Author: Wick

Hey all..I know I have one or two youth workers who stumble on my blog. For you special few, I’m posting about a helpful tool I’ve found. I may be completely out of touch, and you may laugh that I don’t use _______ instead because it’s so completely easy and free. But in case, like me, you found yourself wondering how to compile a youth directory easily and free….here ya’ go:

I used GEFC Directory 2.1, which is a free shareware program. They do offer the ability to pay and subscribe to having them host/save your address/database online. But you can still use their software without paying for any of those services, simply by clicking “Register Later” when using the program.

You simply upload pictures of your teens into a file, and remember where it is. You’ll want to crop them to a square around the face, it shows up best. Then you add each person’s information as a separate set of data, like any student database you may have used before. It allows you to select your photo for each student/leader, and set up a profile for your booklet (front page/back page inside and out designs). Then you print, and make copies!!!

Addison turned 3 years old this past August. Sophie is going to turn 2 in February. Ruby is just over 4 months old. Whew.

Addie has a free spirit, or at least, she advertises something like that. In actuality, she’s very cautious and takes things a step at a time. Often she’ll want mommy or daddy near, not to do it for her, but simply to give her assurance that she can do it. She loves loves loves to dance. I know dance “classes” exist for girls her age, but I don’t think I want dancing to become a class just yet. She’s a professional dancer already, and if she takes a class, she may realize she’s a beginner. She’s a princess, except for the moments where she’s a mommy to her younger sisters. She’ll tell you she’s not hungry during this meal, and eat for two at the next one. Her smile can light up a room, or daddy’s face at 6am when he sometimes needs a reminder that he’s a morning person. I love her.

Sophie also advertises that she is very independent. But she totally means it. Independent of any need for clothing. Independent of any desire to work well with or give much thought to gravity. Independent of any drive to hone her skills at anything just yet. She’s a do-er. As seen in recent videos, she’s not afraid to get into a mess. Perhaps not because the mess does not intimidate her, but because she doesn’t see it as a mess. She loves to pop her peas like bubble wrap, and most other foods become toys or history quickly. Sophie loves to run, naked preferably, but as that can’t last long, we encourage clothed rampages. Her legs are still getting used to how fast her mind wants them to go, and have taken more bruises than Addie ever did. Silly faces are her specialty, and she knows how to make you smile. I love her.

Ruby cries out in a house already filled with happenings “I’m coming!!!”. She can smile and laugh larger than either of the first girls ever did at this age. Only one problem – there’s no audio yet. It’s coming though. We’ve had glimpses of it, and they usually lead to a long case of the hiccups, to discourage trying further. Her cries can be heard half a mile away, but her large eyes and giant smile can travel even further into your heart. When given the opportunity, she’ll plant her little feet on your lap, and stretch out her legs, as if to prove that balance is the only thing keeping her from standing independently. She sucks her thumb, no pacifier required. Although by sucking her thumb, I also mean she often counts her entire fist as her thumb. When her eyes lock on you, it’s impossible to resist. I love her.

As mentioned in my previous post, what Jesus was proclaiming was something radical and upsetting to those Pharisees. He was proclaiming forgiveness as being possible not only for those who are repentant and who have begun to change their ways…he was offering it to those who were still caught up in the midst of their sins and actively sinning.

Did he ask them if they wanted to be forgiven, and then wait until they turned away from their sinful way and asked for forgiveness, and once he was certain they “really really meant it” and were “sorry enough”, he knighted them “Forgiven”? Nope. Did he gracefully offer them the “credit” of forgiveness, contingent on payment conditions that they would follow after He left, and commit to coming back to check on them to see these conditions had been met? No.

He offered forgiveness. Free, and full of love and IN THE MIDST OF THEIR SINNING.

What was this forgiveness? As I mentioned briefly in my previous post, it was a transformation of what had happened. The event was not obliterated/erased/annulled, because that would undermine the need and beauty of what happens in forgiveness. The event becomes transformed/redeemed as something that is (“forget it, as if it never happened”), and at the same time (“remember it, so that it doesn’t happen again”).

How often have we heard “Oh, I want to forgive _____, if only they’d ask for it/turn from their ways.” Or even “Oh, I’ve forgiven _____, I just can’t treat them as a human being ever again or allow myself to accept that others do.”

When we do forgive someone of a “large” offense, we sometime believe it is our (right/obligation) to hold what they’ve been forgiven of in front of them. But it is not OUR duty to hold on. It is our duty to release. It is the duty of the one forgiven to hold on to the event that has been released in order to know what exactly the future can be freed from.

Which is all good and fine when we’re talking about people cutting you off in traffic. It takes on entirely new dynamics when talking of something much more substantial. But I suppose the larger the offense, the larger the opportunity to communicate the foolishness of how forgiveness works in the Kingdom of God…

(realizing that referring to certain offenses as “large” compared to others only hurts the case of viewing things in a Kingdom light)