My last blog was titled: "summer"  ~  where does the time go??  As I officially wind down my service as the Youth Director at St. Jude's, I wanted to tell everyone how much it has meant to me to be able to work with you guys. While I am older than most of your parents, I have felt young because of your youth and exuberance for life. You have continued to remind me of the passion that God gives us and how to continue to show that passion for life, each other, and our goals. I have seen many of you come and some go, I have seen you grow up and move out, I have watched you all through relationships, friendships, and all the frustrations life has to offer teenagers. I have been there to console you when you lost friends, and you have lost many over the last 5 years. I hope that I have helped you just a little bit, hope that I have shown you a path to God that maybe will lead you to Him in times of trouble. I hope that I have shown you that you can be "in" your faith and how much better your life can be when you follow His guidance. 

I had a saying on the wall in the youth room that says, "When life knocks you to your knees, pray." And that is so true. All the life you have ahead of you will be graced by blessings and peppered with tribulations. Praying and keeping your faith strong will get you through the tough times as well as help you experience the true joys in life. 

Please do not let others get in the way of your life. Do not fall victim to those who want to prey on your faith and who try to bring you down. Do not fall victim to the falseness of evil in its many forms:  drugs, alcohol, unhealthy relationships, apathy, unforgiveness, fear, spite, and self pity. Do not let others attack your self-esteem, your self-worth, or tell you that you are anything less than what you imagine you can be. 

I pray that I will continue to get to work with and see many of you for years to come, but I know that many will leave for college, new adventures, and none of us knows how the path that God has put us on will turn. But please remember, I am only ever a phone call or an email away. 

Will all my love....
Cassandra
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Summer...... 07/10/2011
 
Well, summer is in full swing. And, while I haven't been at church as much since there are fewer things going on with the Youth, I have been keeping up with you all through your Facebooks and chatting. And I have wondered about a few things. All the youth I have ever known, including myself, were so excited for school to get out for summer. I remember not being able to contain my excitement about sleeping in, swimming every day, and just being on my own all summer while my mom was at work. Now, I lived within walking distance of my grandparents and their pool, the park, the tennis courts, and within a bike ride from anything else in town. SO, I kept very busy most summers. My friends and I would ride all over, play tennis, hang out in the library when it was too hot, and we usually tried to get home by dark, unless we were staying at each other's house...then we could sneak a few more minutes in. We had picnics, hung out at the beach, talked about the latest music and the weird DJ on the radio. We swam, worked, and played all summer. 

However, over the years I have noticed a new attitude about summers. My daughter showed subtle signs of it. She would play some, but for them ost part her summers were filled with visits to her father and travelling to his family. The rest was spent with her friends but more inside playing video games or gossiping than the physical, outside stuff I did as a kid. 

Now, the youth I work with have said "I'm bored" more often than I have ever heard. While this isn't new, I have been hearing it for several years, I wonder what happened to those days of being excited summer was here and then being so busy that when it was over, we all wondered where it had gone. We stayed so on the go that we didn't realize how much the time was on the go too. 

So my thoughts are, when God give us our brains and our minds, he expected us to use them. He also expected us to use our bodies. This summer I have been travelling, swimming, kayaking, hoping to go canoeing soon, sunning, reading, working, walking, talking, and in general not bored in the least. I hope that the youth here will start working on using all the gifts God has given you, your bodies and your minds, and help you to have one of those amazing summers you will look back on and go, "wow, that summer was amazing but it sure did go by fast!"    
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It was an interesting year for the youth this past year. We had several who needed interventions in their lives to help them stay stable and safe. We had several who had friends in trouble and the youth came in often for EYC with questions on how to help, how to deal with dysfunctional parents, and how to get their friends (or themselves) the help they needed to stay in school, function, and try to have some normalcy. Needless to say having Robin May leading High School Sunday School was a big plus when it came to dealing with crisis.

So the help we gave, the advice was plentiful, and the majority of our youth are safe and stable and are able to help their friends by directing them to professionals to assist them instead of trying to do it themselves. Our youth are some of the most caring individuals I have ever met, and they are interested in how they can help, how they can lead, and how they can make a difference. And that makes me so proud.

As we embark on summer, please look at our summer schedules and plan on assisting with events. Send lunch to Summer EYC or join our canoe trip.....whatever it is, your help and encouragement helped to make our youth so caring....they reap what YOU sow. 

Have a great week.....
Cassandra
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Summer 05/11/2011
 
So, we decided to have summer EYC, two times a month. This is great and I am so glad so many of you want to continue to fellowship with each other during the summer. 

