Joe Dueck of Joe’s Place speaks about the work of Joe’s Place and how God can be the Father to the fatherless as well as how we can be the hope of our city. The video below is the full video of the testimonies from YouthQuake 2007. This video tells the powerful story of change and has had a great impact in our city.

 

 A Father to the Fatherless: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (150)

Two-faced. Save face. Lose face. About face. Face-off. Face it.

So, you may notice a theme emerging above. This latest byte has been incubating ever since last summer, when someone else’s thought began to get a hold of mine. Then, last week, Steve talked about this EXACT thing. And so now it’s time for this lil’ byte to be born! Yep, I know. That’s a long time for a thought to grow. But don’t panic. This doesn’t mean it’s been doubling and tripling its size to epic proportions. -Atleast, I don’t think. Hmm. Let’s find out, shall we!

If you need your memory “jogged” (uh, hopefully it likes the exercise): a few Friday’s ago we had a talk about going deeper with God, and how one vital (maybe THE most vital) part of that is: personally being real with God.

That’s sort of a new thing to think about. We learn so much about God ‘s honesty with his people, and that we should seek to know him for real—who he REALLY is. And, along with that, we often talk about how he is a God who knows OUR very heart. Yet, despite all of this, how willingingly and how regularly, do we strip it all away and become completely–even painfully–honest with him? And real.

Maybe part of the problem is we get mixed up about what our “Real Self” actually IS. What Steve said was a helpful reminder: who we are is not ANY aspect of our earth-bound status or “identity” (popularity, etc., but even the talents we have; our various roles in other people’s lives; our successes/failures). God strips all of that away, so we should stop trying to hold on to it (or maybe hiding behind it?)

The idea of stark honesty is hard to grasp. The concept last summer that started all of this is STILL the best way I can get a sense of what it means. It’s from a short-ish novel aptly called “Till We Have Faces” by good ol’ C.S. Lewis(!). Near the end of the story the increasingly bitter main character goes before the “court of the gods” who her people follow, and accuses them of…oh, lots. And then she suddenly stops and realizes she has misunderstood everything:

“The complaint was the answer. To have heard myself making it was to be answered. Lightly men talk of saying what they mean… When the time comes to you at which you will be forced at last to utter the speech which has lain at the centre of your soul for years, which you have, all that time, idiot-like, been saying over and over, you’ll not talk about joy of words. I saw well why the gods do not speak to us openly, nor let us answer. Till that word can be dug out of us, why should they hear the babble that we think we mean? How can they meet us face to face till we have faces?”

The best way to end this is with the passage that it all seems to come from, in 1 Corinthians. It shows this is not a new struggle: “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (13:12) Just by being a human living on this earth, there’s all ready so much that prevents us from fully knowing and being known in our relationship with God. One day, when this life ends, we will know and be known with no barriers. But even here on earth–and all of our life—we have the choice before us to stop hiding or disguising ourself, and having a real relationship with God.

Wha’d'ya say we just don’t address the fact that these Reality Bytes have become incredibly irregular? (Although, it should be said that it’s probably better for everyone involved if I spare you random ramblings, and reserve the bytes for sensical speech, eh?) But ’nuff said. We won’t address it.

So, Friday night’s talk got the ol’ brain thinkin’ (uh, note: that’d be MY brain I’m referring to. But it’s okay if your’s had a similar experience.) The topic was a passage in I Samual(?) about some of David and his “mighty men’s” exploits. The details are sorta blurry, but that’s the whole point, here. As Steve read and wanted us to listen closely and give feedback, I was…thinking about those youth room walls. They are REALLY blue, eh? Vivid; pretty amazing. Then, I realized I wasn’t listened and tried to focus. (Sorry. Don’t worry, this won’t ALL be a play-by-play of my thought processes. Mostly.) Anyway, it was still really hard to pay attention. So, I became distracted with thinking about why I was distracted. And I figured it out: it seemed like the topic was such a GUY thing. Combat. Battle. Etc. And then Steve asked if anyone sort of wished they were back in those battle times, and (suprise!) every male hand in the room shot up. So, it seems guys and girls alike don’t really feel like the whole battle-thing applies to this day and age.

And then…I had…a thought(!): I really should pay attention because: WE ARE IN A BATTLE. Not against flesh and blood, but against darkness. You’ve heard this before, eh? But think about it: how do you fight an invisible battle? See, the tricky thing is, with invisible battles, you can always forget they’re going on–even when you’re in the middle of it. You know the saying? (I’ll misqoute horribly) “The greatest feat the Devil can pull is convincing people he doesn’t exist.”

This passage says a lot, when it comes to invisible-battle tactics: ”

For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to (more…)

Have you ever unexpectedly found something that you really enjoy? I mean REALLY. You get a taste– an experience that exceeds all expectations, but it’s not enough to just appreciate that moment: you soon find yourself waiting for fresh opportunities to bring back that joy.  Your focus on this thing begins to overshadow all else in your life, and you know that it’s happening–but here’s the thing: you also know that what you’re enjoying is a GOOD thing, and so you make no attempt to moderate the situation.

