Pastor Dana’s blog

On Sunday night I met with a bunch of triathletes from the area at a local eatery.  I had been planning on going to their monthly social since March.  It would be a great opportunity to meet other triathletes, ask questions, find support, etc.  March came and went without going to the social.  In April I was excited to be able to go since it was the day after my first (and to date only) triathlon.  I could go as one of them, a triathlete.  But Sunday evening rolled around and I didn’t go.  May came and went with the same determination to go and the same holding back.  So the other night I was convinced I needed to be there.  I had been looking forward to this for months, I wanted to meet these folks, but about 4:00 in the afternoon I started hesitating again.  Now most of you would not characterize me as a shy person, or one who is bashful, but that is exactly what was happening.  I was afraid.  What was I afraid of?  Acceptance.  I would be in the midst of athletes with great accomplishments, people who had trained for years, who run dozens of miles a week, bike hundreds and swim for hours and hours.  What would they think of me?  I’m not really one of them.  I was afraid?  But I mustered up the courage (actually I asked God for it so I can’t take the credit) and went, and I found a welcoming group of people that wanted to know how I got interested in the very thing they love to do.  I wasn’t judged, I was accepted.

I wonder how many people feel the way I did when they want to start coming to a church.  I ask you to think about that one a bit.  Do people feel they won’t measure up to God, or do they just feel they won’t measure up to us?  Do they worry about being judged?  Do they worry about being accepted for who they are and where they are at?

This group of triathletes known as the Peoria Triathlon Club were warm and friendly and very welcoming to me.  Did I still feel a bit out of my element, sure, but not because of the people there, they did everything possible to make me feel at home among them, offering helpful pointers on an upcoming race in Canton and inviting me to bring Cathy to the next social. 

Thank you to the Peoria Trithlon Club for making me feel welcome.

Triathlon

I just got back from a wonderful week with 20 youth at Camp Emmanuel youth camp.  Some say that we have lost our way and the youth of the world are leading us into destruction. 

Don’t believe them. 

God is working in these young people in amazing ways and we need to open our eyes and see it.

These great young men and women eagerly spent time worshiping, studying scripture, playing and eating, all without excluding anyone.  These youth are from a variety of backgrounds, but they came together.  They spent a week without texting or facebook or malls or television and didn’t complain once.  We might all learn from them.  They came to camp to spend a week with God and with each other and they embraced the opportunity and grew.  They grew in their walk with God, in their relationships with one another, and in their own maturity.

I am blessed to have spent this week with them.

So the next time you think the youth of this world have lost their way, maybe we need to take another look and see if it is we who have lost something; the ability to see with new eyes a world that is changing so fast that it is hard to keep up.  Each of these youth at camp this week is working out their faith and growing in Christ in spite of a world that is trying to lead them away from God.  So I am celebrating what God is doing in these young men and women as He grows them into all that He has created them to be.

To God be the Glory

Youth