MyCampus

MyCampus
Expedition: Baja - take the opportunity to help the poorest of the poor in Mexico by providing a home, providing medical screenings and distributing food and clothing.
*Note: Case is a change in form that indicates its grammatical function in a phrase, clause, or sentence and tense is a temporal linguistic quality expressing the time at, during, or over which a state or action denoted by a verb occurs, just FYI

G5: the E-mail – It’s Been Said About Living…

Continuing our “It’s been said about…” series, this month we’re looking at some things that have been said about the Christian life.
We talk all the time about the fact that our life can be the best way of telling other students about Jesus, but if that’s true (and it is), then the opposite is also true. Check out some things that a few well-know people have had to say about living this thing we call Christianity.
“If it weren’t for Christians, I’d be a Christian.” - Mahatma Ghandi
“I would have met Jesus sooner if not for Christians who led double lives.” - Keith Green
“I might believe in the Redeemer if His followers looked more Redeemed.” - Fredrick Nietzsche
“It has always seemed unfair to me that many churches (and some individual Christians) keep careful records on how many converts they make to Christianity, but never keep any record of how many they drive away from Christ!” - Ray C. Stedman
Ouch.
Before we dismiss these people as close-minded critics of Christianity, we should realize that all of all of these people were at different points of openess to Christianity. Keith Green became a Christian and Ray Stedman was successful pastor and Christian author.
There is no doubt that our lives can send people running from Christ in the same way as draw people to Him.
But what do we do about it? We aren’t perfect. We are all “sinners.” We all find hypocrisy in our own lives upon careful examination. We all let pride, anger and insecurity win out over our deepest convictions sometimes. So what is a struggling Christian to do?
First – try harder. We’ve got to take this seriously. Our “that’s just the way I am” doesn’t fly as an excuse with God. He wants us to be better. We can’t dismiss the consequenses of our own actions with a “there will always be an excuse to not follow Jesus for some” reasoning. Ultimately, people will stand before God and no excuse will matter, but we’ll give an account for “every careless word” we speak (Matthew 12:36 -NIV).
Second – apologize more often. Our pride gets in the way of a chance to show that we know our actions don’t line up with the lifestyle of Christianity. People know when we mess up, so let’s show them that we know it too.
Third – talk about your struggles. We don’t need to pretend we’ve got it all together in matters of faith, purity and love. Be real with people – they’ll get it.
Many things have “been said about…” living the Christian life, but what others say about your life is what’s most important. The Bible says it like this:
“Keep a clear conscience before God so that when people throw mud at you, none of it will stick. They’ll end up realizing that they’re the ones who need a bath.” (1 Peter 3:16 MSG).
That’s a quote to live by.
Youth Alive
Pray. Live. Tell. Serve. Give.

Monthly Update

It’s Been Said About Telling…

Continuing our “It’s been said…” series, this month we look at the “Tell” commitment of campus missionaries. Consider these quotes…

• “The Great Commission is not an option to be considered; it is a command to be obeyed.” – Hudson Taylor
• “It is the duty of every Christian to be Christ to his neighbor.” – Martin Luther
• “Never worry about numbers. Help one person at a time, and always start with the person nearest you.” – Mother Teresa

Being a campus missionary means doing something – telling others about Jesus. It’s not a program or a membership club. At a camp, youth service, convention or some other event, you felt like God was calling you to be a missionary to your campus. You get this e-mail because you signed up to be a CM. But signing up doesn’t make you a CM.
Bottom line: Missionaries exist to tell people about Jesus. If you don’t tell people about Jesus, you are not a missionary.
If this is a struggle for you, here’s a place to start: Ma Teresa said to start with the person nearest you. Jesus said to tell people about him everywhere. It’s not complicated, but it is difficult sometimes.
Hudson Taylor calls it a command and Luther spoke of duty, not because it’s easy to always tell people about Jesus, but because most of the time it’s a little tough. We should (and usually do) want to tell people about Jesus, but we fear rejection. It’s like telling someone about your favorite band and having them say, “I hate that band” but with eternal implications.
So, it may not always be easy to tell people about Jesus, but it is essential, regardless of the reaction. Here’s why: think about how many times you’ve heard people talk about how they met Jesus, and how many times they rejected the people who told them about Jesus before becoming a Christian. The truth is that most people have 7 people tell them about Jesus before respond. They reject the first 6 people! Despite the rejection we all face, we have a duty to obey Christ because eternity depends on it.
“But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you will be my witnesses, telling people about me everywhere…” Jesus (from Acts 1:8a, NLT)
Youth Alive
Pray. Live. Tell. Serve. Give.

Earth Day – Religious Reservance Required . . .

Well it's earth day. And it's pretty clear that environmentalism has become a religion of sorts. Think about it. It's really got all the earmarks of a religion's best and worst qualities.

There's a moral code (which even comes with legislation). Try putting your garbage in your blue recycle bin if you want to see what happens when you step out of line.

There's an orthodoxy. In religion orthodoxy serves as the agreed set of beliefs about who's in and out. With environmentalism, there's a move to squash dissent - even calling calling those who question global warming "deniers," like, as in, um, "holocaust deniers." Rough stuff.

