Williams Memorial UMYF web page

Above is a link to the web page for the youth group that I'm now "Directing." Don't really know what to call it, I might describe it as playing, but my name tag says "Director..." so we'll just call it that. Anyway, check it out regularly to keep up with the goings on in my life and occupation.

Commercials are a huge part of life for most of us. Love them or hate them, we are bombarded on a daily basis with messages encouraging us to buy a new car, a candy bar, or even save money on car insurance (which is somewhat of a paradox if you think about purchasing something to save money....almost like buying a really expensive wallet). So, for those of us that haven't been blessed by such wonderful inventions like Tivo or some other type of Digital Video Recorder (DVR), we constantly see these images that are intended to inform and persuade us. While most Americans have learned to tune out this method of advertising that companies spend millions (probably even billions) of dollars on each year. I would encourage you to pay more attention to the thirty and sixty second spots that fill the space between segments of your favorite news cast, sit-com, or reality show. Why? Let me explain...

Personally, I love commercials. Somewhere in the early nineties there was a switch in the advertising techniques used by major companies. If you recall, commercials used to do more informing and persuading. As an example, you may remember the popular laundry detergent (I believe it was Tide) commercial that featured a man with two white shirts and a number of stains on both of them. The man, without speaking, would treat both of the stained shirts with Tide and "the other leading detergent." There would be a time lapse trick and when the man pulled the shirts out of their respective washers, the Tide-treated shirt would be spotless, and the non-Tide shirt would still have remnants of the stain. 

Now think of a commercial that you enjoy watching today....I'll use the Sonic commercials that have become so popular. They don't try to persuade or compare their product to anything else...they simply inform you as to what the product (new or classic) is and the characters talk a little about it, usually ending with a hilarious punch line. The theory behind this advertising is simple - get the consumer thinking about your product or service, then give them a positive (or humorous) experience to relate that product/service with and the consumer will like your product. So, now you have a positive outlook on that company/organization- you may not like Sonic hamburgers, but you "...love their commercials." 

Now to the real purpose of this entry. I was enjoying my daily dose of digital advertising when a commercial caught my attention. It was a Best Buy commercial and it portrayed a scene on Christmas morning - a young boy came down the stairs, saw all the presents and his eyes bugged out. The boy sprints across the room and dives into a pile of presents, only to emerge with one gift that was wrapped in blue paper with a yellow ribbon (Best Buy's colors) Then a narrorator said something to the effect of "Give them a gift that will 'wow' them this Christmas." I feel this commercial also has a bit of social commentary within it. Sometimes we invest so much in the "giving" of the season that we forget what the season is all about and all the other wonderful things that come with Christmas. We forget that long ago we were given a gift that had no price tag, a gift that was wrapped...but not in blue wrapping paper. It seems that we get caught up trying to "wow" each other with our gifts and the season passes us by without any recollection or realization of the fact that a miracle is the cause for this celebration. It was a miracle for the reason we call it a miracle...not because it "wow-ed" us, but because it was so incredible and improbable. So, amidst all the shopping and spending, I wonder - Will you allow God to 'wow' you this year?

After a three month hiatus in the xanga world, I feel that I am ready to get back into things like this reflection/sharing journaling. Yeah, I'm back and better than ever cause I'm using words like 'hiatus.' Well, just to fill you in since it's been almost 100 days since my last entry...

September was a busy month....work, getting older, remembering other important dates for some of my favorite people. But to tell the truth, I don't really remember much about September. I know I went to a Goo Goo Dolls/Counting Crows concert in Houston and that was pretty amazing. A week later I found myself at a Pat Green concert right here in good ole Tex-of-arkana.

October was even busier (I know, hard to imagine but it was) I went to my first football game at Kyle Field (Texas A&M) and saw the aggies beat the Missouri Tigers. Then on the 15th I began a two week marathon of a fund raiser with the youth group. The Pumpkin Patch ran for 16 days and I was at the church for at least an hour for every day of that stretch. It was exhausting but rewarding. I was happy to have the chance to hang out with some of the youth while they were working the patch and also got to see over 1000 preschool and kindergarten kids come through to learn about pumpkins in the mornings! When I think about the Pumpkin Patch I think about how chaotic the whole thing was, and how wonderful it was to see kids being kids and causing that chaos. It just seems to me that kids don't have a chance to be children anymore....that they're expected to "behave" and "be quiet" far too often. Maybe I just see kids in the wrong settings, and I know I don't have to put up with it all day, but it saddens me when I see children being shushed for just being who they are - energetic and excited about life...maybe some people shush them cause they're subconsciously jealous of what the child has - enthusiasm. Just some food for thought.

November has been good to me. I enjoyed the first day of November off as a much needed break from the Pumpkin Patch. Since then, I've seen another aggie game, gone ice skating for the first time in years and had a parents meeting. Last weekend I stayed here in Texarkana and celebrated the holiday with Stacey's family. It was fun meeting new people and of course there was the food, which I ate too much of I might add. But being away from home during Thanksgiving for the first time in my life got me to thinking. It first hit me when I realized that all the foods I was accustomed to weren't there. Don't get me wrong, there was lots of good food and I enjoyed it, but there's just something comforting about seeing that dish that you only have on Thanksgiving at home. Another thing I missed was all the stories that are told every year around the table. I even missed the embarassing one about me when I discovered that canned beets look way too much like canned cranberries... or the one about me when I found the pumpkin pie cooling on the table and just couldn't help myself... All this got me to thinking about traditions and what they mean to us. Traditions make things feel right, they make them feel normal. Non-traditional things may be great in their own way, but you just cannot take the place of a good old fashioned tradition. I'm not looking for pity or anything like that. I had a wonderful Thanksgiving and I don't want to trade it in for a redo, I'm simply reflecting and realizing that life is changing all around me....sure it can be scary, but like any good roller coaster ride...it's the scary parts that make it worth standing in line.

