Thanksgiving

When I am preparing for something, I have a tendency to look through google or take ideas from other people and other things and use it for myself. Then I start looking and there is SO much information out there that I don't even know where to start reading and gleaning ideas from.

Well it's another year and Thanksgiving is this week which means Thanksgiving Potluck with my youth group is at the end of this week. I find myself wanting to do the same thing again, look through different blogs, youth ministries, etc and it's SO MUCH work. It's just as much as work as me actually preparing for the specific thing itself. I also have a habit of trying to avoid speaking when necessary because I feel that I'm inadequate to do so. But as a person who oversees the yg, I have the privilege of public speaking at least twice a week, Fridays and Sundays. The privilege of speaking into the lives of many youth group members with the potential that these kids will have a deeper and more personal relationship with Christ and each other.

To be completely honest and frank, I could do so much better but I don't know how. That's where it's up to me to allow God to assist me in these areas in where I am weak and lacking, where I can allow God to take control and be the driver instead of me always trying to steal his seat. It's a battle, it's hard because I'm always trying to think of things in which I can do myself. Well, this Friday, I have another opportunity to speak, and this time it's about Thanksgiving.

-- Side note -- Even now, I just stumbled upon a post on Facebook and about stuff that interests me regarding youth ministry and now I book mark something new, once again. Never ending continuous cycle, so much information but none of them applied --

-- Another side note -- At the convention, I was really tempted to buy every single downloadable message of the entire convention for $99 so that I could get the benefit of listening to things that I missed out on. But I resisted temptation because I knew I wasn't going to get through everything anyway and I need to apply the immediate things I have learned one step at a time and that's probably going to take a year in itself.  --

So, right now, I do want to spend a lot of timing looking at other resources about what to speak about Thanksgiving and I already have but it's not helping and I'm not speaking from the heart and still running from empty. So I'm taking these next couple of minutes to blog about whatever is on my heart regarding thanksgiving and hopefully God will give me some revelation on what to speak about to my youth.

Thanksgiving. Every year, the holiday seasons is always a very busy year for the church. We're always planning for the next program, the next retreat, the next performance, the next thing to decorate, gift exchanging, meeting up with different groups for holiday festivities, eating food, there's always something going on. It's been such a ritualistic thing for me that these events have to be held for the sake of church culture that personally, I have lost the meaning and thought behind what these events really mean. I mean, I know why we celebrate it but I definitely don't appreciate it and take it to heart.

So what should be the focus of Christians on Thanksgiving aside from just getting together and eating a good meal together? This was actually a really good resource: http://www.gotquestions.org/thanksgiving-Christian.html.

-- I know what verse I'm going to share my message on... 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18.--

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Thank you God, and now.. to get started. It took 3 hours to finally get started on preparing for this Thanksgiving message... lol.