A Long While

It seems like the running theme is that I never update regularly.  Things have been, and will be pretty crazy.  

Things are finally starting to click.  My sleeping schedule is semi-normal, I'm getting used to the policies and procedures at work, and things at the church are going really well.  We just held a fundraiser for BGMC (bgmc.ag.org).  I got the idea from a couple of friends who went to a fair and saw a guy heckling a crowd of people, they would then buy tomatoes to throw at him (behind a protective barrier).  My mind just wouldn't get off of it until I came up with the idea for "Tomatoes for Texts".  I would tell really terrible jokes, everyone would boo, then they would throw tomatoes at me.  $5 got them 5 tomatoes.  We raised $182.  That's really good considering we have about 60-80 people in our church.  They really got behind the event and went above and beyond.  They're the greatest bunch of people ever.

On a completely separate note, I had an appointment today with a neurologist to get some options to treat my back.  Basically he, and I, do not want surgery.  So we opted for a set of steroidal epidurals.  I had this procedure done once before last year, but because of my lack of insurance, I could only do one (see this post for more info about that).  So I go in on October 20th for that.

Other than that, things are going really well.  Nicole has been working at least 40 hours a week for the past month, so that is great.  Nicole has also been doing well.  She's taken lead over Discovery Club (our Wednesday night clubs) so that's a relief to me.  She does a great job at it too.  She's much more organized and detailed than I am.

I've started listening to "Nobody's Listening" Podcast.  It is absolutely hysterical.  They also do a couple other podcasts as well (Geek Loves Nerd, Children's Ministry Monthly).  They're all on the website hyperlinked above.  If you have a chance, check them out.

That's all for now.

Health Care Reform

Forgive me for talking about a sensitive topic, but this is something that needs to be dealt with.  As a Bible believing Christian whose desire is to follow Christ and my own convictions, how can we leave 48 million Americans uninsured and left to rot away?  Sure there’s medicare that covers people over 60 (or 65) and there’s Medicaid for people under 18 (and pregnant mothers), but what about everyone in-between?  Did Jesus refuse to heal people if they didn’t fit his criteria? 

Absolutely not.

I don’t see how anyone who is a Christian cannot be for health care reform in some form.  Studies have shown (from the World Health Organization) that America’s healthcare, which supposedly is the best in the world, ranks 37^th, right below Costa Rica and right above Slovenia.

(http://www.who.int/whr/2000/media_centre/press_release/en/index.html)

I’d like to go back to my favorite person in history.  Jesus.  I believe Jesus was 100% man and 100% God (that’s another debate for a different time).  When Jesus went out and performed the miracles He did, I believe He did them for two reasons.

First, He performed miracles as proof He really was the Son of God.  Simple enough.

Second, He performed miracles (mainly healings) out of his compassion for people.  Believe it or not, healing people was only the first step.  He wanted to give them their health back, but He also wanted to restore them to society. 

One example—Lepers were outcasts.  They were completely separate from the city.  Exiled.  Never to be heard from again.  When Jesus healed lepers, did he say to hide out in the country?  No.  He gave them their entire life back—not just their health.  This meant they could come back to the city, eat with their family, talk with their friends, and live a life that was almost foreign to them.  They were normal.

Now, how can a Christian be against something that would likely give these 48 million people hope. 

Let me explain a story from my life.  It’s rather lengthy so if you’re pressed for time, skip down to “And that brings me to today…”

In college, my wife and I were broke.  Flat broke.  We lived in Government subsidized housing, we were on food stamps, and we were barely making it.  We each worked three Federal Work Study jobs each while at the same time, full time college students.  There was no wiggle room—no slush fund.  Nothing. 

My family has a history of back problems and it was only a matter of time before mine developed.  Little did I know, it would be in the poorest time of my life.  My back was in so much pain, my legs would go numb and nothing would help.  I spent hours in prayer by myself, with my wife, and with friends and faculty from Trinity Bible College for 2 years.  God was the first person I went to but at the same time, I was looking for options.

