48 Hours of Honesty

 I spent the month of July serving at a camp in Ramona, California with a group of people from all over. On one of our days off we all went to Belmont Park in San Diego. It reminded me of the state fair where the rides look like they could be put together faster than some Lego sets but we ride them anyways. We were in line for this wooden roller coaster and a good friend of mine asked if she could ride with me. She was calm but scared; the honest kind of scared, which in my opinion comes from the most intimidating fears.  I remember telling her some of the greatest moments in life are the ones right after we do something terrifying. The smile on her face after the ride was almost as bright as the smile on her face the second time she rode it.

What I appreciate about my friend is she isn't ashamed to be real with the people around her. She was terrified of riding this roller coaster but stood in line with fear on her face and she wasn't trying to hide it. She wasn't pretending, she isn't afraid to be honest. While I may not be afraid of roller coasters, being honest and real to the people around me is a real struggle. If I was afraid of roller coasters, I would have avoided it all together and argued that I just really love laser tag and that's why I spent all my time shooting dads and their ten year old children.

A couple months ago my roommate, Noah, and I had a conversation about honesty. We ended up with the conclusion that a life of integrity is the best life to live. In that moment, I thought I was living a life of integrity, as I saw myself as an honest person.

"What would life look like if people were honest, 100% of the time?" asked Noah.

Different. Life would look different but I wasn't exactly sure how. We hypothesized some ideas of what the world would look like but we soon grew tired of imagining and wanted to see it in reality.
That's when Noah challenged us both to being honest for 48 hours. Completely honest in every response, statement, comment. Everything.

Challenge accepted.

 Most of the time my actions that follow those two words end up with me doing something ridiculous. And to be honest, the ridiculous challenges are the ones that draw me in because of how I think I'll be perceived by others. I tried to impress people because I believed impressions win validation. It's like I have this life resume with all the "cool" stuff I've accomplished. I hand it out to people I want to be friends with hoping to win them over with my experiences as if gauging my ears with a hammer and nail is what people seek for in a friend. All home ear gauging has ever gotten me was an infection (my ear swelled up to the size of a half dollar) and free piercing at Claire's because my already-my-friend friend wanted me to keep my ears attached to my head.

It was a terrifying 48 hours but it was also a revealing two days. I knew I would find out where I lied often in my daily life but I didn't think the person I lied to the most would be myself. Being completely honest meant I had to be honest with myself and I learned a great deal about who I am.

I'm insecure.
I'm afraid of what people think of me.
I'm terrified of commitment.

I pretend I'm confident in who I am and that people's opinions of me don't matter. I tell myself and others that I like the noncommittal lifestyle I live so I don't have to tell them the idea of commitment is horrifying. But I realized being honest about where I fall short helps me find comfort where God doesn't. Without this honesty, I'm blinded to the truths God tells us.

He's confident in how He made us.
He seeks people despite what people think of Him.
He's committed to us even when we're not committed to Him.

These are promises I can't call upon unless I'm honest with myself. If I continue on ignoring my flaws, my insecurities, then I will never experience the love and grace God has to offer when it comes to me falling short.

I'll ride roller coasters and hammer nails into my lobes without thinking twice but when it comes to being completely honest, I'm terrified. But sometimes the greatest moments in life are right after we do something terrifying. After an honest day of living, I like to imagine I feel how my friend's smile looked after riding those rides at Belmont Park. 

