Pause

I think I've finally caught up on sleep from this weekend's retreat! That means it's time to blog about it!

We had an awesome time-if you weren't able to come you missed out on some cool stuff. (This is where you feel sad for not coming). Although we had a blast with our free time, I'll save those stories for later. I want to use this post to rewind and take a second look (or first look for those of you who didn't make it) at our three Pause sessions.

Session One: What are your Worries?
Josh led a great first session. He challenged the group to think hard about what they worry about and why they worry about it. Do you worry about school, sports, dating, work, family? Can you really put your finger on why you worry about those things. On top of all of that, how much time do you think you spend worrying? In the long run, doesn't worrying about everything just make you feel busy and stressed out all the time?

Matthew 6:25-34 puts worrying into a great deal of perspective for us. Check it out. I think it really challenges us to re-think what worrying is. For example, if you don't have the trendiest clothes-do you worry about it? What about having a great meal every night? I think we need to re-think our needs and this will help us re-think our worries!

Session Two: Look for Truth
I got a chance to lead this session and loved doing it. It is one of my favorite topics. During this session I challenged the students to think of worry in a new way. I challenged them to realize that we simply cannot worry about things that have already happened! You only worry about things that might happen (or not happen).

Instead of thinking about the possible or potential, I challenged the students to think about the truth. Now I'm not talking about things that are true or real. I'm talking about truth. Check out John 14:6 to find out what truth is. It is Christ. Christ is truth.

I really believe that God calls us to seek truth, not seek worry. James 1:17 tells us that every good and perfect thing comes from God. Have you ever thought of how many things this contains? Think of all the good and perfect things in this world. Think of love, creation of new life, the billion shades of green during the spring! God has given us so many good, perfect things. God is showing us truth through this. Do you ever pause to recognize that.

Have times changed? At one point God came to Moses in a burning bush (that wasn't burning down-odd huh?). A lot of times we assume that God doesn't show us His presence and His truth like this anymore. I think He does. I just think that we don't pause to recognize it.

More often than not I think we pause to recognize things that either haven't happened yet (worry) or things that are real rather than true. For instance, families splitting up is real-but is it truth? Cancer destroying a loved one's life is real-but is it truth? I wonder if we pause to often to worry about stress about things, but we forget to pause to recognize God's truth throughout this world.

After Session Two we gave the students three chances to pause to recognize God's truth. We challenged them at each Pause to really look for God. We stressed that God was already there. You do not have to bring God somewhere. Click here to read more about that.

Our Pause locations were at Lake Springfield, White Oaks Mall, and a small park where we played kickball. At all of those places students really began to see that if you simple take the time to pause, to stop worrying and stressing, and to truly look for God you will find Him in loads of ways.

Here are some of the ways students said they saw God:

• The beautiful reflection of the sun on the lake
• The billions of leaves on the forest floor
• God's beautiful creation of animals in the forest
• An elderly couple holding hands as they walked through the mall
• A child's smile as he road on the carousel
• A newly engaged couple shopping for wedding bands
• A Kenyan man selling hand-made goods for a non-for-profit ministry
• A group of friends having fun at the park
• A friendly game of kickball
• Cheering on your friends even when they stink at the game
• Ayla kicking the game winning home-run
• New friendships forming at the park

Yea-all of those things are true. All of those things are free of stress and worry. All of those things reflect the truth of God-they reflect the good and perfect things God has created! I was so impressed with the students' ability to find God in those things.

Session Three: Love
This last session was the challenge session. How do we get ourselves to Pause? What do we do to Pause? Because here's the deal-we don't have a youth retreat every weekend that forces us to pause! We have real lives. We have school. We have work. The challenge during this session was this: Love God and love your neighbors.

You see, when we pause and recognize that God is truth and recognize that His truth exists all over the place we are loving Him-we are glorifying Him. It is the way that He has called us to live! Christ says in Matthew 22 that we are to love God and love our neighbors. This is how we are supposed to live. How do we do it? We pause. We recognize God is out there. We recognize that God is with us. We recognize that God has given us so many awesome truths. This is how we can love Him. This is how we can love our neighbors-show others the truth of God.

