The Need for Affirmation

I see them every day. People that need some positive words spoken into their lives. People that need affirmation. People that just want someone else to like them!

• American Idol - I don't know if it's real or not, but it breaks my heart to see those people cry. Would someone PLEASE say something positive about them?!
• Teenagers - They so badly want to be noticed and loved. The teens at Southwest are SO talented! I probably don't affirm them enough.
  
• Myself - When teenagers give me what I jokingly call "the death look" I find myself doubting whether or not to converse with them. I KNOW they want someone to talk to, but my own doubts about myself tell me, "They don't want to talk to you!" or "You'll get rejected...better not talk to them!"
  
• Letters from Dad - The men at our church are learning from this amazing book. EVERY MAN (and woman) wants desperately to be blessed by their father. Our children need to know that we love them unconditionally.

I am pretty lucky. I've had parents and friends that have communicated their appreciation for me as a person. As a youth minister, I get positive feedback quite a bit. And yet, I STILL focus on the negative stuff WAY too much!
So, what's your story? Have you been affirmed lately? Have you affirmed someone else lately? Your family? Your friends? A stranger?


I appreciate you because you are God's special creation! You are a wonderful friend or family member. You have potential beyond your wildest dreams, and I believe that (with God's help) you can live up to that potential! Don't let your mistakes define you...you are much bigger than those mistakes. You are a "good" person because you are "God's" person!! God bless you today. Know that you are loved by me and many others...most especially by your proud Father in Heaven.

Book Tag!

OK, so I was "tagged" by Shane Coffman to do the following...

Here is how it works:

1) Grab the book closest to you
2) Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence
3) Post the text of the following three sentences
4) Name the author and book title
5) Tag three people to do the same

Mine sounded really weird...
"Monica's experience profoundly illustrates the need for attachment. While working in a rehab center for behavior-disordered adolescents Monica found herself connecting with the extremely emotionally troubled David. For a long while her main contact with the boy involved restraint."

I'm actually reading a YOUTH MINISTRY book right now!! It is called "Shaping the Spiritual Life of Students" by Richard R. Dunn.
It is OK, if a little abstract.
I wish he had asked about a month ago when I was reading "Just Walk Across the Room" by Bill Hybels!!! Or, before that, two books about writing that were excellent!

So, I am tagging
1. Jim White
2. Klay Hall
3. John Wood

30 Hour Fast

Dear Loved Ones,
This is just Franklin! I hope your year is going well and that you are following through on those New Year’s resolutions!
Next month (Feb. 23-24) I will be fasting (NO food for Franklin!) to raise money for children who are dying of starvation.
Did you know that 29,000 people per day STILL die of hunger and hunger-related diseases?
When I think of our technology and how far we have come in the last 100 years, that boggles my mind! When I look at my home, my car and other ways I am blessed, I struggle to think that there are hundreds of thousands that do NOT have those blessings.

Would you help me provide food for kids who are still starving?

As I said, I will be fasting for 30 hours. This number is significant because $30 will feed, clothe, and provide medical care for a child for an entire month. Any amount will help, but please consider sponsoring one or two children (or more) for several months!
If you can help, please make a check out to “World Vision” and send it to me at my home address by February 16^th:

Franklin Wood
19023 Grant St.
Elkhorn, NE 68022

The next week (Feb. 23-24) I will go without food from Friday after lunch until 6:00 PM on Saturday. By the way, I am doing this with our teenagers from church as well (a lock-in with teenagers on TOP of starving myself? What am I thinking?)

Feel free to e-mail or call if you have questions. I love you all!

Standing Up for Starving Kids,

Franklin Wood

We're Still Here!

Sorry about not posting in a while...

Our computer at home at home (where I normally write my posts) has decided to be naughty again. It's doing the same thing it did about a year ago (and it's only two years old!) I'm very disappointed in Sony. I still like their TVs and other electronics...too bad they can't make a good computer!

Now, we still have my laptop from work, but I brought it home a few days ago only to discover that our cable and internet are not working.

Anyways, we are surviving the snow up here...actually, the below-freezing temperatures are the worst part! It's in the 20s today and feels pretty warm!

