Lesson from the potty seat

Well, it seems like it has taken forever but I think that the time has come to finally say she's got it! My wife and I have been working on potty training with our daughter who turned three a few weeks ago. I thought she would have gotten it months ago, she is a really smart kid, so you can imagine our frustration. Many months ago she did almost have it, but the her brother came along and she decided she was not ready to not be the baby anymore. It took many months of discipline, correcting, and teaching, but in the end she had to decide that she no longer wanted to be the baby and that it was something that she really wanted to do.
Just simply being a dad has helped me to learn a lot more about our heavenly father. For a long time He will continue to correct, teach and discipline his children, really wanting us to learn the lesson he is teaching. Like my daughter, we need to determine the we no longer want to be the baby christian we once were, grow up, and learn the lesson God has for us.
What is it that God is trying to teach you? Are you listening or responding to his teaching or maybe his correction? God's proud of his children when we learn and grow, for many of us, it's time to give in and make our heavenly father proud.

Live it out!

Well, it's been a week since my last post, and man, has it been a busy week! Work has been crazy all summer, between 55 and 60 hours a week all summer long, and this past weekend we had our annual youth retreat. We did call it "Wilderness Weekend" but over the years it has been becoming much less of a wilderness experience and more of a general "church camp" type event. So this year we finally changed the name to "Re:Fuel".....I like it!
We named it Re:Fuel because that is what we're attempting to do do our students before the new school year begins. Just like last year it took place at Son-Life camp down in Wayland,MI. It's a small camp, but serves our purposes very well. Not to mention it's not to far out of town.
Anyways, the weekend was filled with a ton of fun as well as some awesome challenges from Gods word.
Our theme for the weekend was "Inside Out" and we challenged our students to live out their faith for all to see.We had four different speakers over the weekend, and God spoke through each one of them. First up was one of our youth leaders, Matt Lane. Matt spoke out of Psalms 19 and really challenged the students to really meditate on the scriptures and that our heart saturates our soul with what we are meditating on. It was an awesome talk.
Second was another of our youth staff, Scott Charles. Oh wait, hey that's me. I spoke out of James 1. I challenged the students to look into Gods mirror, the scriptures, and see if they are reflecting Jesus. To allow the scriptures to show them what they look like and to show them what they need to become. The scriptures as well as our faith will call us to action, either to change something about ourselves, or to serves others.
Our third speaker for the weekend was our churches new singles pastor, Jared Moore. Jared spoke out of Mathew 15. He challenged the students to not practice religion like the scribes and pharisees of Jesus day, but to have a deep well rooted relationship with Christ.
Last to speak was Jimmy Mahaney, our churches youth pastor. Jimmy also spoke out of Mathew 15 and challenged the students to take responsibility for their own hearts and to guard their hearts against sin.
God really moved in the hearts of our students this past weekend and in this youth leaders heart as well. I think a lot of times when we as leaders teach, God lays it on our hearts because it's a message he wants to get into our hearts as well. I know that was the case for me. To those of you reading this that are leaders, be very open to what Gods wants to say through you. He maybe just wanting to say it too you.
Obviously I could go on more about the talks this past weekend as well as all the fun we had, but there is a three year old standing next to me wanting to play the Memory Game......gotta go!