Pride

What are you proud of?  I mean really proud of? 

I love hearing from my teens and catching up on their lives.  This is the main reason that we devote about 1/3 of our weekly time together to just "hanging out".  We need a chance to catch up on whats important, since we don't see each other everyday. 

Usually I hear about the important stuff like this:

• My brother and I were playing Madden and...
• I made the team...
• I got my driver's permit/license...
• I passed my test...
• I made 20 new facebook friends...

Sometimes I hear about things that really matter like this:

• I got tickets to the concert!
• I'm going to a Pats game!
• I got a new Ipod!
• I scored x number of points!
• I'm dating this new person!
• I got accepted to 3 colleges!

I really love hearing about this stuff, and I'm not making fun of any of it, even the Madden stuff...  I really do specifically set aside time in each week so that each student will have time to tell me, or one of the other small group leaders what happened this week that mattered most.  I just wonder how often we stop and wonder if what is important to us is the same stuff that would matter to God.

Here's a few things I have heard recently that I think God would be really proud of:

• I got a purity ring, but when I try to explain it to people at school they make fun of me.
• Our teacher thinks aliens made people, but my friends, come to me with questions about God because of what I say in class.
• I had this awesome conversation about God with my friend from school.
• This guy I really liked, said he wouldn't date me because of my purity ring.
• I skipped practice to be here.

Here's what I know.  "We were created to pursue an authentic relationship with our Creator."  The things we do that move us closer to God, are the things we can be proud of, but the other stuff... Well that's a bit tougher.

Saul was a guy who had every reason to be proud of himself.  By the standards of his culture he was a rock star.  But God had to take it all away, even his name, and remake him.  Saul, later known as Paul, said this,  "Everything else is worthless when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, For his sake I have thrown away everything else, counting it all as garbage."

What matters most to you? What are you proud of?  What have you thrown away so that you could follow Jesus?

Another Year Begins

So School either just started or is about to start depending on which town you're in.  Summer is over.  And the marathon of another year begins.  For some it is the final leg of the high school race.  For others it is the beginning. 

 

There will be friends, teachers, homework, sports, more homework, tests, quizzes, practice, dances, dates and of course, homework. 

But what about perspective?

School demands so much time and attention, it dominates your schedule and it can be easy to feel like your life revolves around it, but... Does your life revolve around school?  Should it? 

 

What are you first?  Some of you are students first, some are athletes, some are nobody, and some are too cool to be defined, some of you transcend multiple categories while others would give anything just to find one place to fit in.

 

But you are more than any of these.  If you've been to even a handful of youth activities at CBC you should know this verse:

 

"For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we would walk in them."  Ephesians 2:10

 

 

No matter what else you do, what you are, is a unique work of art, with a unique mission that only you can accomplish. 

 

God has good works for you to each day.

Will you walk in them?

Or will you be dragged along by the current of homework, friends, sports, classes, and just trying to survive?

 

You are the light of the world... Can people see a difference?

VBS Day 2

Well, turn out was way up last night, with our crowd of kids more than tripling.  While this was more like what we expected in terms of numbers, it did create a few logistical challenges that we didn't have to face on the 1st night.  We planned events that kids and parents could do together, but even though we had lots of extra kids, we only had one extra parent.  This made our family activity a bit chaotic to say the least!

We also got to do what was perhaps my favorite skit of the week, with the invisible spiders, and Petunia having to learn to keep her eyes on the professor to avoid panic.  It mirrored our Bible story of Peter walking on water, and his need to keep his eyes on Jesus.  When he got distracted by the difficult circumstances around him, he started to sink.  When we get distracted by difficult circumstances it is easy to loose our connection to the very thing we need most, God's power.

I find it more than a bit interesting that so far the events of our VBS have mirrored the lessons we are trying to teach.  Last night's infusion of a large number of energetic older kids made it difficult to focus on what we were trying to teach.  It would have been easy to focus on the clock, or just getting through the night, rather than focusing on the lesson we wanted the kids to learn.  It certainly served as a good reminder to me that "I need to keep depending on God's power".

I don't know about you, but I think that it is pretty cool that God is using the circumstances of each night of VBS to reinforce to us the lessons that we are trying to teach!

VBS Day 1

Part 2 of our Summer of Service began last night, this time we were joined by an equal number of adult volunteers for our annual vacation Bible school. 

Our church is trying something knew this year, inviting parents to participate with their kids.  And while we may not have had as many kids at vbs as we are used to having, we did get to use our talents for God's glory. 

Here is a challenge.  When the crowd is big it can be easy to feel like you are doing something big, but when the crowd is small it can make us wonder if all the time and effort is worthwhile.  But the question isn't "How big is the crowd?", the questions is "How big is my obedience?"

Last night we taught the kiddos that all we have to do to be Zapped with God's power is follow, obey, even if we don't know how it is all going to turn out. Peter didn't know how to be a fisher of men, all he knew was that he wanted to be a part of what Jesus had planned.  In our skit Petunia doesn't know how the professor is going to change the world, she just knows that she wants to be a part of that mission.  Both the Pete of the Bible and the Pete of our skit put all of their energy into the mission, without knowing how it was going to turn out.  In Peter's case, it would be years before his real mission started.  There were years of lessons to be learned before he would see anything 'big' happening through him.

Don't let the size of the mission distract or disappoint you. God may have work to do in us before He can work through us.

Don't let the size of the mission change the size of your obedience.  Be faithful in the small things, so that you will be ready to be faithful in the big ones!  Remember God wants to do something with you that's bigger than just you.  It's not just a catchy line we give the kids, it is an idea that can change the way we think about everything!

The Overweight Christian (Leader) | careynieuwhof.com

I love reading this guy's blog. Usually I ask why didn't I think of that, on rare occasions I can say "Why couldn't I have said it like that?" This post is one of these occasions. If you have been in or around our youth group you may remember the lesson we did after watching WALL-E. This is what I was trying to say, only in fewer, far more carefully chosen words.
The Overweight Christian (Leader) | careynieuwhof.com