Megan's prayer: Falling Up's "New Hope Generation"

It has definitely been an adventure working with high school teens each Sunday with the lifeteen program. Although they are only a few years younger than me, I still see them as an entirely different generation than I am in.

Some of the times, it can be frustrating to work with the teens. They may not be into the night - they would rather just goof off. Sometimes I feel like just giving up.

Other times I will be completely overwhelmed by a teen, and by their love for God. I'll be amazed by the thoughts and questions they have, and they help me grow deeper in my own faith.

Although I'm the older person in these relationships, sometimes I end up being the one who learns more. I'm grateful for the teens... and although they may enjoy joking around, I really do have hope for the new generation.

Jen's prayer: Falling Up's "New Hope Generation"

Hope is there it is waiting it is real

I was once close with a person who did not have hope. It wasn't until things got very bad that things changed in this person's life and then supposedly this person had hope. I wish I could believe this person. However, hope isn't REAL without the love of Christ. And the only way to have that hope is to open up our arms to Christ.

Just hold him close he won't ever let you go

Hope is knowing that Jesus will never let us go. We always have something to live for knowing that.

Chris' prayer: Falling Up's "New Hope Generation"

I've been here before, it's all I've ever known

In a week and a half, I will be leaving St. Louis for Ely, Minnesota, to paddle my way around the Boundary Waters Canoe Area for nearly a week. I'm really excited and at the same time, scared. It is going to be an amazing experience and one that I will not likely ever forget, but, as it is something I've never done before, there are a lot of unsuredness about it. It doesn't help that my friend has been the one doing all the planning for the trip- he is the one with the expectations, the ideas, the plan...I am just flying by the seat of my pants.

That is also part of the reason I cannot wait. It is something I've never done before and something that is far from everything I've ever known. I'll get to spend 6 nights in God's beautiful wilderness, under a sky full of a million stars, without any distractions that accompany all I've ever known. It is going to be incredible and I am so ready for something new.

Bring. It. On.


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Katie's prayer: Falling Up's "New Hope Generation"

See the Messiah rise in these places

Recently, I've been forgetting that it's all about God, not me. My prayers have turned from "This is what I want, God, is that what you want to? Is that what I should do?" to "This is what I want, God, please make it happen!" Not with everything in my life, just on my job situation and my relationship with a boy. But at the moment, those are the two main parts of my life. I needed to be reminded. Reminded to invite God into my problems. Ask God for the solution, instead of coming up with one on my own and asking God to help me fulfill that solution. Luckily, today's song did just that. It's time for God's presence in those problems to rise, again.

Open arms let your spirit pour

Jen's prayer: Jars of Clay's "Weighed Down"

And are we illuminating?

I was talking to a friend tonight about how important it is for us to be a light to others. It's so easy for us to be in our bubbles and be with the same, like minded people all the time. We get in our comfort zones. At least I do. Maybe it's different for you. But when I read these lyrics that's what really stuck out to me, "Are we illuminating?" Jesus should be shining bright in us. And if that isn't what's going on, why not? What is weighing us down? That's something I'm going to be thinking about tonight and into tomorrow.

Megan's prayer: Jars of Clay's "Weighed Down"

I had so many prayers in my heart throughout the day. So many different things that I needed to talk to God about. Prayers asking for forgiveness, prayers of thanksgivings, and all sorts of other things I needed to talk to him about.

I had the opportunity to attend adoration tonight. In a very short hour and a half, I was able to talk to God about all of these things. I went into the night feeling weighed down, but a weight was definitely lifted during adoration.

Chris' prayer: Jars of Clay's "Weighed Down"

Our hearts … moved on by winds of everything

I know that this is certainly true in my life. My heart will be captured by something and I'll be so excited about it and so into it and ready to give my all to it, and the next moment, something else comes along and steals it away. My attention and effort turns to that thing until it is ultimately stolen away by yet another "passion." Anything and everything can grab my heart, my attention, but very few things can hold it for any length of time.

Unfortunately, my spirituality isn't as much one of those "few things" as I would like it to be. I am always conscious of my faith, and how it is going, and I really never feel like abandoning it, but if I took a look at my choices, and particularly my effort, I know I could tell when I was distracted by something else going on. I keep waiting for Jesus to grab my heart and not let go, failing to realize that I'm really the one who decides where it stays. I need to work on that.


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Katie's prayer: Jars of Clay's "Weighted Down"

I've gotten into this habit of listening to the song of day throughout my entire day, beginning by listening to it non-stop during my shower. It's a great time to be alone with me, my thoughts, my prayers, and the song for the day. The only down side is that I can't really look at the lyrics. Normally, that isn't a problem, today was different. I couldn't understand a thing except for the 4 "weighted down"s at the end. Everything else sounded like just mumbling.

