Be Graceful As You Go
A friend recently told me a story about a former student who came back to him to apologize for how he had acted while he was in the youth ministry.
I’m actually a living, breathing example of that story. I terrorized my youth pastor by toilet-papering his house the night before we’d leave for camp every year. It might help you to understand the level of this crime if you know that we would leave for camp around 4 or 5 am every year.
I deserve Hell for doing that to him!
He would wake up at 3 am, with all kinds of stuff to think about. One of the biggest events of the year was about to kick off. And I thought it would be funny that he woke up to that. I’ve since asked for his forgiveness.
More recently, I’ve heard a lot of stories of students turning their back on their student ministries to go to other local student ministries that offer the “bigger and better.”
Specifically, one youth pastor told me about a student who left because he “wasn’t getting anything out of the sermons.” The youth pastor was shaking his head as he recounted how he gave that student several opportunities to jump into leadership. But instead of getting in the game, the student would disengage, sleep in on Sundays, and complain that it wasn’t good enough.
The sad truth is that we would rather complain about the status quo than do something to change it.
And it makes sense that we would experience that. The nature of our job is to serve those who “aren’t there yet” (and they won’t ever be there). No one is naturally a producer. We’re all born consumers. It takes intentionality to be a producer. To be compassionate. To be considerate. To serve.
All of us will have a different perspective ten years down the road. If you think you won’t, you’re ignorant. You don’t know everything there is to know right now.
Knowing that we might have a different perspective down the road, we should take caution to be graceful as we go. There’s nothing wrong with apologizing for what you’ve done wrong in the past, but you have no idea how impactful your words/actions are NOW.
One day, you’re going to apologize for what you’ve done wrong. But one day is not today for the person who’s been wronged. Today is here. Be graceful as you go.
A Roadblock Might Be Exactly What We Need
Every year, in the fall, our student ministry sponsors a community-wide clean-up day for the elderly. We rake leaves, clean gutters, trim hedges, cut down trees, and whatever else they need done.
This year, we realized there just wasn’t a good day to plan something like that for everyone. We usually try to plan around big home games, band trips, holidays, etc., but this time, we just couldn’t make it happen.
We hit a roadblock.
I was super uneasy, because this is something that helps to show our students what we’re really all about – serving others. Furthermore, I really don’t want to cancel such an important event, because we didn’t want it to conflict with other things that don’t matter in the long run (Yep. I’m talking about football. Get over it.).
As our team was talking it through, someone proposed that each of our small groups could adopt a home and watch over them throughout the entire fall. The pro’s were obvious: scheduling is easier with a smaller group of people, continual focus throughout the season, and building community within your small group. The only con was that it didn’t carry the energy of the big community event day.
But who really cares? Are we really doing this for our momentum? Or for other peoples’ good?
So, maybe a roadblock is exactly what we need. It causes you to re-consider your motives, re-think your priorities, and re-engage your team.
Not to mention, a huge benefit of busting through a roadblock is that it demands that you bump up against your organizational assumptions. You know, the things that you believe to be true about your people and about your church. For instance, my assumption was that we needed to do our community event as a big group. I don’t know why that assumption existed or how it got there, but that doesn’t matter. It was there and I hadn’t questioned it until now.
What are the assumptions that are foundational to your systems? I guarantee, if you dig deep enough, you’ll find something that is outdated and obsolete.
Don’t be afraid of the roadblocks. Push through the obstacles. That’s leadership!
When Paul Prays
A friend of mine (short plug: my friend, Sean Michel, who was on American Idol, makes some pretty rockin’ music with his band. Go check them out!) stopped by my office one day a few weeks ago to talk an idea he had for our student ministry. He said that he was really encouraged by our student ministry because he thought of our us as sending “little Apostle Paul’s” out.
Pause for a moment to reflect on that. I mean, c’mon. Apostle Paul’s? Love it!
He knows that I meet with our leadership team once a week to encourage, provide accountability, and to talk over the next week’s lesson. He said that he thought it would be cool to go over Paul’s prayers in his epistles.
I jumped on it and our students did, too. What’s cool is that our students started discovering some truths in Scripture that they hadn’t found in the past.
