Teen Camp Talk

Run for Jesus: Comparing running with the Christian life

Good evening! My name is Catherine, and I am 18 years old. Before I begin, I want to know how many of you are involved in sports??? Oh good, because tonight I am going to be comparing my favorite sport of running with the Christian life. But really, any sport or athletic competition can apply to this talk. I am really hoping that this challenges you to not only say you are a Christian, but to really live it so others can see it.

Before I start talking about what I want to say to you tonight, I want to give you a little background about how I became so enthusiastic about running! A few years ago, I struggled with an eating disorder. You will hear more about this when I give my testimony on Thursday night. Running was a main way for me to lose weight.

However, as I ran more and started liking it more, I found that I had such a desire to be the best runner I could ever be. Running was a way for me to overcome my eating disorder. Instead of being totally consumed with how skinny I was, all I wanted was to be a better runner.

I have been running for 4 years. I have completed many races and even ran on my team in high school. Since I love running so much, I decided to see what the Bible had to say about it. I found that the word “run” or “running” or “race” is used over 130 times throughout the whole Bible. I am convinced that God really likes running!

Tonight, I am going to be using 4 different passages of scripture that talk about running in likeness of the life of a Christian. The first passage is 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. This is my favorite Bible verse, and I have claimed it as my “life verse.” It says…

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Every athlete that competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it to get an eternal prize. So I run with purpose in every step; I am not just beating the air. I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself will be disqualified.”

Okay, I know this is a long passage, so I want to break it down section by section. The first part I want to look at is verse 24 where Paul says, “run in such a way as to get the prize.” The prize for a runner, or any athlete, is a medal or a trophy. The prize in the Christian life is Jesus Christ. Just as an athlete runs his fastest and hardest for the first place prize, so we as Christians should be seeking after Christ with all that we have.

The second part of this passage talks about a prize that will last forever. For an athlete, the prize that you win will soon waste away. The medal will rust, the trophy will be put into storage, and the writing on a certificate will eventually not be readable. But as Christians, our eternal prize is heaven, which is something that never goes away.

The third part of this passage says to run with purpose in every step. I believe that our purpose in the race of our Christian faith is to glorify Christ. Every step that a runner takes gets him one step closer to the finish line. Every day that we live on earth should be another day to give glory to God.

Finally, verse 27 talks about training your body so that you will not be disqualified for the prize. This part of the passage was a little bit harder for me to think about a comparison. But I think that it could be compared to how we live our life as an example for others. Paul says that if he did not train his body, after preaching he would be disqualified. If a runner does not train for his race in the right way, he will not be able to finish the race, thus not able to win the prize. If we as Christians are speaking the message of Christ and telling others about him, but not living like we are Christians, then we will not be effective in trying to win others to Christ. How we live our life is just as important as the words we use when trying to help others become a Christian.

The next verse that I want to look at talks about getting rid of these things that can lead others away from Christ. Hebrews 12:1 says…

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.”

The part of this verse that I want to focus on is where is says “strip off every weight that slows us down.” In the Christian faith, this “weight” is different for every person. Every individual person has their own set of temptations. In order to run this race of faith, what I have to overcome might be totally different than what Thomas has to resist: and what Thomas has to deal with might be something that is never a problem for me. But they are still struggles and they are still hard.

Something I want to do right now is give examples from running or any other sport to show how the disciplines that you do when in training or in competition are similar to the Christian life. First of all, whenever I am training for a race, sometimes I have to wake up an hour earlier in order to get my workout in for the day. The Psalms talk a lot about praising and spending time with God in the morning. If you know you are going to have a busy day, get up 30 minutes earlier in order to spend time with God. And, if you are too busy to spend time with Him, then you are busier than you should be.