So whilst taking my shower and not understanding a thing being said, I began to think that was very relevant to my life right now. God has closed a few doors for me, but also opened more. In the past when it was time to make big decisions, I'd ask God for his advice, and my reply would be a big neon flashing sign "do this!" Not the case right now. All I'm hearing is "youth ministry." Ok God, how do you want me to fulfill that? Where am I supposed to do this youth ministry? The answer: mumbling. I'm starting to get worried God's not going to let me in on the secret of my life. God's kinda in a way abandoning me.

As I'm formulating this thought more, it's time to exit the shower. I turn off the water and suddenly, I understand every word being said. I hear it all! No more mumbling. And I realize, God's not abandoning me. God's not mumbling the answers to my questions. I just hear mumbling because of all the noise around me. I'm not focusing solely on God. I'm allowing the pressures and deadlines and issues of the world around me to cloud the voice of God who's telling me exactly what to do.

Chris' prayer: Andy Cloninger's "Great is the Lord in Zion"

Each Tuesday, I spend an hour of my day with Jesus in Adoration, usually reading something spiritual. Today's spiritual reading was Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God by Francis Chan and Danae Yankoski. I didn't make it too far into the book, but what I did read about was pretty good. The authors spoke about how only God is "holy," which means "spiritually and morally perfect," and that all holy things come from Him. And for that, we are to worship Him.

Tonight's song echos that sentiment:

He is exalted over all the nations
Let them praise Your great and awesome name
We sing Holy, We sing Holy, We sing Holy
Is Your great and awesome name

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Jen's prayer: Andy Cloninger's "Great is the Lord in Zion"

When you're raised with a Christian background like me, summer means the time to get your Jesus freak on. Ha. Or in other words, reconnect with Jesus. When I was in middle school and high school, summer meant camps and Christian music festivals popping up everywhere. I always needed something to help refocus and direct my life back to Christ before school started back up in the fall.

I was reading Megan's post and thinking about my faith and how it's not nearly as on fire as it used to be back in high school when I had camps or Christian music festivals to attend. When Andy sings, "I wanna dance, I wanna sing" that's what summer was all about. You praised Jesus. And thus, you felt Jesus. And I was thinking about how Megan said something about not feeling Jesus' spirit as much or something and I was thinking, "Yeah, I'm not on fire either!" But the thing is, I KNOW my faith is more mature than it was in high school. I may not FEEL like I did back then with that pumped up energy, but that doesn't mean Jesus isn't there. I shouldn't rely on a camp or festival to bring back that zeal, I should just press forward on my own. And I'm glad this song and Megan's post could help me realize that.

Megan's prayer: Andy Cloninger's "Great is the Lord of Zion"

To be honest, my faith life is no where near where I want it to be. And it's nowhere near where it used to be. Last summer, God's love for me was so intense, it was almost tangible. I could feel it everywhere around me. There was no question as to whether or not I was loved.

Things have changed a little. Although I know God still loves me, and can see it, I'm having a hard time feeling it. The joy in my faith has been lost a little, and I'm not sure what to attribute that to. Having to remind myself that God loves me is a little different than just constantly experiencing it.

I want to rediscover those days of pure and constantly love from God. While I know it isn't gone cause I can see it, I need help figuring out how to feel it. I want back those days of pure joy in my faith.

I wanna dance
I wanna shout
I wanna sing "Hallelujah"

Katie's prayer: Andy Cloninger's "Great is the Lord in Zion"

The one thing that struck me about this song was it was basically the same 4 lines over and over again. (except for one little bit in the middle) You'd think that 3.5 minutes of the same 4 lines would get kinda boring after a while. And after listening to the song non-stop for 30 minutes, hearing the same thing over and over again would become annoying. But strangely, that's not the case. I never get tired of hearing Andy sing:

Great is the Lord in Zion
He is exalted over all the nations
Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Holy, Holy, Holy, is your great and awesome name.

And if I never get tired of hearing it, then the same must be true for God. We all know God is great and awesome and holy, but how often to we proclaim that? How often do I proclaim that, or more accurately, how little do I proclaim that? Last Monday, I talked about increasing those prayers of thankfulness. I think today's lesson is about increasing those prayers of affirmation.

Great is the Lord in Zion
He is exalted over all the nations
Let them praise your great and awesome name.
Holy, Holy, Holy, is your great and awesome name.

Megan's prayer: Plumb's "Stranded"

And I wanna be with you

I know, for sure, that I want to be with God. I want to serve him, I want to honor him, I want to live my life for him. No matter what I do, or where I am, I want to be with God.

And you wanna be with me

A much harder reality for me to accept is God wanting to be with me. While I want to believe it's true, and *do* believe it is true most of the time, there are those times of doubt. Those times where I have to convince myself God wants me, instead of it being a natural feeling inside.

At this point, I'm not sure how to make it a more instinctual feeling, but my prayer for today is that I can continue on the path to always knowing that God loves me.

Chris' prayer: Plumb's "Stranded"

The first thing that comes to mind when I hear the word stranded is having a car break down miles from everywhere and not knowing what exactly to do.

