Engage 2011 part 2

I ask myself all the time, why do I find myself calling out to God when it is a convenient time or situation. Why do I sometimes find myself calling out to God only when I feel I need Him the most. Then I find myself saying, wouldn’t it be easier if God was an active part of my live everyday life? If I was dwelling in God’s presence every minute of every day, when I’m at work, or at home with my wife and kids, or hanging out with some friends at a Hornets game, wouldn’t that be easier, wouldn’t that make more sense? Instead of throwing up a desperate prayer to God, then feeling guilty after, knowing I should be making Him the center of my life. Instead of having a God box and a work box and a friends box and a hobbies box….you get the picture….we have one box, where God is the center and everything in our lives revolve around Him.

This is what Chantal talked about last Sunday night while at Engage. About how we limit God and do we believe that miracles can happen today. She then challenged the students to stop talking about how the world needs to change, and start changing the world….Love God, love others!!! She talked about how God is still moving and speaking, but we have to be ready to move and listen.  She talked about how we need to be ready to tell people why and how we love and follow Jesus. How we may be the only representative of Jesus some people may encounter, and we have to be ready.

A lot in a 15-20 minute gathering….isn’t it? These are issue we will struggle with for the rest of our lives!! But the way Chantal made these issues practical and tangible, I think is what stuck to the students. It wasn’t communicated in a condemning way, she didn’t talk down to the students, she was trying to figure this deal out and process it with them. It’s like we were a part of her message. We felt that she too is figuring this out and at the same time challenging us to figure it out with her. We were invited into a journey with her. Now if you have heard Chantal teach, the girl can teach!! But on this night, she wasn’t teaching, it was a personal story, it was real, it was from the heart.

Some people that night made a choice. They weren’t going to limit God to a box. They were going to let Him permeate their everyday ordinary lives. It was awesome to see the student make this decision!! It lead to awesome small group discussion, which was initiated by the students, which set the bar for all day on Monday.

Man the stories about what happened on Monday……….

That’s for another blog!!!