First All Area 2011

Tonight was the first YoungLife of the new year. Something I, and so many other people have been waiting on for a good long while. When I arrived, there were so many people there, and I was so excited, because I can't remember the last time I saw that many people in Roanoke's All Area before. Let's just say, there was so much hype it was almost uncontainable.

We started off the same way we would start off any other club, with a fun, upbeat song that everyone knows and loves. Livin' on a Prayer by Bon Jovi. What a perfect song to start off this new year. My friend Jack, who I haven't seen much of in the recent history, was so hyped, he and I were pretty much going crazy. That's one of things I love about YoungLife, you can, could, should,  are expected to go as crazy as you want. Kind of reminded me why I love Jack so much, he defines crazy hahah.

We played a new game also! Well, it's new to me at least. Called mill mill. It's a really fun game, and let's just say, the way we played, you can't afford to be shy.

While these games are all very fun, the real thing that I want to talk about is my boy, Andy Fetzer. Fetz gave the talk tonight at the end, and in the beginning of the talk, he shows us a video that portrays the beauty of Earth. All the different pictures, scenes, and all the real glory of God's creation put into a 4-5 minute video. The talk however, was not about the beauty of creation.

While God did create such a beautiful earth, full of beautiful things, all of these things are made more pale than a ghost when it compares to how much God really loves us. One of the most used terms is God's love for us. Well, I got a new way to think about God's love for us. Everything you see on this earth, is God simply telling you "I love you" Every tree you see is screaming "I love you" Every rock "I love you" Every snow flake "I love you".

Have you ever been loved THAT much? God loved us so much, not only did He send His Son, but He also gave us His creation. God gave us each and every single tree, every rock, every snow flake. He gave it to US! It's given to us while we are here on Earth. In the end, it's still His, but he lets us have it. That's how much he loves us. I find it very funny that we tend to think that everything on this earth can just pop out of no where. This is something that I know, God's creation is beautiful, and I know that it just takes my breath away on those perfect days when the sun is shining. Now that I think about the beauty of this creation looking at me and saying "TJ, I love you." It makes my heart swell. This is just a great representation of how much God really loves us.

I find it really cool that Fetz actually used his own son, Cane in his talk. He talked about how when Cane is about to go to be, he hops in his onesie(Lucky child, I wish I had one!) and brings his father 2 books. One is something about reptiles, and one is his little kids Bible. It explains the Bible in such ways that a kid can really understand it very easily.

I think the reading came from Isaiah, because the note at the end of it said something about Isaiah, but it talked about the prophecies of Jesus' birth, life, and resurrection. No one believed him. Of course, it became true about a thousand years later or something. Goes back to Jesus beating the odds. That's a completely different topic though.

I believe that the main point of this talk was to say, God loves us. That's the bottom line. We've all gone our own paths, but God sent us a Shepard. A man who will stop at nothing just to bring you back to the fold of God. I don't know about you guys, but I sure as heck know that I would not want some person who just left me for other things that are just nothing in comparison to me. That's one thing that I love about Christ. He does come after us, he does look for us every single day.

You mean to tell me that someone is constantly looking for me, to bring me back to where I belong? Yes, that and so much more. God is always ready to welcome you back into His arms with grace and love. That's one of the many things that I have learned while on my walk with Christ.

Where does this love stop? It doesn't. That's the best part about it. It is a never ending, perfect love. His love is never going to be any different 20 years down the road than it is right now. His love is so perfect, it kind of reminds me of the song Just the Way You Are. "If perfect's what you're looking for then just stay the same." It's Christ's love, perfect. It's never going to change. I wish that I could say the same thing about the way I love the people around me.

Well, as much as I would love to go on, I just simply can not think of anything else to really say on this. Fetz did a great job.

I love you guys.
TJ