Relentless Pursual of God.

November 1, 2012

By Alan Harris

What is an ordinary life?

You're born

You have parents

You get dedicated or baptized

You go to school

You go to church

You play

You watch TV

You listen to music

You play sports

You relate to your siblings

You do a bunch of fantasy activities that aren't reality.

You start to like the opposite sex.

You become aware of your sexuality. Body matures

You start working

You start driving

You experiment with sin

You refine your adult attitudes and beliefs

You graduate from High School

You go off to college or maybe into work

You graduate from College

You get a cookie cutter job

You date

You get married

You buy a house

You may go to church (because you're supposed to)

You watch TV & Movies, sports

You have kids

They get baptized

The cycle continues

At a Catholic Mass they pray for vocations, for priests and nuns. That's one road to take. People who are sensing a religious feeling might do that. That's cool. We need to collect money for seminarians. I just go to church on Sundays, take communion and go home. Makes me feel like I did something good.

Lay missionaries? What's that? People should just live their life and show their faith by how they live.

What do you need to be a full-time missionary for? Get a job. Support your family. Work for a living.

My kids? They don't care about God. I drag them to church on Sundays. A youth retreat? They wouldn't want to do that unless their friends were going. I can't make them go. They're too busy with school activities and sports. We have a conflict. They need to get ready for college. Friday's a football night. We're going out of town. We're just real busy.

I was a Jr High and High School teen once. We were Methodist. My parents didn't force me to go to anything spiritual other than going to church and Sunday School. God still drew me toward Him. I was sensing that religious feeling myself. There were meetings and places I could go to get deeper with God. Somebody was there to minister to me. Someone had dedicated their life to impacting young people with the Gospel. First was my high school youth leader, then lay missionaries entered my story when I was older. God interrupted the status quo. My homeo-stasis. My ordinary life was altered. I haven't felt part of the rat race since. I began looking at the world through God's eyes.

How many people at my High School went nuts for Jesus? None of my friends. How many college friends are in serious ministry? There's a lot actually.

Now I'm part of the Catholic church. They're nice people. They are faithful about going to mass. I don't know a whole lot about what they believe on the inside. They seem to like their religion to be predictable and a have a steady routine. They like what they have. They might not take to people coming in with a lot of new or fanatical stuff. Their kids are raised in the church. They go to keep their parents happy. They're Catholic. That's what they are. They don't seem to be very emotional about their faith, from what I can tell. I don't hear God brought up in their daily life much.

Do very many at any church know Jesus? I'm not a saint. I'm a sinner. But I have a relationship with Jesus that began in my late teens. Like I said, there was somebody in my path intentionally trying to wake me up in the Lord. I am not out to run a youth group at the parish level. Lori and I operate on a regional level. We want to see discipleship training like we received, but for Catholics. Give them a chance to go deep with God. They don't have to become clergy. They might, but lets establish and nourish their personal relationship with Jesus first. Set them on fire, and God will direct their life's vocation.

That's what we do. Not part time. We have 63 parishes in our diocese. We are authorized to work with all of them. We know or have met most of the priests. They have an idea who we are now. We continue to plow the hard ground looking for places we can plant a few seeds. In my personal history, I was one of the few young people that woke up. We're not seeing masses of youth flocking to the Lord. We're seeing some. We must be RELENTLESS. (that's our new word this year) We must not give up pursuing the ministry of the Holy Spirit in these young people's lives.

We want to show them how to be relentless pursuing God and then be used relentlessly to touch their world.

Otherwise they will remain in the routine, or maybe blow God off altogether.

I don't want an ordinary life.

This is my quest. This is my passion. How can we reach them? What youth age is too old to still be captivated? How young to we have to dive down to before they are lost on the secular conveyor belt of life? What is the age of accountability? We are asking those questions. Will you help me find the answers? Here's how you can help.

1. Pray. Intercede. We have one elderly friend who prays for us twice a day – on her knees.
2. Do you want to come help us?
3. Will you commit to monthly financial support? We still have 3 children to get through school and bills to pay. We are sacrificing our 60 hour work week to the Lord. That is our job, our vocation.