It’s a tough question to answer off the top of your head — for me, at least. When someone asks me, “What has God done in your life recently?” I find myself scrambling frantically for an answer. I think over recent youth group trips or things like the training school, searching for something quantifiable to share. Is God really doing so little in my life that I can’t pick out anything? Or am I just looking in the wrong places? I tend to have to think for a long time to come up with anything I feel is “good enough” to merit as a reply. I shared in youth group that God’s been pushing me to be more active in a leadership role, and part of that is to take initiative in certain things like volunteering to pray. Obviously, this drive is something major that is readily recognizable as God working in my life. But what about other things?

This past week, I started classes at Delaware Technical and Community College (Del Tech). On my first day, I was really nervous. I got into my first class just before it started, quickly took the first seat I saw, sat down without looking at anybody — and promptly put my bookbag directly in someone else’s way. After fumbling it out of the way with a muttered apology, I could feel my face getting red with embarrassment. In that moment, I felt extremely vulnerable. If someone had laughed at me or made any kind of joke about me being clumsy, I probably would have sat through the entire interactive lecture without saying a word. But nobody did. Couldn’t that have been God watching out for me? In my moment of extreme embarrassment, could he have silenced someone who would have made fun of me? I’ll probably never know in this lifetime. But small things like this — one kind word in a moment of need, a helping hand where none seems likely — happen all the time. Could this also be God?

My point is that we usually look at the big, easily identifiable things God’s doing in our life. “He woke me up as I was about to drive off a cliff.” “He wrote big words in the air telling me not to jump.” “He turned my life around by giving me a prophetic dream.” But what about the little things? We often write these off as luck or chance, because they happen all the time. But aren’t these things even more miraculous as the big ones…BECAUSE they happen all the time? I think that God often helps us out in small ways that we ignore, not realizing it was him.

Think about it. How about you? What are some small things God’s done for you recently?

So tonight Christian talked about who we really are. In small groups, he asked us questions like, “What are three words you’d choose to describe who you want to be?” “What are some character traits that you need to work on?” and “What’s the square root of 28,224?” These deep questions got me thinking, “Who AM I, really? If everything I cared about were stripped away from me, everything that gives me an identity in the eyes of the world… in that moment of truth, would I still be the same person? ”

In the eyes of the world, we’re one person. Sometimes, we wear a mask depending on what people expect of us, who we’re with, or how we’re feeling. Sometimes we wear so many masks that the true self, the one we’re called by God to be, is lost. Realizing which masks we wear when can help us to know more about ourselves and how to better be who we’re supposed to be. How about you? How many layers of masks are you wearing? When are you simply yourself?

So I just got back from youth group…man, that was intense! Right after most people got there, it started POURING rain. Some crazy people went out and ran around; they got completely soaked. Fortunately, we had some towels left over from the Training School, so we passed those around so people didn’t drip on the carpets.

Then the power went out. We needed light to see by, so we got some candles and lit them. We had an entire acoustic worship session (and teaching) by CANDLELIGHT! How awesome is that? Lemme tell you, it was wicked cool. Something about acoustic worship brings everyone closer…I think it adds a sense of intimacy with God that we don’t usually get. What do you guys think? Did you get anything out of tonight’s worship and teaching that you don’t normally?

Engage Training School

Hey guys – We’re calling this year’s training school ENGAGE.  We only do training schools once every TWO years – and they really are a unique opportunity for you to engage with God on a new level, engage with yourself by getting training and prayer, and engage with the world by doing outreach and service.

It’s going to be tons of fun this year – so save these dates and start saving money too!

DATES:  July 10-17, 2009

COST: $125

WHO CAN COME?
We will be running two “tracks” – one for first timers, and one for second timers.  You must be 13 or older to attend.

RESERVE YOUR SPOT:

By emailing Christian!