one more goal for 2010:

tonight at the gym I was reminded of one more resolution that I have for this year:

this year is the year of the great attitude.

the year of encouragement.

the year of sparkle, of interest in others, and gladly helping others.

this is the year of no complaints.

I have blogged about some of the people that I know that have great attitudes. guys like gary and Lloyd. these guys are always glad to see me, always encouraging, always positive, and always in a great mood.

there is another person I know who works at the togo’s on Camden and almaden- whenever I go in, I always try to get to talk to her- because of her great attitude. whenever I see her I always ask, “how are you doing?” and like clockwork, she answers, “I can’t complain!” with a smile.

I want to be like her- and like Lloyd and gary, and like the many other people I know who are known for having a great attitude.

I have read several good books on the subject, and I want to implement these more than ever. I do ok at this from time to time, but this year I want a good attitude to mark me and my interactions with others. I don’t want to fake it, I just want to leave the people I meet encouraged. this is a big stretch for me; I’m a quiet person. I like being alone. I like accomplishing goals and being on time. sometimes when people discover that you’re willing to listen, they’ll just talk all day. I’m sure I’ll make mistakes, but I want to establish a habit that will begin now and continue for years to come.

Ephesians 4:29 “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen.”

God is love.

-rev-rob

out of 2009, into 2010

2009 was a big year.

some pretty significant things happened this last year-

I took 6 weeks off of work for extended leave! (well, sort of)

my kid turned 5,

I celebrated 8 years at the church, and in middle school ministry,

I got to meet and work with all kinds of new and cool people-

the church grew by a lot! and so did the middle school ministry.

and some not so great things happened this year:

my parents announced that they were splitting up.

the transmission went out in the explorer, which made a tight budget tighter.

I said goodbye to some very cool work partners

I walked with some friends through some very difficult days,

and my friend Ed passed into eternity.

some friends and I have been talking about a book called “The Black Swan” which discusses the randomness and improbability of just about everything; and here on the eve of 2010, there are a lot of Black Swans waiting to be revealed. who knows what it will bring?

who will I meet in 2010 that will change my life?

who will I say goodbye to?

what will surprise me?

what will break my heart?

with everything that DID happen this year, there are a lot of significant things that DIDN’T happen, which I can be grateful for:

I didn’t lose my job or my home- even though many did.

I didn’t lose any members of my immediate family- even though many did.

I didn’t have to move, I didn’t have to stay in the hospital, I didn’t get in a car accident- even though many had to deal with all of these.

so I’m not complaining, I recognize that I’ve been fortunate and blessed.

last year I made a few new year’s resolutions:

1. no fries

2. 250 trips to the gym

3. a 6 week vacation funded by cash, not credit.

and I’m proud to say that I did them all; well, I had a few orders of fries AFTER I hit that 250 mark.

this year I want to do all of those again plus more. my goals this year are:

1. no fries.

2. 250 trips to the gym minimum. I’m hoping to actually get to at least 275 and to 300.

3. I want to pay cash for everything. no charging at all. if the car breaks- which it always does, I might have to charge that; but other than that I don’t want to charge anything. I will probably still need to use a card to buy stuff online, but I’ll have to get creative about how to pull that off without using credit.

4. I want to take my 5 year old to Disneyland. I’ve been saying that I will do it for years, but every time, something comes up.

what will 2010 bring? we’ll see! but let’s have an attitude of expectation and wonder through it all.

God is love.

-rev-rob

tour story

when i was in high school, my youth pastor’s name was marvin. I loved that guy. I wanted to be just like him. when I graduated high school, I joined his volunteer team. when I went to college, I majored in organizational communication, so that I could be a good youth pastor- just like marvin. after college (and a “no-ministry” first year of marriage) marvin hired me to be an intern. the internship at our old church was a little different that what you usually see these days. it was a full time job, and it involved pursuing a master’s degree. I interned with marvin for 5 years. I did everything with him. we had many, many adventures together. I’m sure I could spend a lot of time and space fondly remembering them all. marvin taught me everything that I know about just about everything- especially youth ministry. in 2001, my internship at the church came to an end. on my last sunday marvin came back to the church to give a speech about me (he had left about a year before I did to pursue another ministry). when it came time for his speech, he got on stage and couldn’t say a word. he was overwhelmed with emotion and decided that he couldn’t give his speech.

