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I’m bad at resolutions. Hopefully I’m better at goals. This past Sunday we had our first full group Student Ministry gathering with our student community at Journey Church. I knew that I wanted to share something that would inspire our students to begin this new year with a new perspective on what it takes to be in an intimate relationship with Jesus Christ.

The main point of my talk was that I did not want our students to rely on myself, our church, and other adult leaders in their life as dispensers of spiritual knowledge. Instead I challenged them to allow our moments together to inspire them to seek God at a new level on their own. From their I shared these points ideas centered around the idea of setting some personal spiritual growth goals for the new year:

1. You have to know where you’re going before you can get there (write it down).
2. Your direction determines your destination (your actions determine where you actually go).
3. Share with someone. Accountability is key.

I then had each student write down some goals. Some actions steps to go with those goals. Then they shared some or all of them with the group. It was awesome!! I loved hearing what the students felt like they needed to do in order to take the next step in their personal relationship with God.

Being faithful to my own principle #3 above, here are my goals:

1. Read the whole Bible (this is partly a personal desire, and partly necessary requirement for a pastoral process I am going through.)
2. Study the Redemptive Story of God at a deeper level (this is a concept that I have been engrossed by lately…)
3. Further develop and understand my personal theology. Some people use their theology as a weapon… I’m not interested in that. I do however feel like it is important to know what you believe, and why you believe so. I think this is an ever evolving process.
4. Intentionally develop and disciple another Christ follower. Every believer should have someone in their life that they are loving on, and journeying with. It’s a calling on each of our lives.

Those are my goals for 2009. They scare me. They excite me. How about yours?

Tonight marked the third straight Christmas season that we have taken the student ministry from Journey Church to what has become a very special place for myself, our adult volunteers, and our students. The place is Brookside Extended Care in Mason, Ohio. Brookside is an AMAZING long term care and learning center for the severely mentally and/or physically handicapped. Many of the residents at Brookside are teenagers or young children… all of them are wheelchair bound, and only a couple can audibly communicate.

For the third year in a row the group of teenagers that we brought to Brookside absolutely blew me away. Here are a bunch of cookie cutter suburban teenagers walking into a room full of kids, teens, and adults in wheelchairs, and unable to physically function at a high level… I can’t imagine the mindset of our teens walking into that moment. Each time we’ve gone, our students have stepped out of their comfort zone, and into the lives that they can hardly imagine. They color with (for) the residents, they make crafts to hang in their rooms and on their wheelchairs, they talk to them, they joke about cute boys and pretty girls, they talk about sports and TV shows, most of the time with the only response being a moan, or a stare from a drooped head. It’s sobering to witness and participate in.

Tonight when we left, on the drive back to the high school, I asked my car full of junior high boys what they thought of the experience, and if it reminded them of anything from Scripture. Here are some responses:

• It was really cool for us to visit them since they don’t get many visitors.
• It’s hard to believe that’s how/where they live their lives everyday.
• It’s tough to think about the fact that they are just teenagers like us.
• On Scripture: It reminded each of them about the stories they had heard about the lepers. Specifically how in our society, we often outcast the handicapped, and avoid them when we encounter them in public.

The most amazing thing about our trips to Brookside is how each time we intend on “blessing” those residents, and each time we leave feeling so much more “blessed” by them. (I put those words in quotes because I’m not even sure what that means… it’s a churchy way of saying that we feel fuzzy inside I think.) Our teams from Journey Church that go to Guatemala each year end up telling a similar story. We go to show love to those people, and end up feeling as much or even more love in return.

What’s up with that? I think the answer lies somewhere in Jesus’ words at the end of Matthew 25. When we serve the “least of these”… we are serving Jesus Himself. Jesus is pleased when we serve the downtrodden, the forgotten, the handicapped, the unloved, the ostracized, etc… When we do this, we make Jesus happy, and we make our own hearts happy… it “blesses” us. It makes me wonder whey we don’t do it more often…

I had a really engaging small group discussion with some of the high school students in Journey Church’s student ministry last night. We talked about a variety of subjects, and the conversation got pretty deep. Questions were asked by me that were over their heads, and questions were asked by them that were over my head! Good stuff! Probably one of the highlights of my year.

Ultimately the conversation centered around the question why. More specifically, how would we answer questions like these:

• Why do you love God?
• Why do you go to church?
• Why do you even do this “Christianity” thing?
• Essentially this: What’s the point of God/Church/Christianity?

