This is Fall Retreat 2011...

This past weekend, our team of youth leaders took 14 teenagers on a trip up to Lake Tahoe... I don't think any of us were expecting to make so many memories, have so much fun, or hear God so clearly! There's something about hanging out with teenagers for a weekend that makes you get it... ya know? Get what having a good time is all about, get what letting your cares and worries go is all about, get what excitement for the Lord is all about... I can't understand why more people don't want to work with teenagers!

Our theme this year was "Saturate - what fills your heart will lead your life" and the first night we got up there, everyone was super hyper and was having a hard time settling down. When they finally did, it didn't last too long, but for good reason ;) In our discussion on the things that saturate our lives, I filled up a bunch of glasses of water and labeled them TV, movies, sports, music, friends, relationships, internet, texting, etc. Those are all good things in and of themselves, but add a little bit of dirt to it (profanity, sex outside of marriage, gossip, etc.) and it ruins the whole glass of water - you can't drink it anymore without getting sick. So after adding dirt to my glass - I asked if they were saturating themselves in dirty water - then I threw the mud water on all of the students. It took a second, but they looked at the kid with mud on him, looked at me, and in an instant were climbing over chairs and tables to get as far away from me as possible without leaving the room! IT WAS HILARIOUS! But they loved it and I really think they GOT it! In between the insanity of flying chairs and screams of laughter as muddy water covered the walls, the floors, the chairs, and the students - I saw the light go on, I saw the understanding in their eyes, and I heard the understanding late that night in conversations with students.

The next morning, one of our awesome youth leaders, Heath, led us in a devotional time. He led a discussion that caused ALL of us, not just teens, to look at the things we allow to saturate our daily lives and see what we need to filter out. He talked about things being an asset (drawing us closer to our Creator) or a liability (taking us further away from Him). Then he challenged us to go and make a list of our friends, a list of the things we do for fun, etc. and label each person or activity, ASSET or LIABILITY. It was definitely a moment in my life where God showed up, slapped me around a little bit, and brought me to my knees. I know it was that same type of moment for so many of our teenagers.

Last night - all of the students had been hopped up on sugar, pranks, excitement, and games, then we asked them to settle down for an hour - probably terrible timing, but God worked regardless of our indiscretion. We continued on in our conversation about filtering the things that saturate us with the story of David and Bathsheba. We looked at his life and asked ourselves, "If David had just filtered some of his thoughts, impulses, words and actions - what would his story look like?" So we talked about four simple questions would should ask ourselves in every situation or circumstance that will help us filter out the gunk in our lives.

1) Is this where I should be?

2) What was I thinking?

3) Who am I talking to?

4) Are my actions pleasing to God?

The reason we are supposed to behave in a certain way as followers and lovers of Christ is because of what 2 Corinthians 5:14 says "The love of Christ constrains me..." There are parameters or boundaries in love and if you step outside of those bounds, you cannot say you love anymore. Real depth and intimacy come in a relationship surrounded by parameters. In explaining this, I took out my fish I had with me for the weekend, sort of a mascot ;)... I told the students that after a long discussion with my fish, he wanted freedom outside of his little tiny bowl and the water that "held him back" - so I took him out of the bowl and set him on the table. Our students were obviously upset by this so I asked them, "If I really loved my fish, even though he wanted 'freedom' to get outside of the bowl and live his life, I would keep him in the bowl because the bowl is where the freedom is at." They got it.

The Christian life is not a bunch of dos and don'ts and just a change of behavior - it's a love relationship and IN LOVE we put up parameters so that we can go deeper and have a more intimate relationship with our Lord. You cannot love without having boundaries.

While the parents may initially HEAR all about fake poop on a student's pajamas, frozen boxer shorts, cold showers, and plugged toilets - take heart! You'll eventually SEE the late night discussion about the things of God, the ah-ha moments, the morning devotions, the middle of the night worship hour, the acts of service in love and more that our students experienced this past weekend.