If you missed this weekend-you missed a great opportunity to Pause and see that God is truth. You haven't missed your chance though. God wants us to do this everyday. Take some time right now and pause. Take some time to recognize the truth that is right in front of you. Don't think you have the time? Trust me, you're wrong. At the retreat this weekend we paused for over three hours in one day. You have the time-just stop worrying about it.

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Get your Tassels Dirty

A few weeks ago at Youth Group we talked about putting your tassels on. Scroll down a bit and you can read the post about it. This week, we talked about the importance of getting those tassels dirty.

To get a true understanding of this we jumped back a couple thousand years to early Jewish schooling-Bet Sefer. Jewish students started school at about 6 years old. There first objective? Learn the Torah. Learn it so well in fact that you have the whole thing memorized. No biggy, right?

Wrong. The Torah is the first five books of the Bible-Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. Students would generally have this memorized by age ten. If they were unable to do this, their Rabbi would tell them to leave to go and learn their family's trade. If they were able to memorize it, they were quizzed on how well they could understand and apply it. If they couldn't do that well, their Rabbi would tell them to go home and learn their family's trade. If they could do all of that though (which few could) their Rabbi would take them on to the next level of schooling-Bet Talmud.

What do you do at Bet Talmud? Nothing too crazy-you only memorize the rest of the Scriptures which, at this point, was through Malachi. Yea, that's the entire Old Testament, 39 books of the Bible! If you couldn't do it, you were told to go home and learn your family trade. If you could do it (and could understand and apply it) you became one of the Rabbi's disciples. Once you were a disciple your goal was to be like your Rabbi. (Remember that!)

This stage of education was called Bet Midrash. At this point, the only students who were able to be with the Rabbi were those who the Rabbi knew could do what he did. To those who could do what He did, the Rabbi would say "Come, follow me."

That is what the student would do. He would leave everything behind and follow his Rabbi wherever he went. So much so that by the end of each day, the students would literally be covered in dust that the Rabbi kicked up as he was walking. They were getting their tassels dirty.

Then comes Jesus. This is where it gets interesting. When Jesus went to call His disicples he went to a bunch of Jewish school failures. Check out Matthew 4:19. Look at what Jesus says to these Bet Sefer dropouts-"Come, follow me."

Now, I don't know about you-but whenever I've failed I would do just about anything to have a second chance. Don't miss this-these guys were getting a second chance! Keep reading Matthew 4. It says that they left their nets and followed Him. They didn't take in their catch for the day first, they didn't say goodbye to their parents, they didn't pack their belongings. They followed Him. They became Jesus' disciples. They strived to be like Him. They covered themselves in the dust that Jesus kicked up as He walked. They got their tassels dirty.

Awesome, right? Yea, it really is. But what does that mean for us? Flip forward to Matthew 28:16-20. Jesus tells His disciples (those who are trying to be like Him) to go and make disciples of all nations.

In otherwords, go and tell all the other failures, the other sinners, the other no-names that I am here to give everyone a second chance-just like I gave you. Go and tell the world that if they so choose, they can follow me. They can learn from me. They can be like me. They can cover themselves in the dust from my feet as they follow me everywhere I go. They can get their tassles dirty.

Did you catch the other awesome thing? Scroll back up and check it out. A Rabbi would only say "Come, follow me" to those who he knew could be like him. He wouldn't say that to anyone who he knew didn't have that potential. Jesus has told us to come and follow Him. He believes that you and I do have that potential to be like Him. He believes that you and I can be His disciples.

You see, disciples would do anything to follow their Rabbi. They'd go wherever He went. They never wanted to leave his side. They wanted to show their Rabbi that they could be like him. Christ has called you to do the same. Are you following Him everywhere He goes? Are you doing everything you can to be like Him? At the end of each day are you covered in the dust from His feet? Are your tassles dirty?

