So… yeah. Here are some pictures from this week.
Blue Team’s awesome flag
MM’s baptism!
Blue Team’s Cingular advertisement: Dodgeball edition
Friday, July 1, 2011
LEAP Update Part 2
I was going to mention this in my first post, but I forgot. A couple months before school let out, I was in the Russell Prayer Room and two people from House Church (not officially a part of UGA’s Wesley Foundation, but the majority of people involved are in Freshley/Wesley) walked up to me and prophesied over me. (They didn’t say they were prophesying, but it was encouragement, which is prophecy.) They both talked to me separately without any communication between them, neither of them had ever met me before, and both of them said the same thing: I seem like someone who should be a teacher. Up until I talked with them, neither one of them had ever heard me speak, and I really doubt they’d seen my blog or heard anything about me from our mutual friends; yet, they both thought that I should be a teacher, specifically in Christian matters. They suggested that I be a small group leader or maybe go on to be a preacher at some point. When I thought of being a Christian teacher, the teaching position that seemed to fit me the most was the job of being a missionary. But they insisted that being a small group leader would be a start on that road. Well, at that point, I had already made up my mind to be a Freshley prayer leader rather than a Freshley small group leader, and I was sure that God had called me to that decision, so I was a little hesitant to make any changes. But then they clarified by saying that they actually meant that I should be a small group leader at my church, not Freshley (although Freshley wasn’t completely ruled out). I thought about it for a minute, and when I thought of being a church small group leader, I thought of Mr. Kyle Smith, my freshman and sophomore year small group leader at Northstar. I couldn’t picture myself being a Northstar small group leader. Then I thought of TNT, my high school youth group (junior and senior year), and came to the conclusion that being a small group leader there would be a much more plausible option for me. Well… guess what? I was a LEAP small group leader at Northstar for middle schoolers and high schoolers all this week. Prophecy fulfilled. And there’s still much more to come.
So… yeah. Here are some pictures from this week.
Blue Team’s awesome flag
MM’s baptism!
Blue Team’s Cingular advertisement: Dodgeball edition
So… yeah. Here are some pictures from this week.
Blue Team’s awesome flag
MM’s baptism!
Blue Team’s Cingular advertisement: Dodgeball edition
LEAP Update
Wow, wow, wow. WOW. God is INCREDIBLE!! This week has been amazing! I would say that this has been the best week I've had in a long time, but I don't think two weeks from Adventure Week (VBS) and Atlanta Fest, and three from Pandamania (VBS) qualifies as "a long time." Four months from the Jamaica mission trip does count as a long time though, and since VBS was with kids less than half my age, I count that as a separate experience from LEAP and other youth group/campus ministry stuff. So this has been the best week I've had in a long time. Haha.
I just have to throw this out there before I say anything else: I was wrong yesterday. Someone in my small group did sign up to get baptized. Only four people out of the 100+ at LEAP got baptized today, but still, that's four people making a public declaration of total commitment to Christ! And MM was one of them! I can't even begin to say just how excited I am about that! And we (as in everyone at LEAP, not my small group) even had one kid come to know Christ as his/her Lord and Savior! Hallelujah! I can barely contain the joy I feel after today, and I don't want to! If someone out there prayed for us after reading my post last night (or even before then, or without reading my post), know that YOUR PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED! (More exclamation marks! Woo!!)
Okay, so here's an updated summary of the week (a.k.a. an additional chapter in the story of my life, because this is in no way short enough to be just a summary). Each day this week, we started off the morning with stretches and an exercise to get us all awake and ready for the day. In other words, we danced. More specifically, we did the Wop and the Carlton, and we watched the Dougie. Yeah... Haha. It was interesting. At least the majority enjoyed it. After the morning dance party, we had TAG: Time Alone with God. Everyone got a devotional for the morning, written by one of the members of our church, and we spent half an hour "alone with God." We spent time individually praying, reading the devotional, studying the given Scripture passage, and answering the questions in the devotional, and then we discussed the devotional and shared our thoughts within our small groups. Coincidentally (more accurately, as orchestrated by God), the TAG devotions were very well coordinated with the guest speaker's sermons, which had to be planned by God because there was no communication between the guest speaker and the person who wrote the devotionals, which is really cool. Anyway, our group discussions started out kind of slowly at the beginning of the week, which was expected because everyone was still getting to know each other, so they didn't talk all that much. But we got a few good responses, and the group started talking more and more as the week went on (which was a good and a bad thing at the same time, although it was never as bad as it was good, thankfully).
After TAG, we had our session, where our guest speaker, Chad Cannon, gave the message. The word and worship were great all week, but I really felt God speaking through Chad and through the praise band today. Ironically, God spoke to me by one simple act by T, who had given me a little bit of trouble on the first day. (Funny story: T was late on Monday, and apparently I don't look old enough to be a LEAP leader, so, since he missed the introductions, he thought I was just another student and treated me accordingly all day Monday. But when he finally realized that I was his small group leader, he started behaving better, and we actually became pretty good friends. I'm actually looking forward to seeing him at church on Sunday.) My pride often keeps me from raising my hands in worship, which really annoys me, but when T, who didn't really seem to get into the rhythm and movements of the music this week, lifted his hand, I couldn't help but lift my hand high right next to him.
Then we went to our small groups to talk about the message. The topics, in order, were God's holiness (Isaiah 40:25), brokenness (Luke 7:36-50), being "living stones" (Joshua 4), and boldness (Acts 5:29-42). We talked about how our little respect for God's holiness is so much less than what He deserves and how a greater respect for His holiness would change how we think about Him and how we serve Him (I thought it was interesting when Chad pointed out that a triple statement of something in the Bible is considered to be of utmost importance, and nowhere in the Bible do we see it written "love, love, love" or "mercy, mercy, mercy" or "grace, grace, grace"; although, grace, love, and mercy are very important, the only time we see a triple statement of an attribute of God is a proclamation of His holiness: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty" (Isaiah 6:3)), and how, even though God is not like us and is far above us, He calls us to be like Him through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit; we talked about how brokenness led the woman in Luke 7 to humble herself by entering the presence of the Lord with accusing Pharisees staring at her, knowing who she was, and how true brokenness over our sins and for all the lost people in the world would compel us to submit to God's power and allow Him to work through us to bring others to know Him; we talked about how, like the stones that testified of God's miraculous work of salvation in Joshua 4, our lives should be a testimony to the work of the Spirit in us, and that words should not be necessary for people to know that we are Christians (as Lee Strobel put it, "Don't tell me what you believe; show me how you live, and I'll tell you what you believe"); and we talked about boldness in sharing our faith, understanding that Christ's love will make us want to share the gospel with people, and that everyone has influence on someone, so a lack of influence is not an excuse for hoarding the gospel for yourself. The messages and discussions were great, and today was especially cool to me because, when we prayed, we went around the circle and prayed for specific people who we know are not Christians. After I opened, the entire small group finished the prayer with all the things I wanted to say that I forgot, which shows how the Spirit really does pray for us and is always giving us the words to speak.
