Spritual Empahsis Week

     Andy Braner was our guest speaker for Spiritual Emphasis Week.  He runs Camp Kivu in Colorado.  He told us about his wife, kids, and his call to adoption.  The first day he also asked three questions that although at first seem simple are not:

1.  Is the sky really blue? How do you know?

2.  Am I really alive?

3.  Is there really a God?  How do you know?

When you really think about question number one you realize that the only reason we think the sky is blue is because someone has told us that it is.  Then you think about number 3 and think about how we know there is a God.  I had to ask myself if I believed in God just because my mom and dad believe of because God's Word tells me, or maybe some other reason.  It was really good for me to think about why I believe what I believe.

     The second day our main point was "BELIEVE?" The thing that struck me most when this came up on the screen was why was there a question mark.  We talked about objective truth and subjective truth, what these terms mean and how they relate to us and our beliefs.  Objective truth is truth that does not change, it is the same for everyone and not dependent based on the person.  Subjective truth is truth that can change from person to person.  As Christians we should believe that our Bible contains objective truth that what it says is true for everyone no matter what.  One thing he challenged us with this day was to think about why we do the right things; he challenged us to not just do it to check it off the list.

     The third and fourth days went hand in hand.  They both talked about how we behave.  He talked about how the stuff we put into our minds affects how we act and believe just like the food you eat affects the physical condition you are in. He gave us five main points:

1.  you are what you eat

2.  junk food changes physical shape just like

thoughts change your behavior

3.  junk food causes heart problems just like

unhealthy spiritual practices confuse

your spiritual life

4.  Junk food tastes good now but in the long-run

it has affects just like we don't always think

stuff effects us now but it does

5.  Apple a day...



    

He used these tangible ways that good and bad food effect our bodies to demonstrate the way the things we put into our bodies effect us.  I think all of them are self explanatory except maybe number 5.  The point of number five is that the apple is your daily time with God and putting that time in your day will just like an apple keep trouble away.  The next part of this lesson he showed what our world shows us to believe, particularly about love.  He showed us how music says to change who we are, just live for the day, and depend wholly on the person you are in a relationship with.  A phrase he used to sum up these two days was "As a man thinks in his heart, so is he."

     The final day he closed the week talking about the word BELONG.  He discussed our human nature to want to fit in with others and that those others should be like us.  We will have a desire to belong to a group of believers that we can relate to.  He challenged us to find ways we can give to one another and begin to belong to others.

     The three points I would use to sum up the topics of this week are:

          1.  Know what you believe.

          2.  Know how you act and what it looks like.

          3.  Know how to connect to other people.

The important part about these three points is that he didn't just give them to us but rather made us think about what we do believe and how we know it, about how we act and how to change it, and gave us tips to think about when looking to connect with others.  In conclusion I thought this week was great and that it made me think about so many new aspects to my faith that I haven't ever thought of.