as you probably know, I went on to be a youth pastor- and if you knew marvin, you would know just how much I emulate him all the time. we dress alike, carry the same bag, wear the same pen in the same way, and I say a lot of the phrases that he says. we read the same books and care passionately about the same things. we have kept up over the years, but he has never come to my new church. I’ve never invited him. I have always been a little nervous about whether he thought I was doing a good job or something.

a few months ago, marvin called and said that his ministry was going on tour, just like our old ministry used to go on tour. he asked if his group could stay at the church overnight. and it worked out for everyone’s schedule. his group rolled in late last night and I felt like I was transported back in time to when I was in high school, on tour, and running all over the state with my friends and marvin. I showed marvin around the church. I was so proud to show him all of the amazing things that God has blessed our ministry with. this morning, I sat in on marvin’s bible study time that he had with his group. he asked me to introduce myself and after a few words I said, “when I was your age I didn’t know what I wanted to do with my life- until I met marvin. and then I decided that I just wanted to be like him. and I’ve spent the last 8 and a half years being like marvin- and its served me pretty well. it would serve you well as well.” I didn’t expect getting emotional, but I did. (its been happening a lot lately). marvin stopped to pray for me and the ministry and he said something to the effect of, “God, I’m so proud of rob…” and then he just stopped- just like on my last sunday; overcome with emotion again.

I was so good to hear him do a sermon again and to watch him encourage staff and students. it was like coming back to home base for a minute, getting refreshed and reminded what its all about before getting back into the fight. it was like going home again.

we’ve had our moments where we didn’t see eye to eye over the years, but I still love the guy- and I still model much of what I do on the pattern that he has set. I thank God that he gave me a mentor like that. I don’t know where I’d be or what I’d be doing if I hadn’t met him. all that is to say that I come away from our time together very encouraged, and ready for what’s next.

God is love.

-rev-rob

another chapel story

last week I spoke at a local Christian school that many of our students attend. I started off with a reader’s theater style Christmas pageant, where students volunteered to be one of the characters in the Christmas story, and read their lines off of the screen. after that, I closed with some thoughts on Christmas.
I started taking volunteers. one girl that goes to our group, Elizabeth, really wanted to play the angel Gabriel. after we chose all of the characters, our play began. there was only one problem- the school that we were at had a messed up projector, and you couldn’t really see the words on the slides. this was especially hard for Elizabeth the angel, because Gabriel has a lot of lines in the Christmas story.
we got to one part, my favorite part, and there was just no way that Elizabeth was going to be able to read the lines of the story off of the slide- it was too messed up.
I said to her, “do you want to just read my script?”
she said, “no- I’ve been memorizing this verse- I can just say it from memory.”
then she turned to her peers in the crowd, held out her arms and said loudly:
“Do not be afraid! I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people! Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you! He is Christ the Lord! This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."
then the crowd of students in the audience played the company of angels.
they read their part off of the screen and loudly shouted:
“Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."


and the beauty of the story came alive to me all over again.


merry Christmas!
God is love.
-rev-rob

tenderloin story

we’re doing part of our next missions trip in the tenderloin district of san Francisco. so, me and my friends paco and makepa went down there yesterday to meet with the organization that we’re serving. going to the tenderloin is always an experience. there are people everywhere. some are sleeping, some are arguing, some are just yelling and someone who isn’t there. as we drove in, we actually saw a man tapping out the bubbles in his syringe while sitting on the sidewalk in front of a strip club.


we were walking toward the school that we’re serving at when we saw a lady screaming at someone. she was just yelling random phrases at no one. I asked my friends where the school was, and they said that it was right next to her. great. as we got closer, she started yelling at me. she shouted out, “DO YOU KNOW THAT GUY?! DO YOU LIKE HIM?! DO YOU KNOW HIM?!” I got to the door of the school and it was locked. I kind of panicked. she came closer and she had a lighter that she was pointing toward me saying, “DO YOU KNOW HIM?!” I said, “I don’t know who he is!” she yelled out, “YES YOU DO! I’M JANET JACKSON!” finally the door opened and a man inside quickly got us in. he said, “I see you’ve met janet Jackson….”


