so today i got the chance to go to the silver knights award ceremony. its some community service/academic thing put on by the miami herald. anyways, i came home empty handed. the girl that won in my category discovered some peptide in poisonous sea snails that helped people with pain disorders... yeah. i actually didn't pull off a consolation paper because the lady passing them out didn't think i was a nominee based on my casual attire (since when was a dress shirt, jeans, and a pair of nikes not acceptable?) regardless, it was pretty neat seeing all of those overachievers in one place. you can tell those kids are going to go places. it got me thinking about leadership and the importance of drive and passion.
i think that leadership is a gift, but we can also work on it. sometimes it can also feel like a switch that is turned on. i know i am perfectly content to just sit back and watch the action unfold, but if i see a group in need of leadership and realize that i won't be stepping on any toes, i'll come in and "flip the switch" and take control. i think many people assume that they are too shy to be a leader, or that they don't have that gift. i think that enough drive or passion can make you a great leader, even if you are a natural introvert. many times, people just need someone with some direction or goal in mind. i'm sure that sometime in your life, you will have to come out of your comfort zone and lead out on something. i challenge anyone out there who is maybe quiet or shy to find their voice and step in the next time they sense they have an opportunity to lead. remember, moses couldn't even speak in public, he had to go through his brother aaron, but he turned out to be a pretty good leader. one day, you'll have to lead, you might as well start now. the younger the better, especially if you are a student. i know many places in student ministry that need leadership with the exit of the graduating class. that just means more opportunities for you to step up and leave a mark.
Summer Camp
school is almost done and summer is just around the corner. i'm getting pretty stoked about summer camp, as a senior, this will sadly be my last camp, but it looks to be amazing. it's called The Way and is going to be awesome. we're gonna go up to north florida and some big bands and speakers will be there, plus a ton of games and time to hang out with everybody. if you are in student ministry and are debating going to camp, i encourage you to go. it is the best thing we do at FRC, and you will definitely come back changed. it is an amazing spiritual experience, i pray that you just give it a shot if you're doubting it. i will personally take responsibility for your time, if you go and dont have a blast, i will wash your car or something. just give it a chance.
i also am planning to go to middle school camp, which is called Leave Nothing, as a leader. the same goes for this, it is a great way to grow spiritually and make some true friends and accountability partners. so parents, don't be alarmed, you're kids will be well supervised by all of the adult leaders and they'll have a lot of fun. camp is amazing because you get to see kids lives completely changed for Christ. they come back on fire for God and many students turn into leaders right in front of our eyes at camp.
go check out flamingoroadchurch.com for more info. register online, and you can pay there too.
i also am planning to go to middle school camp, which is called Leave Nothing, as a leader. the same goes for this, it is a great way to grow spiritually and make some true friends and accountability partners. so parents, don't be alarmed, you're kids will be well supervised by all of the adult leaders and they'll have a lot of fun. camp is amazing because you get to see kids lives completely changed for Christ. they come back on fire for God and many students turn into leaders right in front of our eyes at camp.
go check out flamingoroadchurch.com for more info. register online, and you can pay there too.
donkey basketball
i came across this clip and thought that it might help Pastor Troy and Pastor Matt feel more at home:
soapbox reminder
hey guys, just one quick thing to help you through your week:
it is in our weakness, that God is strong. Paul begged God to take away this sin that had a grip on his life, that he struggled with daily, and failed constantly at conquering, and God wouldn't take it away. why? so that Paul would depend on God. it forced Paul to come to grips with his own weakness and rely on the Lord. in Romans, Paul says we are a slave to the sin that corrupts us, and the only way to break that bondage is to rely on Jesus.
don't know why, but i felt like i should share that.
it is in our weakness, that God is strong. Paul begged God to take away this sin that had a grip on his life, that he struggled with daily, and failed constantly at conquering, and God wouldn't take it away. why? so that Paul would depend on God. it forced Paul to come to grips with his own weakness and rely on the Lord. in Romans, Paul says we are a slave to the sin that corrupts us, and the only way to break that bondage is to rely on Jesus.
don't know why, but i felt like i should share that.
potential
today was a little crazy at sawgrass because we were missing most of the set up team and our campus pastor, but by the grace of God everything went rather smooth. it was a good day. i got to drive the generator today, and backed it into the church almost as good as jenn (way way better than matt).
