You can’t say/do that at church camp!

I’ve been on and led quite a few youth retreats in my day and over the years I have noticed one phrase that has withstood the test of time on these trips…

“You can’t say/do that at church camp!”

I heard it when I was a kid and I continue to hear it more and more as an adult.

You may be wondering “well what’s your point? There things that you should say or do at church camp” and I absolutely 100% would agree with you. There are definitely things you should not say or do at “church camp.” But I ask you this, what’s the difference between “church camp” and our everyday lives? Whatever your answer to the question may be, the correct is that there shouldn’t be any difference.

Why does the attitude on these retreats appear to be different than our everyday life? I can not answer that questions for you but I can tell you that if we continue to think like this (I can say it at school but not at church) it will lead to nothing good.

You may think this illustration is a bit extreme but take the “social drinker” for example. The social drinker it one is only drinks on occasions when around others who drink. But as time goes on the social drinker begins to explore drinking in other settings which can then lead to drinking on a regular habit.

Your “away from church camp” habits can dominate your life. What if you were at camp everyday? Well you are. God created this Earth for us to praise Him on. That’s what we do when we are at camp right? God created this camp for us to learn more about his love and worship Him constantly.

Live your life for Christ daily.

 

 

 

 

 

Sharing Christ’s Love at 4$/gallon

My gas tank was down to E. I pulled into the gas station and noticed that gas was priced at $3.95 per gallon. Outrageous was the best word my mind could come with to describe this. Well, I needed so I got out of my car hit the unleaded button and began to fuel up. As my tank was being replenished I noticed a man approaching another man inside of his car. The dialogue seemed brief and the man inside his car just shrugged his shoulders as if he was being asked a question he did not know the answer to.

As the pump stopped and I collected my receipt stating $45, the man was now headed my way. Given a specific even that happened in my past, I don’t take to well to strangers approaching me. He came up to me and said something like this,

“Hey man. I’m trying to get to the children’s hospital in Cincinnati. My daughter just all of a sudden had to have surgery and my wife is already up there,” so I thought ‘oh he has been asking for directions…I won’t be able to help him’ he continued by saying, “I’m kind of far from home, I just got off work and I don’t carry money with me outside of town because I pack my lunch and I need some gas. Could you help out?”

Unfortunately it is my nature to assume negative intent when it comes to things like this, thinking that he is probably lying. Regardless I decided I would help him. He kept saying he would mail me the money and I told him I had been blessed and that I wanted to share that with him. I told him that I wold pray for him and his family.

As I pulled the receipt out and walked back to my car I thought, it’s not the money that matters but the action. There is no way possible for me to know the intention of this man but when it comes down to it, it really doesn’t matter. What matters is that Christ love is being shared and that hopefully one day this man will think back to this day and see that.

So the next time you are faced with a situation like this, try to overcome your personal bias and do what we were called to do…share the love of Christ.

Let’s fall to our knees

At some point in the day let’s just fall to our knees and pray and worship.

 

Is your faith behind closed doors?

Every Tuesday I am involved in a bible study on campus. It is fairly consistent in who attends and we typically meet in a room in the activities center on campus reserved especially for our bible study. Due to scheduling conflicts a couple weeks we were moved to a more “open” area on campus. This location allowed an older gentleman, Paul,  who was passing by to sit in with us. He had some interesting things to say about his beliefs and his views on his faith. This was a great opportunity to witness to him that we may not have had if we were in a regularly scheduled room.

This week once again due to a scheduling conflict we met in the more “open” room. [This room I keep mentioning is kind of a lounge/study area in one of the buildings that students can walk through freely.] Not more than 10 minutes into a discussion a young girl, Olivia, walks by and states out loud that she is looking for the peace core meeting. After several minutes of pondering and confusion about where her meeting was, she asks if she can join us, after overhearing what we were talking about. Of course we said yes. She left to get a drink of water first and we immediately prayed for her while she was out of the room. I do not know where her heart is but the entire time she was engaged in the conversation, and told us a little about herself and being raised in a Christian home and going to a catholic school. She asked us if this was something we did on a regular basis. After we told her yes and explain it to her she expressed more interest and asked us if we could get her more info on a girls group (since typically the BCM split the groups up by grade and gender).

About 15 minutes later as we were about to wrap up a freshman guy, Sam, walked up and asked “What are we studying here?” We told him what we were studying and that he was more than welcome to join us. He seemed a bit hesitant to hop on in saying that he didn’t want to interrupt and that we looked like we had something pretty “formal” going on. Olivia chimed in and told him how she had just been passing through and just sat down without knowing any of us. So Sam joined us. He too was vey into the conversation (by the way our topic tonight was ‘Does God change?’) and found it very interesting. As we finished up Sam also asked if we always did this and if it was open to anyone. He said things like “So…if I just show up next Tuesday that’s cool?” of course we welcomed him, and seemed interested enough to come back.

