Guitars

For the past year, I've been on the planning team for an outdoor music festival held at my church's camp in the San Benardino Mountains.  It was the first time anyone had planned such an event in our church region or at the camp, and I, for, one, really didn't know what we were doing.  Fortunately others on the team did.

The big day was this past Saturday.  The day was beautiful, with somewhere around 300 people enjoying music on the meadow and experiencing or re-experiencing our beautiful camp, a place where young people (and even not-so-young people) experience complete acceptance and the unconditional love of God.  During the planning process, I told myself that this is a one-year commitment from me, that someone else can plan the "2nd annual" event.  Now that it's over, I'm reconsidering.

Snapshots

Young Jeremiah

The book of Jeremiah begins with the prophet's call. God appoints Jeremiah "a prophet to the nations," to which Jeremiah replies, "But I'm just a boy!"

Jeremiah's exact age is not mentioned.  No doubt he was young, but how young?  Was he, in fact, just a boy?  Or is the reference to his youth more of a figurative, poetic way of saying that he lacked experience?  Scholars may not know the specific answers to these questions.  However, I am convinced I know exactly how old Jeremiah was. 

He was 14.

Furthermore, I am convinced that not only was Jeremiah 14, but that he was a 14 year-old who lived with attention deficit.

In the book he wrote, Jeremiah's complaints are frequent.  He argues constantly with God.  He feels sorry for himself.  He casts blame on others.

All this will sound familiar to any parent of a 14 year-old boy.

Some examples, with the chapter & verse cited:

• "God, you lie!" (4:10)
• "People are stupid." (4:22)
• "The world sucks." (4:23)
• "Everyone hates me and curses me." (15:10)
• "God, it's all YOUR fault!" (15:15)
• "God, you're deceitful!  You're a deceitful brook.  You're a failure!" (15:18)
• "I wish I'd never been born!" (20:14-18)

And then, right in the middle of all this, in typical teenage-boy-fashion that gives parents mental whiplash, Jeremiah says:

"Sing to the Lord!  Praise the Lord!"  (20:13)

I am aware that reading and interpreting scripture is never done in complete isolation.  It can never be completely objective.  What we see in scripture is always influenced, to some degree, by our present context.

Nevertheless, it's nice to know that even God's efforts to raise a teenage prophet had its own ups and downs.  And it's nice to know that, even though God must have known in advance of the challenges that would arise, God still called Jeremiah to a special, important role as a prophet.

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For more fun, listen to this song in which some teens sing the praises of their "mama."

Pink

This weekend, I rode my bike over to Rancho Los Cerritos, a historic home/museum not far from here. This flower was floating in a reflecting pond/pool. For a larger view of the pond from a few years ago, visit this older post.

Guide to Middle School

So, while last week my oldest son started high school, this week my youngest son started middle school.  All summer long his big brother had been telling him his favorite horror stories about how bad middle school is, and how his younger brother wouldn't survive.

Turns out this was just his way of showing brotherly love.

On Tuesday, the night before classes began, I saw this "survival guide" written out by my oldest son for his younger brother.  It says:

Bob Lucky's Guide to Hughes Middle School
[Bob Lucky is an alias my older son likes to use for himself]

Backpacks:  Five folders or one folder with five dividers.  Do not use a roller.

Locker Room:  Don't play or mess around.  Get in, change, get out.

Passing Period:  Five min. is enough tiime if you don't stand around.  Go to class.  You even have enough time to use the restroom.

Restrooms: They are clean but if you have to go number 2, go during class.

Seating:  Don't wait for others to sit first.  Sit first and let people sit by you, not you sit by them.

Bullies:  Avoid them.  Have a friend.  If a bully is following or chasing you, go to the library or a classroom.

Crushes/girls:  good luck.

Teachers:  Mr. Dekrai and Mrs. Bowley are cool.  They know luckies.

Lunch:  Eat with (a) friend(s).

Other:  Chaske can help.

Light Show

The lights dimmed, signaling that the show was about to begin. Except I wasn't in a theater; I was sitting by the window in my living room, and the "lights" in question came from outside. Clouds had moved in on this end-of-summer afternoon.

Then the show lights came on.  These were different than the regular "house" lights because they were distinctly yellow-orange.  That's when I realized that a show was beginning.

I went outside with my camera, and this is what I saw.  The colors in this photo are unaltered.  The rain that can be seen coming down from the clouds arrived at my location a few minutes later.

It was the first rain we'd received in Long Beach in several months.  And it was beautiful.  I immediately shared my photo on facebook, and noticed that about a dozen of my local friends had shared their own pictures of the show as well.

Haircut

School began this week for Ethan.  He's now a freshman in high school.  The school he is attending is a private Christian school, which we enrolled him in because of its small size and good drama program. 

(The city of Long Beach has some excellent high schools, but all but one have several thousand students in them, and we couldn't get him in to that one.)

A few weeks ago we attended new student orientation.  At one point the office secretary pulled me aside and said that Ethan would need a haircut in order to comply with the school dress code. 

Personally, I've always thought Ethan looked good with long hair, as long as he took care of it.  It was a conditional approval.  The conditions were rarely met.  So I had no qualms about telling him that the hair needed to be cut.

"So when do you want to go get it cut?" I asked. 
"I want you to do it."
So I did.  The night before school started.