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Right now I am sitting in Denver International Airport (DIA) about to board my plane to Houston, TX. I am the camp speaker for River Point Church out of Sugarland, TX and their youth pastor Terrace Clayton is a very good friend of mine. I’m excited to go but I don’t know how I’m going to be able to handle being away from my wife and son for a week. But they are going back to Oklahoma to see family and friends for the week. So they should have plenty to do to keep them busy. 

I should have internet so I hopefully will be updating regularly because I will have a lot of free time. This is going to be a great opportunity to get some planning done for the upcoming school year. 

This weeks theme (set by the camp) is MOTION. So my topics for the week’s messages include:

• Promotion
• Commotion
• Emotion
• Motions
• Motionless

So we will see how it goes!

So last week our church had VBS (Vacation Bible School). For those of you who don’t know what that is, it is a week long children’s bible school that is much more about having fun then sitting in a class learning. Even the learning time is just simple story telling while the kids sit on the floor in a circle. Not nearly as boring as the name implies. 

Anyways, I was in charge of games and recreation for the week. The biggest thing I learned throughout the week is how thankful I am that I do youth ministry and not children’s ministry! But God did teach me something last week while playing with the kids. 

One of the days we played kickball for game time. It was so interesting to watch the different age groups and how they approached the game. The Kindergardeners had no concept of the rules of the game. All they cared about was kicking a ball and then running around like crazy. But they had fun and thats all that mattered. The second graders were old enough to understand the rules of the game but were in fact obsessed with the rules. All they cared about were making sure that nobody got away with anything and the adults didn’t help the girls (even though the boys were beating the girls by a ton of runs). They walked away that day fighting, arguing and frustrated because we weren’t as strict in enforcing rules as NFL referees. But the 5th graders got it. They understood the rules, were smart enough to strategize their game play, and they were mature enough to understand it was only children’s church kickball and at the end of the day it didn’t matter who won or lost.

God hit me with a question last week. What age group would we fall into when it comes to spiritual things? Young enough to have fun but completely miss out on what the game (or life) is supposed to be? Mature enough to understand the rules but be completely consumed with them and miss out on the fun and excitement of a life with Christ? Or do we get it? We understand the rules and how to approach life but aren’t so uptight that we can’t enjoy life as it was meant to be?

Interesting….

Today, I am sitting at my desk looking out of my third-story window overlooking the Rocky Mountains. I find myself today so filled with awe and vision for the future. So much so, that it’s sort of difficult to even focus on today and my to-do list. 

I wonder how many of you feel that way? Are you excited about the future? Filled with awe and vision?

• Proverbs 29:18 - Where there is no vision, the people perish. 

Yesterday: Boundaries are meant to give us freedom, not tie us down. It’s all about how we view God. 

We Christians always give the greatest advice. Like when someone is struggling with an addiction, what is usually our response? “Why don’t you just quit?” - Oh… great. Thank you, I never thought of that one! A distant mentor of mine (someone that has influenced me a lot but I have never met him) Matt Chandler of The Village Church in Texas made an analogy once that has always stuck with me. 

If an alcoholic decides he’s going to just quit drinking and on Monday doesn’t touch the bottle. But everything in his soul is craving alcohol, he can’t work, he can’t sleep, he can’t focus, he can’t relate to his wife, he can’t play with his children because everything in him is screaming for alcohol… Is he free? No!!! Just because he didn’t have a drink of alcohol on Monday doesn’t make him free. 

Blind obedience isn’t always the answer. Your check list of rules, may have no other purpose than to fuel your own self-righteousness.

Mere obedience gets you no where. Jesus (Matt 23) called the Pharisees whitewashed tombs because they looked great on the outside but they were dead on the inside. He also said in Matthew 5:20 that if your righteousness doesn’t exceed that of the Pharisees then how can you ever expect to get to Heaven?

Here’s how: Galatians 5:1 - It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. 

Don’t get me wrong… there are still boundaries we are expected and commanded to follow. But we aren’t slaves to the law. We are no longer tied down by the law but are freed in Christ. So… Is God tying you down or setting you free?

Now… obedience isn’t a requirement of God, it’s a response to God.

