Who are we really???

Ever since Wednesday night youth group, I've been thinking about this word-integrity. I think it's a very appropriate topic for the youth group as a whole...but especially for the 18 of us who are heading to Gabon this summer. There's a tendancy to look at a trip like this as a big EVENT in our lives...like going there will be this grand gesture we deposit into our "life account". The months leading up to the EVENT are spent raising funds, getting immunizations and applying for Passports and Visas. But, do we recognize our desperate need to set ourselves apart today...right now, months before the EVENT?

As defined on Wednesday, integrity is who we are when no one is watching. It's what we do with our time when no one is watching. It's what we type in a text when only a certain friend is watching. It's how we spend our money. How we respond to a crisis. It's so many, many things.

How are we doing today? If we wait until June to put on our "Christian-duty" jackets to head out and serve, we will have missed many, many opportunities to BE Christ today.

Preparing for a missions trip is so much more than raising funds and checking off a To-Do list. It's intentionally living TODAY for Jesus. It's seeing that the creepiest kid in school needs a friend, or a kind word. It's noticing that your little brother needs help studying for his Science test. It's sacrificing your favorite tv show because you haven't had QUIET or STILLNESS in your life for a month. It's respecting your parents rules even when they seem unfair. It's doing what is right BECAUSE it is right...all the time.

It's not possible to do what is right ALL the time...but we can certainly make it a conscious decision to TRY. No matter how old we get, we'll struggle with fitting in too snuggly in this world. We'll struggle with tearing ourselves away from the seemingly harmless things that distract us from lives of Holiness and Integrity.

It is the plight of every Christian...to see Him in every corner of our life and respond to Him with our full attention and obedience.

Let us be people who don't accidently do what is right...but people who intentionally strive to BE who God commands us to be. People of Integrity with HEARTS that beat like His...today, where we find ourselves--not just on a foreign field where it's expected.