YoungLife

I first learned about YoungLife around 3 years ago. Jess on the other hand, has a long history with YoungLife. Up until about 1 year ago, I considered YoungLife as the enemy (I was kidding...mostly). YoungLife embodied all the crazy people who went to ridiculously awesome camps and were always out of control. YoungLife was the unknown, unstructured, and chaotic ministry that I had no room for in my life.

Today, much has changed. I have been leading YoungLife for just over a year now in Prescott, and it has been one of the best parts of my life. Jess and the rest of my family convinced me to join the "dark side" and begin leading at Prescott High School. Now, most of you don't know what a YoungLife leader is. In short, a YoungLife leader is a volunteer who is intentional about reaching into the lives of students in local schools. Our intentions include discipleship, friendship, fun, camp, and mostly just meeting students where they are in life.

At first, the newness and unconventional elements of YoungLife were hard to get used to. Unfortunately I live inside of a box, from which God is constantly pulling me out from. YoungLife is full of loud secular music, dancing, ridiculous games, food, football games, crazy camps, and late nights. These things always have seemed fun, but not what I used to put in the category of ministry. But YoungLife does not stop with the craziness. YoungLife is full of passionate Christ followers, deeper bible studies, genuine prayer, loving community, and focused discipleship.

What I am finding through being in YoungLife, are lots of students who are crying on the inside for someone to relate with. Someone to care. Someone to understand. Someone to teach them about who Jesus really is without all the religious garbage. What I have found is a life that I think Jesus has asked us all to live.

Now, it has been challenging to put aside my past views of ministry and teaching. Many people in my life would tell me that it would be unwise to surround yourself in worldly situations. What I am learning now is that worldly situations is exactly what Jesus put himself in the middle of. He came because the love of our father couldn't simply be written in law, but had to be shown through life. He lived among us. In the middle of our failures. In the midst of our mistakes. And he has shown us a better way to live. This to me is YoungLife. To reflect the life of the man who put himself in our shoes.

Thanks to everyone who has helped bring YoungLife to thousands of young people throughout the world!

God will Provide

Over the weekend, I spent some time listening to some good ol' stories from the bible that are becoming more and more relevant in my life. I used to think, how am I supposed to relate with a 99 year old farmer, but there are things about Abraham, God's friend, that completely blow me away!

Here's a very specific example. You know the part in the story where God asks him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. I can't imagine what that would have been like to hear God ask something like that. Here's my response, "You mean Isaac? My only son? My son who you promised my wife and me? My son who is my joy and laughter? You have to be kidding me! This can't be God!

I think many times while following God we assume that He only speaks what we want. Such as, God wouldn't ask me to kill my son, leave my home, sell my possessions, get uncomfortable, or take a what seems to be a RIDICULOUS risk. We translate the voice of God to fit our own language of life. So my question is...Do I know God's voice?

I believe that Abraham knew the voice of God. How else could you explain what he did? What kind of man in his right mind gets up the next day to hike up a mountain and offer his son as a sacrifice? The only way you can explain this is to trust that Abraham knew who had asked him this.

Later on in the story, Isaac asks Abraham why they are hiking up a mountain for a sacrifice with no animal to kill. Talk about a punch in the stomach to a father! And how does Abraham respond? "God will provide." Only a man who knew the voice of God could answer like that! And then Abraham's faith carried him to the limit, and God provided.

Will our faith in the voice of our father carry us to the limit? Will we allow God to provide?

Thanks to John Irwin (for your inspiration) and all the YoungLife staff for an amazing weekend!