Love & Under Armour

I found this funny? Anybody else?

Do you ever find yourself in a situation or moment where you think, “I can’t believe this happening to me?” I find myself in these situations a lot. I have grown to love them. Whenever these strange things happen I always think that God must have a sense of humor. More importantly, I believe it is God giving me opportunities to respond to whatever the situation is, in a loving way. Just the way he would respond. I had an encounter like this recently, out of nowhere, when I was least expecting it.

Sadly I did not respond in love.

I have regretted this since the incident occurred two weeks ago.
Like most women, I have not always made the best choices when it comes to dating. In the past, I have chosen guys who do not hold the same values or morals as I do. These types of unequally yoked relationships have led to emotional and spiritual damage. (2 Corinthians 6:14). For the longest time, I cultivated feelings of hate and disgust for any guy resembling my ex-boyfriends. I would be rude or snub them or you feel in the blank _________ to most guys. I did not see any error in the way I was treating them. I was bitter and hurt, and thought I had earned the right to cut off “those types of guys.”

I was wrong.

But this blog entry isn’t about being equally yoked or how to heal from emotional damage; this blog is about responding to others in love, and when I say others, I mean EVERYONE.


Now to the incident…


I was in the gym two weeks ago, with one of my youth coincidentally, when “HE” approached me. He was clothed in under armour, sporting a six pack, and had been yelling at the other guys he was working out with to “GO HARDER!!” He would have been my dream guy in high school. Funny how we change, huh?

So, my youth and I are minding our own business, doing some squats, when Mr. Under Armour made his approach.

Mr. Under Armour simply came over and said, “you know you should do your squats this way, it’s easier on the back. Trust me. I’m a trainer.”
I should have smiled and said, “thank you, I’ll try it.” But I got mad. I looked at him lividly first and ignored what he said. I turned the other way, and resumed what I was doing. The rest of the day I was angry, and the worst part is my youth witnessed my reaction. I didn’t even know this guy. In his mind he was just trying to help me, but in my mind he was just like this guy who hurt me way back when. In that moment, I failed to respond the way Jesus would. I chose to serve anger, not God. I missed an opportunity to see beyond the surface and into the heart of someone.

Mr. Under Armour was knit together in his mother’s womb by the hands of the almighty. (Psalm 139:13)

Mr. Under Armour is special, beautiful in the eyes of the creator.

I wish I could go back and respond to him differently.

Constantly in the bible we are told to love. Love the Lord your God, your neighbor, your enemies, your wife. WE ARE TO LOVE. This is clear in scripture. Loving others is not an option, even those who stir up bad memories and emotions; or those who annoy us, or ask a lot of questions, or those who believe differently than we do, or those who boss us around, or break our hearts, or push down on the playground. You get the idea.
We are to love them, even at the expense of our comfort or pride. Don’t miss opportunities to respond lovingly to those around you whom God created passionately, lovingly.




AWAKE STUDENTS:
Are you responding to others in love?
Matthew 5:44/ Matthew 19:19/ Proverbs 15:1
Love you guys.

Flaming Waffles and Youth Retreats.

The students with the Robbie Seay Band!

I was'nt home for maybe twenty minutes on Sunday before I had caught two ego waffles on fire setting off the buzzers in my apartment building. This not out of the ordinary behaviour for me. I do stupid stuff all the time. However, I love that this particular incident occured right after I returned from taking my youth on a retreat. This incident got me to thinking...


Youth retreats are alot like flaming waffles.


The phoenema of youth retreats is nothing new to this great this nation. I love them. Students love them. They are opportunities to get away as a group, connect with eachother, and others like us through Christ. And hey! Its a chance for students to get away from their parents for a weekend. Which I have learned they love.


Now here is where the flaming waffles come in.


These retreats can be a double edge sword. We take our students, a.k.a the waffles, and put them in this enviroment, a.k.a. the toaster oven, where by they will be heated up in a short amount of time. The students are set on fire, thus bringing on feelings of conviction with passion. That conviction and passion is contagious. It lights up arenas and convention centers constantly at youth conferences. So we have these huge arenas full of passionate students, on fire, making noise, which is where the smoke alarm comes in. Their praising, raising hands, making committments, rededicating, praying. But then comes the time to leave. The timer has ticked and its time to take the flaming waffles out of the toaster oven.

And then they go back to their high schools. Their high schools where God has been forced out. Their back in that enviroment where they have learned what to say and not to say. What to do and what not to do. They are back in survival mode. That passion for Christ is often times extinguished.

It is a vicious cycle many students fall into; that youth pastors fall into. What we forget is that this radical way of living, this radical worship, this intimacy with Christ we experience at youth conferences, is the way God has intended for us to live. In his book, Crazy Love, Francis Chan says: " Lukewarm people call radical what Jesus expects of His believers." What a truth that is!



To AWAKE students,

You are a flaming waffle. You have been taken out of that passionate, crazy enviroment that was our Revolution retreat. Now you are burning in an enviroment where fire is not accepted. You smell. You are setting off alarms. You are suddenly aware that maybe being a flaming waffle is a bad thing. But dont give in. Christ longs to shine through your life. When gets tough remember Romans 5:3-5! Love you guys!

"Arise, shine, for your light has come,

and the glory of the LORD rises upon you."

-Isaiah 60:1