Running With God

In high school I was a sports guy. I played Football (Offensive Line), Wrestled (215LB/HWT), Track & Field (Mid-distance, Shot put and Discus), and Lacrosse (Defense). I went from one season to the next each year for four years and all of them involved running. In football we ran suicide sprints the length of the football field if we had a good practice. Did you catch that? Imagine what we did when we had a bad practice. Wrestling involved more running and training than any sport on the planet. There were times when I was certain our coaches were trying to break us. Track and field there was running. Duh. Lacrosse is just soccer with weapons and more running. Running… Training… Exercise… and more running. WHY? Because doing the activity or exercise that nobody wants to do was going to make all the difference come game day.

Since the beginning of my time as a youth pastor, I have come to the conclusion that the “running” of youth ministry is Bible Study, devotions, Bible reading, or any type of daily consistent spiritually nourishing practice. It’s the thing that most students don’t want to do on their own. It takes time. It takes practice. Bible Study is the wind sprints of a life devoted to Jesus. At first you don’t want to do them and adding anything extra to an already overflowing schedule seems daunting. You might not understand the point of them right away. It’s hard. Insert your own or your student’s excuses here ________________ . However, when it comes time for you and your students to step out on the field of life and play it’s these times that are going to make all the difference in the world. That’s why the coach doesn’t mind listening to players whine and cry when it comes time to run. It’s training. The coach knows this. If they don’t make time for it now when it comes time to play it will be too late.

Your students might balk at the idea of doing daily devotions. Their parents might scold and hassle you because you’re adding something extra to their already overextended lives. But… studying and knowing God’s Word is one of the most important practices. There are times when we need to run wind sprints with God. But the very best part is that He’s running them with us. He’s right there, feet on the line, looking at us saying, “let’s do this together.” In the new Trek Bible Study we’ve included daily devotions for your students, not to give them more “work” to do but rather as a daily invite to come and run with God. Let’s help our students train now for the days when life will be rough and hard, but they’ll want to play anyway. They will want to step out on the field and meet everything head on. Why? Because for seven years they got up and have been training every day with God. Let’s teach them to do hard things now. Let’s teach them, model for them, and do life with them. Let’s train together.