Another part of proper athletic training is taking care of your body. In order to keep your physical body is the best shape, there are some foods that you just cannot eat. Giving up ice cream, cookies, candy, and soda and eating lots of good carbohydrates, meats, fruits and vegetables helps your body to perform at its very best. Also, when in training, your body is going to need extra rest. For some people, this might mean coming home early from a bonfire with friends or not going to that sleepover because you have an athletic event later that day. As Christians, we are called to be “in the world but of the world.” This means abstaining from any and all activities that will cause us to be ineffective in sharing the gospel. Things like swearing, drugs, sex, and drinking can not only be harmful to our physical body, but can also keep us from leading others to Christ. Another part of resting in your Christian life is taking time to be with God. Reading the Bible, praying, and listening to what the Lord has to say are great ways to get a rest from the world. All this goes back to the main purpose of this talk: to not just say that you are a Christian, but to really live it so others will know!

Finally, the harder you work your body, the higher the chance is that you are going to get injured. I started running the summer after my 1^st year in high school. Since then, I have had three times when my foot has been fractured. This causes enormous pain, and usually I am not able to run or do any kind of physical activity for at least 2 months. For a Christian, the more you seek after Christ and the more you tell others about him, the more the devil is going to attack you. Satan attacks in many different ways. I have seen this multiple times in my own life. Sometimes it is negative thoughts that are in my head that I know are not true, like “you are not good enough; you will never be worth anything; no body loves you; no body wants to hear what you have to say.” Or sometimes it is physical, like getting sick or always feeling tired. Now, sickness is not always Satan’s fault, but he can use it to keep you from being effective in sharing the gospel. Just like resting will heal a broken bone, in order to defeat the attacks of the devil, you need to be with Christ and surrounding yourself with prayer.

The third verse I want to look at is Isaiah 40:31. It says…

“Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in stumble and fall. But those who trust in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings of eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not be faint.”

I am not going to talk about this passage too much because I already mentioned resting in the Lord. But when you compare this to running or any sport, usually a runner does not run every day of the week. I know for me, I always take one day off to let my body rest and my muscles heal. For a Christian, our one day to rest was given to us back in the Old Testament. The fourth commandment in Exodus tells us to “honor the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.” This is the Lord’s day. It is a day for us to take extended time to think about Him and get more strength for the rest of the week from Him.

The verse that I want to end with is found in 2^nd Timothy 4:7. This verse is part of Paul’s final words when he is writing to Timothy. Paul says…

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.”

This verse is what I long to say before I die. I want to be just about to breath my last breath and know that I remained faithful to the Lord in everything that I did. I want to finish this race of life with excellence. I hope that is something that you also long for.

The challenge I want to leave you with this morning is the very purpose of this talk: to not just say that you’re a Christian, but to really live it in every area of your life. Christ should be so evident in your life that people can see you faith and you don’t even have to open your mouth. Let you actions truly speak louder than words.

Coming at you alive from Brazil

Hello from the beautiful, mountainous South American country of Brazil, more specifically the city of Porto Alegre. As many of you know, the IMPACT360 team has been split into two groups. While Team A is hard at work doing projects with an orphanage in the capital city of Brasilia, my Team B (“Dynamite”) is working alongside of summer camp counselors at Palavra da Vida (Word of Life) further south in Porto Alegre. The I360 students that are with me here at the Word of Life camp are Zak, Mark, Josh, Katlynne, Corinne, Tiffany, Bekah B, and Katie. Our leaders are Bethany, one of our Student Living and Learning Coordinators at I360, and Orman Gwynn, a retired missionary of 30+ years in Brazil. Mr. Gwynn has been a tremendous blessing to our group as he serves as one of our main translators. Larry Cox, one of our IMPACT leaders, was with us for this first week as one of our leaders, but he returned to the states today. It was a lot of fun to have Uncle Larry here with us; he always had some way to crack a joke or put a smile on my face.

We left the I360 campus around three the afternoon of Friday, January 9th. The plane left the ground around 10 that night, almost 2 hours after the expected time; welcome to Brazilian culture, I guess! Sleeping on the plane wasn’t the easiest thing in the world, but most of us managed to get at least an hour or two. After a nine hour flight, we stepped off the Delta plane into the heat of Rio de Janeiro. From there we connected to a domestic flight headed to Brasilia. John and Trudy White met us at the airport and took us to their beautiful retreat center, Aqua Viva (“Living Water”).

