Long Nights, Hurt Students, and Spots to fill

I think this is something that most youth pastors know very well. The nights are never short, there is always a student to talk to and it seems like I am always trying to fill spots for camp. I don't know how you feel about these things, but I wouldn't change them for the world. There are some people that I think God has just wired to work with students and I feel like one of them. I have often had people ask me: "Neal, when are you gonna be an associate pastor?" or "Neal, don't you ever want to do something more than that youth gig?"
To me its not "a youth gig" to me this is life. This is what God has created me for. Last night was long, and we had students that hearts are broken. It just hit me, again, that we live in a place that is not perfect. We strive for the place that is perfect, where we get to see God face to face and we can be done with this world. We don't live for what we can see, but for a place far better than here.
I will always have long nights, there will always be students to pray with and encourage and I one day, hopefully, we will fill the spots for camp. But until then I will keep getting up every day to: Love God, Love my Wife and do my best to point students to Jesus. They need it so bad, so please pray for them whenever you get the time!

“Nobody Made It!”

Kepler, the astronomer, was troubled by one of his friends who denied the existence of God and took the view of the universe which prevails in some circles today, namely, that it came into being of itself by mechanical methods. Kepler, in order to convince his friend, constructed a model of the sun with the planets circling round it.
When his friend came into the Observatory and saw the beautiful model, he exclaimed with delight, “How beautiful it is! Who made it?” And Kepler carelessly answered, “No one made it: it made itself.” His friend looked at him and said, “Nonsense, tell me who made it.” Kepler then replied, “Friend, you say that this little toy could not make itself. It is but a very weak imitation of this great universe which, I understood, you believe did make itself.”
—A. Naismith

The world needs you and I

God builds his kingdom primarily through ordinary people who are willing to use daily encounters to tell others about the salvation that is available in Jesus Christ.
-- Anthony Campolo

School, School and more School!

Tonight is a long one for me. I am a wuss now that I am old, I love to be in bed by like 10. I just finished my homework and it was a killer. I read a book tonight and just wrote a two page report on it. That would not be so bad in itself, but I did this on Monday night also. Tuesday night I was our Middle School Ministry and Wednesday night I was at our HS ministry. It has been a long week. I have school tomorrow night and Saturday morning. I have a 15 page paper and a written final due on Dec. 7th and I have NO clue when I will get to them. I am just tired of school right now and needed some time to vent.

If you read this and Love Jesus, will you please pray for me to finish school strong. I know that I am learning so much and it is good. I am in a leadership class and I want to be a better leader and I love the books, its just so much info to process.
Thanks for reading my rant!

PDYM

http://www.pdymblog.com/

A good laugh

Last night my pastor came to stop in and hang out with us for our High School Ministry. I was a little nervous, but not really. I was speaking on gossip and confronting issues when people talk about you. We are doing a series called Mind Games that looks at the Sermon on the Mount.
I asked one of my student leaders to find a clip from Mean Girls that would help show what not to do in a situation. The clip was great, I was laughing out loud... and then it happened. The girl said "f-ing". She didn't say the "f word", but she said "f-ing" I was scared. Then as the clip ended the girl says to the other girl: "catch you later beotch". I was so nervous, but realized that it had happened.
Just had to share that with you all.

Quote of the Day

Martin Luther King, Jr. -
"A man who won't die for something is not fit to live."

Death

Last night I preformed my first funeral service; it was hard. I will never forget the call that I got received ten days ago from one of my boys. He called at 9:45pm sobbing, he was broken. I was broken. How do you help a young man bury his father? How do you comfort a person who has lost someone? I was so nervous preparing do the service, I was scared. We arrived for the service last night and spent time with the family.
The service started and I asked God to help me. I prayed for God to guide and lead me. The thing that God did last night was show people that we are the ones who are left here to deal with death. It is our choice as to how we will lead our lives. God moved. I was able to share the Gospel of Jesus Christ with the group of people that showed up and God moved. It was such an amazing service. I feel honored to know the family and honored to have shared in life with them.
Don't miss out on being involved in people's lives, we are not meant to do life alone. We are meant to die alone. God has a plan for us. Read John 14:1-6.

Lost it all

I wish that I could pretend that this was going to be happy. I got a call from my dad yesterday on our way home. I asked how he was doing and he told me that he was at a friends house because he lost his home. He and his wife were outside yesterday trying to get their carport back together because the winds were so bad. At 2:30pm the fire came over the hill (he lives in Santa Clarita). He told me that he went inside to get his car keys and check book, by the time they were leaving the house was on fire. He told me he was battling the flames to get out of his property (he has about 10 acres). He got some clothes from a friend and then stayed at another friends house last night. He went to his property today and his home is gone. My dad lost everything. Please pray for him, his name is Don Benson. Him and his wife are ok which is by God’s Grace. I am not sure where my dad is at with God, but please keep him in your prayers. I am praying that I will be able to go help him out next week with anything that he needs.

Hola

"How far you go in your life depends on your being tender with theyoung,compassionate with the aged, sympathetic with the striving, and tolerantofthe weak and strong. Because someday in your life you will have been allofthese."
- George Washington Carver

Studying David

I have been studying David for this series we are doing in our HS ministry and David was truly a man after the heart of God. David really lived a life that was worth living. You have to check some of these verses:

But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The Lord does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”1 Samuel 16:7

David said to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the Lord Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 1 Samuel 17:45

In everything he did he had great success, because the Lord was with him. 1 Samuel 18:14

He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lift my hand against him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” 1 Samuel 24:5-6

Check it!

