Thursday, April 12, 2012

God, How Am I Made?

I really got into the reality show The Biggest Loser during the last two seasons.  It is an encouraging show about people who get a restart on life after losing the battle over food addictions, overeating and enormous weight gain.  Like many of the reality TV shows that are on TV today, the Biggest Loser carries the same underlying motif: People want to be something else, something better, something worthy. 

I think that we all have this innate drive within.  We all desire to reach goals, see how far we can go, and at the bottom line discover who we are ultimately.  

In that drive to achieve it is easy to see how different our pursuits may be.  Not everyone desires to be a world class weight lifter, or a news anchor, or a professional musician, or a poet, or a business owner, or an actress, or a technician, or a surgeon.  The list can go on and on.  The point I am making is that we are all unique in what we pursue to define us or give voice to who we are in life. 

But, the fact is there are some things that Scripture tells us that we are in God’s sight, especially when we are in Christ.  It is important to see what these things are and to take stock if we are living them out at the heart of our pursuits and desires, especially in our spiritual formation.

In this next series, I want to answer this question with our teens: God, How Am I Made? 

Now, all of our students would like to know in specific detail how and what they were created to be and do; what school should I go to, what books I should read, what state should I live in, what will I become? etc. 
However, I am going to go further than that and look at some of the essential spiritual realities in the Scriptures concerning how God has "made us."  
 
Number One (Week One): God, How Am I Made?
You are Clay.  

 “But now, O Lord, You are my Father.  We  
  are the clay, and You are our potter.  All of us are the
  work of Your hands.”  Isaiah 64:8


We are literally made of clay.  All of us are made of this material.  Human bodies share the same essential elements and compounds that are found in the dirt outside.

However, in week one, we will explore the deeper reality pictured here in the Scriptures. I am going to be reaching for the spiritual point in these Biblical metaphors and images.  

Spiritually, God says we are to know and understand that we are like clay in His hands. 

The point here is that God wills to shape us.  God desires to shape our very lives.

But are we pliable and willing to be shaped by God?

How should we respond to this image given to us in Scripture?  

Truly, every teen and every person alive were made to be shaped by God.  

I will be sharing two things about clay that teenagers can apply to their own spiritual development in the first message.    

(Week Two: You are Sheep. Week Three: You are Salt.)


-mjw

Tuesday, April 3, 2012

OSBC Hunger Games - April 20th


Many years ago we developed a youth activity called “Socked.” This game was a "Man hunt" meets "Hide and Go Seek" meets "Capture the Flag" meets "Clue" meets "Nerf War" meets "Tag! Your it!" activity!  And this year, all of this, will meet "The Hunger Games."

This will be a 9th through 12th grade activity hosted by our Panem Capitol Leaders: Michael Woodward, John and Rachel Snavely, Jared and Amanda Matteson, and Michaela Mastroianni. 

The Reaping will take place on Friday, April 20th from 8pm to 11pm.

This game will require agility, intellectual skills, positive treason and intelligent team work. 

This activity will be packed with energy and espionage. 

"Tributes" names will also be randomly chosen from a jar during “Reaping” times throughout the night for one on one battle at special locations. All one on one battles and team battles will be filmed and posted online throughout the night to this blog and onto Facebook.

In the end, the OSBC Hunger Games will have only one champion; one victor who can proudly claim the title; one chosen one, alone.  

Will you be the One?  Will you win the OSBC Hunger Games?
May the odds be ever in your favor.