(Enjoy the historical stuff in here? Check out Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell).

Book List

This post is short and sweet. These are books you must read.

Forgotten God-Francis Chan
Wild Goose Chase-Mark Batterson
In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day-Mark Batterson
A Million Miles in a Thousand Years-Donald Miller
Velvet Elvis-Rob Bell
Sex God-Rob Bell
Jesus Wants to Save Christians-Rob Bell

I have many more that I want to recommend, but I haven't finished reading them yet. I'll get back to you and let you know after I've finished.

Who would you invite over for dinner?

After the high school left the Great Pumpkin Chase last night I got to hear an awesome story. Larry and Donna (the family whose house we were at) told me how they became Christians. You see, it wasn't until about 30 years ago or so that they believed in God. In fact, they actually made fun of "the people that went to church". It was just a waste of time to them.

Then Donna got sick. Not flu sick though. We're talking the type of sick that is supposed to kill you. Seriously, she "shouldn't" be alive today. While she was sick was when they cried out to God for the first time. They told me that even though they hadn't ever believed in God before, they knew that someone or something was with them during that crazy time. They knew that someone had saved Donna's life. (We're not talking a doctor though). They knew this wasn't by chance.

Last night, after the chase was over, we had the students find a couple people and share with them their answer to this question: If you could have anyone over to your house for dinner (dead or alive) who would it be and why? We got some pretty good responses. Most of the responses though were dead people.

You see, there is something about seeing someone that we physically cannot see that intrigues us. Maybe it is a loved one that has past away, a former president or someone else famous, a writer whose works you love to read-regardless there is something almost mysterious about thinking about sitting down with them in the flesh. Have you ever felt that way about Jesus, though?

I know I have. I would absolutely love to sit down with Jesus. I have about a million things that I'd love to ask Him, but I'd also like to just listen to His stories in person. As I sit here writing this, I can even imagine Him reading the Bible like it is a story to me and a group of others. On the flip side, there are so many times when I wish He were standing next to me to give me the answers, tell me to not do something, or even push me to make the right decision. Sometimes I feel like life would be so much easier if He were with me in the flesh.

Then I read this. I hope you'll click and read that too. It's a beautiful passage where Jesus is telling the disciples that it is better that He is not here in the flesh. It is better that we only feel His presence through the Holy Spirit rather than having Him next to us, having Him with us in the flesh at dinner.

You see, Larry and Donna felt the presence of God when she was sick. If you were to ask them today, they'd tell you that they didn't deserve for God to save them. They ignored him for so many years, only for Him to come knocking on their door asking to have dinner with them when they cried out to Him. God is good.

Even though Jesus is not with us in the flesh, He is with us. You can have Him over for dinner. You can sit with Him. All you have to do is invite Him. He'll come to you through the Holy Spirit.

Not sold that Jesus and the Holy Spirit are one?
John 14:6-I am the way, and the truth, and the life....
John 16:13-But when He, the spirit of truth comes....

Inviting Jesus over for dinner doesn't just have to be the answer to a stupid mixer game. You really can invite Him over. Will you?

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Put your tassels on.

We asked the students last this question: what do tassels have to do with Jesus. I'll say this-we got some creative answers. One group of girls even came pretty close to the "right" answer. So what do tassels have to do with Jesus?

Check out this series of connections in the Bible:

• Numbers 15: 37-41 God tells Moses to have the Israelites attach tassels to edge of their garments to remember to live by His commands.
• Malachi 4:2 A prophecy is made about the healing power of Jesus, specifically the healing in His wings.
• Luke 8:43-48 A woman touches the edge of Jesus' cloak and is healed.

Now if you are reading out of an English translation (which I'm sure everyone is) you probably won't see the connections. However, if you looked at the Hebrew and Greek you definitely would!

