Excuses, excuses... We are all full of them.

From the time we are children, we learn to make excuses. Maybe it is for not cleaning our room or taking out the garbage or not doing homework. This is a trick we all learn to do. Sadly as we get older, the excuses get more elaborate and we get better at coming up with them. Maybe it is going to the in-laws for Christmas, some reason for not going to the doctor or calling in sick to work because we just don't feel like working.

Sadly, in youth ministry the excuses fly around like crazy. Excuses for why we don't go to church on Sunday morning. Excuses for why we can't help out on the church work day. Excuses for why our families are falling apart at the seems. We are full of excuses. I was talking to a student one Sunday who told me they weren't going to attend refuel that night because they had too much homework to do. Now this student in one of our active students, so it kind of surprised me. I asked if they were still going to attend their team practice that afternoon and they told me they were. I just kind of glanced over my shoulder, gave a look, and was promptly told if they missed their team practice, then they would be kicked off and that I wouldn't kick them out of church. I told them just maybe.

I began to think about this and how many times, either before or after an event, I have heard excuses from students AND parents about why they didn't attend an event or come to refuel. Most of the time it is school or team or orchestra or family or something else that comes out. Now, please don't think I am saying that any one of those things are bad, but I am saying that our excuses come too easy. Church or Youth Group become the secondary in our life. A question I like to ask my athletes and their parents is when was the last time you missed a sporting event to come to church verses how many time they missed church to go to a sporting event. (or concert or Boy Scouts or whatever)

The eternal life of our students is my #1 reason for working with students. My heart hurts when I see them slip away from the church for any reason. I know life is hard and the pressure to perform is extra-ordinarily high on today's teenagers and we as adults normally don't help the matter. Over the next few weeks I will be blogging about this subject and more. As much as I may want to criticize families for not putting God or church first, I have some ideas that I want to share to help the families at our church become families that God can all be proud of.

I know I have tons of excuses and it seems my own kids have learned it as well. Lets begin to turn the tide of excuses and stop making them. I pray for all our families each day that we become stronger and fall more in love with God...