23 Signs Your an Introvert

I've talked about my introverted tendencies before on this blog.  I know myself.

I just saw the list linked below on Huffington Post.  There is only one that doesn't necessarily apply at this moment in time and I HIGHLY identify with #1, 7, 10, 13, 14, 15...well, okay, most all of them.

For all those who ask how I can be an introvert and yet get up and speak in front of a lot of people with calm and ease...see #8.

For all those who attempt to get me to do things and I put you off for long periods of time, see #10 and 23.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/20/introverts-signs-am-i-introverted_n_3721431.html?utm_hp_ref=mostpopular

Same statement, different venue

"We want new people!  We want to reach a younger audience!  We will fight change tooth and nail!  The new people must come in and like to do things the same way we have since the beginning of time!'

Having spent most of my working years in a church setting, I was under the illusion that this type of thinking occurred mostly in churches.  It doesn't.

One of the last times I heard Youth Specialties co-Founder Mike Yaconelli talk, he made the statement "When you do what you always do, you get what you always get."  My notes from that talk wound up on a bulletin board next to my desk and I read that statement over and over and over again.  It was hard to implement change, simply because it was easier to just keep doing what I had been doing.  Changes did happen, though, because I got tired of getting what I always got.

Fast forward years and I'm in a different job, no longer in full-time ministry (though I am going to be volunteering on a regular basis in someone else's youth group...eek!) and working with some who have been asked to think outside the box.  Guess what?  The people who have been in the game a long time don't want no stinkin' change.  Just come in and do things like they have always been done.  It's worked for us before, it will work again.  They say they want to attract younger people but...

The worse part?  Grown-ups who act like teenagers but say they are grown-ups.  I've worked with teenagers...I like them better than faux grown-ups.

There's a country song playing in my head right now...anyone want to take a guess as to what it is?  =)

Yesterday in Worship

I volunteered to run the sound system and computer for the worship service yesterday.  I  always go into those mornings nervously.  I contend that sound systems and other media items in churches are inhabited by little gremlins that like to (dilemma here, do I use the word I really want to or do I edit myself?) make even the most basic, non-eventful morning go haywire. (Edited version, in case you were wondering.)

It all was going well until I put the CD in to play before worship and the sound didn't come through the speakers. I checked all the buttons, looked to make sure it was playing and still nothing. So I looked at the myriad of wires spilling around the sound board and attempted to ascertain if the CD player was, in fact, plugged into the sound board.  Seconds later I looked up and saw the blue screen of death.  Not on the computer but from the projector.  Oh s......................  I jiggled wires, I checked connections, I looked at the time and knew Plan B had to happen...what Plan B was I had no idea.  I raced down to the main floor, alerted the worship leaders and raced back up to jiggle wires some more. Finally I found the one connection seeming to be the issue and we were back in black. Hal-le-luh-jah!!!  I was then afraid to touch anything for fear of that blue screen of death returning...seriously hate that screen.

We still went with Plan B. Instead of previously chosen songs that needed to be projected on the screen, we had a hymn sing of sorts.  This was supposed to happen.  Three older people chose songs and then one of the teens from the balcony raised his hand.  "Hymn 123, please."  His choice?  O Come, O Come Emmanuel.

Now, I know this teen.  He could very well have been choosing that song because he liked that it was hymn 1,2,3.  Whatever the reason, we sang this hymn of longing, expectation and waiting and eventually celebration.  It was beautiful.

 I believe we need to sing Christmas/Advent songs all year long not just in the 4 weeks leading up to Christmas, and yesterday whether in jest or not, we did, thanks to one teenage boy.

"O Come O Come Emmanuel"

O come o come Emmanuel
And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the son of god appears

Rejoice rejoice
Emmanuel shall come to thee oh Israel

Oh come thou day-spring come and cheer
Our spirits by thine advent here
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night
And death's dark shadows put to flight

Rejoice rejoice
Emmanuel shall come to thee oh Israel

Oh come desire of nations bind
In one the hearts of all mankind
Bid thou our sad divisions cease
And be thyself our king of peace

Rejoice rejoice
Emmanuel shall come to thee oh Israel

Every so often I feel the need to say the following...

I believe in a God of mystery.

I believe in a God who's love knows no human bounds.

I believe that each person has access to God.

I believe that God works in the lives of people who believe and don't believe in God...because God so loves.

I believe that no matter how hard I try, I cannot be God.

I cannot judge a persons soul,

faith,

commitment to,

or understanding of God,

without being judged myself...and probably most likely be found lacking all of the above.

I believe God knows a heck of a lot more than I do

and I believe that when I try to deny another persons faith because they don't believe in God or follow God the same way I do, I am the hypocrite, the Pharisee, the one lacking faith in a BIG, AMAZING, MYSTERIOUS GOD.



P.S.  This list of "I believes" is not limitless or even finished because I also believe that my faith, my understanding and my belief in God is an ever evolving story...check back this list will change at some point in the future.  =)