Fortunately, this has really only happened to me once, where I was too far from anyone I knew who could help me. I don't recall what happened to the car, but I remember I was stuck on the side of the highway just more than halfway to school, but still so far. I was lucky, too, that there was a random subdivision in the middle of this nowhere, where I could borrow a phone.

I called a friend of mine who was more than happy to skip dinner and make the hour and a half trip to come rescue me, pretending like it was no big deal, and not allowing me to pay for her meal, her gas, or her time. I was rescued- for free.

This image has always stuck with me as that of my Heavenly Father. Rescuing me from all the troubles in my life, and not asking for anything in return. He just wants to save me.

Katie's prayer: Plumb's "Stranded

Today was not the best day for me and God. I tried, I started out with morning prayer, I went for my walk with Jesus, I listened to today's song over and over and over again. Ok, so maybe morning prayer was said in my bed with a yawn after every paragraph. Maybe I had to force myself to go for the walk and when I did get out there, all I did was complain, about my life, about the weather, about everything. Maybe I didn't actually pay attention to what I was listening to when I was listening to the song. Maybe I didn't try as hard as I should have. Maybe that's why I felt a little stranded today.

I miss you, I need you
Without you, I'm stranded
I love you so come back

Jen's prayer: Plumb's "Stranded"

It's hard for me to look at this song as being about God, because when I used to listen to Plumb, this was always a boy/girl song...probably because at the end it says "Oh baby I miss you." I don't usually talk to God like that. Ha. Buuuut there is something I was thinking about at the beginning when the lyrics go...

And I wanna be with you
And you wanna be with me

If I WANT to be with God. And God WANTS to be with me...what's the problem? Why can't it just be that simple? Well, I'll tell you why...I let the worldly stuff get in the way. But I am praying that I can simplify it down to the basics...God wants me to draw close to Him and so that is what I shall do.

Jen's prayer: Chris Rice's "Clumsy"

I get so clumsy
I get so foolish
I get so stupid
And then I feel so useless

I relate a lot to this song. People who know me well know I'm not the most ... graceful person. They also know that even though I can appear pretty smart since I graduated from college early, I can be pretty stupid sometimes too. And I can be really foolish when it comes to me ignoring God's voice. And it can be during these points where I feel absolutely useless. I don't even know why God would want to use me as a vessel to do his work. Because let's face, I'm pretty hopeless sometimes. Luckily, Chris Rice goes onto say in this song, that the good thing is God still wants me and still wants to be near me. God doesn't give up on me as easily as I sometimes give up on myself. And if God, the maker of heaven and earth, the very guy who could strike us all dead if He so chose, isn't going to give up on ME, then why should I give up on me?

Katie's prayer: Chris Rice's "Clumsy"

From where I stand
Your holiness is up so high I can never reach it

(I realize what I'm about to say is probably not what the singer or songwriter intended for this part of the song, but gosh darn it, it's my prayer and I can make it whatever I want) (:

I have a big problem of measuring my holiness by the holiness of those around me. Sometimes by telling myself it's ok if I didn't do morning prayer today, so and so never does morning prayer. Yeah, this isn't the best thing for me to be doing, but this person whose faith I admire is doing it, so it must be ok, right? Sometimes I glorify those around me, and thus try to be just like them. I know this isn't my favorite way of praying, this isn't a way I normally feel God, but so and so prays like this and says the feel God through this kind of prayer, so I should do it. I should abandon my ways of praying to pray just like this person. I even have thoughts that everyone around me is WAY holier than I am or could ever be. I'm the only one who has trouble with this sin, I'm the only one that experiences dips in faith life, I'm the only one without a deep prayer life.

But that's stupid. Other people should not affect my relationship with God. I shouldn't be looking at the relationships of those around me with God, I should only be focused on my relationship with God. It shouldn't matter if so and so is doing such and such sin, that doesn't give me permission to do it. It shouldn't matter how so and so prays, I should concentrate on my own prayer life, and how I want to pray. I need to keep my eyes focused on God, and everything else will fall into place.

My only hope is to fall on Jesus.

Chris' prayer: Chris Rice's "Clumsy"

And that You wanna be near me

I can be pretty mean sometimes. I can be ornery, and spiteful, and selfish. I can lash out and I am the best at making absolutely nothing ever my fault. I'm good at deflecting blame and I'm very good at being in a bad mood. In short, I can be very good at not being Christian at all.

When I'm able to recognize this mood, I cannot understand why anyone at all would want to be around me. Why would anyone want to put up with my stupidity and selfishness? But whether it is my girlfriend, or a friend or family member, or simply God telling me they want to hang out, I am reminded once again that love really does conquer all things.

Even me.


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Megan's prayer: Chris Rice's "Clumsy"

I get so foolish
I get so stupid

I've definitely felt this way recently. I do something stupid, I make mistakes, I blow things out of proportion. I end up feeling so ashamed, and upset with myself.

But You're sayin' You love me
And You're still gonna hold me
And that You wanna be near me

Despite my screw ups, I'm still loved. God's not giving up on me. He knows that, with his help, I'll figure it out eventually. I'm so lucky.