YouthFire Blog

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…

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.

Alright, so it’s been quite awhile since I’ve written, and I know it’s been over a week since Valentine’s day, but I wanted to write a little bit about love. I’ve just been thinking a lot about it lately. Two weeks ago we did a podcast and talked about love, but my thoughts have continued on the subject and I have MORE TO SAY!

I was thinking the other day about one of my friends. He just…loves me. He does so much for me because he loves me, whether it be to spend too much on a rose for me for Valentine’s day, take care of me when I’m sick, or encourage me when I’m frustrated with school. There’s just this purity in his love for me that I’ve never experienced before. Every time he tells me he loves me, I know he’s honest and sincere. Every single time there is meaning behind his words. He makes me feel loved even though I know I don’t deserve it. There are times I can be so selfish and moody when I’m around him, but he looks past that and loves me anyway.

Now let’s rewind and look at the Bible. Hosea, under God’s direction, marries a prostitute named Gomer. She cheats on him…a lot. While Hosea is hurt, he still loves her and never seeks revenge. It’s kind of a parallel to what was happening with the Israelites at the time. Israel was being unfaithful to God. They were sinning and turning their backs on Him. God continued to love Israel, and welcomed His children back to Him with open arms, if they were willing.

In an historic Jewish courtship, the groom would offer a glass of wine to his bride during the betrothal ceremony. If the bride drank from the cup, it was symbolic of accepting the offer of marriage, establishing a covenant between the bride and groom.

Now, skip forward to the Last Supper. Jesus is surrounded by his disciples and is telling them there’s going to be a change soon. He breaks the bread, hands it out, and tells them that it represents his body, and to remember him. Then Jesus takes the wine and says, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you” (Luke 22:20b).

Now think about that. Could that sharing of the cup and the establishment of a new covenant parallel the Jewish custom of marriage? The offer for the disciples is the same as His offer for us. He’s going to love us even if we don’t deserve it. Even if we act like Gomer. Even if we’re selfish and moody. He’s offering His pure, honest, sincere love for us. Are you going to accept His love?

Writing about this topic has been on my mind for nearly two months now. I kept pushing it back and pushing it back. Now it’s been a couple weeks since I’ve written a post, and I really don’t have anything else to write about. This is just one of those topics that I don’t really want to write about, but that I feel the need to write about.

In last week’s podcast, Beau asked me about what I liked most about at YouthFire, and he also asked what I wanted at YouthFire in the future. We have all these great resources and stuff here, but it’s the community that makes YouthFire what it is. So really, I just want a stronger sense of community.

I know there are many strong friendships within YouthFire, and I think that’s awesome. However, it just seems to me like there are a few people who want to pick and bite and tear friendships apart. There are people who want come come in and disrupt the sense of unity within the body of believers. I’ve seen people come who ask questions or make comments that tear the body down rather than build it up. It just…saddens me. I’m not even talking about non-Christians here. There are Christians who come and they just want to point out errors, complain, slander, etc.

I don’t think this is the way it should be, and it frustrates me. I know several of these people, and I like several of these people, but sometimes I’m just saddened at the way they promote disunity at times.

Philippians 2:1-4 says, “If you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any fellowship with the Spirit, if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and purpose. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

We’re not always going to agree on everything, but we shouldn’t let this divide us. These verses mean that we shouldn’t be pointing out the flaws of another person’s argument just for the sake of argument. I’ve known several people who are more concerned with showing that they are right rather than actually being right. I despise when people get this condescending tone and try showing how much the other person is wrong. I have to admit, I’ve done it before, but it’s not something I want to continue doing. This is not putting others’ interests before my own.

I also don’t like it when people come in and complain about this and that about YouthFire. Somehow, to them, there’s nothing good about YouthFire, but they still come. I guess I just don’t get it. If you don’t like YouthFire, just don’t come. What’s the use of coming just to complain? I’ll be the first to admit that YouthFire isn’t perfect, but sitting in the chatroom complaining all day about it won’t do any good.