student ministry was awesome. we had some new leaders really step up, abel took a break from teaching and let jesse lead and he did a great job talking about discipline. basically saying that God disciplines us because He loves us, and because we are disciplined by the Father, we know we are His children. he also had a cool video clip that i'm going to try to find (and learn how to put videos in my blog, that one computer science class i took in freshman year really isn't holding up). then, scott really ran with the discussion time. it was cool to see, all in all.
i really want to go rent this movie now. it is a cool clip and as jesse said, it has a lot of teaching in it. he mentioned the coach's discipline was able to correct brock's thinking. another cool thing i saw was how the coach gave brock that blindfold, this made sure that brock didn't limit himself or doubt his own potential. it made him rely solely on his coach. i think God does that to us sometimes, we don't get to see the whole picture, because He knows that we'll doubt our abilities and what He can do through us. so God gives us a little at a time "20 more steps... 10 more steps..." and by trusting Him, and through His encouragement and empowerment, we are able to do much more than we ever imagined. you might have heard a phrase thrown around, "reaching our God potential." and while our church can definitely help, no one can make us reach our God potential more than the Father Himself.
so, thats a little late night mind dump i thought yall might enjoy. i have to go get some sleep though, its spring break, i gotta hit the beach tomorrow. God bless.
student ministry was awesome. we had some new leaders really step up, abel took a break from teaching and let jesse lead and he did a great job talking about discipline. basically saying that God disciplines us because He loves us, and because we are disciplined by the Father, we know we are His children. he also had a cool video clip that i'm going to try to find (and learn how to put videos in my blog, that one computer science class i took in freshman year really isn't holding up). then, scott really ran with the discussion time. it was cool to see, all in all.
i really want to go rent this movie now. it is a cool clip and as jesse said, it has a lot of teaching in it. he mentioned the coach's discipline was able to correct brock's thinking. another cool thing i saw was how the coach gave brock that blindfold, this made sure that brock didn't limit himself or doubt his own potential. it made him rely solely on his coach. i think God does that to us sometimes, we don't get to see the whole picture, because He knows that we'll doubt our abilities and what He can do through us. so God gives us a little at a time "20 more steps... 10 more steps..." and by trusting Him, and through His encouragement and empowerment, we are able to do much more than we ever imagined. you might have heard a phrase thrown around, "reaching our God potential." and while our church can definitely help, no one can make us reach our God potential more than the Father Himself.
so, thats a little late night mind dump i thought yall might enjoy. i have to go get some sleep though, its spring break, i gotta hit the beach tomorrow. God bless.
baseball
we are about a month away from the start of baseball season. i know a lot of people complain that its too boring to watch, but with no football, college basketball winding down, and an irrelevant Miami Heat, what else am i supposed to? if you really get into the strategy of the game i'm sure you could at least make it through 2 or 3 innings before flipping over to TBS and watching a rerun of Everybody Loves Raymond.
well, i'm excited. my beloved Boston Red Sox are going for back to back world series. and even though our pitching staff is shattered because beckett is having back problems, dice-k's wife is having a baby, and schilling is hurt and putting on weight so he is starting to resemble john travolta (wild hogs travolta, not face off travolta) i still think we have a shot at winning it all again. even if we don't, at least it will give me an excuse to watch tv all saturday afternoon and put off mowing the lawn.
well, i'm excited. my beloved Boston Red Sox are going for back to back world series. and even though our pitching staff is shattered because beckett is having back problems, dice-k's wife is having a baby, and schilling is hurt and putting on weight so he is starting to resemble john travolta (wild hogs travolta, not face off travolta) i still think we have a shot at winning it all again. even if we don't, at least it will give me an excuse to watch tv all saturday afternoon and put off mowing the lawn.
ego
this week in the small group i lead, we were able to touch on humility and how to stay humble. when i posed the question, how do you stay humble? i got the automatic church responses: pray, read your bible, go to church. all are right, and great answers, but i was trying to put it on a more practical level. the only advice that i could come up with, or i should say God let me think up, was to check your motives. if you get a chance to exhibit one of your gifts or talents, slow down and check your motives before you do it. say you play in a worship band and you get a chance to play on a big stage. check your motives. think about why you want to do it. if you want to do it for your own pride, just to get up and show off just to show everyone how awesome you are, God isn't probably going to bless that. but if you approach it humbly, slow down, and focus on doing it for God, focus on playing for Him as worship and an expression of using your talents for His will, then He will definitely bless that. its real easy to do things for our own greedy egos and we just need to slow down and look at the big picture. do it all for Him. i personally know that is far easier said than done, but i truly believe if we do give it all to Him, we'll be better for it. i don't know, thats just my two cents.
