Align

Hello everyone!! Monday we returned from Panama City from being at META and, I think we can all agree on this, it was an amazing weekend spent with God! The theme for META this year was Align. The whole weekend we talked about aligning our ways with the path God wants us to take. The two "principles of the path" that we talked about were as follows:

Direction-not intention- determines our destination

(we cannot hope to "end up" in a good place or situation if our actions are bad. However we live now, will effect us later and the goal we hope to get to.)

What you view as your source will determine your course

(are you trusting in yourself to get you were you know you need to be, or are you trusting God to get you there?)

For me personally, the last night of worship was by far the most powerful. I think most people would agree. The whole weekend we talked about the path we were taking in life and where, because of it, it would ultimately lead us. To visualize this better, the META staff made a "path" on the beach made of white paper bags filled with sand and a single, lit candle inside. Along the path were 3 lines drawn that represented different "levels" in your relationship with Christ.

Line 1: "I believe in God and the gospel of Christ enough to benefit from it."

Line 2: "I believe in God and the gospel of Christ enough to contribute comfortably."

Line 3: "I believe in God and the gospel of Christ enough to truly give my whole life to Him!"

Before the kids walked the path, they were asked to be truly honest with themselves and determine where they were in their relationship with Christ, in terms of those lines. Once they figured that out, they were allowed to walk the path. When they came to the area in the path where they knew they were spiritually, they stopped and sat and a counselor came to pray with them. Some stopped before the 2nd line (believing in God enough to accept his benefits, but not enough to give even comfortably), the 3rd line( believing in God enough to give to him only when it was comfortable but not willing to give anything else), and still some stopped even before the first line. But the point was not to humiliate the kids in front of everyone, if they were not as close to God we hoped they would be. It was to show them that they needed Christ because the path they were on was not going to get them anywhere good. This was one of the best things for our youth group.

After we stopped at the point we thought we were at in our relationship for a while, we moved on to the end of the path, which was a huge circle--made of the white bags with candles-- with a cross in the middle. There we humbled ourselves, bowed before the cross, and worshipped Christ with all we had. The kids who crossed the 3rd line were able to go to the cross immediately. But, all kids had to have their "path card" filled out before they came to cross. This card required them to check the box of which line they stopped at and write which path they were going to take.

Wow, to make this long story short, REALLY INCREDIBLE NIGHT!!

AND REALLY INCREDIBLE WEEKEND!!

Announcements (if you've even read to this far):

• Wednesday Night Bible Study this Wednesday @6 pm. BE THERE!
• Tubing Adventure this Saturday! If you are coming, we HAVE to know by Wednesday. There cannot be ANY last minute sign-ups! Sign up on our FB page! more info to come.

Thanks for reading this far! Have a lovely day everyone! :)