OK, so you probably don’t think God is a monster – at least not consciously.  But, I know there are some of you out there who are a little afraid to really surrender and let go of your plans.  I know this because there are certain times in my life when I definitely fall into that category.

Some of you – the afraid-to-surrender group – think that if you really let go and let God have all of your plans and dreams, you’re going to get shipped off to Africa married to the ugliest boy you know.  You’re thinking that if you really mean it when you say “OK, Lord, whatever You want is what I want” immediately God will leap from His throne and say “Hooray!  Finally the ugly boy will have a wife!”

That’s not how it works.  The Lord loves you.  He is good.  He has good plans for you.  Africa and the ugly boy might be part of that plan, but I can assure you that you’re going to be happy about it when it happens.  The Lord knows exactly what He can do through you and I promise that there is nothing on this earth more fulfilling than doing exactly that.

Matthew 7:9-11 (NIV) says “Which of you, if his son asks for bread will give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?  If you, then though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!”

God is a good Father who is waiting to unveil His amazing plans for your life.  Letting go of your own plans will make room for His even better plans. 

By the way:  The ugly duckling boys usually grow up to be the nicest men.  Trust me, the nice boys who are a little homely now will hit their stride eventually.  Give ‘em a few years and all the girls will be drooling over them.  This is why it’s always better to just be friends.  You don’t really know what anyone’s going to look like until they grow up.  You might get a little distracted by the way someone looks and end up overlooking the fact that Mr. Way-Too-Good-Looking is really kind of mean to everyone and Mr. Brainy-Weirdo is really nice and makes a great friend.  So, that really doesn’t have much to do with what I’m talking about, but it’s information.  Do with it what you will.

                I love Christmas.  It’s August, and I’m considering putting together one of those red and green construction paper chains that you make to tear off a link every day until Christmas, but I don’t really want to cut out 150 strips of construction paper.  Christmas is my absolutely favorite time of year, but there are 364 (365 if it’s a leap year) other days of the year. 

                If I spent all of my time pining away for December 25^th, I would be a major bore.  People would probably get sick of me asking what they wanted for Christmas or talking constantly about what I was planning to eat for Christmas dinner.  It might hurt people’s feeling if I spent my entire birthday talking about what I hoped to get for Christmas.  I would really miss out on a lot of other fun days if all I could think about was Christmas.

                While it seems ridiculous that someone would act that way about one day during the year, sometimes I think I’m guilty of the something similar.  I find myself looking forward to the friends who are coming to visit next week, the trip I’m taking next fall, or even getting married and having kids in a few years.  Sometimes, I can be so focused on what’s coming next that I forget to enjoy what’s going on right now.

                Looking back, I didn’t fully enjoy a lot of the great moments of my life because I was looking forward to the next time I got to see a guy I had a crush on, the next school year, or college. 

                Elizabeth and Jim Elliot spent most of their dating relationship living apart from one another.  If you’re not familiar with their story, read Passion and Purity by Elizabeth Elliot – it’s quite an incredible testimony!  In one of his letters to Elizabeth, Jim said “Wherever you are, be all there.”  That’s quite an incredible statement.  They were in love with each other and planning to get married, but living on opposite sides of the world.  It would have been very easy for them to spend most of their time sitting around wanting to be together.  Instead, Jim was encouraging Elizabeth to be fully present doing what God had called her to do. 

                There’s certainly nothing wrong with having things that you look forward to.  It’s totally godly to have dreams and goals, but it’s when we start to look forward so much that we forget to enjoy where we’re at presently that we run into trouble.

                So, enjoy where you are right now.  Even if you’re going through a rough time, embrace it.  Watch out for what God is trying to show you today, even through the tough spots.  God has you where you are for a reason, so take advantage of it.

I’m writing from an undisclosed adults-only location here at the Charlotte Convention Center.  I just wanted to write a quick note to say hello to all of my new friends.  National Fine Arts Festival (not attached to General Council) is a new experience for me and I’ve certainly learned a few new things while here.

1.  If you’re giving away free hugs, apparently it’s OK for you to hug complete strangers. 

2.  There’s a Children’s Sermon category.  I think that’s AWESOME!  If you’re entered in this category, let me know.  I’m impressed.

3.  I met a girl who does a puppetry solo using seven (7) different puppets.   I’m convinced there’s magic involved somehow.  Also quite impressive!

