Not fully sure what to think of this one.

If you know me, you know I am a lover of Hobbit-lore, and of their creator, J.R.R. Tolkien.  However, I’m not sure I’m ready to purchase his icon.

This icon, written in a hand clearly influenced by Byzantine iconography, is actually for sale from the Trinity Store.  Click the picture to see all the things they have for sale.  And while you’re at it, be sure to check out their “icon” of Albert Einstein too.

A screen capture of my old homepage.

And to think we laughed when a teen at our youth center declared one afternoon “I’m going to delete the Internet.”

He meant he was going to uninstall Internet Explorer on his laptop.  But that’s not what he said.  Ever since “I’m going to delete the Internet!” has become a running joke for us.

But it’s not so funny any more.

Last night, Yahoo! deleted Geocities.

Now, before you get too mad at Yahoo!, I should probably point out they had every right to do so.  They bought Geocities all the way back in January of 1999.  And they gave the world fair warning – the then-impending deletion was announced in April of this year.  We had six full months to get ready.

But still…

They deleted Geocities!

I lucked out.  Lifehacker covered the closing yesterday and I happened to read about it, giving me the chance to back up the things I had hosted there.  I haven’t added anything to my Geocities account for over five years now.  So it probably would have taken me a while to notice.  (Although, ironically I was on my Geocities site Monday looking at an old lesson I had taught in Decatur, IL about Halloween, before I knew anything about the closure.)

Among the things included in that old time capsule were some old papers I wrote as part of my Master’s Degree work at ONU.  There were also a couple of Holiday “Who Wants To Be  A Millionare” PowerPoint Games for Lent and Christmas I developed back in Illinois.  There’s a couple of old sermon manuscripts. There was a copy of our policy manual, philosophy of ministry and spiritual disciplines journal.

And there was some art.  I’m posting it here just to show how far we’ve come in the last seven years.  (And so that it still has a home online somewhere.)

Operation Gatestorm Poster

Operation: Gatestorm was the name of a special outreach event we had at Agape, our midweek youth service in Decatur, IL.  I think we came pretty close to nailing the look and feel of a movie poster that we were going for, but boy does that look cheesy now…

Antioch Medical Series Artwork

Antioch: Medical was the theme of one of our summer camps in 2002.  It was based on the Gospel of Luke, Doctor Luke.  (Get it? Luke was a Doctor, and we did a series about Luke with a medical theme. Get it?)  I vaguely remember that there was a TV series of a similar name back in those days.

One Nation Under God Title Slide

One Nation Under God Slide Background

These two slides (title and slide master background for PowerPoint) were created back in July of 2002 when the news came across the wires that the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled in Michael Newdow’s favor and found that the phrase “One Nation Under God” constituted an endorsement of religion and was therefore unconstitutional.  I don’t think I still have text of that sermon, though I imagine it’s somewhere in the archives of the old YS Listserv, if such archives exist.  The gist of the message was that empty pledges don’t impress God if we’re not living our lives under His reign every day.

Info visualization site Information is Beautiful recently released this visual comparison on how the world spends money called “The Billion Dollar Gram.”

The visual comparisons between what we spend a year on things like, say, Facebook and Erectile Dysfunction medication compared to things like what it would take to feed all the world’s children for a year, or preserving the Amazon Rain forest is rather telling.

Likewise, it’s fascinating to compare things like Walmart’s gross revenues and their annual profits, or the total amount spent on advertising worldwide, compared with the amount spent on online advertising.  It’s both interesting and thought provoking.  Click on the image on the right to see the full picture, or check it out after the jump to see what is, in my opinion, the most disturbing comparison. Oh, and while you’re at Information is beautiful, check out some of their other fascinating visualizations like surface area required to power the world on solar power alone, twitter stats, or music sales by medium.

On May 14-16, we took a group of teens to Regional Celebrate Life at Olivet Nazarene University in Bourbonnais, IL. We were representing the Northeastern Indiana District Church of the Nazarene in an athletic and talent competition against students from Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin and Michigan.