Not to mention, they were able to see Paul’s heart for his people. I would say he’s a pretty good example to follow.
As we studied through Ephesians, Philippians and Colossians, one thing kept popping out to me over and over again; in Ephesians, specifically.
“…that God may give you a spirit of wisdom…”
“…that God may give you a spirit of revelation in the knowledgeof Him” (literally that God would reveal Himself to you).
“…that the eyes of your hearts may be enlightened…”
“…that you may know the hope to which He has called you.”
Is it obvious to anyone else that Paul wanted the Ephesian church to know God more? And when it all boils down, if we simply focus on getting to know God, all else (outreach, discipleship, worship, justice, kindness, grace, etc.)
A couple take-aways:
1. In your own spiritual life, what are you shooting for? Is it to know God?
2. In your prayers for your people, what are you asking God for?
Milk Duds
This is a video that we used for one of our cell group lessons a couple weeks back. The guy talking is Patrick Martin. He was one of our volunteers for a couple years until he was offered a promotion in another state. He had a pretty big impact with a lot of our students, so we decided to bring him back in video form.
This video landed pretty hard with a lot of our students, as it related to the things we’re all chasing that aren’t God. I don’t know if you could use this in your youth ministry, but if you’d like a copy, I’d love to send you a download.
Testimonies will always work with teenagers. When your students hear the stories of others who have been through a struggle, there’s a good chance they’ll identify with their past mistakes and open up to Jesus.
The Key To Following Jesus
I’ve always read the Gospels, in a way that led me to believe that guys like Peter just followed Jesus, without any emotion. I guess I missed a pretty crucial element, until yesterday. I was reading in Luke yesterday morning and I ran across something I haven’t seen yet (don’t you love when that happens?).
If you read Luke 5, you’ll see a familiar story about Peter and his friends coming in after a long night’s worth of fishing, and to no avail. Jesus walks on the scene, and starts giving instructions. I want to pause here for a commentary. These guys must have thought Jesus was the most annoying dude in the world! Have you ever been hard at work on something that you’ve been doing all your life, only to have a stranger (or anyone else) walk up to you to ‘fill you in’ on how the system works? I’m not sure what I would’ve done in Peter’s situation, but it probably wouldn’t have been worth repeating.
However, what’s most interesting about this story isn’t the fisherman’s failure or even Jesus’ introduction to the scene. It’s all about Peter’s reaction to Jesus.
“Master, we worked hard all night acaught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.”
Peter refers to Jesus as “Master.” Interesting. The story goes on to show that Jesus’ plan worked, and they couldn’t even handle the fish they brought in. Again, it’s not this miraculous occasion that I want to draw attention to.
“But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus’ feet, saying, ‘Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!’
Not only did Peter bow down at that very moment, but he actually asked Jesus to leave him, because he was a sinful and broken man. I don’t know if I’m not hanging out with the right kind of people, or if I just don’t get out all that much, but you don’t see this kind of humility today! I understand, Jesus isn’t walking around today, doing miracles before our very eyes, but what happened to our amazement in Him?
Jesus responds.
“Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men.”
I usually like to draw some conclusions about text to wrap it all up. I want to let you do that today. What is your response to Jesus today? Is Jesus asking you to follow Him? What is your response?
It’s time to get on our knees before Him!
How You Know You Should Take A Break From Social Media
…when you’d rather criticize someone than encourage them.
…when you feel the need to confront someone via social media.
…when you’re more worried about how many followers you have than the quality of your content.
…when you’ve got the option of spending 10 minutes with your family or 10 minutes checking your timeline, and you pick up the phone.
…when you are tempted to put someone on blast.
…when you tweet a bible verse so people know you “did your devotion.”
…when the people who are closest to you have to tweet you to get your attention.
6 Things I Want My Students To Know
Any youth pastor communicates hundreds of messages each year to his/her students. Maybe thousands.
Before we move on, I don’t simply mean “sermons” when I say messages. Every communication counts; the 9 am Sunday morning greeting, the glance, smile and wave across the room, and the hug at the end of the service.
What if I had one chance to communicate the most important things to every teenager in my area? I think this is what I would say.