I think that this is one of the gnarliest websites that I have been to. It will really open up your eyes:
http://www.poodwaddle.com/worldclock.htm

Just call me Rev!

Ok, just kidding. But for real, this last Sunday September 23rd was my ordination service and it was so amazing. I am so pumped to have completed this. If you would have told me 8 years ago that I would be an ordained Pastor I would have laughed in your face and took another sip of my beer, for real. But over the last 7 years and 7 months God has changed this man. God has grown this scared, mislead kid into a man that loves Him.
My mom, dad, sister, Jerry, and Marilyn all came out for the service to support me. My kids were there in full effect and a bunch of people from our church that love me. Do you ever think: "I wonder what they see in me?" Cause at times I dont see it.
I have to step back and realize that God has a huge plan for my life and your life. It is just our job to surrender to that plan (which is super hard) and trust in Him (which can be ever harder). Focus on God and things seem to be alot more manageable.

Back in Vegas

I'm back in Vegas today. 6 days ago Charity and I went to CO for 3 days got home for 24 hours and then got on a plane for something I look forward to every year: The Gathering. The Gathering is a time to connect with like-minded youth workers all over the states. We had a great time laughing, connecting, sharing, coaching and coming up with new ideas together. This is by far something that I look forward to every year that I can attend.
This year Charity came and I needed that. I spend too much time traveling and being away that having her with was so great.

We shall never know all the good that a simple smile can do.
- Mother Teresa

Balls of Fury Review:

I really thought that this movie would be more inappropriate then it really was. Don't get me wrong there were some scenes in it that were crazy, but not as bad as I had expected. My review is that it was hilarious. I laughed my booty off. My wife and I went with some students and were kinda scared of what it would be like. There was a humor in this movie that I haven't seen in a long time. The humor was creative and used at a great time. They used some funny lines and brought some characters that I have no idea of what was coming.

Christopher Walken was amazing!!! I loved his character and the Chinese Master was a great man. I laughed every time he was moved to talk to someone. He had some lines that the movie could have done without. I almost said; "Welcome to America" but there has to be a way to get this funny humor without the dirty words, I really think it could be done. If you want to see some dumb humor and have a great laugh then you gotta see this flick!
BTW: Panda's dead.

You have to ride a Mule

This is short but sweet. Charity and I just took a Mule ride to the bottom of the Grand Canyon. It was so amazing. We met my Mom and Jerry at the North Rim a week ago and had a rad cabin to stay at. We stayed about 300 feet from the rim of the Grand Canyon. If you ever can go to the North Rim and take the Mule ride. Here is our pic, it was so fun!!!

This is half way down, there is a tunnel, a bridge and a great place to eat some grub down at the bottom by a sweet river.

When will it stop?

I don't know about you but I feel like we live in a society that is just so hurt and so bitter. This last weekend I went down to So Cal because my sister was getting baptized and Charity was in a wedding so it worked for me to fly in late Saturday night. Now this is one of those trips I will never forget. My plane landed in Orange County Airport 20 min early, which never happens. I was sitting on the bench waiting for my brother-in-law, Kevin, to come and get me.

As I was waiting I like to people watch, not sure how you all feel about that, but there was man standing in the close lane and talking on the phone. There was a woman behind him and her ride was pulling in and this man was standing right in the path that the truck needed to get his friend. Well this man on his cell phone starts yelling at the lady and then trying to get in her face, I was appalled. I grew in So Cal and I could not believe the way this man was acting. He was swearing at this women and the man who had come to get her, I was just really shocked at the situation and how someone could be so mad about something so little.

Well Kevin came and got me came a couple minutes later and we started driving back to his house. We were driving and chatting and just catching up. See just about four weeks ago my sister and Kevin had the toughest baby in the world, you just cant call him beautiful because he is a boy. So we are driving and there is man on the other side of the road and it’s dark and he was crossing the street. Well this lady driving starts yelling at him and swearing at him and just going crazy. She like totally slowed down so that he would hear all that she had to say and the dude just went off, there was middle fingers blaring and hate flying. I make it sound funny, but it really hurt my heart to think of all the pain that is in the world right now.

HUME

Hume Lake: July 22-28 2007
This year we took our HS ministry to Hume Lake and it was so tight. We had the best week I had had at camp in a long time. The messages that were given were just what I needed to hear. We talked about Daniel and looked at Shadrach, Meshach and Abendigo in a light I had never thought of.
The camp did all this to a Viking theme and made it so amazing. I continually feel honored to work with students and that God would use me. We a handful of students make life changing decisions and it is always a rad feeling to be a part of that.
Thank you Jesus for all I get to do.

Greek

Have you ever heard someone talking and they told you: "its all Greek to me."
Well that is how I still feel. I am currently in my fourth quarter of learning Greek and it's so stinking hard. One, of the many things, that taking this course has taught me is that hard things have a great reward. Learning Greek has been extremely hard, but so beneficial. I have learned so much about the original language that the Bible was written in. When you see some of the words and begin to understand what the meaning is and how it was used it really grabs your heart.
I know that most people will probably read this and just go on, but if you ever get the chance to take a Greek class, by all means please do it!!!