Moments with Michelle

My righteousness?

During the worship song portion of the service today at church, we were singing a song about our love for God.  I don’t know the name, but the first verse/chorus is basically, “I’m madly in love with You.”  Now, I’m sure this song was a bit tainted for me because I just don’t like repetitive worship songs.  I like to sing deep, meaningful words - like hymns that really reveal the nature of God.  I realize I’m a little odd in this preference.  Many, many people like very emotive worship songs and their favorite part of a service is the music.  I’m just not one of those people.

However, the second verse got me thinking (literally - I was so caught up in my thought process that I completely stopped singing).  There was a line that said “to You I give my righteousness.”  I have no righteousness apart from Christ.  Jesus died on the cross to pay the penalty for my sins and His righteousness was bestowed upon me.  What righteousness can I give to God?  This doesn’t even make sense.  Needless to say, I’m not a fan of this song.

But lest you think I was deterred from worshiping the Lord during the rest of the service, let me just tell you that we then recited The Nicene Creed (such affirming truths) and the children’s choir sang (always a fun adventure).

Why Student Ministry?

One in every 5 teenagers has sent inappropriate photos of themselves via cell phone.  That means that 20% of teens are doing things like sending pics of themselves unclothed to their peers of the opposite sex.  Think it’s not happening in small-town USA?

A youth ministry intern I know personally walked into the bathroom at a youth event (at the church) and caught one of her girls taking topless photos with her cell phone to send to a guy.

Students are searching for love and acceptance.  Honestly, we all are.  But younger people are just less adept at hiding that need.  That’s why I work with students.  I can impact their lives, both on earth and eternally, by introducing them to Christ who is the only way to fulfill that need for love and acceptance.

New Experience #25 - NC BBQ Festival

Saturday, October 24th marked the 26th Annual Lexington BBQ Festival.  North Carolina is pretty intense about its Bar-B-Q and this festival has been dubbed one of the top 10 food festivals in the US.  Seeing as I’ve lived in NC my entire life and never been to the BBQ Festival, it seemed like quite a fitting new experience.

Even though it was a bit rainy and overcast Saturday morning, my friend Lisa and I set out for Lexington.  I had checked out the festival’s website beforehand and we parked at Wal-Mart to take the shuttle to the actual site.  When we arrived, there was a brief rain shower.  But we were armed with rain coats and we just pulled up our hoods and pressed on.

We enjoyed looking at the various crafty things - jewelry, paintings, carvings, gourd crafts, etc.  And we were quite amused by the pig-shaped balloons.  However, I was surprised at how little Bar-B-Q is actually at the festival which bears its name.  There was a large tent at each end of the street which was serving Bar-B-Q and pigtail fries (basically curly fries, but keeping with the theme).  The remainder of the food was your typical fair offerings - funnel cakes, corn dogs, lemonade, polish sausages.  But we felt that being at the BBQ Festival required us to partake of some Bar-B-Q, so we had sandwiches and some of those pigtail fries.

Another fun aspect of the festival is the painted pigs.  These are fiberglass pigs that different people or organizations design/decorate throughout the year.  They are on display at the festival and are later raffled off in an auction.  I would assume that money goes to the city of Lexington, but I don’t know for sure.  It’s always fun to see how creative people can be and I enjoyed checking out these lil’ piggies.

5 more new experiences to go…

Two Worlds

I often say things like, “I live in a weird world” or “Welcome to my world!”  But it really does seem like I live in what I like to refer to as “Crusade world” as well as in the real world.   Things that are prevalent in Crusade world:  being encouraged to grow in your knowledge of and relationship with Christ, great Biblical teaching, lots of opportunities for community, families that are made up of a man and a woman who are committed to one another and who may or may not have some kids in the mix, working really odd hours, spending lots of time on a college campus despite no longer being a student.  Often, when I’m at a Crusade conference surrounded by other staff (i.e. our annual regional staff conference or the national conference held every other year in CO), I feel sad and envious and even sometimes angry with God.

Why these feelings when surrounded by staff and seemingly immersed in this world of good things?  Because I see relationships made up of men and women seeking the Lord and making Him the center of their commitment to one another.  These surroundings can make me feel lonely and jealous of what others appear to have and can cause me to question God’s goodness because He hasn’t given that to me.  So, sometimes it’s hard to live in Crusade world.

But the nature of living in this fallen world as a believer is the very tension that I feel between Crusade world and the real world.  In my everyday life, I see the need for Jesus in the lives of students - that they are searching everywhere for meaning and purpose.  I see the pain and detrimental effects that not having God at the center of a relationship brings.  I am at a stage in life where many of my friends who got married shortly after college are now getting divorced - many of them because the men in the marriage were not committed to being Godly leaders and sexually faithful to their wives.  There is little talk of God (at least not in a positive and truthful way) and the choice to spend time in His Word is seen as somewhat odd.

I have this tension of 2 worlds going on all the time - living in this world, yet desiring eternity.

Boys & Men

This post is in no way a guy-bashing rant!!

Lately, I’ve been thinking about the prevalence of boys in the world as opposed to the existence of men.  I realize that the US population is something like 51% female and 49% male - that’s not what I mean.  This distinction has been brought to mind for a few reasons.  One of those reasons is because the guys at UNCG spent this weekend taking part in “ManMaker” - weekend of guy stuff that I’ll never understand along with the challenge to act as men.  The other reason is because I work in women’s ministry.  If that’s a bit confusing, let me explain.

Women like men.  But women also talk negatively about men a lot.  I’ve been guilty of saying things like, “silly boys” or “I just don’t understand guys.”  And phrases that are much more degrading have been uttered.  In the past few months, I’ve been trying to consciously differentiate between boys and men.  And I’ve been attempting to encourage the ladies with whom I do ministry to do the same.

So, what’s the difference?  I don’t have a well-formed definition yet, but since this is my blog, I’m going to share my thoughts.  (and I’m completely open to hearing yours as well)  Many of the males in our country are stuck in boyhood.  Boys need others to take care of them, to direct them, to make their decisions.  Boys are constantly conforming to their circumstances.  Boys think that sexual conquests make them more manly and that sharing deep thoughts or emotions do just the opposite.  Boys have never accepted (or in some cases heard) that they are called to leadership.

On the other hand, men recognize their God-given role as leaders.  Men accept that responsibility in every area of their lives.  Men know that deep conversations and emotional connections are more manly than any number of sexual adventures.  Men transform the world around them by refusing to sit by and passively observe.  And the most amazing men love the Lord and seek to glorify Him in their lives.

In this world filled with boys, I am incredibly thankful that I get to spend time Godly men.