Anyway, I’m having a blast!  Since I don’t have Wi-Fi at the hotel, pictures will follow soon.  So glad for who I’ve met so far and can’t wait to meet even more of you!

For the first time ever, we’ll be at the National Fine Arts Festival/National Youth Convention.  We’ll be co-hosting a booth with Royal Rangers Aug. 4-8 in Charlotte, NC.

So, if you’re going to be in Charlotte for Fine Arts, the Mega Sports Camp AIM outreach, or the 3-on-3 b-ball tournament, take a minute to stop by our booth.  We’ll be right across from the results monitors in the exhibit hall.

I can’t wait to meet some of you!  And who knows - we might even have something fun to give to you.

To quote the classic Sunday School tune “Read your Bible, pray every day and you’ll grow, grow, grow.” If you hang around church for very long, you’ll hear people telling you how important it is to read your Bible every day. Well, it’s a pretty big book. It can be a little intimidating. I’ll try to answer a few of those important questions about how, exactly, to go about reading your Bible.

Which one should I choose? If you go to your local Christian Book store, you’ll probably see like 8 zillion different versions and editions of the Bible. NIV, KJV, NKJV, AMP, NASV, the Message, Student Edition, Women’s Devotional, Large Print, Thin line… and the list goes on. So, how do you choose the right Bible for you? Look through the different Bibles. Read some of your favorite passages in different versions.

Be sure to choose a version that you understand. The New International Version (NIV), Contemporary English Version (CEV), or New American Standard Version (NASV or NASB) are good versions to start with. Personally, I like to have several different versions on hand to look at the same passage in different versions. The different editions (student edition or women’s edition) usually mean that there will be extra devotional comments (usually in the margins). If you think you’d like something like that, go for it. For my devotions, I like to use a study Bible. It has extra commentary and includes a lot of background information that can help you understand the context of the passage.

If you’re feeling a little too overwhelmed, ask your youth pastor, youth leader, or sponsor to go with you to help you choose the right Bible for you.

Where should I start? Starting at Genesis and working your way through the Bible is great to do at some point in your life, but if you’re just starting to get into reading your Bible, you might run out of steam doing it that way. I think it’s good to read a portion of the Old Testament, a passage from Psalms or Proverbs, and a portion of the New Testament every day. That way, you get a little something from everywhere. Pace yourself. You don’t get a prize for reading the fastest, so take your time. Let it soak in a little bit. Re-read passages. Write down verses that are encouraging or challenging to you.

What does this mean? Some passages in the Bible are a little difficult to understand. This is when it can be really helpful to use a study Bible. When looking at a difficult passage, I like to ask three questions. The first question I ask is what did it mean then? Take a look at the cultural context of the passage. Use your study Bible or ask a pastor or leader to determine what the original author meant when the passage was written and how the original readers understood the author. The next question I like to ask is what does it mean now? Once you understand what it meant to the original audience, it can be a lot easier to understand what the passage means in the United States in 2008. The last question I like to ask is how can I apply this to my life today? Once you understand what it meant then and what it means now, think about what it means in your life. Is there something that you need to change or do differently? Does it change the way you think about other people? Does it change the way you view God?

Hopefully, this will help you start to read your Bible every day so you can grow, grow, grow. Give some of these ideas a try and let me know how it goes!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve decided that I wanted to pray more, so I’d set my alarm to go off an hour earlier than normal only to hit snooze until my normal wake-up time or wake up, pray for a few minutes, and drift back to sleep. On the rare occasion I actually woke up enough to put together an intelligible prayer, it would go something like this “I love You, Lord. Bless my parents, bless my brother, bless my friends, help me to have a good day today…um… I still love You. I still have 59 minutes left, so bless some missionaries, um…” Not exactly the most effective prayer ever prayed, right?

Prayer might not be as easy as it looks.

However, prayer is important. In his book Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster says “Prayer catapults us onto the frontier of the Spiritual life.” Prayer is our method of communication with the Creator of the universe. Prayer allows us to bring our requests before a good and loving Father who loves us.

Let’s take a look at some ways to simplify this prayer thing:

· Pray like Jesus. When Jesus prayed in Matthew 6:9-13 (NIV), He was trying to teach the disciples how to pray.

⁹“This, then, is how you should pray:
” ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
¹⁰your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
¹¹Give us today our daily bread.
¹²Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
¹³And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”

Jesus makes prayer look really easy. He calls on the Lord, He asks that the kingdom of God would come on earth, for what He needs, that we’d be forgiven as we forgive, and that we’d be delivered from temptation. All of these are excellent areas to focus on when we pray.

