A Craving for Substance

Lately, my taste in music has changed. I have become discontent with the average everyday music. I listen to the radio from time to time (yes the radio still exists… the Ipod hasn’t taken over, yet). Anyway, a good friend of mine and I were talking about how his taste in music is like a drug addiction. He started with the gateway stuff and he has now moved to music that is much harder in the Christian rock genre. Through his addiction I have been pulled in to an ever progressing chain of music that actually contains… substance.

Since listening to the group Emery, I have been caught up by the words of the song “Listening to Freddie Mercury.” Go to their webpage (www.emerymusic.com), and in the top right corner you’ll see the play list scrolling. Roll over it and click the song “Listening to Freddie Mercury.”

(You can go here http://www.plyrics.com/lyrics/emery/listeningtofreddiemercury.html to read the lyrics.)

Anyway, I have been craving more and more from the music I listen to. I’m not satisfied with the God-is-wonderful-I-have-no-problems mentality that contemporary Christian radio stations sometimes try to convey through their play lists. I’m tired of people thinking that the Christian life is easy. It isn’t! It’s hard, it is full of struggles, and it is full of changes. If you’re walk with God has become lax and boring then it’s time for an overhaul. The Christian life is about shifting where the Spirit leads. It is because God is in control that “we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.” This doesn’t mean that the Christian life is a life free from troubles, but it does mean that a Christian has something firm to stand on when hard times hit.

“For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
-Romans 8:38-39

Through the hard times, God is there. Through the good times, God is there. Through the uncertain and ever changing times, God is there.

God is here.

Experiencing a Life Shift

Part of being in the ministry includes:

“The act of making friends,

building relationships,

saying goodbye,

and making new friends.”

-Jeff Roper

How true these words are! Last night was one of the hardest nights that I have experienced in the past year and a half regarding youth ministry. I’ve taken a position at a church as a full time youth pastor. I’m so excited.

Problem is saying hello to one church means saying goodbye to another. And though the new church has a larger facility and an already larger youth group, it hurts to leave the smaller, younger youth group. I have grown close to the youth and the congregation. I have seen such growth in this young group. I know that they will do well, and that they will do a great work for God in their community without me. I know that they have a heart to follow God, not me. Because of their love for God, they will impact many.

I know that it must have hurt Christ to leave his disciples. I imagine that He grew close to more than just the twelve. Paul talks about Timothy, Silas, and Luke; but he also mentions others that are friends he only gets to visit when he goes to certain cities.

In the same way, I feel like I have made friends, both in the youth group and among the adults at the church, but I also have the assurance that leaving one place and going to another is what God wants for me to do. It has been one of the hardest transitions to make. I have even found myself asking early on if this would be the right move. Through much prayer, and numerous conversations with other mentors of The Faith, I have come to the conclusion that this move is the right thing. More so, through the conviction of the Holy Spirit I feel like it would be wrong for me to decline the current opportunity at this other church.

I know that God is not done with either one of the churches, nor is He done with me. I pray, that not only I but both of the churches, will be obedient to what the Spirit whispers in the years to come. May we all be the light used to show the world the love of Christ Jesus.

In His Grip

Hank