Today is a sad day. The Subway stamps are ending. The program which has been going on since before I was in middle school is ending. What’s even sadder is that, had my dad not told me, I probably wouldn’t have realized it. When he told me, I was planning on having Chinese food for lunch at the Keokuk Hy-Vee (grocery chain). After hearing the news I decided that Subway was definitely where I was going.

It was funny when talking with my mom about it. I asked her why they’d discontinue the program and she’d heard that people were selling stamps online and the company was losing money. I had the perfect solution to their problem, but then again, so did they (or at least a part of them did). Two summers ago when I worked in Seattle I was part of a new program that the Subways in Oregon and Washington were starting. The stores in those states had created a system where customers had the cashier swipe a magnetically striped card that automatically recorded the amount of money spent. For so many dollars spent, the customers could then use their card as payment to get so many sandwiches free. It was a digital system to the one they just discontinued; it was great.

The problem for me came when I moved back to Texas or when I was traveling through Iowa. Every time I tried to use my new card (most of the time just to see how they reacted), I would get a classic response: “What’s that?” “It’s my Subway card.” “What? That’s not real!” “Sure it is, don’t you see the Subway logo on it and the website?” “Yeah, but I’ve never even heard of one of those.” When I explained to them what it was and how it was used, they would usually say “well, that makes sense, but I still don’t think it’s real.” Would I be someone to make something like that up? Would anyone have the time to create fake magnetically sealed knock-off sophisticated Subway cards?

I had a similar experience in high school. It was right after the Sacajawea dollar coins came out. I was up in Webster City at a show choir contest and was getting something at the concession stand. When I tried to pay using one, the man sitting at the cash box said, “What are you trying to do with that?” “Pay,” I replied. “We don’t accept those coins here.” “You don’t accept dollars?” “That’s not a dollar.” I handed it to him and waited for him to look and see all of the government’s markings. “We still don’t accept those here.” At that point I was past arguing and found a dollar bill in my pocket and handed it to him.

What is it with people that make them think that if they don’t know about it, then it must not be real? Is reality determined by a universal lack of ignorance? I’m finding so many things in life where people don’t know and assume that because they don’t, it isn’t. Thankfully that’s what internships are about for me. Just because I don’t know of something going on in the church’s life doesn’t mean that it’s not or that it shouldn’t. So much is happening at Keokuk beyond the church’s walls. Industries and labor are changing. Relationships are changing. People’s lives are changing. Just because they are doesn’t mean that me not knowing about them and preparing to deal with them are making them any less real.

I took another day off of work (yeah, I know, kind of atypical for me). I drove out of Keokuk at 12:20 and headed for Des Moines to watch my brother’s soccer game. His team advanced in the first round of the cup (I think the Lamar Hunt US Soccer Cup, but don’t quote me on that) at the last game that I wrote about. Before I get to the results, I had a funny experience on the way up to Des Moines.

I was driving through Mt. Pleasant and called my Dad and had him check on Thai Restaurants any place along the way (even if the closest one ended up being in Des Moines). He called me just as I was leaving and said that Fairfield (20 minutes ahead of me) had one. After he gave me the number, I called it and got a funny response. “Hello, can I do a to-go order?” “Sure, not a problem.” “Great, can I get an order of Pad Thai?” “Sure, what kind?” “Umm, how about chicken.” “Chicken Pad Thai?” “Yes, can that be ready in 20 minutes?” “Ummm, I don’t think I understand the order, let me hand you to someone else.” “OK.”

So I repeat the order with the next person and she tells me that they don’t have a dish called Pad Thai (any flavor — I asked about them all). She passes me off to another person who says that they have it, but it’ll take 25 minutes to make. Not a problem. I told them OK and said I’d be there in 20 and would wait. When I ended up getting to the place the man at the cash register said no one had called in during the last half-hour. He asked if I’d dialed the right number and I told him the one I had and he said that was the one for the restaurant. I ended up deciding that I was so hungry that I didn’t care and so I placed the order and waited.

10 minutes later I was driving out of Fairfield with an extremely hot container of Pad Thai. It was so hot I couldn’t hold it between my legs as I drove; I ended up putting it on the passenger seat. Before I made it out of Fairfield I realized I’d need a drink. McDonald’s drive-thrus are great for that; Diet Coke’s never been better. Not only was the Pad Thai temperature-hot, but it was spicy! Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love hot, spicy Thai food. This stuff was great because I was sweating just from eating it. I had my car at 73 degrees and I was sweating — a new wave coming each time I licked my lips. There’s just one way to describe it: “En Fuego”.

So my brother’s game was quite a thriller as well.

