Eyes UP look OUT

Last week at our church youth programme for older teens, we had a look at this whole idea of being fascinated. The whole purpose and big idea was to set a challenge, to begin to ask ourselves if we are really fascinated with God.

Fascinated: to be engrossed, captivated, strongly interested, fully engaged, transfixed on something

Fascination is a funny thing and as I prepped for youth, my mind was working overtime trying to understand why we become fascinated with anything,

I’ve been there, fascinated and captivated by the wrong thing, maybe wrong is too strong a word to use, but certainly I could have been fascinated with something better. You’ve been there too no doubt, the TV series that you can’t stop watching and the demon of box sets that rob you of sleep as you keep saying “one more” before we go to bed, and awful cliff hanger moments that make it virtually impossible. We become fascinated, obsessed, can’t switch off, because we want to know what happens next.

When it comes to our journey with God, are we fascinated enough?

God is not looking for people who are mildly interested in Him

Fascination is strongly linked to discovery.
We discover something, learn something new and seek to discover more. We want to know more, like what happens next. The incredible thing about God, is that His box set never really ends – there’s always more, and just when we think we have him figured out, we learn and discover even more and that’s were fascination is birthed. And incredible adventure lies waiting.

This adventure has to start with an encounter.

There is that part of me that wants to shake the “mildly interested” crowd. This following Jesus is more than an added extra, it’s the main thing. I can’t stop thinking about how we transition from interested to obsessed through this whole idea of discovery.

I found my mind wandering today thinking about all of this.

Do we play it too safe? Do we make God fit in a nice little box that we can control and present to the masses as something nice, polished and shiny? In doing so, have we made God predictable?

If anything I’ve learned over the years, it’s that predictable does not fascinate, in fact it often gets boring when we know what will happen right?

Are we as his church presenting our father in such a way that the world wants to know more, or are we boring the masses with our predictable programme?

At youth last week, we played it simple.

We stripped back on all the ‘stuff’ and activity and we worshipped, waited and watched….

It honestly was a beautiful sight. Young people brave enough to share a word to encourage us, worshipping unashamed, some of them ‘feeling’ something different, but good. We can attempt to create a lot of cool in youth ministry but the thing that captivates, is when our young people engage with God through the power of the Holy Spirit. Without His presence we are just another random bunch of people hanging out.

As youth leaders we get to facilitate these beautiful moments – let’s not be afraid to leave space, wait and lean into these moments. It’s those encounter that’s fascinate a generation. They will never forget and will never be the same.

Let’s open the nice shiny box we’ve put God in and let the wild adventure begin.

It’s what’s in the box that counts anyway.

I’ve already heard of several people encouraging us to put our phones away this Christmas. One guy I know has bought a standard ‘old’ phone with a pay as you go sim to make him contactable but still in the room so to speak.

It’s a pretty loud scream at the minute on social media (ironically where we write and share stuff like this). The scream declaring us to live life, real life, but not through the screen of our devices. We’ve all seen those hard hitting pics – the concert that you paid a fortune to be at but now film and view from your phone. The dinner you longed to have with friends you want to be closer to, but someone sits on their phone the entire time engaging with other ‘friends’, and the conversation is always surface because no-one is really fully engaged. I did see earlier this month an article from a wedding photographer begging guests to stop stepping into to the aisle to get a snap of the bride – the groom can’t see his princess walking towards him. The article had a photograph of a groom (a real life one, not a model) having to lean and stretch around guests all with phones and tablets out, trying to catch his bride and her walk up the aisle.

We all know it – and we’ve read about it. We are missing out on real life.

Perhaps the solution though is not complete abandonment of all technology. It really can be useful – and like everything, in moderation can add to our lives. The problem comes when it starts to take over.

It’s like any addiction – overuse can eventually become a habit.

We coined a phrase earlier this year.. It was a serious challenge about being present in all things. It also became the quick shout out when someone wasn’t fully engaging – we would shout “Be Present” as a brutal reminder to the person who had checked out that they had actually checked out of the room.

I met Danielle for the first time this summer. I had known of her, but finally got to meet her. I loved her commitment to the idea. She got BE PRESENT tattooed on her wrist. Now if ever there’s a constant reminder to set your phone down it had to be that right?

I texted her this week to see if she would write something about it and send me a pic.

Here are her thoughts

I had contemplated getting a tattoo for a long time but had the ultimate dilemma-what do I want to be branded with for the rest of my life? I had gone back and forth between different verses I loved but it seemed….forced (if you can say that about marking yourself with scripture 😉.

I went on a mission trip to Guatemala and while we were there Aaron Boyd was encouraging our group to be aware, to “be present” while interacting with the people we came in contact with. He said, “You never know when you’ll get the chance to hug that little child or smile at the woman selling coffee in the market or show Christ to someone walking on the street, so make the most of the time here.” I got to thinking about the impact of that statement, what would my life look like if I were to fully engage with it? What would happen if I disciplined myself to be present with my: thoughts, finances, time, people. This is exactly what Christ modeled; He was fully engaged with His Father and fully engaged with life. In every circumstance He was present, and lives were eternally changed because of it. This is is my constant reminder that I have one shot at life. One opportunity to make the most of this vapor. To be present.

I love this dedication.

I think the challenge is very real and I know there is cry in all of us that we really don’t want to miss the ‘real’ moments.

I have thought about banning technology on Christmas Day – there is a massive reality though that in doing that we would miss our chats across oceans, our face times with people who are like second family. Total abandonment isn’t practical, but what we are talking about is engaging in the now – in the presence of people lets be fully present. When we lift our phones in the presence of people it gives them the message that we are not interested and cuts them out of what we are doing in that moment. It creates a disconnect.

Perhaps screaming “be present” as funny as it was, genuinely brings people back in the room. I know when I was the guilty party, I genuinely hadn’t even realised and it was a reality slap in the face.

Have you checked what your phone usage is? You can find it on an iPhone in battery settings. The clock symbol to the right side will show it in real time. Perhaps it’s a horrific reality of how much time you spend on what apps but it is certainly eye opening. Go check it now – and take note. What are you wasting your minutes on? Can you change it? Should you change it? Do you need to think about deleting some apps that are stealing reality minutes?

At a mums and tots group earlier this month I got to share a little about christmas. I feel it’s taken me 10 years to do Christmas Day well. It really can be a manic day if we let it take control – but if we grab the reins and remember what it’s all about it can be fabulous. I now have some personal rules for Christmas Day.

I will not clean and tidy.
I will not stress at the mess.
I will not be stuck in the kitchen
I will play with the kids and their toys
I will be fully present

This is a day to be enjoyed fully.

For most of this to happen, I need to be fully prepared. Last year we hit a sweet spot. Everything was completed on Christmas Eve in terms of food and table. It was incredible and I felt like Wonder Woman. I can’t tell you what a relief that brought to me – I spent Christmas Day playing not cooking, and my kids loved it. I did not care about the state of our house at that moment. I think it may have been their best present from us – that we were present.

So that’s my challenge, whether it’s setting a phone or a pot down. Just do it. Be present. Be THE present. Life is for living and as Aaron keeps reminding me it’s not the warm up. Don’t miss it, it goes too fast.

The people around you will love it.

Let me leave you with the tear jerker IKEA Christmas advert to really hit it home.

IKEA Christmas ad 2015

Have a wonderful Christmas and remember to BE PRESENT.