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Day Two: A Sorrow.

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Day Two: A Sorrow. 

During Lent we trying adding things or giving things up to draw us closer to God. During this time the Young Adult group and Youth Ministry at Acton United Methodist Church are engaging in this time by doing the “7” Challenge. The “7” challenge is a challenge that came out of the book, “7: a mutiny against excess” by Jen Hatmaker, it is a 7 week challenge so it works great for Lent and during these weeks we focus on an area of excess. Last week was food and now this week is clothes so this week we have been dressing very simply to reflect on what it means to only have 1-2 outfits of clothes to wear and then through the process of this look at going through your clothes and giving some of them away.

Today was that day. I began to feel sorrow and somewhat embarrassed by all that I had while others had so much less than I. A majority of the world lives on one dollar a day and we are obsessed with having more and more. Recently I have also taking Financial Peace University with my wife and many people at Acton. Here is a statistic from the budgeting lesson we had:

“Automatic overdraft loans netted banks more than $29.5 billion last year.” —Time

29.5 million dollars in just overdraft fees.

We flushed down the toilet 29.5 billion dollars from being lazy.

There has also been an overarching rhetoric in this class of what would you do if you had no debt? Well, what could we do if we had no debt. No student loans, credit card bills, car loans or any loans of any kind? We could really change the priorities of the world. Or we could just keep going into debt and be lazy and give more of our banks more millions every year.

So during Lent where can we adjust our priorities?

What possessions do we have need and what do we want?

We are not alone in this world and sometimes I do think that we think we are, but maybe during Lent we think about ways to look around and see where needs are needed and ask God to help us help those that don’t have what we have.

Create in us a clean heart O Lord and renew a right spirit within us.  

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YW Movement Lent Photo Challenge

Pictures have always spoken to me. There is something about imagery and seeing a visual representation of growth in God that has always spoke to me. So, naturally I love doing photo challenges because they really allow me to embrace this type of growth journey through Lent.

So, during Lent this year I will be doing the YouthWorker Movement Lent Photo Challenge: #YWMoveLent.

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So, let’s start things out already right!?

Day One: A Joy. 

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A Joy. If I am limited to one joy in my life to show visually it has to be one with my wife, Amy. I take a lot, and share a lot of pictures with my Amy. Of course it’s because I love her but also it’s because I believe that this year at Lent it will be much different than it ever has been before.

My wife is a phoenix.

A phoenix in the world of mythology which I realize is not based on fact, but myth, my Amy is a phoenix for many reasons but I will stick to two.

1. This past year was not an easy one because earlier in the year Amy was hospitalized with acute pancreatitis and was in the hospital for over a month. This was a hard time for us as you might expect, but now she is reborn like a phoenix that rises out of the ashes. Amy is now a lean, mean, preaching machine :), and everyday I am later for all that God has given me in her.

2. Amy is my phoenix because God has used her in an amazing way to teach me that I am and all of us really are accepted for who we are but through his son we are reborn in the newness of life. The past is gone, whats done is done and now we press on and look to God. This lesson has been a hard one to learn as it is for anybody because just like anybody we all have things in our past, mistakes that we have made that we would like to fix, but if we could do that then none of would be in the present. We would be too busy fixing the past to enjoy in the newness of life in the present. I thank God for giving me a visual representation of this in my wife, my best friend, and my favorite person to laugh with.

So today as I start my lenten journey my joy is for my wife, Amy, my phoenix.