I hope that I won't abandon the world of xanga for  such long periods in between updates for a while, but I can't make any guarantees.

Currently Listening Let Love In By The Goo Goo Dolls #5 Without You Here see related

so, it's been over a month since my last update. a lot has happened since then...mostly huge life events. let's see if i can summarize and give you the Cliff's Notes version (those were always my favorite in high school and lit. classes in college) ps- it feels really odd to be saying "...when I was in college..." now

PT ended in late July, I was relieved for the release of responsibility (notice the alliteration) but there were a few casualties -  In all the craziness of checking people out of their rooms and packing up all my stuff, I managed to leave behind four of my favorite hats. Yes, I lost the blue Duke hat I'd had since freshman year of college, the Stars hat I'd had since 7th grade, the Rockwall hat I'd had since Junior year of high school, and a relatively young Oklahoma State hat. I did not realize I'd left them until the next morning, after calling Stacey and a valiant effort by her and Liz....it was determined that I would never see those hats again. After a brief spell of separation anxiety, I got online and managed to find a replica replacement hat for the blue Duke hat...so there is always a bright side. Now I just have to break that hat in.

On August 6th I began my new job as Director of Youth Ministries at Williams Memorial United Methodist Church. So far, it's been great. The church is great and the town is amazing when you compare it to Arkadelphia....but it's a little bit like the delph in that wal mart is only five minutes away = far too accessible for my own good. Anyway, my mother came last weekend and brought furniture for my new duplex that I moved into on August 14th. It's starting to feel like home more and more and soon it will be a sweet bachelor pad. Anyway, I hope this is a suitable summary of the events of my life over the past six weeks.

Currently Listening Live at Billy Bob's Texas By Pat Green #12 Songs About Texas see related

this weekend was good. Saturday I drove to Greenville to meet some of the members of the youth group at WMUMC. They're a great group of kids and I look forward to getting to know them and becoming an active part of their lives. For the first time in my life I think I'm looking forward to school starting so that I can go to all of their activities - games, performances etc. It's amazing to me that part of my job is to go to football games, concerts, plays, and so much more. I guess I'm really looking forward to school starting because I get to do all the fun extra-curricular things and don't have to go to classes, take tests, or write papers! I'm excited about moving, but still feeling a little lost as I don't have an apartment just yet. I'll be staying with a congregation member in Texarkana until I can find a place of my own.

I had an interesting experience last Thursday night outside of a local Kroger. I was standing outside of the door waiting (with another intern) for the last two shoppers to finish when all of the sudden, two rather large African American men start shouting at each other. I can't repeat much of what they said, well...I can, but I won't for obvious reasons. Anyway, it escalated rather quickly and soon one of them was skipping backwards away from the other who had pulled a knife and was holding it in a threatening manner by his side. Well, they kind of went to the end of the empty parking lot, then started walking back side by side but still talking very heatedly. I thought things were calming down and people stayed around to watch it. About that time, a cashier from inside (who was the girlfriend of one of them) came out and got them all excited again. Soon after a security guard from the store came out. Now the hilarity began as this scrawny security guard tried to keep two guys that were each easily 270lbs away from each other. As you might have guessed, he was not able to do so. Anyway, much to my relief, one of the guys drove off with his girlfriend after they exchanged a few punches (which, I might add looked to be in slow motion as they were such large men) Anyway, after three summers in Dallas, I finally have a story about a time when I felt like I was in (or near) a dangerous situation. It was interesting if nothing else.

 Went to the Rough Riders game last night and almost got plunked (aka hit) by a foul ball as I was walking to my seat in the first inning. It went into extra innings and I gave up at 11:15 as the game was going into the 13th inning. Turns out, the Rough Riders won it in the bottom of the thirteenth...but at least I was able to get the sleep I needed to be alert during church this morning. That's all for now.

Currently Listening Island in the Sun By Weezer see related

It has been nearly two months since my last entry. However, this long absence from the world of xanga is not due to a lack in news, quite the contrary....

Project Transformation is now 3/4 over and I have to say that it has been an interesting summer. The first few weeks kept me extremely busy and I began wondering if I would ever feel like I wasn't working 24/7. However, since mid-June I've been able to concentrate on other things: specifically the search for a job. I interviewed for three different positions in June and made my decision in late June to take a position as the Director of Youth Ministries at Williams Memorial United Methodist Church (from now on referred to as WMUMC for obvious reasons...) in Texarkana, TX. I will start on August 6th, so I have about a week between the end of PT and the move to Texarkana.

 I am excited about starting the new job and the church is experiencing wonderful changes, including a reconstruction of the youth facilities- which I'm looking forward to. I am sure that a few things will be made clear to me in the next few months, namely, why seminary just wasn't in the plans right now. Should be fun and I'm looking forward to realizing the dream of getting paid to hang out with youth.

I went putt putt golfing last weekend for the first time since leaving Arkansas, the course was actually pretty good (which I don't find often outside of the tourist trap that Arkansans call Hot Springs). It was enjoyable and even more so as I sank three holes in a single stroke (i'm still not sure of the plural form of "hole-in-one") Anyway, this weekend I'm planning on going to a Frisco Roughriders game and that should be fun. I'm also driving to Greenville, TX to meet with some of the youth from WMUMC and a few of the adult sponsors! I'm looking forward to meeting them and starting the long process (for me) of learning names.