To Save A Life

Do me a favor. Go see the movie "To Save a Life" this weekend. Encourage people you know to see it. Take people with you to see it!

The Top 15 Biblical Ways to Acquire a Wife

So, the children's director that I work with gave me this list this afternoon. I found it pretty funny, especially considering the hard time that his daughter gives me about being single and having no life.

The Top 15 Biblical Ways to Acquire a Wife:

1. Find an attractive prisoner of war, bring her home, shave her head, trim her nails, and give her new clothes. Then she's yours. (Deuteronomy 21:11-13)

2. Find a prostitute and marry her. (Hosea 1:1-3)

3. Find a man with seven daughters, and impress him by watering his flock. (Moses-Exodus 2:16-21)

4. Purchase a piece of property, and get a woman as part of the deal. (Boaz-Ruth 4:5-10)

5. Go to a party and hide. When the women come out to dance, grab one and carry her off to be your wife. (Benjaminites-Judges 21:19-25)

6. Have God create a wife for you while you sleep. Note: this will cost you. (Adam-Genesis 2:19-24)

7. Agree to work seven years in exchange for a woman's hand in marriage. Get tricked into marrying the wrong woman. Then work another seven years for the woman you wanted to marry in the first place. That's right, fourteen years of toil for a wife. (Jacob-Genesis 29:15-30)

8. Cut 200 foreskins off of your future father-in-law's enemies and get his daughter for a wife. (David-1 Samuel 18:27)

9. Even if no one is out there, just wander around a bit and you'll definitely find someone. (It's all relative, of course.) (Cain?-Genesis 4:16-17)

10. Become the emperor of a huge nation and hold a beauty contest. (Xerxes or Ahasuerus-Esther 2:3-4)

11. When you see someone you like, go home and tell your parents, "I have seen a ... woman; now get her for me." If your parents question your decision, simply say, "Get her for me. She's the one for me." (Samson-Judges 14:1-3)

12. Kill any husband and take HIS wife (prepare to lose four sons, though). (David-2 Samuel 11)

13. Wait for your brother to die. Take his widow. (It's not just a good idea; it's the law.) (Onana and Boaz-Deuteronomy or Leviticus, example in Ruth)

14. Don't be so picky. Make up for quality with quantity. (Solomon-1 Kings 11:1-3)

15. A wife? ....NOT? (Paul-1 Corinthians 7:32-35)

Personally.... #10 sounds like a pretty good deal to me. It reminds me of "The Bachelor."

Snow Day!!

So, it snowed a great deal here in Harrison, AR starting Saturday night. It was beautiful and a great way of finishing up students' Christmas break...by giving them a couple more days off! I got to spend yesterday afternoon with a bunch of students playing in the snow and had a blast. Sledding, failed attempts at starting snowball fights (the snow just wouldn't pack), and I even finally got an opportunity to get my 4-wheeler out and have some fun pulling people on sleds. To finish off the day, we built a ramp (which was very difficult b/c of the poor packing quality of the snow) and Kaleb went off it behind the 4 wheeler. The video is below.

It's the opportunities to hang out with students outside of church and build relationships and share Christ's love with them that keeps me in youth ministry, its the only reason I put up with the church politics and meetings that are always trying to consume my time and attention.

And the icing on the cake... getting a text last night from a student last night. After texting me saying that the day was fun and us having some laughs about the day, she says this.

Student: "Can I be serious with ya for a sec..."

Me: "Definitely"

Student: "I am really glad a youth director like you came along..."

These are the moments that help me brush off all the frustrations that I face in both student and church ministry as a whole and re-energize me to keep serving Christ to the best of my knowledge and ability.