Merry Christmas

I always knew they existed!

At least on some level...

A text from Tony

Tonight I met a new person. Though I probably won't ever meet him again, it was fun and exciting. I got a text from a number I didn't recognize and this is how our text conversation went:

Random #: What's up
Me: Who's this?
Random #: Tony
Tony: Hi
Me: who? Tony the Tiger?
Tony: no tony gambino
Me: dude! What's up?
Tony: Who the **** is this?
Me: Now, now. There's no reason to use that kind of language. And I believe you sent me a text first
Tony: Im not being mean sorry so who is this in a nice way
Me: This is dan locke. I'm a children's pastor.
Tony: Sorry dan i must have text you by mistake
Me: No prob. Have a magnificent evening

So there it is, word for word. Except for the bad word. I didn't want to post that. It was bad.
I hope Tony really did have a magnificent evening. Maybe he'll text me tomorrow and tell me how it went...

Driving and taking pictures at the same time is not wise

So you know those thin white jet stream cloud things that ariplanes leave in the sky? I saw a really cool one on my way home from work yesterday. It made it look like the airplane had flown straight into the sun. I tried to take a picture, but it didn't turn out very well. It also hurt my eyes to look at.
I saw a UFO landing on south mountain too, but that picture didn't really turn out either. So I guess mostly my pictures didn't turn out, but I did get some pretty cool cloud pictures. Incidentally, you shouldn't take pictures while you drive, it's kind of dangerous. And which is why this picture is all jiggly. I was taking a picture of the clouds instead of paying attention to the brake lights of the car in front of me.
I don't think the driver behind me appreciated my picture taking skills very much.

On heeleys and teddy grahams

Sometimes my friends give me weird looks when I order a chocolate milk at a restaurant, or I wear the crown from Burger King, or I sit down to watch the Toy Story movies back to back. I have a box of Teddy Grahams sitting on my desk in front of me. My roommate would probably shake his head and sigh if he saw that right now. Why? I suspect it's because most people will expect you to like certain things, and dislike others, once you become a certain age. A 24 year old guy isn't supposed to enjoy sitting through a children's movie at the theater. A college graduate isn't supposed to like wearing his heeleys in Wal-Mart. But I do. Maybe it's because I don't like the fact that I'm growing up, but again, I suspect that it's simple because these are things that I like to do. I guess most people resign themselves to the fact that they will have to fit the mold of an adult sooner or later, and so deny themselves the little pleasures that make life enjoyable. Hooray for milk and cookies! Huzzah for Candyland and Cap'n Crunch! Hey presto for goldfish and tootsie rolls! I guess that's why I'm a children's pastor.

I love what i do!

A few weeks ago I was in charge of the Jr. High lock-in, which was a lot of fun. I really enjoy doing Jr. High ministry. It's what I would be doing if I wasn't doing children's ministry. But God showed me again this weekend that He has indeed, without a doubt, wired me to be a children's pastor. It isn't that I'm bad at other things. It isn't even that I don't enjoy other things. It's just God saying, "I've created you to be a children's pastor. That's how I've put you together." Sometimes it isn't always that clear. I know there was a time in my life, in fact just less than a year ago, where I would have said, "I have no idea what God wants me to do." But one of the cool things about God is that when we rely on Him, and trust in His judgment to show us what to do, we never have to worry about that stuff. He's got it under control. And if He doesn't want to blast it across the sky (which incidentally, He usually doesn't) we have to be ok with that, and keep our eyes open for the little things that God will show us, that clue us in to what He's got in store. I find that extremely comforting. I know that I don't have to worry about missing a huge message that God has shouted down to me straight from the pearly gates, as trumpets sound and a heavenly chorus proclaims the majesty of the Creator. He hasn't chosen to reveal Himself, and His plan for me, in that way. He knows that I miss things a lot, and it takes a few tries before I notice anything. So He's just sent me a bunch of ordinary, simple messages. I'm sure it's different for different people. That's another part of what makes God so cool. He knows each of us so well, that He'll tailor make His messages to fit. It's just another indicator of just how much He loves each and every one of us.