To Serve a Great God

This is a Blog post from Caleb! Caleb is an amazing man of God that I am proud to call my Friend! Caleb is a eagle scout in the boy scouts of america which is an extremely respectable title.So Here is To Serve a Great God By: Caleb.

What does it mean to serve our great God? in the summer of 2012 there was a leadership training course. the theme of he course was servant leadership. To describe servant leadership for you i went to wikipedia. "A servant leader has an aim of achieving authority rather than power. It involves demonstrating the characteristics of empathy, listening, stewardship, and commitment to personal growth towards others."

As the week came to an end the whole camp had a cook off. Two guys in one of the patrols found that every camp site had to be completely cleared out and they also came to the realization that theirs was the only one that wasn't. they told their patrol that they would be back and took the next hour to collect every pot, spoon, candy wrappers, and anything else that wasn't needed for the night. one of the two was very upset to find that they had to clean up everything for the benefit of the patrol. he said that if the others want their stuff picked up then they would have to do it themselves. The other merely said, "this is the definition of servant leadership. were doing one thing to help out our patrol and keep it running properly." The two of them took everything to the lodge were it would be stored. they never told the rest of the patrol about what they did until one of their patrol members said to the counselor "wait, we cant leave yet. we haven't cleaned up our camp site."one of the two spoke up and said "it's done, everything is taken care of."

This is how we, as Christians, we should serve our God. Everything that we do that advances and grows His Kingdom is a great thing in Gods eyes. A project isn't built or created by doing one giant thing. its done by doing all the little stuff required one at a time so its done as good as it can be. We do the little stuff that keeps everything up and running, even if it means that you might have to get on your hands and knees and use some elbow grease. or even if it means working overtime at work on a holiday. none of what we do or what we are asked to do is easy, but if we persevere and put our trust in God then our attitude turn from, "this is hard" to, "how will this expand Gods kingdom?" At that point some one usually doesn't care about the work, they just care that it's done to the best of their abilities. I challenge you to put your best in all that you do to glorify our Lord and Savior and expand His kingdom. This a big project; we all need to take a piece and do this the only way that it can be, together as a unity, as a church.

Faith

Faith. We say we have faith. Sure I have faith in God. Yeah faith I got that. What is Faith? Do we actually know what Faith means? Well here is the Definition of Faith according to a dictionary:



Complete Trust in Someone or Something

Or

A Strong belief in God or the doctrines of a religion, based on spiritual apprehension rather than proof.



Okay here is a starting point. We, as Christians, have a strong belief in God and Jesus. Heck we are "Christians" or "Christ Followers" and have been for most of our lives. But do we Truly have Faith? That is the question. Well Here is the "Walterneese" Definition of Our Faith:

Having Faith in God is an never ending pursuit to fall deeper and Deeper in love with Jesus Christ. Our faith is a faith of every moment of everyday because our faith is not of yesterday or a faith of tomorrow it is a faith of now! The Past is gone. The Future is not guaranteed. Its Now!


We have a faith that can move mountains!

Lets Get out there and Show the World what Our Faith Truly Is!

Me Without You

Today I got the opportunity to have a day off of school as the teachers had parent teacher conferences and such.  And you know those day when you're so excited to get the day off, and then you get to the middle of the day, and you're like, now what?  Well, since I wasn't to thrilled about homework, I contemplated some things.  I realized that life is tough.  Don't know about you, but sometimes life just gets hard, you run into some walls, trip and fall flat on your face, struggle, whatever it is.  Sometimes life just sucks.  And for a while I got all caught up in a pitty party for myself, complaining about how life is so tough and mean to me, wah wah wah.  But then God plowed me with a 2 by 4.  I realized, life gets so much harder when I try to go through it without God.  Like, when things get tough, and i lose focus and start to focus on me, life can get pretty scary.  But when my focus changes from me, myself, and I, to God and his amazing love and sufficient grace, my problems shrink down to manageable sizes.  Life becomes not only manageable, but liveable, and not only liveable, and not only liveable, but loveable.  God takes everything we have and makes it so that we can do it, because in life, without God, we can't do it.  TobyMac's song Me Without You i think describes the way things can be and often are without God.

"And where would I be
Without You...

I'd be packin' my bags when I need to stay
I'd be chasin' every breeze that blows my way
I'd be building my kingdom just to watch it fade away
It's true
That's me without You"

And that is truly where I was, and where we've all been before.  That is me without You.  So my challenge for everyone who reads this, and for myself as well, is to go from me without You, to me and You.  And hope that is ya'll's goal too.

This Mornings Thoughts

Before I Tell you this mornings thoughts let me give you some background information. I Go on a prayer walk every morning before school starts. The walk starts 40min before school starts. So basically i get to school with a few dedicated others at 6:20 in the morning. There is something about the stillness  of the morning that helps bring you closer to God. This morning was extremely cold... This brought some thoughts to my now cold head. God is our Internal source of peace. When you find this peace you realize that nothing matters but God! You feel like nothing can stop you! And the best part about that is that it is True! So the stillness of the morning God can reveal things in His still small voice! Find your quiet time and listen to God!

It's Good to be Alive

Hey guys, it's good to be alive!!  As fun as it is to get up at like 4:30 in the morning, guess what?  We are ALIVE, we get another BREATH, we get another shot at TODAY!!!  SO if you get up and read this, or read it later, or in 50 years or whatever, start living like there's no tomorrow! Live life abundantly!!  It's never to late to start living an abundantly life!!  We are alive today, let's go out and live like we mean it!!

What's this All ABout?