After small group time, we had our rec time. Monday we played capture the flag (we got second place), Tuesday we did a (ridiculously long) relay race (the last shall be first, so we really came in first place... haha), Wednesday we played dodgeball (second place again), and today we had the dodgeball championship (team aqua versus team red (the red team got first place yesterday, but the aqua team only lost because they tied with another team and lost in a tie breaker game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, so they were really undefeated)), and afterward we played tug-o-war.
Then we had lunch. (I don't really need to explain that, do I?) And then we did our service projects, which, since I already explained our projects for the last three days, brings us to today. Today was kind of strange. I looked up the directions to our service location at the Dallas campus of Northstar Church (and by that I mean, my mom looked up the directions and showed me); unfortunately, I guess I didn't take a good enough look, because we ended up passing it. We finally got there about fifteen minutes late. In typical God-like fashion, though, we finished what usually takes about five hours in just under two. And Brad, the pastor there (and my former high school pastor), gave us some Northstar Dallas shirts in thanks. Then, since we were done so early, he gave us the address of another place that needed some help. Sadly, our GPS, Brad's directions, and the directions of the owner of the place seemed to conflict with each other, so we never made it there. We just went back to the church instead, and we picked up trash along the trail by the back parking lot. Needless to say, we did a lot of driving today. I think God was messing with me because I said yesterday that I was excited about driving again. Haha.
We finally got back to Northstar (Kennesaw, not Dallas) around 4:30. (Well, technically, more like 4, since we were picking up trash by the parking lot, but we actually went inside at 4:30.) Then we did baptisms at 5. I don't think I've ever been as excited for baptism as I was today. Each of the four people who got baptized had special significance to me in some way (not necessarily by personal acquaintance though). The first kid was the brother of one of the LEAP leaders who my brother and I have known since we started going to Northstar five years ago. The second was MM from my small group. The third was one of the LEAP leaders who felt the calling to be obedient and set an example and recommit her life to the God who has set us apart from the world. Those three were the only ones who signed up to get baptized, but when Nick (former middle school pastor, current high school pastor) opened the baptism pool for anyone else who felt the urge to get baptized, one more kid stepped forward. The air was thick with the Spirit! It was awesome! Seeing God move in those four to bring them to be baptized... wow. That was exactly what I was waiting for all week. I just didn't know it.
And actually, there was more that I didn't realize I was waiting for. Nehemiah 8:10 says, "the joy of the Lord is your strength," so Satan must have been whimpering in fear when he saw me at the end of the day. We finished off the day (and the week) with what's called the LEAP Bash, where we have a bunch of inflatables and water games to just have fun with. I was standing by the bubble fountain thing (very descriptive, I know), "supervising." In other words, I was "helping keep everyone safe," and I used that as an excuse to not get dragged into the water games. Well, I left briefly to get a drink from the water fountain inside, and when I came out, there was a girl standing where I had been standing. After a moment, she asked why I wasn't doing any of the games. I gave that same explanation. Then we got into a long conversation, and somewhere along the way she convinced me to go on the slip'n'slide. I didn't notice at first because of all the noise, but out of nowhere she pointed out her accent, which was almost unnoticeable. (Again, I won't give her name, but her initials are IW.) She was adopted from Latvia about five or six years ago and has only been coming to Northstar since this past February. (She went to another church before then.) The more we talked, the happier I got for her because she became good friends with my friend Matt, who was her small group leader, and a couple others in her group, and she is beginning to like Northstar a lot more now that she has made some friends there. (It's sad that nobody stepped up to become her friend in the four months before LEAP, but what matters is that she has friends here now. And she has some of the best too. Matt was one of the major welcoming forces when I was new at Northstar, and he, along with my friends Tanner, Michael, Craig, and Dusty, were the ones that really took me in when I hadn't made any friends here yet.) And having those friends (and I'd like to count myself among them, not to be prideful) will definitely help her a lot as she finishes up middle school and goes through her high school years.
Something about the fact that she's adopted just filled me with joy. I can't really explain it. Maybe it was because she was the one who brought it up by pointing out her slight accent. Maybe it was her joy in knowing that someone in America, who had probably only met her once, loved her enough to take her into their family. Maybe it was the peace she carried with her that just seemed so contagious. But whatever the reason, God gave me the joy I had been praying for all week, and boy, did He pile it on top of me! Through meeting and talking to IW, through talking to MM yesterday and through her baptism today, through hanging out with T and BK, through the joy and thankfulness of the heads of our work sites, through God's word spoken through Chad, through worship with the praise band, through the joyful service of Katie, Matt, and all my fellow LEAP leaders, and through the thankfulness and love my small group showed me and Katie in return for our service and love, God gave me new joy, hope, and strength to continue growing in Him and to share the gospel of His grace, love, mercy, and of course, His holiness with everyone around me.
So, just as this has been an encouragement to me, let this be an encouragement to you (or a prompt if you don't know Christ), showing you that God is moving and working in amazing ways in the generation that's rising up right now. Our God is not dead... He is surely ALIVE!
I just have to throw this out there before I say anything else: I was wrong yesterday. Someone in my small group did sign up to get baptized. Only four people out of the 100+ at LEAP got baptized today, but still, that's four people making a public declaration of total commitment to Christ! And MM was one of them! I can't even begin to say just how excited I am about that! And we (as in everyone at LEAP, not my small group) even had one kid come to know Christ as his/her Lord and Savior! Hallelujah! I can barely contain the joy I feel after today, and I don't want to! If someone out there prayed for us after reading my post last night (or even before then, or without reading my post), know that YOUR PRAYERS WERE ANSWERED! (More exclamation marks! Woo!!)
