"This is true perfection: not to avoid a wicked life because we fear punishment, like slaves; not to do good because we expect repayment, as if cashing in on the virtuous life by enforcing some business deal. On the contrary, disregarding all those good things which we do hope for and which God has promised us, we regard falling from God's friendship as the only thing dreadful, and we consider becoming God's friend the only thing truly worthwhile."-- st. gregory of nyssa
this may be one of the coolest things i have read in the longest time. this is the one thing i always try to say, and screw up. this is the one thing i wish i could live every day. this is the one thing that i wish to movtivate my kids with-- not fear or guilt or a merit system. this is good stuff.
mil besos-r
btw, i enabled comments on the blog today, so you don't actually have to join any lame things you don't want to join, and you can post anonymously, if you're a big enough chicken. --r
30 August 2004
name of the game
ministry-- it's the name of the game. and no matter how tired i am, how late i was up the night before, or how early i have to be up today, i will be right here, doing ministry. i will talk to you, listen to you, take you to get food, or bring you lunch money. i will listen to you talk about boys or girls or your parents. i will try and not to tell you what to do, even when i think i know what you should do. i will pray for you, pray with you, and pray about you. i will wait for the day when you figure out that you're tired all the time because you create drama for yourself. i will laugh at you, laugh with you, and listen to your goofy jokes. why? because i'm a youth minister, it's my job. ministry-- it's the name of the game.
26 August 2004
25 August 2004
day in the life
it's a common enough question--"now, what is it that you DO all day?" that i thought i'd give you a brief glimpse at what i'm up to on a daily basis. hope you're having as much fun as i am...
7:45am-- alarm goes off, i hit the snooze button
7:55am--alarm goes off, i hit the snooze button
8:05am--alarm goes off, and i finally get up, or if it's a monday, i reset the alarm for 9:15am.
8:05-8:15 am-- wash face, pack up work clothes and make-up into my gym bag
8:15-8:25 am-- fight traffic all the way to the gym
8:30-9:10am-- work out with my friend amy
9:15-10am-- in the office answering phone messages, checking email, reading the washington post and the new york times, drinking a huge amount of coffee out of my favorite sheep mug, and bitching about things in general with the rest of the office crew
10am-10:15am-- change out of sweaty clothes in to work outfit, put on make up, and brush my hair. by now, i have had enough caffine to make lesser people's heads come right off.
10:15am-111:30am-- work on sunday school lessons, read for information regarding whatever is coming up next for the week, check email, drink more coffee, and check up on the conspiracy theory of the day. if it's a wednesday, this is the day i file my reimbursement stuff from dinners, sunday school supplies, etc. i also balance my check book sometimes. ha ha ha.
11:30am-- meet up for lunch appointments, update daily calendar and double check upcoming events are on the church calendar. lunch appointment today-- with one of my 9th grade boys, who wanted to have chinese food, but since he can't drive yet, he couldn't figure out how to get to the restaurant. isn't that funny? yeah, i didn't think it was, either...
12noon--go see my god-dogs and let them out to potty
1-2:30pm- prepare for the weekly mailing of postcards, event notices, or if it's tuesday, i do my email update and go to staff meeting. sometimes, i update my blog or read random info on wikipedia.com. if it's a really slow day, i'll get on ebaumsworld.com and laugh at their cruel humour. there is nothing funnier than watching someone else fall down, unless it's watching some else's kid fall down. or watching someone else's pants fall down. falling is funny. not as funny as say, farting, but it's pretty funny. finding new funny things to laugh at is an excellent way to become the office favorite. so is bringing breakfast tacos from taco shack on tuesdays.
2:30-4pm-- return afternoon emails and phone calls, confirm any evening appointments, look over notes for bible studies, terrorize other people in their offices, and generally make a nuisance of myself. i usually drink some diet coke around this time, and try not to walk to the pharmacy to buy chocolate. by this time, i need a nap real bad, and can almost taste sleep. my apartment seems to be calling me, wooing me as it were, to just go home for an hour and sleep. i hate that i have a work ethic...
4-6:30pm-- talk to kids on line. seriously, we talk all afternoon, about everything, or most everything. if i need to get stuff to the post office, i usually have a kid or kids come help me stamp and seal stuff at this time. i hate doing mailings almost worst than i hate not having coffee in the morning.
6:30-- either a program is starting, or i'm off to an evening appointment with a kid, or doing dinner with my friends, or i've actually gotten home on time, and i'm eating some fruit and about to catch up on my tv watching.
8:30-9pm--finally get home. talk to mom or friends until 9:30pm, at which point the simpson's rerun comes on fox, which means it's time to file or buff my nails, or put a mud mask on my face, or more likely--- just sprawl across my bed and stare at the tv like a total moron.
10pm-- king of the hill and seinfeld come on back to back for an hour, so after the first king of the hill, it's bath time. sometimes i dry my hair, but i'm usually just too lazy to do it.