The Menace scored two goals at the beginning of the game (pretty rare for soccer). It was fun until mid-way into the second half where their opponents, the Charleston Batteries, scored two goals to tie it up. With fifteen minutes left, the Menace attacked again. One of the players kicked a ball high near the goal and one of the others went up and headed it in — let’s just say “sweetness.” Immediately the 1400 who were there were on their feet screaming. Luke then went in and defended against their really tall forward, trying to prevent him from getting the ball and tying the game up. He hadn’t started the game, although he normally does. Last weekend he played in the regional competitions (his club team one their state tournament earlier in the year) where he played 5 games in 6 days.

It was fun to see him play again. His next game in the cup is in two weeks when the team flies down to Atlanta to play. He has games between now and then, but the next one will be fun. The Menace have gone further than they ever have before, so it’ll be fun to see if they can keep it up. I’m hoping they’re still “En Fuego.” (OK, I realize that was kind of cheesy, but oh well — it was worth it!) 😉

OK, one question? When will my next moment in ministry be on fire?

OK, I’ll admit: when I first read through the curriculum for the Community Bible Study (CBS) at the prison in Ft. Madison, I was skeptical. The curriculum made a lot of assumptions without addressing some of the theological background issues. This section is on the resurrection and it seemed to ignore the historical issues surrounding docetism and other sects of Christianity. Granted, it would be incredibly difficult for people who hadn’t read some of the historical analyses or authors’ actual works to teach or even participate in a bible study that acknowledged them. Nevertheless, when I was reading the CBS curriculum, I thought it was simplistic and would help only certain types of Christians — those who need there to be only one right answer.

I went into tonight with a lot of unknowns. Tom and Larry (his co-leader from the E-free church) had told me on the ride up about the procedure once we get there. I had somewhat of an idea of what to expect, but there were still a lot of uncertainties. Would the guards be mean? Would the prisoners even pay attention? What kind of leaders would Tom and Larry be?

When I got there tonight, I was astounded. First off, all of the prisoners gave us hugs when they came into the room and we all sat around, had a prayer session, and then sang some songs. And can they sing! Some of them made these harmonies on top of the songs that sounded phenomenal. Anyway, the prisoners (and really anyone who participates in a CBS group) gets a commentary sheet to read on the chapter and then a couple pages of questions — it’s more homework for each chapter than even Dr. Grant assigned.

When we started going through the questions, Larry would ask the questions and the guys would come up with so many different answers. It was great. Larry and Tom kept encouraging them to share. When we go to the second prison and were meeting with the leadership team, Tom made sure to point out that many answers were encouraged and the Holy Spirit impacts each reader differently. No kidding! It didn’t only impact each reader, but each hearer tonight.

It was great to watch the leadership team work in the second prison. The first one was a medium-security prison while the second was a maximum-security. One of the guys who led the discussion by asking questions was named Jesse. Tom and Larry shared that he’s doing hospice work as a prisoner; I can see why — he’s so pastoral! His mannerisms and the voice inflection he used to ask questions were perfect for getting the guys to share. He’d call on them when needed, but often times he’d just wait and they’d all contribute. The curriculum worked wonderfully and there was more diversity there than I see on many campus ministry settings. In the end, Tom closed us with a lecture (sermon with notes). He did a wonderful job in sharing different ways that we react to the resurrection and how much we accept it. What surprised me, coming from what I’d gathered in previous conversations with him, was that he defended doubt as a viable option but still encouraged those who doubted to keep asking the questions and to keep searching. He described it as natural! He’s a natural. What an exhausting day and night — it sure was a great note to end it on, however.

Move into the Seiberts’ house? Check
Move and rearrange Cathie’s Office with her? ToDo
Move all of this week’s campers up to Newton? Check
Study the lesson for the Prison Ministry visit tomorrow night? ToDo
Dream about Italy and start planning some of that? Check and ToDo

It never ceases to amaze me how organized I need things to be some times. When most people looked at my room in my apartment they probably never would have thought that I was a stickler for organization. Things need to have order though. It’s something I always want, but rarely can ever completely have. I always have to be expecting possibilities that exist ahead of me and be ready to use flexibility and never get phased by some of life’s curve-balls.

Ministry is one of those things this summer that college has prepared me well for; a communion or offertory meditation – they could be thrown on me at the last minute and I’d still be fine – I’m always coming up with new ones as I go through life. Sermons, on the other hand, are something that I could probably never do at the spur-of-the-moment. One of the challenges for me is figuring out how much order I need around me in order to thrive. I know it’s kind of self-centered, but this summer is a time where I need to figure it out before I become too attached and set on my vocational path and my choice on a future school.

‘m not positive that I’ve ever been so worn out in my life! I know it’s not good to say that often, but in this case it’s a good kind of tired. This week is Vacation Bible School at First Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Keokuk. We’re doing the program in conjunction with 4 or so other churches in town and we’re loving it. I just finished Day 3. Besides being in charge of recreation, I’m also lucky in that I get to help with X-treme Team, which is a group of middle schoolers who meet from lunch until 2:30 that also help with the younger ages.