We spent the first four days at Aqua Viva getting accustomed to Brazilian weather, food and culture. Sunday was a time to catch up on the sleep that we missed from traveling for almost twenty-four hours. We slept in, had a fantastic lunch, and chilled with the White family and some of our translators. That night we went into the city to Terceira Igeja Batista (Third Baptist Church) in Brasilia. Some of the more musical students on our I360 team led a song or two in English and their team followed up with a set in Portuguese. Music is universal and helped bridge the language gap. Personally it gave me a glimpse of heaven, where one day “every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ in Lord.” After the church service, we went out to a Pizzaria for dinner at 11pm!!! We met up with a local youth group who ate an assortment of handmade pizzas, including those topped with banana and chocolate or guava for dessert. Don’t worry, mom and dad, I will not go hungry down here!

Monday was a day filled with tourism. We traveled the city and saw the sites of Brasilia. It was a hot day and some of us got a little bit sunburned! I really enjoyed seeing all the beautiful architecture of their buildings, as well as seeing lots of statues that we had studied or heard about in our presentations before coming down here. My topic in this assignment was Brazilian religion. Because of this area of study, I was particularly interested in a site that we visited that afternoon called “The Temple of Goodwill.” This temple is basically a place where they combine many religions in order to create their own “Brazilian religion.” It is a physical expression and place of syncretism, or as we at I360 like to call it, the smorgasbord or casserole effect. It was neat for me to see that everything that I studied and learned about really does exist. Even though it was sad to see that people actually believe in many ways to get to God, it made my study “worth while.”

Tuesday we went into a neighboring state to visit two orphanages. These orphanages are run by Catholic nuns and are actually really nice! The kids were so happy to see us and play with us. A lot of songs were sung with the older kids, and the younger ones were eager to show us around their fruit gardens and play on their swingsets. My day was finished with a swim at Aqua Viva and eating a mango from the orphanage on the side of the pool (probably the 7th mango that I had since arriving)…ya, mom, be jealous!!!

Wednesday morning, Team Dynamite packed up their belongings (praise God no one lost their luggage on the way down here), said good-bye to Team A (named “Team Skunklings”) and headed back to the airport in Brasilia for a three hour flight to Porto Alegre. We were met at the airport by Thomas Schneider, and he took us to Palavra da Vida where we are currently staying while away from the other team (until February 1st).

Here at the camp we have been hanging out and developing relationships with the counselors, other youth our age, that are here at the camp for the entire summer. This week has been their staff training, and we have been going through that right alongside of them. To be honest, we have had a lot of frustration among our group because of the language barrier. Some members of our team have been battling some physical ailments, as well as a lot of emotional and mental stress since it is very hard to communicate. Keep us in your prayers in this area.

Before signing off, I just want to share with you a few things that the Lord has been teaching me while being down here. The times I have had with the Lord, no matter when, where, how short or how long, have been some of the sweetest that I have ever experienced. Upon getting a new, smaller Bible over Christmas, I decided to start reading it from the very beginning. I have just recently finished the book of Numbers and have moved into Deuteronomy. While reading the story of Balaam, these two verse in Numbers 23 really spoke to me…

“I will speak only the message that the Lord puts in my mouth…I can do only what the Lord tells me.”

If any of you know me very well, you know that I am very outgoing, expressive, and about 99% extroverted. The Lord revealed to me that I have a habit of “spouting off at the mouth” (not it always being a bad thing), but many times I do end of saying something I later regret. He has been increasing the desire of my heart to have a quiet and reserved spirit. I have really enjoyed putting into practice the disciple of silence. I was also privileged with the opportunity to give a short testimony at session last night, and I shared this with everyone that was there. I hope my testimony was a joy to someone else too!