I want to encourage you to try it and see what you discover. Find a friend and do it together. I'm sure it'll be a challenge but I'm also positive you'll learn something new. I would love to hear your 48 hours of honesty stories if you would like to share them. I've created an email just for these stories 48HoursOfHonesty@gmail.com

in His grip,

Josh

~~~

Honestly (pun intended), it takes a lot of bravery to be honest for 48 hours. Heck, if we're including being honest with oneself in this, it's hard for me to be honest for a whole 10 minutes. That's why, as Josh told me about this challenge and then his idea to expand this idea of 48 Hours of Honesty, I sat there and didn't say a whole lot in the hopes that he wouldn't ask me to do it right away. Ha! And he didn't because Josh is a nice guy and doesn't want me to get kicked out of grad school upon completing this challenge...

But the more we talked about honesty, the more I realized it seamlessly fits in with our theme for this semester at Young Life College - the fruit of the Spirit. Now honesty isn't one of the nine "fruits," but if you rewind a bit in Galatians 5, Paul urges the church in Galatia to "walk by the Spirit" and proceeds to list what desires of the flesh look like in contrast to the desires (or fruits) of the Spirit. 

I believe that honesty is intimately intertwined in any attempt to walk by the Spirit because just as Josh said, God constantly throws truth our way, allowing us to wrestle with it so that when we decide to believe truth, we might also more fully understand it. 

[Honesty and truth are weirdly connected. I feel like I use them as synonyms sometimes, but I think it's more of a "one thing leads to another" relationships. I think honesty leads to truth. And I think God is always honest with us.]

So even if you don't attempt 48 Hours of Honesty, will you join us in at least taking an honest look this semester at what a life walking in the Spirit might look like? Let's look at the truth of what freedom in Christ means for our lives - lives marked by love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

Ready?

Let's goooooooo!

Sarah

Dining with God

"writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way." - A quote from Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, quoting E.L. Doctorow.

I've always wondered how one would quote an excerpt from a book that involves a quote but until now, I never needed to do it. The above quote took me 10 minutes to write out and I'm still unsure if it is the proper way to quote a quote with a quote (I do not know if there actually is a proper way to do so) but by the tenth minute, I came to the realization of - I don't think it matters how I write it, I'm sure people will get the point.

I've always been afraid of critics when the real oppressor is perfectionism. I spend so much of my time trying to make my writings perfect, my art perfect, anything I do perfect in worry that people won't like it but in reality, I'm thinking more about me than others. In the world of art, there will always be people who like what you create and people who don't. I have freedom in choosing what I prefer so I shouldn't expect everyone else not to have the same freedom.

There will be people who like what you do in life because they like what you do. And there will be people who like what you do in life because they like you. People will like what I create because they like me, support me, care about me, and all that other mushy jazz. If I choose to be a writer, than they will want to see me write and not necessarily write perfection. I'm sure my friends and family would prefer that I actually do something and be "unsuccessful" than be stuck in trying-to-do-something-but-never-completing-anything-because-I'm-trying-to-make-it-perfect limbo and not have the opportunity to be "unsuccessful" or "successful".

I think this is what Anne Lamott was getting at. When it comes to writing, we just have to do. We know we are writing *insert project here* and we may not be able to see what the 500th page will say but focus on the couple of sheets before you. One by one.

Well what if this applies to life too.

I'm always trying to perfect my life. I always feel like I shouldn't do anything unless God "calls" me to do it. God is perfect and I want a perfect life so yes, I would like for God to make my life perfect. I want God to tell me what to do before I do it because I'm afraid of making the "wrong" decision. I know I'm on a journey and at the end of the road is what God wants me to do but I feel like I'm driving at night only seeing a few feet ahead.

What does God want me to do?
What career does God want me to choose?
What church should I go to?
Who should I date?
Where should I live?
What college should I go to?
What degree should I get?
Where should I do ministry?

