Scripture and the coffee filter...

I had the enormous and humbling privilege of speaking to the high school students this Sunday. This is a venue usually held down by my cohort and partner in crime, Dylan. But, this Sunday I entered this incredible arena.

It was a marvelous time! We had some great discussion, a tad of silliness and the intentionally intrusive appearance of a man with a video camera. All this made for a quite interesting gathering. In reality, though, every time I speak to students, high school or middle school, it is interesting.

I talked with the students about 1 Thessalonians 5:21. We tried to discover together what exactly Paul was trying to communicate when he tells us to "test everything; hold fast to what is good." We discussed the idea of testing, or questioning or looking closely at everything that comes at us in life. From this we sought to understand what how we test everything; what is our standard, our filter? Thus, I illustrated this by describing a coffee filter. The coffee filter allows for all of the savory and rich coffee to come through but none of the tacky grounds. In the same manner, what is our filter for life?

As you may guess, the bible was the first answer. Though the right answer, I pressed them beyond the right answer and into the playing field of personal answers. "Sure the bible is to be our filter for life, but is that how you are actually living?" In other words, I questioned them past rote memory. This was a wonderful time of self examination (I hope).

As we contemplated this reality a bit more, we started to discover what we really think about how we filter and test all the things that bombard our lives on a daily basis.

So, I pray that it was a profitable time for the students, as it was for me. Please continue to pray for our students and for the ministry that God has given us charge over here.

For His Kingdom....