Wildflower Writes

As a youth leader, I had come to an inescapable conclusion.  Life is full of choices, and your path is determined by your decisions. This is particularly true with young people, because they are faced with so many decisions in a short amount of time- Do I wear this to school? Do I go to the party?  Do I skip track practice?  Do I ask her out on a date?  Do I apply to colleges now?  As "old" people, we often get in a rut, because it seems like the life changing decisions are over.  We've met and married our spouse, had kids, settled into a career and a house... nothing left to do but to wait it out until retirement.  Or maybe life is so full of meeting other people's needs that you've forgotten that you matter too. Bah!  We still have to decide to be the most we can be (at the risk of sounding like a military recruiter), at any time of our life.  We still have choices to make regarding relationships, new opportunities, and health.  ...

I heard a great illustration at Youth Convention last year. Jarrod Jones was our speaker and he said, “You shouldn’t make God first in your life.” ( http://www.jarrodjones.com ). What? My whole life I had been trying to make God first in my life. When I was 13, at a youth convention far far away, the speaker asked, “What is most important to you?” My answer was “softball.” “As a Christian, Christ should be the most important thing in your life.” That moment changed my life. I had been living what I thought was a Christian life. I didn’t cheat in school. I was nice to most people. I worked hard at volleyball and basketball and track and softball. I attended church and Sunday school and youth group and even volunteered in the nursery. Ever since then I had striven to make God first. And now this speaker is telling me not to do that? “God should be the focus of your life.” He went on to describe a picture, with a circle labeled “Jesus” as the center. From that circle c...

After our Truth Project study group last night, Gary said to me, “I wish I could figure out a way to take all that energy your son has and bottle it up.” My son is six years old and hops out of bed in the morning and doesn’t stop moving until we strong arm him into bed at night. His blessed kindergarten teacher says he is “kinesthetic.” Even at church he bounds into the fellowship hall, ripping off his coat, making his way to the nearest plaything. I found him after choir practice Sunday morning making hand shadows on the wall. He bounces from Sunday School somewhat like Tigger, bounding after one of his seven cousins. They say youth is wasted on the young, and I always thought that was lame. I guess I was young then. I guess that’s why The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is such an interesting movie. Imagine having the energy of youth and the experience of age. I think we can tap into the Fountain of Youth by taking some time to enjoy the things we enjoyed as kids. We...