There's an apocalypse. Yes, the aforementioned "warming" is coming if there's no repentance.

There's even a televangelist. Former VP Al Gore has reportedly made over 500 million dollars from being the Benny Hinn of carbon credits. Both Benny and Al have greenhouse-gas-spewing private jets, but the faithful have never minded a little hypocrisy from the charismatic.

The list goes on: Movies (An Inconvenient Truth, The Day After Tomorrow, etc), worship bands (Green Day anyone?), inspirational books (Earth in the Balance, et. al.) cover ups (climate gate), "history-changing" conferences (Kyoto, Copenhagen) and music festivals ("Live Earth," etc). Like Christianity, environmental religion is big business. The Vatican gift shop is on notice.

All this leads many Christians towards mockery and rebellion towards the now numero uno spiritual competition to our own faith. And while I admit to personally driving a low-mileage truck (I do frequently pull a trailer) and mixing paper with plastic from time to time (although I usually separate out recyclables for a local church that raises money for Speed-the-Light with bottle and cans), I share the sentiment with the Apostle Paul that the earth screams the glory of God out loud. I've never personally met Picasso, but his paintings tell me he was one strange Spaniard. I like to think I've been closer to God in my life than any early 20th century painters (Director's commentary: this is a Picasso reference for the uninitiated) , but never the less, the times I think I have really had the best glimpse of who he is have been near the ocean, in the Yosemite valley or flying over the rocky mountains. I know, even then, it's like an ant looking at fence I built and thinking he gets why I hate jazz music, but at least I then realize how insignificant my existence is. Then the fact that the builder thinks I matter really matters to me.

While Earth Day is a truly religious holiday to many for many of the wrong reasons, I think we might be able to make it have some meaning even still. Who knows, maybe we even outright take it over- like Christmas (which was a pagan date on the calendar). I think I get why people revere the earth - it's God's best work that we can actually touch, taste, smell, hear and see. People do feel a connection to God when they look at creation . . .

"Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can't see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being." (Romans 1:20 - from the Message)

Observe God's creation. While you're looking around, pick up some trash. You wouldn't let someone spill Ketchup on a Picasso would you?

Jeff

Earth Day – Religious Observance Required.

Well it’s earth day. And it’s pretty clear that environmentalism has become a religion of sorts. Think about it. It’s really got all the earmarks of a religion’s best and worst qualities.
There’s a moral code (which even comes with legislation). Try putting your garbage in your blue recycle bin if you want to see what happens when you step out of line.
There’s an orthodoxy. In religion orthodoxy serves as the agreed set of beliefs about who’s in and out. With environmentalism, there’s a move to squash dissent – even calling calling those who question global warming “deniers,” like, as in, um, “holocaust deniers.” Rough stuff.

There’s an apocalypse. Yes, the aforementioned “warming” is coming if there’s no repentance.
There’s even a televangelist. Former VP Al Gore has reportedly made over 500 million dollars from being the Benny Hinn of carbon credits. Both Benny and Al have greenhouse-gas-spewing private jets, but the faithful have never minded a little hypocrisy from the charismatic.
The list goes on: Movies (An Inconvenient Truth, The Day After Tomorrow, etc), worship bands (Green Day anyone?), inspirational books (Earth in the Balance, et. al.) cover ups (climate gate), “history-changing” conferences (Kyoto, Copenhagen) and music festivals (”Live Earth,” etc). Like Christianity, environmental religion is big business. The Vatican gift shop is on notice.
All this leads many Christians towards mockery and rebellion towards the now numero uno spiritual competition to our own faith. And while I admit to personally driving a low-mileage truck (I do frequently pull a trailer) and mixing paper with plastic from time to time (although I usually separate out recyclables for a local church that raises money for Speed-the-Light with bottle and cans), I share the sentiment with the Apostle Paul that the earth screams the glory of God out loud. I’ve never personally met Picasso, but his paintings tell me he was one strange Spaniard. I like to think I’ve been closer to God in my life than any early 20th century painters (Director’s commentary: this is a Picasso reference for the uninitiated) , but never the less, the times I think I have really had the best glimpse of who he is have been near the ocean, in the Yosemite valley or flying over the rocky mountains. I know, even then, it’s like an ant looking at fence I built and thinking he gets why I hate jazz music, but at least I then realize how insignificant my existence is. Then the fact that the builder thinks I matter really matters to me.
While Earth Day is a truly religious holiday to many for many of the wrong reasons, I think we might be able to make it have some meaning even still. Who knows, maybe we even outright take it over- like Christmas (which was a pagan date on the calendar). I think I get why people revere the earth – it’s God’s best work that we can actually touch, taste, smell, hear and see. People do feel a connection to God when they look at creation . . .
“Open your eyes and there it is! By taking a long and thoughtful look at what God has created, people have always been able to see what their eyes as such can’t see: eternal power, for instance, and the mystery of his divine being.” (Romans 1:20 – from the Message)
Observe God’s creation. While you’re looking around, pick up some trash. You wouldn’t let someone spill Ketchup on a Picasso would you?
Jeff