Wednesday, April 28, 2010

My last Collide Live. 
Collide is the name of our high school youth group.  The meaning of Collide comes from two ideas that mold into one lifestyle.  The first part is broken down into two different ways that people live.  The Sacred side, meaning living a life for Jesus, which many Christians, and I'm guilty of it too, live only on Sundays and Wednesdays at church.  The Secular side is the life we live when we are at home, with friends, etc, away from church.  The idea behind the Sacred vs the Secular is that we should not be living double lives - living a sacred life and a secular life, but it should be one.  The way we act, think, the things we say at church/mission trips/camps, etc; the life that is lived for God should not be turned off once we leave church and return home or wherever.  And the way we do that, which brings us to the second idea, is by Loving God and Loving Others.  This is our mission statement at Collide.  It comes from Matthew 22:37-40:


"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."
 
And Live is our wednesday night program for high schoolers with games, skits, music, and a talk from a high schooler and what God has been doing in their life.
 
Well, back to the title of the topic, this was my last Wednesday Night Live, and I'm not gonna lie, it was a hard one.  (BTW ((by the way)) I am a senior in high school, who graduates June 2, WOOOO!!, which is why it was my last Wednesday Night Live.)  One of my best girl friends, who was the first person I met when I came to this church and is also a senior, gave an amazing message about God's faithfulness in her life and trusting that He will continue to be faithful, even when times get tough.  It was the perfect message for the seniors as our the travel down High School Boulevard is almost at its end. 
 
But the night wasn't over there.  After her talk, our HS Pastor, (As of press time he wants to be called Emerging Generations Pastor from now on instead of High School Pastor)(go to stuffchristianslike.com to read about it, his blogs are pretty awesome)(cheap plug)(BTW the blog is written by Jon Acuff, who is not my HS pastor, my HS pastor got the idea from his blog, in case you were curious) asked the seniors to get come to the center of the room as the rest of the high schoolers/adults gathered around us and prayed for us.  And that moment was really hard.  Like I said before, I won't lie, I cried a little bit, I'll admit it.  The friendships I have made, not only with my class, but the younger and older kids as well is something that I am so thankful for and I am so thankful that God brought me to this church 5 years ago.  
 
My journey down High School Boulevard is coming to a close.  The realizations of this started with this night and as amazing of a night it was, it is still a tough one to think about.  It isn't over yet though.  High School has not ended yet, sadly.  I still see all my friends at church on sunday and during the week.  And once I move to college I plan and hope that I can still keep up with those friends.  Mostly to get them all to come to where I'm going to college so that it makes this process a little easier.  Just kidding.  But seriously that would be awesome.  I love yall!  It isn't over yet and I am not going to act like it is either.  And if after I graduate I never see them again, I know I will meet up with them in Heaven!  
 
...to be continued...next entry in this series will be titled...