1/16/09 Friday night
[On Nick's talk]: I'm a Christian, sitting in the boat being called by Christ to be a fisher of men- I believe, but do I ever really follow? I can hear him calling me, holding out his hand, I want to follow but I need to be trained... what does truly following God look like? Is it deeds, a change of lifestyle, or a total change of insides and character? I'm begging him, please, PLEASE, clean out my insides and tell me what to do... Five Iron Frenzy's "Far Far Away" comes to mind...
1/17/09 Saturday morning
[On morning devotions]: I'm still praying for God to gut me, transform me from the inside out... I didn't actually do the devotion, but I read Ephesians "Living As Children of Light" and was struck dumb by the passage...
Saturday night
[On group sessions]: I can't believe I finally spilled my guts about the OD-ing I used to do. It felt right, though. My friends spilled their guts, too, and we're closer and understand each other better because of it...
[On the campfire worship session]: It was so beautiful I can't even describe it. There was such a sense of family, EVERYONE felt connected. People kept talking about how we ARE family, and it made me realize that we are bonded by something so much deeper than blood... Bill told us to never forget the moment... awesome acoustic worship... I saw a shooting star while singing "Your Love Is Extravagant" to the sky, and I know it was meant for us... I cried... We sang "Jesus Lover Of My Soul," "Prince Of Peace," "My Savior My God," "Blessed Be Your Name," "Heart Of Worship [a capella]," "Surrender..."
I don't want to leave. This is my family, and we may not all be together like this again. I love everyone here, I mean REALLY love them because of who they are in Christ. I can hear God out here in the mountains... I've stepped out of the boat... I'm ready to read the Bible myself and work on joining worship band in the summer as a guitarist, start really loving and ministering, learning to be full of God and absolute truth... I love this. I'm so blessed to be here. It's a spiritual high, sure, but I've learned solid, substantial stuff and I've gotten a lot of things straightened out...
When I'm eighteen, I'm getting a star tattoo with a verse in Hebrew [or Spanish, maybe??] to accompany it. stars play such a big role out here...
1/18/09 Sunday morning
[On morning worship]: The band played "Surrender" and everyone fell to their knees... I learned more about my calling through 2 Peter... we had one last group hug... took the group picture in front of the Covenant Heights sign... had an awesome time in Estes...
and then it was over.
End of entries.
I walked away with a lot this weekend. I'm never forgetting it. Loneliness truly is a bit of hell... now I've gotten a taste of what heaven is like.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
it clicked.
i just came back from bible study, where we're reading through Alex and Brett Harris' "Do Hard Things," and i have a few quick thoughts i'd like to relay to anyone who's reading this.
i figured out a huge part of why so many teens i know [myself, especially] are so restless and feel so bored with their lives here in loveland... and anywhere else, really.
what does society expect of teens? go to school (you don't necessarily have to pass). be immature (already accomplished). party hard and get drunk (staggering numbers of teens do this every weekend). blow off work and any other responsibility (who needs work ethic?). stay a kid for as long as possible (even though we're so close to adulthood). be irresponsible with your money (hey, we have disposable income, and it helps the economy, right?). text all the time (a kid has to stay in touch with all the hot gossip). never communicate with or respect your parents (they're a bunch of old geezers anyway).
no one expects anything of us. ANYTHING. i can't stress how little our society expects of young adults. it's completely ridiculous and very insulting.
God made us to do so much more. yet, we buy into the lie that adolescence is a vacation... and we feel robbed, and don't know why. we are horrendously trapped.
brooke erickson put it in a very clear way. have you ever seen a tiger or a lion pacing back and forth in their cage at the zoo? why do you think they do that?
answer: they were never meant to be in that cage, and something in them knows it. they were meant to be wild and have no bounderies, they were made to run, they were made to be powerful. yet they are in a cage, they are demoted, and they crave something more.
i realized that the reason i've been feeling so restless and trapped is not because my life is mundane. it's because the world's expectations of me are so low that i've come to meet them, and they're not enough. i know i could be doing something more. and THAT'S what i'm upset about. i love my life. it's the expectations and lack of opportunity that disgust and bore me to no end and make me want to get the heck out of here.
i've forgotten to live up to God's expectations. i had come to accept that teenhood is a vacation and there's really no responsibility. in reality, that's one of the most revolting lies ever conceived. God has an abundant life planned out, and i haven't been experiencing that because i'm only meeting the low expectations of everything else.
no more. i'm so done with that.
reader: do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed through the renewing of your mind, that you may find and live in the perfect, good, and pleasing will of God.do not let others look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. QUIT buying into the lie that adolescence is meaningless and unproductive. we were MADE to be meaningful and productive, to follow God's perfect will. raise the bar. you will not be satisfied with life until you are working towards God's expectations instead of the world's. i tell you this because i love you and i'm tired of seeing our generation be dehumanized.
i figured out a huge part of why so many teens i know [myself, especially] are so restless and feel so bored with their lives here in loveland... and anywhere else, really.
what does society expect of teens? go to school (you don't necessarily have to pass). be immature (already accomplished). party hard and get drunk (staggering numbers of teens do this every weekend). blow off work and any other responsibility (who needs work ethic?). stay a kid for as long as possible (even though we're so close to adulthood). be irresponsible with your money (hey, we have disposable income, and it helps the economy, right?). text all the time (a kid has to stay in touch with all the hot gossip). never communicate with or respect your parents (they're a bunch of old geezers anyway).
no one expects anything of us. ANYTHING. i can't stress how little our society expects of young adults. it's completely ridiculous and very insulting.
God made us to do so much more. yet, we buy into the lie that adolescence is a vacation... and we feel robbed, and don't know why. we are horrendously trapped.
brooke erickson put it in a very clear way. have you ever seen a tiger or a lion pacing back and forth in their cage at the zoo? why do you think they do that?
answer: they were never meant to be in that cage, and something in them knows it. they were meant to be wild and have no bounderies, they were made to run, they were made to be powerful. yet they are in a cage, they are demoted, and they crave something more.
i realized that the reason i've been feeling so restless and trapped is not because my life is mundane. it's because the world's expectations of me are so low that i've come to meet them, and they're not enough. i know i could be doing something more. and THAT'S what i'm upset about. i love my life. it's the expectations and lack of opportunity that disgust and bore me to no end and make me want to get the heck out of here.
i've forgotten to live up to God's expectations. i had come to accept that teenhood is a vacation and there's really no responsibility. in reality, that's one of the most revolting lies ever conceived. God has an abundant life planned out, and i haven't been experiencing that because i'm only meeting the low expectations of everything else.
no more. i'm so done with that.
reader: do not conform any longer to the patterns of this world, but be transformed through the renewing of your mind, that you may find and live in the perfect, good, and pleasing will of God.do not let others look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith, and in purity. QUIT buying into the lie that adolescence is meaningless and unproductive. we were MADE to be meaningful and productive, to follow God's perfect will. raise the bar. you will not be satisfied with life until you are working towards God's expectations instead of the world's. i tell you this because i love you and i'm tired of seeing our generation be dehumanized.
DO SOMETHING.
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