Lenten Learning 1:26 PM

For a week now, I have been without the upholder of un-unproductivity, Facebook. Prior to Lent, I was challenged by a few of my students who decided to give up Facebook for Lent. I took on the challenge and spread it around my group – and there are 30 of us leaving out logging in for 40 days.

There has been, however, a disconnect from the purpose of disconnecting. The tension between wallowing in destruction (woe is me, I miss my friends, I wish I could make this my status) and allowing for re-construction (how can I use this time wisely) is ever-present.

The discovery has been in this tension in my own life. Am I de-constructing or re-constructing? Living into cynicism or creativity? Hate or hope?

Pink'd 9:44 PM

There is a uniqueness in youth ministry. The ability to walk the line between adult and youth, to speak with and be heard by both groups. Also, the ability to hold multiple cell phones in your pockets, and remember to return them to their respective owners.

The most unique element of youth ministry? Pranks. Pranks that walk the line between "big enough so you notice" but "small enough so you still love them at the end." After much trash talk, some of my senior high girls have perpetrated the prank to top all pranks - painting some of my office PINK.

They kindly posted the evidence on Facebook.







The bottom picture represents what my desk usually looks like (minus the large purse). My friends were kind enough to put everything back the way it was. They were also kind enough to paint the wall a shade that I struggle with. Thus, the wall looks gray - and therefore great - to me.

Stocky Snow Day 10:58 AM

Here's my boy. Sadly, the picture of our foot-high snowman was a victim of the frigid, frosty lens.

Perfect 10 11:11 PM

“The Nils”, “The Aughts”, or the Two-Thousand-Zero-Zeroes. The beginning of the decade found me at a low-key gathering with high school friends, trying to determine whether to simply take someone’s keys or trust their promise not to drive. The end found me curled under the comforter with a pregnant-with-baby-number-two wife. The single digits started with seven friends trying to squeeze the magic out of six more months and ended with a completely different kind of magic sleeping in the adjoining room (and kicking in the womb.

The Nils were more concrete slab than jungle gym – setting the foundation for (without hyperbole I think) the rest of my life. The double-O’s contained not just college and seminary, but wife and child(ren); not just bachelors, but masters; not just job, but calling; not just status quo but status whoa (ladies and gentlemen, the lamest pun in history).

Looking back, the decade is a dunk-from-the-free-throw-line ten. Observe the same massive leap in pictures.


Then:


Now:

27 at 27 10:15 PM

Twenty-seven years ago, my parents met my slippery-naked self and were amazed at how giant my ears looked next to my head. My ears have continued to grow at an exponential rate. Here are 27 other things I have learned about myself and life in general.