I have a great fear that there are thousands of people sitting in Christian churches each Sunday, who have been in the pew for a long time, but have no clue how to answer these questions. I’m not suggesting that there is ONE right answer, but I think there are some key principles and ideas that people simply fail to understand, or lack the ability to communicate about.

So… how about you? Why?

I’m not sure that the reality of this being the first week of September has fully set in yet. Seriously… where did the summer of 2008 go? This is not to say that it was uneventful, for it was quite the opposite. This post is an homage to some of my favorite memories from the summer in both picture and text form (in no particular order). I’d love to hear from you…. what’s your favorite memory from your summer adventures?

• “BSM Beach Bash” –  Our plans for a day of fun on the lake got rained out, but God had something amazing prepared for us at our backup location. One student received new life in Christ, and hasn’t looked back!
• Student Camps at Camp Lebanon – My unofficial second home during the summer’s in South West Ohio. I love Camp Lebanon, and the people I get to do life with for a couple of weeks out there every summer. 2008 was a great camp season for all involved, I look forward to 2009 with great expectations!
• Teeing it up in the Fairway at the Fernside Golf Outing –  For the past couple of years I’ve had the opportunity to play in a really great golf outing at a really nice country club with some really good friends. This year I teed one up in the middle of the fairway, and stuck one about 10 feet from the flag on a big Par 5. Not sure the folks at HPCC have ever seen that before.
• John Mayer Concert in Indy – My man crush on John Mayer has been well documented on this blog before, so it’s no surprise that anytime he is within a couple of hours of Cincinnati, I get the craving to see him perform live. This year, I decided about 4:00 that I wanted to attend the 7:00 concert in Indianapolis. By 5:45, I had tickets, and was on the road with a buddy (and guitar player at Journey Church). John did not disappoint… he is the Eric Clapton of my generation!
• IYC 2008 in San Antonio, Texas – I could go on forever about IYC… bottom line, this was an incredible week, in a beautiful city, that I was fortunate enough to share with my wife, and three of the finest high school students that Journey Church has to offer. Can’t wait till IYC 2010!
• July 11th, 2008 – The day I became an iPhone 3G owner. Love it!
• Jay Bruce’s Debut – I had the opportunity to see the debut of one of baseball’s most promising young prospects; the Cincinnati Reds’ Jay Bruce. There was an energy at GABP that has not been present in quite a while… hopefully that is a sign of things to come! 
• Birthday Bashes – This summer was filled with celebrations of birth (including my own). Jenessa and I had some great time with some great friends at various celebrations.
• Guatemala Mission’s Trip – Again, I could go on forever about this trip. Bottom line: The country & people of Guatemala is now a part of my heart. May God continue to bless Journey Church’s future endeavor’s in that wonderful country! Go here and here to see & read all about the trip. 
• And now for some pictures… enjoy! Well that stinks. WordPress is being ridiculous, and not allowing me to upload photos to any blog posts. I’ve hosted the photos in a MobileMe Web Gallery. Click here to check them out! 

Typing this from my iPhone in bed at the ministry center, so forgive me for errors, and short length.

My #1 thing I’m looking forward to – Sharing God’s love in a practical way here in Guatemala, and then taking it home to so the same in my daily life! This week we will be doing several tasks; tiling a floor, building chicken coops, and working at a feeding center, (among others). These are all very good and practical things. The reality is however, we are here to do so much more than that. We are here to do God’s work among his people. We are on a covert mission to share the love of God with everyone we come into contact with through practical acts of kindness. Whether it be through a social service, a physical gift, a hug to a new friend, or a futbol (soccer) match with the children of the town…. We seek to share the love of our Savior with people who may not know him.

I don’t intend to let it stop there however. I am praying, and asking God to show me new ways, fresh ways, consistent ways to do the same in my everyday world back home in Ohio. Sharing God’s love in practical ways should not be reserves for mission trips, it should be a daily practice for any Christ follower! My prayer is that God will make that a reality in me.

My #1 Fear regarding the trip to Guatemala – Not being able to write this post! I had convinced myself that this trip would not happen. Something would go wrong at the airport, with my passport or ticket, or even worse, something would go wrong with the flight. I’m a little paranoid like that! But here I sit, writing this post, and I couldn’t be more excited. There are so many things running through my head, I just can’t wait to see what God has in store for Jen and I (and our team).

Be sure to visit the Jpurney team blog for the latest info. It will probably get a little more love than this site for the next few days (although I will be updating here as well). Find the team blog here: http://cincyjourney.org/guatemala2008