Popcorn changed my life!

As I was navigating high school, I was blessed to have an amazing youth pastor. Kevin Moyer served students for over 20 years, and spent 17 or 18 of those years at the church where my family attended. He had the “privilege” of having all four Castanedas come through his ministry; I’m sure he would like a few of those years back!  

I grew up during the time when fast-food was making its way into the American home. Microwaves started making it possible to cook foods more quickly, and frozen foods were exploding in popularity at the grocery store. Another American favorite, popcorn, was also getting a makeover as the air popper made faster, “healthier” popcorn. (Let’s be honest, pop as healthy as you want, but when you put a pound of butter on top, all the air popping in the world won’t save you from cardiac arrest! And I loved my popcorn with lots of butter!)

PK (Pastor Kevin) however, was a popcorn purist. He was appalled at the decline of American culture and the thought of air popping seeds of corn was akin to liking the Dodgers -- it was un-American (he being a life-long Giants fan). Instead, he favored the proper way of making popcorn. He would pour a little oil in a pot and set it on the oven, waiting for the burner to warm up. When it did, he would dump the perfect number of seeds into the pot, shaking it occasionally, until he heard the first pop! Then he would spring into action, moving the pot in a circular fashion until each kernel had exploded.

Then the most important part of the ritual took place: The pouring of the butter. There was always butter, and always lots of butter. And of course, a pinch or two of salt. But believe me, right up there with air poppers and liking the Dodgers was using margarine or some other form of not-butter. Popcorn was always handled with honor in PK's house.

One of the reasons I know so much about PK’s love of popcorn is because I spent so many hours at his house. It was not uncommon for me to show up late at night (after the farm chores were done at his property so I wouldn’t have to do any actual work) in order to cash in on the bed-time popcorn ritual. His eldest daughter Kendra was a friend of mine, and I was more than happy to hang out with her and Charis (for whom I’d later have the honor of performing her wedding ceremony!) in order to watch the popping ritual take place and enjoy the fruit of his labor.

I ate a lot of popcorn in that man’s house.

My youngest daughter and I have quite the love of popcorn in our house. While I don’t cook it on the stove, I do use an oil popper and usually real butter. I over use the butter so that I don’t need to add any salt, and honestly, I think the old man could use a few of my popping secrets. Next time he’s in the area, we’ll have to have a pop-off with Celina as the judge. (And of course, her allowance at stake!)

I’ll tell you this: My 17 years of pastoring, followed by the year (plus) I’ve had here at the camp, were directly influenced by the hours of popcorn eating I did at PK’s house. It wasn’t that his popcorn was that good, it’s that the conversation and life investment was. We spent hours talking about youth ministry, talking about baseball, talking about relationships, parents, the Bible, the weather, youth events and even on the rare occasion one of his daughters was in the hot seat (he had four daughters at the time, then adopted two sons later) we’d talk about how to discipline children. (Ok, Kendra was in the hot seat all the time. I’m confident if it hadn’t been for me standing between her dad and her teenage freedom, she’d still be locked up in some tower guarded by a dragon!) (There's a slight chance she's reading this...)

Over a decade later I remember sitting in my own home on a Wednesday afternoon. About a dozen students were spread out between the family room and kitchen. They were eating soup, doing homework, playing the Wii or just hanging out with their friends. Hannah and I were talking about a recent missions trip to Philadelphia and in the middle of our talk, I just paused and took it all in.

It wasn’t popcorn, but my wife’s soups are very good. The students were all smiles, the conversation was meaningful and I was doing what I had been taught: offer what you have to the Lord and watch what He does with it.

Over the years I realized that PK wasn’t the most gifted pastor I ever knew, nor was he the one with the greatest vision or the cleanest office. He was, however, even to this day, a pastor with a great passion for God and an insatiable desire to use his gifts to serve others. He studied carefully, preached powerfully and lived out his faith relentlessly. He wasn’t perfect, but he was perfectly suited for what he did in serving students. And his life didn’t just impact the students he worked with, but his students worked with students, who have since worked with students, and they have a heritage that goes back...to popcorn.

Popcorn changed my life!

Are you using your gifts and talents to serve others? As you live the Overboard Life you realize that what you have, has been given to you by God, for the primary benefit of others. Too often we live to serve ourselves, we live to not be bored and to make sure we get the most out of what we have. But God didn’t bless you so you could bless you more, He blessed you so you could have the richest blessings of all -- sharing God’s goodness with others. PK gave freely and the result of his life and ministry has been seen for decades after he left youth ministry, and will continue for decades to come.

In fact I was looking at some recent pictures of the young man who is now running the youth group that Traci and I left a little over a year ago. He was eating pizza with some students and I realized that he too, had learned the lesson, serving those students with the tools he had been given (in this case, a nice looking pizza from Dominos!).

You’ll never find joy in satisfying yourself. I’ve tried and each time I’ve failed. Oh sure, we can find some temporary happiness or pleasure, but lasting joy comes from giving, not receiving. If you choose to live Overboard, you’ll have to learn to give out of the richness with which you’ve been blessed. And if you need some help, feel free to stop by and have some popcorn; I’ll show you all I know about giving to others with a few seeds, a little oil and a pound of butter.

19 down, 21 to go.

Go ahead and take the plunge, even popcorn is better on the water!

Blast from the past!

