In His House

"At the end of life we will not be judged by how many diplomas we have received, how much money we have made, how many great things we have done. We will be judged by "I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat, I was naked and you clothed me. I was homeless, and you took me in."-Mother Teresa 

In Psalm 27:4, David asks the Lord for just one thing, that he may dwell in the House of the Lord all of the days of his life. For the mighty and heroic, warrior king of Israel to prefer the God's house to his own palace tells us that there is something in the Lord's presence that all of David's fame, glory, and riches couldn't compete with. David found his peace, security, and worth not in the many things he had and had done, but solely in the Lord. This was the message we brought to the Hope Academy football team on the Westside of Chicago last friday. After a few hours of training and games we turned our attention to matters of the heart. As high schoolers these guys were beginning to learn what it meant to dwell in the house of the Lord.  Urging these young men to deny the many voices leading them away from the Lord, we brought them back to Jesus' words at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. There Jesus gave His listeners two options; build your house upon the rock, where rain and storm cannot destroy, or on the sand where it would surely perish. The guys on this football team are laying the foundation for the house that is their life with each decision they make. While so many forces are pulling them away from the Lord's house we urged them to build their lives around Jesus' teaching and dwell in His house rather than in the many prisons disguised as palaces the world has to offer. After this time we broke into smaller groups where these guys gave us an honest look into their lives and the hardships they face as 16,17 and 18 year olds. It was challenging to hear one player share of his father ending up in prison after pursuing everything but a relationship with his family and God. Against these odds, our new friend explained his determination to follow a different path and build his life on Jesus not on chasing different worldly pursuits. Before we left that day we urged them one last time to dwell in the Lord's house and to invest in relationships with the friends and coaches who's lives were built upon the rock and could help them do the same.

Back at camp the following week we took a trip for a day of service at Feed My Starving Children in Aurora, which prepares and sends food packages to hungry people around the world. On Thursday we asked the guys to sacrifice game day for a few hours of service. Putting two of the characteristics of men of God into practice, we accepted responsibility and rejected passivity by putting on some hair nets and preparing food for malnourished infants. We asked our group to accept the responsibility as people who have been given many material blessings, to help the many people of the world who have been given little. Over 60 of our guys rejected passivity by choosing to do something for those that are in need and it was a really positive experience. After the end of our time we prayed over the more than 5,000 potato based meals we had prepared. These meals would eventually reach children between 6 and 12 months in Haiti, Ghana, Nicaragua, Djibouti, and Burkina Faso. After a month of camp we are starting to see many of the kids begin to understand what it means to be a man of God and although it is exciting to hear them be able to memorize our core values and stories of men from the Bible, we are hoping that their hearts would be truly changed. Entering into our last week of camp we will focus the entire week on the Gospel. All summer we have been teaching the guys what it means to be a man of God and this week we will ask them to take a step and begin becoming that man. For some this will be a completely new idea and opportunity, for others it will mean making their parent's faith their own. Please be praying for these guys this week that they make be bold and step into their calling to be sons of God and pray for us as well that we can not only clearly communicate His truth but walk alongside them as they grow in the future weeks and months after camp ends.