Whoa, we are getting into a crazy pattern...the people I am planning on writing about...I see them, or something happens that makes me think of them! So, today's inspiration influential people (persons in this case)
Generation Jesus, specifically Thomas
When I was a freshmen in high school ( age 15) I joined a Christian club at my school. I was in the club for the next four years and acted as president and vice president of the last three... and I learned HEAPS...but I think a huge learning curve happened during my freshmen year...and I'll give Thomas the credit, because he was the president that year and so he was " in the spotlight" most of the time, so to speak.
I'll start by saying my church was wonderful for a lot of things growing up, but I never really thought that people "my age" could have any strong place in the church, well, I take that back I had just not thought about it before....Anyway, listening to the others in Gen. J talk about their faiths...and seeing how they dealt with their walks...I was really impressed. And I saw how much I was letting slip just because I had always had the pre-concieved notion that you did "God stuff" when you were older.
I think another major lesson that I began to learn from that group was to be "forgiving" of other people's beliefs...if they didnt stand behind the exact same theology, I realized that didnt make them a huge horrible sinner...far from it! hehe...I know that sounds really stupid now, but believe me...it was a big problem for me at the time! I was TOTALLY judgmental and probably wrote many a person off to Hell without even thinking....but, God was faithful, and He gave me just the right people to look up to and also to see their faults and still love them. I also look back on this time in my life as very exciting, it was probably the first time that I ever really discussed my faith with my peers-before it was always in a sunday school setting or...a family setting or something a LOT more "structured" and "reverent"....Don't get me wrong, reverence is a very important thing, and sometimes I think the Church today doesnt have enough-but at this time in my life, I was walking on dangerous ground of ending up with a "cerimonial" God....but, my Christian friends in high school and the interaction I had with them was instrumental in helping me to learn more about God and develop my relationship into more of an everyday "lets talk about anything" relationship with God....
While I know these lessons could have been learned at anytime in my life, I am truly grateful that God gave me the means to learn it at a relatively young age. I am truly truly grateful for that club and the faithful few who came those early early mornings....I do not know what I would have been without it....
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