Okay, so here's an updated summary of the week (a.k.a. an additional chapter in the story of my life, because this is in no way short enough to be just a summary). Each day this week, we started off the morning with stretches and an exercise to get us all awake and ready for the day. In other words, we danced. More specifically, we did the Wop and the Carlton, and we watched the Dougie. Yeah... Haha. It was interesting. At least the majority enjoyed it. After the morning dance party, we had TAG: Time Alone with God. Everyone got a devotional for the morning, written by one of the members of our church, and we spent half an hour "alone with God." We spent time individually praying, reading the devotional, studying the given Scripture passage, and answering the questions in the devotional, and then we discussed the devotional and shared our thoughts within our small groups. Coincidentally (more accurately, as orchestrated by God), the TAG devotions were very well coordinated with the guest speaker's sermons, which had to be planned by God because there was no communication between the guest speaker and the person who wrote the devotionals, which is really cool. Anyway, our group discussions started out kind of slowly at the beginning of the week, which was expected because everyone was still getting to know each other, so they didn't talk all that much. But we got a few good responses, and the group started talking more and more as the week went on (which was a good and a bad thing at the same time, although it was never as bad as it was good, thankfully).
After TAG, we had our session, where our guest speaker, Chad Cannon, gave the message. The word and worship were great all week, but I really felt God speaking through Chad and through the praise band today. Ironically, God spoke to me by one simple act by T, who had given me a little bit of trouble on the first day. (Funny story: T was late on Monday, and apparently I don't look old enough to be a LEAP leader, so, since he missed the introductions, he thought I was just another student and treated me accordingly all day Monday. But when he finally realized that I was his small group leader, he started behaving better, and we actually became pretty good friends. I'm actually looking forward to seeing him at church on Sunday.) My pride often keeps me from raising my hands in worship, which really annoys me, but when T, who didn't really seem to get into the rhythm and movements of the music this week, lifted his hand, I couldn't help but lift my hand high right next to him.
Then we went to our small groups to talk about the message. The topics, in order, were God's holiness (Isaiah 40:25), brokenness (Luke 7:36-50), being "living stones" (Joshua 4), and boldness (Acts 5:29-42). We talked about how our little respect for God's holiness is so much less than what He deserves and how a greater respect for His holiness would change how we think about Him and how we serve Him (I thought it was interesting when Chad pointed out that a triple statement of something in the Bible is considered to be of utmost importance, and nowhere in the Bible do we see it written "love, love, love" or "mercy, mercy, mercy" or "grace, grace, grace"; although, grace, love, and mercy are very important, the only time we see a triple statement of an attribute of God is a proclamation of His holiness: "Holy, holy, holy is the LORD Almighty" (Isaiah 6:3)), and how, even though God is not like us and is far above us, He calls us to be like Him through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit; we talked about how brokenness led the woman in Luke 7 to humble herself by entering the presence of the Lord with accusing Pharisees staring at her, knowing who she was, and how true brokenness over our sins and for all the lost people in the world would compel us to submit to God's power and allow Him to work through us to bring others to know Him; we talked about how, like the stones that testified of God's miraculous work of salvation in Joshua 4, our lives should be a testimony to the work of the Spirit in us, and that words should not be necessary for people to know that we are Christians (as Lee Strobel put it, "Don't tell me what you believe; show me how you live, and I'll tell you what you believe"); and we talked about boldness in sharing our faith, understanding that Christ's love will make us want to share the gospel with people, and that everyone has influence on someone, so a lack of influence is not an excuse for hoarding the gospel for yourself. The messages and discussions were great, and today was especially cool to me because, when we prayed, we went around the circle and prayed for specific people who we know are not Christians. After I opened, the entire small group finished the prayer with all the things I wanted to say that I forgot, which shows how the Spirit really does pray for us and is always giving us the words to speak.
After small group time, we had our rec time. Monday we played capture the flag (we got second place), Tuesday we did a (ridiculously long) relay race (the last shall be first, so we really came in first place... haha), Wednesday we played dodgeball (second place again), and today we had the dodgeball championship (team aqua versus team red (the red team got first place yesterday, but the aqua team only lost because they tied with another team and lost in a tie breaker game of Rock, Paper, Scissors, so they were really undefeated)), and afterward we played tug-o-war.
Then we had lunch. (I don't really need to explain that, do I?) And then we did our service projects, which, since I already explained our projects for the last three days, brings us to today. Today was kind of strange. I looked up the directions to our service location at the Dallas campus of Northstar Church (and by that I mean, my mom looked up the directions and showed me); unfortunately, I guess I didn't take a good enough look, because we ended up passing it. We finally got there about fifteen minutes late. In typical God-like fashion, though, we finished what usually takes about five hours in just under two. And Brad, the pastor there (and my former high school pastor), gave us some Northstar Dallas shirts in thanks. Then, since we were done so early, he gave us the address of another place that needed some help. Sadly, our GPS, Brad's directions, and the directions of the owner of the place seemed to conflict with each other, so we never made it there. We just went back to the church instead, and we picked up trash along the trail by the back parking lot. Needless to say, we did a lot of driving today. I think God was messing with me because I said yesterday that I was excited about driving again. Haha.
We finally got back to Northstar (Kennesaw, not Dallas) around 4:30. (Well, technically, more like 4, since we were picking up trash by the parking lot, but we actually went inside at 4:30.) Then we did baptisms at 5. I don't think I've ever been as excited for baptism as I was today. Each of the four people who got baptized had special significance to me in some way (not necessarily by personal acquaintance though). The first kid was the brother of one of the LEAP leaders who my brother and I have known since we started going to Northstar five years ago. The second was MM from my small group. The third was one of the LEAP leaders who felt the calling to be obedient and set an example and recommit her life to the God who has set us apart from the world. Those three were the only ones who signed up to get baptized, but when Nick (former middle school pastor, current high school pastor) opened the baptism pool for anyone else who felt the urge to get baptized, one more kid stepped forward. The air was thick with the Spirit! It was awesome! Seeing God move in those four to bring them to be baptized... wow. That was exactly what I was waiting for all week. I just didn't know it.