1. I believe in you.
Your generation is going to step up and take the torch in a big way. You already are. I believe in your ability to spread the good news of Jesus to the ends of the world. I absolutely believe that your generation could be the one to get the message to every living person on the planet. I just want to be a part of helping you do that!
2. I’ve got your back.
You’re going to need an advocate along the way. That’s where I come in. I’ve literally given my entire life to equipping and investing in the next generation. Seriously. It’s all I think about! I and several of my youth ministry friends are ready to help get you on the right path! When you fall, we’ll help pick you up. When you need encouragement, we’ll build you up. When you need resources, we’ll work hard to equip you. Whatever you need, that’s what I’m here for.
3. I want you to win.
The statistics are ugly. They say that you will most likely end up leaving your faith at home when pack for college. I want to be a part of changing those statistics. I want you to win your race! But that will only come with intense focus. That’s why this next point is so important.
4. You sin is not OK.
So I guess this post isn’t all candy and butterflies. I totally just depressed you. But check this out: what makes us think that our sin is OK when the abundant life is a live that pursues the direct opposite? I will always be there for you, and I will make myself available as often as I can to help you. But please know this: We’re not going to laugh your sin off together. I’m not going to pat your back while you jump back into your nasty habits. We’re going to work together to murder your sin.
5. I want your trust. And I will continue to work to earn it.
I get it. It’s weird that some random adult that you don’t really know is telling you how to run your life on Sundays and Wednesdays. When I step back and look at it, I’m continually surprised that you continue to show up. I will only gain the unfiltered trust of a few, because that kind of trust comes through personal relationships. Simply speaking, I can’t have the same level of friendship with everyone. But I know this: I’m not out to sell you anything. I really just want to be a friend to you and to point you toward Jesus. And I’m afraid that if I don’t have your trust, I can’t do that.
6. There might come a day when you don’t want me around.
Your sin got the best of you and you’ve decided to take a different path (at least for the moment). All of a sudden, the youth pastor represents “coming back to Jesus” (or at least the guilt of not doing so), and you’re not quite ready for that yet. Here’s what I want you to know: I love you. We’re still friends. I don’t hate you. And I’m still here for you. Just know this: I do want you to pursue Jesus with every fiber of your being, but even when you don’t do that, I will never write you off. I’m still here and I still love you!
7. The absolute best thing you can do with your life is to put your trust in Jesus!*
It’s as simple as that. Jesus said it Himself:
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”
John 10:10
*Yes. I used 7 points and not 6. 7 is the number of perfection. Duh.
Stockholm SINdrome
stock·holm syn·drome
\ stäkˌhō(l)msinˌdrōm) \
n. “an emotional attachment to a captor formed by a hostage as a result of continuous stress, dependence, and a need to cooperate for survival.”
It’s the craziest thing. Stockholm Syndrome is actually a diagnosed phenomena. In fact, researchers say that an estimated 27% of prisoners show signs of Stockholm Syndrome. Prisoners actually turn back in empathy and kindness toward their captor.
Isn’t it like that with our sin sometimes? Let’s get real. We all have sin. The question isn’t, “Do we have sin in our lives.” Nor is it, “Are we enslaved to our sin?” The question is this:
“Do we love and serve our sin?”
In the same way that Stockholm Syndrome describes the paradox in which a prisoner feels a sense of love for their captor, so many Christians fall into a falsely-loving relationship with their sin. And just like a prisoner that feels a sense of loyalty to their captor, we Christians will never be the better for serving our sin.
So, today, I want to ask you to look inside. Spend some time reflecting on these three questions:
1. What do you stand to gain from your sin?
2. What do you stand to gain from throwing yourself at the mercy of God today?
3. How are you going to feel at the end of the day when you serve your sin?
“He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.” – 1 Peter 2:24
2 Things That Can't Co-Exist In My Life
I wasn’t always aware of these two polar opposites, but over the years, I realized that there are two specific elements in my life that absolutely cannot coexist.
Clutter and Focus.
And I never realize that the two are in an epic battle until clutter eventually wins. It’s crazy. I’ll walk in my office one day and I can’t physically see my desk.
That’s when I need to go ahead and hit that pause button.
