First of all, I’d like to thank Bill Speight for jumpstarting my spiritual life during the formidable teen years. (Bill was my youth minister) Those years could have made a difference over whether or not I’d be a Sunday-morning-only type person or what I am today. There is no doubt that I am heavily involved in church activities. And that heavy involvment came from those youth years. For a while me and half a dozen other friends made up the core group of young people at my church. Sadly I am one of the few from my class who are left at church. I don’t know why that is.
It’s almost as if the kids in my youth group went away to college and forgot to go to church. No one was there to wake them up on Sunday mornings and get them to church. Eventually they dropped out. Or married someone from another religion and ended up somewhere else. Doh! What were they thinking? I mean everyone thought we’d still stay together. Nope. Things change. It’s starting to sound like that Offspring song “The Kids Aren’t Alright” but not as harsh. But ultimately eternally it could be harsh.
What a wonderful gift this is. To be able to serve God to the best of my ability. To be given the opportunity to be a Sunday School teacher or to lead youth devotionals. Wow. Heavy stuff. Good stuff. But heavy.

I’ve got alot on my plate this weekend. All church related.
1. Do this slideshow for the senior grads luncheon. 4 seniors. Approximately 60 pictures. Scanning.
2. Work up my youth devotional on the sower. I’m looking forward to this one. I always enjoy being given the chance to speak to the young people. There are so many things that I want to say to them when I am up in front of them, but I always get some sort of stage fright and end up flubbing it up.
The parable of the sower is an easy one. Easy to understand. Easy to convey to the young people. I’ve giving the devo to 4th through 6th graders. They really should know it, because we already went over it in class a few weeks ago. So they should be able to teach themselves.
3. Work up my Wednesday night lesson on cursing. A few weeks ago, I told the kids I’d do a lesson on cursing. They’ve been asking for one. So I guess they might be listening to my lessons. Who knows? I never really thought they picked up on things. I guess I’ve learned my lesson because many times I figure they’re staring off into space or talking to their neighbor. Nope. They’re really listening.
Cursing. It’s something that some up us deal with every day. The kids that I’ll be teaching have probably just recently learned to experience it. And either they are shunning it; tolerating it; or doing it themselves. I do know people who once they get away from their family and church…and are with their friends…they choose to curse. I hope this isn’t the case with the kids in my class.
I remember when I was in 6th grade at the elementary school. Rarely did you ever hear a curse word. Bathroom topics were usually around. But people rarely became vulgar. Then we moved into the Junior high in 7th grade. It was like night and day with people cursing. More and more seemingly. I say all that to tell you I know what these kids are thinking, and perhaps why it is such a big deal to them. Am I to convince them that cursing is always wrong?
I’ve already been put on the spot by the kids when they asked if I’ve ever cussed. I told them I’ve said some things that I’ve regretted….and left it at that. Maybe they’re trying to justify cussing. I don’t know.
I’ll probably spend some time on the verses about taking the Lord’s name in vain. There are probably plenty of more verses about that one.
The problem is that I think the kids are going to ask why a certain word is considered vulgar while another word is considered so tame. I am not sure if I’ll be able to explain that one without totally confusing them. Something about Anglo-Saxon usage verses Norman (proper) usage. I can’t even understand it myself.
On a side note….we had a Norweigian exchange student in our high school marching band. Somehow he told us a vulgar Norweigian word. So they’d yell out the word in the middle of marching band practice, just to get him to laugh.

Doubt is my curse. I told the kids in my Bible class that “Anytime you worry, you are doubting the power of God.” Ironically I am the worst worriers ever. I tell the kids not to worry, but worry myself. Perhaps I am trying to reassure them as much as myself.
Self doubt may ultimately keep me from being the person who I know I should be, who I could be. Ultimately it is not anyone else who is holding me back. It is myself. I am my own worst enemy.
So what do I plan on doing about it? Probably taking steps to make myself more confident. Putting myself in situations which would make me have to step up to the plate and do something. I get that opportunity Sunday night with a youth devo. Maybe it’ll work out. I’ve been told the kids respect me, so hopefully they will listen. It’s the parable of the sower, which is very relavent to their own lives at this point.
I can’t look at the past. I can only look toward the future.

I guess I have a difficult time sharing my faith. Quite a few times lately I’ve had an opportunity to talk more about my faith, but I clamed up when given the chance. I don’t know why that is. In high school I was the typical “I’m right and you’re all going to you-know-where” type. I must have mellowed out in college and in the workforce subsequentially.
Is it that difficult? I tell my kids in my class all the time to invite their friends to church, yet I’m not doing it myself. Ugh. It is so difficult. I don’t want to be put in an alkward position of trying to explain my religion to people. Yet I don’t want to be made feel ultimately guilty on judgement day when someone starts singing “You Never Mentioned Him to Me.”
For me it is so much easier to talk to kids about Christ than my peers. Kids have a tendency to listen and to be less jaded than the older society. Many adults have had their fair share of organized religion and came away (unfortunately) with negative feelings about the whole thing. I hate that. I wish things could be better. I wish whatever turned them off of religion never happened.