And actually, there was more that I didn't realize I was waiting for. Nehemiah 8:10 says, "the joy of the Lord is your strength," so Satan must have been whimpering in fear when he saw me at the end of the day. We finished off the day (and the week) with what's called the LEAP Bash, where we have a bunch of inflatables and water games to just have fun with. I was standing by the bubble fountain thing (very descriptive, I know), "supervising." In other words, I was "helping keep everyone safe," and I used that as an excuse to not get dragged into the water games. Well, I left briefly to get a drink from the water fountain inside, and when I came out, there was a girl standing where I had been standing. After a moment, she asked why I wasn't doing any of the games. I gave that same explanation. Then we got into a long conversation, and somewhere along the way she convinced me to go on the slip'n'slide. I didn't notice at first because of all the noise, but out of nowhere she pointed out her accent, which was almost unnoticeable. (Again, I won't give her name, but her initials are IW.) She was adopted from Latvia about five or six years ago and has only been coming to Northstar since this past February. (She went to another church before then.) The more we talked, the happier I got for her because she became good friends with my friend Matt, who was her small group leader, and a couple others in her group, and she is beginning to like Northstar a lot more now that she has made some friends there. (It's sad that nobody stepped up to become her friend in the four months before LEAP, but what matters is that she has friends here now. And she has some of the best too. Matt was one of the major welcoming forces when I was new at Northstar, and he, along with my friends Tanner, Michael, Craig, and Dusty, were the ones that really took me in when I hadn't made any friends here yet.) And having those friends (and I'd like to count myself among them, not to be prideful) will definitely help her a lot as she finishes up middle school and goes through her high school years.
Something about the fact that she's adopted just filled me with joy. I can't really explain it. Maybe it was because she was the one who brought it up by pointing out her slight accent. Maybe it was her joy in knowing that someone in America, who had probably only met her once, loved her enough to take her into their family. Maybe it was the peace she carried with her that just seemed so contagious. But whatever the reason, God gave me the joy I had been praying for all week, and boy, did He pile it on top of me! Through meeting and talking to IW, through talking to MM yesterday and through her baptism today, through hanging out with T and BK, through the joy and thankfulness of the heads of our work sites, through God's word spoken through Chad, through worship with the praise band, through the joyful service of Katie, Matt, and all my fellow LEAP leaders, and through the thankfulness and love my small group showed me and Katie in return for our service and love, God gave me new joy, hope, and strength to continue growing in Him and to share the gospel of His grace, love, mercy, and of course, His holiness with everyone around me.
So, just as this has been an encouragement to me, let this be an encouragement to you (or a prompt if you don't know Christ), showing you that God is moving and working in amazing ways in the generation that's rising up right now. Our God is not dead... He is surely ALIVE!
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
LEAP 2011
Okay, so this week I have been helping at LEAP, my church's annual mission camp/community service week, serving as a small group leader. I just want to start off by THANKING GOD for this week and for my group and co-leader. If you know me personally, then you know that I tend to be pretty quiet, just keeping my thoughts to myself most of the time. (Unless I'm writing/typing. Then I'll just ramble on and on, and you'll have a hard time getting me to stop. Haha.) Well, I'm really thankful for my co-leader Katie because whenever I don't have anything to say (which happens a lot), she does. And she does a great job relating to the students in our group, showing God's love to them, and keeping them engaged in whatever activity we're doing. I can't help but think that maybe I'm not really trying to show God's love, and I know that I should definitely rely on Him more to express that love through me, but I also know that I shouldn't compare myself to others and be envious because "it is God who works in you to will and to act according to His purpose" (Philippians 2:13). That comparison is from the enemy, and I know that the Lord is allowing me to serve and show His grace, love, and mercy in other ways specific to who I am. And I'm thankful that Katie is there to serve in the ways that I can't. It's amazing how God can use anyone in any way to serve His purposes.
Anyway, on to my small group. I won't give names, so I'll just give initials (from oldest to youngest): (the guys) A, BK, BP, T, H, (and the girls) K, S, J, MM and MN. They're all great (in their own ways, of course). T, BK, MM, and S seem to be the ones I'm investing in the most out of the group. Not that I'm completely ignoring the others and that they're not important to me; T, BK, MM, and S are just the ones that I talk to/relate to the most, so God has been using me to minister to them, whether it's by listening and talking to MM about school, or exchanging names of various Christian bands with BK, or talking to BK and S about marching band, or just hanging around T and occasionally letting him mess with me. And of course the students are making friends with each other within the group. MM and MN seem to be hanging out a lot, which is a good change from Monday when MN was kind of off by herself a lot. And apparently H has become A's son. They even strike the same poses on command without discussing it beforehand. Haha. And Katie and J became really good friends within the first day, which is awesome because J already seems to have that fire that comes from the Holy Spirit, and having someone to mentor her through the rest of middle school and high school will be very helpful for her. So yeah, it's been really enjoyable so far. I can't believe tomorrow is already the last day of LEAP... I don't want it to be over yet.
Since we've already done so much this week, I'll give a recap of the service we did. And by "so much," I mean, "two days of attempting to find work to do and only one day of a consistent supply of jobs at one location." On Monday my group, the blue team, went to Durham Middle School to move furniture and clean classrooms and offices. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), a group of guys was already there, and most of the work that the school originally had for us was already done. So we finished up with all the cleaning, then headed over to Frey Elementary right next door to join the orange team in doing the same thing. Since the orange team had already been working at Frey, the inside work was almost done by the time we got there, so we all ended up pulling weeds outside. We split up into smaller groups of four or five and turned it into a competition to see who could fill their trash bag with the most weeds. (My team won. Just saying.)
Then yesterday we went to Wellspring Treasures. I was entertained simply by being able to drive the group there in one of the big church vans. Haha. (And I'm looking forward to doing it again on the way to Northstar Church's Dallas campus. Simple pleasures.) Anyway, we all enjoyed working at Wellspring (as far as I know). Cindy, the owner, was very nice and appreciative, and she is also a member of Northstar herself, which is cool. Wellspring Treasures, which is a part of Wellspring Living, is a non-profit Christian organization that mends and sells gently-used clothes, furniture, and accessories that have been donated to them, and they use the money to support a restoration project for girls and women involved in human trafficking. It's definitely worth checking out. Basically what we did was typical volunteer work at the store (you can sign up to volunteer on their website here). They were reorganizing the back of the store, where they do all the mending, so some of us reorganized shelves, some painted, some steamed clothes, some rehung clothes in their proper places, and some did other miscellaneous jobs. And before we left, we got to write some Bible verses on the wall in the back room. Then Cindy prayed with us and sent us on our way with some popcorn and a bag of hotel shampoo/soap/lotion/etc. to give to the church for MUST Ministries. The time went by very smoothly, we got a good amount of work done, and we had a fun time doing it.
