Amazing Song and Video

Take a minute to read these lyrics, listen and watch this video...it's amazing.

I went out walking
Through streets paved with gold
Lifted some stones
Saw the skin and bones
Of a city without a soul
I went out walking
Under an atomic sky

Where the ground won't turn
And the rain it burns
Like the tears when I said goodbye
Yeah I went with nothing
Nothing but the thought of you
I went wandering

I went drifting
Through the capitals of tin
Where men can't walk
Or freely talk
And sons turn their fathers in
I stopped outside a church house
Where the citizens like to sit
They say they want the kingdom
But they don't want God in it

I went out riding
Down that old eight lane
I passed by a thousand signs
Looking for my own name

I went with nothing
But the thought you'd be there too
Looking for you

I went out there
In search of experience
To taste and to touch
And to feel as much
As a man can
Before he repents

I went out searching
Looking for one good man
A spirit who would not bend or break
Who would sit at his father's right hand
I went out walking
With a bible and a gun
The word of God lay heavy on my heart
I was sure I was the one
Now Jesus, don't you wait up
Jesus, I'll be home soon
Yeah I went out for the papers
Told her I'd be back by noon

Yeah I left with nothing
But the thought you'd be there too
Looking for you

Yeah I left with nothing
Nothing but the thought of you

Forgivness

                                                                                                                 ^{1John 2:1-14}

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense—Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world. We know that we have come to know him if we obey his commands. The man who says, "I know him," but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God's love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did. Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard. Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining. Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness. Whoever loves his brother lives in the light, and there is nothing in him to make him stumble. But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness; he does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded him. 
I write to you, dear children,
      because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name.
 I write to you, fathers,
      because you have known him who is from the beginning.
   I write to you, young men,
      because you have overcome the evil one.
   I write to you, dear children,
      because you have known the Father.
 I write to you, fathers,
      because you have known him who is from the beginning.
   I write to you, young men,
      because you are strong,
      and the word of God lives in you,
      and you have overcome the evil one.

I must admit that God's forgiveness is something I have a hard time understanding. A times it's to the point that I forget what he has forgiving me for. I must admit I cuss more now then I did when I was a teen. Getting in trouble is something I avoid and I still have a hard time when I believe I am in trouble. For whatever reason I fear that I am going to be in trouble with someone. After my salvation that fear kind of rubbed off to what I believed about God. I had a fear I was always doing something wrong when it came to God. I stopped listening to "secular music", I only watched pg movies, and never went near alcohol. As I did that I became very judgmental of those who did and believed that I walking right with God.

Now it is awesome because of God's grace and forgiveness I have been set free from that mindset. I still struggle with his forgiveness at times. However I have the ability to not worry so much about what people might think or fear making someone mad. I have found away to find God in all of his creation and understand that their are struggles at the same time we have freedom. I have found that so much God can be found in what we call "secular" and that God does not require or desire a label on him or his people. How amazing of a God is that??

We serve a God that fights for us and a God who knows. because we have bought into the view point that others gives us of God and not what is in scripture we miss some of the biggest blessings that God has for us. We serve a God who is a fighter for the poor, widow, orphan, and broken. In all reality God is for those others have forgotten. But we also read he is for the rich man, those who appear to have it all together. Man, when we really spend some time with God we see that God is for all of us and he pleading for us to come to know him.

As we serve and worship my prayer is that we remember that we serve a God who came to heal and to bring us a great joy. He is a God who allows things to shake up our life to show us he is God and he is worthy to be worshiped. My prayer is that we also start to see God at work in all things for his will. I pray that we start to pray for others before we judge and assume we know all. Please God help us all!     

What are you going to do about it??

That is a tough question if you stop and think about it?? I have been challenging our teens to ask the same question. Before I start I must admit that it took me a while to admit I am not good at some things in life. I say that because I believe it is a partnership in the christian life. I have also had to take some time to understand and believe that God has called us all to different things in life. But when we sit around and gripe and complain about something, but yet not do anything about it...we must ask God to show us what to do.

I here all the time people complaining that people live in this country and do not have the ability to speak English. Also that the government pays for refugees to come over and they are using our tax dollars to live in America. I always knew in Abilene we had a population of people who are from a different country, but I never knew that I could play apart in helping them learn our culture. At stop the violence I was able to hook up with IRC and started learning what they offer these people. It really is amazing because the people who are moving to America from these different countries take out a loan or save money to come over here. The government doesn't pay a time. When they move into an apartment the buy all the stuff off of donations and they are giving money to live on for 6 months and then they have to start supporting themselves.

I also learned that IRC lost their grant to have a staff member to teach ESL, so who are they leaning on?? It's the church and the people in the church. For whatever reason God really started showing me that I was to be apart of something with them and our youth. It's awesome because we have been talking about it this was on one of our youth facebook....
  

Zai cody and i met some very intresting foreign exchange students today and i hope to see them tomorrow!

