Thoughts about Sunday morning...

Hello parents,

I just wanted to give you an update from the high school worship time from yesterday.  We looked at the topic of being busy.  Every person is busy.  In fact, I don't know if I've ever met someone who says that they aren't busy (I'm sure they are out there but I just haven't met one yet).  The main point of the message was this: as school is starting with every activity under the sun that students can be involved in, there is a need to set their priorities so that they decide what they do, according to God's direction, rather than allowing life to dictate what they will do.  Example:  It seems like one of the first things that gets pushed out of a student's life when school starts is Jesus.  I'm not saying every student, but I am saying many.  Why? Because he's always there.  They've heard that he is.  So, it's easy to set him to the side in order to do those things that are pressing.  However, the problem with that is HUGE! An intimate and personal relationship with Christ will affect every aspect of a person's life.  So to set him to the side for the temporary is foolish, because it shifts the focus off the the reason for life and onto different activities of life.

Please understand: I am not anti-sports in school.  I am not ant-band.  I'm not anti-drama, dance, or whatever.  However, I am anti-those things, and any other things, when they take Christ's rightful place in someone's life.  So I encouraged students to be involved in those things.  I told them to do those things, as well as their school work, as doing them unto Jesus.  However, I also challenged them with this: there may be times when Jesus wants them to skip a practice, game, performance, or competition for something else.  It seems like the schedules are the map by which so many walk that listening to Jesus' daily instructions are ignored because "God's will" is already on the calendar according to the school schedule.  Just like students will have to miss worship services and mission trips because of games and practices at times, I'm convinced that it is not beyond Jesus to ask those same students to miss a game/competition/performance for something else that he has in mind for them.

I know - it's kind of a touchy topic.  We had a lot of fun.  :)

Thank you for allowing us to partner with you as you raise your teenager(s) to love Jesus.