Encounter 2009

3 days and 2 nights of basketball, football, kickball, dodge ball, a dance contest, awesome worship, and a great speaker would be a few ways in which you could describe the youth camp that we attended this past month.

However looking back it is easy to see that those activities were only the tools in which God used to impact our lives. Both as a group and as individuals, often when we were not even expecting it. Like the 2 hour drive to the camp (in the rain) that God used to bring us closer together.

And even as dodge balls went flying by your head you could feel the love, until one happened to hit you and then of course it meant war. Someone may have even hit the guest speaker in the face, although no one was actually able to identify who had thrown it…oops

But even that couldn't stop Pastor Tony Cruz from delivering great messages that really spoke not only to the youth but to the leaders as well. Helping us to identify and to remove the masks we wear on a daily basis often without even realizing it.

Not to mention some of the most entertaining examples that we’ve ever heard…such as “10 things never to say when you get pulled over” and a rendition of “Jesus take the wheel” that wont soon be forgotten…man that baby in the backseat should get an oscar.

One thing that I believe we learned from this camp is that when given the opportunity to impact our lives God will often do it in ways that we never would have imagined.

All we have to do is to continue to make ourselves available to him…

recapture

Has anyone ever told you to “follow your heart”?
Have we ever stopped to think where it is that our hearts would lead us if given the opportunity?
We know that God wants to give each of us the desires of our hearts, but do we know what those desires truly are?

Luke 12:34 "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”.

Using that as our indicator what do we give the most value to in our lives? What are those things in which we devote ourselves to on a daily basis? Work, School, Family, Friends, God, Facebook, ESPN…

Beyond these things what do we allow to influence us on a daily basis without even realizing it? The music we listen to (sometimes unknowingly), the TV shows we watch, the movies that we enjoy?

In a world filled with more distractions than we can possibly handle it isn’t always easy to make sure that our hearts are in line with God’s.
Unfortunately, as long as God has to share residency with everything else in our lives He will never be able to effectively and fully use us in the way He desires to.

The word capture means to gain access or possession by force. When we come to realize that our hearts have in fact been captured by anything else but God, it is time for us to allow God to “RECAPTURE” our hearts. When man sinned God didn't leave it up to us to find a way back to Him, He forcefully and purposefully made a way for us to be reunited with Him.

Will we make that decision to forcefully and purposefully give God full possession of our hearts once again?