Well, that's enough for now. Wouldn't want to waste the day trying to dream up a great post!

P.S.

OK, so I've received a few comments about my last post. Several of you are concerned, and I thank you for checking up on me!
However, I should let you know that I am not depressed! Our marriage is NOT in trouble, nor do I have any serious condition. My wife and I HAVE been talking...I probably should never have put her in this equation! My point was supposed to be that I feel like I have been neglecting some relationships in my life, including my wife, my son, and the teenagers from my church.
All the other stuff is quite true, though. The heartburn, the restless nights. I am trying to capture how I feel when I am very overweight.
So, I hope I didn't scare you too badly! But please understand that I am NOT depressed...I am DETERMINED!! This is just a little experiment to compare the way I felt over the holidays (stuffed, sluggish, sick) and see how I feel after we begin to make some changes.

By the way, we have started working out this week and eating better (smaller portions, but more meals per day.) I feel IMMEDIATE results...I am actually HUNGRY, and not just eating because it is lunchtime. The heartburn has almost disappeared.
I want to continue to see how my body reacts and feels. Sorry for scaring you. Hope you aren't too scared to journey with me!!
Love you all. God bless. Franklin

Again With the Weight Thing...

A few weeks ago I jotted down how I was feeling so that I can gauge progress and maintain motivation for losing weight...

I feel like I am dying.
The simplest tasks prove difficult at best and leave me huffing for air afterwards. I can only play with my own son (Fischer) for about five or ten minutes before I have to sit down. My wife and I don’t talk much any more. We sit on our rear ends and stare at the TV. Our poor son must feel so neglected by us...
Going to bed proves to be difficult because I have terrible indigestion and heartburn EVERY night. I can’t breathe because I stuff myself at every meal. My heart feels like it’s pumping overtime. I know I have a heart flutter (the doc says it’s nothing) but it feels worse when I’m out of shape.
I don’t sleep right, work well, or relate well to others when I’m out of shape. I seek approval in others when I really need to get to the place where I approve of myself.
What am I afraid of? Last time I got into shape for a while, but then I got sick and stopped working out. When I restarted, I couldn’t breathe and found that I had asthma. I’ve never had asthma in my life! I guess I am afraid that something else will happen or that the asthma will come back with a vengeance if I exercise.
And worst of all, I don’t talk to God much any more. My spiritual life is limping along like my physical life. No direction, no discipline.
But now, I have a chance to get in shape again. Do I have the motivation?
I feel terrible now. My goal is to write again in two or three months and write down the difference in hopes that the "good" feeling from taking care of my body will outweigh the feeling of being out of shape. Let’s see what happens...

National Conference on Youth Ministries

We left for Colorado Springs Tuesday morning.
As we reached mid-Nebraska, the trees beside the road bowed down under the weight of ice. The tips of the grass were frosted. Everything around us looked like it was made of pure glass.
Unfortunately, beauty does not come easily...many homeowners are STILL without power in Nebraska, and have no hope of regaining it in the near future.
As we pressed on, we came to Colorado. You can tell you are in Colorado because the hills get taller and taller. As we crested a hill, we spied the blue smoky outline of mountains in the distance. Continuing to drive, you realize that the mountains are huge and immobile, like stubborn old men who won't get out of their favorite chairs.
This part of the country is SO stunningly beautiful that it takes your breath away.

The conference was very uplifting, as usual. We caught up with old friends and met several new ones. We laughed at the inspiring talk of Patrick Mead and cried with conviction after hearing Chris Seidman. We even slept in a little later than usual and loved every minute of it!!

Our return trip was NOT so enjoyable. We decided to try to get ahead of the forecasted snow storm and found that it came earlier than predicted when we awoke. But it was going to get worse through the day and we were REALLY missing Fischer, so we left Friday morning. The roads were terrible and it took four hours to get to Kansas!! On the way, the total trip took us about 9 hours. The return trip? 11 and 1/2 hours!!

But God surrounded our little car throughout the blizzard and we made it home safely. He has done this many times. Praise God for His protection! Sometimes I wonder how many times God has truly protected me, and I didn't even know it.