Guatemala

Wow! What an incredible time that we had in Guatemala. We made new friends, God bless facebook, and we saw a lot of children and teenagers ask Jesus into their lives. I have been so incredibly blessed to see our teenagers reach out to people that they can't even communicate with. I saw teenagers learning how to communicate with their hearts rather than their mouths.

It is incredible how honest you have to be when you communicate with your heart. You cannot hide behind frilly words, or pithy statements. You have to bare your heart and learn to love someone regardless of how they smell or how many boogers are on their face. I want to challenge you... see if you can love the people you come in contact with today with your heart. Give a hug, a smile, or a kind word that allows them to see that you value them. Find someone that doesn't know Jesus and show them the value that Jesus placed on their lives with your heart, not just with superficial words.

You can change the world through the love of Christ!

What I am learning...

This has already been an incredible summer, and we are only a couple weeks in to the season. As leaders, we must continue to learn in order to grow so that those that are around us can grow, as well. Over these past couple of weeks my educational curve seems to be spiking. I am seeing things in my life, other's lives, and in the community around me that are causing me to look a little deeper.

I have seen students step up in ways that they haven't in the past. Whether it is a teen that takes the command in a team building exercise on multiple occasions, or a teen that leads a group of his peers in a discussion by getting real and open about hurts or struggles in their life, there are real leaders in this generation. I am seeing a trend where the world and media are asking this generation to sit back in "community" and to not ruffle feathers, but there are students that are stepping out realizing that simply going with the flow isn't enough. They are starting to catch a vision for greater things. They have PURPOSE!

At first glance this seems exciting and adventurous, and it is, but we should not get caught up in the highlight reel of life. So many times we love the rallies, camps, and retreats. We feel like we can take on the world at that moment. The only thing that we never seem to calculate in our plan of action is time. I have seen teenagers that can lead their generation to greater things. You can lead your generation to greater things, but are you ready to stand there when everyone else has given up. It is easy to commit to a moment, but are you ready to commit to a movement?

Unite, I know that you can do it. It takes time. What I've learned so far... Time kills dreams if there is no vision. We need to stay focused on what God is calling us to do when the homework is due, the break up happens, when our friend seems to stop caring, and the many other very important things that happen in life. Many situations will come our way, but when we stay focused, we will come through the other side more blessed than when we started!