Preparation

Preparation time can take a really long time before we reach completion. It is a time to gather the ingredients, a time to measure, pour, sprinkle, slice, clean and mix. In preparation there is a certain time in the preparation important to complete every step in order to have success in the finished  product (Ecclesiastes 3). From before we were even born God began preparing us (Jeremiah 1:5).  He had an outcome for us in mind. The beginning of the preparation process began in the mind of God, not the day we were born.  We must stop questioning what God has for us, we must just go through the process because we cannot even begin to comprehend what we will be (Isaiah 55:8). When you have a meal in mind you may start with a recipe and if you don’t have the recipe you may make a list. You then take into account what you have already and what you need. When God began preparation he did the same. He looked at what we had in us already, what our personality was like, our fears, our joys, our struggles and troubles (Jeremiah 17:10). From there He made a list of what He needed to add to us. When you make a list many will search out the store with the lowest price, the one with the best brand and the one that will do the job. The same is true with the Lord. In our lives, as we go through seasons, He searches out places we need to go in order to gain an ingredient and people we need to be mentored by to add other ingredients.  This is why it is so vital to us that we not remove ourselves from anywhere God has placed us, because it could ruin or delay the success of the finished product. If one cooks a soufflé too long it will collapse, if you take it out too early it may do the same. Anything you cook has times in the preparation where certain things are done. The same is true in our lives so we must cover every decision we make with prayer. If we interrupt preparation time that we have to start all over (Jeremiah 18:1-4) just like the work on the potter’s wheel. God is preparing each and every one of us for a distinct time in our lives were we are a finished product.

All For You: Giving

"So God, this is what happens when we live a life poured out, when we give ourselves away? It doesn't always feel good because it almost feels like loss toward the end, but the beginning of it is full of joy." I refer to my own life and a dedication I made to God to give myself away...my life...my resources...all that I am. Many of us sing that song and don't get the full idea of what it means. To every young person I come in contact with my heart immediately loves them. My mind immediately tries to think of ways to help them and the Spirit inside of me feels the hurt or the emptiness they feel. They may be unaware, but the weight of what they are dealing with rests on me because I asked God a long time ago to give me that burden and all that comes with it...that is a daring thing to ask of God because he will give you what you can bear...but I dare you. If you are reading this...I dare you to try God, but be sincere in what you ask because ministry is nothing to glory in...it is a place to get dirty not pretty. I'm bringing these things about myself out to bring God glory and to help someone else identify what is going on in you when you meet someone that is lost, hungry for God, hurting or needing to know they are loved. I want my experience to help someone else. How am I feeling at this moment you may ask? Honestly cut deep and burdened. I had the pleasure of having a young person in my life along with her family and they are having to move. They are the second family in a matter of two months, both of which I was beginning to form a close tight bond with their kids. I don't know how a mother feels when she loses a child or when her child is being ripped out her arms, but I think I had a glimpse of it. There is nothing like knowing God used you to make an impact in a young person's life by those arms that youtgh wraps around you so tight and by the burying of their face in your chest...the memories of how apprehensive they were when they first met you flashes through your mind and you say to yourself and to God that it has all been worth it. It may be hard to understand why we have to experience loss by giving, but we must look at it as a gain in many more ways. When we give ourselves away that is literal...every person that comes in contact with us should leave with some type of contribuation you have added to their lives. Giving is sacrifice especially when you really might be losing.

No Compromise

We live in a people pleasing society. One where we cater to others to be accepted into a particular social group. Where is the certainty of being comfortable in our own skin? Where did the insecurity come from? If we look all around us we may begin to realize our security, of who we are, is in jeopardy because we are fed by other insecure people. The insecure are people that have already conformed to the norm and accepted the overall belief of their social group without first checking to see if it is a belief that even makes sense. This can be applied to many areas in our lives, but I want to focus on Christianity. From what I have witnessed, myself  included, Christianity has become this big pool of compromise. When you are in a pool you have three options. Do I do everything I can to just stay afloat?  Do I get lost in the mass, get tired and drown? Or do I swim to the shore? What this relates to is Christians with their walk with God. The pool is the mixing of Christians with anything that would be a compromise between them and their relationship with God. Just staying afloat requires the bare minimum of us. Just staying afloat is doing just enough to get to heaven. When you look at all you have gained in heaven compared to on the earth you could very well be living from paycheck to paycheck. If you get lost in the mass you become one of the rest. You aren't readily identified any longer because you were tired of holding up the sign of who you were and who you are dies. That is what happens with compromise. We lose a sense of ourselves. For the person that has the guts to swim to the shore and be different kudos because you will make the biggest statement in God's Kingdom.  Aim to live a life void of unnecessary compromise in who you are to save who God made you to be in the end.

More than just a burden

We must be careful of claiming to have a burden for something when we don't have that burden at all. A burden is not a load we have to carry behind us, but a load we have the priveledge to carry before us...it is our reasonable service. Why did I ask God to give me a burden for youth ministry? I remember being a young person with so many issues...I still have issues...with an interesting back story I did not understand at the time, but knowing that I needed God more than anything.  I remember completing my first 21 day fast our church in Massacusetts had every year, and the church going through a great victory from it the Sunday it was to close. I had to be about 14 years old. I got on my knees on the hardwood floor in the sanctuary and bowed my face to the ground with tears streaming down my face. It was not just a time of worship, but I time where I identified that my life was not mine. I said some things to God I will never forget, "God I will go where you want me to go, do what you want me to do and say what you want me to say. Give me a burden for others my age so that they may be saved." I didn't know what to expect in the future but all I knew is that I had truly made a vow unto God. I have not been able to come remotely close to fufilling this committment until the last 6 months to the last year of my life and it is truly bringing me a sense of triumph in God. My burden has never been just a burden, but someting that stemmed from my own need. Young people to me aren't awkward, they are just figuring out who they are and are often misunderstood. We need to embrace and support them so they will grow healthy, so they can heal and so they know we truly love them. Youth don't normally respond to someone that makes every decision for them, but we really reach their ears when we ask their opinion. Young people should be valued as the individuals they will be...not the individuals that they are...why might you ask? Well let me ask you this. Did Jesus look at you at your worst and see you as you are? No he saw and sees the finished product so why can't we see these youth the same way?