You can see my photos from the event on my flickr page.

Here is a video compilation of photos from the event:

My top ten favorite photos from the event are after the jump.

NEI-NYI President Dane Matthews and Celebrate Life Director Dan Garde contemplate the possibility of taking a bite out of a wad of pre-chewed gum.

Rachel, Cameron and Cody mug for the camera before the opening ceremonies.

William runs the 5k in the middle of a downpour as water splashes up from every step.

Our puppet team "Strings from Heaven" perform in the talent competition.

A participant from SWID makes good use of a pair of thunder sticks to display his uncurbed enthusiasm.

Players from the NEI and SWID soccer teams converge on a momentarily free ball in the soccer championship.

NEI's goalkeeper makes a play on the ball during the championship game's PK shootout.

NEI's goalie and one of our captains celebrate their shootout win over SWID for the championship.

Call it schadenfreude, but I had to get a picture of the Michigan contingent's faces when it became apparent they would finish fourth. (Michigan has won this event for the past four years.)

President Dane Matthews holds the Celebrate Life trophy aloft as it makes it's long overdue return to Northeastern Indiana.

You’ve probably not noticed, but I’ve not been posting much lately.  I kinda wish I had a good excuse.  Maybe I could claim I gave it up for Lent.  Or that I’ve been swamped by really important ministry stuff, or that I’ve been working on a total makeover of the blog.  Or that I was hard at work as the secret architect behind President Obama’s toxic assets plan that’s singlehandedly revived Wall Street over the last 18 hours.

But no.  No good excuses. Just a season of busy-ness coupled with a relapse of laziness.  That and the intersection of a surfeit of work writing daily devotionals over at mybrandnewlife.org and a dearth of things I felt I needed to say.

Like I said, not good excuses.

But I’m climbing back in the saddle again.  I’m spending a few days at my alma mater attending what they call a “Holiness Summit.”  Wasn’t really sure what to expect when I signed up to attend.  Turns out it’s a couple days of a lot of preaching.  An opening service on Sunday followed by two days with four services a day.  That’s a lot of time in a pew.  But it’s been good, at least in moments.

You can follow in nearly-real-time on my Twitter feed @pastorbuhro.  I’m also planning on summarizing the services here on this blog as well as sharing my reactions.

That means there’ll probably be a flurry of posts here in the next couple of days.

I’m just making up for lost time.

Please feel free to chime in with comments below.  I’d love your help processing some of the things I’m hearing this week.

Don’t know who Apophis is?  It’s the Greek name for Apep, the archenemy of the Egyptian god Ra, also known as the Uncreator, a giant serpent that tries to swallow Ra (the Sun) as it passes through the underworld each night after setting in the West in order to rise again in the East.

The more important question though may not be who, but what.  What is Apophis?

Asteroid 99942 Apophis, formerly known as 2004 MN₄, is a near earth asteroid predicted to pass closer to earth than our orbiting satellites on Friday the 13th, April 2029  and may very well impact earth on it’s way back through seven years later.

I was fascinated by this after seeing astrophysicist and incredible public speaker Neil DeGrasse Tyson on the Daily Show a couple nights ago. And then today in my Google Reader was a post on Garr Renyold’s blog Presentation Zen examining what makes Tyson such a captivating educator.  There, as one of the examples of the way in which Tyson engages both his audience and his interviewer, is a video from last February in which Tyson speaks in greater detail about the possible Apophis impact.  In case you missed it, here it is:

Does this have anything to do with youth ministry?  I don’t know, you tell me.  It was just fascinating to me.

However Presentation Zen should be in every public speakers rss reader.  And that does apply to youth ministry.

Normally about not I’d be posting a weekly update about what happened this week at Water’s Edge.

However, with the Indianapolis area getting its biggest snow in 13 years Tuesday night (tied for #6 biggest accumulation since they started keeping track) we didn’t have any midweek services this week.

(Honestly, 12 inches doesn’t seem like that much, for someone from the land of lake effect snow, but hey, who’s counting?)  Here’s some proof of the snow instead.