Questions we all think about and we see them as big decisions and we only want to make a choice if God is behind them all. I'm not sure if people will agree with this but hear me out.

What if God doesn't care?

Not in the "Do whatever you want because I honestly do not care" kind of way but in the "I'm with you no matter what you choose" kind of way. I believe God cares about me as a person, as His adopted son, more than what I do for a paycheck. What if God is saying "I just want to be with you. I just want to get to know you."

Every year for our birthdays, my parents would take my siblings and I to dinner at any restaurant we wanted. I went to Red Lobster almost every year. Every now and then I would change it up. I remember the first year we moved to Albuquerque, I chose Sonic because in California, they didn't have them where I lived. I thought Sonic was the greatest thing ever. Present Josh knows past Josh is a fool but in that moment, it was the best birthday food. My parents were surprised but they didn't mind, they took me there and paid for our meals and enjoyed my birthday dinner. They didn't care where we ate cause that wasn't the point. The point was to make the birthday child special and spend time with them.

I understand that there are callings in life. There are times where we feel, "Yes. This is what God wants me to do." There are also times where we don't hear anything. What if those are the times God is saying, "Hey. I want to go to dinner with you, wherever you want." And the point isn't the restaurant but who you are eating with and who you're spending time with. Maybe you go and pick God up in your 2001 silver Hyundai Elantra and still don't know where you will end up but He's with you. Maybe God isn't so concerned with going to the perfect restaurant to eat the perfect type of food but concerned about who you are as a person. 

In His grip,

Josh.

Be You

"You do you, Boo Boo." - Kevin Hart

"You're amazing just the way you are." - Bruno Mars

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind." - Dr. Seuss

"Be YOU." - Everyone (basically)

I am sure you have heard one or more (or all) of these phrases in some variation or another at some point in your life.  You'd have to be living under a rock to be unaware of the plethora of messages in movies, books, music, politics, self-help seminars, etc. on how to embrace yourself and your unique gifts/talents/skills.  Today, we are all about being totally and unabashedly YOU...or so we say.  I could get on my soap box and talk about the way we've changed the meaning of tolerance, but that's not want I want to focus on here.

Let's operate off the premise that, as a general rule, the majority of our society encourages each of us to pursue our unique interests and be just the way we are.

But I want to talk about one person who always seems to get the short end of the stick. A guy who is consistently placed in a mold of our own creation. A man who rarely hears the words, "You're amazing just the way You are."

He hears a lot of:

"Well, actually, I think You should probably go about that situation in my this way."

"So I get that You ask me to trust You, but I think I've actually got this under control so I'll just take care of it because I don't really like the direction You're going."

"I mean I get where You're coming from, but my idea makes a lot more sense."

Or maybe that's just a lot of what He hears from me.

"He" is Jesus, by the way.  And sadly, the above statements really are relatively accurate accounts of the conversations I have with Jesus on a regular basis.

I don't know about you, but it's easy for me to accept all of this "be you" talk floating around.  I think it's great - I love being me! I love embracing my nerdy obsession for Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter.  I love talking about literature and education.  I love wearing Young Life shirts every day of my life. I love eating cookies, and I'm not sorry that I eat way too much ice cream.  When I listen to Bruno Mars sing "You're amazing just the way you are," I think, "You know, Bruno, you're right, I am!"

I'm relatively quick to extend this same courtesy to the people around me, but I very rarely allow Jesus a place in the "be you" movement.  He is the guy that I constantly think, "Ugh, the way You are is not always amazing because You ask hard things of me.  You say hard things in the Bible.  You don't give me easy ways out."

Sunday at church, my pastor talked about how in Jesus' time, His people's prayers were far too often about "Rome"...what he meant is that Jesus' people were far too wrapped up in situation, in circumstance, in trial.  Instead of focusing on the Messiah literally walking amongst them and the amazing work He was doing, they focused on what they wanted their Messiah to do and be: a Rome-concquering, Russell Crowe-esque hero (I'm elaborating slightly...haha).  Jesus was not encouraged to be Himself when He walked in Palestine.  Jesus - in my opinion, the most attractive personality to ever exist, possessor of the most incredible gifts to ever exist - was NOT encouraged to be who He was and say what He felt.

