There’s a “5-star, world class hotel” here in Colorado Springs. It lives up to every expectation of what a five star hotel should be - everybody is dressed up nice, their bars and clubs are very overpriced and very snooty, and it’s absolutely gorgeous. I have found myself there once in a while, either for a conference or for hanging out with friends who enjoy that crowd. Last night was one of the instances of the latter.

Several of my friends are at the Broadmoor fire pit, hanging out, drinking martini’s, and pretty much doing the whole Broadmoor thing. Also, they are in “costume”. They invite me, and I say, “I am in a very random, very non-Broadmoor appropraite costume - do you think that’s okay?” My friend responds, “yeah, you’ll be fine. I’m dressed up as a bee.”

So I walk into the broadmoor. Barefoot. Wearing a trenchcoat - only - and head out back to the fire pit. I did have on a tiny pair of running shorts, however nobody could see them. I was a streaker for halloween. It was quite a fun, random costume. Just before I get through the Broadmoor, I walk past a group of four people, and the older lady stops mid sentence, gasps, and says “Oh… My… God…” They all turn and look at me like I was a stray dog wandering through their prestigious hotel. I just laugh to myself.

Anyways, my friends were *not* in costume (except the bee), and nobody else there was in costume. I felt a little out of place. But it made for quite a good story and random event. Hope you enjoyed.

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Monday night I heard a really cool story about faith in the most unlikely of places. This story spoke directly to my heart because it took place on Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles, very close to where I went to school and where the focus of my mother’s ministry lies. Skid row has always been a place that I have been challenged and broken. Several friends and I during college would go there with a few pizzas and open hearts, and simply sit down with the homeless and hang out. I can remember listening to a woman’s story and hearing her hopes of how to get out of the situation. She was there through no major fault of her own - she was a good person dealt a bad hand in life. As I was listening to her, beyond her face within a mile I could see the Los Angeles skyline, the large buildings and skyscrapers standing in the background. Here was this woman, short on money and luck, living in a box beneath the symbols of wealth and commerce on the west coast. She told me with great passion and excitement how she had planned to get off skid row. First she would get a job and start saving, then she would buy a car so she could live in that and get off the streets and get cleaned up, save more money, etc., etc. She can’t get a job until she gets cleaned up, and can’t keep the job unless she’s cleaned up. Its a vicious cycle. Heartbreaking.

So Spokes tells me this story of this missions trip to Skid Row (spokes is native Coloradan). On the trip they did a bunch of different things with a bunch of different ministries all over town. On his first day out, they had $9 to get breakfast for himself, 2 partners, and one homeless person. They opted for the 99 cent menu at McDonald’s. Good choice college students! The man they met was James, and he was genuinely grateful for breakfast. Here’s the best part - in the middle of eating James says, you know how good God is? He always provides for me exactly what I need.

Woah! Dude’s homeless! I get ticked off when I get tomatoes on my hamburger. Homebody ain’t got no home and he’s stoked on God’s provision. Wow.

So, as the week carried on and Spokes moved from ministry to ministry, he kept seeing James in different places. On the street here, in a soup kitchen there, often local to where he met James, but sometimes a good ten miles away. And James was always smiling. Always content. Content. A man who had nothing understood being content. He understood his true source of joy and provision. Thats a role model that I want to have.

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Last Sunday I was discussing the movie “Saved!” with my students and we got onto the topic of being real. I was talking about how it is common in conversation for one person to say, “How are you?” and the other person to respond, “Fine.” or “Good.” Very rarely do you hear somebody say something along the lines of “not good”, even though our lives are filled with amazing events, both good and bad.

This spurred an interesting thread. First, it’s a generally accepted way to begin a conversation in a non-threatening manner. And it is also generally accepted knowledge that the individual asking the question really does not care to know how you are. So why do we ask the question in the first place? Why do we even waste our time and breath? How might our communities and relationships be different if we actually were authentic in our conversations?

Secondly, when we are asked the same question we more often than not respond with the same non-threatening “fine”. We do this for a number of reasons - we don’t know them well enough and really don’t feel like getting into anything beyond surface level, we don’t think that they are interested in hearing about us, or in the event of struggles we don’t want to appear weak. We like to wear the face that says, “everything is fine.”

I challenged the students to be real in their relationships. When somebody that you are close to asks you, “How’s it going?” to tell them. When you ask somebody how they are, be ready and willing to listen. At this point one of my students brought up an interesting point. He said, “But when you ask somebody how they are doing nobody wants to hear some sob story.” I can see where he is going with the point. You know the people that are always looking to be the victim and simply love to gripe and complain? Yeah - I don’t want to hear their sob story either. So how do we live authentic and real relationships while avoiding the dreaded “sob stories”?

In my opinion several things need to change. First, we need to start answering the questions asked of us. If somebody asks how you are, tell them. They will let you know how interested they are in knowing more. Also, this will begin the developing of a deeper relationship. If you ask somebody how they are, be interested. Ask follow up questions. If they say, “okay”, say something like, “Good ok, or bad ok?” Be slow to speak and quick to listen. But most importantly, lets be real. I think we will be amazed to learn about the stories that others in our lives are living.

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Coolest thing happened this week. I have been trying to figure out how to get out to the Youth Specialties conference next month in Atlanta, GA. These conferences are incredible - an entire semester’s seminary course on youth ministry is packed into five days. In addition, you are surrounded by five thousand other youth ministers that all remind you through your actions that you are in fact not weird, but youth ministers in general are a different breed of people. And lastly, there is a ton of bands (Caedmon’s Call, Jars of Clay, and Bebo Norman this year to name a few) which plain rock. In my limited experiences the youth specialties conference has been one of the greatest catalysts to my ministry.

