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#576 – Nerdy Homes

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , , , , on April 15, 2013 by scotthiga

Alycia and I have been married for a little over two and a half years. Even though we’ve only lived in apartments, over that time we have been building our home together. For us that has meant learning each other’s rhythms of rest and activity, figuring out how to best share a meal together and watching a lot of Netflix.

Building our home together has been one of the best parts about being married. God tells Adam that he will leave the home of his father in order to be with his wife. When I was younger I thought that leaving the rent-free comfort of my parents’ home would be a tragic experience. While I miss a fridge full of groceries I didn’t purchase, I have to say God knew what he was doing. Leaving my parents’ home to build a home of my own with Alycia is one of the truest blessings my life has never known.

Our home together could be even more blessed, though, with some of these nerdy additions.

R2-D2 Trash Can

r2d2_trashcan

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#558 – Waiting to Invest

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , on March 20, 2013 by scotthiga

waiting-room-1-sml

I hate waiting.

Well it’s not that I hate waiting, it’s that I hate waiting longer than I think I should have to.

I went to the Corner Bakery to pick up an order I had phoned in so I wouldn’t have to wait. I ended up waiting longer than I wanted to because the cashier was too busy chatting up other customers about their days.

I never pick the correct line at the grocery store. I always pick the line where somebody disputes a price, somebody writes a check or somebody has an expired Costco membership that he swears his mom just paid.

I don’t use the horn on my car very often unless someone doesn’t move when the light changes.

I know that Jesus keeps giving me opportunities to show patience and he will continue to do so until I actually start showing patience. Acknowledging the problem is the first step, though, so I’m well on my way.

I don’t always hate waiting, though. Yesterday, after waiting nine months, my sister finally went into labor. After waiting throughout the day for her to give birth, my newest niece took her first breath and entered the world.

I didn’t mind waiting for her at all because I knew the payoff was worth the wait. Read more »

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#557 – Youth Ministry is Humbling

Posted in Uncategorized with tags on March 19, 2013 by scotthiga
My wonderful students.

My wonderful students.

I’m in Hollywood with our high school students on another service trip. Our students have spring break this week and they have given up a few days of that break to serve an inner-city church. I love youth ministry and the opportunity to see students growing and serving others. Some people may shudder at the idea of spending three days with 20 high school students but I still love it, even after 13 years.

There’s a lot to love about youth ministry but one of my favorite things is how they keep me humble. Read more »

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#539 – We Are Young

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , on February 21, 2013 by scotthiga
The band fun.

The band fun.

Tonight
We are young
So let’s set the world on fire
We can burn brighter
Than the sun

I’m not really a big fan of the band fun. I like their songs that I’ve heard on the radio but I haven’t bought the album. The above lyrics are from their song We Are Young. The song is about a boyfriend who had abused his girlfriend in the past, carrying said girlfriend home when she has had too much to drink.

Thankfully that’s not the only definition of what it means to be young. Read more »

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#532 – Failure

Posted in Uncategorized with tags on February 12, 2013 by scotthiga

failed-test

Yesterday I wrote about our weekend at winter camp. I went up to camp early, but by the time the rest of our group headed to camp the inclement weather forced them to turn around. I spent the first half of camp surrounded by other churches without my students. I felt really weird waiting for my students to get to camp and it took a while to understand what I was feeling.

I felt like a failure. I felt like I’d failed our students and their parents. Read more »

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#531 – Winter Camp

Posted in Uncategorized with tags on February 11, 2013 by scotthiga

IMG_2082

This past weekend we had our student ministry’s winter camp. We headed up to our local mountains in order to get away, spend some time building community and growing closer to God.

At least that was the plan.

While it wasn’t nearly as severe as the blizzard that pounded the East Coast, there was a storm that made its way through Southern California on Friday. The storm brought snow, fog and other severe weather conditions. I left for camp early to set up and beat the worst of the storm. As the weather worsened, though, everyone else had a much more difficult time getting to camp. Read more »

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#523 – Adolescents and a 91-Year-Old

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , on January 30, 2013 by scotthiga

Grandpa

After 522 posts here at TheChristianNerd, I definitely consider myself a blogger. I’m not a professional blogger but I am a committed blogger. That being said, though, first and foremost I consider myself a youth pastor and last night I had one of my most special nights ever as a youth pastor.

Last night my grandpa shared with our high school students, telling them about his life as a missionary, and dropping more wisdom than I could ever hope to have. I’ve been involved in youth group for 19 years, ever since I was in junior high. I can’t imagine a better night of youth group than hearing my 91-year-old grandpa speak to a roomful of high school students. Read more »

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#516 – Retreat!

Posted in Uncategorized with tags on January 21, 2013 by scotthiga

Staff Retreat

The word retreat has a lot of negative connotations. Normally it inspires images of armies or combatants fleeing a battle in order to save their lives and fight another day.

The Rebels on Hoth retreated before the Imperials and their massive AT-ATs.

The Fellowship retreated from Moria and its hordes of orcs.

The remaining humans retreated from their homes when the Cyclons attacked.

No one would really want to be a part of those retreats. They are full of defeat, anguish and despair – people simply holding on for one more day.

Thankfully defeat, anguish and despair were nowhere to be found this past weekend on our student ministry staff retreat. Read more »

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#513 – Examining Culture

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , , on January 16, 2013 by scotthiga

Endeavor-teaching

One of my favorite parts about my job is the opportunity I have to communicate to large groups of students every week. I love teaching about God’s word and connecting it to our lives.

I also really enjoy examining culture and how God is already engaging us through it. This blog focuses a lot on the cultural aspect but last night I had the opportunity to share that with our students as well.

If you’ve spent any amount of time with a teenager lately, then you know that they are a media-driven group. They ingest various forms of media all throughout the day. They love social media like Instagram and Snapchat but also consume vast amounts of traditional media like movies, music and television.

The problem with a lot of Christian teens, though, is that they don’t think about the media they ingest. They don’t think about the influence movies, music and television have on them. Every form of media attempts to communicate a message. If we don’t unpack what message they’re communicating, then we could end up blindly accepting it. Read more »

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#459 – Live While We’re Young

Posted in Uncategorized with tags , on October 18, 2012 by scotthiga

I love me some boy bands.

I remember New Kids on the Block but I was a little too young to really get into them. When NSYNC and Backstreet Boys were at the height of their popularity, I was too cool for school and pretended that I didn’t like their music. Now that I’m firmly established in my adult life, though, I’m more than happy to listen to NSYNC and Backstreet Boys. I love playing their music for VBS and youth group. I’ve really come around to loving me some boy bands.

That love really doesn’t extend to One Direction yet.

Since I work with students I have been well aware of One Direction for over a year. The boy band from England is incredibly popular and their song “That’s What Makes You Beautiful” was one of our summer anthems for youth group. “That’s What Makes You Beautiful” was a fun song with a relatively positive message about self-esteem. Their new song, though, has an extremely negative message about making poor choices. Read more »

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