This will be a quick one today.
I really don't have to go into all the reasons the next statement is true because I will see what you are all up to over Facebook and twitter in a few minutes.
We are BUSY being BUSY. We, as in the world, the country, and us specifically. We are busy, as in we have over scheduled lives, going non-stop from dawn till dusk and late into the night. We are busy being busy with all those things that we have to or feel compelled to do every day.
So, here is my question for you girls: what are you producing in all that business? I am not talking about papers and homework, or even the Bell Tour. What about the other things that eat up the minutes of your day? What do those activities produce?
At some point each one of you has given as excuse to me for why you don't have time to read your bible, or even to pray. For some of you those excuses came along time ago (9th grade?) and for others it was a theme for senior year.
Somehow though, we always seem to find time for the things we truly hunger for like Facebook, movies, reading, La Berry, hair products, texting, etc etc etc. I can hear some of you right now about how texting is quick and easy, or you really haven't had time for facebook lately, or if you don't have La Berry you Will. Just. Die. ;-)
Here is today's lesson pure and simple: prayer is vital for a healthy faith and life in Christ. You can always find time for a quick "text" to God, though I desire for you and myself to prioritize prayer to be the thing that we are busy doing at some extended point during your (my) day.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Geese & the Gospel
Hebrews 10:24 reads
"And let us consider how we may spur one another towards love and good deeds..."
I would like to think that this could be apart of a summary of your small group experience. I have always felt you girls kept me on my toes and pushed me towards good deeds. I certainly felt my heart grow in order to love you more and more, as Christ compelled me to do.
I attended Latechurch with Hallie at some point last year and one of the sermon illustrations for the night has stuck with me all this time. The sermon series was about the Body of Christ (the church), and how we cannot go it, the faith journey, alone. God calls us to fellowship and communion, which we saw modeled through Jesus' ministry on earth not only to the people, but his ministry with the twelve disciples and his relationship with His three closest men (Peter, James, and John). The pastor that night used a flock of geese to represent the people of Christ. At one point he gave this statistic: geese that migrate with a group are able to travel 79% further than the goose that flies alone. Point: The community spurs on us, encourages us, strengthens us, and helps us succeed in our journey.
1 Corinthians 12: 12-18 reads:
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
Here are the points I really hope you walk away with:
1- You cannot live faith alone. Yes, your faith is a personal relationship with God the Father through Christ the Son, shaped by God the Holy Spirit. You have the ability to connect one on one with the Creator of the world through prayer, through scripture, through worship. However, just as God Himself models community through His triune nature, He created our very being to desire community and to function in whole when you are apart of His community. Together we can fly further, like the geese mentioned above.
2- When you depart from the community, you are still apart of the body. What is departure from the community? Not attending worship services and lack of involvement in bible study, a small group, mission, service, the life of the church. When you don't attend church (where ever you are during your college adventures) God is still there, worship still happens. However the community is missing a part of their body (whether you are the hand, the foot, the nostril), and you are mission the Body.
3- Why are you still apart of the Body? You became a part of the Body of Christ, and are now a smaller part of a much larger being. As said in the passage above you are an important part of the body, no matter how you serve the body. When you allow your prayer life, your habits, your walk with Christ to deteriorate you are allowing yourself to be unhealthy. And because you are apart of the Body others might see the Body of Christ as unhealthy, sick. You could also risk spreading this to other members of the Body. This is where your connections to small group can really help you. Keep yourself healthy, and tend to the others in need. Encourage one another, raise each other up in prayer, and serve The Body of Christ well.
4- Embrace the part of the Body God has created you to be, and the ministry he has called you to join. That's how you serve the Body well.
5- Geese are cool.
Love to you all, H
"And let us consider how we may spur one another towards love and good deeds..."
I would like to think that this could be apart of a summary of your small group experience. I have always felt you girls kept me on my toes and pushed me towards good deeds. I certainly felt my heart grow in order to love you more and more, as Christ compelled me to do.
