For some who will read this blog, it will seem ironic that not only have I followed in my father's footsteps by graduating from nursing school this past April, but also now, I am following in my mother's footsteps by blogging my thoughts about God and having a desire to share them with others.
For those of who that do not know my heart, please allow me to share it with you now. Back in 1995 a desire was born within me to reach the youth of this nation with the liberating freedom of God's word. Due to circumstances that happened where God called people away for His purposes, I was privileged at that time as well to start to help lead the youth of my home church in Sodus, NY. So as of today I have been doing Youth Ministry in some form or fashion for the past 16 years. I attended Liberty University and studied Youth Ministry there, in hopes of being able to become a Youth Pastor at a church. For some reason beyond my knowledge and understanding this has yet to become a reality for me. So I have decided that since I cannot find a church that wants to hire me, then I will take my message to the youth of today through this blog!!
We have an epidemic that is spreading throughout our churches and our student ministries that is a cause for great concern. Our people are becoming complacent and are satisfied with mediocre faith, if any faith at all. These are the same people that sit in a pew every Sunday morning and nod their head in agreement with the Pastor, but then walk out of the service as lost as when they came in. I fear that many people will miss Heaven by 18 inches...the distance from their head to their heart. They have the head knowledge because they have heard the truth, but have never committed their hearts to Christ out of fear that they may have to change.
When those of us who stand for God try to help them in the process of coming to the realization that this head knowledge needs to make it to the heart, the people we are trying to help get mad and fight against us. The sadly ironic thing that I have found is that those who need to have this epiphany the most are the same ones that have no desire to get to know God better. They are so steeped in the complacency that ruins their lives that they get mad at anyone who comes in and sheds light on it. Not only do they allow the complacency to ruin their own lives, but they try to infect others with the same complacency. They do this so that they do not have to face the reality that their own so called faith is nothing more than lip service and that they don’t truly have a relationship with Jesus Christ.
I know that some people feel that I am too strict in the way that I do things. They feel that rules that are in accordance with the Word of God, rules and principles that are established and taught in the hope of creating a safer God filled environment, only makes kids not want to attend. To these people I can only say one thing...if we are more concerned with attendance than teaching our children and teenagers the truth about what it means to be a Christian, then what are even having them come to church for? If we are having churches and youth groups for the sole purpose of having people attend, but care nothing about challenging our people to first, have a relationship with God, but secondly to live a life committed to Him and allowing Him to be the Lord of their life in every aspect and facet, then we should close the doors and take the name "church" off of the building and replace it with social club, or frat house.
This is the battlefield that I am engaged on. One that is part of an epic war that has been waging for centuries. The battle for the heart of man. A tug of war between satan and his power of sin, and God, the only One that can free us from the bondage of sin. The sad thing is that so many people are in bondage to sin, and are happy with that. I hope that through sharing my thoughts with ya'll we might be able to break those bonds and bring freedom to the hearts of many. God Bless!
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