I’m sure that you have a different ergonomic process, but for me, if clutter exists, then focus doesn’t.
Here are a couple things that lead to clutter in my life:
1. Taking on too many projects.
This is probably the worst for me. In order to keep my email clean, I’ll print out the email as a representation of a project that I need to engage. Eventually, I realize that I have so many projects lined up that I start mindlessly deleting things. While the delete button is my friend, excessive use can hurt me in the long run.
2. Not finishing the projects that I started.
These are even projects that I’m the vision-holder of! I have a “starter” gift. Unfortunately, I don’t have the “finisher” gift. That’s not an excuse, though. Anyone can start something. The real winners finish what they start (if it’s worth it).
3. Giving too much (or any) time/energy/resources to projects that don’t match up with my vision.
This has more to do with getting involved in the community than anything. Events need promotion. Videos need edited. Teams need donations. All those are good things. However, when they get in the way of your leadership over your organization, they become obstacles to manage. Be careful how many you take on. And don’t be afraid to say no! They don’t have to answer to God for what you do in this life!
4. Not taking time out to think (this actually deserves to be number one).
The Strengths Finder tells me that I need to spend a solid amount of time each week in my own head. I believe the “theme of talent” this relates to is “intellection.” This test showed me that my work, relationship, and life in general will be healthiest when I spend plenty of time thinking. By the way, if you haven’t taken the Strengths Finder, do it. Immediately! It will change everything about your leadership/work life!
5. Not getting enough rest.
When life gets busy, the first thing to go is rest. My thought is, “I can shave off a couple hours of sleep to finish this project and just make sure to grab coffee in the morning.” That’s fine until it turns into a week-long habit. At that point, you can’t recover.
6. Poor time management.
In student ministry, I have enough work to do to fill my week with office work. But I’m a pastor. And one of my gifts/strengths/skills is to spend time with my students to love on them. If I go office-heavy, my students get cheated. If I go meeting-heavy, the work gets cheated. And that’s not even taking into account family time. Good time management is key.
7. Not delegating well.
Ugh. I suck at this. There’s no other way to put it. I have an awesome team ready to take on the next responsibility. But when I run at an unhealthy pace, I tend to blow past them in an effort to get the next project done. This is simply a symptom that I’m not thinking through my processes and projects.
8. Not maintaining a “stop doing” list.
Jim Collins taught me this. A stop-doing list is as important as a to-do list. Do you spend equal energy on both?
What did I miss? Are there any symptoms in your life that I didn’t include in this list?
Making The Big Ask
My nature is weak.
I don’t want to bother people, put them out, or ask them to do something uncomfortable…even if it’s for a good cause.
I’m just that way.
That’s me.
But when it comes to leadership, sometimes you have to man up and make the Big Ask. You have to ask people to jump in and do something sacrificial. Sometimes, the time comes when you need to ask your people to do something they flat don’t want to do.
But leadership still requires it.
Whatever you do, you require other people to operate.
Ministry
Sales
Production
Retail
Administration
You need all kinds of other people to operate at your full potential. If you’re wise, you’ll do your best to match people up with their skill set, so they are not only volunteering their time, energy, or resources, but they’re loving it!
I remember the day that I realized that sometimes you have to ask someone to do something that you absolutely hate. In my naivety, I thought everyone else hated it, too.
Not true.
You might be asking someone to invest in something that makes them tick!
And if you don’t, then what’s the worst that can happen? I asked a friend to do something big this week. I knew I was asking him to step out of his comfort zone. Honestly, I was pretty uncomfortable asking him to engage in this specific task. And guess what? He said no. And we went on about our day. He didn’t flip me off and walk away. He didn’t defriend me on Facebook. He said no. And we’re still friends. It’s as simple as that.
Someone wiser than me once said, “Don’t ever say no for someone.”
And that’s the principle I choose to live by.
Make the Big Ask.
If You Want To Be Used By God...
The horrors of the world sometimes overpower our view of God’s providence.
When life gets hard, and answers aren’t tangible, or even in plain view, we begin to panic frantically, as if the One who watches us is sleeping.
