Eclectic

Eclectic is how I described our list of topics last night at Youth. There was no apparent theme, just topics I’ve listed over the past several weeks that I wanted to discuss, so here we go!

Talent Search – I’m looking for Youth who can sing, play an instrument, or cross stitch – if that’s you, let me know.

Super Bowl Plans – we discussed holding the party in the Youth room this year since we now have a TV, but ended up voting to hold it at Jen’s house – will text you more details.

References – many of you ask me to serve as a reference for you. I welcome the opportunity and am happy to do so. I’ve listed some reference etiquette advice below that will help me (and others you ask) provide a more complete and tailored response. By the way, if you’ve asked me for references in the past and didn’t do all these things – its OK, I wasn’t offended in any way – I just saw an opportunity to improve everyone’s’ skills in this area.

• Ask permission to use the person as a reference.
• Provide information about what the reference is for. If it’s a scholarship – provide a summary of the requirements, if it’s a job – provide a brief job description, if its membership in an organization – send a link to their website, etc. The more the reference giver knows about the scholarship / job / organization, the more specific and relevant their reference of you can be – increasing your chances of being successful.
• Provide your motivation for applying. Why are you pursuing this opportunity?
• Provide details of who to send the completed reference to, their address or email, and the deadline.
• Thank them for providing the reference.
• After you learn if you’ve been awarded the scholarship, job, membership, etc. – let the person know – they can celebrate with you or help encourage you to pursue the next opportunity.

Proverbs 20:12 “The hearing ear and the seeing eye, the Lord has made them both.” We asked God to provide us insight into the verse, then read it several times. Everyone provided their thoughts about the verse, here’s a rough summary of the thoughts:

• God has given us these abilities so we should use them for His good.
• God hears and sees everything we do.
• Its in present tense – something to do now.
• God made all aspects of us, even how we perceive the world.
• We hear and see a lot of worldly things – God allows that on purpose, we can help.
• God hears and sees everything we do too – meaning He is there with us and experiences everything we do – there’s comfort in knowing that.
• God didn’t list the mouth, reminds me of the phrase “God gave you two ears and one mouth, so you should listen twice as much as you speak.”
• The verse states the function of each, not just that He made ears and eyes, but that He made them to hear and see. We shouldn’t ignore so much stuff each day that He puts in front of us.

More Than My Hometown We listened to this country song (click on the title if you want to listen) and I asked your impression of the guy the song describes. You had mixed reactions: glad he was honest with the girl, he seemed to put her down – loved her more than dumb stuff but not as much as his hometown?, and several of you were indifferent. I brought it up because the song irritates me – it irritates me because I’ve heard a lot of young men state similar things and be very proud of it. “There’s not a girl alive who could tear me away from (this place, my home, my job, etc.)”. Nothing wrong with that – if you plan to stay single or have very casual relationships. If the guy in the song, or the guys I hear say these things actually loved the girl involved, you’d hear them state the exact opposite – “There’s nothing that could tear me away from that girl, I’d quit my job, move to Timbukto, and disown my own family if that’s what it took to be with her.”

When I was younger, I told several girls that I loved them. I wasn’t lying to them, I thought I loved them. Then I met Amy. I realized then that I never really loved the other girls. I liked them, I even had meaningful relationships with them, but I didn’t actually love them. What I felt / still feel with Amy is all consuming – there is no higher priority on earth than “us”. I would never cheapen our love by comparing it to anything, especially something as insignificant as where we might chose to live.

In not that many years, you may begin to consider spending the rest of your life with someone. If you do, don’t ever settle for someone who says they love you but their actions demonstrate that they love something else (anything else) more. If that’s the case, it means they like you, they don’t love you. Same goes for you – if you aren’t willing to make the other person your top priority (other than God), you don’t love them. If God intends for you to marry, you’ll both be ready to “leave and cleave” (see Genesis 2:24). This means that you’re both willing to replace your families as the biggest source of influence and love and will cleave (that’s an old word that means join, unite, cling, or stick) together because you are now each other’s biggest influence and source of love. Your relationship must be more important than anything else (other than your relationships to God).

Baptism – If you are interested in baptism, let me know.

A message – If you feel led to give a lesson at Youth or give a message at church, please let me know. I will help you research, develop, and practice the message until you are comfortable delivering it, then we’ll get it scheduled.

Miss Twiggley’s Tree – We ended our lesson time with me reading you my favorite book from when I was a kid, Miss Twiggley’s Tree. We discussed the lessons the book taught and how they also reflected Biblical teachings. Along with our 3 photo stories, this is another way we can learn more about each other. If you want to share your favorite childhood book at Youth, let me know. We’re never too old for a good story!

Phew – we covered a lot of topics last night! Like I said at the beginning, I don’t think there was a theme to the topics, but we certainly had some great conversations that grew us closer to each other and God! See you next week.