Summer was always a time of total boredom for me. I wasn't in school, swim team wasn't meeting, was too hot for tennis, and all my friends went to camp, to visit relatives, went on vacations....me, I was stuck at home with nothing to do. So, I started babysitting. I babysat for a nurse who worked 3-11pm. It was great, the kids went to bed at 7 and some of my friends would come over and hang out with me. She left us snacks and we could eat the leftovers from dinner as long as there were some left for her. On top of all that, she paid me. Wow, my first paying job. I made $50.00 a week. I opened up my first checking account and started saving. Of course I spent a fair amount of it to, but I managed to save enough to go school clothes shopping and buy what I wanted, instead of what mom picked out. I kept working for her for almost 2 years, eventually saving enough to get my first car and then I went off to college. 

When I was pregnant with my daughter, I ran into one of the kids I babysat for. He was in high school and was about 18 feet tall. That made me not only feel very old, but also made me remember those summers fondly. My friends and I spent time together fixing the problems of the world, I helped someone in need, and I got to be an influence on young people. It was a summer well spent.  He said something to me that I will never forget...he said, "You and your friends always made me feel like a real person, not just like a little kid. You always included me and played with me and it made me feel special." WOW....I couldn't believe he remembered that for one thing, then to say that, well, it was so great. We always played with him and his sister...I remember that I told my friends that if they came over before the kids went to bed, we had to play with them. We taught them how to play hot scotch, jacks, board games, how to dance, how to ride their bikes, we went on walks and hikes and treasure hunting expeditions. We made amazing sculptures out of play dough and even tried our hands at some gourmet meals. 

When we are doing things, even if we are just hanging out, it is important to remember that we are still an example of God's love. We should include those around us, be a positive influence, and spread the joy of life itself around. What better way to liven up someone's cruddy day than by making them feel special, wanted, and important? I hope you will all spend your summers trying to spread kindness and joy to others. It can be done in so many little ways....and being nice is so much easier than not.   
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So, Lent and Easter were really busy so I apologize for not writing sooner. Now that we are in the seasons of Easter, we know that school is about to get out and the long (not so much anymore) summer looms ahead of us. At the beginning of the summer we are all excited...ready to have some time off and get all those things done we don't have time for during the school year, like go to the beach, hang with out friends, etc.  Summer starts (officially according to the school calendar) on May 20th. So, we have almost three months, May 20 - Aug 5, to get all that stuff done. 

What really happens? Well, we can't hang as much as we want to because we have other things to do like chores and babysitting. We don't have transportation or money for gas, so we don't get to go to the beach quite as much as we would like. And, about the time July rolls around, we are hot, cranky, and ready to go back to school so we can GET OUT OF THE HOUSE!

Well, maybe not until the end of July, but you get the idea. So what happened? Why did our summer of joy turn into a long, boring, frustrating time that makes us WANT to go back to school? Well, part of it is the isolation. We are used to seeing certain people every day and then all of the sudden, they aren't there. We have a routine that has been changed dramatically, but even though we are glad, we don't have anything to fill the time with that is now free. Sure, we can play video games, go to the beach, hang with friends...but our minds are used to learning and being active, so when summer rolls around, well, it is like a runner who is training for a marathon, runs the marathon, then stops running. His muscles start to weaken and he gets lazy.....that is what happens to our minds during summer break, they get lazy. 

"So, what does this have to do with God?" you may be asking. I am glad you asked that.

God plays a part in our daily lives, whether we pray, wish, or just need someone to talk to. He is the one constant in our lives. So, when summer break comes, you can fill some of the time with God. 

No, I don't mean get down on your knees and pray for 8 hours a day, but you can find things to do that are spiritually based, will fill the time, are fun, and will give you a sense of accomplishment. 

Volunteering is one way. Volunteer somewhere you are interested in like dog walking at the local shelter, passing out books or singing at the local nursing home or hospital, or helping with picking up trash at the local park or creek. Volunteer to help a single mom by babysitting for free once a week so she can go on job interviews. Or...do something to enrich yourself. Learn a new skill such as sewing, painting, creative writing. Anything that makes you a better person then you were when the summer started. 

While none of those things is really specifically God based, they are indirectly. You are doing a good things for someone, even if it is for yourself. You are accomplishing something. And, you are setting an example of the life that God wants us to live. 

So this summer, instead of wasting it and getting frustrated, spend it doing something spiritually based, something that makes the world or yourself a little better than it was before the summer started. You will be amazed at how good you will feel. :) 
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It came to my attention this morning by one of our active parents that many of our youth today have over 2000+ friends on their friends' lists on Facebook. Really?  DO you really have that many "friends" or are most of them acquaintances. Jesus had 11 friends, the 12 disciples (minus Judas). Those were the people He counted on to be His support system, His encourager, His confidants. Everyone else was really, just an acquaintance. 

