Changes

I was recently showing some of my Korean youth group kids pictures of myself when I was their age. I felt old. Man, I was actually skinny once. They said I still looked the same, just a bit older, fatter, taller. My reply was "I like to be consistent."

I take that back. I love consistency. I love men of God who stand up for what is right and don't change their message because people get their feelings hurt by the Word of God. (Come on, people, it's a two edged sword, did you think your flesh wouldn't be hurt by it?) I love when young people choose to go to a Bible study on a Friday night because they know that that is where they belong. I hate alcohol because it changes the people I love and care about into something that they are not- addicts, fools, aggressive. I love when Pastors have the guts to stand up against things that would harm their congregation and tell people it's wrong.

My parents always tried to teach me not to fall for the new fads- remember Pokemon cards? I had twelve of them. They were duplicates that my friend had and gave to me. One of the hardest decisions of my early childhood was to throw them away. I'm so glad I did.

Occasionally, I have the chance to reconnect with old friends. I find these times fascinating, not because I can see how much they have changed, quite the contrary! Actually, it seems to me that the more I run into old friends, the more I notice that they haven't changed.

I have changed.

Wait.

That doesn't fit.

Why am I changing?

I love consistency.

Have I really changed?

I guess I have.

Well, parts of me have.

I see my Christian life like a staircase. God is leading me up it, and with every step I take, I leave something behind and gain something new. I can look back and see all that I have left behind, but it doesn't compare to what I have now. I see the Pokemon cards waaaaaaay off in the distance, down toward the bottom of the staircase. I see stupid jokes a little further up. I see the search for a girlfriend after that. Looking at my current step, I see ministry. I see two youth groups. I see an understanding of things I could barely grasp way down toward the bottom of the stair case. What will happen as I move up the staircase? I don't know. God knows. He is with me on it and in it. Through God consistently leading me, there has been a continual growth in who I am as a believer. The dross is being skimmed from the top of the gold God is refining in my life.

It seems to me, after writing all of this, that character is developed through consistency, and that's what I really love. If I consistently base my decision-making on the Word of God then my actions will be based on the character of God and that's when a consistent character is developed in me. My view on Pokemon cards changed because I saw the absorbing and addicting effect they had on my friend. It was a conscious choice to leave them behind. This decision solidified an area of consistency in  my life where decisions would have to be made later on. If my view on alcohol ever changes, so too will that part of my character that was developed by the simple act of throwing away Pokemon cards. I pray that that lesson is never forgotten.

What do I really love about those men who don't cow to a world that claims it's hurt? What do I love about a kid who skips going out to eat with his friends to stay and hang out at school on a Friday? It's the gold that is shining through the dross. It's the character that has been developed on their own staircases.

The last thing I will say before I turn off my computer for the night is this: Facebook is a master of inconsistency. I see it all the time. People can have one political view one day and another the next. They can be Bible thumping, hard-nosed Christians one day and then leave the church the next. We live in an inconsistent world and media is a sounding board. I saw a sounding board once, it was in an old church. It was a large rectangle that jutted out from the wall above the pulpit and caused the speaker's voice to project forward toward his audience with little to no extra exertion on the part of the speaker. It's an ingenious invention used in a time before electronic amplification. Now, we have the internet. Now, we use technology to say whatever we want, whenever we want- it's 11:44 on a Tuesday night and I'm using it to say what I want.
Think about the original purpose of a sounding board, though. Its only purpose was so more people could hear the Word of God. Fascinating. Is that how I use my digital sounding board? Does my sounding board reflect the character that God has developed in me?

Misconceptions

Last Friday night was interesting for me as a youth leader. For three weeks my team had planned to have a Valentine's Party with our youth group, we put up sign up sheets, made announcements, and repeatedly told the kids about it. The response was good, but the one question I kept getting asked was "if our Christian school doesn't approve of relationships, why are we having a Valentine's Party?"

