Fire-Up

This weekend was Fire-Up at Troy United Methodist Church in IL. It is a conference and a full 2 days of crazy fun and for Sr. High students. In years past I have been a student at this conference, a college volunteer and now a sponsor...maybe one day I will be a youth leader at the conference!!!

We had a group size of 15, and consisted of some great kids. The speaker this year was Mark Sikma, pastor of a church in St. Charles, MO. Over all I thought he was a pretty good speaker, younger than the speakers I have encountered in the past, but good. I think it's safe to say that the kids had mixed feelings about him. He is highly energetic- like hopped up on Mt. Dew 24/7 energetic, he also did a lot of yelling and pointing things out that I think hit a lot closer to home for some of the kids than they would have liked. I hope that some of them walked away from the weekend challenged by his words and with a bit of a more open mind, but we will see.

It was also a great weekend for me! I was challenged in my own ways, but it was really the first time I have spent significant amount of time with these sr. highers and to have that time at a Jesus conference was pretty neat. But something awesome happened to me as well this weekend. I believe that I had the 'ah-ha' moment of affirmation. In a culmination of knowing that some of the kids were really struggling with Mark and hearing what Mark was saying, I was praying for them. I prayed so strongly that tears began to roll down my cheeks and I realized... that I love these kids, I love kids and that I am called to love and care that they know all the greatness that is God. And It it is Good.

So, with the new challenges set before me, I will be hoping and praying and reading the life that God will have for me and the youths set before me.

Amen.