One of my professors, who was more like a friend, suggested I check into sliding scale clinics.  These are clinics (funded by both private investors & the government) that base your bill on your income.  Praise God—I’ve found a place that can help me.  After numerous visits to this clinic, they referred me to a hospital where I could get an MRI.  The first question I asked was, how much?  Fortunately, they could refer a patient to a hospital for a specific service one time. 

So the MRI comes back and I had a bulged disc between my L5-S1 that was pinching a nerve that ran down my leg.  If it went untreated, it would indefinitely herniate. 

Panic.

So I go back to the clinic (which the clinic was in Fargo, a 2 ½ hour drive) where they refer me to a Neurologist.  Free (because the referral policy).  The neurologist recommended a set of three steroidal epidural injections, one month apart.  So I went back to the clinic to get another referral to a hospital for the epidural.  Again, every time, I have to drive 2 ½ hours for each trip.  I get the referral and set up the epidural injection appointment. 

I get the epidural and a couple of days later, I feel relief that I cannot put into words.  I could do things I would have never done before without pain.  I was able to work out again.  I was able to sit on bleachers again.  I was able to basically anything I wanted. 

That’s when it hit me.  I could only be referred once.  I called the clinic seeing if there was anything I could do.  I called the hospital I had the epidural at and asked how much it would cost out of pocket.  $1,900. 

Simply not possible.

And that brings me to today.  Thankfully, after 2 years, I got a job with the State of Nebraska where I have reliable health insurance that covers the procedures I need.  Thankfully, the insurance coverage I have did not deny me for preexisting conditions.  Thankfully, I have a God who is concerned for me.

I know there are more out there who were just like me.  Out of options and forced to live without hope.  Out of options.  Out of time.  I’m thankful that my condition is not life threatening.  But what about those who are not fortunate enough to have survived the recession and lost their job, subsequently losing their health insurance? 

Tough luck?

Christ came for the down and out.  He despised the Pharisees who thought they had everything and were well covered.  He came to save a sinner like me.  He came to restore me to society.  He came to give me life and life to the fullest. 

Health care reform is needed.  What we need is health care companies who care for the patients instead of their money and that is exactly what is going to happen if they have to compete with a government option.  It’s my understanding that competition is what fuels our economy.  That’s why we have anti-monopoly and fair practices laws.  

Example:  Since Blue Cross Blue Shield (which, ironically is my insurance carrier), turned for-profit, they have been denying claims while raising rates.  Case in point.  BCBS of Massachusetts CEO, Cleve Killingsworth’s salary rose 26% while membership declined and it’s net income fell 49%

(http://www.boston.com/business/healthcare/articles/2009/02/28/blue_cross_ceos_pay_rose_26/)

Greed.

Is it a coincidence that Sen. Grassley (R-IA) has said that “he would not support a bill, even if he liked it, unless most of his fellow Republicans signed on.” (Associated Press).   Oh, did I mention that Des Moines, IA is known as the insurance capital of the US and this bill is the Democrats idea?  Party partisan must end.  For the sake of lives.  It must end. 

And for my sake, this must end as well.  My goal here is not to create anger, but rather to open our eyes to something that needs to be changed.

I’ll close with a quote from Richard Beck of Experimental Theology (http://experimentaltheology.blogspot.com/)

“It's frustrating to me that universal health coverage isn't seen as a moral imperative by more Christians.   Why is it that Christians restrict their moral outrage to abortion and gay marriage? It's just inconsistent and hypocritical. Does that mean that Christian moral outrage cannot be owned by a single political party? Yes, that's exactly what it means. Where's the moral outrage in the Christian community about the uninsured? Churches by and large botched it during the Civil Rights Movement. Let's get on the right side of history this time around.”

The Summer

Well, summer has unofficially ended and that means things are staring to get normal again.  This summer has been pretty crazy between new responsibilities at the church and the new job (aka getting adjusted to 3rd shift).  The job itself is incredibly easy--it's the sleeping that's difficult.

We are seeing tremendous things happen at the church.  Last month, we baptized 11 people at the public pool.  Then there was a second wave of people who wanted to be baptized (many of them new believers) just last week.  Total, we've baptized 18 men, women, boys, and girls just this summer.  That's about 20% of our church!  God is doing some pretty amazing things.  I know numbers don't tell anything about the success of a church, but as a pastor, when you're able to help someone outwardly commit their lives to Christ, you get a sense of pride in them.  Not yourself.

