You know the one I’m talking about.  The one you secretly hope will not show up for youth group. The one you wish would just find Jesus…at some other church.

He started out in our after-school program and was the first to make the transition into Sunday night youth group. I don’t know much about his background, although I’ve gathered snippets of his story from talking to his brothers and cousin.  I know he’s seen more violence than anyone his age should.  There is a large scar across his cheek.  I’ve never asked how he got it.

He is hardened, sullen.  When he does come (which is not often), he picks fights and causes trouble. He enjoys the food, and he always plays basketball…but when we start Bible study, he prefers to sit on a chair away from the group, cracking dirty jokes under his breath.

Last night, when we divided into small groups, I had to send a volunteer to coax him out of his hiding place. He came in late and lay down on the floor beside me.

Our discussion continued as I asked the students to finish the sentence, “God is…” Their answers came flying back: “God is our Father!” “the Creator!” “Light!”

He lifted his head up, watching. “The gate,” he said, finally. “Isn’t he the gate of heaven?”

“Yes!” I said, handing him a pen. “Why don’t you write that down?”

He sat up, leaned forward, and painstakingly wrote the words onto the canvas. After that, he didn’t say anything else, but he didn’t lie back down, either.

When we sent the youth out to decorate their mirrors, he hunched over the small table, cutting shapes out of blue vinyl and then scrunching them up and tearing the edges as he saw fit.  When he was finished, he showed it to me proudly before setting it down with the others.

Later, as I was washing the etching cream off his mirror, I discovered that one of his letters had not stuck down and could not be seen. Oh no, I thought. It’s ruined.

But I went back to look at it after it had dried. The light shone down on it in a special way, and I realized: it’s perfect.

What a metaphor.  The gates of heaven are not polished or even sanitary.  They’re a bit messy most of the time, and they have jagged edges.  But what makes them beautiful is where they lead.

To the Cross. To Jesus.

- 2 Corinthians 3:18

Last night was one of my favorite youth group meetings ever.  One of my high school seniors is taking a “Career Mentorship” class this semester, which means he gets to come hang out at the church for one hour every day.  At first I had my doubts about how much work we would actually get done…but  last week, we spent a couple of days reflecting on Scripture and devising an elaborate art project for youth group.  (Side note: How much better is it to work with youth when writing your lesson plan??? You get great ideas, buy-in, and immediate feedback about whether something will work!)

Part 1.  Canvas

We started out by remembering the story of Moses: how his face glowed when he returned from Mount Sinai.  We talked about how it is impossible to spend time with God and remain unchanged.  (I brought up the saying, “Come as you are, but don’t stay that way,” and we discussed how this applies to the Christian life).

Earlier, we had painted two canvases black.  On one we had attached vinyl letters to read, “God is…”  On the other, I invited the youth to fill in the blank with Sharpie poster paint pens:

We then read 2 Corinthians 3:16-18 using a modified type of Lectio Divina.  In our response time, we discussed what it would look like for us to reflect the glory of God today (hint: we probably won’t actually glow, but we want it to be just as obvious that we’ve been spending time with God!)

Part 2. Mirrors.

Self-Portrait: forgiveness

The youth divided into pairs, and each pair picked one attribute of God to reflect back into the world.  Then we created mirror etchings based around each of their attributes, etching the negative space so that the design itself would shine through.  (So whenever you look into the mirror, the only part that reflects back would be “Love,” “Joy,” etc.)

I got my directions from Dancing Commas (she did a fruit bowl, but the technique is the same).  Here’s my quick rundown of instructions:

1. We used 12-inch square mirror tiles, marking off a six-inch square (the design area) in the middle with masking tape.

2. We provided the youth with a variety of letter stickers, and several sheets of plain vinyl stickers (which they could cut out into any shape).  I also printed out some Christian symbols, which they could trace onto the vinyl.  Stickers and stencils were a really good idea; the non-artistic youth ended up just writing their word onto the mirror with the stickers, and they looked just as good as the more elaborate squares!

