Tonight is the first "Own Your Faith" class with the teens at my church. I feel a bit anxious but I believe they will learn a lot. I will learn a lot as well. There is an unspoken excitement for these young people to learn the Word in much the same way as I learned it - 15 years ago. I learned how to engage God's Word in an atmosphere that invited questions and dialogue and discussion. Not to mention, I had this profound respect for my teacher and youth pastor Jermone Glenn. I hope these kids feel the same way about me; I hope I can be a moral compass pointing the way to Christ. The reception of the Bible when I was 15 years old changed how I related to it - not as simply a book with a lot of lofty theological or moral lessons, but a "lamp to my feet" and a light to my path.
I want that same thing for the 10 or so kids that will sit in tonight, curious as to what I will bring them. This class is for them; I've said that several times. I just hope it really, truly is...for them. I want them to know God on a deeper level - not simply as an unknown deity or the source of good feelings and goosebumps as I fear He has been reduced to...even in my own life at times. I forget too that He is a Person (the highest expression and illumination of us all) and that He made me to worship Him beyond the boundaries that my humanity has set. I too want to go deeper.
My goals for this class are simple, quite frankly. I want God to use me so one day He can use them.
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