A foiled kite flight

Oh my goodness, I need to update this blog more often. I forget too much stuff when I wait this long in between updates. Oh well, I'll try my best.

So let's see, a couple weeks ago (June 21-28), Tim, the youth pastor, was on a mission trip in Trinidad with some of the students so that meant that yours truly was in charge. The first Sunday(the 21st) Kristof the Intern Lumberjack (the intern from January till I came up. That's right; I replaced him cuz I'm better. haha) taught the lesson and he and I both ran the show as a whole. It went really smooth. Also, I smashed a tube of wasabi with a sledge hammer. It splattered everywhere. It was awesome. The kids loved it (or at least I know I did which is all that matters haha) That Sunday night, I ran Jr. High Fun night. Since it was Father's Day, there was only 6 kids, but it was still fun. For the lesson, I taught on 1 Timothy 4:12 - "Let no one despise you for your youth, but set the believers an example in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity." I definitely thought it was a good point to try to teach to 7th and 8th graders. God can use them no matter what age they are, and those 6 or so years of middle and high school can be such a great time for them not only to grow in Christ but to impact their schools and community for Him. Unfortunately, my talk really wasn't all that great that night. The stuff that was in my head didn't come out like I wanted it to when I said it. But the point still did get out there to them and I trust that God can use that still because thank goodness, God is bigger than our flaws. Pray that these young teenagers will realize that they aren't too young to be truly living for God. Pray that God will take hold of their hearts in a significant way and their passion for Him will grow and affect how they live their lives. That Tuesday (the 23rd), I led the Purpose Driven small group for the high schoolers. Oh wow, it was rough. Trying to get them to talk to answer the questions was like pulling teeth. Wow, long long hour. Pray that these high schoolers will not only hear from God during this study but that they will learn to be more open. They will learn that being real with other believers is what God has called us to do and is critical for our spiritual maturity as we walk with God. Pray that they will find a group of believers to be real with and go through life with, whether it is with this group or elsewhere. So after the small group, I was pretty discouraged, based both on that recent event and from my talk at Jr. High Fun Night on Sunday. During my quiet time, I came across Psalm 55:22 - "Cast your burden on the LORD, and He will sustain you; He will never permit the righteous to be moved." I realized that I needed to cast the burden of students' spiritual maturity onto God. Regardless of how I perceived my talk going or the small group going, God is still working. Also, even if both had gone extremely well, it's still ultimately God working, not me, and so I should still cast that burden onto Him. That night, I gave the talk for Grace, the college group. I spoke on being selfless, using Philippians 2:3-8 as my central passage. Oo boy, was I nervous. Apparently, I should never ever bring water up on stage with me cuz I have a nervous habit of taking a sip of water every other word. haha. But anyways, even though I didn't give the best delivery, it was apparent during the post-talk group discussion that my point still got across, which was encouraging. Before and after my talk, I was also told two encouraging things. Before my talk, Kristof told me something that Senior Pastor Dave had told him once: God loves the people you're speaking to too much to let you fail. After my talk, Andrew, one of the college students who comes, told me that regardless of how nervous I was or whatever else, I was obedient to God by getting up and speaking and God uses obedience. Both of those statements were encouraging to hear and good reminders that God is in control and it's God who is ultimately speaking to the people and doing the work. On Friday of that week(June 26), Kristof and I took advantage of the fact that Tim was gone and "decorated" his office with tin foil. It took a lot of time and a whole lot of tin foil but it was totally worth it. That Sunday (June 28) I gave the talk for Sunday School. I gave the same talk that I gave for Grace that past Tuesday but praise God, it went so much better this time! I was so much more relaxed, and I made sure not to bring water up on stage with me haha. There was gonna be a video of my talk but it messed up. However, we still have the audio, and that should be posted on the web soon. As soon as it is, I'll give y'all the link to it. That night for Jr. High Fun Night, I spoke on Philippians 3: 7-8, how we are to make Christ everything in our lives. Pray that the students will begin to have this heart. Later that night, Tim and the team got back from the mission trip, and Tim saw his office. His reaction was priceless. haha Um, let's see. The rest of the time since then is kinda a blur. The same normal stuff happened. I will say that one cool thing is that in the past week or so, I've definitely felt more comfortable here and more the ability to be myself. I've been able to connect with some people my age well. I'm thankful to God for that. Oo also, funny story. this past Sunday, for Jr. High Fun Night, we flew kites (it was cooler than it sounds haha). One kid, Jordan, had to use a spool of thread for his kite string cuz his kite didn't come with string. This fact meant he pretty much had unlimited string to use to fly his kite, and he used it. His kite was the highest I've ever seen in my life, seriously had to have broken records. haha. Sadly, in the tedious process of bringing the kite down (since there was like 500 ft of string involved haha), the kite crashed and became stuck in a tree. Oh well.
So upcoming things, this week, I'm gonna be making another Ask the Rapper video. It's gonna be awesome. I'm excited. Also, next Tuesday, I'm giving the talk for Grace. I'm gonna be speaking on finding your identity, satisfaction, etc. in Christ instead of other things. Pray that God will speak to me as I'm preparing the talk and speak through me as I'm giving the talk. Also, just in general, pray for the rest of my time here. I only have about 4 1/2 more weeks left(Wow, time flew by quickly) and I want to make the most of them. To be honest, in the first 5 1/2 weeks, I feel like I haven't necessarily let myself be used by God in every way that he wanted. Whether that's true or not, I don't want to feel that way at the end of the summer. I want to give everything I have to minister and to be used by God in this church and this area in these last 4 1/2 weeks here. So yeah, there you have it. I really am gonna try to update this blog more often cuz making this post was way too difficult and I'm sure I forgot to mention so many things.