Joys in life come in different ways. A blessing from God doesn’t look the same in all cases. In fact, there are times in this life that we experience more happiness than we thought we would, or could experience in certain situations.

I must say, that last week, I helped out at the Miracle League of the Triangle. To sum up the whole experience, WOW! I had a Great time.

Tristan Pack! That guy! He’s an amazing student who teaches me about loving life and loving God everytime that we get to talk. A while back, his mom suggested I try to make it out to one of his baseball games. Being a guy who loves baseball, I thought I would just have to do that.

Liz and I parked the car and casually strolled into the stands. The facility was perfect for people with disabilities, everywhere you looked, stood, or sat was equipped for anyone. Upon waiting for the current game to end, and waiting for the players from the Braves, we sat and watched the current game.

I quickly noticed, the players set aside all obstacles they battle in life to take some time to enjoy, laugh, and smile while playing baseball. The buddies helping out are dancing around and helping to create a light atmosphere. Every player has their own warm up song, which shows the personality they possess. It is an awesome sight to see.

Tristan rolled up ready for the big game. He plays for the Braves, #7, left handed batter, and played right field, but prefers shortstop. We chatted and mentally prepped for the game, which meant he introduced me to everyone that he knows. Bryson is one of Tristan’s good friends, who gladly welcomed the conversation.

To my surprise, Tristan sang the national anthem. Our team batted first. Hit after Hit. We are making this happen. Tristan and I get ready to bat, swing! It’s a hit down first base line. I run with him to first and quickly make a run for second! Yeah, we got a double. During a Chicken Dance intermission, we were back into the game. The next batter hit it down third base line and we were able to score! Big time!

We played in the outfield, which had some action. Got the ball, and threw it in. Good times.

Everywhere Tristan needed to be, I was right there along with him. We shared in the smiles, high fives and excitement of the game. It was one of those memories that I wish to remember for a long long time.

You see, in this whole experience, I get filled with this whole emotion. One of great joy, joy exploding at the smiles, laughs, dancing, and happiness. But I also get a sadder emotion of why am I so lucky. I think about the life that I live, then compare to the life many of these players live out everyday. As I sit there in that sad state for a moment, I’m quickly pulled out of it by the joy side of things again. I get down to the part that God has made each of these players in His image as well. Many of them have a joy overflowing that I wish I had. They surely know how to have a good time.

Overall in my experience with Miracle League of the Triangle with Tristan Pack was amazing and challenging. Thank you for the opportunity and lesson on life. I’m proud of Tristan, his team, all the parents, and all of the players at Miracle League. Way to go!

Here’s a link to a video of the night as well -
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150823105691070
Photography & Video Credit – CJ Barone

Baptism is an outward expression of the commitment these students have made with God. Choosing to do this in an atmosphere like Hazardous is not only inspiring but courageous. 18 brave students and 1 leader in front of 400+ witnesses confessed their love and commitment to follow Jesus Christ.

The beginning of the night starts out the same, loud and proud Hazardous. Where we cover songs students hear on the radio, sing some rocking songs in an act of worship and play some messy and loud games to get everyone to smile and enjoy themselves.

It was such an awesome sight witnessing many small group leaders getting the opportunity to baptize their students. To think that our leaders have connected with their students in such a way, that they feel honored by having their small group leader baptize them. This is the church developing disciples and baptizing them, right out of Matthew 28.

The nitty gritty: 17 people stepped forward to share with everyone they made a decision in their heart to follow Christ. Out of those 17, 1 was a small group leader who decided he needed to set the example for his guys, then turned around and baptized one of them. Over all 10 small group leaders baptized a student from their group. A older brother baptized his younger sister. A middle schooler baptized her best friend. 5 High School students represented by baptizing middle school students. Just an awesome site to see, disciples baptizing their students. This is the CHURCH!

If you have a Middle school student or would like to help out with Hazardous, You will be blessed and blown away by the force of Middle schoolers actually wanting to know Christ and learn more about what it means to be a Christian, b/c being one is Hazardous.

So many times I find myself running from one thing to another. I get pulled to do this and need to help out with that. Don’t get me wrong, I love helping people out, but sometimes it is a little daunting going from thing to thing and trying to spend time with your family. In the hustle and bustle of life, there are seasons of busy and then super busy. You feel me?

