YouthFire Blog

Okay, we’re not really hiring, considering it isn’t a paid gig, but YouthFire.com is definitely in need of some help.

We need our own resident geek(it’s a GOOD thing…I’m a geek!) willing to join forces with YouthFire.com to help us upgrade our current site and add on new projects.

This geek will need to have knowledge of:

1. PHP
2. MySQL Database Management
3. phpBB2 Database Structure(this can be learned easily)
4. HTML/Javascript

or 5. Knowledge of Drupal(We are considering switching the whole site to it.)

If you are interested, contact me at beauh (at) youthfire.com

For those of you without these particular skills, please pray that we find the person we need. Without this person we can’t move forward with improving YouthFire.com and in many ways regular maintenance is hindered.

Thanks!

Lately I’ve been reflecting on the past year and how much has changed. I know I haven’t spent as much time around YouthFire as I used to. As much as I’ve missed it, I feel like I was exactly where God wanted me to be. I think my ministry direction changed to focus on the people directly around me.

About a year ago I met a guy named Tim when we watched a movie with a mutual friend. Whenever we saw each other on campus we would talk to see how the other was doing and what was going on. We started hanging out some, and I eventually invited him to go to Mexico for Spring Break with the campus ministry with which I am involved. I really didn’t think much of it at the time; I just thought it might be something he would enjoy.

This past week he spoke to our campus ministry group about how I “made” him go to Mexico and how much of an impact that had on him. I think it really got him thinking about things. A year ago (when I first met him), he was really into partying and underage drinking. Just a few weeks ago, he decided to give up alcohol until he was 21, which was a huuuuuge step for him.

I can’t take credit here. I see God working in his life, but I also feel like God used me as a vessel. I was thinking about Esther and her role to save the Jews since she was put into a position of power “for such a time as this.” I was also thinking about Jabez and how he prays, “enlarge my territory.”

This is the here and now. Pray that God will “enlarge your territory” and give you influence and opportunities to bring glory to Him. You may never know what relationships God has placed you in “for such a time as this.” Pray that God will use you.

I love the trilogy of Pirates of the Caribbean. One thing that echoes in my mind is Davy Jones saying “Do you fear death?” There were so many people willing to serve on his crew to postpone death.

I’m currently reading a series of books about family of seven siblings. The youngest has cancer on her spine. She has the faith that God can heal her, but she also knows that if He doesn’t, she’ll be in a far better place. Though her family believes death is close for her, she’s not afraid.

What about you? Do you fear death? Honestly, I can’t wait for heaven. I’m tired of seeing and experiencing pain and suffering. I’m tired of watching people destroy their lives with drugs. I’m tired of the anger, bitterness, and pain that comes from divorce. I’m tired of watching people destroy their lives because of sexual immorality leading to STDs or unwanted pregnancies.

Do not fear death. There’s something far better than our lives on earth. Christians have heaven to look forward to…

Show love. BE love. I don’t care if that love comes from your conscience, Christ, Buddha, Mohammad, your coming Messiah…I don’t care. Be love. We need it now, we need it always, we need it more every day.

I blogged a couple times already about just getting out and doing the things we ought to do. However, sometimes I think that we get into the trap thinking that if we do one thing, we have to do everything.

I remember a point in my life where I wouldn’t pray. I was SO afraid I’d forget to pray for someone that I just wouldn’t pray for anyone. Isn’t that absurd?

Mother Teresa said, “If you can’t feed a hundred people, then feed just one.” We can’t feed the entire world, but we can do what we we can.

In the movie Ever After, Prince Henry says, “I used to think, if I cared at all, I would have to care about everything…and I’d go stark raving mad. But…now I’ve found my purpose.” I think it’s important to find a purpose rather than wandering around aimlessly wondering what we should do, and in the end, not get anything done because we’ve been wandering around for so long.

There’s a story about making a difference one thing at a time. Here it is:

A young man was jogging on the beach one morning when he saw an old man ahead of him bending down and picking up starfish and throwing them into the sea one by one. As he came close the young man asked, “What are you doing?” The old man answered, “There was a storm last night and many starfish were washed high up onto the beach. If I don’t throw them back, the sun will kill them by noon.” The young man laughed and said, “You are a fool old man. The beach is miles long and there are thousands of starfish stranded on it. You can’t get to them all before the sun dries them out and kills them. What you are doing, old man, just doesn’t matter.” The old man threw another starfish into the safety of the waves and said, “It mattered to that one!”

We can make a difference, one step at a time. It all adds up, even if you can only help one person or only donate one dollar or only do one of something. Just do what you can. You might not be able to save everyone or everything, but you can save something, and that’s what matters.

It’s after 2:30 in the morning on the day I’m supposed to leave for Mexico for a week-long missions trip. I’ve been mulling over several verses this week in preparation. Instead of a blog post this week with me sharing my thoughts, I thought I’d just share those verses with you. Pray about, ponder, and enjoy the following verses:

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.”

Romans 12:9-13 says, “Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. Share with God’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.”

Colossians 3:12-14 says, “Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.”

I’ve had a problem lately.

I feel like my faith has really been lacking. While I believe God can do anything, I don’t believe He will. Take for instance, my roommate. She’s Mormon. While I believe that God can lead her to the Truth, I don’t think it’s going to happen. It’s really discouraging to me.

The other day I went to a Dare2Share conference. For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, Dare2Share is an organization that goes out to various cities to equip youth to share their faith with their friends. On Friday night of the conference, two of the people in the youth group I went with accepted Christ. It was awesome! I hadn’t even thought about those girls and their salvation.

I was reading a couple chapters in Blue Like Jazz the other day. Donald Miller talks about how these two different girls finally became Christians. He talked about their hangups with Christianity. They were basically the types of people that you would probably say would never become Christians. They did become Christians though!

This coming week I’m going to Mexico on a missions trip. I’m in charge of food for the trip, which is a really huge job. There are 50 of us, so I have to make a list and buy for that many people for an entire week. Usually I’d go to Sam’s and spend between $800-1000 on food. That’s insane. Anyway, this year I had this awesome guy on my food team. He knows the owner of a grocery store, and this guy gave us chips, bread, fruit snacks, sandwich bags, juice, etc. It was so awesome! I think he’s also going to bring me more food today. Anyhow, this same guy who’s on the food team with me asked his church for donations just for food. We may end up not having to pay for anything, which would be totally great. That way we can spend more money on the projects for the people in Mexico.

Anyway, the point of that story is…I had given up before I had even tried anything. I didn’t bother contacting grocery store owners or anything, because I didn’t believe that they would give us anything.

Anyway, these 3 instances have renewed my hope. God can, and does, work in people’s lives. He pursues those we’ve given up on, and He provides when we least expect it.

Don’t lose faith.