hopefully this hurts you more than it hurts me...

So, I love my job. I mean I get to spend time with some awesome students, play video games, go on trips and act like a 15 year old some times. But, something really has gotten my attention. This post may not be one that you want to read but it needs to be read. So, please keep your daggers and swords at ease for now.

My heart is troubled. Why? I think we expect to much from our students. We think that we truly understand what is happening in their lives. We think that giving them their space will make the relationship better. Saying all of this, I think that parents of students, and I say this with much love because I have none of my own, are deceived. What are you talking about Aaron? Well, yesterday during our second service, I heard that over 65% of Christians who have a Bible don't read it. Wow. Really? So, my mind automatically raced towards my area of ministry and I wonder how many students read the Bible? The numbers can't be good. Can they be better than 65% of adults?

So here is my dilemma. How do we fix this? How do we get our students interested in reading God's Word? My thoughts are, it starts at home but then I sound naive and judgmental. I know that the environments where students are at today are not healthy, but that is all the more reason to have them study God's Word right? I think that it starts with adults, not knowing how to read the Bible and then teaching their children. I think that we rely too much on the church to fix our children. Can it become more of a pit stop in the every day journey of our lives, instead of a day care? Last time I checked the home is the spiritual place of growth.

If you know me, please hear me when I say all of this, I am not calling out any of your children. But, maybe this is the moment where you can sit down with your children and truly ask them when the last time they read the Bible was? Stop reading my blog and go grab your students!!  All I know is that it is harder for me, as a pastor to teach students the Bible when they have no idea what it is and how to open it and these are students who have professed Christ! Well, Aaron that is your job. Uhm, no. I am just a small piece in the bigger picture of your students lives. I love being that small piece but if you are just counting on me to magically transform the lives of students, then we are all in trouble. That may hurt. I say it with love.

I take full responsibility of guiding them on how to get plugged-in to a small group and make sure that we give them the best opportunities to expand their walk with Christ, but this is not an everyday deal. I only have them twice a week. How many times do you have them?? There has to be help from the other side. Do we really want our students to know God? Then, let's push them to want to know Him. Don't just say you need to read the Bible, read it with them, Discuss, dialogue and for goodness sake pray for your students!!

My passion is to see students grow closer to God through the Word and living out their faith in Christ. I know that parents want the same thing too. Can we put down the remote, open the Bible, put our foot down, show them who Jesus is, pray for each other, view church as a refueling station in the long journey with Christ and then do it all over again?? I think that we can! I know we can! It will take some sacrifice but it should be a sacrifice that is worth taking! Here again, no name calling, just a piece of reality that breaks my heart....I hope that one day we can turn this ship around because right now as a universal church body, we have hit an iceberg people and students are drowning. Can that be today? I am praying for all parents and students of our church and churches in this nation. This is a critical issue and WE can do something about it!

Aaron

Don't get burned...

Ahhh.....coffee! Got to be one of the world's greatest things. For me, it's what wakes me up in the morning. funny thing about coffee is that it is hot and taste great. So, as I was chillin' this morning drinking my coffee in my Starbucks coffee mug/cup, I saw the warning label: "Careful, the beverage you're about to enjoy is extremely hot." So the thought that came to mind is, how many times do we disregard the message? How many times in life do we just jump right in without viewing the possible consequences for our actions? Even though it may taste good, look, feel good, but when it is all said and done, you get burned.

As I look at my relationship with God, I can see that sometimes I tend to do whatever I please, whenever I want to because "it my party and I'll cry if I want to" but in all reality I am setting myself up to be burned. I feel that many times the things that I choose to do or say or watch come from an innate desire to please myself, rather than please my Father. While I know that the contents of my actions are extremely dangerous or hot or unholy, I chose to do them anyways. Why is this? I think that I can relate to Paul when he talks about how he wants to do what is right but does wrong. No matter how hard he tries, he fails. He knows what the right thing to do is but something within him pushes him towards the dangerously, hot cup of coffee(insert your own device here). Could we chose to slow down and remember that sin is unholy and displeases God?

I think that many times we get caught up in the moment. In that moment we find ourselves making a choice on whether or not to make the right decisions. So basically we all have the opportunity to chose the right course of action but we would rather get burned instead. Have you ever had hot coffee spilled on you? It burns. It hurts. It is painful. But the effects of that burn, decision, can't leave immediately. The marks of our decisions sometimes last longer than we would like.

So anyways, I write some pretty random things sometimes and this is one of them. Hope it makes sense and you can take something away from it. In the mean time, let your coffee cool off of for a second before burning the mess out of your tongue and maybe the next time you drink a cup of joe, you might, just might remember the way we are supposed to act and treat others as you treat yourself to some arabica bean delight. Just sayin...

Aaron

I'm stealing this prayer and giving it to you...

"Ever since I first heard of your strong faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for Christians everywhere, I have never stopped thanking God for you. I pray for you constantly, asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give you spiritual wisdom and understanding, so that you might grow in your knowledge of God. I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the wonderful future he has promised to those he called. I want you to realize what a rich and glorious inheritance he has given to his people."


"I pray that you will begin to understand the incredible greatness of his power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right and in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or anything else in this world or in the world to come. And God has put all things under the authority of Christ, and he gave him this authority for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is filled by Christ, who fills everything everywhere with his presence."

My prayer for you, taken from Paul in Ephesians 1:15-23.


May the church remember that it finds it's place through Christ, not through man. Also, that the body of Christ should reflect his presence everywhere we set foot.


Aaron