Sweet Long Goodbyes

With my first year of Youth Ministries under my belt I’ve been reflecting on it a bit and preparing for the next one. I’m quite sure that I’ve learned as much or more than these young people have learned from me. This past year has impacted me in a way that was both unexpected and very sweet. I understand who I am in a deeper way, and have a rekindled sense of Faith in our younger generation.

I remember being 18 and having to take on the next phase of life like our graduating seniors are doing right now. It’s an amazing thing to grow up. It’s something that you just can’t wait for until it happens and then you find yourself trying to hold on to everything familiar because the new world is totally unknown. I’ve been inspired by the steady and faithful movement of our kids through this turbulent time in their lives. I see them surrounded by grace and entering the college years with a certain highness that can only come from a firm foundation in Christ. To walk in this world with the confidence and faith in our Lord makes the uncertain and the unknown just another day in the hands of Christ.

I’m thankful for their attentiveness in our Bible studies and for their desire to know God. I’ll never forget Kristen Drymon having a personal wrestling match with the book of James over planning or Dusty London’s face the first time we let him plug in his electric guitar for worship band. I was a proud papa when Adam Austin excitedly told us about his MO Ranch small group struggling over why bad things happen to good people and him being able to point them to the James 1:1-2 to everyone’s astonishment. I see Stuart Hash deciding to join a Christian fraternity at OU and am thankful that this movement towards Christ will continue in college. It’s hard to recount the sheer volume of moments in which Ross Lalli made us laugh, but I was most moved by His desperate pursuit of the Word and hunger to know Christ. And although I would have liked to get to know her better, I really enjoyed Adrienne Phillips’ fantastic sermon in her cap and gown on senior Sunday. And to our boy Paul McAtee, who went the farthest and who has already found a church in Waco, it’s just not going to be same without you.

Thank you so much to all the Seniors (Freshmen) for making my life a whole lot of fun this past year. I love you all and am more attached to you than I care to admit. I hope that you keep going in your Christian faith and I pray that you let God make you His.
May you endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit through to bond of peace. Come Home soon. Come home often. We Love and miss you all.

-Jason Brown

 

 


So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall! No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it. 1Corinthians 10:12-13



We've got to know that the Lord will ALWAYS make a way for us to do the right thing. We just need to be open to following His voice. No matter what we've done or what we've got ourselves into, If we humble ourselves, repent, and ask for the the Lord to help.... He WILL deliver us.



 

  Peace, Be Still.



 

  My friend Nathan Griffis wrote this article in his blog and I wanted to share it with all of you. He starts by quoting James and then lays into some pretty great truth. I hope that it ministers to you like it did to me.

-JB



"My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience. But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed."
James 1:1-6

Do you know what it feels like to want absolutely nothing? I'm sure everyone has felt that way at least once in their life. But lately I've been feeling that way all the time. It is by far the greatest feeling in the world. It's the realization that, as Tim Miser put it, "Everything works for the good of those in love with God." It's something that we can't see with our own eyes. There are so many different paths that I could travel down in my life right now. I have no idea which path is the best for me, but God knows. So I don't worry about it. I don't worry about anything and it all works out, every time. As long as I have faith. Didn't Christ say that....that we shouldn't worry. (Yes. He did.) So why do we worry? It's simple. It's just a lack of faith. Don't you think that if we had complete faith in God, who created us and the universe that holds us, that we would not have to worry about a single thing in our entire lives? It's so simple it boggles the mind of many people. It starts with faith in God. Then the trying of your faith builds patience. When you "turn your eyes upon Jesus and look full in His wonderful face, then the things of this world will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace". I wouldn't tell you this if it wasn't true. It all comes down to one thing: "seek and ye shall find". And that's why I'm no longer going to write in this. Anything that I could possibly say is only going to point in one direction...and that's to the Word. There's no way I can say it better than it says it. You have to want it....every day, every minute, every second. It's living water so that you may never thirst again. But most of all it's truth. And there's some who don't want it.....it says that as well. And it's true. It's so unbelievably simple: it's Love for God and everything that He created. Can you believe that? After all this time we've been searching for truth...in the end there is only love.

-Nathan Griffis
Saturday, July 31, 2004