In the Mood for Christmas

Christmas?
This week I have been so encouraged. I all the sudden felt the need to celebrate Christmas. Haha. I want mas ('more' in Espanol) of Christ. ;) Por favor. I just want the world to look around today and think about how awesome God is. How good Jesus is. I had a student ask today, "So... Jesus' only purpose was to come here and die for us?" --Yep. "That sucks." --Not for us!

Yes. Jesus, from before the foundation of the Earth was always intended to come and die for our sins and take our place on the Cross. Why??

Because we suck. We sin. We are selfish. We do our thing without any regard to what it means. But God is merciful, patient, loving, and kind and is waiting for us to come to our senses. Haha!! I just want more and more of Christ. I want the world to pay more attention.

BREAK IT DOWN.
This week I got to talk about why/how we are the salt and light of the world. Something happened in today's Christianity that we throw out all these 'Christian terms' that don't have that much weight anymore. People either assume they know what it means, or they don't care to know what we are talking about.

This is why I love working in youth ministry.

When I was a teenager, I as overly opinionated. I asked a lot of questions, most of the time just to stump people and prove that I was right. Haha!! Working with my students now, I get to be on the opposite end. I get to answer questions and I have to do it in a way that leaves no question unanswered, no stone unturned and do it in a way that they understand fully--who Jesus is. No big words. No overused Christian vocabulary. Just real, true, love.

For me there is a big contrast in the way other Christians talk and the way I talk. (Haha!) I hope that my audience can take me seriously when I say, "Jesus has my back" Sometimes I wonder if I am taking myself seriously enough. Or if my students take me seriously. I hope so. Because I don't want to prove anything other than God's love and Jesus' sacrifice and our role in the grand scheme of things. I just say what I know.

CLAYTON'S STORY.
Last year, I watched this video. I learned about Clayton McDonald and what he did for a generation. It gets me every time I push play. His example--a type of Timothy, someone that wasn't scared to stand up and talk. To stand up and tell it how it is, and just love.

I've learned to never shut up. Clayton taught me that I may know where I am going when I die, but there are lots and lots of people who haven't given it a thought, who don't know. Or even think they know.

I would not want to live through my life and let the opportunity to talk about Jesus and the beauty of hope. (I can't wait to meet him in heaven and tell him, 'You rock. &&Thanks.')

Just watch it.
Pray about it.
And let's revolutionize the way we love. The way we walk. The way we talk. The way we preach. Just... the way we live.

Clayton McDonald | Highlife | Nov. 5, 2008 from Atascadero Bible Church on Vimeo.

Clayton's Story from Jacob Lewis on Vimeo.