To get through the super busy times, I have found that Laughing is Amazing! Finding ways to laugh and joke have helped to minimize, if not relieve stress in my life. Are you allowing laughter to enter in to your life? Haha… (just thought of some of the things that are making me laugh right now)

Enjoying life has been high on my priority when it comes to time with my family, which right now is my wife and I. We have been laughing and spending some great time together using some simple tools, but are Hilarious!

Here’s 2 Laughing Ideas:

1. Photo Booth (Mac) -If you have a Mac, Open Up Photo Booth – it will surely put a smile on your face. There are different effects that make your face look funny, stretch, Alien, chipmunk, etc. The possibilities are endless. Take a family photo or 20! Try it out. I Dare you to try it! Grab your pet and enjoy the fun with them.

Now if you really want to take it to the next level, open it up and lip sing a song with an effect on. It will surely Make you smile, if not roll on the floor laughing. If it doesn’t, then I’m sorry – you might need to utilize it multiple times and break down some barriers.

Another cool thing about this, it gives you memory keepsake to recall later. Post on facebook or online and let others enjoy the great memories too.

2. Camera Sutra (iPhone App – $1) – Here’s a very similar solution, but it is more mobile than the first idea. I would say the price of $1 is worth the ongoing laughter you can enjoy as a family. When you are out on the road, snap some great memories. If you are at the zoo, make that polar bear have a Big nose. Or if you are chilling around on a date night with your spouse, break it out and have some memories to last.

My wife is heading out of town for the weekend, and I used both of these ideas to document some going away photos. I printed them out, stapled the pages together and Viola, a homemade book for her to take on her journey. She will laugh and smile when she sees crazy pictures of me, cat, and dog.

Haha… I thought I would share some of the pictures. You might be thinking Jay, you are stupid or crazy (well yes), but also I have laughed some good laughs recently and I hope you do as well!

Try it out and let me see some links of pictures you have taken. Begin Laughing… hahaha

Dogs are Awesome! They are so loving! Man’s best friend. They are loyal and friendly. But then they did WHAT? That thing that makes you wonder about what were they thinking. How could they even go there? Do that?

You see the other day, I had an interesting scenario. Sunday, it was a beautiful day to take a walk. Not too sunny, but still pretty. The geese out by the lake. People laughing in the distance, children playing, and a father teaching his son how to fish. Bicycles zooming by and many dogs were enjoying the fresh air with their owner.

Coali was like every other dog that day. Liz, Coali, and I loaded up in the car. It was time to enjoy a walk around Shelly Lake, in Raleigh. We parked and began our adventure. After a brief stop by the geese, we had to feed them you know (I aimed for the ducks), we continued along with our stroll.

A path off the main trail caught my attention. I thought it would be a grand idea to take the adventure before us. While keeping on this narrow way, Coali caught a smell. The kind where she NEEDS to sniff it up. She ventured past some jagger bushes. Then the inevitable happened.

“Coali, What Are You Doing?” I exclaimed. To see that she was rolling around on the ground. My first thought was a dog poop. Then I saw something, eww a dead snake maybe. Thinking to myself, ‘Coali, you are gross.’ Then before my eyes, I saw what was even worse, a decaying body of a fish. There were bugs all over it and left a horrendous smell.

The walk back to the car, car ride, and getting her into the shower was not a pleasant experience. By far one the worst stenches I could ever imagine, but it was real. Eww. Coali, what were you thinking.

After some time to cool down, it made me think about it. What do I do now? Do I show love to my dog? Do I take her on a walk again? Will we ever go back to the dreaded Shelly Lake?

Of course I will. I will love her and take care of her.

When it comes to ministry, we invest so much time into students (or your ministry). We build up so much care, love, & compassion. Then one day, you observe the student make a crazy decision. They go in a direction that is like… “NO, what are you doing?” as you think to yourself.

In this moment, you have a chance to offer Hope, Love, and give them a sense that you still support them. I feel that when people go down a path that is unhealthy for them, that the church or people involved in their lives turn their back on them. When in reality it is a time when they need someone more than ever. We have the opportunity to be the HOPE for someone when they are in a HOPELESS situation.

In thinking about all of this, I am trying to be observant to the people in my ministry and life that I might need to step in a little more to help show them HOPE, instead of standing back and showing them a cold shoulder.

I’m grateful to have a dog that is willing to teach me lessons.

What do you think about this? Agree? Disagree? How do you show HOPE and LOVE, even when it is difficult?

Just about every conversation I have with a person who does not know what I do, I get the ‘So, what is Hazardous?’ question. It is common. I have to answer it a lot. But, it is still hard to explain. So let me try to break it down for you a little bit.

