In The Valley
So I'm at the Holiday Inn Express in Modesto, California. It's been a long day of driving and what is usually a 2 hour drive turned into a 3.5 due to a wrong turn. The wrong turn was thanks to myself who was so engrossed on the phone telling my brother that he is in control of his future and that if he feels like he's stuck in a place forever, it's because he is to lazy to get out! Of course, this results in 3 wrong turns on stupid California highways and Kris and Kev had to google map me back to where I was going. Aiyah!
We have a divisional Bible Bowl competition tomorrow morning and that's why I'm here. Three teams will compete in trivia all from the book of Luke. The winner of tomorrow's competition will go on to represent our division at Commissioning in Los Angeles one month from now. They also are awarded $2000 in travel subsidies from the Territory and 8 free tickets to Disneyland from the Division. Sweet deal eh?
I don't know if I really like the idea of this competition. Although it's really cool that the kids learn scripture that can stay written on their hearts forever, it really is a gold medal incentive that drives them. Is that a good thing? Does the outcome justify the means? I'm not sure.
Sometimes I think that youth need to not be given so much in prizes for things that they should already want to do as growing Christians. Memorizing Bible verses and getting awards for bringing a friend to church - to me, it sends a sort of perplexing message and yet I too have fallen into this at times. Sad but true.
What can we do to really encourage the youth of this generation to be truly thankful to be in the presence of God? To be motivated enough to train and learn the book of Luke in fellowship with friends and proudly celebrate this achievement? I don't know but I sure would like to take any suggestions.
In the meanwhile, I am going to sleep in a lovely king sized bed with a blanket that is mine, all mine! Pray for all the teams participating tomorrow! I really hope that my corps teams does super well!
We have a divisional Bible Bowl competition tomorrow morning and that's why I'm here. Three teams will compete in trivia all from the book of Luke. The winner of tomorrow's competition will go on to represent our division at Commissioning in Los Angeles one month from now. They also are awarded $2000 in travel subsidies from the Territory and 8 free tickets to Disneyland from the Division. Sweet deal eh?
I don't know if I really like the idea of this competition. Although it's really cool that the kids learn scripture that can stay written on their hearts forever, it really is a gold medal incentive that drives them. Is that a good thing? Does the outcome justify the means? I'm not sure.
Sometimes I think that youth need to not be given so much in prizes for things that they should already want to do as growing Christians. Memorizing Bible verses and getting awards for bringing a friend to church - to me, it sends a sort of perplexing message and yet I too have fallen into this at times. Sad but true.
What can we do to really encourage the youth of this generation to be truly thankful to be in the presence of God? To be motivated enough to train and learn the book of Luke in fellowship with friends and proudly celebrate this achievement? I don't know but I sure would like to take any suggestions.
In the meanwhile, I am going to sleep in a lovely king sized bed with a blanket that is mine, all mine! Pray for all the teams participating tomorrow! I really hope that my corps teams does super well!
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