Youth in Transition...

The World is Yours...

It's an exciting time to be a student! Social media has made it possible for you to keep in touch with people you know from around the country, and around the globe. You may not believe this, but earlier generations are slower to pick up on all the blogging, tweeting, Facebooking, and YouTubing that is second-nature to you because they've never had it before! You have the chance to teach us a thing or two, and I personally welcome you to join the world of contributors and thinkers that affect our culture. You have influence now, and this blog is dedicated to you!

You have opportunities available to you that your parents scarcely dreamed of, but you also have more to worry about than they did. As you join the JHigh fray, you find that the world can be more difficult than you thought. Feelings get hurt, friends can turn on you, and the expectations others have for you may leave you feeling like you never quite measure up. Students just like you, for decades upon decades, have been dealing with the same difficulties. But what is newer for you is the rise of school shootings, bombings, suicides, bullying, and depression that is affecting students your age at an alarming rate. Before you graduate from high school, you have more opportunities than any previous generation to soar as leaders or sink as victims - and the choice is up to you!

Youth In Transition is a blog by Lakeside Christian Church's L*A*O Youth Ministries. But it's for anyone who needs a leg up, who wants to find a bit of peace for today and a bucket of hope for the future. We hope to empower you online the same way we strive to empower our students in our meetings: to attain the fullness of life that God intended for you - through God, in Christ, and alongside other believers. We weren't meant to do life alone so we hope you'll join us for the journey! You may be a little curious about what the name means, so let me take a quick detour to explain.

L*A*O is a play on words–these three letters are easy to remember and meaningful when explained. When spoken as the letters themselves (with emphasis on the ‘A’), you have actually pronounced the Greek word ‘eleéō’(pronounced, ěl'ā'ō), which means “to show mercy.”  According to people smarter than me, eleéō carries the action of éleos, which means “mercy.” In the Greek version of the OT (Septuagint, or LXX) this verb is used to describe an action more than a state of being, especially acts of love. It especially refers to God’s mercy and stresses His faithfulness to be merciful. The NT uses eleéō to describe both God’s mercy to us–now shown in the saving act of Jesus Christ’s sacrifice–and the attitude of mercy that God requires of us. What's so great about this word is that the thrust of the word is not just on attitude but how that attitude provokes merciful action (i.e. the good Samaritan). Tied in this title is a mnemonic (or memory device) that at once helps us to learn how 1) God has lovingly saved us through Christ and 2) how we should show others practical love and mercy as well.

Your life is not defined by past mistakes, by present pain, or any fears about the future. You're not defined by the way people treat you or what they think of you. You are defined by the greatness of the God who made you! You may not feel like that's true right now, but if you give us the chance we will prove it to you. You are transitioning from a youth to an adult and we're all excited to watch you as you are becoming the amazing person you were designed to be. 

We hope that here you find the truth - that you are of infinite value to us and to the God who created you to be extraordinary in the midst of everyday life! You are God's masterpiece, the only YOU in existence - do you get that?! You are the rarest treasure on earth because you're the only existing however many pounds of 'you' that there is on the face of this huge earth... and God LOVES you!! That should absolutely blow. your. mind! It blows my mind, as it should, because I'm an adult in transition...