To be “truefaced,” as we in the community of I360 always challenge each other on, a verse in Psalms spoke to me very strongly. I was feeling very inadequate and unwanted in a lot of areas. I opened my Bible to read the Psalms for today and simply asked the Lord to speak to me. Being the faithful God that I serve, he allowed me to read this…

Psalms 45:10b-11
“…forget your people and your family far away. For your royal husband delights in your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord.”

I have noticed in the past few days that they more I focus on Christ and who I am in him, the less I think about my self and the negative thoughts I have about myself. I’ve noticed that the more I am concerned about my internal character, the less I focus on my external appearance, something I have had enormous issues with in the past. I’ve been constantly desiring nothing more than to just be with Christ and just sit at the feet of Jesus. I have a strong desire to soak up the Word like a sponge and not let any of it squeeze out. My favorite book in the Bible is James and just today I have started memorizing it. Already being four verses in, it’s been a hope and sword to my life.

Please keep my team and the other team in your prayers as we continue throughout this month of missions work. I appreciate you and all your support.

To God be the Glory; may His name be praised!!!

P.S. Pictures will be coming soon...

Olá Brasil (Hello Brazil) !!!

After lots of preparation, prayer, and taking time in the classroom to learn about teams, today we are off to Brazil!!! Finally, the time has come!!! Below is the itinerary for our team (I am on Team B)...

Entire Group

1/9/09
Depart Atlanta: 8:40pm
Arrive Rio de Janeiro 1-10-09: 9:20am
*Local time is 3 hours ahead of EST.

1/10/09
Depart Rio de Janeiro: 12:50pm
Arrive Brasilia: 2:30pm
*Stay at Aqua Viva - John and Trudy White's retreat center until the 14th.

Team B
1/14/2009
Depart Brasilia for Porto Alegre
Depart: 9:40am Arrive: 12:20pm
*Working with a summer camp and a local church until Feb. 1.

Team A
1/25/2009
Depart Brasilia for Campinas
Depart: 10:00am Arrive: 11:25am (bus into Bauru)
*Doing construction projects and possibly working with an orphanage until Feb. 1.

Team B
2/1/2009
Depart Porto Alegre for Sao Paulo
Depart: 9:50am Arrive: 11:27am

Team A
2/1/2009
Bus from Bauru to Sao Paulo.
*Teams back together. Spend night in hotel near partnering church - Memorial Baptist Church.

2/2/2009
Bus to Aracaiba.
Depart 11:00pm Arrive: 5:00am
*All students participate in Aracaiba ministry project. Depart evening of Feb 2nd, drive thru night, arrive Feb 3.

2/5/2009
Bus back to Sao Paulo
Depart: 2:00pm Arrive: 7:00pm

2/6/2009
Depart Sao Paulo for Atlanta
Depart: 10:50pm
Arrive 2/7/09: 5:45am

One prayer request we have already for out team is for one of our team members. Due to unfortunate circumstances involving health, one of our team members is having to stay behind. She was the leader of my Team B, named very appropriately "Team Dynamite." Please pray for her to get plenty of rest and be fully restored by the time we get back.

My IMPACT360 team also has a blog that I will be contributing to throughout the time in Brazil. Check it out at http://www.impact360inbrazil.blogspot.com. Thanks again for all your constant prayers, support, and reading. The next time you hear from me I will be in Brazil! Bom dia!

2009...HERE I AM!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!



My new year's resolution: to not make any resolutions



Isaiah 42:9a
"See, the former things have taken place, and new things I declare..."

Oh Mister Sun, Sun, Mister Golden Sun, please shine down on me!

Greetings from the Sunshine State, more commonly known as Florida. For the final week of my Christmas break I am in sunny West Palm Beach, Florida basking in the beautiful ball of fire! I'm trying to tan up for the trip to Brazil, which is 12 days from today!


