The challenge to ‘be’ as opposed to always ‘do’.
I will be the first to admit that I am a task oriented person. I like lists and I like task lists. I like to sit down, start a task, complete a task and then move on down the list. One of the first 'tasks' I do each week is to write a to-do list for the week. Now, I do not think that any of this is wrong at all but this week I have been strongly reminded, by many different circumstances, that I need to be better at 'being' and to possibly 'do' less.
What does this mean? It basically means that I find it very easy to be seen as busy 'doing' lots of stuff, but I perhaps forget to just 'be'. To sit at the feet of God in prayer, to be present in the lives of my leaders and youth. To not see these things as something to be ticked off my list but as ways of 'being' the person God is calling me to be.
One change I have made recently is how I spend my Tuesdays. My Tuesday start with a Inglewood Church pastors meeting and breaky where we talk about church issue and spend time in prayer. Then we have breakfast together. These times are really good and I have found them to be very beneficial. The change I have made is what I do after this. Without trying to make it a 'task' with a set time or anything, I have decided to start the rest of my Tuesday in the youth room praying, singing, reading the bible etc. I have no set 'time' for this, it might be 20 minutes, it might be an hour, but I am finding it helpful to ground me, help me 'be' and not just try and 'do do do' all day. THEN I go to my desk and work out my 'to do list'.
This is one small part of what it means to 'be' as opposed to just 'do'. I am still putting flesh on this skeleton as to how it looks across my week and across the youth ministry I am involved in, but I have definitely sensed God reminding me about this throughout this week. We'll see how it goes!
Feeling encouraged
2 very encouraging things happened for me tonight. It is one of those cases of hearing about some fruit from previous labour that I might otherwise have never heard.
When I started in youth ministry in 2003 there was a small group of 4-5 boys that I was dealing with. Tonight I discovered one of these boys is now a leader at another youth group. This might not sound amazing to you but when youth ministry stats show that by FAR more kids leave the faith than stay with it, ANY youth I've had the privilege of knowing that is still walking the walk of faith excites me. In fact, as far as I am aware every one of those 4-5 boys is still involved in church in some way and they have all finished high school. There is definitely differing levels of 'faith' amongst them, but their is hope that all of them will still be in the faith in 10 years time. I have to be honest, this excites me.
The second bit of encouragement is I discovered something I prayed for over the years has come to fruition, though not as I probably expected. Over the years when I was at Subiaco we prayed that Shenton College would have an opening for our youth group to be involved. We prayed and prayed that we could somehow impact that school and that doors would open for us to be involved. Tonight I discovered another youth group has THIS YEAR started to do some things at this school. This excites me! Though it is not Subiaco, this really doesn't matter! The fact of the matter is God has answered prayer and opened the door for his people to move in the school. Awesome!
It is little victories like these that really enthuse and excite youth pastors because some times victories are few and far between! Why am I in youth ministry? Because of little victories like these.
Feeling it
Today was the last of 3 personal training sessions that I bought when I signed up to the gym. I actually get my money back if I go to the gym once a week for 12 weeks so it was worth it. However, i have to admit to being very glad that they are over.
I realise that having someone push you is a very beneficial element to working out and it would definitely help a person reach their goals, but for me all the personal fitness sessions made me want to do was quit my membership. After all of the three sessions I have been entirely exhausted (expected) and have not felt able to function for the rest of that night! Tonight this is an issue as I have small group and I am honestly very unexcited about going, I just want to curl up in the foetal position. After the first two sessions I also spent the following days in significant pain (expected) and this made life awkward. Now, joining a gym you expect a level of discomfort and a level of feeling sore for a few days. However I have a number of friends who are seeing results from the gym and not spending the rest of their life in discomfort, this is what I am going to strive for.
I do think the training was beneficial. I definitely know how hard i can work, I definitely reached my peak levels during those sessions. I also got some really good idea's for exercises to make part of my own routine.
Being fit is definitely still a goal though I am looking forward to starting a more manageable regime.
And now it begins…
Tonight we had our first youth meeting for the year. We actually started off with small group (for various reasons I won't go into here). This is a new thing for the youth at my church. Was a good night but I was reminded that the 'real' stuff is only just beginning. I've been doing a lot of stuff over the past few weeks, all of it simple. It is simple to put together forms, fliers, programs etc because that are all a+b=c. They are not always easy but if you have the time you can produce the end result in a pretty organised fashion.
Anyone who has been involved in youth ministry for more than 5 seconds will tell you that basically none of the 'really' important stuff fits the formula a+b=c and this is what I suppose I was reminded of tonight. What I am really here to do; that is bring young people into a relationship with Jesus and help them develop a strong, committed and lasting Christian walk, is only just beginning and is not something I can 'control' with the click of a mouse button. It will take time, it will take commitment but most of all it will take GOD! As such prayer is definitely a focus for me and I am going to increase my efforts in this area.
And so it begins...
Keeping Fit
One thing that many Youth Pastor's are not so good at is looking after themselves. It might be the fundraiser cokes in the church fridge, it might be the lollies from all those zany youth games, whatever it is 'keeping fit' can easily find itself falling further and further down the priority list. This year I've decided to try and be a little better with this. I've overhauled what I eat and when I eat and have signed up to a gym. This post is about the latter!
I have just gotten home from the first of 3 initial personal training sessions. If this one is anything to go by then I will honestly say I am not looking forward to the next 2! I am semi-struggling to type this post due to my arm muscles being absolutely fried because the first session is all about testing, seeing just how far you can go.
One of the tests was to see how many push-ups I could do. I estimated 35 and managed to achieve it, just. This is supposedly a relatively good figure for someone who hasn't been working out for a LONG time. I also managed to achieve a decent level for the other tests involved. Still, I am absolutely spent and almost did the power throw when i got home.
Overall my plan is to work out a system that works for me, keeps me in shape but doesn't leave me not wanting to do anything else that day. The last 2 personal training sessions will be great but we'll see if i continue with them. I absolutely see the benefit of them and I know I'd achieve great results quickly, but I honestly am unsure if 'feeling absolutely spent' is what i want from my 'keeping fit' regime. We'll see.