For the past two days I’ve gone into the church at either 6:30 or 6:45. I’ve worked on setting and resetting up a game called MapQuest. This game has giant maps of Iowa and Egypt (yeah, I know, a little random — but it goes with the themes of the bible school) where the youth have to go through and discover sequences of traveling between cities and locations in each of the areas. It’s taken a lot of time and energy to setup, but the results are pretty fun. At first I was thinking I would be tired of getting there so early and working with the youth for so long afterwards. Surprisingly, the morning time setting up is the best alone-time I get during the entire day. It’s nice to have a great chance to reflect that I normally wouldn’t have.

I also figured out one of my creative outlets which I haven’t been able to do so far this summer. Cooking! This internship is really aimed with younger college students in mind. Housing is provided and meals are wonderful and huge. At the end of this week I’m moving out of Rodger and Lucille’s house and going to live with the Sieberts. I was looking ahead on my calendar and saw again that every night I’m living with people this summer they’re wanting me to have dinner with them. It’s a great problem to have — meals provided and cooked. Little did I know, however, that during this past year (really ever since Harvard) cooking was one place where I was usually alone and was able to try new things. I miss it a little. Then again, the meals provided are fun; Rodger and Lucille and I talked after dinner for at least an hour — just sitting at the table without any plans or structure (REFRESHING).

One thing this summer is provided me is a wide array of lessons. I’m not sure how much ministry in congregations is like this, but this summer is full of SO many types. I’ve not only done a mission trip with the youth and adults, but I’ve also done a communion meditation and pastoral prayer in worship, led Sunday School classes each Sunday, helped prepare the powerpoint for the later service each Sunday, done two hospital visits, watched a wedding behind the scenes, planned and worked a lot of vacation bible school in terms of both curriculum logistics and artwork for every room.

While all of these things are great, there’s so much more that I know is coming up. I’ll counsel a week of camp with middle schoolers in tents in the middle of the woods, help work on technology (maybe even teach a workshop) at a youth conference in Illinois, do some jail ministry (Tom, the one I’m moving in with next does stuff at the Fort Madison prison), hopefully do a lock-in where a bunch of us spend a weekend working a lot on the new church building, and do more hospital visits and sunday school classes and worship leadership.

I’ve now been here for almost four weeks and I’m still loving it; I’m eagerly awaiting the rest.

OK, I’ve found some fun distractions during the past couple of days which are reenergizing me. Two nights ago I got to have some fun with Matt Hunt, the Associate Minister at Keokuk. After the church’s cabinet meeting (chairs of the committees), I went over to Matt’s and helped him with a 3-minute video he had to make for something he was applying for. He is by far one of the goofiest guys I’ve ever met.

Last night I was lucky enough to get off of work at 2pm and I drove to Fairfield to meet my grandma. We then drove up to Des Moines together to have dinner with my dad and watch my brother play soccer. Even though he plays for Drake, he plays for a semi-professional team, the Des Moines Menace, during the summer.

The teams ended up tying at the end of regulation, so my Grandma and I started the drive home and my dad called me when they found out the score. Sometime in the first overtime period, the other team scored and the Menace were behind. Then with a short bit left in the second overtime period, the Menace scored and went to a shootout. There, the Menace won on penalty kicks. I ended up getting to my Grandma’s around 12:00am and then drove on from there to Keokuk where I’m typing this.

Both distractions ended up being exactly what I needed this week.

I should have known this from my college atmosphere, but there are some hours of the day where my creativity and work pace just lag behind. My mornings are great. Before I take lunches I’m usually on fire. Nighttime is usually also great. At campus it was because I’d work out in the Rec Center and then do another couple of hours of homework. Here in Keokuk, however, nighttime is usually when I get reading done and when I also prepare for the coming day’s work. One of the problems is that the YMCA isn’t open as late as the Rec Center at TCU.

So when is my stifled period of work?: 2:00pm-3:30pm. That hour and a half can rarely get many of my mental juices flowing as fast as I want or need them to. What a frustration! Those are usually the clearest hours of the day that I spend in the church and the ones when I need to work the most.

I’m also afraid that I’m reaching a burnout point. To some extent it’s a burnout feeling because of the hours that I’m working, but more than that, it’s really an absence of what I like to call ‘recreative’ moments. At college I had a set of rituals I could do and locations I could go to which would spawn a ton of creativity. Sometimes it was taking two hours to do some computer programming. Sometimes it was taking an hour and doing the Stairmaster. Sometimes it was going to the depths of the library to mentally concentrate on something else to let the subconscious start moving faster.

