Tim Baker

Last week was a mixed bag of fun and stress. Highlights include: High School guys at my house for dinner and guitar hero, Jake and Nicole doing well in their basketball games and Jessica doing very well in her school speech meet. I had a great lunch with Ben (pastor of Hope Fellowship - good man, good McAlisters Deli food) and breakfast with Jacqui and Summer (who is our Missions Intern, we talked mostly about student ministry). I spent some time working through some ministry challenges we’re facing at our church. I’m trying to do my best on ten hours a week. To be honest, I don’t think leading a ministry for this many students can be done on that little amount of time. It’s frustrating.

Last week had a bit of a nightmare moment. Somewhere in the middle of the week I got a call from Jacqui’s dad with a fairly long list of things he needed accomplished immediately. I obviously love her dad, and am committed to helping however I can. However, the list involved a set of skills I really don’t have, but really, I’m the only person who can do what he needs done. Plus, I’m cheap (free). It took me two full days to get everything squared away. I slept about 3-4 hours each day. It pretty much wiped me out. The good news is, he’s got a good system now for promotion for his two businesses, and he’ll hopefully begin seeing some income from that. The bad news is, those two days kicked me in the behind. They drained me emotionally, I completely disconnected from about every other responsibility I have, I was mostly invisible from Jacqui and the kids. And I’m still trying to catch up on the sleep I missed.

I worked on the Youthworker Book of Hope for most of the rest of the week. I am totally blown away by the stories in the book. There are sixteen of the most varied youth ministry stories totally focused on how God built hope back into a hopeless ministry setting. I read the (almost) entire book late Saturday night, and I cannot wait for the authors and youthworkers to read the whole book.

This week is all about two things –The Journal of Student Ministries. I need to catch up on author agreements and payments, I need to focus on the March issue and think through the order of the articles we’re printing and I need to begin culling through the content for the May issue. There’s probably a billion other things I need to do with The Journal too. I have a to do list on my Treo for the Journal and I’m too scared to open it. And, I need to return (with 100% effort) to my next book (and final Zondervan/YS book) Jesus is for Liars. I’ve been writing on this book for a while now. I’m seriously behind. Gotta keep my nose in that project all week and all next week.

And, to be honest, after that writing project, I don’t have any large writing projects in the works. I’ve spent the last year working on things for other people, working these three books and haven’t proposed any new projects. That means that unless a miracle happens (ie, I actually put a few projects together, I really do send them to publishers, and (miracles of ALL miracles) they get picked up) it’s going to be a very lean year ‘round the Baker house.

So, there’s my week. I’m looking forward to it!

If you read last week’s Podcast Friday then you already know what this weeks pick is. This American Life…what a tremendous podcast. My favorite over the last two weeks is the show titled Numbers. The show follows people who use numbers to decide important events in their lives, to create music and art, to chart their live lives, etc. The interviews are intensely interesting. Easily one of my favorite This American Life podcasts so far. This one will probably cost you since these podcasts are only free for one week after airing. However, it’s only about a buck to buy, and it’s worth it. It’s on iTunes, and here.

Admit it, you’ve always wondered what would happen to stuff if you microwaved it. Don’t go trash your microwave. Check this site out instead. I just sat and watched and oooo’d and aahhhh’d for several minutes watching this experiment. Hint: save the eggs for last. Watch the experiment here.

(I’m posting this as something to WATCH, not something to imitate. Don’t be stupid actually try any of this stuff.)

So, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. Something I’m uncomfortable about because self promotion feels, well, so very self-promotion-ey. But I figure, reach out a bit and try something you’re uncomfortable with. A friend said to me the other day that I needed to leave my chair right that minute and do something that scared the crap out of me. Ok, so I think this one qualifies.

Here’s an excerpt of my newest book, just released with Zondervan/YS. I’ll probably send out a little excerpt every week for the next few weeks. It’s available for purchase on Amazon, and Youth Specialties. A free chapter is available directly from Zondervan.

