Young Life in Slave Lake?

I want to bring Young Life into Slave Lake.

There. I've said it out-loud. I just have this sense that I can't shake that a lot of teenagers are slipping through the cracks in this town. We have visited four different churches here and all of them were half-full and of the people that were there - there were barely any youth. Why is that?

I've already met some really great teenagers here - Christians and non-Christians. I would love to see Young Life become part of their lives. To see them become part of something that is so relational and God-focussed and oriented about meeting kids where they're at.

Back in Stouffville, we had a Young Life leadership team of volunteers (ranging from age 18-40+). There was also a full-time and part-time leader. We really got to know the high school kids we worked with. Whether it was going to their games, meeting them at Tim's or Tin Cup, going to movies, or just chilling on a Saturday - we got involved in their lives. It was their relationships with us that drew them to Young Life and their relationships with their friends that drew their friends to Young Life.

Suddenly Christian kids weren't compartmentalizing who they were at school as someone different from who they were at church. Suddenly their non-Christian friends were asking to come check out Young Life and these kids had to really live their faith. Young Life provided a safe place to ask questions - Does God exist? Why would He love a kid like me? Who is Jesus? - questions that were worked through over the course of a year - not all at once in a youth service. I feel its so important that kids really get to see the Christian life lived before they just take it on - to actually know what they're getting into.

Without being too specific - I can just say that from what I've seen so far here in SL, a lot of kids are not being reached by the churches. I see real potential for Young Life to start up in Slave Lake.
I know it would be resisted by some - probably the churches as churches often feel threatened that Young Life wants to steal their kids - but the ironic thing is that Young Life isn't after the kids saturated in the church life - Young Life is seeking out the kids who would never feel comfortable stepping foot in a church, who can not relate to the type of church services and youth services that are going on. Those are the kids I have a heart for - the kids that both Jay and I want to connect with.

And so if you read this and feel God moving you to pray about it - please do. Jay and I are both very convinced that we are to play a role in bringing Young Life into this community. We are not sure how to go about it - but we know first and foremost we just want to see what comes of building relationships with the high school kids here.

I was feeling really overwhelmed last night about the whole idea and just really wondering if I'm in over my head and so I flipped open my Bible to a random page and said, "Ok God, tell me something." I haven't done that in a while so I figured - why not? There was a verse that I had put bars around and this is what it said:

Proverbs 19:20
"Listen to advice and accept instruction,
that you may gain wisdom in the future.
Many are the plans in the mind of a man,
but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."

So that pretty much sums it up - Jay and I need to keep praying about this whole thing and seeing who he puts in our path to give us instruction and hopefully there will be other people excited about the potential of seeing young life come here. And above all - just to keep being open to God's purposes in all this and not getting caught up in my own visions and plans.

www.younglife.ca    > if anyone of you are curious to know more about Young Life - here's the overall website

are we becoming like the people of Babel?

Was reading BBC news and found this article. After reading it, I felt sad. And it reminded me of the Tower of Babel story in the Bible.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-16536598

I think technology is great but some of the ideas make us sound as though we are trying to play God. And that is a scary concept. More and more, you can see the world trying to eliminate God from our everyday lives. A world without Jesus is a very scary world to me.

Maybe I'm taking this to the extreme. Your thoughts?

shiny nails, a new believer and apathetic Christians

"I got to be a part of something incredible today. Leading a guy I just met to Christ."

If I said that to you, what would be your reaction?

That's awesome.
Incredible!
Wow. How did it happen?

or would it be...

Oh that's nice.
Oh yay.
Well, I've seen that guy here before alot. It might just be one of those recommitting things.

Sadly, I see a real complacency in us Christians. That last comment was made by a woman who I shared this with and I immediately responded indignantly "Well it's not our place to judge that," to which she said, "Oh well yes of course, but you know what I mean.' I said ok and walked off to prevent myself from saying something I shouldn't.

Why do we Christians not get excited and estactic over new believers? Where have we lost that excitement? We are so excited to share with other Christians the way God has challenged us and yet when someone we know struggles goes and repents we instantly question if they really meant it and we don't get fully excited.  I know I myself am guilty of this and I want to challenge any Christian who reads this to think about how you have fallen short in this degree.

Christianity for alot of us has become something that is ours and we get stuff out of it and we enjoy this relationship with God but as someone once described it - its like we are sitting in a hot tub, just saturating it and we get all pruny in our faith cuz we're hogging it to ourselves.

This guy that became a Christian this morning - he may fit the stereotype of someone struggling but who flippin well cares. I told him - see all these people in this church. They all look good but I can guarantee you they have struggled with stuff as you have and have done things they're not proud of. In fact this analogy came into my head and maybe it's silly but I'll share it anyways. I just put on fake nails yesterday and this morning my thumb nail fell off. If you didn't see my thumb you'd think I had these classy slick looking nails. My thumb nail is a different story. I've bitten away at it so much it's horrible looking. In fact all my nails look like that . Jay goes crazy when I bite my nails and I admit they look horrible. God gave me this comparison that a lot of the people in church this morning looked like my fake nails- well polished and shiny, spotless Christians. This guy who became a Christian looked more like my thumb nail - shabbier, not churchy and looking completely uncomfortable and out of place. But really all those other people look like my nails underneath the fake layer - we are all shabby and rough looking on the inside and yet we work so hard as Christians to convey a polished look.

I am not drawn to polished Christians . When this guy told me he had been struggling with alcoholism but had been sober for several months I was so honoured he would be so open. Often its the people who are most broken who are vulnerable because they recognize their brokenness. Most Christians are so good at feeling right with God they are so untouchable.

