It’s Not You, It’s Me

January 21, 2010

superstippy Life Leave a comment

Dear T.V.,

It’s not you, it’s me.

I need a break.

I’ve spent a lot of time with you lately. And I thank you for making time for me. We share a lot of things together. We laugh, we investigate, and sometimes I almost cry with you. You’ve been a really good friend, but I think we both know that we’re a little unhealthy for each other. I mean, I know I’m willing to admit that you can be for me.

Like last year, I NEVER saw you…and I’m still alive. Will it be hard to not know what’s going on with my friends over at How I Met Your Mother, and not get the bad guy with my partners at NCIS? Yeah. I’ll even miss chasing the psychos with the BAU, trying to change the future with the folks on FlashForward. And oh so many other things. But I think this is best for us. Maybe I’ll appreciate you more, and be a little more selective about the time we spend together.

So, my dear, dear friend, starting Monday I’ll see you in 40 days. I hope that you stay safe during that time.

Lots of love,

David

P.S. I’ll check you out during the Super Bowl.

The Weekend

January 21, 2010

superstippy Life , , Leave a comment

Alright. So, this is a few days late (not in the sense that you were on the edge of your seat waiting for my new blog post, but in the sense that it is Wednesday, and I am writing a blog about last weekend). So sue me. Won’t do you any good though, all I’ve really got to my name is this computer. And if you got that I wouldn’t be able to blog anymore. If that’s your goal though…good job trickster. Good job.

Anyway. The Weekend.

Friday night and part of the day Saturday was our Youth Ministers Retreat (We call all of our youth workers ministers. That’s Biblical. 1 Peter 2:9-10). It was a ton of fun. Friday night, we waited entirely too long for our pizza, talked about loving the kid that is hard for us to love, and then spent a lot of time hanging out talking and playing games. Saturday morning Shanna did an awesome time talking with us about Think Orange, and making our Youth Ministry more family driven (She did an awesome job by the way), and Michael talked to us about adding a little more pizzaz into our Life Groups (Sunday School), and gave me a few things to think about in the way of what I do on Sunday mornings.

To be honest with you, a lot of times, I complain that everyone I hang out with is in their thirties, and I don’t have a lot of friends my age, but Friday night reminded me that these are the people that I haven chosen to be doing life with. And I was reminded why. I love all of those married couples that I spend the majority of my time hanging out with. They not only pour into my life and minister to me on a regular basis, but they allow me to pour into and minister to them in ways that I don’t always realize at the time it is happening. I realized that even though most of them are at different life stages than me, I am very blessed to be journeying with these people. So, to all of you who were on the retreat with us (AND to those of you who weren’t able to make it), I love you guys a ton, and I am having a blast doing what I get to do with you guys! Thanks!

So anyway. I come home, and I end up spending quite a while hanging out with my brother over at his house. This is something that I don’t do nearly as much as I’d like. He spanked me in 6 games of chess. About four moves into the 7th game, I Was tired of being beat, and I knocked all of the pieces off of the board. APPARENTLY…this is NOT proper chess etiquette. I had a great time though, and want to make it a point to go get beat by him as often as possible. So, to you big brother, I love you a ton, and am enjoying hanging out with you more these days.

On Sunday I drove out to Waco after Life Groups for the birthday party of a very good friend. He turned 22 this last week, so some of us got together to celebrate. I had a ton of fun, and got to see some of my friends (who happen to be my age) that I don’t get to see that often. It was a great day of eating, Beatles Rock Banding, Golden Globe watching, and just hanging out and catching up. Just like the youth ministers I work with, I was reminded of why these people mean so much to me, and how blessed I am to be doing life with them as well. So, to all of you at the Mike Jones Birthday Party ’10, you’re great friends, and I am lucky to have you in my life.

Thanks for a great weekend folks!

Cheers,

Stippick

Dear Son,

January 16, 2010

superstippy Life Leave a comment

I’ve wanted to write to you for a while, but didn’t know exactly how to say what it is I wanted to say.

I guess it comes down to this: I love you. I always have. Since the day I  found out you were on your way. The Bible says that children are a gift, and I won’t be able to wait until you arrive. The day you get here is going to be in the top five best days of my life. To be fair, three of the others are the day I met Jesus, the day I marry your mom, and the day we get your sister. I’m not entirely sure what the other one will be, but I’m sure there is some kind of other milestone that will rank up there.

I digress.

Watching you grow up will be one of the most exciting things I’ll ever experience. I can’t wait to see your first steps, and your first smile. I can’t wait to hear your first laugh, and hear you speak your first words (Which had better be some form of “daddy”…). There will be a lot of firsts. First days of school, first skinned knee, first best friend, first world ending melt down. I’m looking forward to that one. Maybe there will be a first favorite sport, song, or book. I want to be able to remember all of those.

