So Much It Hurts

This week I talked to Joanna and Sarah Guhl about my last blog about the death star. Now when I usually dream about something I'm one of those big picture people who always forgets the details. It's good thing I've got super-organized and OCD friends (I love my friends for it though).

So as Joanna and Sarah listened to my thoughts (That takes courage by the way, sometimes I get a little out there) they brought up a good question. So there's all this energy and there's a focal point, which is God. But how does the energy get focused into that focal point?

I honestly didn't know. I've seen youth groups of different groups, christian classes with different cliques, and even small groups with segregated groups within them. Looking at that big picture makes it sure look like that energy is going everywhere except for the place it needs to be.

But then I looked even bigger. I was at SouledOut yesterday and I saw that the youth pastor was focusing that energy. He gave them a goal. He challenged them to raise 10,000 dollars in one year for AIDS in Africa. Middle schoolers? You've got to be kidding me...

Well, they've raised 5,700 dollars and their not even half-way through the school year. Now that's powerful.

One place where I saw huge power this week was in my Bible class. We talked about suicide, and my fellow students opened up in heart-pounding, gut-wrenching ways. I probably won't ever look at them the same.

My class has the amazing ability to be real with each other. Mr. Tharp, my Bible teacher, made the observation that the people in my class care for each other so hard it hurts. That compassion is rare. It's another reason that I totally think God put my class together to change the world.

It's about time to focus that compassion. First to help each other and then in turn to realize we can use that compassion to help the world.

My class doesn't realize the amount of courage in our compassion. That compassion can be focused for God. So next year I'm planning to start the class on an epic campaign. To raise loose change to loosen the chains of slaves all over the world. I can see God using our compassion to truly change the world. It's going to be bigger than anything our class has imagined.

It's something that's a commitment. In the Purpose Driven Life, Rick Warren says "Tell me what you're commited to and I'll tell you what you'll be in 20 years." Well, I'm telling you that if my class commits to focusing our compassion and passion on God, a new breed of leaders will rise up. The future is made by the courageous decisions young people make today. So may this start the journey of an epic campaign.