I can preach and blow it (yes, I hear the amens...thankfully I try to please the Audience of One (and fail all too often) so, candidly, don't give-a-flying-rip of "critiques"); I can counsel and blow it; I can just have conversations and blow it...but for over thirty years I've been encouraging, directing, and assisting students get into the Word, and thus the Word into students.
And tonight at 10pm I board a bus and journey to Pittsburgh, Pa for yet another Nationals tournament.
And will see hundreds of teens from across America...many of whom I see annually, my good friends from Family Life, my new good friends from Washington state, and a ton of other people that I've served with for a loooong time.
Most of us work in what are called "parachurch" (how I hate that term) ministries. We are centered on the gospel, but there can be disagreements on secondary issues. Some of us are probably too competitive, some adults probably try to relive their own quizzing careers through students (similar to sports)...but the focus is usually on Christ and His kids...trying to nurture spiritual growth even in the arena of competition...or especially in the arena of competition?
So pray with us that 2010 Nationals will be a time of salvation for those who are religious but lost; a time of recommittment for those who have wandered, and an effective witness for all of us on the hotel staff and others with whom (or who?) we interact.
And help me...help us all...to be able to walk and work hand-in-hand even if we don't see eye-to-eye on relatively mickey-mouse issues. May we all focus on "that which is of first importance," the gospel! (1 Corin 15)
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