Stir up the Chocolate!!! (Part 1 of my reflections on Youth Councils)

So the weekend's over. All of the wonderful experiences and encouragement are semi left behind at the camp, the remembrances solely remaining in your mind. Now what? You keep climbing. You go back to work or school and you keep climbing. I liked the illustration the special guest TJ Foltz used in the saturday night meeting. You've gotta stir up the chocolate of the Spirit that has begun to settle down in the bottom of the milk glass. Although I think that sometimes the Spirit, like chocolate, starts settling the moment it's poured into the person. I think that is why Paul tells us to Pray without Ceasing, because prayer is the only way to continually try to live in the Spirit, stir it up, and keep it flowing out.

At lunch on Sunday, just before everyone left, we were all given three books. Thirty day devotional books. God is Near, Christ in Me, and The Spirit Moves. TJ asked us all to make a commitment on Saturday night, that we would stir the Spirit in us by spending just 5 minutes in the word of God and 5 minutes in prayer, every day for the next 30 (or 31) days. So I started it today during my lunch break. I figured I'd start with the God is Near to keep with my commitment. I really liked the first devotional in that book.

It asked you to go out and stand by a busy road and watch people and cars. I just happen to have finished eating my lunch in a mall food court, which is a nice place to go, and I happen to like to people watch. So thinking back, I try and imagine the stories and the destinations of some of the people I saw, and one just stuck out at me. It was a young (or at least she appeared that way) mother with a toddler - probably not older than two on the walkway over the ice rink in the Lloyd Center. She kept trying to get him in his stroller, but he was just content to waddle around the bannister and plop down on the ground. It seemed like he was content to stay and just have fun while she needed him to go somewhere. Maybe home, maybe the portrait place just a few steps away on that level. It was interesting to watch and it made me think back to the weekend. . . but I'll talk about that in another post.

Revolution

Well everyone, I know I post on this semi-sporadically, but I just thought I'd warn you that I won't be around for the week end, so don't expect anything from me till at least maybe Sunday night or so. I'm going away to a youth retreat that I'm so stoked about. This is going to be an awesome youth councils. It's all about Revolution...or as they word it on the poster for it (I can't write letters backwords here, but I'll bold them or something) Revolution. The theme verse for the weekend is a great one, Romans 12:1-2. "Therefore brothers, in light of God's mercy, offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God, this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve God's will, his good, pleasing and perfect will." What an awesome and tough verse. But it's a great one for teens in this day and age.

It's so hard to realize that we are in a war zone sometimes. That we are in enemy held territory and that we are conducting a guerrila campaign to take this from him, and bring others into the great kingdom that's coming soon. But unlike the resistance fighters in World War 2 in German occupied Europe, we don't have to worry about getting caught by the enemy, so we don't have to do our best to blend in and stay hidden and do our acts of sabotaging his work in the night. We need to been seen as defying the enemy, we need to be seen as different. We have to understand that the war was fought on a hill that's known as the place of the skull, and was one in an empty grave. Now we're just doing the mop up work and clearing out the remnants of resistance.

I'll have more to say after the weekend, but just keep this in mind - let's not be content with the status quo,we want and need nothing short of revolution now to break free from the patterns of this world.

Blessings,

Connecting in Worship

I'm still sort of thinking about connecting the dots in Faith and so these thoughts are some more ramblings out of my mind. This weekend, the friday night worship team (Under Construction or the Church of Rock, whichever it is) is going to be doing all of the worship music for our church's youth rally/retreat. So we're going to be leading something like 150 people in worship for two days - about 5 meetings or so. And what's really cool is that our team leader, Cherie, is really keen about us thinking, and praying about what it means to lead worship. So this got me thinking (even though it doesn't take much to do that), so bear with me while I stream some of my consciousness out there.

In order to lead worship, you have to know what worship is to you. So what is worship? Worship is not just about some emotionally charged, hand waving, balling your eyes out, falling on the floor time with songs that just repeat the same words over and over. It's not just about finding God that way, it not about connecting to him in that way. Worship, in general, is living your life like Romans 12:1 says, "Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God–this is your spiritual act of worship." The Message paraphrase is good, it goes into a little more depth about what offering your body means saying, "Take your everyday, ordinary life - your sleeping, eating, going to work, and walking around life - and place it before God as an offering." Worship involves your entire life, public and private. But that's like, the macro definition of worship in my point of view.

Worship, as most people view it, is that time during a church service, that people stand and sing about God, what He's done, what He's doing, what He's going to do, and just telling Him how great He is. That's corporate worship, when the body of Christ, the church - believers - get together and fellowship reminding each other of His greatness, and using music to connect to God on a level that is really beyond understanding. In corporate worship, music is a tool that allows God to connect to your spirit at a level that is far beyond the mere spoken word. For some reason, I believe, music is a force that is a direct link (for lack of better words) that bypasses the thinking part of your brain - the rational, cognitive part of you; it bypasses the senses - the feeling part of you; and cuts straight to the part the God desires the most, the deep seated heart of you, and I'm not talking about your bloody thumper (as Rev distinguishes it) I'm talking about the seat of your soul. That part of you that is what David and the other Psalmists call, "my inmost being." And this connection, I believe can happen regardless of the participation you put into it - your participation and willingness to connect only determines how you understand the connection.

