IN the game...Day 28

"I'll bring you more than a song..."
(drawing of my son, Brian playing his guitar for worship on a family mission trip to Ensenada)

 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.  Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.  Each of you should use whatever gift you have received to serve others, as faithful stewards of God’s grace in its various forms.

^{1Timothy 4: 8-10}

^{For me, one of the great privileges and responsibilities of parenthood is deeply observing my children's personalities, temperaments, and the things that light up their eyes.  In doing so I have been able to see the gifts God has given to them  emerge...and  pray over them as they develop those gifts and work on their servant hearts attitudes with those gifts when it is so tempting to use them for their own benefit.} 

^{I hope my children's hearts will remain soft and pliable in God's care as he matures them and guides them in the ways he wants them to serve.  I hope the same for myself.}

Now, as my children are growing and moving onto college, I am thankful that I have an opportunity to encourage some students  in our youth ministry concerning the gifts God has placed in their lives.

I am excited to have ongoing conversations with the students about recognizing what God has placed in their hands to use for him.  I am excited to emphasize to the students and to myself,  that anything we do well ...music, leading, connecting, art, writing, listening, praying, encouraging...all of those things are from God and they have been placed in our lives for reason. It is not to bring ourselves glory, but to point others in the direction of Jesus. 

If the students begin to embrace the vision of the whole youth ministry using their gifts in an unselfish way for things bigger than themselves... things are going to really EXPLODE and students will become less likely to let their vibrant faith grow dull...and as a result, more lost and hopeless people will receive the hope of Jesus for all of eternity.   It is so much easier to walk away from something when you are just a spectator...but when you are in the game...when you understand your Coach placed you in the game for a reason, that the game has eternal consequences, and you are serving in the strength and power of God himself...using tools and gifts he has specifically placed in you to reach a lost world...well...then it is much harder to just shrug your shoulders and walk away!