Then today we went back to Frey Elementary. Again we found that we didn't have very much to do, which was a little disappointing because not only did we have little to do, but the "Yellow Plus" team had nothing at all to do at Durham, so they ended up joining us like we did on Monday. But it turned out that, even though there weren't many jobs for us to do, the few jobs they had for us took a good amount of time, specifically taking inventory in the book room. Most of us got to pull weeds again before we joined the inventory team, though. (I actually enjoyed taking inventory when I got to it, because apparently I'm a fast writer according to a couple kids in my group, so I sped through my part of material.) While we were pulling weeds, I got to talk to someone from Yellow Plus (initial: D) who was in my brother's small group at LEAP last year. Something about it just filled me with joy and peace. Maybe because she was telling me about how she was a little stressed about starting her college application process this fall, and when I told her not to worry about it too much and to just let God handle it, she said that that was the best advice she had gotten on the topic. That didn't give me joy because of pride; it gave me joy because she understood that dependence on God is the best way to handle any situation. And maybe because she's also visiting UGA this Friday and strongly considering going there. (Go Dawgs!) Haha. Anyway, when we were finished taking inventory, we went to Acworth Beach to pick up trash. We had about half an hour to kill, so we split up into four groups, scoured the beach and the park for trash, then met up at the playground to just hang out until our bus driver came to pick us up. And I also got to talk to the bus driver on the way to the park and on the way back to church, which was cool.
Well, that's what we've done so far. Tomorrow the blue team is heading over to Northstar of Dallas to help set up for their service on Sunday, and we'll be working with Brad Parkhurst, who was the high school pastor at Northstar of Kennesaw my whole time in high school, so that should be fun. And tomorrow night we're having a special baptism service, which is exciting. Nobody from my small group has mentioned wanting to be baptized, but we just have to keep praying for them. And we can still rejoice in knowing that at least someone will be baptized tomorrow. It doesn't matter if that person comes from my group as long as someone comes to know the Lord as their Savior!
So please be praying for all of us: for me, for Katie, for our small group, for all the other leaders and students, and for the praise band and the guest speaker as we prepare for the last day of LEAP. Thanks, and God bless!
Anyway, on to my small group. I won't give names, so I'll just give initials (from oldest to youngest): (the guys) A, BK, BP, T, H, (and the girls) K, S, J, MM and MN. They're all great (in their own ways, of course). T, BK, MM, and S seem to be the ones I'm investing in the most out of the group. Not that I'm completely ignoring the others and that they're not important to me; T, BK, MM, and S are just the ones that I talk to/relate to the most, so God has been using me to minister to them, whether it's by listening and talking to MM about school, or exchanging names of various Christian bands with BK, or talking to BK and S about marching band, or just hanging around T and occasionally letting him mess with me. And of course the students are making friends with each other within the group. MM and MN seem to be hanging out a lot, which is a good change from Monday when MN was kind of off by herself a lot. And apparently H has become A's son. They even strike the same poses on command without discussing it beforehand. Haha. And Katie and J became really good friends within the first day, which is awesome because J already seems to have that fire that comes from the Holy Spirit, and having someone to mentor her through the rest of middle school and high school will be very helpful for her. So yeah, it's been really enjoyable so far. I can't believe tomorrow is already the last day of LEAP... I don't want it to be over yet.
Since we've already done so much this week, I'll give a recap of the service we did. And by "so much," I mean, "two days of attempting to find work to do and only one day of a consistent supply of jobs at one location." On Monday my group, the blue team, went to Durham Middle School to move furniture and clean classrooms and offices. Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your perspective), a group of guys was already there, and most of the work that the school originally had for us was already done. So we finished up with all the cleaning, then headed over to Frey Elementary right next door to join the orange team in doing the same thing. Since the orange team had already been working at Frey, the inside work was almost done by the time we got there, so we all ended up pulling weeds outside. We split up into smaller groups of four or five and turned it into a competition to see who could fill their trash bag with the most weeds. (My team won. Just saying.)
Then yesterday we went to Wellspring Treasures. I was entertained simply by being able to drive the group there in one of the big church vans. Haha. (And I'm looking forward to doing it again on the way to Northstar Church's Dallas campus. Simple pleasures.) Anyway, we all enjoyed working at Wellspring (as far as I know). Cindy, the owner, was very nice and appreciative, and she is also a member of Northstar herself, which is cool. Wellspring Treasures, which is a part of Wellspring Living, is a non-profit Christian organization that mends and sells gently-used clothes, furniture, and accessories that have been donated to them, and they use the money to support a restoration project for girls and women involved in human trafficking. It's definitely worth checking out. Basically what we did was typical volunteer work at the store (you can sign up to volunteer on their website here). They were reorganizing the back of the store, where they do all the mending, so some of us reorganized shelves, some painted, some steamed clothes, some rehung clothes in their proper places, and some did other miscellaneous jobs. And before we left, we got to write some Bible verses on the wall in the back room. Then Cindy prayed with us and sent us on our way with some popcorn and a bag of hotel shampoo/soap/lotion/etc. to give to the church for MUST Ministries. The time went by very smoothly, we got a good amount of work done, and we had a fun time doing it.
Then today we went back to Frey Elementary. Again we found that we didn't have very much to do, which was a little disappointing because not only did we have little to do, but the "Yellow Plus" team had nothing at all to do at Durham, so they ended up joining us like we did on Monday. But it turned out that, even though there weren't many jobs for us to do, the few jobs they had for us took a good amount of time, specifically taking inventory in the book room. Most of us got to pull weeds again before we joined the inventory team, though. (I actually enjoyed taking inventory when I got to it, because apparently I'm a fast writer according to a couple kids in my group, so I sped through my part of material.) While we were pulling weeds, I got to talk to someone from Yellow Plus (initial: D) who was in my brother's small group at LEAP last year. Something about it just filled me with joy and peace. Maybe because she was telling me about how she was a little stressed about starting her college application process this fall, and when I told her not to worry about it too much and to just let God handle it, she said that that was the best advice she had gotten on the topic. That didn't give me joy because of pride; it gave me joy because she understood that dependence on God is the best way to handle any situation. And maybe because she's also visiting UGA this Friday and strongly considering going there. (Go Dawgs!) Haha. Anyway, when we were finished taking inventory, we went to Acworth Beach to pick up trash. We had about half an hour to kill, so we split up into four groups, scoured the beach and the park for trash, then met up at the playground to just hang out until our bus driver came to pick us up. And I also got to talk to the bus driver on the way to the park and on the way back to church, which was cool.