That was the title of my sermon today. Talking not about freedom away from boundaries but the freedom boundaries give us. 

We recently bought a play pen (glorified cage) for my son who is now crawling like crazy and we need something to keep him from getting in trouble or hurt so my wife and I can do other things around the house. To my son, in his little mind, the play pen represents boundaries that tie him down and prevent him from doing what he wants to. What he doesn’t realize, is that by placing him in those boundaries, I am giving him complete and total freedom. Within those boundaries there is nothing Beckett can do wrong.

How do you view boundaries in your life? Do they tie you down? Keep you from doing what you want? Or do they give you freedom?

How do you view God? As some old man in the sky telling you what you can’t do? As some cosmic-killjoy? Or do you see Him as a loving God who created you, created the world around you and has put boundaries in your life to protect you and to give you freedom?

Galatians 5:1 - It is for freedom that Christ set us free. Stand firm, then, and do not let yourselves be burdened again by a yoke of slavery.

Well, it’s late and I’m tired. So much prep the night before we take our student ministry to summer camp. I don’t know whether I will have internet access or not. If I do, I will try my best to keep you updated and give you the highlights of camp. If not, then I will when I return on Saturday. 

However, I will be updating frequently my twitter. You can follow me @adamdeanyoung.

Have a great week and get some extra rest for me, cause I know I won’t be getting any!

You know… I think many of us have those “God moments” when we experience something and become very confident in what God is calling us to do. I had one of those almost a year ago when I first began talking to the church I now work for. I knew, maybe not from an audible voice, but definitely knew that God was leading me here to Colorado. I have never doubted that call and felt like I was home from day one. I felt like I was “finally planted” in the place God wanted me.

Today, however, was a complete spiritual confirmation of that call. Like I said, I never once doubted that I was supposed to be here but today, I just received a huge confirmation from God and a re-energizing of passion for the reason God planted me and my family here. 

I hope that you can say the same for your life. That you are where God wants you to be and that maybe today He would give you one of those special and sometimes rare, “spiritual confirmations.”

Okay, so… I think I am going to make some kind of mid-year resolution to quit using “busyness” and “tiredness” as excuses…..

…. (Awkward silence) ….

… but not today. I am crazy busy because this is the week before we take our students to summer camp. So I am not sharing any deep, thought provoking ideas today. Here are some more blogs I have been reading lately and added to my google reader within the last month. Enjoy!

• DREAM.
• Stuff Christians Like
• The boy with the thorn in his side

Sorry for the no posting lately. As usual I have been pretty busy (seems to always be my excuse). On multiple occasions this week I actually sat down and started to write a post but couldn’t focus because my mind was on all that I needed to do. So I put it aside and went on with my to-do list. To-Do lists are a huge part of my daily life and you can read more about it here.

The number of blogs on my google reader has greatly increased lately and in large thanks to 20somethings.ning.com I have had the opportunity to meet and connected with a lot of 20 Something Bloggers. So there’s not much to read here this week, but here are a couple of blogs I have kept my eye on lately:

• 20somethingmom (I guess I’m a little partial to this one)
• Am I a Revolution?
• A[tipp]ical Thoughts
• In My Heels
• My Wife is a Youth Pastor (even though my wife is not a youth pastor)
• Patiently Hurrying
• Silent Soliloquies
• Shlog 
• Yellow Blog Journalism

So this week has been a rather exhausting one

• Last Saturday, I had an event for a bunch of 6th graders who will be in my student ministry soon. It was kind of a Youth Ministry Boot Camp. 
• Then on Sunday I had a “State of the Union” meeting for our church and parents to update them on all that is happening in our student ministry. 
• Wednesday, our student ministry hosted a fundraising dinner and silent auction to raise money for our students so they can go to summer camp and what not. 
• Today, I preached for our entire church. That was nerve-racking not because I fear speaking in large groups but because I am a “tell it like it is” preacher. I don’t preach to make you feel good so I have a tendency to offend people. This was my first time preaching for my new church. 
• On top of that, I was the only pastor in the office this week. Which made for even more busyness and work

So… tomorrow is a much needed break.

FYI - My hopes are to have the audio up on my blog from my message this morning later this week I hope (fingers crossed)!