While our pastor was preaching this past sunday, I was reflecting on some issues in my own life. I hate when a good preacher makes you do that. As a result, I wanted to write a blog that sounded a lot like a blog I had written almost exactly two years ago. After failing to rewrite my previously written thoughts, I'm reposting this post from September of 2011, but viewing it with fresh eyes. I hope you will, too.

It’s amazing how often illustrations for living the Overboard life are found in the most unexpected and unusual places. When I read the Bible, I love seeing how Jesus used water, bread, poor widows, fish, birds, money, boats, naked women caught in adultery and just about anything else to teach His disciples to live life out of the boat. A while back, I discovered lesson about the Overboard life from my back yard and a little skirmish I had with some Blackberry bushes. I wrote this a while ago and now seemed like a good time to share it with you.

[zoom in on author’s forehead as he enters trancelike state...he turns to the window and stares at a pile of cut-up and stomped-on brush...he clutches a bandaged finger...]

I spent the better part of two hours one morning last week, digging up some black berry bushes that have crossed over a barrier of which we had made a verbal agreement. I promised not to cut them down or poison them and they promised not to come past the fence line. Well wouldn’t you know it? apparently black berry bushes aren’t very good at keeping their word! During the fall and early spring, they moved into the SW corner of our yard so the battle was on.

After two hours of cutting away and digging, I learned some very important lessons about removing black berry bushes.  #1, don’t try to cut or dig them out while wearing shorts. #2, don’t forget to wear THICK gloves. #3, along with #2, don’t grab the roots bare handed, they have nasty little hook shaped thorns down there, too. #4, when you forget rules #2 and #3, your kids will think it’s hilarious when you place your hand between your knees, start jumping up and down while screaming something about black berry bushes, the devil and the fires of hell. #5, chasing your kids with the pruners after said incident is not advisable when your neighbor is a police officer. It was a very educational morning.

I also, interestingly enough, learned something about how to remove black berry bushes (bbbs). In this corner where the bbbs had taken over, the plants probably covered close to 100 square feet of land (a little 10’x 10’ area on the back 40). Although this is a lot of space, there were only 10-12 actual bbb stalks to be found. The plants grow horizontally as much as they grow vertically. In fact, one of the stalks had popped up on my neighbors side of the fence so I hopped over in order to remove the offending beast. This is when I found the deepest, darkest secret of all.

All 10-12 stalks where attached to the same “runner” root. About a 1/2” below the surface of the ground, this little demon root snaked it’s way all over the place and every one of the 10-12 stalks was some how connected to this evil creature. As I uprooted part of the stalk from my neighbors yard, I pulled up a portion of the beast and saw it went to a little 3-4 stalk out cropping on my side of the fence. I pulled it up there only to find that it zigged and zagged itself to another 4-5 stalk out cropping and then finally to the last 3-4 stalk outcropping. Of course, it originated from the other side of our previously agreed upon boundary, so this demon root was cut down and poisoned (it was the only humane way to deal with him). That was one week ago.

Today, I go back out there and found out the demon root had spawned a few lesser demons who were venturing even further from the

mason-dixon line. They too have been exterminated (in my best Arnold Schwartzeneggar voice)

Sneaky devils.

As I sipped an ice cold coca cola (the preferred drink of bbb killers everywhere!) after a couple more hours of smiting creepy crawlers, I reflected on something rather fitting. Those stinkin’ bbbs are a lot like sin that we leave unconfessed in our lives. You know, those “little” sins that we just ignore or pretend that some how God doesn’t see or won’t care about, those ones that we like to put into our closet and leave for a later time? The problem is, like the pesky bbbs in my yard, those sins don’t stay hidden, they don’t remain in the closet and we certainly can’t control them. Soon, a sin that only pops up once-in-a-while, takes root underground and before we know it, our heart is covered and being choked out.

Getting rid of sin isn’t an easy task, either, but like my bbbs, we have to do it at the root. We have to go after the sin, digging it out with the diligence that only comes from intimacy with God, poisoning it with the power of the Word and then persist in keeping a watchful eye so that it’s evil cousins don’t try to take back soil we’ve cleared. And like my bbbs, we must be wary of seasons in which the sin hibernates as it strengthens it’s roots and spreads itself in subtlety.

Some of my favorite words of Scripture are found in Psalm 119:9-11. Those familiar words of David have helped me fight sin on more than one occasion: “How can a young man keep his way pure? By living according to your Word. I seek you with all my heart, do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your Word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.” David knew about subtle sins that take root and then take over.  When he strolled across the rooftops of his palace in 2 Samuel 12, he knew he’d see some “sites”. That habit became a demon root that eventually led David to adultery, murder, cover up and horrible deceit. If the man after God’s own heart can lose ground, I better make sure I’m taking a double shot of God’s Word in my life and applying it’s truth to every root of sin that crops up.

Victory over sin is a lot like victory over bbbs. You’ve got to attack it aggressively and dig it out by the roots. Along the way, you’re going to get stung and you might even bleed. But after a little dance and a chasing of the kids around the back of the house, the yard looks a lot better and it’s a clean look that goes well below the surface.

Indeed.

[return to author...he returns his glance to the paper before him...he smiles]

God is calling all of us out of the boat and out to the water where Jesus is building His Kingdom. He even uses devilishly annoying blackberry bushes to make His call heard. How has God taught you about the Overboard life using the world around you? If you feel brave enough, share your thoughts with us in the comments -- I’d love to hear your insights!

Go ahead, take the plunge -- life is better on the water!