I found this to be cool because they invited them to church and they said "no" because they were Buddhist. But the bright side is they are building a relationship. I pray this continues and that they make an impact. At the same time we have the chance to "adopt" a apartment complex or a family to make an impact. Most of these people do not have transportation and going to an ESL class is hard, but we can do so by going to them. I am praying about how this looks, but I believe these people need the chance to live in a place of freedom.  
  

Joy

Well this blog post could get me in trouble, but I am okay with that. For the last couple of years I have struggled with the idea of what is to be a Christian and finding joy in that. I believe my struggle started when God pulled me out of the christian bubble and placed me in the world to be a light. The struggle was hard, I started understanding how tough an American class room in in America. I started seeing that people had more pressing issues then the style of worship or what is the right way to do church. This became a struggle and at the same time a great joy in my life. For the first time God was really taking me into new places. I started to see that the American church was really doing allot of good in the world and people were being changed. At the same time I also started seeing that our focus was on style and performance.

I remember taking a step into the JDC center and to be honest with you scared and a little angry because I felt I was being put in a place to do drug prevention that was full of kids who didn't care. Well I must admit I walked out changed by these kids the first day. Through the two years I spent with them and loving every moment of it God really did a work in my life when it came to joy. What really hit me is how we as people become so selfish and we believe we have ownership of all. When I rad in Acts 4 it tells me that the first church did it differently

 ^32-33The whole congregation of believers was united as one—one heart, one mind! They didn't even claim ownership of their own possessions. No one said, "That's mine; you can't have it." They shared everything. The apostles gave powerful witness to the resurrection of the Master Jesus, and grace was on all of them.
 ^34-35And so it turned out that not a person among them was needy. Those who owned fields or houses sold them and brought the price of the sale to the apostles and made an offering of it. The apostles then distributed it according to each person's need.
 ^36-37Joseph, called by the apostles "Barnabas" (which means "Son of Comfort"), a Levite born in Cyprus, sold a field that he owned, brought the money, and made an offering of it to the apostles.

Sitting with those kids and even having God tell me to spend my lunch with them really brought be great joy in life because it was showing me that these were just not someone else's kids, they were all of ours. I really get a joy out of seeing Christians take responsibility for others and their needs. Now this is where I get into trouble....

I am starting to believe more and more though that for whatever reason I fear man and not God. I feel at times this still becomes a game. Is their really a difference difference between Secular and Christian? I am all for Godly things, but I am now all about of being in the world but not of it. I see more and more that God gave me the gift of simply seeing the good past all the mistakes people make and for whatever reason I get a big kick out of seeing someone take small steps to a life of freedom. But it amazes me how we as people listen to what people say and not what God says. I wonder what we would become if we simply went to our Bibles and said this is the way it should be. That is what we started doing in our youth group and it changed everything.

Today I heard a student say "Hey I have some reading material for you and I think we should get together for a Bible Study." The student he asked is one I am working one on one with and I almost went into tears because one of his peers asked and took the time to go and buy a Bible for him. I told our students to not just bring their friends to church, but to pray for them and show them the love of Christ. Their are many more stories to be told, but when I hear that it really does bring me good joy. But I also think about that tough year and praise God for it because what I am telling you is what I learned in that time.

My prayer is that we all can strive to be more Christ like, but to also understand that their is so much work to be done. I pray I can be the person tp practice what I write here....I am begging God for that!

Interesting Blog from FYI

When 15-year-olds were asked what adults who really “get” them (understand them) do to show it, here’s what they said, as reported in the Search Institute 2010 Teen Voice Report:

Cool Youth Ministry Article "Growing by God’s Nudge"

By Kim Messinger
When my youth group comes up in a conversation, I know the question will follow, “How do you get your kids?” It’s a longer story than they may want to hear. But I never tire of telling it.
The story begins with a nudge from God to give one message to a group of skateboarders that had recently lost their youth pastor. I was in my forties and had hung up 20 years worth of all-nighters and retreats. One cold December night, an “up for a challenge” church elder and I stood before those skater teens, as they demanded answers from me, an outsider who didn’t even attend their church. One look told me they needed the love of Jesus.