Photos courtesy of my wife, Michelle.

My son, Bryce, lying in wait.

St Francis Contemplates the Accumulation

Sacrifice 10 Friends for a Free Whopper

First of all, I have to give all credit to Lifehacker for first bringing this to my attention.

Burger King is currently running a hilarious viral promotion.  They’ve developed a new Facebook app which will allow users to “sacrifice” 10 friends in exchange for a free whopper.  Install the app, drop two handfulls of friends, and get yourself a coupon for free food.

According to their promotional materials, an entry will even appear in your timeline highlighting the fact that your former confrere has been flame-broiled in pursuit of the king of sandwhiches.

I don’t normally post on Saturdays.  However, I had to take this opportunity to wish a Happy Birthday to one of my favorite authors, J.R.R. Tolkien.  Born in 1892, he’d be eleventy-seven today.

"I'm beautiful this way!"

If you subscribe to my Twitter feed, @pastorbuhro, or if you read it in the sidebar of this blog, you know I really enjoy listening to all the things my three-year-old daughter Mackenzie has to say. A few days ago I was listening to her play with her youngest brother (Brock, age 5) in their shared bedroom. They were in their dress-up toy box and I heard her explain, “I’m dressed up like Snow White because I’m beautiful this way.”

Of course I had to go and see just what she was talking about. And there she was, in her Snow White blouse, Bibleman cape, and pink toy high heels.

Being a good father, I knew I had to grab my new camera and get a picture of this fashion statement.

And being a good son I also knew I had to get the picture up on flickr so her Grandmas up north could see it.

But once all that was done, I began to think about what I’d just heard: my daughter, explaining to her brother, “I’m beautiful this way.” And that got me thinking.   I began wondering how many more years my daughter will be able to look into the mirror and say that.

I’d like to think that she will grow up into a confident young lady who, when asked, will explain,” I’m dressed like this because I’m beautiful this way.”  But thirteen years as a youth pastor makes me skeptical.

I’ve met very few young ladies who had the confidence to say “I’m beautiful this way.”  I’ve met a lot who said “I would be beautiful, if only I wasn’t so . . .”  I’ve met a lot who dressed to make up for a beauty they feared they lacked (even when they didn’t lack beauty at all.)  And I’ve seen far too many tragic consequences that come with this loss of confidence.

But I’ve met very few who look into the mirror and see beauty rather than flaws.

As a youth pastor, I know the struggle for positive body image is one that comes with adolescence for both boys and girls.

As a youth pastor, and more frighteningly as a father, I’m not sure what to do about it.

So I started to study.  Over the past week I’ve been reading everything I can get my hands on concerning developing positive body image in kids and teens.  Here’s what I’ve learned, presented not as an expert (i.e. someone who’s tried it and found that it works) but rather as a father and pastor looking for sound advice for helping his kids.

Why the Struggle?

It seems to me that one of the first steps in correcting the problem would be understanding why it happens.  And like so many problems, this one has its roots in many causes.  Among them are:

• Media messages: Young people are bombarded daily by messages from the media prescribing a certain body type as ideal.  Ironically, their own models fail to live up to their exacting standards and image retouching has become an industry of it’s own.
• Family pressures: One of the findings that was most troubling to me was the fact that many girls who find themselves struggling with disordered eating as a result of negative body image had parents who were dieting.  As someone with less than optimal eating habits, and as someone who is trying to fix that, I’m suddenly worrying about what effect my concerns about my weight will have on my children.
• Social constructs: Whether it is teasing from peers on the playground or seeing how those with a certain body type seem to find success more easily, our culture reinforces the ideas about ideal body type communicated by media.
• Self-Esteem struggles: This might seem a no-brainer, but lack of self-confidence and an expectation of a better future contribute to poor body image.
• Puberty itself: Everybody’s body develops differently, both on a individual time table and through unique transitions.  When our children see the way others are developing and assume that is what they should expect in themselves (or worse, that if they develop differently it means there is something wrong) the seeds for self-doubt are planted.  What is more, it is both natural and common for the body to store up fat in preparation for the growth spurts of puberty.  The problem is when we mistake this natural physical transition for a weight problem.

