A Cool Youth Weekend

Mom blogs about it here: La Ferme des Kapi: Weekend at the Farm

I won't add much. I'd just say that we did something cool. We may have found a theme for next 20 years. As I've been really helped (and motivated) by John Piper's book: Don't Waste Your Life, we thought we would translate the concept to French.

Therefore, we can easily have a Don't Waste Your Sexuality, a Don't Waste Your Money, Don't Waste Your Treasure (aka Jesus) etc…

The concept went down really well. God was clearly working in our hearts. You can be praying that God would be glorified by lives lived fully for Him.

So Much to Write About

People tell me that a blog should limit itself to one or two topics. For example, if I want to do book reviews, I shouldn't do loads of theological topics, or talk about the persecuted church or random daily life. While I agree with the idea, it just isn't applicable for me (or I simply choose to ignore it). I will not do book reviews (in English). The blog world has several excellent readers that recommend great God-centered books. 

But just after today, I was reminded, that I would have to handle anywhere between 10-15 blogs if I were to be organized with my topics. I just can't bear that kind of strain. I'm just not THAT organized.

Today at school, I overheard (not engaged) a conversation about sex and all kinds of twisted ideas from the beauty of sex as God intends it. As I drove home, I saw a teenage girl fight with her boyfriends. My initial thought was, drop those jerks they're not for you. But then she gave them the finger and I just mourned for my generation. We are destroying ourselves. We go about not thinking, not wanting to think about the meaning of our life. Sleeping about, destroying the beauty of sexuality and of marriage and exchanging the satisfaction of God for worthless idols.

Then when I got home I glanced through the village paper. There was a schedule for the Family Planning section. On the same line were "contraceptives, abortion (in France they call it volontary interruption of pregnancy), and women's rights". I just wanted to burn the paper in sadness and in anger. If I wrote an article advertising my services to tell them about Jesus, it would be forbidden in our secular society. But to have feminists come and tell you what are the options available to kill your baby, that is welcomed!

Then of course I would also like to tell you about daily life in France and about daily Bible readings. There is also life in a small French church. There is so much to tell you about!

Shockwave 2009, Will You Be There?

Shockwave 2009 is from March 6 to March 8. Young Christians from around the world will gather to pray for the persecuted Christians around the world. Join us to pray that God would glorify himself through his children.

There is much meaning in the death of young people

My life as I now know is it is only because God has seized me. I've been allowed to know the greatness of Jesus' love on the cross. He died for my sins the death I ought to have died so that I can now live for God.

But God has also used the death of someone else to lead me on the path of life. Through the death a 17 year old I realized that my life was worthless unless lived for God. The first funeral of my life was for a young woman who'd just celebrated her 17th birthday. I was her age and it left me profoundly changed.

Where would I be today if it weren't for the speeding, drunk driver who killed Mikaela on a warm July evening? I'm thankful for the experience of her death, because I shudder to think how I might have wasted my life elsewhere. That I today serve God is by God's grace, that I was able to spend three years on the Doulos is by God's grace that summer evening.

These memories came back to me today because of a conversation I had with Y*, a girl in my class. I was reading a book and she asked if it was the Bible. It wasn't, it's the Confessions of Augustine I replied. This was the start of a conversation that allowed me to discover the hopelessness of my classmate's life. Her mother is a practicing Catholic and she also used to be, she explained. But when she was 17, her best friend was killed in an accident. They were
driving a scooter together and a driver clipped their bike. With a struggle, her friend managed to regain balance, but then hit a post on the side of the road and died on the spot. Y* survived the accident but attempted suicide which caused her to fall into a coma for three weeks. Since then, she knows she'll die when her time has come but doesn't see the need to believe in a God. They were both 17 years old as I was, but our reactions were very different. Y* was turned away from God and I was thrown into his arms.

There is much purpose in the death of our young people. I pray that Y* would see Jesus and choose joy rather than meaningless misery. I don't know who said this, but it is not a tragedy to die. The tragedy is to die and not be ready.