Here's a story.  A lady visited our church the first time we had our baptism (and the feast we had after).  She was so touched by some of the testimonies she decided to come back.  The third time she came back, her daughter came with her.  That Sunday morning she gave her heart to God and the next week she was baptized right alongside her mother.  After being baptized the mother looked at me and the Lead Pastor in tears saying, "I've never felt so light before.  It's like I'm floating."

That's powerful.

It's incredible how God provides.  This past month we were looking at our budget and things we needed for Discovery Clubs (our Wed. night program).  We wanted to make registration as cheap as possible so we could make it more of an outreach.  The books just weren't adding up.  So we prayed without ceasing while coming up with fundraisers.  The fundraisers tanked.  That's when God spoke to me and said that things were going to be ok.  He doesn't need money to be successful.  So after campaigning for materials, games, etc. we were talking to a couple in the church.  They said they'd like to help us out.  After picking up my jaw off the ground, they gave us $300 specifically for Discovery Clubs.  God provides.

As for life outside the church, things are going pretty well.  Nicole and I have just completed baby step one of getting an emergency fund set up for our finances.  And now we're on to step two of starting the debt snowball.  It's incredible how fast money goes sometimes!  We're using some of the principles Dave Ramsey teaches.  I think he has a lot of great ideas, but not all of them work for us.  For example, he stresses using cash for every purchase (except for bills you mail off).  I don't use cash.  Ever.  Except for buying a pop from a vending machine.  So we don't do the envelopes thing, but instead we just stick to a written budget and track how much we spend.  So far it's working.  having a job that pays more than $8.10 an hour helps too...

Other than that, it's been life as normal.  About 3 weeks ago I preached in big boy church.  It was the first time I felt the Spirit move from what I was saying (I'm not saying that I take ownership of the message, I just happened to be the one God worked through).  What a feeling.  It's almost like a rush.

On a random note, I've officially decided that everyone's favorite topic to talk about is themselves.  It's incredible how long some people can talk about where they've been, a funny story they heard (or experienced), or something that they have accomplished.  Is it wrong?  No.  So I've decided to put my own ambitions of making myself look better than them (face it, we all do it) aside and challenged myself to keep the conversation focused on them.  Occasionally I'll throw in a story that I have, but in a way that is non-threatening to the point they are trying to make.  So far the shortest conversation I've had with this in mind has been an hour and that's because I was on the verge of being late to work.  Crazy stuff.

I've officially written too much and talked about myself too much.  See, I didn't even realize I was doing it until I talked about it, but isn't that the point of a blog?  To talk about yourself?  I say it is, and I'm not ashamed.

A Lengthly Update

It seems to be a regular occurrence that I only post about once every month or even two, so I bet you can make this schedule a regularity.

Anyways, as most of you know, I got a new job.  I'm working at a Mental Health Hospital in Lincoln, Nebraska as a Security Specialist.  No, I'm not a security guard.  My job is to provide a safe environment for our patients.  We have about 6 buildings on campus that house over 200 patients, all of which are mentally ill.  There is a reasonable percentage of sex offenders which don't have the typical mental illnesses, but yet are still mentally ill.

It's my job to work with these people.

In one of the buildings, it houses the sex offenders.  There are enough beds to house roughly 60 sex offenders.  Of those sixty, there are three different wards.  The Secure Ward (intake), the Transition Ward (Community transition), and the West Ward.  The West Ward is the ward I will be working in.  These 24 sex offenders have typically reoffended and show no sign of intrinsic rehabilitation.  Although very few of these men (there are women in this program, but they are in the Transition Ward) suffer from schizophrenia, bipolar, etc. they do suffer from severe social dysfunctions.  My job, with the help of other staff, is to provide a therapeutic environment.

Seeing as their illness is typically learned, the treatment goals are to substitute their coping mechanisms.  More importantly than that, we want to make these men feel.  They (typically) feel no remorse, guilt, or shame for what they have done.  I've heard stories of manipulation that would absolutely blow your mind.

So this is definitely a new chapter in my life.  I'm still in orientation/training, but starting next week I'll be on the ward.