When you’re a kid, I plan to make it my personal mission to be at every school play, sporting event, or piano recital you have. Whatever your passion is, I want to support it. I’m sorry if it doesn’t always seem that way, or if I ever let my work get in the way of that (Although if I continue “work” like I am now…this shouldn’t be a problem).

I’m going to treat you like a prince. Because you are. You’re a child of God, who is the king. Don’t get me wrong, you’ll still get disciplined, and when you get upset with me for it, I’ll have to remind myself of how much the Bible reminds us that God centered discipline is vital for raising a child. I’ll probably have to remind myself equally as often how much it talks about love and grace. And I’ll need to remember myself at your age. While I wish you would just learn from me telling you about mistakes I’ve made, I know that there are some things you will need to find out for yourself.

When you hit your teen years? Please understand that I always doing what I thought was my best to love you. If I was ever too harsh, or got too angry, I am sorry. I wanted to show you a firm love…but love nonetheless. Like I said before though, don’t mistake discipline for anger or meanness. A large part of me was probably just scared of losing you to friends, or other influences. I’ve seen (even in my own family) what can happen when children become distant from their parents, and the results can be devastating. I’ve seen families ripped apart for years, and I have a huge fear of that happening with you. To be fair though, I’ll probably do things like give you huge hugs and kisses, and yell how much I love you in front of your friends. But, its my job as a parent to embarrass you just a little bit.

I didn’t start to follow Jesus until I was 16 years old. Know that it is one of the biggest desires of my heart to see you begin that relationship at as early an age as you truly understand what that means. And I want to see you grow in that relationship every day from that day forward. I am so scared that I won’t model His love to you enough, or live a life where you see Him through me enough, so please know that as much as I love you, I am a total screw up buddy. As your earthly father, it is my job to model God the father to you, but I will fail time and again. He never does. He is perfect, and I hope you know that because I have spent time in the Word with you day in and day out.

I love your mother very much, and I will always try to show that to you and your siblings. Let me tell you something though. There’s honestly no reason for you to “date” girls until you’ve grown up a little. I’m probably going to want you to wait until you’re 16. You can have some great friendships with girls, but you don’t need the hurt that comes along with giving your heart, and doing things physically that you’re not emotionally ready for. That being said. I know you’re going to get your heart broken at some point, and you might break a heart or two. I’ll always be there for you to talk to, and try to make sense of the situation. Things are never as bad as the heart seems to think at first. I’ve been there. Treat every girl/young lady that you meet as is she were your mother or sister (And you will treat them well…I promise), and the way you would want other guys to treat them.

Make sure that the good friends you have are going to help you grow in your relationship with Christ. That’s not to say that you can only hang out with “church” kids. In fact, I want you to hang out with peers who do not know Christ. But I want you to be doing life with people who are going to push you onward towards the goal of Christ. Be open with each other, and allow yourselves to be called out and built up by each other. I’ve also hopefully allowed other adults to come into and influence your life. Know that those adults that I’ve allowed to really pour into you are as good as your parents. I wouldn’t allow them that position in your life if I didn’t trust them with it. Even though it may hurt me at the time, you should always free to go them with something you may not want to talk to me about. But I want you to also know that you can come to me with anything.

As you grow up, and head off to college, and start a career and a family of your own (no pressure on any of those, I’m 22 and I’m not anywhere near ANY of those), I want to know you, and you to know me as a man. I never got to do that with my father. I’ll always be your daddy, no doubt about that. But, our relationship will change as you become a man of your own. I hope you will be a man of God, and passionately pursue Heart every day. Remember, where you are, I’ve already been. I want to help you through those things.

I’m sure that there are tons of things I’ve left out here, but hopefully I’ll fill in the blanks along the way.

I love you more than you will ever know son,

Your Daddy

Uneducated thoughts on Haiti

January 15, 2010

superstippy Life , , 3 Comments

There are a lot smarter people out there with theology degrees that have spent years in school that probably know a lot more about any Biblical references I will make, so understand that these are just my thoughts based on how I view the world, and my own relationship with God.

This year, I’m reading through the One Year Chronological Bible. I’ve had it for a few years, and finally made the commitment to get to it this year. So far, so good.

Right now, I’m in Job. Full disclosure, I’ve never read all of Job before. I’ve read a few chapters here and there before, and I know the premiss of the story, but I’ve never read through it. I’m glad I am right now though, it’s super legit, you should check it out sometime.

