Adrenaline Rush Blog

Message to Graduates 2008

2008-03-25T20:22:00.002-05:00

Below is the article from our April 2008 Newsletter:

As we near the end of another school year, I can feel the excitement in the air. Many of you will be graduating this year which brings many exciting and lets face it, scary thoughts to your minds. I remember when I was a senior in high school – shut up, I know it was a long time ago – I remember being freaked out about my future. I had been looking forward to graduation for years and now it was finally here. Now what??

The fact is that everyone faces this decision - what do I do with the rest of my life? Some of you have it all planned out. Some of you are still trying to figure it out while others haven’t realized that you need to make some decisions fairly soon. As a parent of a senior, I am facing some anxiety myself. My son is no longer my little boy who follows me everywhere and copies everything I do. Actually, it has been a few years since he has done that but I think you know what I mean.

At some point in the future, he will get married and start a family of his own (NOT TOO SOON I HOPE) and he will be facing parental decisions which will teach him that parents aren’t as stupid as he has thought all of these years. Trust me, your parents aren’t stupid no matter what you think. We love you guys even though you can be a challenge at times. We truly want you to succeed.

So here you are, facing the decisions that will effect the rest of your life. Some of you will go on to college and beyond, some of you are looking at the military, and some of you have plans to eat cheese puffs, play video games and live in your parents’ basement forever. As you face these decisions, I hope you will take time to talk to your parents about your future. Look at all the options and spend some time thinking about your goals. write them down and list those things that will help you reach them. College is expensive but it is worth it. Of course I could put in a shameless plug for a Nazarene school here but I won’t. I will just say that Christian colleges are a great place to go to school. They can be expensive but worth the money to keep Christian teaching in front of you. It is important that you don’t allow false teachers to give you direction.

I wish I had more space to write to you this month because there are so many important things that I want to share with you. The bottom line is that many teenagers leave the church after graduation. I want to encourage you to stay close to God and if you are away from Him, come back. I have told you before that the decision that matters for eternity is what you do with Jesus. Accept Jesus and have eternal life. Reject Him, even by choosing not to live for Him, and you are going to Hell. So as you start your future, take a minute to secure your eternal future. If you need help with that, call me or any Christian that you know and ask. We also have info on our website about accepting Jesus.

I would also like to encourage you to pray about the direction that God wants you to go. He has plans for you if you choose to accept them. Just because you pray about your future doesn’t mean that God is going to send you to Africa as a missionary. He might if He is calling you to that area but realize that we live in a mission field already. People all around you are lost and have no hope because they reject Jesus. Don’t be one of them.

Finally, if you feel like your parents are pushing you out the door because they keep asking about your future plans, they most likely aren’t. They might be if you are a pain but you will have to judge for yourself on that one. We just want you to start thinking about your plans. The time is near for you to make your mark on this world. What will it be? Think, pray, and talk to your ‘rents. We all love you very much and want the best for you. A great book to read is “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People” by Stephen R. Covey or “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens” by Franklin Covey. No, I don't make a commission for recommending these books but they are worth reading.

In Christ, YPP

Free to Choose Whatever but Watch Out

2008-03-25T20:16:00.003-05:00

In his book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey writes this: “While we are free to choose our actions, we are not free to choose the consequences of those actions. Consequences are governed by natural law. They are out in the Circle of concern. We can decide to stop in front of a fast moving train, but we cannot decide what will happen when the train hits us” (90).

The Apostle Paul wrote these words: ““Everything is permissible”—but not everything is beneficial. “Everything is permissible”—but not everything is constructive.” (1 Cor. 10:23 NIV). What does that mean? Well, the simple fact is that God has given each one of us free will which means that we can choose to do anything we want to do. Perhaps your parents have told you that you can’t do something that you really want to do. You have free will so you can choose to do it if you want, right? Well, the free will thing really relates to choosing or rejecting Christ, but as Paul states above, you can choose to do whatever you want. Your parents will have a punishment waiting for you when you finish disobeying so it isn’t wise to do that.

There are always consequences for our actions. As Covey points out, we can’t choose what they are. I am sure you have seen the recent public leaders falling publically. It seems the ones who helped them fall come out on top while the public sinners are outcasts now. Well they are suffering the consequences of their actions which I am sure they would not have chosen.
Use your head when you make decisions. Think about what God would want you to do and then proceed. You will never go wrong when you involve God in your decision making process as long as you listen and follow His direction.

