Thinkin'...

I have been thinking about ideas a lot ... mostly because I feel as if my time for sharing and exploring them has passed.  I have long had ideas and long owned a few domains for them.  Over the past year, I took a hard look at what I might could do and the cost of the domains I had and let go of most of them, keeping just three that matter to me. I learned that I lost one of those because I did not notice that I failed to update the credit card information on the account.  While it is still in some sort of limbo, I would have to pay a hefty (and, in my opinion, outrageous) reclamation fee to get it back.  I would never pay such a fee, because basically some holding company pounces on all recently expired domains and holds them hostage.  But ... also ... I can only think so much.  Thus, some of those dreams of sharing ideas will never come true.  Perhaps that I still have two of the domains is enough.

You know how some folk have their best ideas in the shower?  Apparently, they don't have to worry about losing them!  Here is a waterproof notepad!  An idea about ideas.

Marie and I were talking about cooking again this Friday, but we have a shorter time window.  That means the naan attempt will have to wait.  I wanted to still try something with yeast, but then wondered about just doing something with the Pillsbury crescent rolls I have in the refrigerator.  I wondered if I could find any recipes using them.  Boy, was I surprised.  Here are just a few.  Now, I think it would be easy to just make the Loaded Potato Wheels (substituting fresh potatoes).  Of course this Butternut Squash Brunch Braid looks pretty tasty.  But if I had a mini-muffin pan, I believe I would definitely try the Gorgonzola Prosciutto Crescent Tartlets.  If you follow the main links and then scroll to the bottom, the scrolling goes on and on and on with recipe after recipe after recipe of creative and interesting and mostly tasty ideas for using the crescent dough.  So many people had so many ideas of how to use that product other than to merely bake some rolls.

Sandra has a lot of grace, which she doles out in great measure when I call/text her and practically vomit ideas.  For example, I was reading this brief article about the escalation of violence in Fort Wayne and found myself actually agreeing with Judge Hatchet:

"Judge Hatchett believes the solution to violence is for the older generation to help mentor and support young people through volunteerism, coaching, and other resources."

When I was in youth and college programs, we did a lot of volunteering.  Lots and lots and lots.  The thing is, the leaders didn't have to beg, bribe, or chivvy us into doing so.  Young folk always showed up for the projects announced.  Afterwards, we would go to Mickey D's (our slang for McDonald's) if mid-day or Chili's if night.

There was this one project story I have shared many times.  We were asked to help a young couple chasing their dreams of becoming dairy farmers.  The wife was pregnant and the herd they bought was actually ill.  Their home and land and barn were a mess.  So a gazillion of us descended upon their farm and threw ourselves in to making repairs on the house and porch, sickling and then mowing the grass, mucking out the barns and milking the cows that couldn't be on the machines, and work most of us had never done.  Hot dogs and the bonding of being slimed with manure kept us going.  When we left, the house was repaired and freshly painted, new curtains hanging in the windows, the yard was cleared and the fences repaired, and the barn was clean and organized.  I do not know if they made it, but a gaggle of young geese gave them the do-over inexperience and a snake-oil cattle salesman necessary for their dream to remain alive.

Our youth programs were not about entertainment or bonding.  Instead, they were about serving and about learning.  Granted, in the mainline evangelical church, the doctrine was thin, but we had many lessons about discipline and service and responsibility and character development.  We had young couples and older couples working with us, along with singles ... mentoring.

In recent years, I have noted a distinct lack of youth programs that were really and truly focused on learning, character development, discipline, service, and leadership.  What I see is an overwhelming use of the word "fun" when describing them, a whole lot of entertainment lightly iced with a bit of faith "talk."  Entertainment and sharing faith experiences.  It is why I very much like Higher Things, but also why I wonder the strong emphasis on catechesis is lacking when it comes to both younger and older youth programs in church.  Why only in the annual summer conference older youth might attend a few times?

Were I in charge of the world (quick, name that author), I would have youth programs where mentoring went both ways, older youth teaching and mentoring younger youth and adults and seniors teaching and mentoring older youth.  I would have copious amounts of service or volunteerism. I would have parents and singles rotate through the program, so that youth were exposed to faith lived in all walks of life and all circumstances.  In weakness and in frailty.  In success and triumph.  In want and in plenty.

I would also have the Christian Book of Concord be their most thumbed "text" of all their schooling by the time those youth head off to college.  And be well-versed in the Psalter.  In short, my youth programs would be about education, not entertainment ... learning, not sharing faith experiences.

More than any other topic, I have long wanted to write down some of my thoughts about literacy (and learning) and to save some of the resources I have kept over the years, even as my life of teaching has moved further and further in the past.  So, of the all idea domains I have left, I suppose I am grateful I did not lose the one for literacy.

This afternoon, I vomited thoughts about youth programs and about this college survival guide I've been hankering to at least help write for a long, long time until Sandra literally had to hang up on me.  I wasn't offended.  Just because I still long to think and to share ideas doesn't mean she should neglect child, career, or higher education.  I wasn't offended in the least, because, for a short while, I savored the chance to think and share ideas.  That's the mercy Sandra shows me.

Too bad I forgot to mention the shower notepad.  She would have liked that.  Maybe I'll remember next time I ambush her to do something thinking.


I am Yours, Lord.  Save me!