1. You can always do it better. If you had more time, more energy, or saw more colors. Perfectionism can kill you because it paralyzes your ability to accept and perform the good.
2. Write stuff down. You will forget the great idea, great illustration, or God-insight that you just had. Carry a pen with you at all times (pilot G-2 07) and a piece of paper (or a moleskine).
3. Find a worthy mentor. Ask lots of questions.
4. Don’t use the bathroom on public toilets. That is gross. (Side note: There is nothing worse than a cold toilet seat.)
5. The first 8 months of parenthood are the most difficult of your life…so far.
6. Don’t overuse words – it makes them less powerful. The only word that maintains its power is “love”.
7. The Gospel of Luke is my favorite book of the Bible. I believe Luke when he says he researched it thoroughly – that sits well with me.
8. You mimic the people around you, whether you mean to or not.
9. Everything I do (talk on the cell phone, flip the remote, eat a steak, raspberry bellies), Stockton attempts to do until he does it.
10. I like popsicles – the kind in the plastic sleeve. Crunch up the popsicle and drink the juicy deliciousness.
11. Your Facebook status is not the place to write emo poetry / song lyrics.
12. Find a wife who will be honest to you. It may be difficult when she tells you that you look like crap – but you will feel better when you change into wife-approved outfit.
13. My dad can fix anything and use the words sprocket and wingnut in proper context. Sadly, I cannot.
14. If the church expects to be relevant, then it must speak God’s truth to the minimum wage, your retirement fund, 3rd period Spanish, and the 15 items or less checkout lane at Wal-Mart. What does God have to say to that person who haggles for free fries at McDonald’s because his order took so long?
15. Classic books are called “classic” for a reason. They are the ones that haunt you – not in the Stephen King way – and make you think.
16. Black jellybeans are made by Satan.
17. Nothing makes me angrier than people who say, “he’s white” because a person can’t dance or “he’s black” because a person can dunk. Why are these things ok to say?
18. No one ever says, “Hey! Remember that time you stayed home and played Madden and watched YouTube by yourself!” I’m not saying its not necessary (because it is, Dana) just saying no one ever gets excited about it.
19. If you get cold while you sleep, you should marry someone who gets hot while they sleep. That way, the covers they toss off go onto you.
20. Everyone should have a little boy with a gummy grin.
21. Having someone to always scratch your back: one of the best parts of being married.
22. Barbecue sauce makes everything more delicious.
23. I have difficulty accepting marketing people in ministry positions. Marketing is about spinning lies into truth – ministry is about separating the two. (with a hat tip)
24. Men who wear bathrobes are not gay. They simply enjoy being warm and comfortable.
25. Belly laughs and good art are necessary for a good life – and are to be enjoyed with friends.
26. Most things happen on a continuum. Stockton didn’t just flip a switch one day and start talking / walking / laughing – these things slowly evolved over time, from the prone-position lunge, to the army crawl, to the four legged crawl, to the tentative step, to the confident step. People, relationships, and faith are the same way – things develop on a continuum, not binary switches that have two, and only two, positions.
27. The internet is awesome (Wikipedia, Facebook, YouTube, Blogs, etc.) but runs the risk of demeaning complex issues into a two-minute (or two-second) sound byte. I have found myself NOT watching a YouTube video because you had to wait over three minutes to get to the funny part.
28. (bonus fact!) “Fragment consider revising” would be a great title for a blog or a book.
29. (extra bonus fact!) No one reads blogs that are this long. (see number 27) Thanks, quality reader, for making it this far.

Dunning Kruger Effect 4:12 PM

Not unrelated to the previous post...

"Dunning-Kruger effect (dun'-eng kroo'-guhr e-fekt') noun. The phenomenon wherein people who have little knowledge or skill tend to think they know more or have more skill than they do, while simultaneously overlooking or underestimating the knowledge and skills of others.

Usage example: There's this guy in my pickup league who couldn't hit a shot if a genie gave him three wishes and he used all three to do it...but he always chucks it up without conscience. He must be suffering from Dunning-Kruger effect.

Word history: The term is based on a series experiments performed by Justin Kruger and David Dunning, both of Cornell University, the results of which were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in December 1999. Here's an explanation from the abstract:

People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across four studies, The authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from error.

Incompetent individuals will be less able than their more competent peers to gain insight into their true level of performance by means of social comparison information. In particular, because of their difficulty recognizing competence in others, incompetent individuals will be unable to use information about the choices and performances of others to form more accurate impressions of their own ability.

Thus, most people think they're better than they really are, but they're too stupid to realize it. And that same stupidity makes it difficult (and sometimes impossible) for them to recognize skills and competence in the non-stupids, which perpetuates their cycle of idiocy and megalomania."

Would anyone like to discuss the implications of this for ministry? ;)

Dunning-Kruger Effect 3:52 PM

Not unrelated to the previous post...

"Dunning-Kruger effect (dun'-eng kroo'-guhr e-fekt') noun. The phenomenon wherein people who have little knowledge or skill tend to think they know more or have more skill than they do, while simultaneously overlooking or underestimating the knowledge and skills of others.

Usage example: There's this guy in my pickup league who couldn't hit a shot if a genie gave him three wishes and he used all three to do it...but he always chucks it up without conscience. He must be suffering from Dunning-Kruger effect.

