I got there around dinner time. They had rented out all of Jillian's and had an incredible dinner for the different states. While saying hi to people, a lady came over to me and started talking. During the story, I want you to remember I have never met this lady. She was definitely a people watcher, like me. She talked as she watched people. She was alone at the conference and had made many conclusions while there. She procrastinated getting a plate and eating because she kept thinking. She didn't have anyone to sit with, so as we stood there she talked about her conclusions. She was frustrated with the fact that Christians/youth ministers look like they are lifeless. She didn't see anyone she wanted to sit with. I told her if I was going to eat, I would have eaten with her. Instead of leaving me, she continued to talk. She talked about how everyone there had come with someone else. Even as adults we gravitate towards those we know. We have little cliques and stay in our comfort zone even at conferences. We are afraid to reach out and get to know others. She talked of the groups of people and how they didn't seem to have much excitement about life, so she talked while trying to find someone with life. I tried to rationalize, "Maybe they are hungry or worn out from the day," but my rationalizations were pretty lame. It's true, we should share our joy. We should act as if we have purpose. Even if some parts of the conversation seemed to be depressing, it's true to the core. I found out she is the youth minister at a church in Dacula, which was really funny. I kept trying to find people that she could have fun with. I pointed out my old youth paster and her husband. She said, now they look fun, but they had to sit far away from us because her husband broke his foot falling off a roof. I kept looking for people I knew, but all of them seemed to get by me without me seeing them. I eventually was called away by Jeremy, to go see Katherine and Josh. I saw her later and she told me she found some people. Her message didn't stop there though. Francis Chan the speaker got on stage after Todd Agew, and he said, "I had something else planned to tell you tonight, but I'm going to go a different route. I don't know where it might end up, but I do have a point, I think!"
Francis Chans's Challenge:
Stop worrying. Why do we worry? When we pray why do we continue to worry afterwards? Think about the following situation in relationship to worrying. You have a big project that you pass on to someone else. Do you worry? If you are anything like me, you'd respond, "well, if I trusted them I'd know they'd get it done!" We stop worrying about those people because we know they always get things done. They are trustworthy. Think about in terms of yourself and God. You have something tough going on at work and you keep worrying about it. You pray that God would heal relationships, work through the situation, make things better, or whatever. After you pray, if you are anything like me, you still worry about it. I mean just after you gave it to God you start worrying about it once more. Why do we do this? Because we don't truly trust God with the issue. If we believed, truly believed, he was trustworthy we'd stop worrying just as we do with people. If we don't, there's a trust issue in front of us.
His next point goes along with that. "Rejoice ALWAYS, and AGAIN I say rejoice!" It's a command. It's not an option. Do it, God says, but he doesn't stop there because he says it a second time. How many of us walk around like the life is sucked out of us? What if you were told your name was in the Book of Life? What if you actually saw your name? There would be no doubt even in the deepest part of you. You'd be so excited for that day, week, month, and for the rest of your life. You'd live your life differently because you truly knew what the future held for you. People would truly see the difference and be challenged too. Why do we live our lives any differently now?
1 comment:
A good technique to use for worry...Pray about the situation and then visualize putting your worry in a gift bag or brightly colored gift box. Then hand the gift to God. The Bible says, "Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for us." So He is asking that from us We give it to him as our gift, then any time we start to worry about it we can say, "I gave that to God as a gift." and visualize your bag or box. The thing about gifts is....you don't take them back.
Post a Comment