i am not a youth minister.

I am not a youth minister.

Yes, that would be my job description.
And yes, I love my job.
I couldn't ask for a more wonderful place for GOD to have positioned me in this season of my life.

But I'm not a youth minister.

I am, however, an active participant in the Kingdom of GOD.
And it's not because of my job title.

I love these teenagers.
These guys and girls that I have the opportunity to walk through life with…
I truly, deeply love them.

I love watching them grow.
I love spending time with them.
At Bible Study or in a hammock.
Being silly during a game of dodgeball,
Or in the midst of turmoil.

I love being beside them.
I love when they let me join them.
In fun or hurt.
For the deep and profound.
Or for the absolutely ridiculous.

I love how they challenge me.
They walk by me.
Some of them even run with me.
Literally.
Figuratively.
Spiritually.

We do life together.

And that's the point.

I doesn't take a job title or a ministry position to do this stuff with the people around you.

It's life.
And it's the Kingdom.
Those two things are supposed to intersect constantly.

I love it when they do.

They don't always.
We don't always let them mix.
Do we think we control the outcome more that way?

I think we lose the outcome that way…

The Kingdom wasn't meant to be isolated.
It's meant to be in the midst.
In the midst of it all.

Light is brightest when it has the opportunity to contrast with darkness.
Be that in the darkness of the world.
Or the darkness in your day.
Or the darkness tucked away in the corners of your heart.

It's supposed to become one.

And that's how Light wins.

Maybe it's time for us-- followers of JESUS, ambassadors of HIS Kingdom-- to start seeing things more like that.  Less like church and youth group and mission trips…

Instead, seeing it as life.

It's the life I've chosen.

Whatever my job.
Whatever my circumstances.
HE and I are one.

And that Oneness declares my citizenship to a Kingdom.
And it's present in every moment.
In every place.

That's the gift.
And that's what I have to share with the world.

Every face I see; the eyes I look into,
I can share that gift.

I can bring them into the Oneness.

Maybe we're all just ushers.
Leading people to the Throne…

One thing is for sure.
For the Kingdom to come, and HIS will be done on earth as it is in Heaven,
We had better start bringing it here.

Every day.
In every moment.
No matter your job description.
No matter your circumstances.

It's our calling.
When we've chosen HIM.

So what does that look like today?

Let's go.
Let's see.
Let's do.
Let's be.

And let the Kingdom come.

on the verge.

It's kinda funny.
The way GOD moves.

HIS orchestrations…
The most elaborate.
Delightfully detailed.
Yet simple.

Discoveries that are surprising,
Yet feel so familiar.
Like it's always been there.
And maybe it has.

Like a seed.
Planted in my heart from my beginning.
Planted in this place of time for this very moment.

It's on the verge of breaking through.
I feel it.
Anticipation.
Aching.

A moment is coming.
The stirrings will push me forward.
Out of the soil.
Vision clearly exposed.
Beauty revealed.

It's been growing.
And it's been messy.
That's what you get with soil.

Yes, it's almost time.
A harvest of sorts.

I feel myself stretching upward.
Reaching.
Eager for that first deep breath.
Lungs to fill with the purest of air,
Once I'm released into that open space.
Ascending from the ground.

Free.
Positioned to grow all the more.