I thought that this would be a very fitting topic for our 2twenty students during spring break. Most students are very busy throughout the school year with academics and extracurricular activities that sometimes they feel overwhelmed. I have seen students come into church on Wednesday night looking exhausted from that day's activities. I ask them, "Did you have a long day at school?" and I am given a blank stare with a very tired nod of yes. I think the key component to the daily grind is balance. We all deal with this at times, some more so than others. I know that personally I have not achieved the pinnacle of success in this area. I am still learning how to balance my marriage, parenthood, ministry and graduate school. I have tried several things over the years to get a release from everyday activities. I have went to the gym, played basketball, hit a punching bag, went to the lake, read some scripture, read a book, wrote a song or poem (in my teenage and college years), or just played a video game. I think that we need to find our "thing". Whatever it is to get away mentally from the stuff going on in our life. I believe that it helps us to come back refreshed, even if we only spend 5-10 minutes to unwind. Then we need to spend the same amount of time, if not more, in our devotion time with God.
In the book of Psalms, David models this for us through his songs and poems. He used this as his devotion time and his "unwind from the day" time because he was a songwriter, musician, and poet. At times he shows his frustration with a situation that he is in and then with the word
Selah, he takes a break from that thought and moves towards praising God. I love how he shares his raw emotion in Psalms. I believe that God wants us to be authentic with him at all times, but have an underlining faith in him to provide for our needs.
For my message on Wednesday, March 18, I used Psalm 3 for my point of reference in conjunction with an article from Relevant Magazine. The article was written by Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He talks about the busyness of life and how to take time to spend with God and to reflect on what he is doing in our lives. The following is a portion of my message outline from Wednesday, March 18:
Selah is a Hebrew word and translated it means to praise or to think about it. It is used in scripture so that the reader will pause and reflect on the previous verse and then to move onto the next verse. This word occurs 71 times in 39 of the Psalms, and 3 times in Habakkuk 3.
Psalm 3
1 O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2 Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him."
Selah 3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. 4 To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill.
Selah 5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. 6 I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. 7 Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8 From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people.
Selah I recently read this article in Relevant Magazine that inspired me to pause and reflect on what God is doing in my life. I would like to share this with you. The following link will direct you to an article from Relevant Magazine. The article is located on page 33. The author of the article is Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle.
http://www.mygazines.com/issue/353
This morning at 7:22 am Janna and I welcomed our little girl, Brooklyn Raye, into our family. She weighed 6 lbs 12 oz and was 19 1/2" long. Janna and Brooklyn are doing just fine. Thank you Lord for our little blessing!
I'm a big fan of the North Carolina Tarheels. I was a Michael Jordan fan growing up and I found out that he went to college at UNC so I started following the basketball team. Janna and I had the opportunity last summer to visit the campus on our vacation. It's a beautiful campus and the basketball program has a great history of a winning tradition. The Tarheels ran through most of the competition during the tournament this year and beat Michigan State in the championship game decisively. It's good to see them bring another banner back to Chapel Hill, NC.
I woke up on Thursday, March 26 to a great birthday suprise. It was the sound of Kaytlin singing Happy Birthday to me as Ashley patted me and said, "Dada". This is my first year to have little Ashley wake me up on my birthday and it was a great feeling. Janna & I are so blessed!
I thought that this would be a very fitting topic for our 2twenty students during spring break. Most students are very busy throughout the school year with academics and extracurricular activities that sometimes they feel overwhelmed. I have seen students come into church on Wednesday night looking exhausted from that day's activities. I ask them, "Did you have a long day at school?" and I am given a blank stare with a very tired nod of yes. I think the key component to the daily grind is balance. We all deal with this at times, some more so than others. I know that personally I have not achieved the pinnacle of success in this area. I am still learning how to balance my marriage, parenthood, ministry and graduate school. I have tried several things over the years to get a release from everyday activities. I have went to the gym, played basketball, hit a punching bag, went to the lake, read some scripture, read a book, wrote a song or poem (in my teenage and college years), or just played a video game. I think that we need to find our "thing". Whatever it is to get away mentally from the stuff going on in our life. I believe that it helps us to come back refreshed, even if we only spend 5-10 minutes to unwind. Then we need to spend the same amount of time, if not more, in our devotion time with God.
Janna and I will be attending the Realife Youth Worker's Conference at James River Assembly in Springfield, Missouri this week. I was able to attend in the inaugural year of 2007 and enjoyed it. The conference delivered practical information that I have been able to use in my youth ministry over the past couple of years. Scotty Gibbons is the youth pastor at Realife and has been for 15 years. I was encouraged by his longevity at the same church and by his testimony. When he first started at James River, there was barely enough kids to fill a church van and now their youth group has grown to over a thousand students. I'm also a part of the Realife Network, which is a youth pastor's mentoring group. The Realife Network was started a couple years ago by Scotty and the staff at Realife. It's a small community of 20 youth pastors from all over the nation. We have monthly conference calls where we discuss various topics from disciplining students to outreach ideas. We are also able to communicate through group forums, discussions and blogs. The network allows us to download some resources from Realife and we get a great discount at the Youth Worker's Conference, which is cool. I'm heading to Realife a day early so that I can check out their youth service and how they minister to students. I pray that God continues to mold me to be a better Christ follower, husband, father, friend, minister, and youth pastor. God has blessed me with great students at Lakeside. My goal in youth ministry is to do my best at assisting parents in developing the spiritual of lives of their students and mentoring their students. I have a great responsibility and I want to make the most of it!
