Living Life Juicy

Water The Sound The sound of water can be healing too. I write this as I sit by a sculpted fountain at a monastery in Valyermo, CA. The sound of water trickling down the structure and gently flowing over the stepped tiles is soothing. In it I hear the gentle voice of a mother as she sings a comforting lullaby to a frightened child. That voice of love and compassion allows the child to look away from the fear into the open embrace of a caring parent. Like a frightened boy there are things that my brain and my heart are clinging to that unnerve me. These worries distract me and keep from seeing the face of the One who sings my lullaby. My brain darts from one concern to the next like the child searching the shadows for the monsters that lurk there. My energy and my attention are focused on finding the monsters. The lullaby voice cuts through the dark shadows and draws my eyes from the shadow to the shining eyes of the singer. The soothing sound of the gently trickling water qu...

There is something healing about water. It's touch, it's sound, its taste, even it's different looks. The Need Food we can live without for as long as a month. Without water we are dead in three days. What we call sustenance, the solid food, we crave and feel uncomfortable without in just a few hours even though it's weeks before the need becomes perilous. Our bodies and minds lie to us about our needs. Our stomachs growl and our minds wander to our favorite dishes. We allow ourselves to become a slave to appetite. We crave food long before we need it. Water is different. Working in the outdoors, I often have to remind people to drink. Dehydration accounts for the majority of discomfort when people spend time outside. We barely notice as our bodies start to dry out. There are signs of the growing need for water but they are subtle and often overlooked. A slight headache is ignored or passed off as "too much sun." Crankiness and fatigue are confused with a bad ...

In the "Diving In" post I posed a question about manipulation. Yes, I know it's a loaded word and people have strong feelings about possibly being involved in manipulation. I use the word in the most neutral sense; to handle something or to use it on purpose. If we put ourselves out there as teachers, leaders and/or pastors we, hopefully, use our words, time, resources and environment on purpose. When we choose one word over another, one song over others, candles verses lamps, chairs versed sofas; we are manipulating the situation to reinforce what we are teaching or where we are leading people. We influence people. If we are not concerned about this power our position gives us we end up teaching people unintended lessons and leading people to unplanned destinations. I wanted to start this adventure into experiential methods with a kind of "pre-flight warning." We make choices about how we teach and lead and those choices have consequences. Be careful. ...

Of the three components in Praxis, reflection is the most difficult for most people to apply. In the constant hustle of our culture, reflection can seem like a waste of time. Can ministries function without paying attention to the role of reflection? Sure they can, but these programs are missing out on a huge potential for depth and power. Reflection is the piece that involves the individual in ministry. Reflection encourages a student or staff person to consider how he or she can personalize the teaching so that it directly transforms his or her life. So what is reflection? Reflection is allowing the space and time for an experience to impact a person. It's that simple. The difficult part is trusting the silence and open space. Having faith that it will be effective. This part is scary for a leader. While someone is reflecting there are few, if any, indications that anything is going on. We are tempted to fill in the void with more action or to go on to the next concept to be lear...

To much of life is spent waiting to dive in. The unknown that lurks under the surface keeps us from plunging in. Well this blog is that plunge for me. Some friends have encouraged me to set up a blog page that explores the experiential stuff that I talk about all the time and that my book, "The Experiential Youth Ministry Handbook," looks at. My hope is to create a place where thoughful, honest people (with a good sense of humor and grace) can join this expedition into how individuals learn and grow, how groups learn and grow and how community can be explored and developed intentionally. It should be a wild ride with lots of passion and good natured debate. Here's something to chew on. If you are a teacher, pastor, manager or leader you are a manipulator. In these roles we manipulate the room by how we set it up and how we arrange the lights. We choose where and when our programs occure. We can control the energy in the room by how we choose to sequence activities and les...