I'm back. Get excited. ;]

[yes, things have been crazy, but I am back...and ready to blog. thanks for being patient.]

attention all "riverchasers"

this blog is for the riverchasers. specifically the youth of riverchase.

the other day, i was thinking about the term riverchasers and how much it bothered me when people referred to me in high school as a "riverchaser". when they included me in the riverchase clique (as they called it) it angered me. i remember thinking, "how stupid of them to acuse me of hanging out only with my church friends, when they are the biggest clique of all." what i was doing without even knowing it at the time, was judging. a theme i have noticed in my life, and in the life of many riverchase students...
i love being home. i really do. i enjoy being with my friends and hanging out with "the riverchase crew" so much. i have no problem spending time with them, because i care and love each one of them so much. i do have to say, though, that the youth group is not where i think it should be. or where i believe Jesus wants us to be. and i have a huge part in that. which i apologize for. lately, i have been thinking about praying about the youth group. i dont understand why we are where we are. some of you may be like, what is she talking about? our youth group is great. incorrect. we are most definetly not great. i know that losing our youth pastor and his wife wasnt easy but over the last year, we have lost more then that. we have lost many students, and friendships have even been ruined in our youth group. i believe that we (our youth group, and i am including myself in this) need to focus our attention completly away from us. focus on others. love them!! love is so important. before we can focus on loving others outside of the youthgroup though, we must focus on loving each other. i dont care what people in the group have done (cheated on their bf or gf, worn a ugly shirt, smoked weed, or posted a blog you didnt like)...STOP TALKING ABOUT IT! it doesnt matter!! what they do does not need to be talked about behind their back to the whole group. if it bothers you so much, then man up, and go talk to them face to face about it (humbly and kindly of course) then deal with it there, get it out of the way. then put it in the past. i encourage all of you to also mend old broken friendships. if there is someone that you were close to and you arent anymore then say your sorry. if you can sensirely say you are sorry to someone, and they dont forgive you, then i think that there is nothing else to do about it. you did the right thing. the next best thing to do, is pray about it. and if your waiting around for someone in the youth group to come say sorry to you and they continue not to, then you be the one to inatiate it. go to them first, they are probably waiting on you to do it anyway. someone has to do it.
once our youth group can stop focusing on ourselves, focus on others, and stop talking about others, then i think it would be a great time to then start focusing on the others outside of the normal group. i think bringing people into to youth group is the main reason for a youth group, but i think that our youth group must be "fixed" first in order for people to even be attracted to coming to our church. who would want to come to a church where people talk about one another? not me. what is it for them when we are just like their other non church going friends? nothing is it in for them. and they know it.
i hope that this has not come across wrong to anybody. i contstantly worry about if i am being "preachy" towards other people. i am not at all trying to say that i dont talk about people or that i dont judge. i do. i want to work on it. i need to work on. i want the youth group to work on it as well. lets help each other out. lets make a change! starting now. if someone starts to gossip, say kindly, "hey, let's not talk about that." if they give you a rude glare or whatever, dont worry about it. you did the right thing, and i can almost guarentee that next time you are around them they wont gossip again. try hard not to judge others. trust me, i know that sometimes we judge without even knowing it. sadly, i do it all the time. none of us can do this on our own. we need each other, and more importantly, we need Jesus' help. we should all be contstanly praying about it. i believe that with God's help and with all of us working together, 2007 can be an amazing year for the youth of riverchase.
I would like to end by post (if thats what you call it) with Jesus' prayer for all believers. this prayer is His prayer for us! i think it is so cool that Jesus prayed for us! i truly believe that he had the riverchase youth in mind when he prayed this prayer. and this is also my prayer for our church and youth group as well. i pray that we would be all these things, and i believe with all my heart, that we can be. i encourage all of you to read through this prayer and think about it. it has showed me many things about what God wants his believers to do and be..maybe ill talk about them in another blog later. :)

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they be one as we are one: I in them, and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Rightetous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and I myself may be in them."
John 17:20-25 [NIV]