Although I'm in Florida, you're probably wondering why I'm wearing so many winter clothes in the above pictures. Well, those pictures capture the essence of the first week of my Christmas break this year. For me, December 12th-18th was the first time I was able to go home since we moved to Georgia this summer. After almost 6 months of being away, my parents blessed me with the best Christmas present-a trip to Wisconsin! Let me just tell you that it was the best week of my life and by far the best Christmas present that I ever received. I was able to see every one that I wanted to see, and spend extra time with those that I really wanted to, and never felt rushed. It was quality and quantity time. It was especially nice to see all my closest friends! I missed them so much! It was hard to leave again, but it was well worth it!

One thing the Lord really impressed on me more deeply while I was in Wisconsin was that He wants to use me, ALL of me. So, before I conclude this blog entry I want to include an excerpt from my journal...


>One day while being back home, I went to see one of my friends at her secular college. For me, being there was incredibly eye opening. I felt kind of discouraged as I listened to some of the students talk about how wasted they got that weekend, who’s sleeping with whom and heard all the language and taking of the Lord’s name in vain. My though the whole time was “Lord, I feel as though you want me to go to a secular college to make a difference, but how am I supposed to make a difference in this-there's so much to do?” Through all this discouraging thought, I felt the Lord telling me over and over, “I’m going to use you in subtle ways. It might be just the fact that you don’t drink, sleep around, or swear, but I will use you.” That was such a comforting thought.<


Psalm 23:4
"Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me."

Merry Christmas!

Luke 2:10-11
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.

Trusting God "pays" off

$3500. That is the amount that I needed to raise for my one month missions trip to Brazil, coming up in January. As of now, all the money has come in. Praise God! I do have to admit that I had a little bit of a hard time trusting God to provide the funds, especially as the deadline was a week away and I had not even raised half the amount needed. The rest of the money came in within 3 days! Through that, God truly showed me how much bigger he is than me, and he really does have everything under control. My King of Kings has cattle on a thousand hills, and all he had to do was sell a few of them for me!


The first picture you see above is my team for our Brazil trip. This week we just finished our semester project/presentations. Individually we had to answer a question on a Brazilian subject by giving a 10 minute oral presentation. My subject was the music in Brazil. As a group, we had to present for an hour on the five topics of family, economy, government, society and religion in Brazil as well as answering seven worldview questions how a Brazilian would answer them. It was a very informative project, and I feel so much more knowledgeable about Brazil, but I do have to say that I am very glad to be done.


Before Thanksgiving break we had the unique opportunity to go to a homeless shelter in Atlanta. We spent the night there and were able to talk to many of the men that stay there a lot as well as learn about many of the stereotypes about homeless people that are incorrect. A local church was supposed to bring dinner for them that night but they never showed up. We were able to collect donations from among our group, go to the local Publix and buy food for some of the women and children sleeping in the lobby. We ended up feeding 18 women and children that night. It was such a blessing to see their faces after they were given their plate of food. I talked to one woman, and she told me her story. One little boy could not even make conversation with us because all he said was "Mommy, I want to eat." It was such a humbling experience to see these people live like this, especially in such a big city as Atlanta.


This week for class we have the priviledge of having Norman Geisler as our guest professor. In preparation for this topic "Evidence for God's Existence & The Problem of Evil," we have been reading The Reason for God by Timothy Keller as well as excerpts from Geisler's book Baker Encyclopedia of Christian Apologetics.


Last week, one of the things that God was pointing out to me constantly was just how creative and detail oriented he is. I noticed this the first time while I was driving back to campus Sunday night after our Thanksgiving break. A breathtaking sunset stretched across the entire horizon, and we were driving right into it. The wisps of clouds and magnificent colors radiated God's creativity in how he could created something so simple, yet still so beautiful. I was at my weekly volunteer service opportunity at a rehab center when I noticed the detail oriented God that I serve. I was going around to the patients to get their vital signs and because of a severe burn on both patients upper arms, as well as an IV in one, I was not able to get blood pressure in the "proper" place. I asked a nurse close by what to do, and she reminded me that you can take blood pressure on the forearm. Early in the semester I had to take blood pressure on a patients calf. How amazing is that? God knows that things happen and we need to be able to get blood pressure from more than one place.