we told him that we needed to meet a lady named mary; but her office was down the street. when we went out the door again, it started snowing in san Francisco! the man went back inside and called all of the kids out. they were thrilled. but then miss Jackson came back and started yelling at the kids. the adults quickly got the kids back inside…all but one. one kid quickly poked his head out of the door and shouted out, “what-you-doing’-out-of-JAIL-girl?!” I laughed so hard I almost fell over.

it was great to share the snow with those kids and to see how they handled a lady that kind of freaked me out.

fresh-beat-jane

here is my kid doing the choreography to a show on tv called fresh beat band. she matches them pretty well. when she gets on the ground she's breakdancing.

fresh beat jane from rob walter on Vimeo.

chapel story

this morning, I spoke at our school's chapel, just like I do eavery monday. I spoke from the Christmas series that I did last yaer for the youth group- its a series calll AMONG US; where I start with the cross, and work backwards through jesus' life to His birth at Christmas. its an idea that I swiped from erwin mcmanus.

so today, I started with the Cross- its a Gospel message, and I made up my mind that I was going to swing for the fences and give it everything I had.

towards the end of my message I said something like, "check this verse out- my daughter quoted it for me a few weeks ago, and I almost burst into tears...actually, I might just burst into tears right now:

romans 5:8: "but God demonstrates his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

and right there in front of 200 middle schoolers, I did just that-

I burst into tears.

God is love.

-rev-rob

small group story

its 6:30am, I just finished my Thursday morning prayer meeting, and I wanted to share a story before I forgot it.


the guys I pray with on Thursdays lead a small group of middle school boys with special needs. by the time these guys got to their small group, a lot had already happened that night. there was a lot of emotion in the air. we had just played a long, crazy game, and these boys did a great job, but ended coming in third place. also, earlier in the night, one of the boys from this group was in tears over something that happened while he was playing a videogame in our game room. when this small group started after the group game, another boy, I’ll call him Joey had his back turned to his small group and had his face in a chair. when the leaders of the small group asked him what was wrong, he too was upset over coming in third place in the night’s game. another boy was being silly as usually and was sitting upside down in his chair. honestly, I don’t know how these guys do it, but they always manage to have incredible small group meetings with these boys; and they always show an amazing level of patience and grace. these guys are heroes.


the night’s topic was evangelism. one of the leaders mentioned that a great way to tell someone about jesus is to just tell them your story of what Jesus has done in your life. the boys loved the idea and began to take turns telling their story. the first boys that went was the boy I mentioned earlier, Joey. he told the boys that he prayed to receive Christ in his bedroom, the day that he had been diagnosed with autism. he shared that he felt helpless and cried out to God, and God met him there, and that he had been following Christ ever since. this silly, emotional group of boys were silent and locked onto this boy as he wept and shared how good God had been to him and how his diagnosis led him to Christ. the men who were leading the small group shared that they knew that they were in God’s presence as Joey shared.


they shared with me how they were reminded of what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12, “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”


my friend Joey is strong; and God's power flowed through his weakness and his story on Tuesday night. God's grace is enough for Joey; its enough for me, and enough for you.
there are some other details to the story, and I guess I could write some more, but the words of Scripture are so profound in this moment, that its better that I just let them speak:


“But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”


