We're Baaaack!

This past Monday, 32 of us (25 kids, 7 leaders) loaded up into vans and headed to Big Sur & the American River for the annual youth summer trip. For those who are wondering, we came back yesterday with all 32 people. Quite an accomplishment!

In all seriousness, the week FLEW by and I'm bummed that we're not still there (although I do feel cleaner and less sunscreen-ish here in my house). My hope for the trip was to grow to understand and relate to the kids in the youth group more (particularly the girls) and after 15 hours in a car...it's hard to NOT know them better. :)

I'm excited to continue working with them and to see them grow...not only in physical and emotional maturity, but in their love and desire for Christ.


Praise God for a safe, fun, and enjoyable trip!

"Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love...to be self-controlled and pure..." -Titus 2:3-5 (NIV)

Christ the Solid Rock

It's been a while since I last posted; things have been BUSY! Busy, but good. God continues to work and mold and shape my heart and I'm so thankful. Every day that passes sheds more light on the fact that I am saved and I should be suffering an eternity of punishment but I'm not because Christ took that on for me.

Lately, I've seen (in my own life and in other's) the desire to place earthly things above heavenly things. It's so easy to get wrapped up in these earthly relationships that will fail us every time. Why is it so easy to want to cultivate a friendship or a relationship with a boyfriend/girlfriend, but require so much discipline to cultivate a relationship with the Father? I went through a phase where I had to seriously be strict on myself to spend time with the Lord. That's not the case anymore, by the grace of God, but I see others struggling and sometimes lack the words to encourage. So if you are reading this and you are discouraged and/or discontent with your relationship with God and your desire to study his word and spend time with him, I pray you will be awakened to your need and want for a close, personal relationship with your Savior. He loves you more than anyone on this earth can. Spending quality time with him is the only way to keep your feet firmly planted in what's right. It reminds me of the song lyrics: "On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand." Friends, be encouraged!

For an overseer, as God’s steward, must be above reproach. He must not be arrogant or quick-tempered or a drunkard or violent or greedy for gain, but hospitable, a lover of good, self-controlled, upright, holy, and disciplined.-Titus 1:7-8 (ESV)

Praying for Our Youth

I was just realizing the other day that I have had my driver's license for over 6 1/2years, meaning 6 1/2 years ago I was 16. In some ways, it feels like just yesterday and in others, that was an eternity ago. I couldn't help but think about all the changes that have occurred since then, not in my life, but in the life of a 16-year-old. With the invention of MySpace, Facebook, and YouTube, there are a billion ways to "put yourself out there", whereas none of those social outlets were around when I was 16. Apparently, parental monitoring is not as strict as it should be, considering the things that are in the news regarding the aforementioned websites. Pornography is available at the click of a button and even "Seventeen" magazine has articles that no 17-year-old needs to be reading. It's a slippery slope we are on.

Lately, the youth of not only my church, but of our nation, have really been heavy on my heart. As I was looking on MySpace, I was browsing through some younger girls' bulletin posts and the words that these 14- and 15-year-old girls were typing for their friends (and undoubtedly some strangers) to see were appalling. These girls are obviously under the impression that being openly sexual and promiscuous is a benefit to them. I can't help but be so saddened and so afraid for these young girls, soon to be the young women of our generation.

It became so apparent to me how vital our role as "older" women is. (This is not to discount mens' role in young women's lives, by any means. It is just as vital, if not more so, for young girls to have positive male role models in their lives.) I have a 17-year-old sister, and obviously she is more open to discussing the real details of what goes on in High School with me than she would be with my mom. It's NOT pretty out there, seriously. We need to be desperately seeking God in this and praying for this upcoming generation ferverently.

Sadly, this is not just a problem outside the church (as is true with most "worldly issues"). The youth of our own churches need to be cultivated and shown a good example just the same. I grew up in the church and still had a rebellious streak in my teen years. Being a woman of God is an honor and we should serve as examples of God's love all the time, especially to our younger brothers and sisters in Christ.

Titus 2: 3-5 says, "Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled." (ESV)

Please be in prayer with me for the youth, who are seeing and experiencing things much beyond their maturity level.