Stuck in a Rut?

Let's face it we sometimes get into spots where the clear-thinking, focus, and creativity just won't budge an inch. We stare at our Bible, or computer with a completely blank Word Document and for some reason Cannot get the ball rolling in regards to message prep. Here are a couple things I've noticed help me get out of that block, Hope they are of help:

1. Pray
     I know, I know, Duh, right? It seems obvious but sometimes we jumpstart our day thinking we have to get this, and this, and this done; and it's all good, ministry stuff we need to do so we'd rather not "waste" time and get started. But it follows that we wonder what God would have us tell our group, yet have we actually sat down and asked Him?

2. Change the scenery
     This almost works like a charm for me. I know it's weird but I can be at my desk with no distraction around in my "zone" and still be incapably of forming those first few vital points of my sermon. yet If I take the Bible and macbook outside, somewhere new, to a coffee shop or even home, or on a curb beside the road; the ball gets rolling! I don't know why but it helps, really.

3. Change your input method
      By this I mean, If you typically type your message up, pull out a pen and paper. if you usually write out an outline, try using a dry-erase board. The last time I was having a block in my prep, and could not get going, I closed my computer (which is my usual method), took it off my desk (blasphemy, I know!), and  pulled out a stack of post-it notes. I jotted every idea, analogy, story and question, I could think of about the text and topic, onto Post-its! then arranged them around on the surface of my desk and eventually... PRESTO! a message was in front of me!

I hope some of these help. Be sure to check back here in a few days as I work though more of the 7 checkpoints.

Grace and Peace,
Chris

Authentic Faith

Hey, If you typically come by this blog you’ll notice I haven’t updated in a while. I’m sorry about that. Big things have been under way at my church, so it has been difficult to schedule time out to blog. 

     But as for now, let’s pick up where we left off: talking about 7 important concept every teen NEEDS to know. there called the 7 checkpoints:

Authentic Faith

Spiritual Disciplines

Moral Boundaries

Wise Choices

Positive Relationships

Ultimate Authority

Others First

First I want to explain Authentic Faith. and what that is.

     When many we come up into our teens, we, for the most part, have the faith of our parents. What are told what opinion to have and that’s what we have. As we get further into our teens, we see how the world works, we meet who (much to our surprise) don’t have the same beliefs that we do! This is when it is helpful to understand not only WHAT we believe, but WHY we believe it. We begin to move to the next phase of questions about life from “Why does Jesus love me? ..the Bible tells me so.” to “Why should I believe what the Bible says anyway?” 

     When we get older stuff that we encounter like Death, Loss, Break-ups, Divorces, Suffering can cause us to wonder about what we thought God was “supposed” to be like. Many after getting confused by this, choose to drop belief altogether, as opposed to  entertaining the thought that God may be more than the box we thought he lived in when we were younger. 

    Either way, a teen ends up going on this belief one this is certain a lot rests on the issue. So the question is "why?"

I love the way CS Lewis put it in His book on his arriving at faith "Mere Christianity"

"My argument against God was that the universe seemed so cruel and unjust. But how had I got this idea of just and unjust? A man does not call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?"

That was one of the thoughts that captivated me at the end of my youth.

    Sometimes, Our faith gets shaken not by tragedy, but simply by a feeling in our gut of discontent. We look around at the pleasures offered us by this fading world and wonder if perhaps our feelings could be righted by getting out from under Christ's wing and exploring what the other side offers. This can be tempting, but remember as my dad warned me and as, again, Lewis put it, those feelings may be a sign of something greater than any of that.

"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world"

"We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased."

Anyway, we could ramble on about the thoughts associated with this but the bottom line is this. Our teens NEED to build a real, living, authentic Faith of their own.