BLT says.......what the heck does that mean?Well, just in case it hasn't been figured out, let me put you on the path towards illumination. I love to do kid's ministry, and I always have. My first summer in Juneau Lisa and I planned and executed a Vacation Bible School all by ourselves, and for some reason during that VBS the kids gave me the nickname Pretty Pretty Princess (I think because I sang in a high pitched voice for one song, for comedic effect). I had to work with the kids to call me Triple P so our officers wouldn't think me strange. I loved that summer, but after that, I was put in other places and wasn't able to do much with the kids. However, for two years as a corps assistant I did very little in youth work, as I was pointed more towards administration and adult ministry (which is understanding and helped prepare me for being a pastor now). Even though I loved what I did as a corps assistant, I always longed to work with kids again, and the kids knew that, because even now as I left four years ago, some of those kids still call me Triple P. I wish I could have done more with them.
I got my chance. I was in charge of youth special events at our corps, so I got to plan out VBS and coordinate it, as well as take the lead for our rally days. However, except for the rally days, this was a tease, because I got to plan and coordinate Vacation Bible School, but I had to work during it while others reaped the benefits (playing with the kids, crafts, games, and snacks). The closest I got to actually participating during the VBS program was when the Major got sick and I had to take his place as the super hero on VBS Sunday. I told him I'd do it, but as we're complete opposite body types, I have no costume. He told me there was a costume trunk in his office that I should go through that one of the corps members put together for him.
I could tell right away that this costume trunk was put together by a woman, because there were all styles and colors of tights and long gloves and short shorts in there. Needless to say, worried about the Pretty Pretty Princess title continuing, I decided the Super Hero would be dressed as his alter-ego, i.e. me in a pair of glasses. This took away the Triple P name, but created a new nickname, Drew Carey. Its okay, you can laugh.
After my wife and I were accepted into training, we were asked to be the program directors at our camp, which I accepted without even thinking as it was the chance to do nothing but kid's ministry, which I missed very much. I had a blast, and several nicknames accompanied me there, such as the Man, Drew Carey, General, Major, Brigadier, Colonel, Cappy and Cadet (to go through all the ranks in the Army and back to Cadet was quite humbling).
In training, I had a different nickname which I never understood. A lot of people were calling me Cookie, which I though was a fat joke but ended up being short for cookie cutter, as in cookie cutter cadet (still not sure what that meant). Then I put on glasses once, and was called Drew Carey, and was also called DFS (which are not my initials). There are probably more names I've forgotten, because I'm not perfect you know. Its funny having all these nicknames, because my name is really short to begin with. Since I've been back in Alaska, I've been called a whole slew of my old nicknames, including the long version of Triple P (ohhhh kids in Juneau, got to love them). But, at the corps, its either Mark or Pastor Mark. So when I went to Congress last year and lead a youth program (for the first time in four years-sooo much fun) I was told by up and ups that the kids must not, under any circumstance, call me Mark.
So, I told them to call me L.T. (cause I'm cool like that). But one of the kids said it was too confusing because he calls his cousin L.T. I thought, "Hey since this kid's in the room, let's not create confusion." So I said, "How big is he?" and the kid answered, "Nowhere near as big as you." So there it started, B.L.T., Big Lieutenant. After this brain-storming for a nickname, I found out that this cousin wasn't actually in the room, is 15 years old and lives in Tallahassee (soooo good we avoided that confusion).
I learned a long time ago to change things up a lot in kids ministry, to keep their attention, and find my own way of drawing their attention towards me (you know as opposed to saying "SHUT UP!!!" So my way of doing that has always been start playing a few rounds of Simon Says with the kids until you get their attention and can move on to something else. But, instead of Simon, I use B.L.T. (Lieutenant is wayyyy too hard to say repeatedly in that game) says to get them to pay attention to me. This is how I would direct them from one game to the next, to the craft, to my devotion, to a new song, and its always worked well.
So, in writing about my life, I couldn't think of anything better than to say B.L.T. says to let you know that I have something to say. Plus I have a nice Cliff's Notes for you at the bottom of the blog. If you have a short attention span like me (squirrel!!), you can go down to the bottom and just read my lesson, my instruction, my little one sentence summation to know what I'm talking about.So that's what's with BLTsays. I do like Bacon, and Lettuce, and Tomato together, but usually with something like Tuna or Turkey and Mustard to accompany, so this blog is one of the few things in my life that really doesn't involve food, even if the title is a bit misleading.
BLTsays......please mail me a burrito, from Taco Bell. Okay, joke.
BLTsays........I'm a big Lieutenant, not so much a sandwich lover.
You're hilarious!
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