11pm-- wash my face, brush my teeth, and put wrinkle cream on my eyes (sometimes i floss, too). lights out or read for 30 minutes-- right now i'm finally reading "shampoo planet", which is quite funny. i tried to read a book about the celts, but it made me narcoleptic, and i couldn't remember what i had read from night to night. go figure.
11pm-7:45am-- sleep.
and there you have it, a day in my life.
8:30pm seems very far away right now. i am very very sleepy. oy vey!
hope your day is a good one...
mil besos--r
7:45am-- alarm goes off, i hit the snooze button
7:55am--alarm goes off, i hit the snooze button
8:05am--alarm goes off, and i finally get up, or if it's a monday, i reset the alarm for 9:15am.
8:05-8:15 am-- wash face, pack up work clothes and make-up into my gym bag
8:15-8:25 am-- fight traffic all the way to the gym
8:30-9:10am-- work out with my friend amy
9:15-10am-- in the office answering phone messages, checking email, reading the washington post and the new york times, drinking a huge amount of coffee out of my favorite sheep mug, and bitching about things in general with the rest of the office crew
10am-10:15am-- change out of sweaty clothes in to work outfit, put on make up, and brush my hair. by now, i have had enough caffine to make lesser people's heads come right off.
10:15am-111:30am-- work on sunday school lessons, read for information regarding whatever is coming up next for the week, check email, drink more coffee, and check up on the conspiracy theory of the day. if it's a wednesday, this is the day i file my reimbursement stuff from dinners, sunday school supplies, etc. i also balance my check book sometimes. ha ha ha.
11:30am-- meet up for lunch appointments, update daily calendar and double check upcoming events are on the church calendar. lunch appointment today-- with one of my 9th grade boys, who wanted to have chinese food, but since he can't drive yet, he couldn't figure out how to get to the restaurant. isn't that funny? yeah, i didn't think it was, either...
12noon--go see my god-dogs and let them out to potty
1-2:30pm- prepare for the weekly mailing of postcards, event notices, or if it's tuesday, i do my email update and go to staff meeting. sometimes, i update my blog or read random info on wikipedia.com. if it's a really slow day, i'll get on ebaumsworld.com and laugh at their cruel humour. there is nothing funnier than watching someone else fall down, unless it's watching some else's kid fall down. or watching someone else's pants fall down. falling is funny. not as funny as say, farting, but it's pretty funny. finding new funny things to laugh at is an excellent way to become the office favorite. so is bringing breakfast tacos from taco shack on tuesdays.
2:30-4pm-- return afternoon emails and phone calls, confirm any evening appointments, look over notes for bible studies, terrorize other people in their offices, and generally make a nuisance of myself. i usually drink some diet coke around this time, and try not to walk to the pharmacy to buy chocolate. by this time, i need a nap real bad, and can almost taste sleep. my apartment seems to be calling me, wooing me as it were, to just go home for an hour and sleep. i hate that i have a work ethic...
4-6:30pm-- talk to kids on line. seriously, we talk all afternoon, about everything, or most everything. if i need to get stuff to the post office, i usually have a kid or kids come help me stamp and seal stuff at this time. i hate doing mailings almost worst than i hate not having coffee in the morning.
6:30-- either a program is starting, or i'm off to an evening appointment with a kid, or doing dinner with my friends, or i've actually gotten home on time, and i'm eating some fruit and about to catch up on my tv watching.
8:30-9pm--finally get home. talk to mom or friends until 9:30pm, at which point the simpson's rerun comes on fox, which means it's time to file or buff my nails, or put a mud mask on my face, or more likely--- just sprawl across my bed and stare at the tv like a total moron.
10pm-- king of the hill and seinfeld come on back to back for an hour, so after the first king of the hill, it's bath time. sometimes i dry my hair, but i'm usually just too lazy to do it.
11pm-- wash my face, brush my teeth, and put wrinkle cream on my eyes (sometimes i floss, too). lights out or read for 30 minutes-- right now i'm finally reading "shampoo planet", which is quite funny. i tried to read a book about the celts, but it made me narcoleptic, and i couldn't remember what i had read from night to night. go figure.
11pm-7:45am-- sleep.
and there you have it, a day in my life.
8:30pm seems very far away right now. i am very very sleepy. oy vey!
hope your day is a good one...
mil besos--r
20 August 2004
t.g.i.f.
theoretically, friday is my day off. that actually only happens about once a month. it may not happen at all this month. back to school is biting me in the ass, very hard. it occured to me last night that i needed to make registration blanks. i came up here at 9:45 pm and made them, because i knew i wouldn't be able to sleep if i didn't come up and do them right then. i know, i need to chill. back to school does this to me. a friend of mine came in last night, before i left work the first time (at 7:45 pm), and said that she'd gotten a forward about bad days. apparently, one is never tense, one is simply really, really alert. that's kind of how i feel right now. i know that there will be things i forget to do, or people who say they are going to show up who will bonk at the last minute. i know that no event is perfect, etc. etc. etc. i just wish i could, you know, believe that. it's bizarre. thank God i'm going on vacation soon. boston never sounded so restful or wonderful. i'm sure i'll have more pictures for you when i get back, as well.