Well, that's what we've done so far. Tomorrow the blue team is heading over to Northstar of Dallas to help set up for their service on Sunday, and we'll be working with Brad Parkhurst, who was the high school pastor at Northstar of Kennesaw my whole time in high school, so that should be fun. And tomorrow night we're having a special baptism service, which is exciting. Nobody from my small group has mentioned wanting to be baptized, but we just have to keep praying for them. And we can still rejoice in knowing that at least someone will be baptized tomorrow. It doesn't matter if that person comes from my group as long as someone comes to know the Lord as their Savior!
So please be praying for all of us: for me, for Katie, for our small group, for all the other leaders and students, and for the praise band and the guest speaker as we prepare for the last day of LEAP. Thanks, and God bless!
Sunday, June 26, 2011
"Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit."
Galatians 5:25
An analogy for a godly marriage. (This is just another way of explaining something you’ve probably heard before.)
If you and your spouse are both Christians, you have Jesus in common—God stands in between you. Imagine you’re in a marching band/military parade block. If you know anything about marching/walking in step with someone, you know that it works best if you follow the person right next to you, not the person two rows over (especially if you’re only using your peripheral vision, like you’re supposed to in marching band).
(This analogy will be split into two versions: the version specialized for my fellow band geeks, and the version better understood by everyone else.)
First, the band geek version. You, Jesus, and your spouse are in line. God is your center dress point. Like we’ve all been told about dressing to the center, the center is always right, even if he/she is wrong. Well, God is always right. Period. If you’re out of line with Him, there’s very little chance that you will be in line with your spouse. (And even if you do somehow end up in line with your spouse, it won’t last for long.) So if you both dress to God, you will be better in line with each other than if you tried to dress to each other around God. (Peripheral vision isn’t that good.)
Now for everyone else (even though you may have gotten the point already if you read the first version). You’re walking in line with your spouse, with God in between you, and you’re trying to stay in step with each other. If you want to be in step with your spouse, but you can’t turn your head side-to-side (for the sake of the analogy), what’s the best way to stay in step? Watching Jesus, right? You can easily see His feet moving next to you, and so can your spouse. So even though you can’t see your spouse’s feet moving in time with yours, by watching Christ, you will stay in step, not only with God, but with your spouse as well. But if you try to follow your spouse’s feet, you’ll get into all kinds of trouble, failing to stay in step with each other (except for the rare occasions) and with God. So if you “keep in step with the Spirit,” you will also keep in step with your spouse much better than you would if you only tried to stay in step with your spouse and not with Christ.
In a non-Christian marriage, Jesus doesn’t stand between the couple. You may think that’s a good thing because then the couple can just watch each other, but it’s not. For all of you who don’t have a clue what any of the band geek version meant, the center is the person everyone in that line looks to in order to stay in line. If you can’t see the center out of the corner of your eye, than you look at the person next to you and trust that he/she is in line with the center (or whoever is between him/her and the center, who should also be in line with the center), making a straight line. The center is always right, even if they’re in the wrong place. As long as you stay in line with the center, it’ll look like you’re right. God is the perfect Center. He is never wrong. He is always in the right place, so if you follow Him, you will be in the right place too. But if you take God out of the picture, you no longer have a perfect Center. You and your spouse are left looking at each other in all your imperfection. One of you is bound to be wrong at some point, and even if the line follows you and makes the formation look right, the whole line will be wrong because you are wrong. With God out of the picture, your imperfect center is bound to ruin the formation at some point. But with God as your perfect Center (as long as you and your spouse both keep your eyes fixed on Him), your marriage will be more blessed than you could hope.
The moral: Love God before your spouse, and you will show your love to your spouse in a much more meaningful way than possible otherwise.
An analogy for a godly marriage. (This is just another way of explaining something you’ve probably heard before.)
If you and your spouse are both Christians, you have Jesus in common—God stands in between you. Imagine you’re in a marching band/military parade block. If you know anything about marching/walking in step with someone, you know that it works best if you follow the person right next to you, not the person two rows over (especially if you’re only using your peripheral vision, like you’re supposed to in marching band).
(This analogy will be split into two versions: the version specialized for my fellow band geeks, and the version better understood by everyone else.)
First, the band geek version. You, Jesus, and your spouse are in line. God is your center dress point. Like we’ve all been told about dressing to the center, the center is always right, even if he/she is wrong. Well, God is always right. Period. If you’re out of line with Him, there’s very little chance that you will be in line with your spouse. (And even if you do somehow end up in line with your spouse, it won’t last for long.) So if you both dress to God, you will be better in line with each other than if you tried to dress to each other around God. (Peripheral vision isn’t that good.)
Now for everyone else (even though you may have gotten the point already if you read the first version). You’re walking in line with your spouse, with God in between you, and you’re trying to stay in step with each other. If you want to be in step with your spouse, but you can’t turn your head side-to-side (for the sake of the analogy), what’s the best way to stay in step? Watching Jesus, right? You can easily see His feet moving next to you, and so can your spouse. So even though you can’t see your spouse’s feet moving in time with yours, by watching Christ, you will stay in step, not only with God, but with your spouse as well. But if you try to follow your spouse’s feet, you’ll get into all kinds of trouble, failing to stay in step with each other (except for the rare occasions) and with God. So if you “keep in step with the Spirit,” you will also keep in step with your spouse much better than you would if you only tried to stay in step with your spouse and not with Christ.
In a non-Christian marriage, Jesus doesn’t stand between the couple. You may think that’s a good thing because then the couple can just watch each other, but it’s not. For all of you who don’t have a clue what any of the band geek version meant, the center is the person everyone in that line looks to in order to stay in line. If you can’t see the center out of the corner of your eye, than you look at the person next to you and trust that he/she is in line with the center (or whoever is between him/her and the center, who should also be in line with the center), making a straight line. The center is always right, even if they’re in the wrong place. As long as you stay in line with the center, it’ll look like you’re right. God is the perfect Center. He is never wrong. He is always in the right place, so if you follow Him, you will be in the right place too. But if you take God out of the picture, you no longer have a perfect Center. You and your spouse are left looking at each other in all your imperfection. One of you is bound to be wrong at some point, and even if the line follows you and makes the formation look right, the whole line will be wrong because you are wrong. With God out of the picture, your imperfect center is bound to ruin the formation at some point. But with God as your perfect Center (as long as you and your spouse both keep your eyes fixed on Him), your marriage will be more blessed than you could hope.