Attending these conferences in Cali was a piece of cake. For one, I worked at a large church with many volunteers and a large budget - and a tradition of attending. Secondly, one of the three national conferences is ALWAYS in Cali - alternating between north and south every year. However, I am now at a small church - with one volunteer - one tenth the budget - no tradition of going - and no close conference. The biggest budget I could muster up was $250 - and the cost of registration for an individual is $350. And thus a dilemma is faced. I don’t have much of an income, and forking up another $500 of personal bling bling would be VERY difficult (impossible?) to swing. So I started beating the bushes - looking for connecions, networking, seeking any kind of help possible. Peak 3 is going out - I tried to hitch a ride, but they’re leaving too early. I finally found somewhat of a lead from a church in town. They’re going out with several of their church staff, and they found me an extra spot in the hotel room. Sweet!

But check this out - I asked if I could register with them - dropping the registration cost from $350 to $265. I mentioned my tight budget and how it would be helpful. Know how they responded? They responded with my registration confirmation! They paid for my registration - without even being asked. WOW. What an incredible example of BEING the church - supporting a ministry that they have no direct involvement in such a practical way.

How cool would it be if we could shift this paradigm to our daily lives? Jesus always took care of the needs of the individual - whether physical, emotional, or spiritual. He always did so unconditionally. He never said, “Well, I’ll heal your sight, but only if you devote your life to me.” He looked beyond the sin and shortcomings of the individual to see the person themselves - and He loved them exactly where they had need. He often told those that He healed to keep it a secret. Sometimes the people were so grateful that they were incapable of keeping the secret - they had to tell about how stoked they were about what Jesus had done for them. Other times they said, thanks, see ya later. But that didn’t matter - Jesus saw their need and took care of it.

See you in Atlanta!

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I had a very unique opportunity/experience this weekend. I went to Peak 3 not as staff, not as volunteer, but as a TL - Trip Leader. As a Peak 3 client. As a camper. Two worlds collided as my season in Colorado has come full circle. Instead of being a leader in the vision that brought me here to Colorado I was a consumer of that vision - and it was incredible.

I brought eight students and two leaders with me to Peak 3 Friday night for a simple overnighter trip. I experienced the service - Levi (my roommate) was at camp before we were there - he was building a fire for us and had lanterns and blankets for the students. He helped get the cabin’s set up. When we showed up at the ropes course at 9am, I saw 5 of the staff there with the gear set up. I saw them interact with the students in a loving and professional manner. The fact that I am a close friend and former staff meant nothing to how they loved on the students. I experienced the team - I saw my students challenged in ways that they had never been challenged before. I saw a father and a son cross a tight wire relying solely on each other for support. I saw a woman with a prosthetic hip complete an entire ropes course when she didn’t even think she would get off the ground. I saw two students who had little to no church experience (but many piercings) actually enjoy a church event and desire to come back for more. I experienced the trust, when it was I who crossed the tight wire with nothing to rely on except the student that was supporting my weight, and I his. And I experienced the truth - the truths of God that are revealed through adventure and wilderness. The clarity of the voice of God in the stillness and silence of wilderness. And I experienced fellowship with the students. The relationships that are built through camping. Everything from spontaneous worship songs to late night campfire discussions about farts. The opportunity to speak into a student’s life through the building of relationships.

I was impressed with Peak 3’s willingness to run a trip for a small group in the off season. I hope that the students were as impacted as I was… and I hope that the truths they learned and the change they experienced lasts back here to the Springs and doesn’t stay at 9500 feet.

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Saved… a new independent film with Mandy Moore and others - is a story about several high school students at a Christian High School. It is a perfect Christian Utopia. All the Chriatianese is used, and all sense of reality is lost. It exaggerates the ways that those immersed in a Christian community live. Then, two weeks before their senior year starts, everything goes wrong.

Mary (main character in the film) is told by her boyfriend that he thinks that he is gay. She then sees a vision in which Jesus tells her “He needs you very much right now”. She attempts to “de-gay” him and ends up sleeping with him, and gets pregnant.

The story goes to show how they are both ostracized from the Christian community. You really have to see the movie to get how bad it is. And the worst part of it all, even though the movie exaggerates many points, it is not too far from the truth. Think about the things that happen to good people in life. Yet in the Christian community the visible sin is turned into an abomination. You can’t be an alcoholic, a drug addict, pregnant, somebody who cusses, smokes… you get the idea. We all put on this show of being these perfect people, when that is completely opposite of how we are called to live. We are called to be humble, the lowest, servants. Yet we live as if our poo don’t stink. Why? Why can’t we live as the broken people we are? Why can’t we love people as the broken people they are? Why can’t we love like Jesus did - looking beyond the sin (visible or invisible) and loving the individual despite their weaknesses and struggles? How much more amazing would this world be if we loved people in that way?

Lets start living so unselfishly that we are able to see past the temptation to make ourselves feel better when another falls that we humble ourselves to where they are at - and love them as who they are - a child of God.

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So, it’s late, but I can’t help myself - I am coming off an amazing two days at Peak 3 with my students, and tonight I watched a very insightful movie - “Saved” with Mandy Moore - a very introspective look into the christian community/bubble. Stay tuned for the next two posts - they will be good ones.

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