Ice Breaker – Mischief Night

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas.  If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com.  If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Tonight is Mischief Night.  This is the night before Halloween when teenagers participate in acts of mischief in the neighborhoods.  I never participated in Mischief Night as a kid, but I remember waking up Halloween morning to discover soap on car windows, eggs on houses, and toilet paper in trees.  Pulling pranks on unsuspecting people can be fun (at least for the pranksters).  Today’s Ice Breaker question is inspired by Mischief Night – the night of pranks.

Question:  Have you ever pulled a prank on someone?  Tell us about it in the comments.  (If you haven’t pulled any pranks, have you ever been the target of a prank?)

My Answer:  My biggest and best pranks took place on youth group retreats when I was in junior high and high school.  My last year in 8th grade, I particularly remember pulling several pranks while our church youth group was on a winter retreat at Camp Johnsonburg in northwestern New Jersey.  The best prank involved a fish, a toothbrush, and a cat.

One of my friends caught a dead sunfish out of the lake on the retreat campus.  While the high school girls were out of their cabin, a few of us took advantage of the opportunity to pull a prank.  We found one of the girls toothbrushes in the cabin, and we slid the toothbrush inside the fishes mouth.  We quietly crept out of the cabin and waited for the girls to return to their cabin.  While I don’t remember the outcome, legend has it that there was a cat waiting on the front porch of the cabin when the girls returned.

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep Stretching!

Ice Breaker – Trick or Treat

Each week on The Stretched Blog, I ask an ice breaker question. The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community. I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments. While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.

(I’m always looking for Ice Breaker question ideas.  If you have an idea, send me an email at jon@jonstolpe.com.  If I use your question, I’ll give you credit and share your links.)

Question:  Trick or treat?  Why?

My Answer: I don’t like when people play fast ones on me, so I will have to go with treat.

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep Stretching!

Ice Breaker – Favorite Candy Bar

It’s the day after Halloween.  Kids are waking up from their sugar coma, and parents are raiding their kids’ Halloween candy stash.  If you’re anything like me, you’ve already gone through your kids candy and grabbed some of your favorite candy.  It’s the price of parenting – what can I say?  With this in mind, today’s Stretched Ice Breaker is inspired by candy.  Today’s question is sure to tap into your sweet tooth.

Question:  What is your favorite candy bar?  (Or other type of candy?)

My Answer:  My answer changed a bit over the past two years.  I had to give up chocolate for the most part as a result of my migraine headaches.  Before this, I would have said Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups.  There’s nothing quite like the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.  But now, Reese’s go to my wife and kids.  I don’t eat a lot of candy anymore, but I still get hungry for something sweet from time to time.  Finding a candy bar without chocolate is next to impossible.  I like taffy, but I don’t like the painful sensation on my teeth when the taffy gets stuck on my gums right above my teeth.

One of the non-chocolate candies I really enjoy is Goetze’s Caramel Creams.  I know it’s not a candy bar, but it’s the closest thing for me.

Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment. I look forward to reading your response! (As always, feel free to share links.) And keep STRETCHING!

Also don’t forget to sign up for the weekly Stretched newsletter.  Check out this post to find out how to sign up.

Happy Halloween! – What’s Behind Your Mask?

Happy Halloween!

Sorry if I just offended you.  I hope you’ll keep reading.  I grew up enjoying the fun of trick or treating in costume.  My parents sorted out my candy when I arrived home.  And I overindulged in candy for the next several weeks.  We carved pumpkins.  And we participated in the school Halloween parades.

Part of this left a scar on me – I was a flower and flower-pot in 4th or 5th grade.  I’ll never live this one down.

In 3rd grade, I was a Mexican – not a politically correct move these days.  One year, I was a box of corn flakes.  And I was a pretty scary ghost in 1st or 2nd grade.  (I’m sure my parents could dig up pictures of some of these costumes.)

My kids are excited to dress up for Halloween again this year.  We carved pumpkins (as you can see above).  And we’ll probably eat more candy than we should.

There’s something we all enjoy about dressing up in costume and wearing masks.  It doesn’t just happen on Halloween.  It happens every day – at work, at school, and even at home.

You don’t believe me?

Look in the mirror.

Can you see what I’m talking about?

At one point or another, we all pretend to be someone or something we aren’t.  As guys, we try to be ultra macho or super intelligent.  I think many women dress up in an effort to appear glamorous or easy.  Sure, I’m generalizing a bit.  But here’s the deal.  Most of us are hiding something.  We’re covering up the fact that we have issues.  We’re covering up some kind of perceived flaw.  We’re trying to present ourselves differently than we really are.  It’s like Halloween everyday!

Maybe it’s time to take off the mask – to leave the costume behind.

Maybe it’s time to practice transparency.

Maybe it’s time someone in your life knows the true condition of your heart.

I know it’s not easy.  I know it takes courage to expose yourself this way.  I know it’s even scary.

What will people think?  Will people still like me?  Will I still have friends?  Will I be accepted?

But give it a try.  I think you’ll find freedom.  I think you’ll find grace.  I think you’ll find a love unexpected.

God, investigate my life;
get all the facts firsthand.
I’m an open book to you;
even from a distance, you know what I’m thinking.
You know when I leave and when I get back;
I’m never out of your sight.
You know everything I’m going to say
before I start the first sentence.
I look behind me and you’re there,
then up ahead and you’re there, too—
your reassuring presence, coming and going.
This is too much, too wonderful—
I can’t take it all in!

Ice Breaker – Halloween Costumes

Each week on The Stretched Blog, we ask an ice breaker question.  The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community.  I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments.  While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.

As Halloween rapidly approaches, it’s time to think about costumes.

Question (actually two):  What have you dressed up as for Halloween in the past?  If you are going to dress up this year, what is your costume?

My Answer:  My parents were pretty creative when it came to Halloween costumes.  One year, I was a box of corn flakes (seems more appropriate now with my corny humor).  One year, I was a Mexican (I guess that wouldn’t be politically correct these days).  And one year I was a ghost.  But the costume I will always remember (and I’m not proud of it) is the flower-pot costume.  That’s right.  One year, I was a flower-pot.  The pot was made of cardboard that we painted brown.  I wore a green turtle neck shirt, and we fastened white petals around my face.  I’m sure my parents thought it was cute, but I think it may have left some scars.  After all, what fourth grade boy ever wants to be a flower-pot for Halloween?

I don’t think that I’ll be dressing up this year, but if I were I could go two ways.  I would either throw a Walter Payton Bears jersey on and go as a Chicago Bears fan, or I would go all out and dress up as a construction worker.  I have the hard hat, the tool belt and tools, and the rest of the garb to make this an easy costume to throw together.

There you have it – my answer.  Now, it’s your turn.  Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment.  I look forward to reading your response!

Ice Breaker – Halloween Candy

Each week on The Stretched Blog, we ask an ice breaker question.  The questions are designed to help us get to know each other here in The Stretched Community.  I’ll provide my answer to the question here in the post, and then you can leave your response in the comments.  While you’re in the comments section, see how others answered the ice breaker question.

As Halloween rapidly approaches, it’s time to think about something important – Halloween candy!

Question:  What is your favorite Halloween candy?  What will you be handing out at your house on October 31st?

My Answer:  Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are by far my favorite Halloween candy.  How can you top chocolate and peanut butter.  We don’t get any visitors on Halloween, but if we did…Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups!

There you have it – my answer.  Now, it’s your turn.  Answer this week’s ice breaker question by leaving a comment.  I look forward to reading your response!