Mission Trip - They've left, but you can still go . . .

Dear Friends in Christ -

Yesterday, our amazing youth and their fearless leaders set off on a six-day mission adventure to Steubenville, OH. I received an email late last night from Rev. Eric, just letting me know that they all arrived safely and just in time for dinner!

One of the reasons that I'm so excited our youth go off together for a week to work on YouthWorks projects is that they not only have interesting, challenging opportunities to work with children and to help those in need, but also they are called EVERY DAY during their time away to GO DEEPER IN GOD.

Our team has already arrived in Steubenville and is hard at work, but there's still a way you can joing them. You can read this blog every day this week and GO DEEPER IN GOD, too. Each day, I'll post bits of the devotional materials the kids will be reading and thinking about so that you can pray through them - to support THEM and to grow YOU!

This year, the theme is MORE OR LESS . . . and here is the text of the opening reflection in their daily devotional book . . .

WE LIVE IN A WORLD THAT IS CONSTANTLY TELLING US
WE NEED MORE – MORE MONEY, MORE POPULARITY,
MORE STUFF. BUT WHAT DO YOU REALLY NEED MORE OF?
AND WHAT DO YOU NEED LESS OF?

JESUS ASKS US TO HAVE LESS “ME” THINGS – LESS
FEAR, LESS HERE-AND-NOW REWARDS AND LESS EGO.
SOMETIMES WE EVEN NEED TO DO LESS SO THAT WE
CAN HAVE A BETTER RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS. WHEN
WE WORRY LESS ABOUT “ME” AND, INSTEAD, FOCUS ON
JESUS, WE GET MORE – MORE COURAGE, MORE TIME TO
BE IN A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD AND MORE ABILITY TO
LOVE OTHERS.

THIS WEEK, YOU HAVE THE CHANCE TO PURSUE THAT
ONE THING WE ALL NEED IN OUR LIVES – MORE JESUS.

STEP 1 Write this . . . List the fears you have about life right now. If you have a pen or pencil, write the bigger ones bigger and the smaller ones smaller.

STEP 2 Read this . . . a Bible story. Choose from the following . . .
Ananias – Acts 9:1–22
A man who hates Jesus’ followers is in town to find and arrest Ananias
and his friends, and God tells Ananias to go see him.

Hannah – 1 Samuel 1:1–28, 2:18–21, 3:19–21
All Hannah wants is a baby, but once she finally has a boy, she has to
decide if she will keep a promise to give away her only son.

Daniel – Daniel 6:1–28
When a terrible law gets passed, Daniel has the choice to stop talking to
God or get eaten alive by wild animals.

Paul – Acts 16:16–40
When he is unjustly beaten and imprisoned, Paul passes up a “get out of
jail free” card.

STEP 3 - Think about this . . .
What fears did the person need to have courage to overcome in order to follow
what God wanted?
How did this person act out “More God and Less Me”?
What might have happened (or not happened) if this person would have put
what they wanted first?

STEP 4 - Pray about this . . .
How can you have MORE Jesus this week?
Go back to the page where you wrote your fears and pray about each of those
fears. As you pray about each one, scribble it out or erase it.

Hey, I know it takes a few minutes, but if our youth can do it, we can, too! And as we do so, we watch our fear . . . start to disappear 'cause we've given it over to God! Awesome!
Blessings,
Janet+