Skip to main content

God Matters

I returned last Friday from a four day youth trip. Four days is shorter than usual, but losing sleep at the high velocity as we were made this trip just the right length. And while there was nothing quantifiable that I can give you about the results of the trip, I know it was good.

For the low price of $160, I sent teens off into the wilderness armed with just a Bible, a pad of paper, and a ball-point pen. We did this for two hours each morning while having no access to the outside world. Otherwise, I would have twittered about it.

Two hours of uninterrupted time was well worth their dollars. I started where many would have when you have a blank piece of paper and anywhere to go in scripture. "In the beginning, God..." (Genesis 1:1). We should take our cues from how God has written His word. God wrote about God. He wrote about Himself as if He were the main character. He did this because He, in fact, IS the main character. "In the beginning, God..."

After pondering that for a while, I flipped back to the end. In Revelation 21, I read God's words "I was the First, I am the Last."

Then I flipped to the Gospel of John and was amazed by what I saw, but that's another 3 months worth of blog entries. For today, and for every day, I know what matters is God. God first. God last. God always.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Accountable

I recently officiated a wedding. The ceremony was simple, lovely, and ended with another couple professing to keep the covenant of marriage. But it all started with a clarification...from me. At our first premarital counseling session, as I have done with every couple I have agreed to marry, I clarified a couple of matters. First, I officiate Christian weddings, where both spouses-to-be are professing Christians. I firmly believe that marriage is difficult enough, without adding disagreements about God into the mix. Second, as a minister of Jesus Christ, I believe the pastor’s role in a wedding is to represent the blessing of God on that union. So we have several sessions of premarital counseling where we discuss married life. It’s not that I have this imaginary card in my head, with a picture of me on the front and my stats on the back. (You know, like a baseball card.) Ok, I do picture cards. Pastor cards! And being a competitive guy, I want my stats to look good. The number of coupl...

The Facebook Maybe

Granted, I'm a pastor. I have Type-A tendencies. Ok, my tendencies border on freakish OCD behavior patterns, but... Few things bother me more than the Facebook 'maybe'. I suppose I could go on and on about the grey areas of our society and the refusal of people to accept absolute standards. I could discuss the great need of people to accept that what is wrong for one person is likely wrong for everyone. I should certainly be concerned about mentioning that someone might have sin in their life. But I don't believe the Facebook 'maybe' is quite sin. Perhaps if I were coming up with new sins, I would add this to the list. But alas... Some might think the Facebook 'maybe' did not exist prior to the Internet, but they would be wrong. When I was in high school and asked a girl out on a date, I would normally be told that if they had no other plans, if nobody else called them, if there was nothing good on television and their hair did not need washing, then per...

But I Wanted It

As I've said before , I'm looking for a new place to do youth ministry. Job searching in itself can be a full time task. Unfortunately, no one is paying me to look for a job. And when you haven't had to find a job in 15 years, the whole experience can feel brand new. And nerve-wracking. And quiet. So very, very quiet. I may spend a few hours here and there sending out my resumes and writing cover letters. But the churches I'm sending my information to have their own timeline. And sometimes that timeline does not involve acknowledging my presence. Which is fine, especially if one of the churches I've applied to is reading this right now. I understand those looking for youth pastors will have their own agenda and their own timeline. But it leaves me sitting here with a deafening quiet around me. I am choosing to walk by faith through these days, picturing God working behind the scenes (always behind the scenes) and holding His voice very still, until He is re...