Well, I think it’s pretty common for people to grow “over-attached” to the things that bring them happiness/joy, so hopefully you can relate to this even if you can’t relate to my struggle (it may sound a bit strange but stay with me): a complete spiritual dependency on worship.  Yep, it’s been a long, winding road.  And recently, that crystal clear 20/20 hindsight made me realize my perdicament might be worth sharing.

A series of amazing and eye-opening encounters with God, at a summer camp when I was sixeteen, gave me a “taste” for worship. In it, God was real and personal for the first time. I got truly excited (also for the first time) about learning more about God: reading the Bible, coming to him in prayer, remembering him in my day.  I quickly found that those things were harder for me to “get into” than worship. So, when I returned home, I found less time for them but an unwavering excitement for any worship-related events. I was aware of neglecting these areas, but worship was a good thing, right? That’s when God really seemed real, and THAT was the most important thing. Right? 

For the next few years, God would teach me a lot through powerful services and conferences, but I didn’t give him much of a chance to get through to me when I left the worship-conducive atmosphere.  I noticed that was happening, and so my solution was to REALLY commit those moments and messages to memory, and than return to my life and eagerly await The Next Big Opportunity.

Than, the fall after graduation things got hard. And than harder. Work and new commitments conflicted with my established pattern of “spiritual refueling” and I became dry–yep, sort of “drying out” from my dependency. In this time, I was exposed to some new ideas that were very skeptical of “Spirituality” which–I was repeatedly informed–was all just emotion driven and unreasonable.  Well, I could see how that might be true: my faith didn’t lean too heavily on reason, and now that I was emotionally “drying out” seeds of doubt flourished to life in the dry climate.  

On the positive side, I finally saw my dependance on worship for what it was: imbalanced and unhealthy.  But my reaction was again to veer to an extreme, and I began attending church events as a skeptic.  I was now cynical of God reaching me on an emotional level, but was also not particularily interested in finding God beyond the realm of emotion.  And so spiritual stagnation set in, while the business of life kept me well-occupied and distracted.  But my doubts bothered me when I thought about it and I couldn’t forget my earlier confidence in God.              

Then (after about two years like this), I began to seemingly “stumble” across passages of the Bible that caught my interest.  Sometimes several times in one week, various things would stir my desire for God.  Long story short: I began to realize I had NEVER REALLY KNOWN GOD. I’d genuinely loved worshipping him, and later I WANTED to know him, but I’d never actually PURSUED knowing him–”seeking him with all my heart” like we are called to (Jeremiah 29). 

After that, worship took on new meaning and reading the Bible became something exciting it had never been before: a way to know God.  While learning about God the Bible also taught me about worship: how it’s something we BRING to him, not something we do to GET something (like a mind-blowing experience); how it’s about WAITING on God and giving him the chance to get through to us/teach us.

We have numerous opportunities to worship God–here at this church, and elsewhere.  But I can say with certainty, that unless we’re pursuing God beyond those settings and  when the mood strikes, it will never be much more than empty words and fleeting feelings.  Nothing more than a lively musical “trip.”            

Well, O faithful reader, we-ee’re BACK, after a lengthy wintery sojourn. New Year’s has flown past amidst the sparks of high-Voltage activity, and a shower of forks! Dangerous work, that. But we survived! We’ve beaten back those militant utensils for yet another year! So, what next?

Very good question. I think the New Year is a great time for reflection, and for asking ourselves some Big Questions. –Oh, what’s that? It’s too late for you? You’ve ALREADY asked and answered all those questions? Well, to you I say :would you mind sharing with the rest of the class? Obviously, I don’t know what’s going on in your head, but I do know that there are many important points to which people (in general) just don’t devote much brain work.   Well, for all of January (and a bit beyond!) every Friday night is a Quest into Big-Question-laden-territory, for the Senior Youth group.

This Quest is not to be taken lightly, folks. It may appear simple, but don’t be fooled: the easier it seems, the more your ol’ brain should be working.  This Quest is about investigating certain issues like human purpose, death and what comes after, the possibility of divine expectations for humanity, and claims the Bible makes and what it all means. Where some answers popping into your head just now? Well, good! The purpose of this Quest isn’t to stare blankly at each other, around a table, but to investigate together; to stir up some thinking, on the matter(s). Perhaps to share insight with other people.

One early question brought up the point that EVERYbody is going to die someday, and yet hardly anyone wants to talk about spiritual issues. It just doesn’t naturally “come up” in conversation. Now, I know some aspects of this Quest may be old news, to some people. And there’s nothing wrong with already having grappled with issues, and finding some clarity. But this Quest can still include you. It’s great to be able to put your understanding into words, for others. And it can be a good refresher to revisit old questions you put to rest, a while ago. Since we don’t get many opportunities to talk about this stuff, maybe we get out of practice–who knows. But most importantly: if people in general aren’t talking about these things, isn’t it just possible that the people with answers and the people with questions NEVER get talking together?

Even if you’d just like to tenatively join the Quest for a night, to check it out, you’re welcome. It begins at 6pm at the church (be on time if you want the first pick of the supper–and if you like your food hot!) So on that note…happy belated New Year, all!