You see, the Hebrew word used for tassels was Kanaaf. This was also the Hebrew word used for wings. Check out Numbers and Malachi again. In Numbers, God tells Moses to put Kanaaf on the edge of his cloak; in Malachi it is prophesied that Jesus will have healing power in His Kanaaf. Then in Luke Jesus does have healing power in His Kanaaf. How do we know? Check out where the woman touched Jesus-the edge of His cloak. Where did God tell Moses the Kanaaf were to be placed? Oh, that's right-the edge of the cloak. Crazy connections indeed.

Check out the next thing though:

• Luke 8:48 Jesus tells the woman to go in peace.

This is crazy significant! That is, if we are defining peace the way it was intended to be defined. Every dictionary out there defines peace as the absense of conflict or a state of relaxation (this isn't verbatem, but whatever).

Rob Bell defines peace a bit differently though in his book Velvet Elvis. Now, this doesn't make it the right definition necessarily, but it does put Jesus' statement of "Go in peace." in a whole new light.

After reading his book this is how I'm going to sum up peace from now on:
Rather than the absense of something or a state or relaxation I'm going to define peace as the presense and goodness of God, living the way God made me to live, and the relentless pursuit of Christ. It puts "Go in peace." a whole new way for me.

Rather than Jesus saying to this woman, "Go and do not be in conflict with others." I feel like He was saying "Go, and live the way that God commands of you."

Remember what those tassels were to remind people of? They were meant to remind you to live the way that God commands. (Numbers 15) How's that? Knowing the presense of God, living the way He made you to be, and relentlessly pursuing Him.

Maybe Jesus was looking at that woman and telling her, "Put your tassels on."

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Truth

John 14:6-I am the way, the TRUTH, and the life...

This Sunday we took a look at what it means for Christ to be the truth. With that, you have to ask yourself what truth really is. I shared with the students that when I get a sense of awe, I see truth.
For instance, when I see a huge purple harvest moon, the love of a couple reciting their vows, a new life coming into the world-yea,
those things put me in a sense of awe. Those things show me truth. Those things show me Jesus.
These feelings really help me know that there is something bigger out there, something that holds this whole world together. I know that God is there when I'm in awe.
Kavod is Hebrew for the 'weight or significance of God'. Rob Bell puts it this way: God is heavy; so heavy, in fact, that we cannot take Him anywhere. Bell argues that God is already there. I agree. As Christians, we often feel that it is our job to take God to people who don't know Him yet. This Sunday I challenged the students to change their way of thinking on that. Rather than trying to take God (remember-He's heavy), we need to be showing people that God is already there. How do we do it? Show them truth! Help them to get that sense of awe that shows you without a shadow of a doubt that there is something bigger out there holding it all together!
As Christians we need to be looking for God everywhere. It's our job to recognize God where others cannot seem to see Him. Genesis 28:10-17 and Exodus 3 are great example of this. Check it out.
In order to do this, I told the students they have got to get uncomfortable and go places where it is hard to see God. Once they are there, they have to point out truth. They have to point out Jesus. If you check out the pictures along the side of this post you'll see some ways that the students can get involved in our community. They can literally go to these places and point out truth to people who are there. They can go and show people Jesus!
We've already had 10 students sign up to go to these missions to give people a taste of John 14:6. We're challenging all of them to do it though. Will you go to these places? Will you go to other places and help people to see truth, to see Jesus? I hope you will.

I cannot take God anywhere. He's already there. It's time to show people that.
Where do you see truth? Where do you see Jesus. Tell someone.
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Which came first-the chicken, or the yoke?

The chicken came first. Without the chicken, there is no yoke. Oh, and the chicken is a Rabbi. Are you following?