“He doesn’t slumber, nor does He sleep.” – Psalm 121
In the context of David’s era, times were crazy. Like a mob flick, where the characters stab each other in the back (sometimes literally), all of David’s contemporaries were competing for honor, revenge, or blatant personal gain. We learn to love David as we walk through the book of 1 Samuel. His love, his patience, loyalty, and most of all, faith in God is inspiring. Continuing on in 2 Samuel, we see his story play out.
Having been in dire circumstances, running from Saul, and becoming friends with Saul’s son, Jonathon, the table turns. Saul and his sons have died in battle. The one who killed Saul (upon Saul’s own request) brought news to David, as if if were good news.
The power struggle begins.
David is made king over Judah, and Ish-bosheth, son of Saul is made king over Israel. However, his formal kingship stopped at the loyalty of the people towards David. A civil war breaks out. Abner, Saul’s army commander, brings his best men, as David does the same. Without going into detail, many fall on both sides, though Abner lost a significant amount more than David.
The feud ensues.
Many are murdered in the interplay that follows. David, mourning the loss of many, follows God through the storm.
What happens next is worth waiting for…
Upon being made king (remember…the previous kings had died), David calls upon God for every need. Then, in 2 Samuel, there is one, striking sentence that frames David’s life.
“Go, do all that is in your mind [David], for the LORD is with you.” 2 Samuel 7:3.
His friend, Nathan, a prophet reminded David that he could do most anything, because his heart was aligned with God. God promises that if our hearts are aligned with His, that we could ask for anything, because it would be on His heart, too.
May you be used by God in such a way as David. But may you desire God as David did.
What Would You Do For God If You Knew You Wouldn't Fail?
A few months ago, God gave me a vision for something. Something different. Something challenging. I ignored it up to this point, knowing that it would take a lot to make it successful.
Then, this week, I went to God asking for direction, guidance, and vision.
I wonder if He laughed :).
Whether He laughed or not, I’m sure I’ll find out later, but I know He gave me another glimpse of what my future could look like.
I’m not ignoring it this time. I’m not going to fear. I’m definitely not backing down.
“What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also with Him graciously give all things? Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect?” – Romans 8:31-33
I know this is a salvation-oriented passage, but don’t you think it applies to what God calls us to do as well? Does our God fail? Isn’t He trustworthy?
When I was in college at Liberty University, Jerry Falwell used to ask us a question that still haunts me:
“What would you do for God if you knew you wouldn’t fail?”
In the face of problems and challenges, do we back down? Is our God that small?
Mine’s not, and I’m not backing down. Are you?
Do You Want God Or Your Idea Of God?
I’m studying in 1 Samuel right now. I’ve been especially changed in learning about Israel’s demand for a king. It’s been talked about many many times…God wants to be our King, but sometimes we want to make something else our king.
But when you read the first 10 chapters of 1 Samuel, you start to notice that they demanded a new King…to, and in front of God. It breaks my heart to think that a group of people would break the heart of God in such a way that they would look at their Creator and demand a different calling. It’s almost as if a wife looked at her husband and demanded a different man; a different leader, lover, and friend. Not only that, though, but that she would interview different men in her home, while her husband sat by, watching her wife fall in love with another man.
In this, love is defined. Love is hard to be found in such a true form, but it rests in God. Peter talks about keeping fervent in your love (1 Peter 4). Paul talks in Philippians about the sacrifice that Christ made, not even trying to be God, but the perfect sacrifice for humanity.
I will follow this God. I will follow the One who loves me more than I can comprehend (pardon the cliche – it’s the truth down to the core).
“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends.” – John 15:13
Leaving Ephesus
This is a post from my first blog (posted on August 7, 2007). It came to mind the other day when I realized that I didn’t migrate posts from that blog onto this one. It was a pretty monumental post (or time in my life),so I thought I would share it here.
I suck.
I could leave the blog at that, but people would think it’s a cry for help, and that I’m helplessly fishing for affirmation. That’s not the case – let me explain.
I decided to follow Christ when I was 16, and my life has never been the same since. As you grow, your life morphs, in every area. Specifically, your Christian life changes drastically. You could relate this type of change to a baby growing into a child, and a child into a teenager, and so on.
