There's so much written about Attitude, and how important Attitude is, how infectious it is, how it effects ourself and others. There's many famous quotes, many words written, poems, etc. But yet, we so often overlook attitude. Something so powerful deserves more attention. More time spent refining, correcting, etc.

Priorities. What are they, how do we set them, how do we realize them, what impacts what they are. I remember several coaches in my life dictating that the priorities shall be:

1. God and Family
2. School
3. <whichever sport>

I wonder if coaches still do this. I wonder if "kids these days" get lectures on priorities from parents, coaches, teachers, etc. I wonder how often adults take time to reflect "where are my priorities?" and "what should my priorities be?"

This weekend was the Pacific Southwest District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod's District Youth Gathering (that's PSD / LCMS / DYG for those acronym lovers). In other words, 550 kids from our sister churches in California, Arizona and Nevada came together at the Sheraton hotel in Phoenix for worship, teaching, fellowship and serving. We had only 8 kids who said "going to DYG is a priority for me" (of the potential 40+ kids). Those 8 signed up and paid $50 each. Of those original 8, only 4 actually went (5 in total, we had one late in signing up). I did not have the right attitude as we were finalizing the plans for the trip. Actually, I had tried my darndest to not be involved with any of the planning in the first place, which worked up to a point. Even throughout the weekend, it was hard to kick away that attitude that kept creeping back. It really was an awesome time, and we had a blast. There's pictures on the youth group website for those interested, cictempe.org