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Tuesday, June 28, 2005
I was reading a book by Stavesacre's lead singer, Mark Salomon, entitled "Simplicity." He described his upbringing in a church youth group this way:
"I guess I just wish someone would've told me how to take the information I had been given and then make it work (Or that someone would have nailed my feet to the ground until I understood on my own). I felt like a mechanic who'd been given all the tools to fix a car--without being shown how to use any of them. If something was broken, I could have been holding the tool to fix the problem and still not have known where to start. I didn't know how to sort through what mattered to me and what mattered to God. I was too busy most of the time trying to not do the wrong thing. I knew how not to have premarital sex. How not to get drunk. I knew how not to embarrass my parents in front of other people at church. I just didn't know how to apply the teachings regarding spiritual maturity that I had heard in church to my life: How does one actively 'set (one's) mind on the things of God?" (Colossians 3:2) How does one take hold of the 'mind of Christ?' (1 Corinthians 2:16) I was too busy not cussing, not doing drugs, not hanging out with the wrong people, etc."
So, for today, I'd like to ask if you feel like many teenagers ever experience the same feelings as Mark did. If so, how do you think the church could change things to help the next generation's ability to "use the tools" you've been handed?
Brent 4:26 AM
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