I Heard a Parishioner

      I heard a parishioner quote one of her friends on Sunday saying "Sometimes God lets you reach rock-bottom so you will realize that God is the Rock at the bottom". I can't get that out of my head.
What has been consuming me for the past month or so is "What's next for me?". My last day at one of my current jobs is quickly approaching, and I fear not knowing -for sure- what will happen next. In no way do I feel like this is rock bottom. Heck, I'm not hurting for money, I'm in a great relationship, I'm making wonderful music, the ministry I'm doing is teeming with life, and I'm quite content with my little apartment.
In many ways, I'm in a limbo of sorts. I'm not a legit pastor, but I'm good at youth ministry. I'm not a legit teacher, but I'm good at teaching elementary music. I am doing great things with making coffee-house music, but my real knowledge is in opera and the classical voice.
      Living in limbo makes me wonder what rock-bottom is like. And what's the opposite of rock-bottom? Why don't we have a saying for that? The American dream? Living the life? Cloud nine? "Cloud nine" seems so temporary. When you reach rock-bottom, do you know it? And if God is the Rock at the bottom, I'm not gonna lie, that sounds appealing; to be that close to Him. To only have God holding you up and nothing else. I know I'm not alone in knowing that a few other things in this world hold me up at times. Like money, other people, my jobs...
Don't worry, I'm not gonna go looking for rock-bottom, and to be clear, I'm a very happy and content person. I've just been so busy looking for the answer to "What's next?" that I feel farther away from the things in my life that are so faithfully constant.

     It is officially out there in cyber space that I will combat this.  I will actively slow down to evaluate me just a little bit more.  I encourage your comments.

In The Throws (Lyrics)

Written on Monday, November 20 2012 (in the car from Bloomington to Peoria)

How 'bout I sip this cup of coffee
And listen to your oldest story
I want to drink in all of you
'Cause this cup can't keep me warmer
Than you do
Than you do

Oh we're in the throws
Oh we're in the throws

Remember when we stole to Chicago
And vanished in a sea of thieves
We would have stayed but sometimes we have to go
Back to where we made our lives

Oh we're in the throws
Oh we're in the throws

This shelf life is our own Prison
A jail break could mean more minutes
But there's time enough
There's time enough

Oh we're in the throws
Oh we're in the throws

So let me sip this cup of coffee
And listen to your oldest story
I wanna drink in all of you
'Cause this cup can't keep me warmer
Than you do
Than you do

In memory of Dick Trefzger and Uncle David

Waltz with Us

Today was probably my favorite day teaching so far.  I had a great morning and afternoon teaching 3/4 time to 3rd and 4th graders!  First, we went through the "script" for reading time signatures.


               ______  "Beats per measure"
                (Top #)


               ______  "Gets the beat"
        (Bottom #'s code)

I explained that you read the bottom number like a code, and that when you see a "4", you say "quarter note"... and then you finish the script.


The students were getting the hang of it and reading time signatures like champs!  I have been working with them on reading rhythms, so I put the rhythm of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" on the board and had them read it without putting the words up.  After we practiced it, I wrote the words under the rhythm and had them sing the song with me.  

***THEN***

I started dancing the waltz.  I showed the girls how to hold their hands and showed the boys how to hold theirs.  In the last hour of the day, I called two girls up to the front and then two boys and had them face each other.  I told them they didn't have to touch but they did need to face each other and put their hands up.  After a while, there were students everywhere pairing off!!  We were all laughing and waltzing and singing "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" and then I heard a "Miss Fitch?"  I turned around and saw little Adam, he asked "Can we actually do it?  Can we touch?"  My heart was meellllttttinnnnggggg!  I told him he and his partner could do the real waltz if they wanted to, and then there was hardly a pair in the room who wasn't trying the waltz for real.  


I kinda love my jobs...

In Our Blood (Video)

Like many Disciples in the Illinois and Wisconsin Region, I am devoted to our beloved campground in Dietrich, Illinois.  My experience at camp has given me so much as a Christian and the least I can do is use my talents to give back.  I hope this song inspires you to find something you can give back to this cause!

New Status Update

     Do you remember MySpace?  Remember when they added the "Top Friends" feature?  I was always desperate to be on someone's "Top 5".  I'm pretty sure I only made the cut for two or three people, but I know I was always trying to reach everyone's Top 5 list.  I will be the first to admit that I was OBSESSED with climbing the social ladder.  I spent a lot of my energy worrying about what other people would think about me.  Where did it get me?  Nowhere. I never befriended the popular crowd.  Instead, I realized the value of the friends I already had.  My friends were real, and there were plenty of them.
     Our society is very status-driven.  You wouldn't admit it, but if you tweet, you KNOW you're starving for more followers.  How devastated are we, ladies, when we realize we don't have a shot at being on the Prom Court at school?  We get ridiculously obsessed with celebrities.  We deeply care about our status in this world and will go to great lengths to protect ourselves from "social failure".  The breeding ground for this attitude is the media, of course, and Jr. High and High School.
     Being status driven can work in our favor.  Working harder for that promotion, getting better grades to get the on the honor roll, pushing yourself to be better at sports are all good reasons to be status driven.  The down side to being status driven is when we let superficial, meaningless social pressures affect us so much that we put on a facade for the world.  Walking/talking/laughing/dressing/behaving in a way that is not natural for you means you are compromising yourself for the sake of others.  

