Let It Go

That popular song title from the movie, "FROZEN", was the theme for a youth rally we attended at the Faith Village Church of Christ in Wichita Falls yesterday.

Trying to "let go" of whatever it is that is keeping us from being in a closer relationship with God/Jesus and keeping us from staying on the straight and narrow path definitely needs to go.  But sometimes it's hard to let it go. Sometimes we want to cling to it.  It's not that we don't want to follow Jesus.  It's not that we don't want to be in close connection with God, it's just that we want the pleasures of the world sometimes, too.  We want it both ways.  We want to ride the fence, so to speak.

I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm—neither hot nor cold—I am about to spit you out of my mouth.  Revelation 3:15-16

God would rather have us either way - for him or against him - than to have us be lukewarm and indecisive and not fully committed.  When we are lukewarm, we really aren't doing anything to help his cause, anyway. In fact, we are only hurting it. 

After the first speaker was finished yesterday, the youth had a card that they were to write on listing something they needed to let go of.  Afterwards, they threw their card into a fire and watched it burn. It's not that easy to let go of a problem, but the illustration of it being burned on paper surely encouraged the teens to at least work on letting go of their issue.

This scripture goes along well with the "Let It Go" thought and happens to be our scripture for the week: For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.  Proverbs 5:21.  Knowing that God sees everything should keep us on the straight and narrow.  A healthy fear of the Lord is important!  But sometimes we forget that He is all-knowing.  He examines and He knows, but He also loves and cares for us. He wants us to love Him for who He is and for what He has done - and we should.

Train Up A Child

Yesterday was a wonderful day!  Yes, it was the day the saints come together to worship the Lord, but yesterday was even a little more special for us because our morning worship was led by the young men of our congregation.  We're thankful that the elders and our preacher worked this out so that the young men could have this time to led and train to become the future leaders of the church.

Our oldest son preached. He has given several devotional talks and mini sermons for quite a few years - the first when he was 10 or so - but nothing ever this big or this long!  We kept asking him how long it would be and he would say, "I hope at least 15 minutes!"  You just never know exactly how long you're going to speak when you get to going! I know that from experience in ladies' day events. :)  (Oops! Had to work on that!)  But Z did a wonderful job delivering a message from God's Word, encouraging us to not have "Blurred Vision".  At moments like these, I realize he's grown. He doesn't even seem like an 18 year old, but more like a 20-something year old! It's awkward at times, being a parent to someone so mature, because he seems more mature than I am in some things.  (true confession)  He's a good example for all of us.

Our middle boys gave the devotional thoughts before the Lord's Supper.  He hadn't ever done anything like this before, so it was good for him. He came up with the analysis all on his own, using a real-life example of how we can get into the routine of partaking of the Lord's Supper without giving it the thought we should - about Jesus dying on the cross.  I loved how he gave it in all seriousness, but how I could still see his personality within his little talk.  It was a great learning opportunity for him. I'm glad he saw that he could do it - that he was capable of doing it.  I knew he could.  He knows it now, too!

And our youngest led the opening prayer and helped serve the Lord's Supper.  He told me before we left for Bible Class that his prayer might be too long because he had really thought about what he was going to say.  It wasn't too long and it was great to know and realize that he had thought about what he was going to say in advance.  I'm surprised this one hasn't offered to do a devotional, yet. When he was young he would preach whole sermons at home! :)

The boys who helped with the service did a great job, as well.  Our nephew led the singing.  Others helped serve the Lord's Supper.  Others prayed.  It's surely a blessing to have young men who are willing and able to serve. Others are in the process of learning.  It's a wonderful to give them opportunities to learn to lead.

Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 

Proverbs 22:6