they're half my age

I am on staff with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship at South Dakota State University. I'm in my ninth year. I was 27 when I first hit campus and even then students seemed kind of young to me. So I gravitated toward working primarily with upperclassmen and student leaders (who tended to be upperclassmen). There has always been someone else who was a little younger, a little rowdier, a little more likely to be a pal to a freshman. Next month I turn 36 and will be twice as old as your average freshman. When I was a freshman they were babies (and when I tell them that I always get harassed severely).

This week in the freshmen groups I lead (called "Life on the Road") I took students to a playground to study Matthew 18 and 1 Corinthians 13. The passages teach us that we must at once come to God like children and grow up, putting away childish things. To help the lesson come to life I had my 5 year old and 3 year old playing on the playground. It's funny that as I made an effort to remind my freshmen to be like children, a lesson I see played out before me day after day as a father of 3, I realized I can look at freshmen the same way.

Freshmen are people filled with hope. Some hopes are noble, like pursuing a medical degree to do AIDs mission work in Africa. Other hopes are selfish, like I'm going to get my engineering degree so I can make some good money. Other hopes are misguided, like when I get a girlfriend (or boyfriend, or good job, or new car, or nice house, or ...) then things will be good. But freshmen also still believe that God can change the world. And, that he'll use them to do it. Sometimes I am the old man who knows too well from years of experience that sure, God could do (fill in the blank), but this is more likely. And I make plans that depend on me and my performance. What's that verse? Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit says the LORD almighty. (Zec. 4:6)

Well working with freshmen is certainly a situation in which I need God's Spirit. I'm not cool enough, I'm not used to video game controls that have more than a direction pad and 2 buttons, and I can't afford to buy lunch everyday. But I'm praying that freshmen will listen to the bits of wisdom I've managed to gain, walk into Scripture with me with a heart willing to listen and obey, and gain a desire to be influential for Jesus at SDSU. Come Spirit, come.

Life lesson: I should take my kids to playgrounds more often, they really like them.

a boy named Daniel

We have a new family in our church. They are from Ukraine. The dad served as an interpreter for several of our church's mission teams to Ukraine. Today they are cleaning their new apartment and their 6 year old son, Daniel, is playing at our house (along with his new friend Darin and our kids).

Daniel doesn't speak English. He likes mac & cheese and hot dogs. He knows how to battle with a sword and shield. He even likes superhero capes. But he's been at it all afternoon and he seems to be wearing out.

Life lesson: A person can understand a lot of what goes on around him without understanding the language. He can even have some fun, but it sure does wear a body out.

We came home from our mission trip to Pine Ridge a few days ago because our funding came up short. I don't even know if I wrote that sentence right. Should it say...
We came home... because we didn't raise enough money.
We came home... because God didn't provide for our whole time there, or didn't want us there the whole time.
We came home... because people didn't give as God led. [Because I want you to keep reading, I'll suggest it's not this one.]

Whatever the case is, we don't really understand. Sometimes it feels like the life of faith and especially ministry is one in which we figure a lot of things out, but if we could just learn to listen to God's voice more and depend on circumstances a little less, it wouldn't wear us out so much.

Please pray that God will provide according to his will. Our hope is to return to lead the debriefing time at the end of the project, or sooner if...
we raise enough money,
God provides, and/or
God's people give as he leads.

We are seeing extra gifts come in so I am hopeful that at least we will return for debriefing. Thanks for your interest and if you're praying we're doubly grateful.

No More Beef for Dessert

My family and I are a bit worn out. I had a second round of allergic reaction/food poisoning/gastroenteritis/whatever it is. It was eerily similar--roast beef for supper the night before, early morning onset, 6 hours of complete misery and a day to recover. That was Thursday morning. We then packed and loaded to relocate to our "permanent" housing for the project. Friday and Saturday we traveled to Omaha to be at one neice's graduation and to pick up the other neice who helps us with childcare at Pine Ridge. We found out that the drive from Omaha to Pine Ridge takes about 9 days. [To be fair it took about 7 1/2 hours, and would have taken less if we weren't traveling as a family of 6. In addition some of the scenery was stunning.]

InterVarsity Pine Ridge Global Project update:
We are settled into the basement of Pine Ridge Gospel Fellowship and the students have begun life in the pastor's basement. We enjoyed our first church service today. Annie, one of our students, helped lead worship. We provided a traditional ethnic meal, Swedish meatballs. Of course it isn't the ethnicity of most Pine Ridge residents, but I found out that John, one of the students on the project, is 3/4 Swedish.

