Perserverance

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles.
And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1

Things don't always go exactly as we plan it.  Trips to the grocery store usually end up with at least one item or two that wasn't on the list.  Projects at work sometimes take a different turn than we were expecting.  Our plans for our children are the same way.  We have all these big goals and ideas in our mind of where we want our children to be by the time they turn 18.  Sometimes they work out the way we think but then other times life gets in the way of our plans.   Cancer or some other disease breaks into our perfectly knit plan.  Drugs or just plan old disobedience breaks the ties we worked so diligently to build.  It can cause us to want to give up.  Perseverance through these times and a true focus on what God wants us to do is the key to getting through life's ups and downs and twists and turns.  
A friend of mine recently lost his child after a few months of being able to hold their precious miracle.   Born with "defects" they knew he was only with them for a short time.  He recently posted he was having a rough day.  We gathered around him in prayer and he said he needed to persevere through this storm.  That the grace of God was bigger than his sorrow.  
Our children struggle with these ups and downs to.  They even at young ages have dreams.  We as adults sometimes forget this and try to give them our dreams.   It takes time to allow them to live out their dreams.  It takes patience as we watch them fail and it takes a caring spirit to help them stand back up and try again.    The video below is of this.   It shows what perseverance can achieve.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A1D2YuNnpqk

52 weeks

It may sound like a lot when you hear it but 52 weeks is short and flies by.  This week I took a bit of time and spent it with a few of our college students.  As we walked the city of Savannah I was smacked with a reality that they are grown up.  They are planning their lives and it isn't just a dream but they are realities that are being set.   

Time is slowly slipping away.  In a few years they will be paying bills on their own spreading the wings that we hope have been built on a good foundation.  But what if the faith and morals we have set in their lives didn't stick?   

Questioning and worrying about their future as we raise them I think is healthy and keeps us in check but we have to also lean on God for comfort and peace about where our children will be when they reach their adult years.  

As I live my life as an example for these kids and youth I pray that God will help them to use all the lessons they have been taught, remember all the morals they have been shown and listen to all the leading of the Holy Spirit.  

It was good to see some of the youth that have moved away for various reasons.  To see where life has taken them and to allow them to show us where they are now.  Good trip with good memories.  Investing time into our future is never wasted.

It was also great to teach them a bit of the Methodist history and introduce them to John.  Who looks well for his age ;)

Tuesdays Tweet

This month we are focusing on Media in the youth ministry.  The good, the bad and the ugly of Media.   I know that I am attached to my phone.  Between work, friends and family I almost always have someone to talk to or email to respond to.   If you allow it the technology will take over your world.  It will create an atmosphere where all you think about is that next tweet.

I saw a video on Facebook the other day of a child being born and it went straight to using technology and left its parents behind in the hospital.   We are not far from that.  We place phones in our babies hands to keep them occupied.  Our children use them and I dare say know more about technology than we do.  A few years ago I had to start taking phones away from kids before kids worship.  Our world is so fast pace our children crave those moments of slowness.  They may not tell you but their attitudes and actions will.  This week take a night an leave the phones at home.  I'm sure you will be okay and everyone else will to.

For our tweens and youth the phone and other technologies are great tools for them but can also be very dangerous.   Having a phone or iPod is a privilege and should be treated that way.  When I was a nanny I made each of the girls in my care sign a contract about their phone usage.  Here is an example of one:http://stickyfaith.org/family/blog/cell-phone-contract

This month our youth will be learning the fun things with technology and also the bad things.  On Sunday October 26 at 6pm we are going to have a movie night and will be showing the movie Finding Faith.  It was released last year and is based on a true story of internet safety.   You can find out more about the movie at this website: http://findingfaithfilm.com/   I would recommend that parents come and watch this movie with us.   If you can't come on that night the movie is on Netflix.

October Newsletter