I attended Latechurch with Hallie at some point last year and one of the sermon illustrations for the night has stuck with me all this time. The sermon series was about the Body of Christ (the church), and how we cannot go it, the faith journey, alone. God calls us to fellowship and communion, which we saw modeled through Jesus' ministry on earth not only to the people, but his ministry with the twelve disciples and his relationship with His three closest men (Peter, James, and John). The pastor that night used a flock of geese to represent the people of Christ. At one point he gave this statistic: geese that migrate with a group are able to travel 79% further than the goose that flies alone. Point: The community spurs on us, encourages us, strengthens us, and helps us succeed in our journey.
1 Corinthians 12: 12-18 reads:
Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.
Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.
Here are the points I really hope you walk away with:
1- You cannot live faith alone. Yes, your faith is a personal relationship with God the Father through Christ the Son, shaped by God the Holy Spirit. You have the ability to connect one on one with the Creator of the world through prayer, through scripture, through worship. However, just as God Himself models community through His triune nature, He created our very being to desire community and to function in whole when you are apart of His community. Together we can fly further, like the geese mentioned above.
2- When you depart from the community, you are still apart of the body. What is departure from the community? Not attending worship services and lack of involvement in bible study, a small group, mission, service, the life of the church. When you don't attend church (where ever you are during your college adventures) God is still there, worship still happens. However the community is missing a part of their body (whether you are the hand, the foot, the nostril), and you are mission the Body.
3- Why are you still apart of the Body? You became a part of the Body of Christ, and are now a smaller part of a much larger being. As said in the passage above you are an important part of the body, no matter how you serve the body. When you allow your prayer life, your habits, your walk with Christ to deteriorate you are allowing yourself to be unhealthy. And because you are apart of the Body others might see the Body of Christ as unhealthy, sick. You could also risk spreading this to other members of the Body. This is where your connections to small group can really help you. Keep yourself healthy, and tend to the others in need. Encourage one another, raise each other up in prayer, and serve The Body of Christ well.
4- Embrace the part of the Body God has created you to be, and the ministry he has called you to join. That's how you serve the Body well.
5- Geese are cool.
Love to you all, H
Wednesday, June 22, 2011
Random Notes on Leadership
These are notes from CBS leadership training from last year. I thought maybe one of you might gleam something from them.
- Focus on yourself first, because to make disciples, you must first be a disciple.
- You cannot lead others where you have not been- you can not lead someone to have a better prayer life if you yourself are not in prayer. You cannot encourage a daily quiet time if you do not have a daily quiet time.
- What we give to others must be an overflow of what God has given us.
- Contact work is more than a duty--it is the primary way to which you learn someone and grow the relationship.
- Jesus was sensitive to EVERY type of person- He was loving and did what others would not (woman caught in adultery); he took initiative in relationships (Zaccheus); He was unrushed, available, a great listener,a Truth speaker, and He tended their needs (the immediate physical and the spiritual).
- If you love God, you will love His sheep. If you do not love His sheep, then you lie when you say you love God. (1st John 4:20-21)
- Debbie Nash spoke about teaching Sunday School (I think?) to 7th graders and praying for patience. She said what she should have prayed for was love. "Only after loving those 7th graders did I develop patience with them."
- The greatest joy a leader can have is seeing one *youth* minister to another; this is the fruit of your work as a leader. (I substituted youth in).
Sunday, June 19, 2011
A Censored Valedictorian's Address
A high school valedictorian in Vermont was censored by school administers because his speech talked too much about the influence of Christ in his life. Kyle Gearwar, was asked to change all parts referring to religion, God, Jesus, and the like. He submitted to school authorities because "God calls us to do so," but instead of rewriting his speech, he just cut it out and only delivered half. He did thank his youth group and pastors. The full, unedited speech can be read at the link below. Kyle is certainly not alone, as we read several stories like this every graduation season. However, his speech is online so I have the ability to pass it along.