Well anyway, last night I’m cruising easy through chapters 32-34, and I’m really getting into it. I kind of like this Elihu guy. I was talking to my friend Jonathon Wright about it earlier today, and he said that he sees the guy as kind of a punk kid who wants to give his two cents. He makes it a point to say, basically, “I’m young, but that doesn’t mean I can’t have some wisdom right? So now you guys have all had your say, so let me have mine!” I imagine Job, Bildad, Eliphaz, and Zophar just letting the kid say what he feels like he has to say and not really considering him of any consequence.

So here’s Elihu chugging along in his discourse about how if Job really is so righteous and sinless, then how come God is jackin’ with all of his bidness?! Hmmm Job…hmmmmm? And he says this in 34:12:

It is unthinkable that God would do wrong,

That the Almighty would pervert justice.

So here’s this young guy saying, “If you’re really so good Job, then why is God doing all of this to you? He cannot do wrong. Because of who He is, and His very nature, He can’t do anything bad!” Now, he is 100% correct there. But in the context of the situation, he (and Job and his friends) didn’t understand that it wasn’t God doing any of this, but He was allowing it to happen to prove a point to Satan.

So, the first thing that came to my mind when I read that verse though, was Haiti. The second was Katrina hitting New Orleans in 2005. After both events, we have people (finite creatures created by an Infinite God) claiming that God did it to pass judgement on the sins of both places (And it’s not just “famous”…or maybe infamous…people like Pat Robertson, it’s our friends and neighbors as well). In 2005, Tony Campolo made the point that if that WAS the case, then how come the French Quarter (widely considered to be the center of debauchery in New Orleans) was left virtually untouched. It was a great point. To my knowledge, there have been no such defenses like that made for Haiti…so maybe Robertson was right.

Kidding. I’m kidding. Give me a few more minutes, and I’ll make my real point.

In the Old Testament, when we see judgement passed by God on a nation, or people, or person, or whatever the case may be, it was to give them an opportunity to turn back to him. I’m not going to list all of the instances here, but go look into it, if I’m wrong come back and let me know. I will concede.

So here’s the thing. Or…my opinion of “the thing”. What happened in New Orleans in 2005, and in Haiti a few days ago (and the tsunami a few years back, and other catastrophic natural disasters) was tragic. It’s not our place though to decide whether or not they are judgement by God upon those people . I look at it this way. The sins of the poverty stricken people of Haiti, are no worse than my middle class sins here in America. If the earthquake there really was judgement for a “pact made with the Devil” (I’d seriously like to see some historically documented proof of that), why not instead afflict the descendants of the people who made the pact, instead of causing catastrophic damage to one of the most poverty stricken countries in the world? The God of Love who I know, is not in the business of settling petty centuries old “wrongs” done to Him.

Now, that being said, I’m not the Omnipotent Creator Of All. If I was, we’d all be in a lot of trouble. Because, by nature I am in the business of settling the score for petty wrongs done to me. I think we have a perverted sense of the way God does justice. Like I said before, in the O.T., He used it as a means to bring people (usually His people, Israel) back to Him. Was it usually the last resort for Him? I think so. I think He gave chance after chance, and finally had to bring them almost to their end, and then allow them to embrace Him again. I don’t think God made the earthquake in Haiti happen (though He could have)…I think it is more likely that He would take a hand of protection off of them and allow something like that to happen.

So. I don’t think it’s my place, or your place, or the place of Pat Robertson, or anyone else to say, “Yep, just got a phone call from The Almighty, He said to make sure everyone knows that He totally wasted that place because He was super pissed at them”. It is our place to love that country, and those people through their situation regardless of how we feel about what happened. We gave up any other choice when we accepted the gift of grace on the cross. And it is our place to know that it is unthinkable that God would do wrong, or that the Almighty would pervert justice. Everything that happens, He does ordain, but it is all for the glory of His name. Doesn’t matter whether or not we see that.

-David

Facebook, TV, And Girls Who Don’t Care

January 12, 2010

superstippy Life, Mission Year 1 Comment

Those of you who know me well know that in the year or two that immediately followed my graduation from high school I didn’t really do much. I spent most of my time watching tv, facebooking, and talking to girls who didn’t really care about me (in the same way that I was just sure I cared about them). I tricked myself, and thought I had others fooled as well, into believing that doing those things, and being half-hearted at my part time job, and filling my calendar with as many church events as possible meant that I was super busy.

I wasn’t busy. I was existing.

So what did I do? I thought it would be a really great idea to figure out something to do that God could use to totally change who I am in a radical* way!