Pretty cool story right? But how does it relate to my title, “Is your faith behind closed doors?” As we had newcomers join, for essentially what was the third time, Cody looked at me and said the exact words that I was thinking. “We should just continue to meet in this room!” This room didn’t have magical powers or anything, but it was different than our regular room….It wasn’t hidden. This room was out in the open where students passed by and through regularly and it gives them the chance to hear our conversations. It also says “I’m not afraid to talk about my faith whenever, wherever.” Gathering behind closed doors limits our chance to share our faith with others whom otherwise we may NEVER come into contact with. People such as Paul, Olivia, and Sam. Even if they only came that one time, it’s one time that they heard the Word of God.

It was a pretty awesome thing, and I will continue to pray for those people. I am also hoping that maybe we can just meet there from now on. I’d like for you to ask yourself, “is my faith behind a closed door?” If you answer yes, you are probably in the majority, and you probably never were aware of it. But now that you are will you do something about it? Will you take your “closed door” gatherings someplace public like the local coffee shop? We have nothing to hide and we should not be selfish with our faith. After all, part of our faith is sharing it with others.

Open up that door. Better yet…step away from it

 

The Best Days Are The Stressful Ones!

Today was a very hectic and while I don’t really considered myself a person who gets stressed out, it’s safe to say that today was stressful. Days like these are
VERY common in my line of work, and you know what….they are are always the best ones! These are the days I always leave work in the best mood with a smile on my face and the rest of my night is great.

Why you ask? Well I believe the answer is actually quite simple. These days make it easier for me to talk to God and simply say THANKS! Thank you God so much for this day, for getting me through, for granting me the strength to overcome all of the obstacles. These days are great opportunities to give glory to God, as well as share you faith. Imagine a co-worker or client says to you “It’s so crazy here right now…how can you be so calm and happy?!?”  (Insert your answer here.)

I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength.

God Gave Me You…

This is the original song I was talking about in the previous post.

 

I’ve been a walking heartache
I’ve made a mess of me
The person that I’ve been lately
Ain’t who I wanna be

But you stay here right beside me
Watch as the storm goes through
And I need you

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
If There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you

There’s more here than what were seeing
A divine conspiracy
That you, an angel lovely
Could somehow fall for me
You’ll always be love’s great martyr
Ill be the flattered fool
and I need you

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
If There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you

On my own I’m only
Half of what I could be
I can’t do without you
We are stitched together
And what love has tethered
I pray we never undo

God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
God gave me you for the ups and downs
God gave me you for the days of doubt
For when I think I’ve lost my way
If There are no words here left to say, it’s true
God gave me you, gave me you.
Gave me you

You make all things work together for my good.

Ever since I heard this song a few days ago it has stuck out in my mind. A lot of times in life we wonder ‘why’ whatever the situation may be. Despite what the author of this song may have intended, I think this song shows a good example of everything and everyone happens for reason. We may spend only 5 minutes with a person, and that 5 minutes is time God used to have some sort of impact in ones life. We may not know why we encounter the people we do for months, years, even decades, but know that God uses you to affect peoples lives and uses other people to guide you in your walk with Him as well.

As I said, I don’t think it was the intention of the author but I take this song to mean: Hold close to you brothers and sisters in Christ that have been placed in your life. Know that God has placed them there for a reason. Even if things turn sour God has a plan.

 

EDIT:

After reading over the song I had planned to attach to this post I decided not to. However I will post the song in my next blog so please read and listen. It still is really uplifting however  I heard a song last night that I wanted to share. Instead of deleting the post I had already typed out I just decided to make a note down here and share a different song :p

 

Nothing can separate
Even if I ran away
Your love never fails

I know I still make mistakes
But You have new mercies for me everyday
Your love never fails
You stay the same through the ages
Your love never changes
There maybe pain in the night but joy comes in the morning

And when the oceans rage
I don’t have to be afraid
Because I know that You love me
Your love never fails

The wind is strong and the water’s deep
But I’m not alone in these open seas
Cause Your love never fails

The chasm is far too wide
I never thought I’d reach the other side
But Your love never fails

You make all things work together for my good

 

Romans 8:28

 

When reading this it may seem jumpy but that’s just me not revising. It;s part of my personality that the LORD has blessed me with

Hebrews 12

…let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,²looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

These verses are pretty awesome, and self explanatory. With God we can persevere through anything. Because of the cross we can overcome and be forgiven of any sin.

Encouragement (for me)

Last night I had the great opportunity to step up and help lead somebody. We served free dinner at the BCM last night as a way to get students plugged in and informed. I over heard a student asking a volunteer about the BCM and what it was. She seemed to be struggling while telling him the differences between the different groups that meet on campus. In the past I would have just listen to the conversation and went about my own business. But now I realize that this is my business.

I had the awesome opportunity to tell Mike (the guy inquiring) about Tuesday night worship and small group bible studies. Turns out He was looking for a different night to do something so I was able to reference him to CRU and Cards for Christ. The great thing about that is that just by chance, somebody had handed me a Cards for Christ flyer earlier that today and for some reason (knowing that I would never attend since I’m not on class on Wednesdays) I help onto it. Turns out God wanted me to hold onto it to pass along to somebody else who needed.

I’m praying and asking for your prayers that I will see Mike again soon to get to share with him more.

John 15:12

This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.

Joshua 1:9

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified; do not be discouraged, for the LORD your God will be with you wherever you go.