Thursday, October 28, 2010

My New Life Motto


            Wow..... I haven’t written anything on this stupid website in a month...  Not that I ever wrote more than three things anyways…  So much has happened to me over the last month, I no longer feel like a new student here at SNU.  I’m here and I’m working hard at being more “studious”, trying not to fall into my old lazy ways that I loved so much.  I started interning too!! I love my church, Choctaw Church of the Nazarene, but it’s this new intern job that’s made me think of my own position in an ever developing debate, that occurs between a fat man and a skinny lady inside my head…  The two sides always seem to be polar opposites; nobody from the left ever agrees with the right, there is no middle ground…

Is it better to have a big youth group, or a small one?

            The answer is yes.  Which doesn’t make any sense, but at the same time neither does the question.  Why would either side necessarily be a negative?  On the side of small youth groups the argument is that the smaller the group, the more intimate you can be with your students’ walk with Christ, which I find to be true to an extent.  But on the side of big groups, isn’t our calling as youth pastors one of evangelism? Even if we view big youth groups as evil things that inspire distractions and a lack of realistic Christian development, shouldn’t we at least acknowledge the fact that as ministers we are supposed to be attracting new members to Christ’s Kingdom?  Besides, what would you do if 300 extra kids showed up at the front door of your teen room? You deny them entrance? Impossible.  Try being a successful minister, or a successful anything, and deny the very purpose for your existence at the same time.  You can’t be a garbage man if you refuse trash past a certain point.  Not that people are trash… but Hopefully you get what I mean.  The point is, you can’t have one or the other by choice… a pastor can’t give up on a group of kids cause they’re too big.  If you have been blessed with a larger audience then adapt, it’s obviously what you’re being called to do.  And at the same time, if you feel that you would be more of a big youth group guy and you get a small one, then adapt to that circumstance. 
            There is no point in me saying I would prefer a big youth group or a small one.  I think that what ever I get, I got for a reason.  SOO Choctaw is a large group compared to what I’m used to.  So now I’m adapting, I can’t just say that I suck at it and participate less, who knows where I will be taken next?  Who knows where anyone will be next? 
            I guess the overall experience of life is supposed to be one of certainty.  Colleges expect you to have your major and be passionate about what job you’ll get when you graduate.  But those are stupid notions to even consider.  If you’re following a god of any standard you’ll realize that your path will be varied and it will change more on a daily basis if you want to listen.  Don’t limit yourself to something because that’s what’s expected.  If life has taught me anything so far it’s to expect the times where something is unexpected.  So I leave you with a statement that I hereby officially adopted just now: If you know where you will be in five years, then you’re an idiot.