In the past on this blog spot, I have written about the group of middle school boys whom I have been helping out with once a week. These guys are probably pretty typical of a number of young men at that age level; and when it comes to class room stuff and discipline, they just need a little more attention. The work has not always been successful. At times we have had to work hard at keeping these guys on task, and we have had to work hard at times to keep the peace between them when we have worked on projects. Yet over the last couple of weeks during my travels to Sebewaing, I have learned something from these young men that the church needs to remember and put into practice more. Let me explain.
Two weeks ago when I went to the school I found out that to help out the drama group from the high school, these middle schoolers were going to help build some of the props. I have to tell you that when I found out that we were going to start by making wooden swords, I was more than a little skeptical about the outcome. Yet these young men really took to the job. After the swords were cut out, they began to sand and shape the swords and each of them was really working hard. Over the course of that class and the next couple, there was a real sense of accomplishment and pride among these young men as they perfected the props they were working on. During the four months I had been working with them, I had never seen this level of concentration and work. It seems like this task was a perfect fit for the gifts they had. This was an avenue for these young men to "work" and to take education out of the class room and into practice more.
These concepts and ideas were a big part of the disciple making training that I went through last month. Over and over again it was emphasized that we must get our faith out of the class room and into the world much more through service to others. As we read in Philippians, we must "continue to work out our salvation with fear and trembling". Loving God and showing that love by serving others is what we were created for. It will only be through finding the task that God has created us for that we will find real happiness in the Lord.
Please pray for a young man whom I met last week. He is out of school, and we had a brief conversation about getting him involved in one of the Life Transformation groups somehow here in the near future. Also continue to pray for the groups that are meeting -- that God would give clarity about what the future will look like.
Your Servant in Christ,
Brian
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Accountability
This last month has taught me a lesson about how easy it is to slip away from a healthy, biblical routine which involves spending time in God's word which helps us grow in our relationship to Christ, and settling for quick IM type messages with the Master, which at best maintains a relationship, but more likely allows a relationship to deteriorate. Let me explain.
From mid-October through the first week in March, I had a commitment with Joe and Kevin to read somewhere around 30 chapters of scripture each week. This commitment for reading in the Bible was suppose to be in addition to any study I was doing for preparing lessons and such. Other than a week or two, I had been fairly faithful in getting that reading done and taking the time to also go through a series of accountability questions with the guys each week.
Then on March 11, I left for Texas for a few days of personal business. During those days I read a little but quickly fell behind the 30 chapters a week pace.
When I returned to Michigan, I went directly to the Keystone training for the next 10 days. Those days were filled with eight plus hours each day in the classroom focusing on biblical principles and were well worth my time. However in the evenings when I should have been doing my scripture readings, I found myself justifying how I had been in the "word" all day and it was alright not to do the reading. I further justified my practices by telling myself since I was not going to meet with the guys for two weeks it was alright.
After Keystone I was home 3 nights before I left for Kentucky with my youth group for a week of mission work. Ironically both Kevin and Joe went with me on that trip as part of the service side of discipleship that is often overlooked. During the week we were in Kentucky I read every day in the scriptures, but it was always to prepare for the teaching of that week.
When I arrived home that first week I did not travel to Sebewaing because school was out there and many of the contacts that I usually make were not going to be around. In my mind I reasoned that I had been very busy and that it was alright if I waited one more week to get back to my reading schedule. In the middle of that week Kevin called me and told me he was coming to Bay City and that we should meet. When we did meet he asked me about my reading, and I had to confess that I had not done it. He also asked me about another subject that I had asked him to hold me accountable for; and I had to confess that I had not been to the gym in three weeks.
These events in my life caused me to reflect on how easy it is to fall out of a routine that had been very healthy and relationship-building into simply trying to maintain. Needless to say that yesterday when I met with Kevin and Joe I could tell them that I had done my reading again and that I was following through on the other parts of our agreement.
The scriptures have a lot to tell us about the Christian life. One of the themes that is echoed over and over again is that the Christian life is not meant to be lived out alone. Yet so often that is exactly how we attempt to do it. As disciples of Christ we need to work to set examples and as I have learned, one of those examples needs to be to have people who hold you accountable.
In the area of prayer concerns, I would really appreciate those of you who are really following this blog to join me in praying that God's will would come into focus for the LEAD Team, people I am meeting with in Sebewaing and myself over these next few weeks as we look at next steps.
Your Servant in Christ,
Brian
From mid-October through the first week in March, I had a commitment with Joe and Kevin to read somewhere around 30 chapters of scripture each week. This commitment for reading in the Bible was suppose to be in addition to any study I was doing for preparing lessons and such. Other than a week or two, I had been fairly faithful in getting that reading done and taking the time to also go through a series of accountability questions with the guys each week.
Then on March 11, I left for Texas for a few days of personal business. During those days I read a little but quickly fell behind the 30 chapters a week pace.
When I returned to Michigan, I went directly to the Keystone training for the next 10 days. Those days were filled with eight plus hours each day in the classroom focusing on biblical principles and were well worth my time. However in the evenings when I should have been doing my scripture readings, I found myself justifying how I had been in the "word" all day and it was alright not to do the reading. I further justified my practices by telling myself since I was not going to meet with the guys for two weeks it was alright.
After Keystone I was home 3 nights before I left for Kentucky with my youth group for a week of mission work. Ironically both Kevin and Joe went with me on that trip as part of the service side of discipleship that is often overlooked. During the week we were in Kentucky I read every day in the scriptures, but it was always to prepare for the teaching of that week.
When I arrived home that first week I did not travel to Sebewaing because school was out there and many of the contacts that I usually make were not going to be around. In my mind I reasoned that I had been very busy and that it was alright if I waited one more week to get back to my reading schedule. In the middle of that week Kevin called me and told me he was coming to Bay City and that we should meet. When we did meet he asked me about my reading, and I had to confess that I had not done it. He also asked me about another subject that I had asked him to hold me accountable for; and I had to confess that I had not been to the gym in three weeks.
These events in my life caused me to reflect on how easy it is to fall out of a routine that had been very healthy and relationship-building into simply trying to maintain. Needless to say that yesterday when I met with Kevin and Joe I could tell them that I had done my reading again and that I was following through on the other parts of our agreement.
The scriptures have a lot to tell us about the Christian life. One of the themes that is echoed over and over again is that the Christian life is not meant to be lived out alone. Yet so often that is exactly how we attempt to do it. As disciples of Christ we need to work to set examples and as I have learned, one of those examples needs to be to have people who hold you accountable.
In the area of prayer concerns, I would really appreciate those of you who are really following this blog to join me in praying that God's will would come into focus for the LEAD Team, people I am meeting with in Sebewaing and myself over these next few weeks as we look at next steps.
Your Servant in Christ,
Brian
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