So here we are, thousands of years later, and I know I - at least - am guilty of precisely the same thing.  I want Jesus to be who I want Him to be - not who He actually is.  I want Him to follow the plan I have for my life rather than work through the tough - but beneficial - issues that following His plan so often includes.

Here's the most ironic part of it all, though.  I think getting to know the genuine nature of a person - the nature that often doesn't reveal itself at first blush - is one of the greatest pleasures of life.  I love knowing my friends' eccentricities. I love guessing the way they will react to certain situations. I love their real and vulnerable opinions about life.

I guess my point here is actually a question for myself - and for you too, if you'd like to join me:  what if I let Jesus be Jesus in my life?  What if I actually took Him at His word?  What if I allowed Him to be all of the things He's said He is in my life?

Refuge.

Comforter.

Father.

Shepherd.

Savior.


So here I am: just a girl, standing in front of her Lord, asking Jesus to be Jesus - He's amazing just the way He is.  I don't know about you, but my life looks totally different if I strive to know Jesus for who He has said He is and who He has proven Himself to be.  The box I too often force Him into confines His true nature - an abundantly good, just, creative, and beautiful nature.

Please be YOU in my life, Jesus, today and always.

Amen.

~Sarah~

Stealing the Headline

There are usually a quite a few more people that go to church on Christmas and Easter. I respect these people because I am the exact opposite; I do not like going to church on Easter and Christmas. There's tons of traffic and if you know me, you'll know I really don't like driving so driving when there are thousands of people going to the same place is not for me. The people that choose to go to church on the busiest days of the year, my hat's off to you.

It's not that I don't like the service, in fact, I love to hear about these two days very much. It's the beginning and the (not really but some people thought so) ending to the greatest love story ever told and if you know me, you'll know I really don't like driving and that I'm sucker for love stories.

I joined my brother and sister-in-law for Easter this year, and the pastor said something that hit me.

"As Christians, we like to say it was my sin that sent Jesus to the cross and He had to die for me. We like to steal the spot light from God and put our own name as the headline. Jesus died on the cross because God loves us, that's the headline."

He probably said it a lot more poetic and epic than I just did but the heart of his message is the same, I think.

I do say that. I do say because of MY sin, Jesus had to die for ME. I enter a religious mindset about what Jesus did without even realizing it. I think there are rules, I think that I tried really heard to be "good" enough, but I'm a sinner and my sin sent Jesus to the cross. God isn't about religion, He's about relationship. God's unending love and desire to be in a relationship with Him is what sent Jesus to the cross, not us.

In high school, my parents set curfews and wanted me to spend time with them, and I thought it was annoying, but I tried pleasing them for a while. Up until my junior year of high school, I was doing pretty good but I soon became exhausted from always feeling like I wasn't good enough no matter how hard I tried to obey them. I rebelled and things got crazy for a bit. I went to college and the rules and curfews were uplifted and I was free! I started finding myself not wanting to stay out late every night and would come home at a reasonable hour. I started spending more time with my family and not because I really wanted to but because I knew they wanted to. When it was about rules, I failed my parents. When it was about relationship, I pleased them.

I like to make my life about me.

I wanted to please my parents according to my standards. When I didn't reach them, I gave up. I didn't want to be controlled so I broke curfew.

I felt.
I want.
I say.
I do.

I never once thought it was because my parents wanted to spend time with me, to have a relationship. I never once thought they wanted the best for me.
I never once thought that they provided for me, and I had the most outrageous childhood because my dad wanted to give us everything we wanted.

In the same way, I made what Jesus did for me about me. I thought I was being about God by admitting my sin and saying Jesus died for me. Like a modern day Pharisee, standing on street corners preaching the word of God so people can think I'm holy. The intentions of the Pharisee were probably good, but soon enough they made it about them and not about God. They were about religion, not about relationship.