On another note, a part of our training was to spend an hour or so on the other wards on campus.  I spent most of my time on the Women's General Psych Services Ward.  Here's a story from that ward:

I walked onto the ward and was instantly greeted by a lady named Sue (I changed her name for privacy).  Sue is about 45 years old.  She was dressed in sweat pants and a t-shirt.  When you looked at her, you could just tell there was something missing.  After being on the ward for no longer than two seconds, she came up to me and said, "Jack, would you like to play cards with me?"  I politely refused and told her my name is actually Ryan to which she replied, "Oh come on Jack, Mrs. Kennedy over there already told me your real name."  She pointed towards an empty room.  This continued for a couple of minutes when she stopped what she was saying and said, "Jack, do you hate Jews?"

"No, I do not hate Jews."

"Oh good, because I'm a catholic nun."

"Really?  How long have you been a nun?", I replied.

"A while.  Look at all this white s*** on me.  I need to take a shower.  I'm actually black", Sue said.

She was really white.

After a while of a conversation that seemed to take a million turns, she walked away because it was time to go outside.  I'll tell you though, I will never forget Sue because she never ceased to carry a thought into the next sentence.

So with that, I'm going to head out.  If I ever have more stories (which I know I will) I'll post them.

A Rant

If you don't want to read the babblings of someone who is upset about something, please stop reading here.

In case you don't know, I live in a small town just outside of Lincoln, NE.  Our town doesn't have anything historically significant that sets it apart from other small, rural towns.  About five years ago, the pork industry boomed and Farmland decided to build a processing and storage plant just a half mile out of town. And this is where the story picks up...

The residents of our town were happy because they had good employment and a second subsequent plant opened (Nestle/Purina--dog and cat food makers).  They paid better, had better benefits, etc.  Naturally, a lot of the Farmland workers migrated to Nestle/Purina leaving a gap out at Farmland.

Farmland decided to hire illegal immigrants and long story short, five years later, our small, rural community is (at best estimations) 1/3 hispanic.

That is why I'm writing this.  Not because I'm racist.  On the contrary, I am extremely upset at the people of our community who do not accept the Hispanics.  You can see the racism everywhere.  People mock them behind their back, they give them the "leftovers" instead of the freshest products.  It's terrible.

If I had a solution, I would share it with you, but I don't.  This is a world-wide (yes, world-wide) problem.  So what are we to do?  Love.  Love is the trump card in this game.  If we can't love people we (sometimes) can't communicate with, how will we ever show love?

Here's an example:  At work, we frequently (and when I say frequently, I mean about half) get customers who know little to no English.  They can say "One pound" in a thick accent which can barely be understood even by themselves, but you can tell what they want when they point and use their fingers to indicate how much they want.  A couple of my coworkers play this terrible "game" where they just repeat what they said until it becomes funny to them.  When that dies down, they'll roll their eyes, and sluggishly give them what they ordered.  At the first sign of wrong doing (on the employees part) everything the customer does is seen as an act of terrorism.

"I can't believe they won't even learn enough to get around."  I heard one of my coworkers say that today.  It set me off because I know exactly what it feels like to not know what you're actually saying.  You place yourself at the mercy of the employee to ensure that you get a rough estimate of the picture you have in your mind.  It's tough.  I remember asking for 500 pieces of gummys...when I actually wanted 50.  The shopkeeper (in Morocco) laughed WITH me and happily gave me what I ordered.  I couldn't understand a word he said, but his expressions said, "I can tell you're learning, and this is how I'm going to help...by giving you exactly what you ordered."  I quickly learned to annunciate (and study more) because he encouraged me to do better.  Imagine if he would have rolled his eyes, expressing, "Ugh, look at this obvious foreigner.  Why can't he learn the language before he gets here?  Can't you see you're wasting my time?"  If that would have happened, would I be more encouraged to learn more Arabic?  No.  Would I just never go there again?  Probably.  As much as America is not a "face-based" culture, we are.  It's called our fragile ego (for a lack of better term, any suggestions?)

Ok, that's enough ranting for now.

