So I found myself trolling all over MySpace recently. It’s really an amazing thing. To be able to get a little glimpse into other people’s lives- clicking from one profile to another. Way more info than you ever got from a phone book-some of it in the TMI category. I got started because of a young adult I know who does some missionary work. I was trying to see if she had a blog (she seemed a very likely person to have one) and instead I found her MySpace page. She does have a blog there, but as I am not a registered user, I couldn’t access it. She happened to have been a counselor at the camp I was director for. From her site, I started jumping from old counselor to old counselor- it was great. I have been wondering what has become of everyone and where they are. It was exciting to see who was married, had kids, still lived in their hometown, who had albums coming out, who was getting what advanced degree. Still, there were some I happened across that made me wonder- that had me concerned for their health and well being. I mean, sure, who wouldn’t have a few party pictures on their site at 25? But, when that’s all there is….well, it worries me they have no depth, no grounding- and I feel somehow saddened by that. I do remember though that this is a social site and what someone puts up can’t sum up their whole life. Still, you learn a lot from interests, music, pictures, friends and comments put up there.
This little sojourn also makes me nostalgic and missing the time when I thought I could relate to and maybe even influence young people. This is a recurring theme lately- a look back on what I used to do (and who I was) and a look forward at where I’m heading. I don’t see a future that looks anything like the past. That is fine- and I shouldn’t count God out of it, he may put me back in youth ministry yet. For now, though, it has been 5 years since I did any full-time youth ministry, and I think that chapter of my life is closing. It does make me a little sad and longing for what I used to do/be. It seems easier to go back to that rather than coming up with a new direction.
I guess it also touches this thing I have with current culture. As I get older, I have shifted out of the mainstream and am now more in the safe shallows. If life were a water park, I’d be moving from the “Twister Flume Tunnel of Zoom” into more of the “Lazy River” attraction. I know what’s going on in the culture, for the most part, but I just don’t want to engage it. I understand the trends
and fads, I just don’t like them. Is it sad I have better relationships with 5 year olds than I do with 15 year olds now? Maybe it is just my own little sliver of fragmented postmodernism that keeps its own self out of synch. But sometimes I do long for one last ride in the cool zone- I mean, I toyed with the idea of starting my own MySpace page- catching up with all those ex-camp people and saying hey- and then I realize that would be a bit pathetic. From what I can tell, MySpace isn’t inhabited by many over 35 year olds; I would be a visitor at best. No, I’ll continue to lurk and catch a glimpse of what life as a 28 year old is like these days, but keep my old self out of the way. But, I do think I will buy the new CD coming out by a few of them…it’s really good!
This little sojourn also makes me nostalgic and missing the time when I thought I could relate to and maybe even influence young people. This is a recurring theme lately- a look back on what I used to do (and who I was) and a look forward at where I’m heading. I don’t see a future that looks anything like the past. That is fine- and I shouldn’t count God out of it, he may put me back in youth ministry yet. For now, though, it has been 5 years since I did any full-time youth ministry, and I think that chapter of my life is closing. It does make me a little sad and longing for what I used to do/be. It seems easier to go back to that rather than coming up with a new direction.
I guess it also touches this thing I have with current culture. As I get older, I have shifted out of the mainstream and am now more in the safe shallows. If life were a water park, I’d be moving from the “Twister Flume Tunnel of Zoom” into more of the “Lazy River” attraction. I know what’s going on in the culture, for the most part, but I just don’t want to engage it. I understand the trends
and fads, I just don’t like them. Is it sad I have better relationships with 5 year olds than I do with 15 year olds now? Maybe it is just my own little sliver of fragmented postmodernism that keeps its own self out of synch. But sometimes I do long for one last ride in the cool zone- I mean, I toyed with the idea of starting my own MySpace page- catching up with all those ex-camp people and saying hey- and then I realize that would be a bit pathetic. From what I can tell, MySpace isn’t inhabited by many over 35 year olds; I would be a visitor at best. No, I’ll continue to lurk and catch a glimpse of what life as a 28 year old is like these days, but keep my old self out of the way. But, I do think I will buy the new CD coming out by a few of them…it’s really good! 
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