D-Now - Called 2 Follow

Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

                                                                              Matthew 16:2

This weekend I served as a Bible Study leader at a youth retreat at May Memorial Baptist Church. Being completely open and honest, I was extremely nervous going into this weekend. I'm at a place in my life where I'm working on trying to branch out of my comfort zone. This was a great way for me to get started on that goal. I knew God wanted me to be there and was working on me through this experience, so I was not only nervous, but very excited for this opportunity. Throughout the weekend we played fun games and ate great food, but most importantly worked on forming a closer relationship with God.

On the first night of the retreat, we met at Bethel Baptist Church for a fun evening. We ate a yummy dinner and started to get to know each other. The focus on the first night was "Who is Jesus?" One of the most impactful moments of the night to me was when the retreat pastor asked if Jesus was just a mutual friend on Facebook. This analogy really hit home for me. It's so important for Jesus not to just be a mutual friend, but for you to be best friends, for him to be someone you talk to and think about throughout your day/life. The theme song for the weekend was Follow You. This chorus of this song reminds us to lay all of our burdens down and follow Jesus. During worship we each wrote out burdens on a key symbolizing letting go and opening up the gate for Jesus. After worship I headed to my host home with the middle school girls. We further discussed the question "Who is Jesus?"

(Laying Down all of our Burdens)

Early Saturday morning we ate breakfast and left our host homes heading back to the church. Even though the weather turned yucky, we had a terrific day playing charades, mafia, eating tacos, and even going to play laser quest! This was a great bonding time for both youth groups. Later that evening we further opened our hearts through worship. On Saturday night, we further discussed giving up the one thing we are struggling to give up. Jesus asks each one of us to give up all of our riches and distractions in order to follow him. As we headed to our host homes we continued to ponder the idea of what does it mean to truly give it all up and follow Jesus. At our host home that evening we ate yummy snacks and discussed the saying “Do as I say, not as I do.” Instead of this, Jesus simply tells us to do as I do. How can we do as I do and remove the daily hardships of living a Christ centered life?

("Mafia")

(Moved through Music)

(The second night at the host homes! This night the girl's groups were combined.)

Sunday morning closed out our weekend. After a closing worship and worship at our own church we were to face the real challenge. It is so easy to drop everything and follow Jesus when we are surrounded by people who also are trying to follow Jesus. The real challenge after leaving such a Christ centered weekend is to allow Christ to also be the center of your life.

(The Whole Group after a SWEET Weekend!)

I pray that I have the strength to follow Jesus not only as a mutual friend, but as my best friend. I am so blessed to have been able to have been asked to participate in such an amazing weekend.