I have always enjoyed that despite that you girls came from 6 different schools (Veritas, SCDS, SAA, St. Vint's, St. Andrew's, Kingdom Builders) you bonded and built a group of friends, and you never really experienced lunch in the caf or hallway hellos together. This also means that we have attended TONS of graduation ceremonies over the last 2 springs. I am thankful that several of you attended Christian schools that allowed God and Jesus to be mentioned, but I wish I could have seen a valedictorian address as honest and bold as this one. (I am leaving out the experience of Liz's graduation, where Christ was clearly central to all 20 graduate speeches. Awesome!)
http://www.scribd.com/doc/58109460/Kyle-s-Speech
Friday, June 17, 2011
Skripture-Sketches
I think this might be an excellent resource for some of you (like Hallie) who have decided to start reading through the Bible. The Old Testament can be tough for some to read through because you have seemingly endless histories, and chapters made entirely this person gave birth to this person gave birth to this person........ You get the idea. I wish I had spent more time teaching you to see Jesus in the Old Testament during our small group lessons, but I think Jim does an excellent job of this and you could learn some great truths in his writings.
To start in Genesis chapter 1, you'll need to skip back to atleast page 55 of his Tumblr (link below).
Jim is a long term missionary. On his Tumbr he also answers questions and blogs about the country he is in. He writes to his unknown future wife all the time. He is very funny, but very much in love with Jesus. He makes references to How I Meet Your Mother, Harry Potter, The Office, and has an uncanny resemblance to the prince in Tangled.
http://skripture-sketches.tumblr.com/
Love to all my small group girlies!
Heather
Edit: Okay, seriously he just posted a picture from Boy Meets World. Katie and Desiree, you can thank me now. I am waiting...
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
To my small group girls...
I am excited to hear about all of your adventures through college and into adult life. Please know that I will always make time to listen to you or offer wisdom if needed. I promise to pray for you daily. I promise not to judge or love you less if or when you make decisions that might disappoint me- I would rather hear about it from you and offer a shoulder, so please reach out.
Keep Christ first, and success and the rest will follow. The habits you set in your first weeks of college tend to be the ones that you are still in the habit of doing by semester's end. With this in mind, find a church quickly. Find a small group or bible study group quickly. Get out there and attend campus ministry events to seek out new friends that will encourage and uplift you. Prioritize your work and studies, but never before your God. People will know you for your actions more than your words, so live in a way that shouts to all around you that Christ is King of your heart.
And finally, know that this blog is intended solely for you. I will update it at least once a week, pulling from other sources as well as my own heart hoping to offer something to bless you as much as you have blessed mine in the last 6 years. We may be unable to meet weekly for small group, but I am making a commitment to continue to offer some small group wisdom.
I pray that God continues to knit our hearts together, I also pray you all continue to uplift and hold each other accountable despite the distance and busy college schedules. I hope that we can get together for small group reunions as Sharon suggested, but even without that I know that you girls have created something deeper than friendship because you are apart of a forever family in Christ.
I will close with this today:
Romans 12:9-18
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
In HIS grip,
Heather
Keep Christ first, and success and the rest will follow. The habits you set in your first weeks of college tend to be the ones that you are still in the habit of doing by semester's end. With this in mind, find a church quickly. Find a small group or bible study group quickly. Get out there and attend campus ministry events to seek out new friends that will encourage and uplift you. Prioritize your work and studies, but never before your God. People will know you for your actions more than your words, so live in a way that shouts to all around you that Christ is King of your heart.
And finally, know that this blog is intended solely for you. I will update it at least once a week, pulling from other sources as well as my own heart hoping to offer something to bless you as much as you have blessed mine in the last 6 years. We may be unable to meet weekly for small group, but I am making a commitment to continue to offer some small group wisdom.
I pray that God continues to knit our hearts together, I also pray you all continue to uplift and hold each other accountable despite the distance and busy college schedules. I hope that we can get together for small group reunions as Sharon suggested, but even without that I know that you girls have created something deeper than friendship because you are apart of a forever family in Christ.
I will close with this today:
Romans 12:9-18
9 Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.10 Be devoted to one another in love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11 Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12 Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13 Share with the Lord’s people who are in need. Practice hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 15Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited.
17 Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everyone. 18 If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.
In HIS grip,
Heather
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