Holy Spirit

I started this blog because I had gone on a mission trip earlier this summer to St. Louis. At the end of our mission trip, my youth pastor asked us, "What do you say yes to?" I said yes to sharing my faith to more people. It definitely is hard because I'm a very shy person. I FEAR being thought of as weird. I FEAR sticking out of the crowd. I am terrified of sharing my faith too, but slowly I'm sharing what I believe to more people. Recently, when I get scared, I think of the verse 2 Timothy 1:7. "For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline." Earlier today, I knew I had to apologize to a friend for being mean and rude. I was embarrassed and afraid to apologize to him. I asked God for the strength to help me say what I needed to. My apology led to a conversation about surrendering everything to God. Then I said something I was terrified to say. You hear people talk about other people saying that they are doing something to fill the hole that only God can fill. My friend is someone who likes to go person after person and fall "in love" with them. I told him that God could fill that hole. He became defensive and I get it. I wouldn't wanna be accused of that. Truthfully, I think it helps prove my point. In my opinion he got defensive because he knows I'm right. Hopefully he'll look back someday and see that our conversation sparked something in his spiritual journey. I'm reading a book called Not a Fan: Teen Edition by Kyle Idleman. Kyle tells us how we are given the Holy Spirit when we become a Christian. We have to ask ourselves if we've accessed the Holy Spirit. We don't have to go on our spiritual journey alone. God's there for us. We are empowered by the Holy Spirit.

Awake My Sole

I guess I should start out by saying that I'm a junior in high school. I go to a Christian high school. Every day we have a time set aside in between second and third period for chapel. Yesterday, we had a speaker named Jim Ellis. Jim Ellis started Awake My Sole. He's currently on his journey running across the state of Iowa. Jim speaks to groups about using their God given talents.(Here's a link to his website: http://www.awakemysole.com/.) Yesterday during chapel Jim asked us what our BHAG was. BHAG stands for Big Hairy Audacious Goal, a term created by Jim. A BHAG is a goal you or a group set for yourself. It might seem crazy and it's not something that you can achieve overnight, but it lets you work toward something big. To be completely, honest I was afraid to admit what my BHAG was. I thought my goal was just down right crazy with a capital "C". So of course, I didn't tell anyone what it was. But to set my goal in action, I have to say it. My BHAG is to be a song writer and like Jim, to inspire people everywhere. What's your BHAG?