That night about four years ago the group was about 20 students; it's now more like 100. The key to this growth has come through knowing and meeting the needs of the kids who walked through our doors. Our youth leaders didn’t have time to eat supper before youth group began, so we would bring meals for the adults to share. It wasn’t long before the kids were talking about how good the food smelled and told us they hadn’t eaten either. I am not sure why I was surprised. A majority of the parents in our town have at least a one hour commute to work, leaving many teens alone and hungry after school. The word got out in our congregation and a youth meal team formed to prepare and serve dinner! We did not require the kids to stay for the service following the meal. We just wanted to get them in the doors so we could love on them. Through that open door, God started opening our eyes as well.
By the time we were averaging 50 teens at our youth group, things had changed a bit. We were about a 95% unchurched youth group, although we have since banned the term “unchurched” when talking about our kids. We started using the terms “exposed" and "not exposed" to Jesus. The majority of our teens walked to youth group, in all types of weather. They are the third and fourth generations of families who have had no relationship with God in their homes. Bible Quizzes were out, but new outreach opportunities were in. As I kept looking for advice for “the model” of ministry we were experiencing I just couldn’t find the right book. So we kept praying to be God’s hands, eyes and feet. He was writing the book.
We faced a lot of challenges. There were times in which twelve youth group leaders and a $3,000 budget didn’t seem to be enough. We couldn’t transport the kids because we didn’t have enough cars. So, we prayed for a FREE bus. God answered our prayer with the most beautiful yellow school bus I have ever seen. It takes an understanding pastor and board of elders to love a group of kids that occasionally puts a hole in a church hallway or loosens doors off of their hinges. We had all the perfect pieces fitting into our puzzle.
By the second year the numbers were growing weekly. We knew we would soon be reaching 75 and with that came challenges. The parole officers knew where to go on a Wednesday night to talk to their kids. We praised God that we could work within the system. We started connnecting with the teens on a deeper level and they began to trust us with their "stuff" -- cutting, drugs, alcohol, and poverty. Once again our church followed the call and began a food bank. We stayed faithful to God’s plan of giving them Jesus, even if it meant reinventing things.
We didn’t realize the first time we took them Christmas Caroling they wouldn’t know the hymns and carols, so the next year we practiced. We didn’t know when we said “Youth Retreat down payment of $10” that many would not be able to afford the down payment. Our church congregation responded again by sponsoring students to attend the retreat. When we opened a skate park we didn’t realize we would have such a crowd that a second youth group could be started just with skaters. The lessons we were learning went on and on.
We run our youth service like many other youth groups. We start off with worship music, which includes some of the teens playing and singing in the band. This music was so new to the majority of our students that often we felt like we were singing strange songs in a strange land -- to them, we probably were. Following worship 40 to 50 high school teens meet for a combined lesson, while middle school girls and middle school boys meet separately. Special speakers, game nights, group events to get to know one another jam-pack our year.
The first night we hit 100 teens there was no confetti falling from the sky or blinking lights. We knew it looked a bit heavier on the kid side than leaders. So we went back to the congregation again. We now have a team that hangs with the teens prior to the meal and a youth team that minister during the service. We have no full time staff, but a ragtag bunch of leaders ranging in age from 25 to 60. Our church has sidewalks dented from grinding and a sanctuary rug that is well worn from sneakers, along with a youth group straight from the heart of God. We have seen lives changed through the love of Christ as stone hard emotional walls have been torn down. Teens are walking in our doors on a Sunday and some have brought their parents. Even still, we consider this a model in the making.
Out of everyone, I am the one truly blessed. God allowed a 40-something mom to be part of a ministry that is experiencing what can be done in the lives of teens when a church really listens to the call of God in their town. For me it is a perfect fit!

Chainbreaker

Wow, what an amazing summer! One of my best that I have ever ever experienced.

Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.

For whatever reason in the last month or so that has hit me like a ton of bricks. I believe for one of the first times I have been able to witness this not only in my life, but the life of others. I really took some time away to truly seek God in a new way. For so long my life was all around doing the right thing and really believing that is what made me okay with God. I knew this wasn't okay, but at the same time I didn't know how to change it. But then then I found out that God didn't want just parts of life and control of it, he wanted it all.

That was the hard part, was the fact that God wanted all of it and I was no longer in control of me. Around April is when I really started giving everything over to God. my job, relationships, student ministry, and family. This is when I started to see chains start breaking in people life. When I told God I was okay with a small number of students or a large number. When I told students instead of inviting their friends to church, let's pray and ask the holy spirit to work in their life. The students took that challenge and instead of us having behavior problems, the students come around and say what is truly going on in their life. My family has been rescued from control and now is starting to understand the love that only Jesus Christ can bring. Instead of trying to be relevant with people, I am just honest.

Why did this take me so long? Not sure and I believe that is for me not to know. But what I do believe that I have been able to experience God's mercy and Grace. For that I am thankful and I believe this is something that will not only change me but also others. My prayer is that allow God to have full control.

The Desire for more

I  believe as people we have a way to desire for more, and it can be good and bad. I believe we should have a desire for God and will to be done. I believe we should have a desire to do our best and be thankful for what God has done for us. At the same time I believe our desires can get into the way of God's plan for you and I.

Today I had a meeting with IRC in Abilene talking about our youth group doing some volunteer work. While I was there the volunteer coordinator was telling me and a student stories about these people. One was the 16 year olds wanting to go through driver's education because all American's drive. The problem some of these people saw a car for the first time a year ago. I was thinking about how we feel we all must have a car and we have this desire to buy a new one every so often. At the same time it is something that we can live without.

I believe it is okay to have nice things and to do fun stuff. I also believe that can leave us empty if we are not going for what God desires for us. The Bible tells us that God has to be the # 1 priority.