SO I don't know about you, but watching this presidential debate is a frustrating and sometimes discouraging thing.  Watching these two possible leaders that could soon be at the helm of this great nation leaves me worried and with a deep sense of foreboding.  But this verse in the Bible really stands out, it says in Matthew 6:25-27 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  Look at the birds of the air;  they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them..  Are you  not much more valuable than they?  Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?"  WOW, that is a really profound passage.  Like, no matter how much you worry, you can't lengthen your life, so why worry?  I know it's hard, because I'm not so good at not worrying, but wow, life would be so much easier if we stopped worrying.  Now I DO NOT mean that we go check out of life, but instead we go out and LIVE life, focused not on what sucks about it, but rather on really living it out to the fullest.  The key to life more abundant, free of worry, is stated in Matthew 6:32-34a "  For the pagans run after all hese things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them.  But seek firsst his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these thins will be given to you as well.   Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow iwll wory about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own."  Notice the final part of verse 34 says "trouble".  It DOES NOT say "worry".  Life is full of trouble, but trouble doesn't have to equal worry.  That is the key.  We don't need to worry about troubles.  If we trust God and passionatley pursue him, he will take care of our troubles and provide solutions for the troubles.  No trouble is too big for God.   So this week, lets give it a shot.  I'll try if you all will try.  Lets focus on Christ and not worry, because we know it's all taken care of!!

Setting the Stage

Being a senior in high-school I am naturally a leader in my school. I don't take this position lightly. Being in this position is an opportunity to be an influence in my peers life. My prayer is that this is a good influence. Another aspect of being a senior is the fact that I will not be there next year. This is why WE as Seniors need to set the stage for the underclassmen that will influence them in a way of moving forward. The time for change is NOW. You might be wondering "What does he mean by setting the stage". We, as seniors, need to be the beginning of change in our schools. If we could do the ground work for the future students of our schools we could change the future. We can create a student body on fire for Christ! Listen you have to get this! If we could Ignite a Fire in the student body we could change the world! We could create a church like in the book of Acts! The church in Acts was a powerful successful church that was not looked down upon. People came to this church to see the signs and wonder the Holy Spirt did through people. People Were Healed. People Were Raised From The Dead. Things Happened. I am sick of seeing a weak church that is filled broken people! That is not why Jesus Died On The Cross! Jesus Died for our sins SO THAT the HOLY SPIRT may DWELL IN US. We tend to overlook the Holy Spirit today. We know that he lives in us, but sadly thats where we tend to stop. When Jesus released his spirt on the cross the Veil in the temple was torn from top to bottom. This was not a thin peace of fabric we are talking about here. The veil in the temple was 60 feet tall 30 feet wide and 4 inches thick. Look this is what kept the presence of God! Anyone who was not the high priest who passed this veil Died. Yes the high priest went in to the Holy of Holies where the Spirt of God was present he had to wear bells and they tied a rope to his ankle to pull out his caucus if he died. The Veil ripping was the sign of the Holy Spirt coming out for all to receive! Because we, through Christ's Death, are now looked upon as holy by God! That should be the best news you have ever heard! The Spirit that raised Christ from the dead lives in us! I can prove it too:

Romans 8:11

The Spirit of God, who raised Jesus from the dead, lives in you. And just as God raised Christ Jesus from the dead, he will give life to your mortal bodies by this same Spirit living within you.

With the Spirit of God Living in US What Could EVER Stand in OUR WAY!

Wight the Dream and Make It Clear and Run With IT! (Habakkuk 2:2)

Meant for Greatness

Hey ya'll, it's Nate the Great here, and that shall be my pen name I guess!

I'm totally new to this whole blogging dealio, but I'm super psyched!!! Like you would not believe this whole new and awesome idea that Ben has put forth.  If you read what he wrote  (and you really should and must go read it)  you should be as totally excited as Ben (Walter) and I are.  Some of you may be thinking that being Nate the Great might be a bit prideful, putting great after my name, like i'm totally a loser that thinks too highly of myself.  But I believe in something totally different and totally radical.  GREAT belongs at the end of the name of every teen who passionately sails through this turbulent culture/world desireing a crazily awesome relationship with Christ.  WE were MEant for greatness through Christ.  WE were MEANt to change this world for Christ JEsus, to lives such radically different lives to the point that others go WOW, dude, that would be totally cool if I could be GReAT like that, destined for Greatness.  You might think i'm crazy, but this whole idea of greatness is for one purpose, and it's to point that the Greatness of us isn't really us, it's the Greatness of Christ, our Savior and our God, shining through us.  Go out at live this life of GREATNESS that God has planned and set before you.  Become the greatness of God, the greatness of Christ, and change the world for the greatness of Christ.

LET"S GO and BECOME GREAT!!!

We Are World Changers

Hello My Name is Ben or Walter (Pen-Name),

This is a blog of the thoughts of leaders of todays youth. This is a blog that is going to change the outlook of todays youth. The typical Stereotype for the average teen is a selfish kid that loves their cell phone more that real people. I'm out to change that! Look we are more than that! We as young people have the power to change this world for the better. We as young Christ Followers (yes this is a religious blog) with the power of the Holy Spirit INSIDE of US have the Spirit that raised Jesus up from the DEAD. WE HAVE TO GRASP THIS! Look if people see a young person doing something out of the ordinary It is EXTRAORDINARY! We as a Nation NEED change. We are digging ourselves into a deeper and deeper hole that soon may cave in and burry us alive. Lets Show The World That We are More Than Cell Phone Pushers And Make A Difference!

So put down you phone write down your dream

Chase it

Believe It

Change The World!


My Name is Ben and i believe that we, Through Christ, can change the world for the better. So my challenge for us is to Do this!

-Ben