Surrender

The last month on Wednesday nights we have been watching a video series by Francis Chan on surrender. Most of you have probably heard of him, but if not he's a fantastic speaker and author. Francis is the founding pastor of Cornerstone Church in Simi Valley, California, and is the founder of Eternity Bible College. He's written several books, but his most popular is probably, Crazy Love. Yes, a must read.

Last night we concluded the series. Well, maybe I should clarify. My poor husband has been sick as a dog and tried to come to church. When we got 4 miles down the road he said he wasn't going to make it and we needed to go home. I mean this guy doesn't miss church so when he said he couldn't I knew he was serious. So what do you do when the youth minister is sick? You get his wife to wing it. It's insane how my calling to more has been confirmed over and over... last night was no exception. 2 months ago I would have freaked out and begged another leader to take over. I assure you... its nothing I am doing. Its all God. So yes, I was a little frazzled trying to set up everything. We have a new mac and pro presenter and I'm still learning so once all that was taken care of I knew we could manage. I knew it was no accident that d was sick and I was having to step up, but the best part. I had perfect peace.

The surrender series wrapped up with how we must all surrender ourselves. We surrender out of love so we can better serve. We don't have to go across the world as a result, but simply be willing to go wherever God leads... it may be across the world, but it could be across the street. The challenge was: What in your life is holding you back from total surrender? A relationship? Sin? Stuff? Status? Because we are human... b/c we are sinners... there will be things in our lives that we cling to. That we refuse to let go of... however... if we realized how that was hindering our relationship with Christ and what He wants to do in our lives... would we really continue to hold on with white knuckles? I did. I refused to surrender to God's calling. What happened? I was miserable. What happened when I surrendered? Peace. I certainly don't have this all figured out, but I can say from experience running from God or holding on to something that is distracting you from Christ is not worth it. At. All.

When it was all said and done one of our sweet students came to me and said, "I need to surrender. I prayed a prayer as a kid, but it was to please my parents. I need to surrender my life to Christ." Holy. Moly. My heart leaped in my chest. This is what its all about. This is why we do what we do. This is why we must be transparent and let the younger generation see we make mistakes too, we have struggles, but we have a Savior who has overcome... and then lead them to Him.