· Make a list. Even though we mean well, sometimes we forget the people and things we want to pray for. It’s helpful to make a list of the things in our own lives, people, and issues that we want to pray about. A list can help you stay focused on the Lord and what you’re praying for. Don’t forget to take time while you’re praying to let God search your heart. Make room for the Lord to show you areas of your life that aren’t pleasing to Him. Let Him show you what is pleasing to him. Pause to tell the Lord how much you love Him.

· Write it down. It can also be really helpful to write down what we pray for and when our prayers are answered. When we are in need of something big, it can be really encouraging to take a look back over our lives and see how many times God has answered our prayers. Writing things down can also help you stay focused.

As you pray, remember that prayer really is simply talking to God. You don’t have to use any fancy language. He speaks your language. Talk to Him in your own words. Prayer is the way to let Him know what’s on your mind – what you’re thinking and feeling. Practice staying quiet and waiting to hear what He has to say back to you.

Sometimes it seems like as soon as I decide that I’m going to set aside time to spend with the Lord, my phone starts ringing, the neighbor’s dog trees a coon and won’t stop barking at the top of his lungs, and someone turns on the TV featuring my favorite show. One of the biggest keys to having an effective devotional life is setting yourself up to succeed.

Here are a few tips for getting started the right way:

Supplies. Make sure you have a Bible (in a version you can understand), journal, pen, and maybe a devotional book. We’ll talk more about this stuff later.

Pick a time. The mornings are the best time (see Psalm 5:3). I know, I know: teenagers aren’t functional before 10 AM. Well, I would have to disagree. I have a friend who started waking up at 5:30 AM to spend time with the Lord in his teen years and he’s been doing it for seven years now. If you absolutely find it physically impossible to spend time with the Lord in the morning, try to choose a time when your house is quiet and you can get time alone. The most important thing is trying to be consistent, so if you snooze through the alarm, try to make time later in the day.

Get by yourself. This can be particularly difficult if you share a room or have a big family. Be on the lookout for times during the day where you can find a place to be alone. Right now, going outside could work really well.

Turn stuff off. Try to remove all of the distractions in your room. Turn off the TV, computer, and (gasp!) phone. I promise, if you turn your phone off for 30 minutes, it will still be there beeping, vibrating, and lighting up when you turn it back on.

Clear your mind. Even when I turn off my phone, TV, and computer, sometimes I can’t turn off my wandering thoughts. As soon as I decide to focus, I think of things I need to do, people I need to call, what I might wear, or what haircut I want to get next. All of these are clearly relevant and important trains of thought, but not necessarily what I want to be thinking about. Sometimes if I just write down what I’m thinking about to remind myself of it later, I can clear my mind of it. Sometimes, I just have to pray that the Lord will help my focus my thoughts on Him.

Turn on some tunes. Sometimes it helps to have some worship music playing softly to help you stay focused. I like to make a mix of some of my favorite slower songs. Even though it’s worship, sometimes fast, loud music can be just as distracting as listening to the radio.

This will put you in a great place to start. We’ll keep talking about how to pray, read the Bible, and choose a good devotional book.

Summer is the glorious and magical time each year when there’s no school, the days are longer, there are fewer obligatory scheduled events, and you get to swim and get a tan.  What’s not to love?

Summer is also a great time to focus more on your relationship with the Lord.  Going to church camp, going on retreats, and having more free time are all great for spiritual growth.

One of the most frustrating things to me was that every summer, I would have these incredible mountain-top experiences with the Lord, and didn’t really know what to do to maintain the closeness with the Lord that I felt.  It seemed like as soon as I started back to school, all of the summer emotional highs had cooled and I was left scraping to find time to spend with the Lord.

Experiencing those incredible mountain-top moments with God is wonderful.  Some of the biggest turning points in my life occurred during those moments.  However, it’s easy to get addicted to those experiences.  Learning how to spend time with the Lord, consistently and faithfully, will totally revolutionize your relationship with the Lord.  Learning how to wait before the Lord, seek Him on a daily basis, and trust Him with your daily decisions creates a spiritual depth and unwavering foundation for the rest of your life in Christ.