Anyway, I know I’ve gone off on a few tangents here and started ranting. I’m sorry about that. Now you know why I really didn’t want to write this post. I don’t want to condemn anybody, but I do want to bring this issue to light, because I do think it’s a problem. If we all work to promote unity, I think YouthFire will be a much better place than it already is.

“But don’t just listen to God’s word. You must do what it says. Otherwise, you are only fooling yourselves. For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don’t forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it.” ~ James 1:22-25 (Emphasis by me)

Look familiar? It should. This is how I started my blog post on October 19, 2006. I would recommend going back and revisiting that post (or visiting it, if you haven’t read it before). So, have you looked at yourself in the mirror, walked away, and forgotten what you looked like? In other words, have you seen a problem, walked away, and not done anything about it?

I have. Back when I watched “Invisible Children,” it really got to me and I wanted to do something. I never did though. Though I’ve thought about the problem off and on, the issue has mostly been in the back of my mind; I’ve forgotten.

I watched the movie “Blood Diamond” today. Now, I’m not advocating going to see it or anything, but it again brought to my attention the issue of child soldiers. It’s a sad situation!

I also read something in Relevant magazine today. Jason Boyett was writing about how he got pretty angry at a couple he saw on a plane who were complaining about the little issues in life. Jason Boyett was merely thinking about his recent trip to the Dominican Republic where he visited a ministry that provided clean water to the urban poor. He related his story to a friend, who said, “The problem is that anger you feel about it usually goes away after awhile. And before long, you’re acting the same way, and you don’t even notice it.”

Philippians 2:3 says, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.” Sometimes we start thinking so much about ourselves, and we forget about the people who really need help. It could be your next door neighbor, or it could be the child soldier in Africa. Either way, does getting the newest CD or the coolest clothing really matter anymore? Just last night I spent $50 on CDs, a movie, and a book. It’s not like I needed all of that stuff. I just wanted it. What about the family in Africa who only wants clean water, who only needs clean water? That $50 could have gone someplace else, someplace where it could have made a difference.

I close the same way I closed in my October 19 post:

I know this verse I’ll close with is kind of a punch in the face, but it needs to be said. James 4:17 says, “Remember, it is sin to know what you ought to do and then not do it.” We all know we ought to help others. I feel the tug. Do you?

I’m normally not one to make New Year’s Resolutions, but there are so many things that I want to change in my life right now that I decided I might as well begin in the new year.

While there are many things I want to change, I’ll share one with the rest of you. In the coming year, I want to spend more time in prayer. It seems like I just don’t spend enough time conversing with God. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says to “pray without ceasing.” While I don’t think we’re meant to shut ourselves in a closet to pray for the rest of our lives, I don’t think we should cut the phone line to God either.

Not only should I be conversing more with God, I also just want to talk to Him about so many things! I wrote in an earlier post about how we ought to be more thankful. From the time you wake up to the time you leave for school or work or wherever, you could probably thank God for 100 things as diverse as your warm bed or your running water.

Recently I’ve realized how many people need prayer. I’ve also recently realized how much more powerful prayer can be than anything else we can humanly do. I can’t single-handedly defeat poverty or the AIDS epidemic in Africa or terrorism. But I can pray about it. I can’t force a friend to become a Christian or stop a friend from smoking or prevent a friend from getting drunk. But I can pray about it. So I will pray about it…and continue praying about it.

James 5:13-18 says, “Are any of you suffering hardships? You should pray. Are any of you happy? You should sing praises. Are any of you sick? You should call for the elders of the church to come and pray over you, anointing you with oil in the name of the Lord. Such a prayer offered in faith will heal the sick, and the Lord will make you well. And if you have committed any sins, you will be forgiven.
Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results. Elijah was as human as we are, and yet when he prayed earnestly that no rain would fall, none fell for three and a half years! Then, when he prayed again, the sky sent down rain and the earth began to yield its crops.”

I challenge all of you who read this to spend more time in prayer this year than you did last year. I also urge you to write down some of your prayers and prayer requests. Look back in a year and see what God has done!