On a happy note, things are going well.  I'm actually thinking of doing some writing.  I have a couple different ideas, but I still need to do some praying if I'm going to invest some serious time into it.

That's it for now.  If you haven't already checked out the church's website, you can do so here:  www.radiantsprings.com
We're going to (and already have) post pictures of every event we host and have a part in.

Enjoy!

-Ryan

Finally, We Have Internet

As promised, I said I would update the blog with pictures, so here you are.  The pictures above are at the church.  The children's room is a work in progress.  Hopefully in the next couple of months we can get a new stage.  Hopefully.

Since you are my followers of everything that is going on in my life, I have been designing a new website for our church.  You can take a look at the old website here.  The new website (which hasn't officially launched yet) can be found here.

As for our life, it is going really well.  We're just getting into the grove of things and starting to build connections with people in the church.  

Sorry this is such a short post, but hopefully I'll be able to update a little more frequently now.

Another Update

Well, after 2 weeks at Walmart, things are going pretty well.  Surprisingly, working at Walmart is saving money in more ways that one.  First (after 6 months) I get 10-15% off pretty much everything.  Since I pretty much buy everything at Walmart, it adds up.  Second, Walmart has partnered with tons of different companies to provide a discount.  The one I already took advantage of is my 20% discount at Verizon.  Pretty awesome. 

Those are just a couple of cool benefits.

Nicole got a job at Doane in food services.  She will probably start next week.  Sweet!  I'm really excited for her.  As of now, she's in the marketing department in food services.  She'll also be a "checker" to let people into the caf...kind of like a bouncer...but less intimidating.

Hopefully we'll get our own internet here in a week or so.  Hopefully.  That means we'll be able to update with pictures.  I like to see pictures of what everyone is up to, so I'm just assuming people like the same of us.

Gibson, our cat, has fleas.  Everytime I feel an itch anywhere I just assume I have fleas too.  I bought some flea stuff, but it was for cats under 5 pounds.  Stupid me.  Last time we weighed him, he weighed 17 pounds.  What a fatty. 

Things at the church are going really well.  Wednesday nights are going a lot more smoothly.  Sunday mornings are starting to get into a groove.  There's always some hick-ups, but we're starting to get into a routine.  But if there's one thing I learned, it's that once you get into a routine when working with people (especially children) it's time to change things up. 

A Long Awaited Post

Life has been super crazy lately.  After we moved in, we left for the holidays to go to Des Moines/Pella and Wahpeton, ND to visit family.  That went really well.  Then we came back to Crete.  We hit the job hunt and all of the places we applied to are either not hiring, or closing.  Seriously.  It's crazy.  I had been hounding Wal-Mart for about a month and the finally told me, "Hey, stop calling.  If we have a job open, we'll call you."  I thought that was a clear, "we don't want you" until 2 weeks ago.  That's when I got the call from the lady I annoyed asking me for an interview.  I, of course, took the interview and next thing you know, I become a deli sales associate.  

The job is pretty easy.  It's not stressful, it's not challenging, and I get to be bored most of the day.  That's when I let my mind wander to Children's Church and how to make it better.  But the definite bonus of the job is the ministry to the employees.  They remind me of when I worked at DQ.  They come in, talking about the party they were at the night before.  But honestly, that is the only job open here in Crete.  They job I talked about in the last post is still open, but it'll take another 2 weeks to open up.  Nicole is hoping to take that job.  I think it'll open up a lot of ministry at the college.

Things at the church are starting to take off.  We're already seeing growth.  We started with 6 boys and we just grew to 7 boys and 1 girl.  So that's cool.  The visitor that came last week, came again this week, and is planning on coming again next week.  Please pray for this family because you can just feel the rough times they're going through.  

Last week we went to a Minister's Retreat.  Basically all the AG pastors met in North Platte (don't worry, I still don't know where it's at) and had an inspirational time.  Mark Batterson was the guest speaker.  He's a cool guy.  He started a church in Union Station (DC) that just exploded in growth.  

Well, I think that's enough updating for now.  Nothing really is going on.  We're still using our neighbor's internet, and it's not always the fastest, so uploading pictures and videos will have to wait until we can get internet ourselves.  The first day we get it though, you can bet there'll be pics and videos up.