Hazardous is a large group outreach service geared to Middle school students. That’s the short answer, but yet still too vague as to what is Hazardous. Hazardous is a special service geared towards an experience package. In the experience, one will find every sense participating in what is happening. To make a connection with your audience, one is effective when they can utilize as many senses as possible to create an environment that is both attractive and experiential. They will remember and not forget what it is all about.

5 Sense Approach:

Smell: Hazardous has a unique smell to it. The smell of several students packed into a room that is too small for them. It is a great smell! (If you have been around middle schoolers for awhile, you know what I’m talking about.) You might catch an aroma from a crazy game that is played, yes we have used frozen fish from the Asian store in a game.

Taste: The pizza (or food that is served). We offer it for free, because it helps to remove excuse for students to attend. Plus at their age, they thrive off having pizza. We have candy available for them to buy, and we toss out candy during our service to get some energy going.

Touch: A high Five! Jumping around. Playing basketball. The opportunity to pick up a bible or pray with someone. Sometimes our response for the night will call for an action for our students to touch something to make it tangible and relatable, for example recently during a message we had students write down someone or something they needed to be forgiven onto a ping pong ball. This allowed for a better experience to forgiveness.

Hearing: They played what? We start the night out with a cover song. It is something they hear on the radio. For some students, they might not understand God, but they heard a song they liked, so they might give us another chance in future weeks. It can also get pretty loud, which goes hand in hand with energy in the room. We all want to be part of something that has energy, that has motion, that is vibrant and bigger than ourselves.

Seeing: Video’s are all about sensory appeal in a media driven generation. We try to break through by showing videos that help to shape the reason and mode of the night. We try to play games that are fun to watch, as to creating an appeal to look at – thus participation. Images and videos used during the message will help to bring a connection, thus relating better to our students. This makes a stronger connection with our students, and they are experiencing God and might not even realize it yet.

+1 Energy: Energy in a room creates a stronger connection with all involved. From my experience, we all have a desire to be part of something bigger than ourselves. When the energy is higher than we can bring on our own, it means that we are participating and a driving force to make that happen. In Middle School ministry, outsiders will see energy as chaos. But I say, if you control the energy and mold it the way you want it, it will be a driving force that is attractive and appropriate for students.

In Middle school, students want to be somewhere that is fun, exciting, and it is the place to be. Sadly, there are not many places that middle school students can go for all of this, so they reach out and try to accomplish this in their own ways. Trouble in my opinion. So, what we have done at Hazardous is to create an environment that creates this atmosphere while also creating ways for our students to experience God in a relevant way.

This is one train of thought for trying to explain Hazardous. In future posts, I will break down some of the secrets that make Hazardous unique and effective. *This is secret number 1.

If you are in ministry, how are you using sensory techniques to minister to students? There are many different ways that people learn, so how can we best utilize senses to create an experience for our students?

We all need to be remembered for something. This evening when I got home, I decided to get better with my photography skills. I looked all over the house for the perfect images. And look what I found.

First off, after turning my camera on, I found an inquisitive cat (Citgo) desiring to know what I was doing. He looked very interested in my action, so I caught a glimpse of him in his curious phase of the evening. Of course, hours later he is off sleeping somewhere – typical cat.

Moving the focus ring a little further, I saw that my wife (Elizabeth) was interested in my actions also. She is a cat person, so you can tell the obvious curiosity derives from her natural ability to love kittens and fat cats. But as I moved a little closer to capture the perfect moment, I snapped a perfect image of her in deep thought. I call it, Caught between a Rock and a Comfy Space.

Coali, my dog, felt left out. She sniffed her way closer to the camera to see if it was a yummy treat. To her surprise, it was yet again another moment she was not going to get a treat. I think that caused her whole emotional state to drop 10 notches. I moved back a little to be able to capture her in a good pose. She must have thought I was leaving her, as she dropped down to the ground being all sad. Poor puppy… She thought she might not even get a picture, well really a treat. But I did.

Whew, what a night of capturing images around the house on St. Patricks Day 2012. All images were shot with Canon T3i, 50mm Lens, 1600iso, close to 1.8 aperture, shutter speed ranged from 4 – .03″.

On Mar 21 at Hazardous, we are having a Giveaway of some sweet Hazardous Swag. To help promote the night, I created some Hazardous Meme’s. I had fun playing around in photoshop and using current trends to promote out to our students. I hope this wednesday will be a BIG night, with many students!