The moral: Love God before your spouse, and you will show your love to your spouse in a much more meaningful way than possible otherwise.
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Matthew 5:14-16
"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven."
"A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl." Why? Because it's useless that way. You can't see its light, and besides... a candle hidden under a bowl will get snuffed out.
Food for thought.
"A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl." Why? Because it's useless that way. You can't see its light, and besides... a candle hidden under a bowl will get snuffed out.
Food for thought.
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
"For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart."
Hebrews 4:12
Wow. This just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was reading something about how being a sold-out Christian separates us from everyone else around us (everyone who isn't sold out to Christ), and it made me think about persecuted Christians in places labeled as hostile or restricted countries regarding Christianity. Christians in those countries really know what it means to love God and follow Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Many of them lose their jobs or are disowned by their families because of their faith, and Jesus is all they have, so they pursue Him with their whole lives. They have to meet with other Christians in secret in order to avoid persecution, and even then they aren't totally safe.
As I thought about that, I asked myself, "What would I be like if I went to one of those countries for a time? What if I had to face persecution like that? What if I had so little access to the Bible that I became so thirsty for the Word that I spent hours at a time studying with my brothers and sisters in Christ?" But I never got to come up with any possible answers because another question came up: What would happen if/when I came back home to America? How would I readjust to life here after spending time in another culture? How would I get used to not having to keep my beliefs a secret anymore?
Then I realized something. Christians in hostile/restricted nations have to keep their beliefs secret to protect themselves, so their lives are their only testimony. They live in such a way that people would wonder why they live the way they do. They live in a way that would lead people to ask them what motivates them, so that they can tell them about Jesus. Christianity grows in hostile/restricted nations because people see the impact Christ has on their lives. Their daily living makes them the walking gospel. That's why Hebrews 4:12 says that "the word of God is living and active." The gospel comes alive in them, and their actions show what the Bible teaches.
And that's the way we should be living here in America, where Christianity is still legal. Even though we are free to talk about our faith in the open, a profession of faith shouldn't be necessary for people to recognize that something is different about us—in fact, in a culture where the teachings of the Bible are so widely recognized, our daily lives should make it obvious that we are wholehearted followers of Christ, not just different. That's what Saint Francis of Assisi meant when he said, "Preach the gospel always; when necessary, use words."
Of course, that doesn't mean that words aren't necessary. We still have to share the gospel of salvation through Christ, and we have to teach Jesus' commands. But in a culture where we are free to do so, it seems that we have come to understand that that is all that's necessary. Since we're allowed to preach the gospel verbally, we don't have to live it out because people only need to know what the gospel says. Actions serve only to draw people to Christianity in cultures where a public profession of faith can get you killed; if you're able to speak about your faith openly, then actions have no purpose. But that's not true at all. Our actions show the truth of the gospel. Our daily living shows the impact Christ's saving grace has had on us. If our actions don't change when we accept Christ as our Savior, there's reason to believe that we haven't really been saved. After all, Jesus taught us how we should live, and if we don't obey Him, we're basically saying that we don't need to and that we don't believe obedience will make things any better for us; and if we don't believe Him on that topic, how can we claim to believe Him about anything else? As the last part of Hebrews 4:12 says, "[The word of God] judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Our good deeds prove that we have been changed by saving grace.
So to answer my question about readjusting, I shouldn't really have to adapt that much. I should continue living in a way that preaches the gospel without words. And in hostile/restricted nations, there's such an urgency attached to the gospel, that I should feel compelled to tell everyone I know about the good news of the gospel. So if/when I came back, I would rejoice in finally being able to openly share my faith verbally, and I would do it as if I would be killed if I didn't.
Wow. This just hit me like a ton of bricks. I was reading something about how being a sold-out Christian separates us from everyone else around us (everyone who isn't sold out to Christ), and it made me think about persecuted Christians in places labeled as hostile or restricted countries regarding Christianity. Christians in those countries really know what it means to love God and follow Him with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. Many of them lose their jobs or are disowned by their families because of their faith, and Jesus is all they have, so they pursue Him with their whole lives. They have to meet with other Christians in secret in order to avoid persecution, and even then they aren't totally safe.
As I thought about that, I asked myself, "What would I be like if I went to one of those countries for a time? What if I had to face persecution like that? What if I had so little access to the Bible that I became so thirsty for the Word that I spent hours at a time studying with my brothers and sisters in Christ?" But I never got to come up with any possible answers because another question came up: What would happen if/when I came back home to America? How would I readjust to life here after spending time in another culture? How would I get used to not having to keep my beliefs a secret anymore?
Then I realized something. Christians in hostile/restricted nations have to keep their beliefs secret to protect themselves, so their lives are their only testimony. They live in such a way that people would wonder why they live the way they do. They live in a way that would lead people to ask them what motivates them, so that they can tell them about Jesus. Christianity grows in hostile/restricted nations because people see the impact Christ has on their lives. Their daily living makes them the walking gospel. That's why Hebrews 4:12 says that "the word of God is living and active." The gospel comes alive in them, and their actions show what the Bible teaches.
And that's the way we should be living here in America, where Christianity is still legal. Even though we are free to talk about our faith in the open, a profession of faith shouldn't be necessary for people to recognize that something is different about us—in fact, in a culture where the teachings of the Bible are so widely recognized, our daily lives should make it obvious that we are wholehearted followers of Christ, not just different. That's what Saint Francis of Assisi meant when he said, "Preach the gospel always; when necessary, use words."