3. The etching cream is really acid, so take precautions if you let youth use it.  No horseplay, don’t let it touch your skin, etc.

washing off the etching cream

4. We waited about 30 minutes before washing off the etching cream (which means they haven’t seen their final products yet).  Just a warning: no matter how many mirror tiles you do, you will still have a minor panic attack every time you wash off the etching cream, because you will think it didn’t work.  I promise, once it dries, it will be awesome!

I love the variety of images that were created last night!  We intend to hang all of the artwork in our Youth Wing in the next week or so.  And at Prayer Breakfast tomorrow, I’m going to give each of the kids a tiny mirror tile (you can get them cheap at Hobby Lobby) with a characteristic of God written on it in Sharpie.  We’ll challenge them to carry it with them all day as a reminder to reflect that characteristic back into their schools/homes/etc.

"Be Alive" (created by two students)

In which unexpected places have you noticed God at work this holiday season?  And the scarier question is, where have we ignored Him?

This year, that dream finally became a reality!  We invited three other youth groups to join us, and the result was certainly a night to remember!

Here was our schedule:

7 p.m. – Meet at the church
7:30 p.m. – Roller Skating
9:00 p.m. – Photo Scavenger Hunt
(let me be honest…we didn’t plan this one ahead of time…but the youth were getting bored, and we had to come up with something fast! It ended up being the kids’ favorite part of the whole night!)
10:45 p.m. – Worship at our church (to ring in the New Year!)
12:30 a.m.- Bowling

Sending our prayers up to God (photo by Eric McFarland)

3:00 a.m. – Games at another church
5:00 a.m. – Movie at another church (we chose Elf)
7:00 a.m. – Breakfast and closing worship at another church (we had a cool prayer service, where the youth wrote their prayers on paper lanterns and we lit them on fire as they rose up in the sky!)
8:30 a.m. - Early church to worship with the whole congregation!
(although, fair warning…don’t sit in the front row, because your kids will be nodding off the whole service!)

The late-night worship service was my favorite…we turned out the lights in the Fellowship Hall, and gave all of the youth glow necklaces.  We focused on living a “different” life (i.e. a different calendar, a different rhythm of being).  Right as midnight struck, we served communion.  In addition to receiving bread and juice, they also received a noisemaker with which to ring in the New Year!  It was a really neat mix of solemn worship and joyful celebration…a balance we should probably try to strike a little more often.

Here’s a video from the communion portion of the service (notice the noisemakers in the background, getting louder and louder as the song goes on!)

I’m pretty partial to the worship leader in this video, as he happens to be my husband!

I can’t wait for Sunday night, when we get to deliver all this food all over the city!!!

On the first night of youth group this month, we evaluated ourselves based on the criteria given in 1 Corinthians 13, asking ourselves whether we really speak patiently, kindly, selflessly, etc. (Click here to download the evaluation worksheet we used).  And then at the end of the night, I texted them all the above image (which I got from Doulos Clothing) and asked them to set this picture as their phone’s background for the rest of the month, as a reminder of our commitment to speak truth in love.

So far….it seems to be working well.  Several youth who were not at the original meeting asked if I would send them the picture so they could participate.  And one of my youth yesterday said, “This is a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I didn’t realize how much I think negative thoughts and say negative things!”

“Colossians 3:17 says, “…whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus…”  It’s about doing a good job. I have found that I can talk to people about God —even Jesus —because I try to excel at everything that I do, stay later than everybody else and work harder than most people. I have worked with a lot of Christians that are known as whiners and complainers, who say terrible things about people. It gives a bad name to Christianity…”

“In every job I’ve had — and I’ve had a lot — someone has said, “I can’t believe you are a Christian. If I were to become a Christian, I would want to be like you.” Is that good or bad? I don’t know. It’s a step closer, but it’s not so much in the writing. It’s more in the character that you build, the good that you do, that the difference is made. It’s in trying to be a real, authentic human being. It’s not trying to hide my scars and hide my darkness. He called us to be real live human beings.”

