The soundtrack to a childhood

A thought has been running through my head lately… the thought is this; what songs remind me of childhood? I think this thought got into my head from watching the NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day from Fenway Park. A Moine Tradition is to invite people over New Year’s Day Morning and watch some beautiful outdoor hockey. Now I know no one comes over just to watch hockey, let’s be honest hockey’s popularity is only a small step above Major League Soccer right now, which is why we make breakfast and opened up our new espresso maker. This year’s Winter Classic was in Boston and being in Boston they had James Taylor sang the national anthem and while James was doing his thing, Ali, one of Alanna’s former small group girls and current small group co-leader, paid attention to the TV for 10 seconds and said; “ooooo, I love James Taylor… James Taylor reminds me of my childhood!” She then went back to working on a puzzle and I didn’t think much about it then but her words stuck in my head.

It’s this idea that an artist and their music can bring about memories and it’s this thought that has led to me thinking about my own childhood and if I have any song s or artist or any type of music that brings back warm memories of growing up. The reality I’m faced with when I stop to think back is this; I can’t really think of anything. My parent’s apparently weren’t really into music and to be honest I’m a little jealous of Ali because James Taylor reminds her of something… I got nothing!

Which then leads me to my complete thought that has been in my head all this week… what songs or artist do I want my kids to have remind them of their childhood? I want to think of this now, way before we have children so that the wife and I can be intentional with our children’s childhood memories. My hope is that I can be intentional in planting great music into the souls of my kids during those early years. I want my daughter to have some artist or song to immediately take her back to memories or warm feeling of love and her youth. I want my son to think of his mom or dad or maybe even an exact memory whenever he hears an artist or a song. I want my kids to have a piece of what Ali has with James Taylor.
So the big question now until we have kids to then brainwash with warm childhood memories is this; what songs do we want to be the soundtrack to our children’s childhood?

I love James Taylor and would love to put his melodies in my children’s hearts

For sure Bob Marley and his easy going reggae vibe I want to flood my children with thoughts of an easier time when the world was simply and easy.

There needs to room for Frank Sinatra and his voice

But other than that I can’t think so anything else, I guess it’s a good thing we don’t have kids yet. I still have time to think about the “movie” that will be the life of my future children and put together the ultimate soundtrack.

This just goes to show that if you take a picture with more than one student, someone is going to ruin the picture.

Senior Moments

Had a great coffee with a senior student this weekend and the coffee was ok but the conversation was amazing. I love senior year and all that comes with it. I love doing high school ministry with students and getting to watch the journey from awkward teenager who rides a bike and has no idea how to cook or even order a pizza for themselves, to young adults pondering life and what God has for them in the next chapter of life. With this one student the conversation was about college and how much I was encouraging/ threatening him that he needs to tackle the mountain of college as soon as possible and treasure the adventure of college and then plan out whatever other adventures he might have.

Such adventures include but are not limited to: living in a van, first tattoo, and a year in Africa… all of those can wait till your 22 but get college done so you’re not 23 and still have 15 units of community college left. Joel McHale won’t be there to make Spanish class any easier. I also was encouraging him to get into a 4 year college if he can because I know that community college can be rough and crush the dreams of many a great high school student.

It’s just fun to talk about future stuff and to know that that future is only months away and not a freshmen answering the question of “what do you want to be when you grow up?” with a shoulder shrug and a blank stare. The senior year is an amazing time and I cherish getting to make some memories with graduating seniors every year.

Happy New Year, what feels new?

As we start another New Year and most everyone feels fat or they feel some form of pressure to be a better person in some way I can’t help but think about all this newest and wonder where it comes from and how come we, as humans like new things so much?

What is it about new things that we like? Why do we like to always have new stuff or put pressure to start over? Do we need to have new things? Do we ever really have new beginnings in the first place? Sure we have a new year and we have to go out and buy a new calendar from some stupid mall cart and we start a new year on January 1st, but what makes January 1st any different then December 31st? Is there something magical that happens? When we have a birthday do we wake up the next day and feel any older? I don’t think so but I like most everyone else love new beginnings. I might not be a complete sucker for New Year’s resolutions but if I’m offered a free scent at the car wash you better believe I get new car scent. Why? Cause it smells new! We love new!!!

With all this newness and it being January 4th I like to try and see if there is any connection with the excitement of a new year and the excitement of a new life. My sister just had a baby boy two weeks ago so this whole new world and new life is everywhere in my life right now and I’m trying to get my head around what I think God wants to teach me in this new season of my life.
If when we accept Christ into our lives we are a new creation, then how do we stay new? I myself accepted Christ back in the summer of 5th grade and now I’m 28. I don’t question my faith one bit, I love God and want more than ever to seek him and his will for my life… but, with that said, I would still like to know where I can buy some new car scent for my spiritual life from time to time? We get to celebrate a new year every January 1st and think of ways to be better people but this year I want more than that. I think New Year’s resolutions are cheesy and dumb yet I love stories of people who have experienced life change. I love seeing people make a change in their lives and become a new creation inside and out.

I guess that is what I am after… I want to feel new and yet know that I am better than just good intentions. I want the best for my life yet even more I want to be the best for my Lord and Savior knowing that it is only though his power that I can experience something even better than life change, I can experience joy! So this new year I am choosing to pursue joy and trying to be a new creation every day.