Where are places where you see 8-12 people in groups on a regular basis? Juries have 12 people. The Supreme Court has 9 justices. Managers are told to only directly supervise 8-12 people at a time. Ratios in groups homes and day cares are 8-12 children to every adult staff member on duty, 6 if they are younger. football teams have 11 on their starting lineup. There are 12 people in a focus group, 12 steps in addiction recovery programs, 12 days of Christmas, the Billboard top 10, and Myspace top 10 friends list. .......it goes on and on....think of more.

So, the challenge is to pick out your top 8-12 friends. Who are the ones you can count on? Who are the ones you get support and encouragement from? And most importantly, are the ones who give you real friendship really in your top 8-12???    
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We had a discussion a few weeks back about how much harder it is for Christians sometimes than those who don't believe, or don't walk the path. The consensus is that the "devil" doesn't go after those who are already his. And, if their life is easy, they may continue to be his. Making our lives hard is his way of trying to "turn us to the dark side." So, the closer someone is to God, the more the "devil" will try to sway us and move us to his path of darkness. 

So, we know being a Christian is hard. Look at all the examples over the years, just in our lifetime. Students at Columbine High School who were killed when they answered Yes to the question, do you believe in God. Even though they knew the consequences of their answer, they said yes anyway. We run into examples every day. The student who gets picked on for doing the right thing. We see the whistle blowers who lose their jobs for being ethical. We see companies that treat their employees fairly go under while mega corporations with questionable ethics make billions. So why do we continue on the right path when we know it is going to be so hard? There are several reasons.

One is that we have a need as human beings to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. The number one reason kids get involved in gangs is to feel a sense of belonging. It is also the number one reason teenage mothers report for wanting to have a baby, is to have someone unconditionally love them and accept them as they are. It is a basic human need to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, and for many of us it is the faith we have in Christ and the sense of community and acceptance we feel at church. 

We do not belong to the church to be under the head of Christ or the adult leaders, but to be a part of it. Christ is the head of the church and the church is the body. Even the youth are part of the body of the church. The youth and children are a vital parts of the church. Youth and children are the future of our leadership, but also vital in the present. Youth give a vitality to the church, bring in fresh families, keep the adults reminded of the importance of living in the moment and bring innocent eyes to our lives. If we feel needed we are more likely to be involved, to show up and participate.

Socialization is another reason we come to church. It is often difficult to find a social group that is not only accepting but also follows the same values as ourselves. For youth who are not interested in hanging out with other kids who are using substances or gossiping or putting a negative spin on their lives, often times church is the best place to go to find a social group. While there are people everywhere who do bad things, in church it is easier to expect more from our friends, to expect them to do the right thing and hold them accountable, than it is in other social arenas. 

Leadership is yet another reason. Church gives our youth a safe place to learn leadership skills. Being in charge of a task, being a youth representative on the vestry, doing the sermon during a youth led service, being an acolyte, a reader, making pancakes, or even cleaning the kitchen after Wed dinner all give youth chances to experience how to be a leader and to learn the lessons that make great leaders.

Yes, there are things that happen at church that we don't like. But, those things happen everywhere in our lives, not just at church. However, for some reason, we expect everyone to be perfect at church. That may be our fault for expecting perfection from people in one part of our life but not in others. After all, if you think the person who sits next to you in school and is always saying bad things about other people is miraculously not going to be that way at church, well, maybe your expectations are skewed. We should come to church with the expectation that WE will become better people, and that WE will improve our relationship with God. Not to see what other people do. And really, if we let what other people do keep us from worshiping or hearing the word of God, what does that say about our priorities?

The bottom line is that we, youth or adult, need to be here for our own faith, to have our needs met, and to help meet the needs of others. We can set an example for those who are not on the path of righteousness and we can show others our faith by being here, being involved, learning, and teaching. We can set an example by finding our gifts and talents and using them to make the church a better place to bne.There is so much good that we can get out of being at and participating in church. But, like everything else, it is up to us whether we choose to accepts those gifts or push them aside with excuses. No, sleeping late is not more important. :)
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“Help us, God, to see people as Jesus sees them. Amen.”


The 3rd Sunday in Lent brings us to think of how others are different and yet, we should welcome them regardless. This is a direct testimony to the issues we have in today's society with LBGT issues, race issues, class and income issues, etc. We discriminate against others or disallow them to have the same opportunities as we do because they are not "like us." Yet Jesus, in this week's reading of John: 4:5-42 accepts the person who comes to him at the well even though she is a woman strike #1), a Samarian (strike #2), and an outcast in her own society (strike #3). In our world, three strikes and you are out. But, we should learn from Jesus that no matter what someone has different about them, they are still God's children and creation. And God accepts us all regardless of what others may see as defects. 

