PTA

So I once served at a church where my youth ministry was comprised of mainly gang kids. Kids who would shoot first and then ask questions later. It was a tough group, but I was called there so I planted in.
Some of the parents had asked me to get involved in the school as part of the PTA to help with the students and I figured it would be a great way to get to know the teens and for them to know me. I was a little weary of joining up with a bunch of moms and being the only guy there, as I would be outnumbered on every vote, But I joined up and thought, "what could go wrong?"
Because of my drama background, they had asked me to get involved in a play that they were doing at the school. They were doing a "rip van winkle" theme and talking about sleeping through life and missing out.
We had several parents who were gifted in making costumes and I being the only man in the group was given the manual labor of helping the kids build the set.
We were on the set one early Saturday and I was laying on the ledge trying to nail some pieces together when one of the mothers, Mrs Smith, said that she had a costume for me to try on. So I rolled over the ledge and reached down and held it up to look at it. She asked me to try it on and see if it fit me properly as I was the same size as the teen who would be wearing it. I quickly climbed down and went across the yard to the restroom to try it on.
It was a long nightgown of hideous colors and horendous designs cut into it. It was ugly as ugly could be. It was a great costume. As I was walking across the courtyard to get back into the room to show Mrs Smith, I noticed some of the "boys" from one of the gangs I had been trying to get with and meet, hanging around the yard and I hollered out to them to say hi. One on them yelled back, "hey preacher man where did you get the god-forsaken gown?" I recognized the boy and Mrs Smith's son, so I hollered back, this morning. I rolled over and got it from your mom.
The last thing I remember was what must have been a horde of wild animals charging at me and hearing me scream like a little girl. I awoke three hours later sore and bruised and beaten. Mrs Smith even yelled at me for tearing the costume...
And that is why I will never join the PTA again.

What Kind of Joy

The room is cold and damp. I can hear tiny feet skittering across the floors.  Rats!  Why did it have to be rats?!
It seems like forever I have been in this prison of mine
Now I face a death sentence cast down upon me.  If only I could find an escape...
     There are two other men on the other side of the wall.  I can hear them talking and singing.  I lean over to the hole in the wall and listen.  I can hear two men talking with excitement and laughing talking about the last few weeks occurrence's.  I holler thru the wall a "hello" and they respond back with the same.   I ask them how they can be so joyful in this place.  They respond that they are here for crimes against the government, but the King that they serve knows they are here and has sent a Messenger to tell them He will take care of them.  They ask me why I am here, and I reply jokingly, "I shot the sheriff...but I did not shoot the deputy!"  I tell them I feel like I have been in this prison all my life.  Subject to the four walls of pain surrounding me everyday.
      They tell me with a joy in their voices that this is not their first time in a prison or being beaten but they are glad to suffer for their King.
What kind of joy is this, to count it a blessing to suffer?  When they should be crying, there is joy in their eyes.  What kind of joy gives these prisoners a song when they are staring death in the face?
They tell me it is the joy of a soul that is forgivin' and free...
My King has promised me this joy, it just seems sometimes I forget the tune and need to be reminded every now and then.  May my song be sung loud enough that others would ask me, "what kind of joy is this" you have?

Scariest Word I know

There is a word that we have let slip into our vocabulary that is a life-killer. It takes the motivation from us, it make us comfortable where we are and gives us false hope.

That word is, "someday".  

"someday, I will get my dream job"

"someday I am going to go talk to him/her"

"someday I am going to travel to there..."

Someday.  Someday... 
The thing is, someday never comes. We spend our life pursuing something that will likely never come, convincing ourselves that as long as we hold on to the dream of "someday" it will happen.
Life is to short to live on "someday".  Instead, why don't we live on today.
"Today, I will get my job"
"Today I will talk to him/her"
Today I will make reservations for my trip".


What are you waiting for? Make your "someday" into a "today."
Let me know what you have accomplished today...