Paul wanted us to understand that although we can do anything we want, we need to understand the difference between those things that will benefit us and those things that will destroy us. Does this apply to your life? Was Paul on to something? What do you think?

Patience Can Be Tough to Handle

2007-07-24T11:30:00.000-05:00

Have you ever had one of those days where nothing seems to go right? You know; one of those days where even ordering a cheeseburger at Wendy’s is a chore. Maybe it is more than a day. Maybe it is a week or month, or even a year. You might be thinking that God has left you or that God simply isn’t listening to your prayers.

Well I have good news and bad news for you. The Good news is that God has not left you. The bad news is that God has a different time table than we do. We are human so we want what we ask for when we ask for it. We don’t want to wait. Nobody likes to wait, although my son and several other teens have waited in line for hours just to get in to see a movie like Spiderman or Pirates of the Caribbean.

I have seen lines of people standing outside of electronics stores waiting for the new Playstation game or even longer for the latest gadget; the iPhone. People stood in line for days just to pay $600 for a phone that promised to deliver amazing things. Was it worth it? Probably not. I have heard mixed reactions. Some people love them while others think it is full of problems.
The irony of this all is that many people will wait in line for hours and sometimes days for the craziest stuff but we expect God to answer our prayers immediately and in our favor. God knows what is best for us. God will answer prayers if it fits with His will. God’s will is perfect because God is perfect. That is hard to take because we all think we know what is best for us.

I have prayed several times for something I knew didn’t line up with God’s will and each time I was certain that it would be good for me. A few times if God would have answered my original prayer, it would have been a disaster. Thankfully, God didn’t answer the prayer the way I originally presented it to Him. I am sure that you have had similar things happen to you and I hope that you were able to see how bad it would have been if God had answered that original prayer for you as well.

While there are books on prayer, I don’t believe that there is a “Secrets to Successfully Answered Prayers” guidebook. Although, I can tell you that if we are praying for something and expect an answer, we need to sit back and ask ourselves whether we are in line with God in what we are asking. Will this help to further the Kingdom or is this a selfish prayer? Obviously, if it is a selfish prayer, we need to rethink it.

“…the prayer of the upright pleases Him” – Proverbs 15:8

- YPP

Summer Time

2007-07-24T11:17:00.000-05:00

Summer is almost over for most of you. School starts back up soon for most. I have heard August 15th, 16th, and 17th from most of you as school start dates. I hope you have had a good summer and that you will make this school year count. Remember that you are to be salt and light to the world. That means that you need to make sure your actions match your speak. That is assuming that your speak is right.

Make sure that you are being Jesus to others around you so that they will know what Jesus is about. Many teenagers hate church. Most of those hate it because that is what they have learned from their parents. The problem is that we don't know how to love. Jesus said to love your neighbor as yourself. Can you do that? Of course you can. It is tough sometimes because sometimes our neighbors are jerks and schmucks! But if we look in the mirror, sometimes we will find that is what we are as well.

Jesus knew it would be tough for us to do but He was very clear when He told us to do that. So how do we do it?

Kill them with kindness. When JD calls you a retard, just smile and tell him that you love him anyway. Who knows? Maybe you are a retard! Maybe he was just trying to help you understand that so you could do something about it.

School is hard enough and you're going to be faced with many challenges. So here is another challenge. Love everyone. Be positive. Build others up. Be Jesus to your friends and those you think of as enemies. Can you do it? Whatcha got to say? I believe you youngsters call it holla back.

What is a Christlike Disciple?

2007-07-10T16:48:00.000-05:00

My main goal is to teach you how to be Christlike Disciples so that you can go and make disciples as Christ commaned us to do in Matthew 28:19-20. So what does that mean to you? What is a Christlike Disciple? Can you say that you are one?

-Paul

Welcome to Adrenaline Rush

2007-07-10T16:43:00.001-05:00

Well there you go...now your youth group has a blog that you can post to. Please remember that this is a Christian group so keep your comments Christian. I don't care if you are a believer or
not, just keep the comments clean. You can disagree here as long as you do it respectfully and without profanity. Have fun.