So how do we keep from seeing defects? As I try to remember those days so long ago when I was a teenager (no laughing), I think about the class structures we had in school; the jocks, the brainiacs, the popular kids, the ones from the wrong side of town, the race classes (we had white, black, and Greeks in my town), the nerds, the stoners and on and on and on....everyone had someone they discriminated against. The town I lived in was still segregated by choice. So of course there was discrimination. Within my church there was, depending on which part of Greece your family was from. Now teenagers have the geeks and the emos and the goths and the jocks and the LBGTs and the junkies, and on and on and on. Things really haven't changed much, just the names of the groups may be a little different and new races have entered the "we discriminate against you" groups because of world events (middle eastern and asian kids) and yet even as new groups are discriminated against, the old ones still remain. So we really aren't getting better as a society. And where do we learn it, from our parents, our role models. We hear the jokes that bash a certain race, we hear our parents comment about world events on the news or in the paper, we read on the internet about the latest atrocities some group is performing and immediately group everyone similar in look or lifestyle into that group instead of assessing each other as individuals. 

Yes, it says we should not judge, but we should assess if people are good to be in our lives or not. We do that assessing by looking at their moral fiber, their character. We ask ourselves, is this person emotionally healthy, are they encouraging, are they someone who would help us become a better person rather than someone who will bring us down. Are they a positive influence in the sense that they don't get involved in things that can be harmful, do they meet their responsibilities, are they a nice person? These are the assessments we need to make about people and if they are all of these things, we let them into our lives. We do not ask what is their sexual preference, what country did their parents come from, what color is their skin, what God do they believe in? That is when we move from assessing someone's quality to judging someone. 

So we should make wise choices about the people we let into our lives, but we just have to learn how to make those choices and what is it about others that is REALLY important to their life and ours. What are the qualities we need to surround us, and what are the things we just see as "different" and persecute others for being that way? Remember, the woman at the well had three strikes, but yet Jesus, the ultimate judge, was there for her, loving her as we should love others. 
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“Thank you, God, that you want us to bring our ideas to you and that you love us. Amen.”

When we think about Lent, we think about giving something up, usually something tangible and that we like but know is bad for us such as junk food or sweets. Often we don't think about taking something on...creating a new habit, and it can be used to replace a bad one. Defending ourselves against those things that we knew can trap us into doing bad things or making poor decisions is something we can look at doing for Lent. Create an invisible force field around yourself that keeps out those people who pressure you to do things you know are bad or harmful to yourself or others, that keeps out things like self-doubt, lack of discipline, unwillingness to follow the rules....

Creating a cushion that is filled with the Holy Spirit, between us and the world, to help us become more discerning and "picky" about who and what we let into our lives is difficult for many teenagers. We want to hang with the cool kids or think if we do certain things we will be accepted into the fold. The problem is that those decisions we make can impact the rest of our lives. Drinking too much too often can cause you to make really poor decisions that can cause you to get arrested, hurt someone else or yourself, become an addict....so many things that seem so impossible at the time, but when the happen they are something you have to live with for the rest of your life. 

So think about creating that cushion, have that buffer between you and the world, use the Holy Spirit to guide your decisions and help you be more discerning so that you can find peace, have happiness, and be a successful person (in whatever way you define success). Do not let other's create for you a life that you do not want.

Be picky because you only deserve the absolute best!!


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I saw this on a web site and thought how "to the point" this was about the meaning of Lent. As teenagers and young adults, we often don't realize how short of a time we are on this earth, we often think that we can make up for things later. We even put off things such as college and church to make way for fun that we don't realize that what we are really putting off is the start to our lives and the longer we wait, the longer it will take. 
Lent

It begins with ashes.

The mark of the penitent.

A public sign that we are about to embark on a conversion of heart. 

It arrives quickly, nipping at the heels of the joyous promise of the Christmas season. It arrives so very quickly that it nearly comes as a shock.
A painful reminder that in our joy we have strayed.

A startling reminder that our lives, too, will pass quickly.

So quickly that when the number of days He has granted us have been  expended, perhaps that, too, will come as a shock.

Lent.

A time to turn to God.

To repent.

To prepare.

Lent.

Don't waste it.

I hope that you will all come to understand the true meaning of Lent and how we can use this time to "start over" It is Spring, a time of renewal and rebirth. Renew your old ways. DO you ever say to yourself, "I wish I was better or happier or gave more, smiled more, was nicer.......etc..." Well, now you can be. 

Don't waste you. 

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