Here are a couple things to know:

• The Bible is difficult-read Joshua 6, Ephesians 5, and loads of other passages. After you've read them, actually think about them. Innocent people dying? God telling people to kill? The roles of a husband and a wife in a marriage? Yea, the Bible is difficult. Not to mention that many people take the Bible out of context to prove their point. Did I mention that it is rather easy to take the Bible out of context? Think about the cults, crazy extremist religious groups, and racially motivated criminals that have used the Bible to "prove" their point. Yup, the Bible is difficult.
• A Rabbi's job was to study the Torah, meditate over it's words, and pray to God that He would give him the guidance and meaning of what he was reading. He was then to take this to his people and teach them. Remember, there was no printing press when Jesus was around. Not a lot of people had printed copies of scripture. (Shame-I have probably 20 Bibles in my office right now. Want one? Let me know). What a Rabbi interpreted from God's word was called his yoke. If you felt what a Rabbi had to say was right on, you'd follow him. If not, you'd follow another guy. I guess you could follow no-one though. Think they were called agnostics back then?
  
• If you failed at following the yoke of your Rabbi, he would tell you that you had abolished the Torah. If you succeeded he would tell you that you had fulfilled the Torah. Now remember, it isn't the Rabbi's words you are following. It is God's words that you are following. They just happen to be coming to you through the Rabbi who has interpreted them in a certain way. (Is it the right way though?)
  
• Jesus was a Rabbi. He was one of those new guys with a new yoke. New yokes were taken with a bit of skepticism at that time. Much like new churches can be today. Jesus had some pretty persuasive words about his yoke though. Check out Matthew 11:30. I'd be tempted to listen if someone told me it was easy! Anyhow, to be a Rabbi that was taken seriously, two other Rabbi's had to lay their hands on you. Jesus had hands laid on him by John the Baptist and who was that other guy? Oh yea, it was God's voice booming from heaven. Sweet. (Matthew 3: 13-17). Jesus was "accredited" if you will.
  
• Here is where it gets really interesting. Remember how I said that Rabbi's would tell their followers the abolished the Torah and fulfilled the Torah thing? Well, Jesus wanted to make sure that people didn't think He was on earth just to mess things up. So, he used their cultural language at the time and said something pretty comforting. Check it out: Matthew 5:17. It gets better though. Rabbi's also would tell their followers (the ones that had a really good grasp on living the way God desired) that they were allowed to bind and loose. (Look those words up for their Biblical context). In other words, they were allowed to try to decipher what scripture meant; specifically, what it meant to them. When a Rabbi thought that one of his followers was ready for this, he would tell them that they had the keys to the kingdom. Now, check out what Rabbi Jesus says in Matthew 16:19 or 18:18. He is giving His followers the authority to interpret scripture. He was giving them the authority to figure out what scripture meant to them! I'm one of those followers. I get to read God's words and try to figure them out.
  
• Here is where it gets hard. Never did Jesus tell us that what we interpret is right. When we read God's word we have to be willing to know that we can be wrong with what we think about it. It's called humility. We also have to constantly be seeking truth. What does it mean for me to love my wife the way Christ loves the church? (Ephesians 5) What was God's purpose in destroying the city of Jericho? (Joshua 6) Was Esther forced to sleep with the king in order save God's followers? Because that seems backwards. (Esther) Remember, the Bible is difficult. If we are going to seek the truth from it though, we must be reading it. We must be meditating over it. We must be asking God for it's meaning to us right here and right now.
  

People have gotten the Bible wrong. I've gotten the Bible wrong. I wish it wasn't that way, but it is. But I take hope in the fact that Jesus has given us the keys to the kingdom of Heaven. I'm following Christ's Yoke. The Bible is difficult. But if I'm going to follow God, I have to read it. If I'm going to follow God, I have to try and figure it out. If I'm going to follow God, I have to be willing to admit that I'm wrong. If I'm going to follow God, I have to earnestly pray that He'll help me interpret it in the way it was meant.

Are you really following the yoke of Christ? Are you really desiring the God show you truth in His word? Can you really say that Jesus has given you the keys to the kingdom of Heaven?

If you like what's in here-check out Velvet Elvis by Rob Bell. It'll make you think even more than this did.