Assignment #1 - Frequency
Welcome to the first online journal post for the Jamaica bLog! I think that I'll start doing them on Thursdays so you always know when to check for updates. Thanks for reading and feel free to leave me feedback on whether or not you liked the topic, what I had to say, how this is set up, etc.!
"Frequency"
1. STOP - If you're planning on knocking this out in five minutes, please come back when you have at least 15 to 20 minutes that you can devote to this. I'm not saying it will take that long, but give yourself some room to breathe so you're not doing it just to get it done. If you do have the time now, take a minute or two just to be quiet and be still. Get comfy in your chair and pretend your brain is a chalkboard at the end of the day, full of writing and drawing. Now close your eyes and start erasing the chalkboard. Try to become a blank slate, not thinking about anything, but also not thinking about not thinking. Just sit there and breathe and relax. Take as long as you want, I'll be here.
Welcome back! Hopefully that worked. Quieting yourself and your brain and doing nothing is hard for us but a good exercise to accomplish every once in a while. It's not some new age meditation thing but a way to set apart these few minutes from everything you've done today and everything you have yet to do today. Hopefully you'll enjoy these weekly "quiet times" as an oasis during a busy day where you can put all the busyness away and just relax for a few minutes.
2. LINK - Click here. You might be familiar already with the mosquito ringtone but maybe you don't know the story behind it. Pretty interesting. Anyways, read the story and listen to the mosquito and check back in here. Maybe play it for your parents and tell them they're old when they can't hear it (kidding, kidding!).
3. READ - Look up 1 Samuel 3:1-18 and give it a read (1 Samuel is in the Old Testament, after Deuteronomy but before Psalms). Confused about who Samuel is and how he ended up in the Temple? It's an interesting story and you can find it in the first and second chapters of Samuel.
4. CONNECT - Now why exactly did I make you read the thing about a mosquito ring tone and then a story about a kid who doesn't know when God is calling him? That's a real question, think about it for a bit and then keep reading.
Well, in both readings you have a situation where the youth is able to hear something the adult can't. In Samuel's story it's not amazing that Samuel couldn't figure out that God was calling him, it's amazing that the chief priest wasn't who God was talking to. Or maybe God was talking to Eli, but Eli's stopped hearing the frequencies God was talking in, just like how adults can't hear the mosquito ringtone.
But before you start laughing at all the adults you know, take a second look at 3:8-9 again. What does it say? It was Eli who realized God was calling Samuel and it's Eli who teaches Samuel how to respond appropriately to God. Because of Eli's instruction, Samuel hears God's message. Us adults (and yes, I really am an adult (sometimes)) may have our ears clogged with all the stuff going on in our lives, but we do have something that you guys don't have (yet): experience. We've had more time to study the Bible and live life and see how God is working in our lives, your lives, and the world outside. Because of this, we can help you interpret what it is God is saying in those frequencies we just can't get.
So, it's all fine and good that you need us and we need you, but what's the point? How does this really connect with you? Glad you asked! I made going to Sunday School and Small Group a requirement for the mission trip to encourage you to start getting into those places where you can share what's going on in your life with adults who can help you make sense of it. It may not seem like a blessing right now to have to go to all these boring meetings twice a week now, but I can promise you it is. Imagine this: there are adults in this church who care so much about you meeting God and getting to know him better that they are here week after week hanging out with people 20 or 30 years younger than them. I'm talking about Waldo Miller, Luann Parmalee, Sharon Renfroe, Karolyn Hudson, and Rich Bonnell. These folks are God's saints! They're not here to make you bored for an hour every Sunday and Wednesday, they're here to let you into God's secrets for your life. That's an amazing thing! Sure, I might do it too but I get paid for it. These people get nothing out of it other than knowing you're growing in Christ!
This probably seems like a strange way to start off these online journals but I feel like it's an important one. These people are here to help you! They're going to be preparing you for your journey to Jamaica so that when you're there you're going to know why you're there and how to conduct yourself as a child of God. Sunday School may not always be exciting, Small Group may not be more fun than hanging out with your friends at Steak and Shake, but there are people who love you there and are there to see you grow.
4. THINK - Here are the questions I want you to think about. Don't answer right away. Read through them and give yourself some time to develop answers. Then respond to these in the comments section:
a. What stops you or has stopped you in the past from taking full advantage of what these teachers have to offer?
b. Can you think of times where God was somehow trying to communicate with you? If so, would you share it (you don't have to)? Can you think of any adults who have helped you interpret what God has been saying to you? If so, would you like to share it (again, you don't have to)?
c. What can you do to be better hearers of what God is saying to you?
5. PRAY - This is kind of on your own and you don't have to necessarily do it now. However, when you pray, consider consulting with God on a few things: tell God just how great it is that he loves you and wants to be in conversation with you. Confess that you have ignored his call before because there are things you have wanted to do instead. Thank God for the teachers in your life. Ask for help to know how to hear and respond when God calls.
6. LIVE - Hopefully what you have read and thought today will change something in you. Maybe you'll be a little more forgiving when SS or SG isn't as "fun" as you'd like it, maybe you'll work a little harder to hear God's call. But maybe the best, and easiest, thing you could do is to find one of those adults and thank them for the work he or she is doing and how much you appreciate it.