Tonight was our first 3 on 3 basketball tournament. We grilled burgers and hot dogs and mixed with the crowd. I played on a team with Rick and Alice (a local girl). The team we played was polite and didn't skunk us. The play is full court, but the court is not full size. I didn't know 3 guys could take up all the space, but our opponents seemed to do that quite efficiently. I contributed very little to our team's effort, but my son was the most vocal fan in the crowd. If he were a little older he would probably have been less excited and more embarrassed.

Life lesson: It's probably time for me to retire from the 3 on 3 circuit and give church league softball another try.

We spent most of the first week in training. Topics included various cross cultural issues, personal witness, the Lordship of Jesus (which included some personal retreat time in the Black Hills). and team building. Tomorrow I'll train students to lead an investigative Bible discussion and we'll begin preparing content for Young Life on Wednesday evening. We'll also begin the process of creating a volleyball court.

Box Scores

Mower 6
Jeremy 2

Potato Salad 11
Jeremy 0

We have arrived in Pine Ridge, but not without a few challenges. Saturday I was soundly defeated by my riding lawnmower. I guess the defeat is not only mine, but also the kind students who volunteered to mow while I'm gone for 5 weeks. I fought bravely and had a couple of promising moments--even began to flirt with the thought that I knew what I was doing. But in the end, the mower decided it would no longer turn over. I'm not sure how to resolve that situation.

Life lesson: I should have taken small engine repair in high school.

My next defeat came at about 5:00am Monday. The potato salad I had at a cookout Sunday was loaded with eggs. I have an egg allergy which is typically pretty mild. But without getting graphic I'll just say the reaction was severe...for about 6 hours. I'm feeling about 85%. I think a good night's sleep might bring me to 95%.

Life lesson: There's no such thing as a mild allergy.

For those of you who know them Annie and Andy from SDSU and John from U of M are here and well. We had some good team building time--grilling burgers and brats, asking probing questions like, "What is your favorite superhero movie?" and talking about how God brought us this far. It's good to be where God wants us. I'll keep you posted in the days ahead.

Decker the Bird

This morning my son came running into the house. He was yelling, "There's birds hatching under the deck and there's no mama to take care of them!" The reason he assumed there was no mother is probably because just a few days ago we "discovered" a nest of rabbits as we were burning the weeds off our garden in preparation for tilling. (Maybe I'll tell that story another time, but for now let me tell you that you do not want to hear a rabbit scream.)

Eventually we got the kids to give the nest some space and the mother has returned. I think we should call her Decker. At the south end of our yard is a wonderful shelter belt. The grove of trees extends probably 50 yards. Why wouldn't the bird choose a spot out there? Or why not under the soffit outside my office (that's the location of choice for swallows). At least there would be a view of the trees.

I think I know why the bird chose to nest under my deck--safety. No predators, protection from the elements, it's a great spot...or is it? My 5 year old son and 3 year old daughter like playing under the deck. Now they know there are baby birds under there. Sound safe to you?

Life lesson: Perhaps when we choose the safe option we forfeit something beautiful (like the grove). And in chasing safe things perhaps we put ourselves in danger.

That kind of explains why my family and I are leaving for 5 weeks on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in southwest South Dakota. We'll be co-directing a project for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. Of all the choices we had regarding what to do with our summer (we work with university students and the pace changes drastically in the summer) this one is perhaps not the safest in some ways. It is certainly not the most convenient or comfortable. But I'm pretty sure God has something beautiful for us. If you're the praying type I'd love for you to be involved that way.

I'll try to keep you posted on our adventure out west. Check out InterVarsity's Pine Ridge Global Project web page for a great video and lots of info.

the unfinished deck

I have been working on my back deck for quite a while. I guess I should really say that I started the job a long time ago. This week my father-in-law and I built steps. We worked about 18 hours and all we have to show is steps. That's probably because we first had to redo some things that were off due to neglect. Let me just say free standing 12' 4x4s cannot survive two South Dakota winters without serious twisting, leaning, and warping. Some of the posts could be twisted with a chain and crowbar enough to nail them to the beam (My septic tank pumper suggested that maneuver). Others had to be disconnected from the concrete forms and turned upside down so the warping could be used in our favor.

Life lessons:
Standing alone is a good way to get warped.
For getting on and off a deck, steps are much easier to use than a ladder.
Never underestimate the wisdom of your septic guy.