I guess you could call my current situation, “growing pains.”
I’ve been a youth pastor for 2 years, and have been following Christ for 8. God has rocked my world in the last year through revelation and change of life plans; it’s been a whirlwind. Beginning the process, knowing I needed God’s guidance, I sought Him with a passion through prayer, reading, and contemplation. I was really able to connect, and as a result, I was able to understand what the will of God is (Romans 12:2).
When God reveals His plans, though, I have a tendency to get busy bringing the plans to fruition, while God is left wondering where His child ran off to. I began to get so busy that I forgot to be in fellowship of my Creator and God.
My life started showing signs of malcontent and selfishness, which manifested itself in my personal life, my marriage, and my ministry. It all came to a screeching halt on our 1-year anniversary, where I realized that the genesis of all the muck came from the fact that I left God behind a long time ago. I left Him standing at the place where He so graciously revealed His plans to me, where He equipped me for the future.
It became clear that the selfishness leaking into my marriage and all other areas was a direct result of my leaving Him behind.
Fortunately, that’s not the end of the story.
Sitting in church this Sunday, in the middle of the music portion, God brought a passage to mind.
“I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot tolerate evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false; and you have perseverance and have endured for My name’s sake, and have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have left your first love. Therefore remember from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first or else I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place – unless you repent.
Revelation 2:2-5
If you follow Christ, ask yourself, “Am I in love with Jesus?”
When God Changes Your Plans
Something crazy happened a few weeks ago. I had put several hours into a summer series, only to feel the need to trash it and go in a different direction. I’ve done a few talks on creative series planning as it relates to student ministry, and the one question that always comes up is this: “What happens when you put all this work into creatively planning a series, but then you sense that God is moving you in a different direction?”
Simply put, the answer is, “You have to obey.”
You have to bite the bullet and move on. And as much as it can seem like all those hours have been wasted, you have to sit back and smile at the fact that God is telling a greater story through all of it. Any time God’s Spirit moves, we’d better jump on board anyways. It’s not our agenda that needs pushing. It’s His.
So, the following video is the result of what God is doing this summer in our Wednesday night talks. Around 2 pm that afternoon, I felt a solid direction to trash the current series and start in Acts. So we did. This is the beginning of that study.
Hi. My Name Is Mark And I'm A Practical Atheist.
I’m a youth pastor and a practical atheist.
How do those two things go together? Let me explain.
I don’t pray as much as I should.
I don’t rely on God as much as I should.
I try to live by sight. Not by faith.
Simply put, I tend to drift into a mode in which I live and lead as though I don’tactually believe that God is in control. That’s what a practical atheist is.
When we find ourselves slipping into this, there’s a few things we should be focusing on:
1. Pouring the Word into our hearts. David said, “I hide your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You.” He got it right. When we pour (and I mean pour) Scripture into our heads and hearts, we tend to focus on Christ more. More specifically, our view of ourselves gets smaller, and our view of Jesus gets bigger.
2. Get alone, in the quiet, and seek Him in prayer. Jesus Himself taught us that when we pray, we should: “Go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” I could say more, but that’s a promise from Jesus. There’s not much more I need to say.
Did you catch that? Did you see what I just did? I just gave you the all-time, quintessential, most typical Christian response to every, single question about Christianity anyone has ever had. And everyone hates the answer.
“Read your Bible and pray.”
And as much as we hate to get that response, that’s what God wants; for us to seek Him. And if we’re not connecting deeply with Jesus, what are we doing? Going through the motions?
It’s not worth it. Let’s pursue Jesus with every fiber of our being!
Are You Actually Content With Whatever Comes?
“I rejoiced in the Lord greatly that now at length you have revived your concern for me. You were indeed concerned for me, but you had no opportunity. Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Philippians 4:10-13
It’s interesting that we quote Philippians 4:13, when we’re referring to the potential we have in Christ. However, that’s only half of the equation in this passage. In fact, this passage was written in a Roman prison cell.
Can I be honest? Is this a safe place?
I’m still wrestling with being content in a time of hunger and need. I’m not talking about a specific kind of need, either. There are more forms than just the “I’m broke” form of need.
