Love the World.

I can tell you right now, this post won't be that long. The last day's session was sad enough on it's own, since it was the last day. (Which, by the way, I'm trying to figure out how it's already been 2 weeks since we left for Florida. Wow.) But the speaker, Marilyn Lazslo, was really good.

Her story was about going to another country with her partner in ministry, where the people hadn't even seen another outsider, let alone 2 white women. They actually spent the first half hour they were there figuring out if they were men or women, and finally decided that they were neither. Lazslo and her partner tried to record the native's language, and eventually, after 20-something years, translated the Bible into their language.

Talk about loving the world, huh?

Marilyn Lazslo was amazing. She struck me as a wicked awesome Alice-from-the-Brady-Bunch type (since she looked just like her and sounded like her.) with a go-get-'em attitude and a fierce passion for God's work.

Isn't that how we all should be?

Told you this was going to be short.

Here's your NR challenge for this insanely short post. I challenge you to embrace God's calling like Marilyn did. Whether it's going to another country for years to do the impossible, or going to class to befriend a new kid - embrace it. Isn't that the least we can do anyway?

Are you in?

-Kimber.

Love Others.

What a crazy past few days! Sorry for the lack of posting, it's hard to get back on my feet after being on "vacation" for a week, and this first week home has been insane with Vacation Bible School and waiting for Scott and the rest of the OCOG group to get home safe. Alright, onward to the next session recap.
The Saturday night session was focused on loving others. My notes are kind of scare for tonight's session, so my post will basically be what I remember and pull out of a hat. Sorry about that.
The speaker, Chip Taylor, told of being a student ministries paster at his church and loving his job. However, God put upon his heart to love people more - something that he wasn't doing so well at. He started with his crazy neighbor from across the street. Anytime Chip saw him outside, he would walk over and start a conversation - even when taking the garbage out at 3AM, he talked to the neighbor. Eventually he invited Chip to his birthday party at a less than ideal place - somewhere where noone, especially Christians, should be. He fought going, until he eventually decided to go. Chip walked inside, and saw his neighbor in the back, screaming his name. He became embarrassed, thinking that he was already drunk - until he realized that the neighbor was telling his friends how Chip was a Christian, and asked Chip to tell his story. His neighbor hadn't even had a drink, when normally he would have been completely drunk at that time.
Pretty crazy, considering all he did was talk to the guy.
Chip told of another time in his life where God told him to love others. He had just been diagnosed with cancer and was already being treated with chemotherapy. There was a nurse there at the hospital that he felt God was calling him to tell about Christ, and so he did every time he was there, without fail. Nothing ever happened, and so Chip was kind of upset. There was another pastor at Chip's church who had been diagnosed with cancer the same time as Chip, and they had chemo treatments at the same place. She ended up having that same nurse Chip was trying to lead to Christ, and started herself. Guess what? That pastor led the nurse to Christ.
Awesome.
These crazy examples from Chip's story show that we are called to love others, no matter what the situation. Chip walked across the road and talked to his drunken neighbor when he had the chance. He used his cancer as another opportunity to love others. Just because we don't have a drunken neighbor or cancer doesn't mean we can't love others though. So you don't have a crazy story like Chip's, filled with these things. So what? You still have people that you interact with everyday that need to be loved. God's calling us to love others.
Here's your NR challenge for this post. Chip had us fill out a 360 Revolution card, something that I'm familiar with because we do it in my youth ministry at church. The way to use it is simple - just follow the numbers. 360 =

• Pick 3 different people.
• Pray for those people at least 6 times a week.
• And lastly, miss 0 opportunities to tell them about Christ.

It's as simple as that. That's your challenge for this week. Make up your own 360 Revolution card and choose 3 people you know that are unbelievers. Pray for them at least 6 times a week. And, most importantly, miss 0 opportunities to share Christ.
Are you in?
-Kimber.

Love Yourself.

The second night's session was focused on loving yourself. The speaker, Reggie Dabbs, did a great job of covering this topic and to me, it was the most beneficial and the one that hit home the most. I know I'm not the only one who struggles with this, though. Being a teenager - in particular, a teenage girl, in these days isn't that great for your self-esteem.

In today's society, we aren't very good at this. Everywhere you look, there are perfect images of men and women, subtly airbrushed and photoshopped to absolute, beautiful perfection. You look at these, and then you look at the mirror. Not impressive by society's standards. This is where this session comes in. God created you as a perfect masterpiece, a unique work of art thought of by Him as exactly what He wanted you to be. The Skit Guys did a bit on this, called The Chisel. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. Go to YouTube and search it. You won't be disappointed.