God is love.
-rev-rob

lectio divina:: john part 2

Like I just said, I just finished the gospel of john. Towards the end is the familiar confrontation between Jesus and Pilate. The Jews bring Jesus to Pilate and want Pilate to crucify Him. The only problem is that Pilate doesn’t want to. He questions Jesus and doesn’t see anything that Jesus has done that is worthy of crucifixion. Pilate passes Jesus off to hero, but eventually it’s just Jesus and Pilate again. What is he supposed to do? He doesn’t want to execute this guy but there is a rabid crowd outside that wants Him dead. Even piate’s wife had a dream the night before and warned him to leave Jesus alone. There is this interesting part at the end of john where Pilate has Jesus flogged and has him handed back to the Jewish leaders. He says, “Take him yourselves and crucify him,” Pilate said. “I find him not guilty.”
The Jewish leaders replied, “By our law he ought to die because he called himself the Son of God.”
When Pilate heard this, he was more frightened than ever. He took Jesus back into the headquarters again and asked him, “Where are you from?” But Jesus gave no answer. “Why don’t you talk to me?” Pilate demanded. “Don’t you realize that I have the power to release you or crucify you?”
Then Jesus said, “You would have no power over me at all unless it was given to you from above. So the one who handed me over to you has the greater sin.”


So at this point, Pilate is wondering if this guy might really BE the son of God-
But then the Jewish leaders kick their game up a notch. They say: “If you release this man, you are no ‘friend of Caesar.’ Anyone who declares himself a king is a rebel against Caesar.”
So in a sense, they say, “if you let Jesus go, this will get back to your boss and you will be fired.”
What do you do?


We all know the story- Pilate released Barabbas and had Jesus crucified.
I always feel sorry for Pilate. He seems to be put in a no-win situation.
As I was thinking about this today, it dawned on me that I feel sorry for him because I often feel the same way as a youth pastor.


There are things that God wants me to do- but they aren’t popular.
God wants students to connect in groups, to study the Bible, to say no to sin, to be held accountable, to pray and to serve the poor. those things don't pack the house out like games and pizza.
I want to do those things because I know that those things are right, but there is this sense in me that there is this rabid crowd out there that doesn’t want what’s right. They just want games and candy and free time. They just want to flirt or break things and end the serious stuff as early as possible. And there is this sense that if I don’t keep this rabid crowd happy that it will get back to my bosses and I’ll be fired.


and its not just with students- with anyone- there are moments where you think to yourself, "I should say something" or "I should do something." but you don't for fear that this person will not like you ro respect you or stop being your friend; so instead of doing what's right, we just cave in, to keep everyone happy.


Now- none of those things are reality, its all just in my head. Just like Pilate, I need to do what I know is right, whether it’s popular or not.
We all do.

God is love.
-rev-rob

lectio divina:: john part 1

I just finished reading through the gospels and specifically, the gospel of john. there is a mysterious unnamed disciple in john’s gospel named “the disciple jesus loved.” this disciple is mentioned 5 times in john’s gospel. this disciple reclined next to jesus at the last supper. this disciple was put in charge of taking care of jesus’ mother, mary. this disciple was one of the first to be told that jesus had risen from the dead, and he was the first of the disciples to recognize jesus after He had risen from the dead. and this disciple was the one that jesus was speaking of when He said that He would not be martyred.


it doesn’t take long to figure out that “the disciple that jesus loved” in the gospel of john, is john himself. when john wrote this gospel this is how he referred to himself; but I think it was more than that- I think it is how he saw himself. john had a constant sense- even into his old age (because the gospel of john was written late in his life) that he was the recipient off Christ’s love. “the disciple whom jesus loved” wasn’t a nickname for john, it was his identity. it was who he was; and how he saw himself.


what if we all saw ourselves that way? wouldn’t that make life easier and less stressful? what if we all were able to say, in our most difficult moments, “I am loved by Christ, right now. Right now He loves me and is directing His love toward me. I am the disciple whom jesus loves.” maybe that would help us to keep our cool and to make better decisions under fire. maybe that would help us to be gracious even when we are under pressure. maybe that’s what helped john stand up to the roman empire and refuse to stop speaking of Christ. maybe that’s why they exiled him instead of beheading him- because they could tell just by being with him that he was loved by Christ. understanding that you are loved by christ changes everything.


when you are loved by jesus, that is enough. you don't need to put on a song and dance to get others to love you. you are already loved; perfectly and infinitely. you don't need to be afraid, because you are loved- and just as the scriptures say, "perfect love drives out fear." love changes everything.


you are loved by God. He loved you so much that He gave His life for you on the cross. the bible asks the question, “if God did not spare His Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things?” jesus calls you friend. you are the disciple jesus loves.
believe that.


God is love.
-rev-rob