During the party, we wanted to play musical chairs (I don't get it but the kids love it, so we play it) and I needed to come up with some music on the fly. The most appropriate song I had on my phone was Faithfully by Journey. I know, it's still not appropriate, but it was the most appropriate. It's a classic. Anyway, at a certain point I overheard two of our girls talking:

"Ugh, what is this music?"

"I dunno, probably some Christian song."

Laughter between the two of them. 

In my time working with youth I have heard this stuff over and over. Christianity to them (especially the ones who are not raised in it) is boring. It's wishy washy music with repetitive choruses; it's some person telling you the stuff you like to do is bad; good Lord, to get to know God you have to be quiet and read? I totally understand the unappealing aspects of it and I'm with the kids on this. I too, have said these things growing up, and I was raised as a Christian.

Christianity in these forms IS boring. I'm bored with it. I think God is bored with it. Where is the excitement? Where is the motivation to move forward in Christ? Jesus did miracles, healed people, and told super cool stories all for the purpose of blowing up people's misconceptions about religion. He related to people on their level. He worked with their likes and dislikes but injected those things with truth. What are we doing? We can't bash kids over the head with rules, we give them a list of don'ts, and we tell them the things they want to do are sinnnnnnnnnful.

We need to find a way to blow up their misconceptions like Christ did.

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of doing a Friday morning chapel service with the entire high school. I haven't spoken in front of all of them at one time before. I was pretty nervous to be honest; I don't get stage fright but I do worry about getting up and sounding like that person that says everything they like to do is bad or wrong.

I chose an easy topic- love. When I got up to speak and said that, I could feel the entire room lurch as all 85 pairs of eyes collectively rolled. They expected me to tell them that their secret relationships, that they think all of us teachers disapprove of, are wrong. Luckily I only spoke about God's love, not relationships... it was easier on all of us. One thing I did mention, though, was music. I told them to ask the person next to them what their favorite song was. They all talked, I don't know what they said, they refused to tell me.

"John, what's your favorite song?"

"I dunno."

"Steve, what did John say his favorite song was?

"Ummmmm."

"Oh, are you scared to say it because it's not Christian?"

"Kinda..."

What the heck? Can a Christian have a favorite song that is not worship music? I do. I listen to music all the time and 90% of it is not Christian. Does that mean that I have less of a relationship with God? No, I just worship God in other ways. I like to walk and pray. These are the times when I find myself worshiping God the most. If I forced myself to try to fit into a mould of a good Christian and only listened to Christian music, would I be better off? I don't know, I don't think I would be. How would I relate to the sullen teenage girl in my class who went ballistic when she found out that I like Twenty One Pilots? There would be no connection there. 

I'm by no means saying that Christians should bend the truth in order to reach people. God forbid! I am saying, though, that we need to stand up for truth and stand against things that are wrong according the the truth while infusing this ideology into our young people in a way that encourages them to live a practical, real Christian life, not in a way that drives them from having one.

Relationships are not wrong. Relationships based outside of truth are wrong. Music is not bad. Music that distorts my view of truth is bad.

How can I get my students to understand this? I want them to know that I am fighting with them, not against them. I too am pushing back against Christianity, but I'm fighting a twisted version of Christianity. An uptight version. A version that says you need to act a certain way, dress a certain way, live a certain way, listen to certain things, so that you become... boring. I don't want to live like that. I don't want my youth group kids to live like that. I want them to know Jesus and in knowing Jesus, John 17:17, they will be sanctified by truth with conviction enough to stand up for it when ideas come along that go against what they know about truth.

That's living a real Christian life. It's not boring, students!

February 2017

Hi everybody!

Recently, I was asked if I could design a wall covering for the Chapel at GGIS. One of my hobbies is woodworking and I do a lot of stuff with pallets in the US so the idea was to make a pallet wall behind the stage. I asked my friend, Tim, to help me think it all through and to build it with me, the whole project took about 25 hours between drive time to get the wood, staining, then prepping the wall and putting everything up.

