The Snap Chitter

Young people.

How can you walk around with ripped up Blue Jeans? And you paid for them like that!

Constantly fidgeting with your phones, texting the friend right beside you.

What the HELL is Venmo and why do I need it? I have a wallet.

What do you mean, “What is a wallet?”

Changing jobs every 18 months. Not a single care in the world. Except that you want to change it!

How are you going to change the world when you have barely lived in it?

You sit around coffee shops drinking Half Caf, De Caf, Herbal Something Mocha Freaking Lattes and playing on the Snap Chitter. Try drinking some harsh Black Coffee in a real mug while eating some eggs and reading a newspaper. Then call me!

And if you say, “What’s a newspaper, I am going to scream.”

The truth is, I am a little jealous.

My parents deny they ever spanked me, but real life is being chased around and beaten with the sizzler race track.

My mom was upset when I told her to throw away the dozen or so trophies and plaques I got growing up. I can’t imagine the award case you will discard someday.

Try asking someone out on a date in the hallway at school or even over the phone.

You cannot even fathom living with 4 guys in a sparsely decorated dorm room and sharing one bathroom. (actually maybe the best 4 years of my life.) Except for being married and having kids of course.

I am jealous though. You have so many skills and such confidence. You don’t seem to be afraid of anything.

Maybe you can sit with me and show me how to do that Venmo thingy? I’m not interested in the Snap Chitter. You teach me a little about technology and I will help you enjoy real music!

I may even let you use my selfie stick!

LOVE STORY

I can’t say that every day is wonderful, but most days are! It doesn’t take long to over look the complaints or the crazy moments when you love your job.

Recently, I was talking with an old friend about our Y careers and we described it as a “Love Story.”

It’s a love story written with weekend text messages from staff, sharing something funny from work or life. It’s in an email from someone sharing the Y’s impact on their life. These moments always remind me that the joy in my job is where hope, happiness and humanity intersect.

It’s a love story written in moments that echo a bigger story, like when just the right person appears at our side at just the right time. Recently I read that coincidences are just God’s way of making things happen anonymously.

It’s a love story written in memories, like that afternoon when you get a gift so unbelievable, so fantastic that you are speechless. Afterwards, you can almost hear God whisper that he’s in charge – in the bad times and in the good times.

All the staff retreats, conferences, meetings and memories of the Y, weave themselves together to tell a love story like no other, the story of how you think the agreement with God is to help you so you can help others. When all along it’s you who is being helped. We think we’re bringing people closer to God when actually, he is inching closer to us.

I wish everybody had a love story like mine. I pray that wherever you are on your Y journey, whatever the longing of your heart may be, whatever mess you find yourself in – God has brought you to the Y to create a love story. If you let him, he will reveal himself THROUGH you and he will let you know that YOU are loved!

Honor, Stewardship, Trust

"A President must grace and honor the office, the highest and most powerful office in the world. Our President must honor not just the office, but the people that office serves. 

The President must serve this country steadfastly and laudably.  

In the end the presidency is more than a simple catalog of policies pursued, crises weathered, battles lost or won.  

It's a stewardship and a sacred trust. It’s a commitment to sacrifice every fiber of your being, every thought, every moment, and everything in service to your nation. 

Despite the political and philosophical differences in our country, the President who does this well, deserves nothing less than our humble appreciation and heartfelt gratitude.

  

Our President must strive to be worthy of the example of the great men who have gone before.  Presidents walk in the giant footsteps of Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln and more.  They have magnificent legacies to uphold.  I pray that our President aspires to their example, and will daily make that sacrifice."

Arnie Vinick - Fictional Character and Presidential Candidate on the West Wing

Think Small

In YMCA circles, most discussions center around size. We constantly measure ourselves versus some ambiguous goal of what and how other people are doing.

·         How big is your budget?

·         How much money did you raise?

·         What do you do annually in sales?

·         How much do you make?

In my situation they usually are asking, “Why do you still have an iPhone 5?”

There is this underlying culture that only the work from the largest Y’s is the greatest or most important work. If an idea didn’t originate in Los Angeles, New York, Houston, Charlotte, etc. it really is not worthy of discussion.

Culturally we are obsessed with bigger or more prestige. Our dreams and sometimes our excuses get stuck in the “If Only” mode.

We find ourselves looking at what we think are bigger and greener pastures. Lifeguards say, “If only I was the Aquatics Director, I would make a difference.” The Aquatics Director says, “If only I was the Sr Program Director, I would make a difference.” The Sr. Program Director says, “If only I was the Executive of the branch, I would make a difference.” And the Executive says, “If only I was the CEO, I’d make a difference.”

We wallow around in what we don’t have because our town is poor; Our budgets are small; Someone else has the authority.

“If only I worked for one of those rich Y’s”

We live in a world of deficit thinking.

But experience has proven to me that bigger is not better and greener is not always greener!

I love this poem by Meade McGuire.

Father, where shall I work today? And my love flowed warm and free. 
Then He pointed out a tiny spot And said, “Tend that for me.” 
I answered quickly, “Oh no; not that! Why, no one would ever see, 
No matter how well my work was done; Not that little place for me.” 
And the word He spoke, it was not stern; He answered me tenderly: 
“Ah, little one, search that heart of thine. Art thou working for them or for me? 
Nazareth was a little place, And so was Galilee.” 

John Maxwell says, “the importance of your work is not about size, prestige or power. The importance is based on How you do your job and Why you do your job.” He shares three points:

1.   If you give your best in obscurity, God will recognize it. Others may not but God will.

2.   If you give your best in small things, God will give you bigger things.

3.   If you give your best with consistency, God will give you courage.

“THINK SMALL – REMEMBER the Mustard Seed”