That’s not even true. I was trolling through the See You At The Pole website, and found in their partner ministries this thing called Mission Year. It sounded really cool, because I could go somewhere that was not here (and not feel as inferior to all of my educated college friends), and be on mission, telling people about Jesus for a year. Sign. Me. Up. Because my faith was on fire! I was growing in the Lord, and doing everything I could to tell people about Him, and love others anyway (That’s all not true. But again, I had fooled myself and others). But it seemed like a pretty cool deal nonetheless. So I sent in for an info packet.

An application, interview, and a prayer later, I was told to get ready, because I’d be doing Mission Year. In 10 months. What was I supposed to do until then? Be half hearted at my part time job, fill my calendar, watch tv, facebook, and and talk to girls who didn’t really care about me (in the same way that I was just sure I cared about them). I actually even ended up getting a job as a summer youth intern at a church the summer before I left, and by that time, God really had started to help me realize that this thing was real. I was going. And He was working in my heart to get me ready for some of the things I’d experience (That part is real, so I don’t feel guilty about sharing Jesus with those kids).

New Orleans taught me a lot of things. It’s possible to get stuck facebooking way to much even when you’re spending 95% of your time legitimately serving others (and when you’re not supposed to have internet in your apartment…sorry Irvin…), on your Sabbath when you’re supposed to be resting and communing with God to refuel for the week, you can watch hulu, and movies that you have, and read one chapter out of some book of the Bible, and only feel a little guilty. And, you guessed it, even though you really are growing in your relationship with the Lord now, and maturing, you can still spend way too much time talking to girls who didn’t really care about you (in the same way that you are just sure you care about them).

I really did have a life changing experience in New Orleans though. God placed passions on my heart that I didn’t know existed. He revealed Himself to me repeatedly through someone on the street, a giving neighbor, roommates I loved, and even roommates I didn’t always care so much for.

I came away with a passion to see church done differently. To really be the church with fellow believers, as I’d experienced with my roommates, and teammates, and spent so much time reading about in Acts and discussing with my roommates. I felt the Holy Spirit moving in my life as I never had before, and I sensed Him moving in this whole thing we were a part of (the other Mission Year teams). I wanted to experience Acts 4:31 with my community back home

And when they had prayed, the place where they had gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak the word of God with boldness.

Now, after a while, I realized that my desire wasn’t necessarily for that situation to happen. But to still be in such communion with God, and my community, that we felt that.

In coming back, one of the biggest things I learned is that it is possible to leave half of my heart in another city, in another state, with people I love dearly and do not know when I will see them again. My sister said the other day that maybe the reason I haven’t found a better job, or anything really permanent here is that…I’m supposed to be back there. Maybe that is the case. I don’t know. I’m praying about it. Join me.

I’ve been back about six months now, and I’ve been really good about keeping up with all of the things God taught me to be good at while I was away. Like loving unconditionally, not judging, having grace when someone screws up, being willing to be a little inconvenienced when someone needs my help with something (like a hitch hiker who needs a ride, or a homeless person who could probably use some food or water) (Also, all of those things are sarcastic. Again. I’ve been terrible at that.)

I have lots of friendships. Lots of them. And most of them are really deep rooted and Christ centered. Or…they look that way, and I’m really good at keeping them looking that way. In reality, they’re mostly very surface level. I don’t have the community that God put a longing in my heart for, and this tears me apart every day.

Now, I know you’re wondering if I still facebook too much, watch too much tv, give a half hearted effort at my job, and…yeah…still talk to girls who don’t really care about me (in the same way that I am just sure I care about them), and fill up my calendar. The answer to all of those things, ladies and gents, is a resounding YES. Absotootarootinlootley. Because I am still a mess. The upside though, is that I am also still growing in my relationship with the Lord.

The thing I’m missing now is what Donald Miller would call an “inciting incident”. I’ve got a lot going, but I’m not really doing anything…out of the ordinary, I don’t have anything I’m really living for…other than a free meal here and there, and there, and there (I somehow manage to secure a lot of free meals…). Not just so that I’ll be doing something, but because God wants for us to live better stories that are centered around him.

So that’s what I’m doing now. I’m trying to find and write a story that I want to be living. Sometimes that takes the form of me sitting on the couch eating colby jack cheese, and watching re-runs of Friends, The George Lopez Show, The Nanny, Fresh Prince…you get the idea, sometimes it looks like me hiding under my covers for two days because I’m that embarrassed before God about everything I’ve not done in the last six months. Sometimes though it looks like me taking a few weekends off of work to share Christ with some kids, or making my best effort to be in the 9th grade Life Group class with my students every Sunday, or being more willing and open and making an effort at family gatherings. It unfortunately also still involves the facebooking, tv, and girls who don’t care. I’m working on those.

-SuperStippy

*Radical: Of or going to the root or origin’ fundamental

(Big thanks to my friend Kassandra Barbee who inspired this little post)

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.