God's love for us sent Jesus to the cross, not my sin. He wanted to be in a relationship with us so bad, He sent His son to die for us. I've been reading John 17 a lot lately. John 17 is Jesus praying right before He was betrayed and sent to the cross. In the face of the most excruciating death, this is some of what He prayed:

 ^"Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. "

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world."

God wants to know you. God loves you. Jesus wasn't sent because of my sin but because God wants to be with us, to know us. 

in His grip, 

Josh

March Madness

It's one of my favorite times of the year.

NCAA March Madness.

Ever since I was a little kid, my family has eagerly awaited the tip-off of 3 weeks of almost 24/7 college basketball.  There's something about the "one and done" atmosphere, the Cinderella stories, the inspiration, the extreme athleticism, the "One Shining Moment" video when the championship is all over.  I am basically guaranteed to cry at least once and to yell at the TV screen a lot more times than that throughout the tournament.

I don't know if you follow basketball like I do, but one of the coolest moments from the tournament so far (in my opinion) has been Georgia State's upset of Baylor in the first round.  As sad as I was that the Bears lost (Abby's alma mater), Georgia State has a really cool coach, and, come on, who doesn't love the underdog to some extent?

Ron Hunter, the coach, actually tore his Achilles' Tendon celebrating the week before in his team's conference championship...which they won. His son R.J. is one of Georgia State's best players and made the shot that propelled the Panthers to upset Baylor. Coach a.k.a. Dad fell off his stool when the shot went in! This is not a coach lacking in enthusiasm. I've been reading Emerson lately (#thingsEnglishgradstudentssay), and I love this quote from "Circles": "Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm. The way of life is wonderful; it is by abandonment."

It was awesome to watch this coach in victory, but I think he really stands out in the way he treats his team, himself, and the entire March Madness experience in defeat.  Georgia State lost their second round game to Xavier, but check out this little bit from his post-game interview: "I told them not to be sad, what a great week, what an unbelievable week, there's nothing to be sad about...As a coach, best time of my life, and as a father...I love this kid, man."

Whoa.

I played basketball in high school. I definitely never felt this way after losing, especially immediately after a season-ending loss. But Coach Hunter made me consider something that extends far beyond a basketball court: how do I act in defeat?

I'm talking about defeat in life, when it feels like everything is going wrong, like nothing and no one is on your side.  That's tough.  And that's real life, it's not a game. Sometimes "winning" might not even be one of the options.  How do you act in these situations?

Honesty hour: I've felt pretty defeated this semester. I've felt like I bit off way more than I could chew. I've felt like everything I'm doing is less than my best. I've felt inadequate at school and in ministry. I've felt like a bad teacher, friend, and follower of Jesus. And I've acted like it. My enthusiasm and energy for things I love has plummeted. And I've tried to go it alone. I've tried to figure it out by myself. I haven't always been pleasant to be around - ask my roommates, bless their souls!

Enter Jesus.

Saturday, I read Psalm 63, seemingly on a whim.  This is what it says:

"O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.  So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you...My soul clings to you..."

David, in this Psalm, is the picture of the way I want to be in defeat. I want to seek God, I want to thirst for His Spirit, I want to look up and praise Him in the desert land instead of moping around like Eeyore or snapping like Oscar the Grouch.  In the midst of defeat, I want to be learning and growing and moving forward.  I don't want to be a sore loser.

Winning, so often, is a team effort. I think I "bench" Jesus an awful lot of the time. And because He's a gentleman, He doesn't check Himself in. But He is always ready, and He's the best player I've got - WAY better than me. He's also a great teammate - you know, the one that sticks by you in defeat and celebrates with you in victory.  Because Jesus knows that we feel defeat most poignantly when we're lonely.

Let's look back at Coach Hunter's statement - look how he finishes that comment.  He talks about loving his son.  March Madness was "unbelievable" for him because he loves his team, and he loves his son. Maybe I can take a lesson from that, too.  Even when I'm struggling, I can set love before me.  Even when I'm struggling, I can set joy before me.