in other news, i had some fine lockhart barbeque for lunch. there is nothing finer than slow smoked prime rib and a giant slice of mrs. baird's bread. the food baby i made is now clamouring for a nap and a really big cookie. the nap is feasible, but the cookie is not.
life is good.
mil besos--r
in other news, i had some fine lockhart barbeque for lunch. there is nothing finer than slow smoked prime rib and a giant slice of mrs. baird's bread. the food baby i made is now clamouring for a nap and a really big cookie. the nap is feasible, but the cookie is not.
life is good.
mil besos--r
19 August 2004
a few of my favorite things
my old roommate caroline was in town last week, and asked me what the heck long valley lane was, anyway.
well, long valley lane is a dirt road that runs through mcculloch county, mason county, and i think part of san saba county. it's a little nothing of a dirt track, bound on both sides by pastures of growing cows, or peanuts, or hay, or sheep. it's my favorite dirt road in the world. i learned all about deer stands and turkey hunting on a lease off that road with my pops and my dad. i practiced driving on that road. i learned how to fall in love on that road. i have been very happy and very sad all at one time on that road.
i have ridden it alone, i have ridden it with other people. my favorite time to drive it is either right before or right after it rains, or right around sunset, when the sky is all different colors, and high thin clouds on top of it all. i always said if i ever made an album, all the liner notes would be backed with black and white pictures from long valley lane. so i named my blog after a meandering track in the middle of nowhere, that really is just a connecting spot for other little roads along the way to someplace else. probably not the most exciting story, but it's the one i've got at the moment.
**insert tangent here*
you know that song "one tree hill" on u2's joshua tree album? well, at the end of the song, bono has like three lines, and he takes a deep breath between each line. that makes me smile in a good way. the breath patsy cline takes at the end of "faded love" makes me smile in a nostaligic way.
i'm doing a 12 week music study with my high school kids this semester. i made them cd's yesterday. i hope they like what i put on there. i realize i am running the risk of exposing my dorkitude by letting them see what kind of music i like to listen to. we'll cross our fingers and hope for the best. some of the tracks we'll be talking about-- river deep/mountain high: tina turner, chemical party: gavin degraw, chan chan: buena vista social club, black jesus: everlast.
i'm sure i'll probably have some phone calls about at least 5 or more of the 64 songs i picked out. i'll keep you posted, i'm sure.
k, i need to get back to work. this week is killing me. i'm on my back to school schedule. rachel is not a happy camper at the moment. thank God for caffine.
mil besos--r
well, long valley lane is a dirt road that runs through mcculloch county, mason county, and i think part of san saba county. it's a little nothing of a dirt track, bound on both sides by pastures of growing cows, or peanuts, or hay, or sheep. it's my favorite dirt road in the world. i learned all about deer stands and turkey hunting on a lease off that road with my pops and my dad. i practiced driving on that road. i learned how to fall in love on that road. i have been very happy and very sad all at one time on that road.
i have ridden it alone, i have ridden it with other people. my favorite time to drive it is either right before or right after it rains, or right around sunset, when the sky is all different colors, and high thin clouds on top of it all. i always said if i ever made an album, all the liner notes would be backed with black and white pictures from long valley lane. so i named my blog after a meandering track in the middle of nowhere, that really is just a connecting spot for other little roads along the way to someplace else. probably not the most exciting story, but it's the one i've got at the moment.
**insert tangent here*
you know that song "one tree hill" on u2's joshua tree album? well, at the end of the song, bono has like three lines, and he takes a deep breath between each line. that makes me smile in a good way. the breath patsy cline takes at the end of "faded love" makes me smile in a nostaligic way.
i'm doing a 12 week music study with my high school kids this semester. i made them cd's yesterday. i hope they like what i put on there. i realize i am running the risk of exposing my dorkitude by letting them see what kind of music i like to listen to. we'll cross our fingers and hope for the best. some of the tracks we'll be talking about-- river deep/mountain high: tina turner, chemical party: gavin degraw, chan chan: buena vista social club, black jesus: everlast.
i'm sure i'll probably have some phone calls about at least 5 or more of the 64 songs i picked out. i'll keep you posted, i'm sure.
k, i need to get back to work. this week is killing me. i'm on my back to school schedule. rachel is not a happy camper at the moment. thank God for caffine.
mil besos--r
18 August 2004
same song, different verse
we're moving. i say we like a whole bunch of you all are following this meandering journaling experice, and i sure as hell hope you are. i think this blog hoster will allow me to actually post pictures, and have to debug every five minutes. it would help if i knew how to debug, i guess.
at any rate, you can still read the old posts at the old link, but i won't be putting anything new up on that site.
i'll give you some hot dirt tomorrow, i'm sure.
mil besos--r
at any rate, you can still read the old posts at the old link, but i won't be putting anything new up on that site.
i'll give you some hot dirt tomorrow, i'm sure.
mil besos--r
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