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Something Jesus Never Promised

By Ryan, October 20, 2008

Jesus never promised that the Christian life wouldn’t be stressful. There’s a really good reason for that. Right now, I’m in the middle of a very stressful church transition that only God could have started.

I’ve been attending the same church for the last seven years. I still stay loosely connected to Liberty Church, though, the church I attended when I lived in Tulsa. Back in May, I was invited to Liberty for their graduation service. Their youth minister, despite having never met me, presented me with the book How to Stay Christian in College and wrote some encouraging words in the front page. Last month, I decided to actually read the book. The most important lesson I took from it was not about sex, politics, or apologetics, but rather about me. Now that I have a type of independence I’ve never had before, I can’t rely on Mom and Dad’s relationship with God anymore. I need to pursue my own. For Preston Ridge Baptist Church, that realization was the beginning of the end.

I started paying closer attention to the sermons on Sunday mornings. For the first time, I really tried to get something out of what I was hearing. I would go home thinking “that was interesting.” Then, a couple of weeks ago, I visited Liberty Church again to see my cousin’s baptism. I listened to the message there... and I was blown away! The sermon was thought-provoking and spiritually engaging! Nothing against Preston Ridge, but I just didn’t see that happening there.

The following weekend, I went on a middle school retreat as a small group leader at Preston Ridge. Because the Internet is the wrong place to say anything specific to tear down other members, I will just say that I “somehow” discovered that my church peers were not very good spiritual influences on me.

You’d think it would make sense to just abandon Preston Ridge and start looking around. But if it were that simple, this post wouldn’t be about stress.

As a small group leader, I learned how much influence I have on the kids (in a youth group that is desperate for positive influence). One of the kids in my group was notorious with Sunday School teachers for being disruptive, but by the end of the weekend, I was getting deep spiritual thoughts out of him. Knowing that I am so good with the kids, it would be a sin for me to just get up and leave at a time when I’m needed more than ever.

With most of the stories I’ve posted, this is where you could expect to find the happy ending. But this story does not yet have a “happy” or an ending. I still have so many questions. Do I search for a new church family but continue to volunteer my time in the old youth group? Is there another church that needs me more? Is God really calling me to leave Preston Ridge at all? Unlike my normal posts, I didn’t post this because I have advice, but because I need advice.

Labels: Challenges

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Downloading Firefox

By Ryan, August 8, 2008

Yesterday, my little brother tried to do something intelligent by installing Firefox 3 on his computer. He doesn’t know much about computers, especially compared to the great Ryan T. Wilson. So to him, the site firefoxmozilla3.com seemed perfectly legitimate. But I’ve spent enough time on the Series of Tubes to know that there was nothing legit about it. I noticed several flaws from the beginning. For example, if the website was official, “Mozilla” would have come before “Firefox” in the domain name. All of the paragraphs are written about Firefox 2. And every download link requires you to “join,” which I know the real Mozilla would never require you to do. If I had seen the website on my own, my first question would be “Who do they think they’re fooling?”

I didn’t figure it out by knowing what a fake site should look like. I knew what the real thing was like. It’s the same way with the Bible. We won’t know that Satan is luring us into a trap just by knowing what Satan does. He can come in a variety of forms, each more deceiving than the last. God has only one path for each of us. We’re better off learning His will for us and knowing what He would want.

Case in point: reading your Bible is just like surfing the Series of Tubes.

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Holidays, Gratitude, and Everything In Between

By Ryan, July 29, 2008

When I first started this blog, a new post was something that you could expect every week. Now it’s like waiting for Christmas. Can you imagine what it would be like if updating my blog became a special occasion for everyone? The Faulty Jeans Bunny would hide flash drives and wireless network routers in plastic eggs. Car dealerships would have a “Ryan Updated His Blog” sale. Kids would line up at shopping malls to sit on the laps of escaped convicts dressed up like Ryan T. Wilson and Justin Venezio.

To my knowledge, nobody has ever reached such a high status from making a blog post every two weeks. But I’ve always wanted to become cool and famous on some level. I tried to use the music industry as the outlet for my last attempt at coolness. I wrote a rap that I could only memorize one line of... the line where I said that “when you give me a microphone, I’ll give you a show.” Although I quickly realized that rapping is not for me, I did stay true to my promise a month and a half after the church no-talent show. At Vacation Bible School last week, someone let me use the microphone in the crafts room.