And as my soul clings to Jesus, I can learn to be gracious, loving, and enthusiastic.

Even in defeat.

Peace and blessings, y'all!
Sarah

wash away the mud

Recently, my sister-in-law recommended I read a book by Erwin Raphael McManus called The Artisan Soul. She said in this book, Erwin argues that everyone is created to create and thought I would really enjoy it since I believe the same thing. I haven't read it yet, but I watched two sermons by Erwin and they gave me a lot to think about. This will be my attempt to share my thoughts on what Erwin talked about.

I've been spending a lot of time reading the gospel of John, trying to learn more about the character of Jesus. I try to always be reading a gospel alongside another book in the Bible at all times. If I want to know more about Jesus and be like Jesus, I should always be studying His life always. In the two sermons I watched, Erwin used John chapter 9 in what he had to say about what it means to be created in the image of a creator.

First, this chapter is close to my heart. It's a story about healing, giving a blind man his sight back and for a while I was blind and desperately needed Jesus to help me see again. When I was 15 years old, I started developing back pain which soon became chronic body pain, over the years growing worse. When I was 20 years old, a close friend of mine called me and told me he was frustrated for me. That he couldn't understand why this was happening to me. But then he read John chapter 9:

      As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”

  “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
  
Now, I wasn't born with this pain, and no one really knows why the pain occurs. My close friend said he believes that this has happened to me so that the works of God may (if I respond, if I'm obedient) be displayed in me. 

Erwin broke down this passage from another perspective and I loved it. The way Jesus heals shows His creativity. Jesus, being God and God being a creator, must be a creative person. The way Jesus healed this man was interesting because, since I believe Jesus is God, he could have just healed Him by thought or saying so. He did this sometimes for other people but not for this man. Instead, Jesus spit in the dirt to make mud. He rubbed the mud into the blind man's eyes and instructed him to walk over to the Pool of Siloam and wash himself.

Here is Jesus, who can choose how to heal a man any way He wants, and He chooses spit and dirt. Erwin suggested the man standing there blind, listening to Jesus spit over and over into the dirt to make mud to smear into his eyes, may have felt embarrassed. He may have even felt humiliated. Jesus put mud on his eyes and instructed him to wash himself. If someone put mud in my eyes now, it would be nice for that person to help me out by walking me over to water at least. But Jesus said Go. Wash yourself. He took something that may be thought as ugly, like mud, and did something beautiful with it. He created sight from something that obstructs, something you can't see through. I can't help but wonder why He didn't just give the man his sight back with a simple thought. And I can't help but agree with Erwin that Jesus chose this because creativity is in the essence of who Jesus is. 

 I remember going to Jesus for healing with my pain and nothing happened. I was frustrated for years wondering why Jesus would heal so many people but not me. Why not me? I was losing hope in getting better, I was losing hope in Jesus. I was so angry with Him. Later on I thought, maybe Jesus put mud on my eyes when I came to Him for healing. Maybe I became blind to how He was going to heal me because when He said go, I felt humiliated by Jesus. Maybe Jesus put mud on my eyes and told me to go wash myself because He wanted me to respond to Him, to be obedient.


Some people came to Jesus and were healed instantly. This blind man had to walk over to the pool and wash himself to be healed. Some may be like Paul, and cry out three times to only get the response "My grace is sufficient for you." Paul wasn't physically healed but God gave him the strength to endure his sufferings - for when I am weak, He is strong. Maybe we receive all three and it's just we don't recognize how He's healed us because we're walking around with mud on our eyes because we aren't listening to Him when He says to wash. Jesus has restored my hope in Him. He corrected how I saw my pain - I realized I am not my ailment.
 

My obedience to Jesus will lead to healing, just like the blind man in John chapter 9. I believe your obedience can lead to healing as well. Whether it's physically healing, giving you sight where you are blind, or the realization that His grace is sufficient.

in His grip,

Josh.

One Piece of Advice

