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    • If I Were President...

      • Lonely Reader - A5

        ...I would be stressed to the max! Sometime in junior high school, I got this idea in my head that I would like to be the President. I think most of it stemmed from my desire to be in charge, to be the one who makes all the decisions. I do think that being President is an ego-feeder, and that's the way I wanted my ego fed.

        And there are still many moments when I desire to be President.

        But now, there are many moments when I'm glad I'm not the President. Granted, none of those moments have anything to do with the stress and anxiety of the decision that would need to be made. They all have to do with what my family would have to give up in order for that to happen (not saying it would happen...just hypothetically).

        And, in all honesty, I'm really uncomfortable with the idea of EVERYONE knowing EVERYTHING about my past. Because there are things that I still haven't forgiven myself for, and there are things that I'm sure I can't remember that I would be completely embarrassed for people to know about.

        But isn't that what the Church is supposed to look like, at least a little bit? I mean, maybe not everything that I would be embarrassed about. But shouldn't we be able to share stories and life experiences without the feelings of stress that someone within the Church would use it against us? Shouldn't the church be the place where those stories can be shared so that we can help each other, or encourage each other, or learn from each other (i.e. community)? Not judge, or condemn, or gossip, or ignore (i.e. isolation)?

        Church people practice way too much isolation.

      • answered by calebsmith on 02/24/2011
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    • A 5th grade encounter...

      • In the middle of 5th grade, my family moved from Knoxville, TN to Frankfort, IN. I remember some of those last four months of 5th grade. One of the most vivid was my encounter on the playground with one individual.

        I can't remember his name. I really can't remember what he looked like then, and there is no way I'd be able to pick him out of a lineup today.

        I don't remember being ostracized in 5th grade in my new school in Frankfort. So why I acted the way that I did that day, I really have no idea.

        In Indiana, basketball is king. Frankfort Senior High School has a dome gym that seats around 5,000 at max capacity. I think it's one of only two high school dome gymnasiums in the country. Anyway, some of the most hilarious moments in high school would be going up from the student section to where my parents sat during the basketball games and listening to all of the 80-year-old-plus women cursing and yelling at the referees.

        I didn't play much basketball when we lived in Knoxville. I remember being on a team. I think we were decent. I was horrible. But it wasn't a year-round obsession. Once we moved to Indiana, I definitely learned to fake that it was that important to me...you know...in order to have friends.

        It was recess time one day at my new elementary school in Frankfort. I remember being on the basketball court. I don't remember if there was a game going on, or if people were just shooting around, or how many people were actually on the court. I do remember standing in front of this other kid, he had the basketball, I wanted it, so I punched him in the stomach.

        I think he went and told on me. I remember being called out of class by the principal and being told, "If your father wasn't a new pastor in town, I would paddle you right now out here in the hallway."

        I've always wondered where that kid is today. And if he remembers that day. And if I happened to run into him, if he's not a believer and I told him that I'm a youth pastor, would he would laugh his head off and walk away, or would he be open to hearing the Good News.

      • answered by calebsmith on 02/09/2011
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