The Pudgy Ninja and the Case of the Missing Muffins

His eyes surveyed the darkened room as he perched upon the food rack six feet in the air. He was invisible, he was a ninja. With quiet determination he waited for his nemesis to emerge from the shadows. Someone had been taking the sacred muffins from their faithful perch upon the counter. These were the children's muffins, and the Pudgy Ninja had to keep his anger in check, as he silently fumed over the outrage of the theft. Someone would pay for this crime! Suddenly... in the doorway loomed a dark figure, looking like the very presence of evil. The Pudgy Ninja coiled his muscles waiting to leap and protect the sacred muffins.
The figure in the doorway, as if he could smell danger, turned on the lights and said, "Dude, what are you doing up there?" It was the Pudgy Ninja's partner, Harris the Sasquatch. "Harris," PN hissed, "I was about to cut you in half with my katana!" The Pudgy Ninja did not like it when people messed with his chance to reap vengeance upon the evildoers of the world -- it made him crabby.
Harris, suddenly sensing that the Pudgy Ninja was getting upset, changed the subject. "So," he said, "have you seen the new movie trailer for the coolest movie EVER!?!" The Pudgy Ninja replied, "Of course, it is the coolest movie EVER!" The tension broken, the Pudgy Ninja and Harris talked about movies and coffee for several hours.
Suddenly, the Pudgy Ninja realized that his nemesis would not be caught tonight and that he really had to pee. "Harris, I will find those who would dare to crush the hopes and dreams of those children who wanted muffins. This is my vow and my pledge, to seek those who would steal stuff that doesn't belong to them. The evil one's cries will not help him as I..." For the next ten minutes the Pudgy Ninja continued to ramble on about how he would bring vengeance to the wicked and how cool he was and how he wished he had another sword that he could use to fight evil. By that time Harris was bored so he said, "I am bored!" and he left. "Make sure you turn off the lights," he said before leaving. The Pudgy Ninja turned the light off and disappeared into the blackness of the room. One day he would find the thief and make them pay for what they had done. Until them he would remain invisible because he was--THE PUDGY NINJA!

Senior Project

I am currently working on my Senior Project at North Central University in the hope that I can graduate this May (and can I say....It's about time!). Small Groups is the focus of my project, and the more that I research and pray about it, the more that I see that the Church (universally) has been doing it all wrong. Church happens the other six days of the week and if the ministers (that would be the congregation, not the pastors) in the church are not partaking of community outside the church building walls, then the church will wither and die. DIE!

I think that the Church needs to restructure how we minister to people, and the first thing we need to do is to empower people to minister Jesus to those around them. "How do we do that?" you may ask, and I would respond, "Make Church about Small Groups and not about Sunday morning." I say that the entire focus of the Church should be shifted to small groups. Church is not about rockin' worship and a killer message from the Pastor. Church happens when the people take those things into their lives and use them for the glory of God outside of the church building.

As a future pastor this is what I want to see in the ministry that God is going to give to me. That as I minister to people it will be with the purpose of empowering them to minister to others. Not at an official church outreach, but in a small group where they invite those around them into their homes and show them the love of Jesus. It doesn't have to be a Bible study for people to connect, it just has to be about showing them Christ by our love. Structure the church around the ministry of the congregation and not around a Pastor. That is my vision for the Church (that and more pot-lucks).

Pictures

As a parent, I would say that having pictures taken of your kids can go one of two ways, Smoothly or roughly. Today my kids (Hannah and Isaac) had their pictures taken at daycare. Hannah (who is three) became a model. She was voguing and posing and eating up the film. Isaac (who is two) sat there with the biggest frown on his face and that pose was the one that he decided to stick with for all his pictures. Now, you do need to realize that Isaac is a boy and as such he may not feel like voguing for the camera (unless there is a football that he can play with, and then he is mister John Elway). I felt bad for him because he was obviously not happy about the whole experience.

Spiritually speaking, this happens to me a lot. I am not happy about the pictures of my life so I am going to sit there and just be upset and cranky. I think our heavenly Father feels bad for us when we go through those times in life when we are just unhappy (I think it's called compassion). And just like with Isaac and me, he is waiting to comfort us when the experience is over. Isaac was not happy and all I wanted to do was to comfort him, but I also knew that he needed to learn that through all bad situations that his Dad is going to be there. No matter what! I think that we as Christians need to see this same thing, that God is not going to take us out of every bad situation, but that his heart is wanting to grab us and tell us that it's going to be alright. God has not left us, but He is there waiting for us to reach out to Him for comfort. There is no greater feeling as a Dad then to grab hold of your child and let them know that it is going to be okay.