Another part of this concept of loving yourself is accepting your past. I know that I've messed up, as I'm sure everyone else has too. Reggie said himself that he had a crazy past, starting with a teenage unwed mother who needed money to pay for her 3 kids and so slept with a man for some money. She became pregnant and tried to abort, but then had the baby and gave him away - and this was Reggie. He had a hard time coming to terms with this, but eventually did with God's help. We all have something in our past we don't want and may hate. Reggie said 2 quotes that I absolutely loved. He said, "You can't change your past, but you can change your future." and "You can't change your past, but you can change what you think about your past." That's so true.

It's late, and so this is my stopping point for this post. There's so much more I'd like to write about, but simply not enough time, energy, or words.

This is my NR challenge for this post. Stop believing what the world wants you to think about yourself. Stop thinking that you can never be smart, pretty, or good enough. Stop thinking that your past will ruin your life and it'll never get any better. Go with what God wants you to think. You're perfect as you are; after all, God doesn't create junk. Your past will always be there, but your future is there for the taking with God to change it in magnificant ways.

I'll leave you with this quote, that I'll probably do a post on sometime.

"The same God that was there for you then is the same God that is there for you now."

It's true. He's here, waiting for you to embrace Him so He can let you know how amazing you are.

Are you in?

-Kimber.

Love God.

The first session was on Thursday night, and led by Francis Chan. If you've ever heard of him, you know what I'm talking about when I say what he's simply amazing. His teaching just blew my mind, and I agreed with what he said. On the flight to Atlanta, where our layover was, I read his book Crazy Love, borrowed from Taylor, a girl in my group. It took all I had not to start highlighting things, and underlining points that Francis made that stuck out. I have to buy it myself and do that, so I didn't mutilate Tay's book. :)

But anyway, Francis Chan was great. The theme for the night was "Love God," hence the title of this post. Francis spoke of being raised in a Christian home, but not living how he should - full out for God. He went through the motions, and prayed at night as he laid in bed, more than often falling asleep.

That's not how we should treat God, though, he said. He's right.

In Revelation 4, John gets to see God. He sees Him on the throne, blindingly bright and surrounded by different beings - including some with different faces like an ox, and covered completely in eyes. Pretty crazy. Day and night these beings cry out without stop, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty, who was and is and is to come!" Day and night, without fail. Always saying that.

In Jewish culture then, I learned somewhere, something said 3 times meant it was absolutely perfect. In this example, saying that God is holy 3 times meant that He is so completely perfect we can't even wrap our human minds around it.

God is like this, and yet we give Him the scraps of our day? The half-spoken prayers at night as we fall asleep, sometimes not even finishing because we pass out? The half-hearted offering every week, throwing in a dollar or two? How is God, the creator of everything, only worthy of this?

Francis said all this, and then said a quote that stuck with me: Don't have a casual relationship with God. Yes, He's our friend and we can turn to Him anytime we need Him. But at the same time, God is holy, holy, holy. We're not worthy of Him! He wants us, but He wants us to treat Him with the respect He deserves.

It's like your school principal. They always say that they're our "princiPAL!" and we can turn to them for help. That may be so, but at the same time we have to treat them with respect and deference that they deserve. This is a poor example, but you can kind of understand what I'm aiming at: Give God what He deserves.

So this is your NR challenge for this post. Treat God with respect. Don't have a casual relationship with Him, but show Him everything that He wants from us - a full blown loving relationship where we WANT to pray seriously, getting on our knees at a time that we focus intently on only Him. Where we WANT to give what we have for offering with a cheerful and giving heart. That's your challenge.

Are you in?

-Kimber.

Incredible.

(This is the second time I've wrote this, because my Internet crashed earlier. This post isn't nearly as good as the last was. Sorry.)


All week in Florida, I kept repeating that word to myself - incredible. When I asked some people what they thought of the week, the word came up frequently. And why wouldn't it? Consider the week I just had:

• Thousands of teens, along with youth leaders and parents, gathering together in Orlando, Florida in the name of Christ.
• These same people raising over $50,000 for STW - Spread the Word, an organization that gives money to missionaries and others in need to help spread the word of Christ - in a mere 2 days.
• Worshipping with some of the biggest names in Christian circles - Lincoln Brewster, for one.
• Laughing to good and clean Christian comedy from The Skit Guys, two of the funniest people I've ever seen.
• And, spending a week together in the Happiest Place on Earth, as well as Orlando for the convention, with the greatest youth group in history.

Now, tell me how that isn't incredible.
The 4 sessions that we had dealt with different topics relating to the theme, which was Love. Love God, yourself, others, and the world. My next few posts here will relate to these topics, and I'll go in-depth a bit and recap everything that I learned and heard. I'll be using my own notes that I took, as well as other views from people and myself, and things that I learned from our nightly devotions in our youth group.
So, this is the NR challenge for this post. I challenge you to follow the next few posts that I put up. The lessons that I write have certainly made an impact on me, and you never know if they will for you. In short, stay tuned for what's to come.
Are you in?


-Kimber