I am the type of person who is closest friends with people who wear their hearts and struggles on their sleeves. I just can't relate to people who have it all together and are just dandy. So if you're like that, we're prob not close. I've been accused of being too deep ha but so what - I was able to tell this guy that I've struggled with depression-type thoughts, anger, bitterness, swearing, and suicidal thoughts in my life and that God has broken through that stuff for me. Granted the swearing is still a struggle and the easy anger but hey I told this guy straight up as I'm telling you that God has been real to me in the darkest of places.

Please if you read this don't just walk away and think oh man Beth's got problems - I mean I do ha I'm pretty messed up sometimes but please be challenged to be honest with where you've struggled because God will use your imperfectness to reach others for Him.
And truly think to yourself the last time you told someone about Jesus.

When was the last time you shared the gospel?
When was the last time you chose to do your own thing over God prompting you to reach out to someone else?
Do you get excited when someone goes up at church to be prayed for?
Or when you hear of someone becoming a Christian?

After this guy accepted Jesus into his life this morning I hugged him and said, "Guess what, you're part of a family of God now. You're my brother. You're the pastor's brother." And do you know what he said? He said, "Wow, a new family. That's great cuz my old family threw me away a long time ago."

Listen here people  - there are so many blessings that God has given us that we take for granted. I know cuz I do too most of the time but I am being convicted now to challenge others in this regard because I feel very strongly that we get more excited about hockey games or tv shows that we do about someone becoming a Christian. And for those watching from the outside, if that's doesn't excite us, then what about God does?

Untangling my walk with God...

Living in a small town you hear things about people. Things that have been carried from one person's lips to another, possibly getting tangled up in speculation along the way.

My dad challenged me the other day to look back and remember what God planted in my heart before the move to Slave Lake - things he told me about this place and what it would be to me.

The main thing I got from God was that Slave Lake was to be a mission-field - a place that he would use me out of my comfort zone. When we gave up the missionary dream with MAF, we were afraid that we were being disobedient to God. But he affirmed this move to Slave Lake as obedience.

When I arrived, the first job I applied to was given a face of over-exuberant Christianity. I was told that it was a Christian atmosphere and was given to playing only Christian music and handing out tracks. Quite frankly, this turned me off. I wasn't craving to work in a 'Christian' environment. My last job was in one and it was undoubtedly a real jewel in that it was a very genuine Christian workplace. But I have worked in a lot 'Christian' workplaces and have seen the difficulty and the bumps in the road when people try to mix Christianity with business. I just felt that it was time for me to break out of that bubble in my work life.

It is easy when you have grown up in the Christian culture, to say you're a Christian and look like a Christian and talk like Christian. But it is a lot harder to go and actually be a Christian in a place that is secular. To be like Jesus instead of just talking about him and I was craving this challenge in my own life.

So, I applied to a different job with this perspective in mind and God confirmed it almost immediately. And this job has already challenged my spiritual walk in the way I react to people, to situations, to the overwhelming overload of info that I am expected to know and work with in this new job.

I have struggled already with swearing out loud at my desk, with certain personalities at work, with feeling overwhelmed and frustrated. These are all things that you experience in a Christian and non-Christian workplace. But the main difference is that noone is expecting you in a non-Christian workplace to 'act' like a Christian. It is normal to swear out loud, normal to avoid certain people, normal to be ok with all that. And thus, here is the point where my faith in Jesus is actually put to test.

Do I listen to or join in gossip or do I rise above it and just pray about it? Do I get frustrated or bitter with people or do I pray for them and commit frustrations to God? These are precisely the things that I am happy that I am being challenged on.

Going back to what I first said, about speculation getting tangled up with gossip.
 Coming to a small town, where everyone knows everyone's history and faults and messups  - I want to choose to not giving in to the need to know all that. Rather I want to try and take people as they are, respect the red flags and discernment God gives me about them, but make sure to try and love them anyway and respect my relationship with Jesus in the way I represent him.

I can't guarantee that I will hold to this all the time cuz let's face it, I really mess up this whole representing Christ thing a lot, but I am going to try and surrender it to God and just keep going after the messups.

Was talking to Becca just now and she was mentioning how with yoga you do a move and then come back to your centre, and then another move and back to your centre. She spoke about this relating to her life in terms of her feelings and when she is frustrated, taking the time to go off and pray through stuff and come back to the centre of being in Christ. That is how I feel too!!

My new job

God is so good to me and I can't understand why. I take him for granted all the time, I pass up time with my Bible for time on fb, I choose a million and one things over pouring my time into him and yet he still blesses me. God, I just don't get it.

Been working at Northern Lakes College since Tuesday as full-time - no training and it's been incredibly overwhelming. Tuesday and Wednesday I came home and had a bath, I was so exhausted. And I never crave baths, ha.

But today it was like a whole different job. Finally all the jargon and stuff I've been hearing starting to make sense in its own right and it became a whole lot easier to understand today. I've still got loads of questions for Tracy - the poor woman who's juggling her new position and training me in her old position. She's a marvel.

Going to Skype Becca Mustard now. Need the familiarity of talking to someone who knows me really well and isn't someone who lives here. I'm finding it a challenge to write this blog the way I've written the other blogs as it noone ever read my other blogs and I could write as personally as I wanted. This is a small town and I have to be careful of what I say and who I say it to. So it is a real gift to talk to a friend outside of it all.

Peace. xo