When it comes to learning to grow in your relationship with the Lord, getting into a pattern is really important.  The more consistent you are in spending quiet time with the Lord, the easier it becomes to make that a big part of your daily life.  The big, emotional experiences at camps and conventions become more of a continuation of what’s already been happening in your life.

Over the next few days, I’d like to talk about some really practical ways to learn how to spend time with the Lord, and how to make it worthwhile and maybe even enjoyable.

When I think about the women who really had an impact on my life, there’s not a Britney, Christina, or Jessica among them. (There wasn’t a Miley, Vanessa, or Leighton when I was growing up, but I’m sure they would be omitted as well.) Mostly, this is due to the fact that I had no want for female role models, though the names of my role models are much less recognizable. While I think every one of them is beautiful, they’re not Hollywood trend-setters.

My list includes my mom, who was there for every important decision ranging from accepting Christ to choosing a prom dress; Pastor Laurie, my children’s pastor who laid a solid foundation for my relationship with the Lord and let me squirt mustard in her armpits as a fundraiser; Tricia, who thought it was important enough to attend my eighth-grade musical that she drove eight hours through the night so she wouldn’t miss the East Middle School presentation of Bye Bye, Birdie; and Melissa, who showed me how cool it was to be a Christian woman.

It’s completely natural to look for role models – someone to watch as you’re learning what it means to be a Christian girl in the 21^st century. It’s even biblical. In 1 Corinthians 11:1 (NIV) Paul says, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.”

No one is perfect. Pop princesses and pastors alike will disappoint eventually. There really is no perfect role model aside from Christ, but choose your role models wisely. Keep an eye out for someone who is living out what it means to be a woman of God on a daily basis.

Look for someone who is right there with you. Don’t get me wrong: someone who sees you several times a week might get annoying. She might even try to give you advice or tell you not to do something you really want to do, but she’ll also know you, care about you, pray for you, and be there when you need to talk to someone.

Miley Cyrus probably won’t be coming to your soccer game anytime soon and Paris Hilton probably won’t call to take you out for coffee, but there are probably godly women in your church who would be glad to take you out for coffee.

The best role models might not wear the latest trends or look like celebrities. The best role models have beauty from the “…inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight” (1 Peter 3:4, NIV).

If you have someone like that in your life, take time to tell her how much you appreciate her. If you don’t have anyone like that in your life yet, talk to your pastor or youth pastor and ask them to suggest a godly woman who might be willing to spend time with you.

Sometimes when I pray (or even talk with my friends) I just list problems and things that I need. So, I decided that I’d take a minute to think of things I’m really thankful for. I’m certainly not Oprah, and I won’t be giving away any free cars (at least not today), but I thought I’d share a few of my favorite things with you today.

1.  My Family. I know this one might be kind of a given, but I’m really thankful for my parents and my brother. I genuinely enjoy spending time with them.

2.  Homemade Ice Cream. So simple, but so good.

3.  Music. I love all kinds of music. I love hearing of new bands and listening to different styles of music. I’m so glad that God chose to use music as a way to express our feelings of worship to Him.

4.  Playing in the rain. Seriously, is there anything more refreshing than a good jump in a puddle? We’ve been getting a lot of rain lately, so I’ve been able to indulge in my favorite rainy day pastime.

5.  Swings. We just built a swing on our tree in the backyard. It’s the most fun I’ve had in a long time. We have a porch swing in the front of our house. It’s incredibly relaxing. I also maintain that swinging works muscles that you don’t work out otherwise.

6.   Whistling. If you’re ever bored, look a friend in the face and try to whistle at the same time. I guarantee you won’t be able to for very long before you start laughing.

7.  Daisies. It’s really hard to be in a bad mood after someone gives you daisies. To quote Meg Ryan in You’ve Got Mail, “They’re such happy flowers, aren’t they?”

8.  Bunnies. We have a rabbit who’s taken up residence in our front yard. She and I have a very special relationship. She greets me every morning as I walk out to my car and welcomes me home every night.

9.  Italian Food. I really like to eat, and my favorite kind of food to eat is definitely Italian food. There’s something about Italian food that feels like you should be eating it with your favorite people in the world and talking loudly.

10.  Christmas Eve. I know Christmas is still 6 months away, but Christmas Eve is my favorite day of the whole year. We always go to Christmas Eve service and come home and eat soup and open presents as a family. As I get older, I keep waiting for Christmas to lose some of its excitement, but I fall more in love with it every year.

OK, your turn now. What are you thankful for?