Here is a picture of the before:

and here is after:

Previously, I had built the stage, pulpit and the cross that you see on the new wall with my friend, Pasha, who moved back to America last year. It was a fun project and great to reminisce about what we’ve been doing at the school. As Tim and I were leaving the building after finishing, we started thinking about the chapel itself and how much use it gets. It’s home to two churches (including my Korean church) and is also used for both the elementary and high school chapels (assemblies) every week. I wonder how many individual people have been in that room. I wonder how many of them have gotten saved in that room. It’s interesting to think about.

I had the opportunity to actually speak in the high school chapel last Friday. This was actually the first time I have ever done a chapel in my four years at GGIS. I talked about how we have to make a conscious choice to love people. If someone hurts me I can choose to love them, not because they deserve it, but because I can give it. I didn’t deserve love and God loved me, therefore, I can love people with that same love. It was interesting because yesterday, at the Korean church I attend, the Pastor spoke about the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6. If you look through those verses, you see that the prayer starts with being fed by the Word of God and knowing the Word allows to forgive. Then, living in the Word is what sustains us through temptations. The Word is also what allows me to love people. When I have the Word in my life, when it’s my daily bread, I am able to live right, to live clean. I don’t get distracted by other “food” that I am offered (politics, anger, money, relationships, pride, etc.) because I have something better and which produces an effect, not just on me but on those around me. I can love because of the Word in my life. I need to think with

God’s Word continually.
Thank you all for your continued prayer!

January 2017

I was able to go New York to see my family for Christmas and New Year's this year. I just got back to Budapest on Thursday afternoon. It was great to see everyone and be with the family for two weeks. It felt strange because it's the first time I've been able to do that since moving to Hungary (four years ago this week).

I had asked the Korean youth group if they needed anything from America before I went, they proceeded to send me a list of, well, mostly candy, that they wanted. I'm sure all of their parents will be so happy with me!

Things at GGIS leading up to the break were really exciting, we had a Christmas party and then a day of ice skating with the high schoolers. This was a really great time to connect with them on a level that most teachers don't usually get to. I've come to realize in my time here that it's so vital to build relationships with students based on your life and character rather than just having a teacher/student relationship. Our real purpose here is to minister Christ and I pray that the kids get to see that along with all of the teaching and professional interaction we have with them.

Our vice principle, Mr. Doug Janssen, sent out an email a few weeks ago with a quote from Martin Luther, which said: "If I had to give up preaching and my other duties, there is no office I would rather have than that of schoolteacher. For I know that next to the ministry it is the most useful, greatest, and best; and I am not sure which of the two is to be preferred. For it is hard to make old dogs docile and old rogues pious, yet that is what the ministry works at, in great part, in vain; but young trees, though some may break in the process, are more easily bent and trained. Therefore, let it be considered one of the highest virtues on earth faithfully to train the children of others, which duty but few parents attend to themselves." I printed this quote out and stuck it to the podium in my classroom so I have to look at it every day. Isn't that amazing? I found myself thinking the same old thoughts again while I was in the US- does what I am doing in Budapest really matter? Am I actually making a difference? Am I really a missionary? I think, like Nehemiah (6:3) building the wall around Jerusalem said, "I am doing a great work! I will not come down! The work will not stop!" Nehemiah had to send a message to the people who were oppressing him, but when my own mind tries to get me to throw in the towel, I can talk right back to it. I won't give up! I am doing a great work! I will not stop! It may take years, lifetimes, or even generations to see the full result of what has happened here in Budapest these past four years, but it is a great work!

You are doing a great work as well! Never forget this. We can become so discouraged in our ministry at times but there is no reason to be. Build yourself up in whatever God has you doing. Don't let the little thoughts creep in and try to get you to come down from the wall.

I am so edified by you who read these little letters. Thank you for the emails and feedback you give me. You'll never know how much those few words mean to me.

Thank you for all of your continued prayers! Happy New Year!