Day 20: What if I don't experience God?

Posted by: Caroline Enright (rising freshman at BHS)

Today’s devotional is asking where is God in the world, and am I still a disciple if I’ve never experienced God.

I honestly have this problem a lot in my life.  I hear all of these amazing stories about people feeling God and I’m like ok but what about me?  I also thought how can I follow Jesus if I have never really felt him.  Now I have seen God through people before like on choir tour, but I have never felt him hold my hand or anything. So what now?  How can I be a disciple of Christ if I have never felt him?

So two weeks ago I asked this at Wednesday night bible study and said that those miracles that the disciple saw through Jesus made it easy for them to be a disciple because they could feel God through those miracles that they saw every day.  But you never hear about someone being raised from the dead on the news every day.  Or do we?  What Jay and the girls at the bible study helped me realize was that miracles happen every day, and most of us look past them. We say oh that is just the doctors who saved that man’s life or it was just a surgery that made the blind person see.  The truth is that if we look at the simple miracles every day, everywhere you are sure to feel God in your life.   

Day 14: Perfect World

Posted by: Carter Heckle (rising freshman, MBA)

Today’s devotional is titled Living in a Perfect World. It is about a student who recently went to a church camp. He really liked it because of the positive atmosphere and the overall lack of bad influences, such as swearing and violence. When he got back, some of his friends told him he should go to a Christian school instead of a public school. He thinks God would want him to do that.

I personally don’t think it really matters what school you go to. You can be a Christian anywhere. I think that he could reverse the situation and look at the public school as an opportunity to serve Christ. He could be a true disciple and be a light in the non Christian school. In Mathew 28:19, Jesus says “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations.” The student would be following Jesus’ commandment by telling non Christians about God.  This relates to the bible passage because Peter wanted to stay on the mountain with Jesus. He thought it was a good place and he wanted to stay there, just like the student wanted to stay on the retreat. 

The moral of the story is that just because you want to be somewhere doesn’t mean you should be there. You could be doing something better for other people.

Day 12: No Hope

Posted by: Sarah Logan 

(rising Paige Middle 8th grader)

Day twelve’s devo is No Hope. It’s a story about kids at school who are involved in gangs, and how another student believes that they will never change, that they are beyond all hope. 

It’s sometimes hard to believe that people so different from me can change, or would want to change who they are. Throughout Jesus’ life, he visited will all kinds of people—rich people, poor people, and even criminals. He always believed that they could change if they chose to follow him. If Jesus believes that, then I know it must be true. 

As Jesus hung on the cross alongside criminals, he said to the one who believed in him, “Today you will be with me in paradise.” This proves that anyone, even criminals, can change. It would be scary to hang out with the “gangbangers” now, but hopefully they won’t be that way forever.

Day 09: Degrading Women

Posted by: Rachel Heckle (rising Freshman at BHS)
Todays devo was about a girl who really liked a guy but he kept saying crude coments to her. When she asked him to stop he dosen't take her seriously and tells her he is kidding. 

This devotional got me thinking that if I want to be a true follower of Christ then I need to surround myself with people who have the same values that I do. As we talked about some in Sunday School, being a true follower of Christ can be scary. Linda is very scared that if she keeps telling Todd to stop treating her badly that he will never like her, or go out with her. 

This is when Linda should think about what Jesus would do. Obviously Todd thinks that treating women badly isn't wrong, and that its even funny. When situations like this happen you need to step out of your comfort zone and realize that if anyone is treating you badly, they aren't worth your time. Would you really want to date a guy that has no respect for you? 

I know that sometimes I mess up and don't surround myself with people who love God and are followers of Christ, but this devo gets me thinking about how some of my friends act, and maybe I should be a true follower of Christ and break down the walls and find friends, and boyfriends with my same values.

Day 08: No Big Deal

Posted by: Chandler Elkins (rising Freshman at BHS)

So this passage is about explaining how Jesus felt about the people when he destroyed the market in the temple many years ago. 

I like this passage because it really taught me something. This is that we should all be careful about how we portray ourselves as "Christian people". This lesson has really challenged me to be a Christian on the other six days of the week besides sunday.

Day 04: Fear at School

Posted by: Jessica Armstrong (rising 8th grader at BMS)

Today’s devo was about the fears we feel at school, which I’m sure we’ve all been through. Whether it’s fear of bullies, or violence, or even just tests sometimes it’s hard to be a disciple of Jesus. 

Today’s devo was also about a rebellious Jesus. At first they enjoyed what Jesus said but when he said one thing they didn’t like they were very angry. That is very similar to the way people act towards others at school. But Jesus handled it well and just walked away. Many times in these situations at school that is exactly what we’re supposed to do, walk away.

Today’s devo got me thinking that you don’t have to be perfect to be a disciple of Jesus, and that’s not the goal either. It can be scary at times to be a disciple but if you trust in Jesus it’s totally worth it!