The two other pictures that you see above were taken at a Christmas parade we had in Pine Mountain this weekend. It's always nice to be warm and cozy in a big jacket as you bike down the street waving to people and wishing them "Merry Christmas." This event was just the beginning of many Christmas events that we have this week before leaving for break on Friday!

PICTURES

Apologetics...do I have to say I'm sorry?

Good morning everyone! (or whatever time of day it happens to be when you read this) Life is going well here at the IMPACT360 campus in small town Pine Mountain. First of all, I want to say thank you to everyone who has committed to pray for the upcoming Brazil missions trip and also to the ones who have given financially. Funds are continuing to come in, and I am overwhelmed by the extreme generosity. Thank you to everyone is has given and to those of you who pray for me regularly. I am truly blessed!

Secondly, I want to give you a brief update on the happenings here in the South. Last weekend we took a "field trip" to Charlotte, NC for the National Apologetics Conference (http://www.nationalapologeticsconference.com). Speakers from all over the US included James Dobson, Josh McDowell, Charles Colson, Lee Strobel, Mark Mittelberg, and Del Tackett, who is one of our guest professors here at IMPACT for a week in March. It was such a privilege to be able to sit in a session and hear these "big name" speakers talk about things they are passionate about.

During the afternoon we had different workshops that were available for us to go to. Two of the workshops that I went to were particularly meaningful to me. The topic for both of them was equipping youth to be disciples. For the past few months I have been noticing that God has been increasingly laying on my heart a passion for youth, more specifically high schoolers. A lot of differently instances have come up in the past few weeks that has just confirmed in my heart and mind that God wants me to do something in the future related to working with youth. As I went to these workshops, I got so excited when I would hear different ways to spread and apply the gospel to youth. It's been crazy and thrilling to see God ignite this passion in me, and also to see how my future career could be related to it. I'd ask you to be in prayer for me to know God's will in this area.

Just another quick item to mention before signing off, for those interested, is what books we have finished reading recently...

What the New Testament Authors Really Cared About
The Great Awakening by Jim Wallis
Truefaced by Bill Thrall, Bruce McNicol, and John Lynch (we just finished this one)

1 Peter 3:15
"...but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect."

God is Sovereign! His will be done!

Romans 13:1-7
"Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Consequently, he who rebels against the authority is rebelling against what God has instituted, and those who do so will bring judgment on themselves. For rulers hold no terror for those who do right, but for those who do wrong. Do you want to be free from fear of the one in authority? Then do what is right and he will commend you. For he is God's servant to do you good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword for nothing. He is God's servant, an agent of wrath to bring punishment on the wrongdoer. Therefore, it is necessary to submit to the authorities, not only because of possible punishment but also because of conscience. This is also why you pay taxes, for the authorities are God's servants, who give their full time to governing. Give everyone what you owe him: If you owe taxes, pay taxes; if revenue, then revenue; if respect, then respect; if honor, then honor."

In honor of the election, I have chosen to focus this blog entry on the verse above. I am not here to tell you my political views (as a matter of fact, I am not even going to tell you who I voted for), but rather, I am writing to express that God is still in control, no matter who holds the presidential seat. No matter what your political views are, or who you voted for, be reminded that "there is no authority except that which God has established." The new man that now represents our country is who we are supposed to submit to, not because we have to, but because God commands us to. But we must also remember that we are not to submit to him if or when he does something contrary to God's word, but for the time being, he is the power that God has put over us, and we need to respect him and submit to him. We also need to pray for our president, whether we like him or not. Pray for God's will to be done in every situation and every decision. I know this may be hard for some of you to hear (and again, I don't know who some of you have voted for), but please bear with me and really search for yourself what the Bible has to say on this issue.