The past few weeks have been so very busy...full of lots of summer youth activities. We kicked off our summer hosting a youth conference at our church and opened it to the community. It was an insane weekend bc we were in charge of setting up the whole venue, providing food and prizes, leading worship, housing the band, and planning the schedule for the weekend. It was a great weekend, but boy was I glad to rest after the insanity. The whole conference was teaching youth to own up to their faith, how to defend it, and learning to not only answer questions of our faith, but answer unquestioned answers. The point being we have a lot of "answers" to our faith, but do we ever question them? Do we just believe what everyone else tells us? How do we defend our faith if we don't even know where the answers to the questions originate? It was a big eye opener to the kids and sparked lots of good conversations..."If we knew there wouldn't be consequences to our decisions how would we live? If there was no God would we live our lives differently without boundaries or morals? How does the world influence us without us even noticing?"
One of the things the speaker really said stuck out to me, "Within God's boundaries there is freedom." The world looks at believers and thinks how boring we are or how we have to give up so much "fun" to be Christians. It made me think that while they think there is freedom in the way they live and the choices they can make, they really our in bondage to the world and don't even know it. What a blessing for believers to find comfort within the boundaries of our Father. There is such freedom within the boundaries God has given us. Just as a child needs boundaries and structure to thrive and mature, so do believers. The times in my life I start living like the world and not following after Christ, I feel so empty and lost. Where Christ is, there is freedom and hope. 2 Corinthians 3:17 says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom!" What a peace it is to know that whatever trials we face in this world, as believers we have Christ dwelling within us, changing us daily to live more like Him. "And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit." (3:18)
Some of my favoritest kids...even though they're all my favorite :)
Then we had our first Junior High Favorite Friday, which of course was eventful bc it was full of junior highers!! So of course this age is awkward and difficult at times, but I LOVE our junior highers. They are so precious and still so innocent in comparison to our highschoolers. I just look so forward to watching them transform and grow into older, more mature teens. They're still at a moldable age and hang on to every word you say. They just make me smile with their silliness and crazy storiesWinner of our game
Love watching our next group of worship leaders rise up! 
My college athlete still has it...even though he's hurting after every game with the kids!
Then we kicked off our Highschool Sunday night with a fun jello game :) I love summer time youth events just for the simplicity of it! It seems that the clicks dissolve and everyone, every age hangs out, there is never a time crunch on ANYTHING so if the schedule says it's over at 8 that really means 10, everyone wears grungy clothes and no one's concerned with impressing anyone, we all hang around and talk forever about summer jobs or vacations or when we can all hang out again, and everyone is just concerned with life right at this moment. There's no worrying about tomorrow's test or the drama that happened in the locker room or curfews or getting everything done at just the right time. Summer in youth ministry is just wonderful!! While it is packed full of endless activities, I love being able to live the life of young people. Life stands still for just a moment during the summer and the worries of school life, and mine and Jacob's jobs, disappear. Even though this is our job and we still have to work hard to organize EVERYTHING, it changes its pace during the summer months and takes on a different form...the form of FUN!!
And then somewhere in the busyness of youth I completed my first 10k. Let me tell you that was the HARDEST 6.2 miles I have ever run. Not only had I not been training in the heat, but there were hills everywhere!!! There were a few moments I didn't think I would be finishing, but with the help of my sweet sister and husband, I made it. Amy Beth came, along with the rest of my sweet family, to run the last 3 miles with me. We had been so busy the previous 2 weeks that I hadn't been able to train very hard and I was worried I couldn't do it. So on her morning to sleep in, she woke up and came and ran next to me for the last half. My parents and Molly came to support and cheer me on! What wonderful family I have!! And if that wasn't enough, after my husband completed his 10k in a crazy, fast time (it was like around 40 min) he came back and ran the last 2 miles with me. I seriously couldn't have done it without them bc by the time I crossed the finish line I really almost passed out...I couldn't stand up, I was super pale, and needing sugar desperately!
Heather and I before she ran her 5k
My sweet supporters minus my parents
Crossing the finish line with my "team"
Seriously almost dead!! :)
A few weekends later Jacob started his early morning summer triathlons. He of course did incredible and won his age group for the first time, which was one of his goals. He also came in 7th out of over 350 people! I'm so married to a stud athlete...I'm so proud of him :)
Going to encourage Junior after he crossed the finish line
Getting his 1st place Age-group medal
Until next month...
To wrap up the beginning of these first few weeks of summer, we kicked off our "Relationship Small Group" tonight. Jacob decided that, while it was more work for us this summer, we needed to do a small group teaching youth all about dating, relationships, and sex. We're at this time in our own marriage where the youth are interested in what we have to say and they admire our young relationship. In a world where everyone's getting divorced and there's not too many marriages to look up to as an example for their future, Jacob thought it was important to share and teach them about God's design. I've frequently had girls tell me how they admire our marriage or look to it as the kind of marriage they want someday or they see the love we have for each other and want that themselves. So I decided to take this as an opportunity to share with them how this marriage they see doesn't work at all without Christ as our center. While it makes me smile to hear that God is using our marriage and they are watching us so carefully and learning, I want them to know that what they see isn't necessarily us, but Christ's love working and showing through us...hard concept to explain to a bunch of young people who think they love their boyfriend/girlfriend after 2 months :)
So we all had dinner, highschool boys and girls, did a short lesson together going over worldly statistics and reading what the Bible has to say about marriage. Then we split up and the guys went to the "man cave" and the girls went to the "chatter room" (the name now given to the girls living room). I was worried the girls would just all stare at me and not have any feedback bc sex is such a hush-hush topic, but boy was I wrong. They were full of stories and comments. They answered all my questions in detail and even had their own questions. I so desperately want to make this an effective time to really teach them the purpose of sex within marriage, the beauty that God has intended it to be, how far is too far outside of marriage, why God has these boundaries for us, how to start over if you've already gone too far, and the importance of saving not just yourself physically, but emotionally, for your husband. Jacob and I both told them that we made mistakes in our teens years partly due to no one ever talking with us. We knew what was right and wrong according to the Bible, but no one really explained anything or walked us through why there were these boundaries or answered our questions. So needless to say this first Bible study was productive and I think that all of them found out more than they would care to know about mine and Jacob's sex life :) He tells them all the time, "You know I have sex with my wife bc we can" and they all just laugh and look at me to see my reaction. Whatever :) I find it a blessing to now be able to share with young people God's perfect plan for an intimate, sexually satisfying, marriage. I would have never guessed 10 years ago that this would be my life...sitting down teaching youth about what the Bible says about sex and marriage!!
Six Flags trip
Tug-of-War @ church camp
Roomies for the week :)
One of my favorite group of girls :)
Game time!