I’ve just found it’s easy to be a “humble Christ-follower” when you have plenty. It’s not that easy when you’re in need.
Maybe this is because we get to “choose” to be humble when we have plenty; because we don’t have need of anything or anyone? We can do it on our own. And when it comes to being in a time of need, you have no choice, but to bow the knee in humility.
Funny, isn’t it?
I don’t have a cute little wrap-up for this post. I’m just putting it out there that this is one of the passages that I’m wrestling with. Not every portion of Scripture gets applied immediately. I’m still processing what this means for me. I’m afraid I’ll be wrestling with this one for a long time.
What Scripture are you wrestling with?
Religion Isn't Worth ****!
Don’t get mad at me. Paul said it.
7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. Philippians 3:7-9
Paul is talking about the things he used to do to gain favor with God.
In modern terms, he means that all the church attendance, charitable gifts, whole days he went without cussing. He was talking about all the trophies and awards he won for memorizing the Torah, and all the times he worked hard to keep his image clean.
He called it all “garbage”!
Funny thing about the word, “garbage.” He didn’t use the word, “garbage.” Rather, he used a much more graphic word. In Greek, it’s the word, “skubala.”
If you were to translate “skubala” into our modern language today, it would come out as a word that any kid would get sent to detention for saying. You and I know it as “the S word.”
Yeah. Paul said that. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
Here’s the take-away for me: God’s gift of grace is just that – grace. It’s a gift. Freely-given and full of love. He tells us that life is meant to be lived under His law, but He never ever told us that we had to follow the law to earn His love.
God absolutely loves you. Not your stuff. Not what you can bring Him. Not your trophies, awards, WWJD bracelets, Christian t-shirts or man-made affirmations. His love transcends all that.
He loves you when you forget about Him. He loves you when you turn away. He loves you when you surround yourself with people that hate Him. He loves you when you hate Him.
Let’s stop presenting our religion to Him as if it’s going to earn us right standing with Him. Your religion isn’t worth anything. Our Heavenly Father wants your heart.
Parents Prepping For Post-Camp Students
Most parents I talk to love to send their kids to summer camp, because of the profound effect it has on their life. The only problem in the whole equation is that the majority of the parents are going to welcome their kids home, having no idea what happened that week.
The reality is that most of the decisions that are made at camp end up forgotten. I believe with all my heart that one of the areas the church has been lacking in is the area of partnering with the family. There are people working hard to fix this issue, but the truth remains – we have no clue how to help our students enter the “real life”again after camp.
There are a couple things that every family can do to prepare to receive their kids back home after camp, so that the decisions they made can stick.
1. Listen. Every student comes home with something different. It might be a desire to read the Bible more, to change who they hang around with, to toss out some bad habits, or they may have made a decision to take the next step in their faith in Christ!
What I’m about to say is probably the most important thing you’ll read concerning your post-camp student: Don’t squash their enthusiasm!Since the whole family unit can’t always go to camp together, it’s understandable that you haven’t experienced what they experienced. Don’t let that get in the way of their journey with Jesus. There’s a good chance that they may have just experienced a major turning point in their entire life!
If you have reservations about their take-aways, tread lightly. Wait a couple days before you respond. Sleep on it. Pray about it.
And ask yourself this very important question: Are you nervous about their decision because you think it’s a misinterpretation of Scripture or because it’s a little too radical for your taste?
2. Support. Every student needs a support system at home. After you’ve heard about their week, ask them how you can help them in their journey. Be ready for them to have no idea. All they might know is that they need to act better or be closer to God. They might not know how to articulate their desires or even how to put feet on their decisions. But support them. The best way to help your student activate their faith is to be a 24/7 support for them.
3. Partner. This is probably the most difficult thing to do for a couple reasons. You weren’t at camp with them. You have your agendas (whether you know it or not). You have your plans, hopes, and dreams. Do your best to jump in the journey with them to help them put wheels on their decisions.
And never, ever forget: Keep them connected in the local church! So many students go to camp because it’s fun. If you don’t invest in the relationships that were created at camp, you’ll notice most of the decisions will fade fast. Relationships are key. Get your student to church!