PSOAP

Last week we were at church every night. This was a stretch to think about ahead of time, however, once we heard the first couple of seminar sessions we were hooked!

Lee Venden is a revivalist from the west coast and he travels nation-wide delivering the message that God has laid on his heart. His message is simple: being a Christian means knowing Jesus personally. His catch phrase is, "It's not about what you do, it's about who you know and who you know changes what you do." He tacked some of the largest pitfalls of the SDA church, all built on the foundation of behaviorally-based thinking rather than relationally-based practice. There is so much good stuff covered in his sessions, but today I want to talk about SOAP.

SOAP is an outline for structured, daily devotion for the purpose of getting to know Jesus as your friend. We may read the Bible on a daily basis already, in many different books, but Venden stressed the need to get to know Jesus more and more each day and it made sense! He recommends never leaving the gospels in devotional time. The idea isn't to cut out other book reading but to augment your gospel reading with the other books as well. What a great idea!

So, SOAP stands for Scripture, Observation, Application and Prayer. Really I suppose it should be PSOAP, kind of like Psalm, because prayer should start things off also so that you make the formal invitation to the Holy Spirit to bring fresh revelation to the familiar words. Last week I started with John 1 and I stayed in John 1 the entire week, breaking down the chapter into small chunks to really meditate on the meat. My devotional journal looks like this:

Date SOAP
Scripture: reference for verses I will be reading
Observation: description of what it would be like to be a part of the action or witness to the action of the reading selection; this could include sights, sounds, atmosphere, emotions; I may take on the perspective of one of the main people in the story or perhaps a bystander that is simply taking it all in
Application: main points that I have taken from the passage that I can apply to my life day by day; this can include a specific observation about the way God works, the way Jesus works and how I must be ready for what they may do or ask me to do; it may include a specific lesson for me to embrace to become more like Jesus; a focus point for me that day
Prayer: a letter-prayer focused on the applications and what I have learned, gratitude for fresh perspective and asking the Holy Spirit to help me embrace the application points in my daily life

I have started morning devotions before and slowly my block of focused time dwindles and gets pushed into my morning work time, not ideal for focusing. And it has only been a little over a week so I know that's not much time. But this model has helped me get out of bed earlier because I know what I'm going to do for my devotion time. I'm not reading with no direction and I'm not focused on a text other than the Bible. I'm spending time getting to know my friend and it's great! I was actually thinking today that I will set my alarm a little earlier tomorrow so I can spend more time with Jesus before the rest of my day begins. What!?!

To Quit, Or Not To Quit

Quitting. Not supposed to do it. Frowned upon by many, done by many more. I quit piano a long time ago. Now there's a piano sitting in my garage waiting to be restored and tuned...so I can do what with it? As I have gotten older I have been more cautious in making commitments because I know what it may cost: my time, my energy and my sanity. And though it may cost me those things, I'd rather stick it out than quit. Because I know what that may cost also: self-respect, success and trustworthiness to name a few.

Youth ministry is hard. I wanted to quit many times when we, my friend and I, started our first youth group. It was hard. It was very hard. It tried my patience and my sanity. But I kept going. Every 2nd and 4th Friday night I was there to teach, to love, to counsel, to correct, and sometimes just to be there. And because of my decision to keep at it, my spirit was enriched and my faith in God was strengthened exponentially. Those kids became my kids and I loved them. I was thankful to be in a partnership with others who loved God and loved kids and wanted to invest in youth in the way that God asked. I was thankful to be in a church that saw the value in allowing the youth to be their own community with gifts to offer as a group and individually. My heart was overflowing the day that two of "our" young men were ordained as deacons for the church. Their willingness to serve and the leadership's willingness to honor them gave testimony to the desires of my heart.

And now I am in a new youth leadership position and I have wanted to quit. This is a new situation with new challenges and less support and more drama and less commitment and I want to quit often. But I keep showing up to teach because I committed to a year of service. The year will be up in July.

July. I have wondered what I should do. Maybe this isn't the right job for me. Maybe I don't have it in me to commit to another year. Maybe I'm tired. Maybe I don't want to do this anymore. But maybe God wants me to...

March 5, My Utmost: "Have you received a ministry from the Lord? If so, you must be faithful to it - to consider your life valuable only for the purpose of fulfilling that ministry. Knowing that you have done what Jesus sent you to do, think how satisfying it will be to hear Him say to you, 'Well done, good and faithful servant' (Matthew 25:21)." Huh. Well then.

The only reason I left my former youth group was that God moved me. It was so hard. It hurt my heart. It still hurts my heart when I really think about it. I identify with Paul as I read his letters to the churches that he founded, as he sends greetings to his loved ones in many cities. But he was not the master of "his" ministry. He was the follower of The Master in His ministry.

Huh. Well then.