One of the hard things I’m having trouble with in Keokuk is finding not only places but also things to do which can bring on the synergy. Rodger and Lucille’s house is great for reading, sleeping and fellowship, but it’s hard to stay in touch with some of my normal relaxation outlets. The church is great for when I need to help or get help from Cathie, Matt, Sharon, Lea or Bill, but it’s not great for individual work. Part of it is the space limitations which will be solved by the new building (which they’ll move into after I leave). One of the issues is that I’m used to a lot of desk space (space for computers and printers). I’ve lucked out so far since Bill was gone for my first week, last week was the mission trip, this week Matt is taking some time off and next week I’ll be really tied up with Vacation Bible School; desk space has shown up. When everyone is working, though, I’m basing out of a chair in Cathie’s office with a laptop actually on my lap (yeah, I know, completely ironic concept nowadays).

For the past summers I’ve been able to stay connected with the rest of the world at a pretty intense level with the internet and instant messaging. I never realized how great of an extent a town like Keokuk, however, was still based on slow internet. The church is using a dial-up connection that usually gets only about half of the speed of a normal 56K connection.

While I have to adopt for this summer, it’s really affecting what I’m thinking about for my future in ministry. I know that I’m wanting to do ministry, but the limitations of a small, isolated town are making me even more conscious of having to choose what type. For most of last fall and spring I admired priests because they could have do so many types of ministry: some serve not only as parish priests, but also as school teachers, missionaries, authors, chaplains and business managers in their lifetime. Ministry is a chance for them to serve God while not limiting their job possibilities for the future but expanding them more than they could otherwise.

This internship is really geared at preparing me for pastoral ministry. I’m already having fun and learning a lot. I keep asking myself as I’m going through it why I can’t do more. I know in many situations it’s a time factor; my energy has to be focused in order to do things well. Why is it that this is wearing me out faster than expected and I’m not getting my usual recharge? Part of it is due to my introverted nature and my setting’s lack of time that I take for myself. If I lived alone in my own apartment I wouldn’t be tied up at nights (don’t get me wrong though, Rodger and Lucille and their kids and grandkids are the people I’d most like to be with in this situation; they’re great). The internship isn’t really set up with introverts in mind. Hopefully at the end of the summer I can offer some advice from experience on how the church can at least offer some options for future interns.

So what’s my game plan for surviving burnout for the rest of the summer? I’m starting to do some of my forward visioning. At school this forward visioning is usually focused around papers due in the next month and seminary options for the distant future. Now that I’m in the internship, I’m needing to concentrate on something for the future so the rest of me can work at the job-at-hand. My senior year of high school I was scoping out Flash technology (namely 2Advanced Studios – http://www.2advanced.com). Now in my senior year of college I’m starting to read about digital photography labs and techniques online (hard to do without high-speed internet) and also stay up to date with my online magazine subscriptions (America – http://www.americamagazine.org and Interpretation (a journal on biblical studies)).

I’m going to have to post again in a month to see how I’ve adapted and whether or not the internship will still be draining my creativity as much as it is.

Well, we’re done at camp and on the way home. The mission trip was a success. We ended up getting all of the supporting 2″x4″ beams in place between the trusses and about 80% of them nailed in.

Up until 20 minutes ago, four other adults and one of the youth and I were planning to stay and work on getting the roof nailed down and the black weathering tarp nailed down to it so the only parts left would be shingling and laying the concrete floor slab (which we were planning on having done afterwards the whole time). Unfortunately, the wind picked up and we realized it was too dangerous to be handling 4’x8′ sheets of plywood around 15 feet in the air.

Click HERE to read descriptions and see pictures of what we accomplished at the camp!

To cap off our week, the Keokuk mission team went to Adventureland for a much deserved rest. I know that it’s sometimes lame to wear matching group t-shirts, but these ones were fun:

Adventureland isn’t a new experience for me. I should have realized going in how much it would change me though. Some people in our group have never been to an amusement park! The sparkle in their eyes were like what you’d see from people who’d never heard of religion and then had a mystical experience: pure amazement and fear and wonder at the same time. Every new ride they did they wanted to repeat over and over again. Here are some pictures I got of some of our group who did some fun rides:

I’m glad that so many had fun. I even enjoyed some of the rides that I didn’t like as a kid, like the Dragon (one that goes upside down with two loops) and the Tornado. Both of them were ones I was afraid of as a kid and now seemed absurdly tame compared to what I remembered. When we first got there it started raining. We were afraid that the entire night would be ruined. It turned out, though, that many left the park and the lines for the rides were incredibly short! When we got back we found out that the rain we had was only a foreshadow of the real storm that came and hit Newton and the campground. Luckily some had stayed back and were able to “close the hatches” before too much damage was done (surprise floods and such). We’ll have to wait and see how the work sites are tomorrow morning.