Youth Pastor’s Blog

Why so tired?

Throughout my average day, I am constantly yawning while fighting to keep my heavy eyelids open and doing everything I can to make sure that I don’t have that “dazed” look across my face. I always make sure that I am in “go” mode, conquering my surroundings. If I have not accomplished a task or defeated some sort of enemy, my day feels like a waste. I must take on every obstacle, and even if it comes to it, destroy Rambo if he’s in my way. Finally at the end of the day, I fall into the couch and sulk and complain about how busy and miserable it was. I think to my self, “Do I make my day miserable?” I am in constant go and conquer mode, and I never rest. Then the Lord brought me to Psalms 23: “He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.”

We so often feel the pressure that our lives “must be filled with work” and if not, we can’t have all the “stuff” we think we need. I do believe in hard work but not at the sacrifice of enjoying our lives. It says in the Word, “The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy, but I have come to bring life, and life more abundantly.” As we go through the short thing we call life, let us enjoy it as God has intended it to be. Let us take time and rest. Even if it means we can’t have everything. The truth of the matter is, when we stop and focus on Him, we gain everything.

A “love-sick” World

I have always loved the experience of watching movies. Growing up, our family watched a movie almost every night. It was the same routine; everyone would eat supper, grab a bowl of ice cream, and settle down in our exact same spot (mine was the lazy-boy in the corner). Then it begins. We focus all our attention for the next two hours on a square box that captivates us without any difficulty. Looking back, I’ve realized something; The majority of the movies had a theme of “love.” The plot encircled this almost perfect ideal image of love. It’s as if we’ve tried to fabricate this love idea through movies, music, anything we can think of. We all have a desire, a need, to be loved and to love. So we focus our attention on this made up love that the world has to offer, instead of finding perfect love in Christ. Jesus is not a movie; He’s not a record album. He is the true definition of love. Only in Him is true love found, not made up, and not fabricated. Just true love.

In an “I” world, where is “He” involved?

In our modern world, we have achieved greatness. We’ve created such technological advancements in the past 50 years that the world has never seen before. We created such instruments like the iPhone, iPod, iMac, iPad, ect. We’ve created a world to fulfill ourselves, focusing everything on self. Our dream, “the American dream,” is to create a world about I. The “I” is the ever wanting, ever needing, never satisfied, always trying to fulfill. So we have created a system where we focus all attention on the “I”. But still our “I” is never fulfilled. We still want, we still need, and we cannot find enough fulfillment in the “I”. The only fulfillment for the “I”, is replacing the “I” for the “He.” When we remove the “I” and replace with a “He” in our lives, we will be fulfilled. We’ll never want, we’ll never need, and we will always be satisfied. The “He” is Jesus Christ.