Lecture, lecture, lecture....

Growing up, my mom had the biggest heart for international ministry.  From first grade on, we had multiple foreign exchange students floating in and out of our house.  Some of them we actually hosted, some would live with us for the school year, some we took to go see the Amish, others we would just fill their hungry stomachs. No matter the student's background or religion, my mom always brought the Gospel to her surrogate children.  Her hospitality brought them in, and her wisdom keeps them asking questions.

That's not me.

I love my mom and support her ministry, but my heart does not lie within international ministry.

During lecture series at school, we had a few missions-oriented individuals come in and tell us about what God has been doing in their ministry. Through avenues of music and creative arts, these guys are reaching and preaching to a demographic that is largely unreached or indifferent. God has been using these guys in big ways through their evangelistic ministry and were encouraging all of us as students to consider serving overseas.

That's not me.

I have an appreciation for their ministry, but my heart does not lie within overseas ministry.

I see such an intense need for keeping people in the Church than getting them there first.  I want to be in community with the ones who've walked in saying "Now what?" If we can't answer that, then why are we in the Church in the first place?

Past Living

Let me just share a current frustration with you...

Let me also preface this by saying I have been a PMS mess this past week.

I have seen so many of my fellow peers stuck in how things used to be.  Classes looked a certain way. People performed a certain way. Certain things were expected out of certain people.  Certain emotions were to be felt on certain occasions. Yuck!

Guess what? Change is okay.

Like I talked about a few weeks ago, I had a lot of change happen my senior year of high school.  Getting a new youth pastor in particular was especially difficult.  I had the same youth pastor for 6 years. Why did things have to change the last year I was going to be living in town? I dug in my heels that whole year hoping if I held out long enough, things would go back to the way they used to be.

I missed out on so much.

My peers are missing out on so much.

I had a wise friend once tell me, "If you're not changing, you're not growing." I see God doing great things at our school despite our human nature.  We are a flawed community, but we love the Lord.  I don't understand how we can expect God to move in us and around us if we're resisting change. How can we expect to grow spiritually and in our vocation if we're resisting change?

I'm excited to witness and experience the massive amounts of change that are just around the corner. Are you?

I'm here now...and I'm singing

For real, that's how I feel about my mad writing skillz.

I can worship God with singing.  I can worship Him with my guitar.  I can worship Him anywhere at any time.

I have to remind myself that I can also worship Him with my writing.  Sometimes when I write, I don't feel like I'm giving Him my best...so I quit writing.  I've got a lot of not-quite-half-of-a-song songs.

God deserves more than my half-hearted attempts at writing.  I am convicted.