“When you believe God has everything in your life pre-planned like a blueprint, you view everything that happens to you as part of that blueprint. I now realize that when I would pray those things—like, “Please show me your will” and “Help me see the big picture”and “Just show me my next step”—I was actually taking away from the beauty of how God created me. I was no longer unique or special. My life could not ebb and flow. I could not go through moments of doubt or joy. I was saying to God, “Please, God, help me be more like the robot you created me to be.” If I wanted to be God’s good robot, I could not depart from his plan which was somehow built into me as a part of my soul. And in my thinking, the way for me to really tap into that plan was to pray. A lot.

The way to know the plan of God for me was unending prayer, fasting, Bible reading, and worship. Slowly, one day at a time, if I was being obedient enough and praying enough and seeking enough, God would reveal his plan, the plan already built into me. I would just know it. It would be an open door.I’d walk through, I’d be there, and I’d be content.

I had excuses for God and me if I never deciphered the plan. If I couldn’t figure it out, I wasn’t praying enough. If it seemed too big, I lacked faith. If I only knew one right decision to make, God was letting me know one little bit at a time—letting me know only so much because if I knew everything I’d run and hide in the closet like a scared kid. And, if I ever doubted my whole idea of blueprint living, I had Scriptures that seemed to back up the idea—Scriptures like this one:

Your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. (Psalm 139:16)

When I read that “the days ordained for me” were written in God’s book, I imagined my life as a story that had already been written. God knew the plot, the number of pages, and all the characters—and none of those could change. So I’d devote myself to asking God what was in the next chapter. I’d dump seeing, knowing, and determining into the same bucket, call them the same thing, and believe that God’s knowing me from before my birth meant he directed every second of The Me Show.

Or, there was this verse…

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)

I would forget those words were written to captive Israel, and not to non-captive me. I’d read “plans I have for you” and imagine God had specific plans that never changed, that they were always good and included no pain, poverty, uncertainty, questioning, or times when God feels silent, even though Israel experienced all of those.

Or this verse…

Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. (Romans 12:2)

I’d ignore context here, too, and imagine the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God that Paul spoke of was a predetermined plan, and the more I sacrificed myself, the more I’d know about that will. The reverse of that is obvious, isn’t it? If I didn’t know God’s will, then there was something wrong with my walk with God. Think that through…holy, spiritually perfect people know God’s will. The rest of us, those who are honestly pursuing God yet don’t have his plans for us all figured out, are unholy.

Those passages were just enough Scripture to make me think there was some divine blueprint called God’s Will for Your Life, but not enough to give me the path to how I could ever know what that will was. They led me to years of searching for a hand from the sky that would show me God’s will.”

…was pretty relaxing…

Friday night was Homecomming at my kids school. Nicole played in her first homecoming game. We had a good time seeing old friends, some old students I taught a few years ago, and cheering for our kid. Later that night, Jess had a friend sleep over, Nicole came home from a late homecoming party at the school with another friend in tow. We stayed up until about 3am watching movies and talking.

Saturday was Jake’s first Upward Bound basketball game. He did a great job. I planned on getting home and working for a bit, but instead I sat down and feel asleep. So, after that, and a little errand running, there wasn’t too much left of the day. I planted our herb garden for the year. I’ve never tried this, but it’s a natural progression for us. We’ve been trying gardening more each year. Last summer’s garden actually worked very well and this year we’re planning on using more of our land to make a larger garden and grow more giveaway vegetables. Our first herb garden has Thyme, Basil, Oregano, Sage, Dill, Parsley and Chives (check out the picture below…I’ll post updated ones if the thing actually works). Sunday night I studied a bit on John because University Sunday School started again the next day.

Sunday was good. Our University Sunday School class was large. We had a good discussion on John 4 batting around the back story of Jesus and the woman at the well. We’ve had a running discussion this year about how divine Jesus really was, how much of God he was, if he was God the entire time, etc., and we returned to that discussion for a short time. I believe he was God the entire time, but others in the class don’t necessarily hold that belief. We’ve had this discussion several times this year, and they always feel very valuable. I feel really lucky to get to teach these students.

So then, after lunch with Jacqui’s parents we went home. We were supposed to do some cleaning, but instead Jake and Nicole and I picked up Guitar Hero and played for quite a while. It’s been a very long time since I did that. This Wednesday night the guys group is meeting at our house for a guitar hero competition thing, so I figured I needed to get back in the Guitar Hero Saddle.