Craft time was not the same the rest of the week.

Everyone told me I should be an announcer one day, citing that I “have the voice for it.” I feel like I turned an otherwise boring activity into entertainment for the kids. Who cares if furniture prices aren’t discounted when I make a blog entry? I’m cool on a smaller level... a more personal level. As long as I’m appreciated by someone, I’m happy.

That brings me to my main point. I know that nobody read that and thought, “Wow, a guy who wants appreciation... how strange.” We all want someone to express genuine appreciation for what we do. Keeping that in mind, maybe the best way to make people happy is to show some sort of gratitude to them. Not something over-the-top and unctuous... when I was vacationing in Alaska, I gave my mommy a hug and thanked her for taking the family on that trip. I know that her day was brightened. A hug can really mean a lot to someone.

Closing thought... if my loyal reader(s) want to declare October 3rd “Faulty Jeans Appreciation Day,” I’ll show up at parties to sign autographs and criticize everyone’s English skills. But first, I have to go set up for the Standing on the Ceiling Appreciation Day party I’m holding tomorrow.

Labels: Relationships

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What Did You Do With Your 2008?

By Ryan, July 16, 2008

Don’t ever think in terms of what you did in 2008. Forget 2008. It’ll be gone forever in 168 days.

Statistically speaking, even if all 100 thousand Frisco residents made New Year’s resolutions, the people who stuck with them for a year could not even pack a game at Pizza Hut Park... not even with free admission and a national TV audience. That’s because New Year’s resolutions are easy to give up on; if we don’t achieve our resolution this year, we stop trying... courtesy of the rationale “there’s always next year.”

There’s NOT always next year.

It’s time to abandon New Year’s resolutions. It ends up being a limitation rather than a goal. If you want to change something in your life, change it now! Don’t sit around waiting for January 1st. It may not come for you. Use the time that you know you have. As long as you’re alive, you can make your life better.

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Three Things I Learned In June

By Ryan, June 26, 2008

June 6: Sometimes, less than my best is enough
Right before my graduation ceremony, my German teacher from the last three years pulled me aside and asked me to be a German tutor this coming school year. Even though I didn’t give my best work in that class, she said that I performed brilliantly in the area of sight reading and comprehension, which is what German 1 students need the most help with. Even though I was not on top of all my homework, I still did well enough to impress my teacher. And she asked me personally to be a tutor for her students! Sweet dog, you know I’ll be taking that offer. I get to practice teaching!

June 7: Sometimes, my best is less than enough
My girl buddy broke up with me. I felt somewhat insulted. I did everything the best way I knew how, and, despite my lack of prior experience, I have come to discover that overall, I was a pretty good boyfriend. Although she was right to say that my lack of experience was detrimental, I still never felt like she valued me on the level that I valued her. It wasn’t fair that she broke up with the only one who tried to make the relationship work. But if life was meant to be fair, we’d all burn in hell. In cases like this — when you invest your best and get little return — the best thing you can do is try to improve on what your best is. In this case, I can use the lessons I learned about what kind of girl I’m looking for. And, just as a side note to the girl(s) who read this blog, take a lesson: unless your boyfriend blows up your car on a Friday night, don’t break up with him on a Saturday morning.

June 16: I’m not the same man I was a year ago
On June 16th, I was at Camp WOW, the youth camp my church has gone to during the last three summers. I had a lot of stories I wanted to blog about, but I don’t have time to type all of them out, so I picked out my favorite one: me against the trapeze.
At the camp, there is a 30-foot pole known as the power pole. After putting on a harness, one climbs to the top of the pole and stands at the very top, which is comparable in size to a bagel. Upon standing on top, the climber is to turn around and jump toward a trapeze that is suspended in the air about 5 feet away. On the 15th, I climbed but fell off before I reached the top. But I tried it again, waiting in line for 90 minutes under the unshielded sun with an already painful sunburn. And this time, I made it to the top and I caught the trapeze.
I used to be a quitter. My dad once told me that he constantly noticed me trying something that didn’t work the first time, then giving up. Phone calls, scholarship applications, job applications... you name it, I’ve given up on it after failing once. But that’s not me anymore.

Labels: Challenges, Dating, Relationships

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