Dr. Rich's Melheimian Maxims

MELHEIMIAN MAXIM #248

“In order to midwife a miracle for KIDS around the world, we’ve first got to midwife a miracle for the WORLD around the kids.”

A Day in Paradise

Marvelous time at Paradise Lutheran in Thomasville, PA, yesterday. Tim and Ann (FINKS from waaaay back) took wondeful care of me. I'm in the Baltimore airport waiting for my plane to Atlanta for those of you who are tracking. Here are the notable quotables from yesterday:

1. "In an era of texting, facebook, email, IM and cell phones, sharing highs and lows is face to face, incarnational, embodiment of God's love and care. People feel loved when they feel heard. We can "love them through" their problems." - Rev. Tim Seitz-Brown

2. The Clingon Blessing - (Grab the person and hold tight) "May Christ's love "cling on" to you!

3. And, from young Alex Evans (10ish), after I told everyone that sharing nightly highs, lows and laughter is "free drugs" and good medicine, Alex shouted out, "Then I'm momma's little pill box!"

Good stuff. If I can only get three quotes like this from each of the 75 cities...

Don't Add One More Thing, Replace Something

Wonderful hospitality from Kara and Jennifer at Fellowship Lutheran in Tulsa yesterday. They are a Faith Stepping Stones church and are slowly, consistently changing the culture of their families by calling them again and again to BE the faith mentors for their own kids. One of their key leaders, Sharon Russ, gave us the quote of the day:

"When asking volunteers for help, I often hear,"I can't add one more thing to my schedule." I've decided to begin asking these potential volunteers instead to "replace something instead of adding something..." (Aka tv, etc.)

Thomaville, PA, today, Decatur (Atlanta) tomorrow, Pineville (Charlotte) Saturday, then home for church and some R&R.

Regarding "Taking the City"

Here's a good one for anyone trying to "open the kid before we open the book" and trying to get parents to do "every night in every home" faith talk:

"If we can just get inside the city walls we will have taken this city."

- Leonard Busch

Thought for the Day

We wonder why our kids leave church and never come back. Maybe they were never there.

Oh, there butts may have been in the chairs, but their hearts and minds were miles away.

You can't come back to a place you've never been.

What can you do with your engaging smile, your kind, fun voice, the warmth of your presence, and your safe touch to get them their tonight?

Tony Campolo for Dinner

I just picked Tony C up at the airport and took him for a seared salmon salad before his speaking engagement at Lake Harriet UMC tonight. I enjoy kidnapping mentors like Tony for an hour here and there when they happen to come to the Twin Cities to speak. For the price of a dinner I usually get some really good advice.

Tonight Tony asked how things have been going since my heart incident. I quoted Gandhi on the events of the last three years: "First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win."

He corrected me with a slightly different version:

"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then they appoint you head of an institution of the church... and you are never heard from again."
                 

The Most Important Thing About Money Is

Happy Easter!

I'm at my sister-in-law Amy's for Easter. We're about to go pick grandpa up for Easter Breakfast. My wife Arlyce just returned from Mexico, where she helped our church's 70 high schoolers put 20 roofs on 20 houses, plus a roof on church in a week.

While waiting to head out for church, we started talking about how to keep our kids from getting spoiled rotten in a world of privilege where 6% of the people consume 90-something % of the world's resources. During the chat, I turned to my 15-year-old niece Nichole and asked her to fill in the blank:

"The most important thing to know about money is..."

Her answer?

"...it's still paper."

Boring

Here's a couple from our friend Chuch Eaton from Grace in Tulsa that should make it into he Quotelopedia:

Teaching is like drilling for oil. If you don't strike in 7.5 minutes, stop boring.

"Where's the meat?" is the question to ask about an old system (of Christian education). The FINK system isn't a diet therapy, it's more like gene therapy."

Those Lousey Kids!

Here's a couple quotations to keep parenting and youth work in perspective:

"Our youth today love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority, disrespect for older people. Children nowadays are tyrrants. They contradict their parents, gobble their food, and tyranize their teachers." - Socrates, 425 B.C.

"Our earth is degenerate in these latter days, bribery and corruption are common, children no longer obey their parents; everyone wants to write a book!" - (From a 4,700 year-old Assyrian Tablet)

You Can't Come Back (to a place you've never been)

We wonder why our children leave church at 15 and never come back?

Maybe they were never there.

You can’t come back to a place you’ve never been.

Oh, their bodies may have been there every week for 15 years, but where were their hearts and minds and imaginations?

So how do you get them there when they’re there?

And what does this have to do with the “high tech” tools of music and movies and images and the “low tech” tools of loving relationships, touch, friends and fun? (the most important languages of young people).

You can’t come back to a place you’ve never been.

We’ve got some work to do.