Word history: The term is based on a series experiments performed by Justin Kruger and David Dunning, both of Cornell University, the results of which were published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology in December 1999. Here's an explanation from the abstract:

People tend to hold overly favorable views of their abilities in many social and intellectual domains. The authors suggest that this overestimation occurs, in part, because people who are unskilled in these domains suffer a dual burden: Not only do these people reach erroneous conclusions and make unfortunate choices, but their incompetence robs them of the metacognitive ability to realize it. Across four studies, The authors found that participants scoring in the bottom quartile on tests of humor, grammar, and logic grossly overestimated their test performance and ability. Although their test scores put them in the 12th percentile, they estimated themselves to be in the 62nd. Several analyses linked this miscalibration to deficits in metacognitive skill, or the capacity to distinguish accuracy from error.

Incompetent individuals will be less able than their more competent peers to gain insight into their true level of performance by means of social comparison information. In particular, because of their difficulty recognizing competence in others, incompetent individuals will be unable to use information about the choices and performances of others to form more accurate impressions of their own ability.

Thus, most people think they're better than they really are, but they're too stupid to realize it. And that same stupidity makes it difficult (and sometimes impossible) for them to recognize skills and competence in the non-stupids, which perpetuates their cycle of idiocy and megalomania."

Would anyone like to discuss the implications of this for ministry? ;)

Worth Less Life 8:36 PM

The Washington Post recently published an article on the EPA's reduction of the value of a human being. According to the "Value of Statistical Life", a life is worth 7.22 million dollars, down from 8.04 million. The figure, according to the article, is used, among other things, to measure whether particular safety measures in products should be taken. If reducing pollution would save 40 lives a year, but would cost more than 288.8 million (40 x 7.22), it would not be worth it to put the pollution-reducing restrictions in place.

I am having some difficulty putting pen to paper (or finger to keyboard) and getting ink around my thoughts. Ringing in my head...

1) "The ninety and the nine" song from the 94-year-old British lady in the Chattanooga nursing home (a loud and off key Luke 15 rendition)
2) Sgt. Slaughter's quote "We all go home or nobody goes home" in G.I. Joe: The Movie
3) the value of life in a culture of war and violence
4) how radically different the economy of the triune God still is today
5) how has this thinking infiltrated our churches?

I like my milk in a mug. 10:05 PM

This evening, Dana reminded me that she didn't like it when I drank out of a mug, rather than the plethora of glasses we have. After nearly four years of marriage, she still did not know I prefer my milk in a mug - something about the handle and the thick porcelain make milk even more delicious. (Real milk - not nasty soy milk. blech) Here are some other things I'm not sure Dana (or anyone else knows) about me.

- I have only purchased one hat in my life. A navy blue Gonzaga hat that was a dual homage to John Stockton and this guy.

- Over the course of my life, I have wanted to earn my living being a veterinarian, a fighter pilot, and a high school English teacher. I kind of wanted to be in the NBA, but knew early on that wasn't going to happen.

- I think black licorice is the devil. There is nothing nastier.

- When I eat Starburst, possibly my favorite candy, I suck on it and let it get soft before chewing it up. My favorite type of candy is gummi though - gummi bears, worms, pterodactyls - whatever.

- I own more Stephen King books than any other author. Not sure I wanted to admit that - but horror aside, he really is a tremendous story teller.

- I am terrified of spiders.

- When I was younger, I was scared a burglar would break into my home through my window - so I made my brother sleep closer to the window so said burglar would kill him. In the process of killing him, I was sure I would wake up, and be able to run.

- I have never owned a pair of Air Jordans. I did rock the Reebok Pumps though. (The best part was letting the air OUT - pssssssssssss)

- I made up a dance called "the flea". And have performed it on several occasions - only for Dana though!

- I think people falling down is, for some reason, ridiculously hilarious. (I really honestly try not to laugh...but I am laughing right now typing this.)

- I am a cover guy when I am sleeping. Even when it is super hot, I need some covers.

- I would rather smell poop than the spray air freshener people use to cover it up.

- I was on the quick recall team in elementary and middle school. I started my forth and fifth grade year. (Bzzzz - Aburndale, Brown.)