To What End?

I am a planner. I may be a last minute planner, but nonetheless a planner. For example, every summer, my church puts on a three week series called Summer Splash. Each evening calls for a bbq, water games and a lesson. I make every attempt to make each Summer Splash unique from the others, which often leaves me pondering ideas for weeks. Then the day of Summer Splash arrives and I am still chewing on ideas. This last one left me with an idea of digging a river on the church's back lot (its all dirt at this point, so no biggie). I quickly recruited two youthful diggers and off we went to dig the river. I was so focused and concerned about getting the river done before the deadline that I neglected to see the awesome opportunity in spending time with the two youth I had by my side. God still may have been working through me during that time, but I still need to learn how to recognize the opportunities that He puts in front of me.

Lucky for me, my negligence is God's thoughtfulness. In fact, if you ask me, the heart of the gospel is found in the story of the lost coin. A woman has ten coins and she has lost one of them. She frantically begins looking all over her house for it. It becomes dark and she lights a lamp to try to find it. Finally she finds the lost coin, and she is so excited that she calls up all her friends and says, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I lost!" This woman lost one coin, and yet to what end did she search? She utilized every resource she had, and when all was said and done, it would be easy to conclude that she had used up more resources to find the coin than the value of the coin itself. After all, oil burning lamps, time, and parties are not cheap!

The gospel story in economic terms is foolish! God goes to the same ends to bring us to know Him. He uses so many resources that they seemingly outweigh the value of the prize itself. What does that say about how much He wants us to know Him? By the standards of the world, that is a foolish investment. And yet, "the foolishness of God is wiser than the wisest man."

Youth ministry shouldn't be about having the most thought out and perfectly planned events. Its not about spending the most money and having the coolest stuff. It should be about spending time with the youth themselves. God goes to all ends to bring in just one person, how far will we go?