When we do fully, truly, and deeply desire that connection with God, he meets us where we are. He meets us where we are, and puts something in us that defies all other things - especially emotions. I'm not a big fan of emotions because they're so fickle, and when we seek after the emotions solely, we miss out on something much deeper, we miss out on Joy. It is in that deep connection that the Lord allows that tap of joy overflowing to be opened in us, as a wellspring of life. Part of me thinks this is the reason that 21 times throughout the Psalms the command to Shout or Sing for Joy is given. In singing and shouting for Joy, not only are we rejoicing for what He has already done, but we are asking for more Joy in order to make it through the next day.

It is my firm belief that Joy and Peace are so greatly entwined that with the one comes the other, and why the fruit of the Spirit is listed as Love, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness, Faithfulness and self-control. These things each required the other to be borne in our lives. It is when we Love God truly and deeply that we seek fully after Him, and make that connection, which allows Him to open the spigot of Joy in our lives. Once that tap is opened, regardless of how we feel, the Joy turns into Peace which is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of calm within the the storm. And in the calm of Peace, the Patience of knowing that all this is merely temporary adds to the quiet in our hearts. With that Patient quiet, it is very easy to be Kind and Good, and Gentle, for there is no need to rush, hurry or worry, three things of which cause us all to be unkind, and harsh. Faithfulness and Self Control become easy after that, because they flow from kind, gentle and good hearts, for they that are faithful and controlled are good and true..

How is all this related to connecting the dots? Well, it is only as we believe ("Now Faith is being certain of what we hope for and sure of what we do not see." Hebrews 11:1) that we are lead to worship, and desire to seek and ask for that connection, regardless of what it brings. And as we connect to God, He begins to connect the dots of our lives, and we can begin to see the really cool picture of what He has planned - and that really gives us a reason to praise Him.

Blessings

Continuing with Moses

Now, I know it's already Wednesday, but I haven't had much chance to write some stuff recently. Anyway, on to what I was thinking. Friday night was Church of Rock, and we started talking about Moses - connecting the dots in faith, and just following the lead of God (take that either way). Sunday night, we have a united praise meeting, and the Commissioner (he's the leader of the Salvation Army in the Western Territory, for more information on that, go here www.salvationarmy.org.) What portion of scripture does he take the text for his sermon from? Exodus, where Moses meets God at the burning bush, and God says, "Go free my people," and Moses says, "I'm the wrong guy, and they won't believe me." So God tells Moses to throw his shepherd's staff (rod) on the ground. Moses obeys, and the staff becomes a snake, and scares the bejeebers out of Moses. God then tells him to pick up, or as it says in the King James Version "Grab hold of it by the tail." (I think that's how it's said - look it up for yourself though.) So he does, and it becomes a staff again.

Long and short of it, the Commissioner was just getting at the fact that Moses was given a rod of authority, which was his Link to God. So long as he held it, and connected the dots in God's way, powerful things happened - from the Nile turning to blood, to plagues springing from the ground and falling from the sky, to the Red Sea parting, and water coming from a rock. He wanted us to consider what it was that we held on to, so that we could connect with God, and show his power. I think the biggest insight I got, was that it works when we listen to God, and we have our hearts set on following him.

Interesting how completely unconnected meetings have very similar themes. Through it all - whether it be looking at and living life one dot at a time in faith, or grasping hold of the Rod given us by God, and following him, there is this root - All the promises of God are sure, if only you believe.

Blessings.

Connecting the Dots

So I'm at Church of Rock last night and we've been talking about Faith for the past year. Lorrie, the youth director at our church has been doing a really good series out of Hebrews 11 - you know the Hall of Faith. Anyway, last night we've finally gotten to Moses. That murdering, stuttering, prideful, disobediant, not really Charelton Heston guy that eventually led the Israelites out of Egypt, but he's still "really cool" to quote Lorrie, which is true. Last night we just looked at the first part of his life, which is in Exodus, the first 2 chapters. And the biggest thing that I got out of it was this illustration she had about what faith is like.

She talked about it like a connect the dots puzzle. Not one of the simple ones for kids, where it's a little shaded in, and you can sort of make it out before you even start, but one of the really intricate ones, that you don't know what it is until you're almost done. You just go on following the numbers, drawing the lines as best you can from point to point, but never quite knowing how you fit in. God knows what the whole picture is, but you don't know where you are in it. Prince of Egypt, that great animated movie, had a similar spin on it, from the song Through Heaven's Eyes where Jethro, the high priest of Midian tells Moses that as one small thread in the tapestry of life, you don't know where you are in the big picture, but you're there, and when you follow the right path, it makes the whole thing beautiful.

I'm just rambling now, so I'll stop..maybe you'll get something out of this.

Blessings.