Thank you God for changing my heart this weekend and thank you God for changing the hearts of 14 teenagers and 7 grownups this weekend. Let it stick! Let us follow hard after you and let us stay within the bounds of your love so that we may know you more intimately, we may love you more deeply and we may love others more fully. You are good and your love endures forever!

Health Check

So life has been a little wonky lately. I guess by wonky I just mean "not according to plan", but then it seems I have to keep relearning this lesson that life doesn't work according to MY plan over and over. You'd think I would have learned by now...

I've never been to the hospital in my life other than visiting friends or family... that is, I hadn't been for myself until this past December. I was having some crazy pains so my husband and mother drove me forty-five minutes to the nearest hospital and checked me into the emergency room only to find out two hours later that the doctors couldn't find anything wrong with me. So, there went $1000 we didn't have out the window.

Before the useless hospital trip, I had been struggling with weight gain and some other things, but just assumed I must be eating more food than I realized or I wasn't working out hard enough. It was actually causing me to feel really poorly about myself when I looked in the mirror. Not so much because of the weight I gained alone, but because I was beginning to think, "Man, I must be super lazy! I must eat like a horse and not know it...I can't lose this weight." After a couple years of dealing with constant fatigue, weight gain, and some other un-fun problems, I finally went to the doctor to get some answers.

Now don't think I had just been avoiding it for two years. In a strange way, it kind of snuck up on me. The weight gain wasn't overnight and for quite some time, I had been attributing it all to the way I lived. The pain - well the doctors said everything was fine and the fatigue, I was beginning to think it was all in my head. See, this health problem started small, practically non-existent, and began to slowly grow into a monster I couldn't ignore anymore.

After blood tests that came back clear, lots of tears and prayer, my doctor gave me an answer. I had Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome or PCOS. Okay so maybe that sounds like nothing to you or maybe it sounds big and scary, but it's a little in-between. Basically, I was told PCOS is a metabolic disorder that can wreak havoc on my body if I don't maintain it and I would continue to gain weight, I wouldn't be able to get pregnant, I could develop diabetes and I could end up with cancer in my uterus or ovaries.

WHOA! That sounded terrifying! Uncontrollable weight causing other health problems, inability to become pregnant, possible diabetes and/or cancer?!?!

So what was the answer? How was I supposed to maintain this sort of health problem?

Two little pills in the morning. Two little pills and I could lose the weight, become a mommy, and I wouldn't be in danger of cancer caused by PCOS. Two little pills is all. Two little pills to bring me freedom.

Well of course I went to get the prescription right away. As soon as I took that first pill, it seemed all the worries in the world melted away and I was filled with so much peace. I have only been on the medication for a little over a week, so it's full effects haven't manifested yet, but knowing that my body is getting back in working order brings so much peace.

I was thinking about this earlier this morning and it occurred to me - my physical health check revealed problems lurking within me that could potentially destroy my body, but once I knew about it, I could choose to take a simple medication that would put me back in order. If I didn't allow my doctors to perform a simple physical health check on me, then I wouldn't be able to be healed. I wouldn't even know something was wrong with me!

Most of us keep up with our physical health for the most part. We make sure we take pretty good care of our body and at the very least, if we notice something wrong, we go to the doctor to get it fixed.

Why, then, are we not as concerned with our SPIRITUAL health? If we don't allow the Word of God to perform a spiritual health check on us, how will we know if there is something lurking deep in our hearts? Sin doesn't just show up on our front doorstep and ring the doorbell. It sneaks through the back door in the middle of the night, unchecked and unnoticed. If we allow it to stay in our hearts and lives, it grows and grows with it's mind set to destroy us.

But a simple visit to the Word of God each day can help keep our hearts, minds, and lives in check with the Lord, kicking out any impurity that will destroy us and keeping us spiritually healthy.

These bodies that we care for are only temporary. They last about 75 years, but the soul within that temporary body lasts for eternity. Shouldn't we be even MORE concerned for our spiritual health?

I'm going to make sure I get a great spiritual check-up today... are you?