Caution: Inspiration Contained within

Jesus, Mother Teresa, Bethany Hamilton, Nick Vujicic, Bono, Felix Baumgartner, Ghandi, Frodo. These are some people that are truly inspirational. While each of them are famous for different or similar reasons, they are all an inspiration to others.

Why are they inspirational: Some are leaders of movements, some pro athletes, amazing speakers/musicians, and one guy went on a huge journey even if it was fictional. They are inspirational because of things they have experienced or accomplished. They make us think about our lives in a unique ways.

Today I watched a video of a talk given by Nick Vujicic. You can watch it here.
He is truly an amazing speaker and very inspiring. God has given him many talents and not given him other things that give him a platform (watch the video or Google him and you will understand). I was floored by his story, I was amazed by the message he gave. Not because of what he has done, but because of what God has done in and through him.

Lately I have been thinking: How can I inspire the lives of the people I work with? How can I inspire the students I teach to be inspirational for other students? And the message I watched today was the reminder for me. I might not always be inspiring, and sometimes my students feel like their life isn't inspiring, but God is always inspiring. God is within us when we accept him, He has given us the Holy Spirit to do great things in us and through us. That is what I need to teach and how I can lead by example. We need to find those moments God has changed us and shown his power.

Students often say to me that their testimony is boring. Yes, my students testimony might be boring because they have never done anything. But if I help them see what God has done in and through them, their testimony will be inspiring. Because so often we make our testimonies about us and how we found God, but maybe we have that wrong. Maybe we need to be twisting it around to what God did to and is doing to us.

If we really want our lives to be inspirational we have to make others think about their own lives in a unique way. And that way can simply be by making people look for what God is doing in them. If they don't see God's work they might just be inspired to find out how to get God involved. If they already know they have God, maybe they will be inspired to dig a little deeper and find more ways God has worked in them.

I want to challenge you to take a moment and look within. Find what God has done in your life, because I promise if He is a part of your life he has done something truly inspirational.

-Kyle

Better off Ted

Veridian an R&D company that specializes in making crazy inventions and works hard to keep its employees motivated.

It got me thinking about how do we keep students motivated in their walk with Christ. I know its not our job to keep working at encouraging our students to walk further along in their journey with God.

We have lots of options that could work:

1. Give them money
2. Students get tickets every time they do something right- they get to redeem them for prizes like belt buckles, puppets, or even a nice new coffee mug
3. Tell them they are awful human beings for not doing what they should do.
or
4. We could maybe, possibly, perhaps model a life that is exciting and God inspired.

Over my years in camp ministry and youth ministry I have tried everything. I have tried positive reinforcement in every way shape and form, some have worked well but none as well as living it.

My students have the biggest B.S sensor ever. We live in a community that is full of fake people, so my students have honed there radar. The thing that has worked best for them, is showing that I care.

If I am talking about prayer, I better be modelling it. If I am talking about reading the Bible, I better be able to talk to them where I am in the Bible and what I am learning.

For instance, we have been walking through the book of Galatians. I was talking about how I was reading the chapter 3. The next day a students text me about something Bible related, its a good thing I was actually reading Galatians 3, because the student text me about a verse in it. If I hadn't been keeping up with where I was saying I was, that student would have known I lied.

How are you living what you teach?