OK, So What Now?

Okay, Lord.  What now?  How do I proceed with this calling on my life?  How do I get started?
These are the first questions that I had when I put a name and meaning to my life.  I know that God is calling me to work with kids/youth.  I know that He wants me to tell them about Jesus and teach them.  But how do I get started?  I have been teaching the youth for a few years now and we don't seem to be growing.  I don't mean numbers but in understanding.  So I have decided to enlist help.  I live with 2 teenagers and have rarely asked them what makes a good class until recently.  I have a 10th grader and a college sophomore.  What better insight can I find than to ask someone in the class or someone recently out of the class.  I have always tried to keep my role as teacher and mother separate.  But if you don't have wisdom, ask for it.  It says in James that God will give us wisdom if only we will ask.  He gave me the wisdom to ask for help.  My 10th grader said she enjoys being active in the class and in the discussion.  Not just being told.  She wants to be apart of the lesson.  When a asked my college boy what made him want to read his Bible, what makes him attend the BCM (Baptist Collegiate Ministry), what makes him get involved, he said he had to think about it.  When mom is not there to 'make' him attend church, what makes him go.  I am so proud that he has started attending multiple services at the BCM and even getting up at 6:00 am on Fridays to attend a class at the BCM. I would like to take credit for guiding him, however, I can not.  It was 100% a God thing.  But I am hoping for some insight for correcting my mistake and helping guide another young person to a real relationship with Christ.  My son has now decided to get involved with the youth at our church and will be talking to them at camp next week about what makes him want to go to church and read their Bible. 
So I guess the first thing that you need to do to get started in your calling is to pray.  God will direct you.  And just because it is your calling, does not mean that it is not someone elses call as well.  It also does not mean that you can't have help.  God will provide resources for you. The direction in your calling.  When in doubt, read about!  Read in your Bible about how God has provided for others and have faith He will do the same for you!

James 1:5-6  Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God -- who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly -- and it will be given to him.  But let him ask in faith without doubting. For the doubter is like the surging sea, driven and tossed by the wind.

What If I Don't Like God's Calling

What if I don't like God's call on my life? Recently I was asked that question.  I was substitute teaching in my Sunday School class.  My dad is the teacher and he had been on vacation.  He was back but as we began the class, he asked if I wanted to teach it. This my itself was completely out of the ordinary.  You know how it is to take over something that a parent has always done and done well.  My dad is not usually one to give it over if he can still manage.  Also, I am the youngest in the class that is made up of 2 women including me and my mom and 6 men including my dad.  All the others are in my parent's age range.  The lesson*** was over Joseph and how God was always with him during his time in Egypt.  It referred to us going through our Egypt and how we have something that can't be taken from us, God's love.  The conversation turned to God's plan in our lives.  I believe that if we are in constant contact with God and focused on His plan, it will be accomplished.  I also believe that we will go through our own 'Egypt' at points but it doesn't mean that we are not following God's plan.   God doesn't promise easy.  But back to the question.  At the end of class, a man asked me, "What if you don't like God's plan?'  It didn't take much thinking.  At the time I didn't consider it to be questioning God's plan, but a couple of summers ago I can honestly say that I didn't like it.  I prayed all summer for a new job.  I didn't want to go back to teaching kindergarten in the fall.  I didn't want to be in charge of VBS and I went to Falls Creek for me, not to help the youth.  I had decided that I really didn't like kids and I wanted another job.  I actively looked for things that I was qualified to do and praying hard.  By the end of July, I was getting worried.  We went on vacation, 2 weeks before school started.  I was trying to come to terms with getting back in my classroom and getting ready for the next school year.  We were driving home from the mountains and I was watching out the window at road signs, wishing I never had to go back to real life, when God put an idea in my head.  Why not change the name of my class from the Kindergarten Cowpokes to the Happy Campers.  If I decorated my class like a campground, then I could visit every day.  I know this sounds silly but I started to get excited.  I texted my assistant/best friend and said, "I know we only have 2 weeks, but I want to redo the room.  Start looking on Pinterest."  LOL  She jumped at the idea.  I later found out that she had been having the same thoughts all summer too.  She just didn't want to leave me because she knew I was having a hard time.  This seems like such a simple thing.  but God showed me how to not only have peace but to have excitement for His calling.  I think the trick is to stay in your Bible and prayer.  Just talking to Him on a regular basis.  I told the Sunday School class this story to say that, 'No I don't always like God's plan for me'.  However, I know that if I am following His calling, He will provide me excitement and joy throughout the journey. 


***the lesson was based on Max Lucado's book You'll Get Through This

Not a Hobby, A New Calling

On this journey to find myself, I wonder if I am making this harder than it needs to be.  As life has slowed a little, and I'm looking at things I want to accomplish over the summer, I am starting to see a pattern. I have just ended my 20th year of teaching.  As I look at my 'To Do' list for summer, I am seeing a lot of things that have to do with kids.  From prepping for next year's kindergarten, to finding games and decorating ideas for Falls Creek (7th-12th grade youth camp), to organizing Vacation Bible School. It all centers around kids that do not live in my house.  Yes, my kids will be a part of this, but it is not just about them.  Will I continue to do these things after my own are out of the house? Yes, I think so.  Lately, well in the last couple of years, I have had a heavy burden on my heart for the younger people in my church. I see my church, as well as other churches around my, slipping.  I recently heard in a podcast a saying.  I will paraphrase it because I can't remember where I heard it, and comment if you know the source.  The speaker said that her dad was in the navy.  When asked how to steer a battleship, he would reply, 'One degree at a time'.  This really hit me.  I see how society has steered us one degree at a time into thinking that some sins are okay. Some even celebrated.  My church has held strong to the teachings of the Bible. However, I feel we are slipping into this 'Cultural Christian' phase, where being good is enough.  I see on social media where some churches are embracing actions that are a direct sin.  They are teaching other parts of the Bible and not all.  This is heart breaking for me.  Living in the Bible belt and seeing family slip into the pattern of 'it's my child, so I will embrace the sin'.  Now don't get me wrong and think that I am getting all 'Holyer than Thou'.  I am a sinner, saved by the Grace of God!  I am not better that others.  I believe we can still love the person and not accept the sin.  I would hope that my fellow Christians would do that for me. I am feeling the need to teach the Bible to our kids.  In a way that is different than previously taught.  I'm not a theologian, or a Bible expert, however, I feel the need to just start reading the Bible and ask God for understanding.  Reading the entire Bible, not just a 'verse of the day' type Bible study.  As I see society shifting, I want to instill the need for the Bible teachings, even the hard passages.  The passages that don't tell about our all loving God.  The passages where God has told His people to do something, and they don't. The passages about consequences for sin, the rough and dark areas.  Not to scare people, but to make them think.  Sin is real and so are God's consequences.  We need to be aware that not everything is okay.  This summer I am working on making VBS and camp fun but also teaching the Word age appropriately. Maybe I am not looking for a hobby.  Maybe I am looking for a new calling.  Maybe I have found it.  We will see.