Here were some social pressures I remember from High School:

The cool kids wore names across their chests.  Every. Day.

https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQhQwExwCpL90BvK0979yZ1quORWTYyoz6qcL-KFlBpXw9iLhy1


The popular girls all sat at the same lunch table in the lunch room.

https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSb85uZ6qCbItfQ7ESc90uP1kTBvO7fWwWJcuVUy9IVTjAfjqk9xw



The kids that everyone knew about always had stories of their weekends -and they hadn't been bowling.  Stories of girlfriends and boyfriends and parties were widely spread throughout the school...

https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcTAnU2fXAeFS535BHtghUnct6IbIoo8gaWBhnDWp6ozh27u2Bym_A


And the girls... They all had the same haircut...

https://encrypted-tbn2.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQytueaa2ZOHrIIRSDraL5IyxyPab2LwEmVEDiw9MpKINHFMxesUg
https://encrypted-tbn3.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQjwQGMzOQ-Pl7eRbjBo6j8kgO46D8WuA6E-PWHp-56jlkxd1TghA
https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRmCmnZF_u-_VLRHiqvgjPmtoyXnN7aCKoY8ireBbuDqlbEIUyHEQ


But this is what I saw...

The next time you're ready to update your status, decide if you really need to abandon the old status.  Remember who you are even though the world around you is trying to make you forget.  

Thanks for viewing.  Follow me!  I'm about to have a hilarious contest for my followers!

Now Introducing....My Twin

Hi Everyone!
     It's time you meet Katie.  Katie is my twin sister who helps me remember who I am.  When Katie and I are together, it's almost like we live in our own world of almost funny jokes, rubber faces that host the oddest of expressions, and fights that last about a minute because we start laughing if we try to stay mad any longer.
     Since we're geniuses, we made a little video for you guys.  Not sure why the whole top of the screen got cut off but I think it adds to the hilarity.  What's that on our faces?  Green face masks of course.  One more thing: we sat down in front of a camera and let whatever happened happen, and I couldn't be more pleased with the outcome.  I love my family with everything I have and wouldn't trade any of them for anything.  
   

Enjoy the chemistry

Be My Donut Hole

Katie you will always be my donut hole.  And don't forget it.

Do you have a donut hole?  Make a video with it.  It's worth it. And let me see it.

Thanks

There's An App For That. (Youth Group idea)

I recently presented one of my favorite youth group events to date! The idea struck me a long time ago to use popular iPod/iPhone apps to make a point about APPlying our faith to our daily decisions.
The popular catchphrase "There's an App for That" is from the 2009 iPhone 3G commercial. I opened my app store and looked through the Top 25 purchased apps. With these app titles and concepts, I was able to transform the average Sunday night into a memorable adventure with the group.
Station 1: Angry Birds
Tearing down walls was an easy concept to transfer into a faith based message. I stacked paper bags and cardboard planting cups on the edge of the stage in our Great Hall and bought beanies that looked like the characters from Angry Birds. Two teams competed against each other to be the first to tear down their towers.
Remember middle school? All we wanted was to fit in and not get laughed at. High school? We wanted boys to notice us and to not be sitting by ourselves at lunch. We envied those who had more than us and climbing socially was permanently on our agendas. Pressure. This pressure is a giant wall just WAITING to be torn down.
Every insecurity that we let affect our actions and thoughts is a blocky shape in Tetris that gets us closer and closer to "Game Over". How do we tear it down? To be clear, if we let Him, Jesus could break down this wall with one breath. However, that would require lots of courage that we may need to build up first. The bible teaches us to love our neighbor, not to be jealous, and live wholly for God. If we take each situation and each pressure we feel from society and use our faith to battle it, we slowly tear down our walls that keep us from living the way God wants us to.


Station 2: Fruit Ninja
Go with me on this one. Ninjas fight, and we all get into it sometimes whether we mean to or not. The point to make with this one is Fair Fighting. We discussed how to disagree with someone without trying to prove the other person wrong -and that it IS ok to not have the last word.
No, I didn't give the students machetes and cantaloupes to chop. Instead, I set up a laser course made with red string with bells attached to them (like that scene from Oceans 11). The string was strung at different angles and slants that the students had to maneuver through to get to the other side. For the fruit, I peeled and halved lemons and limes that they had to keep in their mouth until they reached the end. The kids were helping each other and cheering and figuring out the course together. This activity produces many hilarious pictures an videos!


Station 3: My Calendar
Believe it or not, My Calendar was a very popular app. I made a simple point that we need to make time for God in our schedules. We need to spend the time reading the Bible and talking to Him and taking time to listen.
I shamelessly plugged the youth group events that were coming up in the near future and wrote them on separate sheets of paper with their dates on them. I separated the group into 2 teams. Each team got a dart gun and were prompted to race each other to hit all of the events on My Calendar. This game was easy and fun!

Station 4: Temple Run
For this App, I tried to illustrate that church is much more than a building. Church is a place for real relationships and a place to build life skills that bring us closer to God. When we are feeling damaged, hurt, scared and under pressure, we need to run to church. Retreat to this place that knows when we aren't there, cares about us, and helps us figure out how to handle the blows life throws at us.
I used masking tape to build this course. It was basically a line that made a circle that had gaps in it. To complete the course, the students had to run along this line and jump across the gaps. I had someone waiting with silly string at one of the gaps to spray the jumpers for an added obstacle. We timed the students and tried to beat the best time. This was hilarious and fun and everyone was having a great time!

I loved this event because it is current and mashed up popular apps with bible points. I had a lot of fun planning this one and am encouraged to keep coming up with original ideas! Comment or Link me to some of your YG activities! I want to read all about creative ways to engage students!