings to my awesome wife for dealing with everything though. She deserves a big break when I’m able to move.

One more thing Kaije Kennedy Rood turns 3 tomorrow. We’re having a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles party. Pretty amazing stuff.

As I have gotten older I’ve realized that youth group trips take more out of me. This last weekend I was at June Mountain with 95 people. The trip went great with only a few minor injuries. I spent much of yesterday laying around the house relaxing. Some really great things happened on the trip. Not anything hugely transformational but a very solid time of connection and solidifying of the Youth Group. Lot’s of new students who were brought into the fold. I love seeing that happen. To top it off my oldest son Soren was a skiing phenom. He made it down a pretty long run three times and loved it. Skiing is so simple for 5 years olds. All you have to remember is pizza and frenchfries.