Of course, that doesn't mean that words aren't necessary. We still have to share the gospel of salvation through Christ, and we have to teach Jesus' commands. But in a culture where we are free to do so, it seems that we have come to understand that that is all that's necessary. Since we're allowed to preach the gospel verbally, we don't have to live it out because people only need to know what the gospel says. Actions serve only to draw people to Christianity in cultures where a public profession of faith can get you killed; if you're able to speak about your faith openly, then actions have no purpose. But that's not true at all. Our actions show the truth of the gospel. Our daily living shows the impact Christ's saving grace has had on us. If our actions don't change when we accept Christ as our Savior, there's reason to believe that we haven't really been saved. After all, Jesus taught us how we should live, and if we don't obey Him, we're basically saying that we don't need to and that we don't believe obedience will make things any better for us; and if we don't believe Him on that topic, how can we claim to believe Him about anything else? As the last part of Hebrews 4:12 says, "[The word of God] judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Our good deeds prove that we have been changed by saving grace.
So to answer my question about readjusting, I shouldn't really have to adapt that much. I should continue living in a way that preaches the gospel without words. And in hostile/restricted nations, there's such an urgency attached to the gospel, that I should feel compelled to tell everyone I know about the good news of the gospel. So if/when I came back, I would rejoice in finally being able to openly share my faith verbally, and I would do it as if I would be killed if I didn't.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Life and Idols
We all live for something. Everyone has some god or idol that they chase after or look after with meticulous care, whether it's fame, fortune, pleasure, cars, video games, books, music, or the only true God. Even desirable traits like attractiveness, charm, and leadership skills can be idols. The most common understanding of "idols" is that they are things that come between us and God, things that we value more highly than getting to know our heavenly Father. But as I was going through the Freshley leadership devotional for this week (and actually for two weeks ago because there was something I missed that I wanted to go back to), God showed me another meaning of the word idol. An idol is something that you live for—it's your reason for living. If your life goal is to become famous, that's the only reason you live; everything you do will be for the sole purpose of becoming famous, and once you're famous, everything you do will be to maintain that fame. Even if you lose all your possessions, it won't faze you as long as you're still famous. If you live for wealth wealth, you live only to become rich; you devote all your time and energy to gaining, saving, flaunting, and maintaining your wealth, and nothing else. Even if your relative dies, you'll be okay as long as you have your money. If your appearance is your idol, you live to be attractive, and everything you do will be to become as attractive as possible. As long as you look good, everything will be alright, no matter what happens; but if you don't like how you look, you'll never be satisfied with anything.
The question from two weeks ago that I wanted to go back to was this: What does it mean that your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)? I wanted to put off that question because it seemed easy at first, but when I finally got to it, I realized how difficult it was to answer it. So I didn't answer it. But now God is starting to answer the question for me. Our lives become hidden with Christ in God when we begin living for Him and nothing else. As long as we have Christ, nothing can steal our joy from us; if we feel distant from Jesus, we will do anything and stop at nothing to get closer to Him. When we idolize earthly things, we hide our lives in those things. If Satan can damage your idol in some way, he will gain complete control over you. But when we hide our lives in Christ—when Jesus is all we need and all we want—Satan has no power over us because God cannot be conquered. No matter how hard he attacks the idols of our past, he can never take our life, our reason for living. He can try to take Jesus from us all he wants, but he will never be able to, so our lives are safe in Christ. We live for Christ, so we live forever.
When I wrote that last sentence in my notes as I was going through the devotional, it hit me: our God/god, who/what we live for, determines our final destination in eternity. That seems simple and obvious, but it seemed really profound to me. If we live for something that's perishing, we will perish with it; if we live for something eternal, we will live forever. Only Jesus is eternal, so if we live for Him, emulating His life and seeking to dwell in His presence through prayer and worship, we will live forever in heaven. We live to be with Him, so that's what we get. But if we live for fame, fortune, attractiveness, etc., which are all temporary, we will die along with our idols. Even if your idol is a Christian who will live forever with Christ, if you are not consciously living to glorify God, you are only idolizing that person's earthly life, and all earthly life will pass away. We will only live as long as our gods. If your god is temporary, your life will be temporary; but if your God is everlasting, you will never die (the second death in hell, that is).
I feel like my words can't quite capture the depth of this discovery. Maybe it's because it's 6am and I haven't gotten any sleep. But whatever the reason, I'll end with this: Your life on earth will show where you will be going for eternity. If you live for a temporary idol, it will be clear by your speech and behavior. But if Jesus really is your God and you love Him with your life, you will live as if you are already with Him in heaven, because you kind of are. After all, if Satan has no power to take away your joy in Christ now, this life is really not that different to you than the next.
The question from two weeks ago that I wanted to go back to was this: What does it mean that your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3)? I wanted to put off that question because it seemed easy at first, but when I finally got to it, I realized how difficult it was to answer it. So I didn't answer it. But now God is starting to answer the question for me. Our lives become hidden with Christ in God when we begin living for Him and nothing else. As long as we have Christ, nothing can steal our joy from us; if we feel distant from Jesus, we will do anything and stop at nothing to get closer to Him. When we idolize earthly things, we hide our lives in those things. If Satan can damage your idol in some way, he will gain complete control over you. But when we hide our lives in Christ—when Jesus is all we need and all we want—Satan has no power over us because God cannot be conquered. No matter how hard he attacks the idols of our past, he can never take our life, our reason for living. He can try to take Jesus from us all he wants, but he will never be able to, so our lives are safe in Christ. We live for Christ, so we live forever.
When I wrote that last sentence in my notes as I was going through the devotional, it hit me: our God/god, who/what we live for, determines our final destination in eternity. That seems simple and obvious, but it seemed really profound to me. If we live for something that's perishing, we will perish with it; if we live for something eternal, we will live forever. Only Jesus is eternal, so if we live for Him, emulating His life and seeking to dwell in His presence through prayer and worship, we will live forever in heaven. We live to be with Him, so that's what we get. But if we live for fame, fortune, attractiveness, etc., which are all temporary, we will die along with our idols. Even if your idol is a Christian who will live forever with Christ, if you are not consciously living to glorify God, you are only idolizing that person's earthly life, and all earthly life will pass away. We will only live as long as our gods. If your god is temporary, your life will be temporary; but if your God is everlasting, you will never die (the second death in hell, that is).
I feel like my words can't quite capture the depth of this discovery. Maybe it's because it's 6am and I haven't gotten any sleep. But whatever the reason, I'll end with this: Your life on earth will show where you will be going for eternity. If you live for a temporary idol, it will be clear by your speech and behavior. But if Jesus really is your God and you love Him with your life, you will live as if you are already with Him in heaven, because you kind of are. After all, if Satan has no power to take away your joy in Christ now, this life is really not that different to you than the next.
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