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I recently asked the question on Twitter, “What would you do if there was more than 24 hours in a day?” I got responses like “sleep”, “eat”, “spend time with my wife”, and my favorite – “complain about not having enough time”. I asked this because I have been wondering how I should be spending my time. Then this question came to me. What if there were less than 24 hours in a day, what would I do? Time would be at a premium, so what is most important? I’m still trying to figure this out, but how would you answer this question?

So the football season is upon us and I couldn’t be happier (isn’t that what we say). I love football. I love playing football. I love watching football played at all levels. It is just something that I truly enjoy. This year is different. Not that I won’t watch games, or get excited about great plays, but I have a different “outlook” on the football season this year. The reason is that I have chosen not to play fantasy football at all this year. This will mark the first time in a great many years that I haven’t played. I am usually in at least one league with a bunch of other youth pastors and friends from Moody (I have won this league 3 times). We never played for money, just for pride. I have also been in pick-em leagues and this year I am not.

I don’t have any great spiritual reason that I am not playing fantasy football. I just wanted to return to enjoying a game without having to check to see how my fantasy team is doing. I want to watch football to watch football. I don’t want to have to cheer for guys to have a good game and hope they lose because I hate their team, but they are an important player on my fantasy team. I want to enjoy the game. Pure football.

Of course I make this choice the year Yahoo introduces an app for my iPhone that would allow me to control my team better. Oh well. Let’s go Bears!

Okay, I have always been a “husky” boy. I thought I would give skinny people a glimpse into things they should know when they deal with their fat friends.

1. Never let your fat friend wear a solid purple shirt. It only makes them look like Grimace.
2. Don’t stand behind me without letting me know you are there. Turning around or backing up could be dangerous to you if I don’t know you are there.
3. I know you can’t catch me if I fall. Don’t pretend you can.
4. Don’t make me sit in the middle of a row. Let me have the end. It will be best for everyone.
5. I don’t always want the food you don’t finish. Okay, sometimes I do, but you don’t have to assume I do.
6. It’s okay to laugh when I make a fat joke.
7. Please let us continue to believe that black clothes and vertical stripes make us look slimmer.
8. Don’t make me sit on flimsy chairs. I’ll just stand.
9. No, I have never put an all-you-can-eat buffet out of business. Thanks for asking.
10. If I’m wearing a red shirt, “Hey Kool-Aid” gets old really fast!

Do you have any others to add to this list?

I’ve been to a lot of sporting events to watch students play over the years, but Friday was the best of any of them. See, on Friday I got to go watch Kevin win his group in the shot-put at the Iowa State Special Olympics. It was so much fun, and the whole time was filled with smiles and joy.

Kevin is a part of our youth group. Jill and I talk about how much we will miss him in the group when he graduates. Lucky for us he is only a freshman! I have learned so much from Kevin. I have learned patience, because working with him takes patience. But, I have learned more about how to be a better person from the way Kevin treats people. Kevin is not mean. Kevin never holds a grudge. Kevin LOVES people.

Kevin has Down Syndrome, but that doesn’t keep him from being a part of our group. He comes to all our events, and he hardly ever misses youth group. We love having him with us. It takes a little more effort to take him on a retreat with us, but it is always worth it. He has taught our group so much, and they wouldn’t want him to miss out.

I don’t have an answer to how best work with special needs students. All I know is that I try to include them in whatever they, and their parents feel comfortable with. We have another student, Sam, who has a lot of special needs. He comes to Sunday School, but his parents have chosen not to have him come to youth group. It would be a stretch for us, but if they wanted him to be a part, we would love it. I don’t always know how much Kevin and Sam get out of our group, but they certainly add more to my life than they would ever get from my teaching.

It takes patience, and perseverance. I have had to have conversations with other students when they have felt uncomfortable to remind them how to deal with Kevin. I’ll tell you what. Spend 10 minutes with Kevin or Sam, and you’ll love them as much as I do. Do I need to learn more and make changes to better work with special needs students and incorporate them into our ministry? Yeah. My prayer and hope is that our ministry will continue to be a place where special needs students and their parents feel like they are being cared for.

If you have any ideas or thoughts on how we can be a better ministry for special needs students, please let me know!

Okay, I want your input on this one. The past couple of months I have been dealing with disappointment, anger and frustration. A lot of different situations have led to these feeling. I have always been a fairly emotional guy, and I deal with these feelings in few ways.

1. I like to break things. Not little things, but wall, furniture, faces. You get the idea. This time around, I have not broken anything. There were times I wanted to, but I didn’t. Good for me.
2. I listen to “angry” music. This may feed into my desire to break things, but it helps for me to scream and yell with the music. I have listened to my share of angry music lately.
3. I cry. Usually, disappointment, anger and frustration come from a situation that breaks my heart. I have spent some time crying these past couple of months as well.
4. I pray. Probably not as much as I should, but I ask God to search me and show me the true reasons for me feeling the way I do. I like this one the least… No one to blame but myself.

I feel like I can see the end of the tunnel of this season of my life. I realize that a lot of my issues stem from my pride. I’m working on that, well actually, God is working on that. I know that I still have a long way to go in how I deal with these feelings, but at least I’m not like I was in college, or there would have been a lot of headbutting going on!

So here’s the discussion part.

1. What frustrates, angers or disappoints you the most in this season of your life? Or are you “all good”?
2. How do you deal with these feelings?

This is post I saw on my friend Bobby Moss’ blog. Sarah Cook was part of our group in Illinois and to hear that she is doing well now is an answer to prayer and is an encouragement to me.

From Bobby’s blog:
Sarah Cook was in our youth group for a long time, a girl we love and care about very much. Sarah recently had the opportunity to share her story on the Joyce Meyer’s television show. Not a Joyce Meyer fan – but I am a huge Sarah Cook fan, and here is her story:

Pass Sarah’s story on to those you think would be encouraged by it.

I’m not a babysitting service. If you need babysitting, you can call the teenagers yourself. Oh, and that goes for if you need your lawn raked or driveway shoveled!

I’m not a glorified babysitter. I work with young men and women who are changing the world they (and you) live in!

I’m not a fundraiser. If you really want your child to go on the trip, you can make them work for it.

I’m not always free. I do have a life that isn’t ministry related. Granted, not much of one, but still.

I’m not perfect. Just because people call me “pastor” doesn’t mean I have it all together.

I’m not a push-over. If you’re messed up, I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you in love, but you’re going to hear it.

I’m not emergent, edgy, or disgruntled with the church. I just think that often times we could be doing things better.

I’m not shy.

I’m not always happy. Sometimes I have a bad day.

I’m not a teenager. Just because I work and spend time with teenagers does not mean I am one. I’m in my thirties! I have experience . I have ideas, and a lot of them are good ideas!

I’m not the reason your teenager hates God. Well, probably not.