Last weekend, we had a region-wide leader gathering for Young Life here in Albuquerque.  Leaders from El Paso, Los Alamos, Las Cruces, Crown Point, Farmington, and Albuquerque came together for a weekend of encouragement, community, and raucous laughter...of course!

We had the incredible opportunity to hear from Bob and Claudia Mitchell during this time.  A little background on these two incredible people.  Bob is a former president of Young Life and one of the first Young Life kids EVER. As in this dude and his family hosted some of the first Young Life clubs at their house, and his leader was Jim Rayburn, the founder of Young Life. Anyway, enough of the celeb status laundry list.  In my mind, this man - "Mitch" as he's known - is a pillar of faith beyond the Young Life community.  Last weekend he told us about how he fought from within the mission during the '60s and '70s to make a place for women and African-Americans in leadership.  He told us about moments of frustration and triumph as he has walked faithfully with the Lord for close to 80 years.

I was fortunate enough to hear from Bob and Claudia during New Staff Training in Florida, as well.  It was equally as cool to be exposed to their experiences there, but it was awesome to actually get to meet them, talk with them, and laugh with them on such a personal level here in Albuquerque.

I'm gonna call this as it is for a minute. I don't know about you, but when I meet "big wigs" as my mom would call them, I am often times disappointed.  Usually these people are not as terrific as they're made out to be.  Less personable, less eloquent, etc.

Not so with Mitch.  Meeting him, shaking his hand, being close to him, I saw such genuine kindness in his face, I heard authentic love in his voice.  Like who is this guy?? He rocks.  He's hilarious. He loves Claudia in such a precious way.

This personal interaction made me listen in a totally different manner this time around.  And this is what I heard and keep hearing a week later.

We had a question and answer time with Bob and Claudia.  One of the leaders asked what advice Mitch would give to a Young Life leader now. He sat and thought in his characteristic way for just a moment before continuing with no preface:  "Cultivate your own relationship with Christ before anything else.  That's the greatest thing you can do."

Wow.

If anyone could give Young Life leading tips, it's Bob Mitchell.  But instead of advising us on how to run a good program and get kids to camp or enlightening us on the most effective contact work strategies, Mitch said one thing: Know. Jesus.

I was reminded of the time Jesus clarified something to us in Matthew 22:37-40 about the Law and the commandments.  He says (without introductory material, either), "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.  This is the great and first commandment.  And a second is like it:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

So here we are - here I am.  We get caught up in program, logistics, doing.  We forget that Jesus gave us the CliffNotes version of the Old Testament.  And I'm not saying don't read the OT - as an English teacher, I will ALWAYS encourage the actual reading of primary material.  But here it is, the bare bones of what we as Christians are called to do:

Love God. Be with Him. That's the greatest thing we can do.
Then.
Love people. Be with them.

I think one of the reasons I am so struck by Mitch's advice is because I've heard him tell of the way he lived this out.  One story in particular stood out to me.  At New Staff Training, Mitch told of his first night in the San Francisco Bay area.  He had just moved to this city, no friends, an empty home, a new part of the country.  He drove to the top of a hill overlooking the city, the sea of lights stretching out before him and absolutely overwhelming him with where to even begin in reaching out to the kids of San Fran.  Mitch teared up as he told us of his cry to God in that moment, the raw "where do I even begin" honesty he poured out on that hill.

What's striking to me about this is that before Mitch settled in, met the neighbors, found a church, went to a school, he first retreated to be with the Lord.  To surrender his upcoming months and years in the bay area to the Lord.  To love the Lord before he commenced doing.  Mitch realized that without Jesus at the center, he would never find his way in that city.  Mitch realized that cultivating his relationship with Christ was then and would always be the most effective ministry strategy in Young Life, the church...heck, anywhere. This piece of advice was not just a repetition of a hugely important piece of the Bible.  It was a tested and lived out truth of Mitch's life.

And so that's why his words - really Jesus' words -  keep ringing in my ears: Love God with all you have.  Give Him the first fruits of your life.

This is - and always will be - the great commandment.

Peace and Blessings, y'all!
Sarah