What can I do to help?

Of course, that’s all well and good.  But what can I, a father and a pastor, do to help my children (both biological and ecclesial) navigate this transition?  How do I develop in my children and encourage in my teens both healthy self-confidence and habits?

• Be a role model: Here too I found myself personally challenged.  Humor is a pretty important skill for any communicator, and self-deprecating humor is sometimes the safest kind.  Or at least it seems that way.  Ask the teens in my youth group.  They know that I know I’m overweight.  I make fun of myself on a pretty regular basis.  But by mocking myself, am I reinforcing negative body image in those who have builds like mine?  I need to be a role model not only of healthy diet and exercise habits, but also of one who does not tease about weight or body type, even my own.
• Stress health rather than weight: I mentioned earlier my concerns about the effect that my efforts at weight loss might have on my children.  But for the sake of my own health, I can’t afford to not change my eating habits and seek to increase my physical activity.  The key to making these important dietary and activity changes while not damaging my children’s body image is to make sure that the goal is expressed in terms of changing one’s health, not weight.  The goal is a healthier way of life, not to conform to one ideal body type.
• Value what matters: We often compliment and affirm things that really don’t matter – thinness, beauty and outward appearance.  And while there is no harm in telling your daughter that yes, she is beautiful that way, we need to make sure that those aren’t the only attributes they ever hear us praise.  We need to celebrate the body’s strength, dependability, capability, coordination, health and flexibility far more than just its outward appearance.  Add to that praise for non-physical attributes as well – faithfulness, dependability, honesty, kindness, intelligence, etc. – and you begin to develop a more well-rounded understanding about what’s really valuable.
• Develop healthy habits: Prioritize eating meals together as a family (another subject where youth pastors who often work such irregular hours feel the twinge of conviction).  Make your meals nutritious and offer healthy portion sizes.   Ensure that healthy options are available for snack food.
• Build your child’s self-esteem: I mentioned these earlier, but the two characteristics we must find a way to develop in our children is a sense of competence and a hope for a better tomorrow.  It doesn’t seem to matter what risk behavior we’re talking about – premarital sex, substance abuse, eating disorders, suicide, bullying, and the list could go on.  Regardless the risk, two of the recurring contributing factors are the lack of these two characteristics.  So pass them on to your children.  Help them find an activity in which they can excel and experience a sense of competence.  And constantly encourage them to think about a future that is wide open and full of possibility.
• Teach media literacy: Help your kids see through the ways in which the media distorts our ideas of ideal body image.  Point out how unrealistically the media tends to portray the way the world looks, from it’s hiring of actors and actresses of a single and fairly uncommon body type, to the ways in which it alters the images of those actors and models to further promote their view of the ideal reality.  But don’t just show them how — show them why.  In a culture where so many already have more than they need, the only way to continue fueling an economy of consumption is to create dissatisfaction with what we already have.  Media is funded by advertisers.  And advertisers must convince us that we aren’t good enough, smart enough, happy enough or beautiful enough to create a sense of need where none really exists.

Where to go for more information?

I already acknowledge that I can hardly be considered an expert in this subject.  This post is not writing about somethign I know — it’s writing about something I need to know.  Here are some of the sources I found helpful in preparing this.  As always, be careful about following links.  I have not navigated many of the links contained on the pages I’m about to recommend.  Nor do I necessarily endorse all the ideas or issues that the sites on which these pages appear promote.  However, I found each of these helpful.

• Body image and your kids
• Body image: How parents can help
• Body image and children
• What causes a negative body image?
• Healthy Body Image: Being an Advocate for Your Child or Grandchild (PDF)

What Do You Know?

Have you been through this with your children?  Or were you perhaps a daughter whose father helped develop self-confidence in you?  Do you know first hand what works and what doesn’t?

Obviously I’d love to have the advice not only of these books and websites, but also from people with firsthand knowledge.  Please, join the conversation in the comments below.