That's it for this week! Thanks for reading and don't worry, they'll get shorter as we go along since I won't have to repost the instructions each time :)
"Frequency"
1. STOP - If you're planning on knocking this out in five minutes, please come back when you have at least 15 to 20 minutes that you can devote to this. I'm not saying it will take that long, but give yourself some room to breathe so you're not doing it just to get it done. If you do have the time now, take a minute or two just to be quiet and be still. Get comfy in your chair and pretend your brain is a chalkboard at the end of the day, full of writing and drawing. Now close your eyes and start erasing the chalkboard. Try to become a blank slate, not thinking about anything, but also not thinking about not thinking. Just sit there and breathe and relax. Take as long as you want, I'll be here.
Welcome back! Hopefully that worked. Quieting yourself and your brain and doing nothing is hard for us but a good exercise to accomplish every once in a while. It's not some new age meditation thing but a way to set apart these few minutes from everything you've done today and everything you have yet to do today. Hopefully you'll enjoy these weekly "quiet times" as an oasis during a busy day where you can put all the busyness away and just relax for a few minutes.
2. LINK - Click here. You might be familiar already with the mosquito ringtone but maybe you don't know the story behind it. Pretty interesting. Anyways, read the story and listen to the mosquito and check back in here. Maybe play it for your parents and tell them they're old when they can't hear it (kidding, kidding!).
3. READ - Look up 1 Samuel 3:1-18 and give it a read (1 Samuel is in the Old Testament, after Deuteronomy but before Psalms). Confused about who Samuel is and how he ended up in the Temple? It's an interesting story and you can find it in the first and second chapters of Samuel.
4. CONNECT - Now why exactly did I make you read the thing about a mosquito ring tone and then a story about a kid who doesn't know when God is calling him? That's a real question, think about it for a bit and then keep reading.
Well, in both readings you have a situation where the youth is able to hear something the adult can't. In Samuel's story it's not amazing that Samuel couldn't figure out that God was calling him, it's amazing that the chief priest wasn't who God was talking to. Or maybe God was talking to Eli, but Eli's stopped hearing the frequencies God was talking in, just like how adults can't hear the mosquito ringtone.
But before you start laughing at all the adults you know, take a second look at 3:8-9 again. What does it say? It was Eli who realized God was calling Samuel and it's Eli who teaches Samuel how to respond appropriately to God. Because of Eli's instruction, Samuel hears God's message. Us adults (and yes, I really am an adult (sometimes)) may have our ears clogged with all the stuff going on in our lives, but we do have something that you guys don't have (yet): experience. We've had more time to study the Bible and live life and see how God is working in our lives, your lives, and the world outside. Because of this, we can help you interpret what it is God is saying in those frequencies we just can't get.
So, it's all fine and good that you need us and we need you, but what's the point? How does this really connect with you? Glad you asked! I made going to Sunday School and Small Group a requirement for the mission trip to encourage you to start getting into those places where you can share what's going on in your life with adults who can help you make sense of it. It may not seem like a blessing right now to have to go to all these boring meetings twice a week now, but I can promise you it is. Imagine this: there are adults in this church who care so much about you meeting God and getting to know him better that they are here week after week hanging out with people 20 or 30 years younger than them. I'm talking about Waldo Miller, Luann Parmalee, Sharon Renfroe, Karolyn Hudson, and Rich Bonnell. These folks are God's saints! They're not here to make you bored for an hour every Sunday and Wednesday, they're here to let you into God's secrets for your life. That's an amazing thing! Sure, I might do it too but I get paid for it. These people get nothing out of it other than knowing you're growing in Christ!
This probably seems like a strange way to start off these online journals but I feel like it's an important one. These people are here to help you! They're going to be preparing you for your journey to Jamaica so that when you're there you're going to know why you're there and how to conduct yourself as a child of God. Sunday School may not always be exciting, Small Group may not be more fun than hanging out with your friends at Steak and Shake, but there are people who love you there and are there to see you grow.
4. THINK - Here are the questions I want you to think about. Don't answer right away. Read through them and give yourself some time to develop answers. Then respond to these in the comments section:
a. What stops you or has stopped you in the past from taking full advantage of what these teachers have to offer?
b. Can you think of times where God was somehow trying to communicate with you? If so, would you share it (you don't have to)? Can you think of any adults who have helped you interpret what God has been saying to you? If so, would you like to share it (again, you don't have to)?
c. What can you do to be better hearers of what God is saying to you?
5. PRAY - This is kind of on your own and you don't have to necessarily do it now. However, when you pray, consider consulting with God on a few things: tell God just how great it is that he loves you and wants to be in conversation with you. Confess that you have ignored his call before because there are things you have wanted to do instead. Thank God for the teachers in your life. Ask for help to know how to hear and respond when God calls.
6. LIVE - Hopefully what you have read and thought today will change something in you. Maybe you'll be a little more forgiving when SS or SG isn't as "fun" as you'd like it, maybe you'll work a little harder to hear God's call. But maybe the best, and easiest, thing you could do is to find one of those adults and thank them for the work he or she is doing and how much you appreciate it.
That's it for this week! Thanks for reading and don't worry, they'll get shorter as we go along since I won't have to repost the instructions each time :)
posted by Matt Wiggins at
3:47 PM
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