I feel really conflicted about the show Dexter; on the one hand, I think it’s one of the best shows (with some of the best writing) on television today, and on the other hand, it creeps me out to spend that much time thinking like a serial killer.  But I’m loving where the writers are going with the current season…there are definitely spiritual overtones, as Dexter explores his own darkness and light.  And the show gives us good examples of faithful people, and bad examples of faithful people….just like in real life.

And I’ll confess…part of the reason I keep watching the show is because I want it to explore the theme of redemption.  After every episode so far this season, I have told Jordan, “Oh, wouldn’t it be great if Dexter got to know Jesus?  And maybe he could give up killing!”  I know that makes me a huge dork, and the very idea defeats the purpose of the show…but I can still hope, right??

We just finished up a four-week, Halloween-themed Bible study with our youth, entitled “The Walking Dead.”  Each week, we looked at a different spooky story from the Bible:

Week 1. “Dry Bones” (Ezekiel 37:1-14)
Week 2. “Bewitched” (1 Samuel 28:3-25)
Week 3. “The Mummy” (John 11:1-44)
Week 4. “Coming Alive” (Matthew 27:45-54)

I’m attaching the lesson plans for you, in case you might ever want to use them.  They’re not anything polished…just my notes.  But, I had the hardest time finding good youth resources about the Witch of Endor, so I thought this might come in handy for someone else!

Download here: The Walking Dead Bible Study

Have you ever wondered if we have a tendency to treat God like a vending machine?  We come to him with quarters in hand, and we expect something very specific in return.

My drink of choice is either Coke Zero or Mountain Dew, depending on whether it’s a Coke machine or a Pepsi machine.  But sometimes when I go to the vending machine and put in my money, it flashes back the message, “Out of stock.”  And I have to decide whether I’m thirsty enough settle for a Sprite, or if I’m just going to ask for my money back.  Or even worse, I ask for Coke Zero and I get a Grape Fanta instead.  No offense to you Grape Fanta fans, but that’s disappointing!  And by then, I’m usually out of money, and I can’t even try again.

Of course, we do this with God, too.   Only, we’re not generally asking him for Mountain Dew…usually we’re asking for healing, or for guidance, or maybe to make a good grade on a test.  And when God doesn’t deliver exactly how we expect…when our prayers aren’t answered exactly the way we would like…we are disappointed.  We feel like the machine has failed us.

But God’s not a vending machine. He’s our Father in heaven, and he loves us deeply.  He wants us to have the best.  In Matthew chapter 7, Jesus asks, “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will you give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about how much we limit God by the way we pray.  Like before a meal, when we bless our food, we get into a rut of praying the same way every time, and it becomes routine. So much so that we forget God is actually listening.  Or when someone’s sick, we’re scared to ask God for what we really want, and so we pray for small things, manageable prayers, like that the doctors will do their job well, or that we would be comforted.  And don’t get me wrong, those are great things to pray for, and God does work in those ways.  But sometimes when we pray small, we never have to leave room for God to really work.
But how much more will our Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask Him!  Maybe instead of the Coke we’re asking for, we’ll get a bouquet of flowers, or a 6-foot sub, instead.  Sometimes God’s blessings are immediately apparent, and we know right away that He has surpassed our wildest expectations.  But sometimes, we have to wait, and we think that our prayers have been ignored, or that God doesn’t care.  But if we could see the bigger picture, we would know that God is working in the midst of all circumstances, in the midst of every detail in our lives, and working it into something good, for his glory.

So today I challenge you guys to pray boldly, and to really leave room for God to work however He sees fit.  It’s a scary prayer, because it means we no longer are in control…but then again, we never were to begin with.