I worked some on the Youthworker Book of Hope through the weekend and some on Sunday night. I still need to write the introduction (doing that right now in another window). I still have a lot of writing that needs to be done and I’m struggling to find the time to do that. I feel a little tense today because I am behind in a lot of areas (the holidays took over my life…), I need to catch up!

Last week we went for a bike ride with our good family friends the Ayers. Steve teaches at Le Tourneau where I sometimes adjunct. Deb and Jacqui are good friends, and Jacqui teaches their kids piano.

These are good friends. Good people. I love being around them. They called last week and invited us on a bike ride through a local state park. What a fantastic day! Here’s a pic of all of us together. I’m the fat guy on the 1982 Mongoose Two-Four, my 24 inch racing cruiser from high school. By the end of the day the sides of the tires (originals) had busted out in places and the tube was poking through.

There are a lot of podcast contenders this week. I didn’t have a ton of time to listen over the holidays, and almost everything I listened to was pretty vanilla. As I’m catching up this week, I’m catching up with my favorite ones, and many of the episodes I missed the last two weeks are really good. Two This American Life podcasts I’ve listened to so far are out of the park fantastic. One of them will probably be next week’s selection.

This week it’s The Moth Podcast. It’s a semi-regular release featuring stories told without notes by people with good stories. The stories are told in public, on a stage, so there’s good audience interaction and response.

My favorite so far is the story by Elna Baker who tells the story of her family, and how she related to them (and how she understood more about herself) after she went from a size 20 down to a size 6. It’s a funny twelve minute podcast, really worth listening to. Available on iTunes, and directly from the themoth.org.

It’s my winter – spring writing time. I’m not teaching this semester, which leaves more time to write. Here’s where I’m spending my writing time this week and all next week.

• The Youthworker Book of Hope. I’m editing and rewriting chapters, writing the introduction, and working with the editor dude to make the thing sing. It’s a fantastic book of youth ministry stories by youthworkers who have learned from some really interesting ministry moments. I started on this project a year ago. All of the writers have worked hard to tell their stories. I’ll post a Table of Contents and author list soon. I could do several more of these kind of colaborative projects. Good times with this project this past year.

• I’m working on the next few issues of The Journal of Student Ministries. Next week is my one-year anniversary. I’m going to celebrate, and probably blog about it. Love the job. There are some great articles coming down the pike.

• I’m writing a book for students on authenticity. It’s due to the publisher very soon, and I’m a bit behind.

• I’m doing some editing work for a friend for a large online youth ministry project. Totally fun editing gig, and right up my alley.

Each year about this time I freak out about the lack of a regular paycheck, and this year is no different. To be honest, I’m really struggling with my trust level. We never starve. There’s plenty of work for me. But I look at the checkbook and survey our expenses, and I get nervous. So, even with all the work I have to do, this is still a financially tense season. Why is faith so difficult?

A heads up for new readers of my blog. I write a monthly column for YouthWalk Magazine, a publication of Walk Thru the Bible. My January column is posted. Read it here!

One of my side jobs is managing a small publishing business owned by my father-in-law. It’s kind of a bible prophecy / cults watch / end times publishing place, established to publish his thinking and writing. Through the years he’s gained a healthy following of people who follow this kind of reading. I do this job for free, just to help out. His writing focuses on a theology, ideology and mindset that isn’t that much like my own. However, I completely respect his thinking and writing, and I know he respects mine as well.

The bulk of my time for him is spent moving his books from his initial manuscript all the way through to the finished project. It’s been an interesting journey. If I’m anything to the reading world at all, I’m a writer, and I’m most definitely not a publisher. Getting a manuscript into book form takes a variety of skills…an eye for the look of a book you’ve never seen, a budget mind, marketing, and a host of other skills. You have to be, at the same time, able to deal with printers and writers and artists and marketers. These past few years have made me appreciate the work publishers have undertaken publishing my books. I’ve done most of the learning on my own. I have learned a lot.

Anyway, all that to say, we just received a copy of this book, his newest release, at our “warehouse”. It’s a good looking book, and I think he’s pleased.