mysilentscream.com

Today I celebrate twenty years of working full-time at TreeHouse.

In 1989 I walked onto the deck of the Brooklyn Park TreeHouse and there was Anne Marie Bovie.  “Hi,” she said, “who are you?”  I feel in love with TreeHouse, a home away from home for thousands of teens and parents.  Each person is expected to “help make this a safe place and to build community,” and they do.

When people join our community they find an caring environment with consistent values.

Our Values

* Spiritual Vitality
* Multidimensional Personal Growth
* Caring Relationships
* Service
* Teamwork & Collaboration
* Community
* Accountability
* Innovation & Growth

Angry, depressed and lonely describes most of my teen years.   If I had given up as a teen I would never have known most of you.  I would never have come out of the basement.  I would never have come to enjoy my parents, made lifelong friends, found hope or gotten to know God.

I felt so unworthy.  Ever felt that way?  I was smart but “stupid”.  I was gifted but misguided.  In my anger and angst I would make foolish and hurtful decisions.  Those decisions would make my life harder.  Leading, of course, to more anger and angst.  Building one upon the other anger became bitterness and angst became depression.

Loving God includes being willing to allow the bright light of God’s word shine in your life. While, from personal experience I know how scary that can be, it truly is freeing to live with integrity. It’s scary living in the fear of God, but it’s amazingly freeing to rest in an awareness of your own imperfections without pretensions. It’s then that we can truly experience the wonderfulness of God’s love.

Today when asked to describe me in one word Jocelyn “Jozey” Wichterman described me as passionate. While I humbly smirked when I read it, she’s right, I am passionate.

Yesterday’s tragic death of Avenged Sevenfold’s drummer The Rev [James Owen Sullivan] drives my passion into a flame.

Chains

Several years ago while having lunch with Heather Crimmins she introduced me to Avenged Sevenfold. Over the years I realized that Avenged Sevenfold’s lyrics spoke to people; they touched wounded souls:

“Tormented young with no souls, haunting me
Pain in their lives all they know is misery
Take these chains away that are holding me down” [Eternal Rest]

Have you ever met a celebrity?  A favorite band?  A compelling author?  A poet whose words changed your heart?  A doctor who changed your health?  A therapist who changed your mind?  A minister who changed the direction of your soul?  A friend who help heal your wound?  A lover who helps heal your aloneness?

Do you like to name drop?

You might be impressed if I said I play basketball with Lebron, play guitar with Rodrigo, or sing with Christina.  You might want to sit down and have coffee with Jimmy Carter and me.

Honesty is a culturally threatening virtue. So threatening that few people make it a constant choice. It’s counter-cultural to choose to be honest.

Cultural Corruption

People joked about cheating on their taxes – “it’s okay unless you get caught.” People make “little white lies.” They cover up the truth “to protect the other person.”

“Everyone lies” and “everyone lies some of the time” are routinely used to justify the choice to be dishonest. That’s if the choice to be dishonest is ever challenged.

“You love evil more than good and lies more than truth”, says the songwriter.

Our Pandemic

“While the H1N1 virus has sickened tens of thousands of people and closed summer camps in a season when there should be little flu activity, it has killed far fewer than the 36,000 Americans who die from seasonal influenza each year. ”

I had not idea — no idea — that the “flu” was so deadly. I was blind to the pain and suffering that people experience.

In order to protect themselves many people defensively protect themselves with masks.

Tyler Wood’s Funeral Service
September 24, 2009 @ Edinbrook Church

Hi. My name is Scott Volltrauer and I have the incredible privilege of leading this service. As I look around the room I see people who have known Tyler longer, known her more intimately and loved her more deeply than I could imagine. To each of you I ask you to be patient with me as we reflect together on Tyler’s life.

Tyler’s Life

Special Memories

We do not have an open mic today so let me share more than forty of the hundreds of notes I read online. I know these words speak the words many of you would say:

Tyler, I miss u with every ounce of me!
This is beyond too sad…
She was a wonder. Beautiful inside and out.
I miss her so much.
We miss you.
She is an amazing person and I will keep saying that forever and ever.

I loved you so much Tyler I will always remember you and you will live on in my heart forever and ever.

What Good, If Any, Can Come Out Of This Tragedy?

Tyler’s gone. Let yourself grieve. Grieve the way you want to. There are no rules.

Even Jesus – the Creator of the heavens and the Earth – cried when his friend died.

What good, if any, can come out of this tragedy?

We will each react differently. Some of you hurt deeply, some not, some recover quickly, some not. Some cry, others scream, still others stuff their feelings. To each of us I offer this simple advice I try to live: Say all your “I’m sorry”s, all your “thank you”s and all your “I love you”s every day.