My God

When I first began in youth ministry, I started attending a conference that centered on understanding youth and families and the way that they are shaped by a relationship with God and life in the church. The conference had great speakers, men who had devoted themselves to years of research and study. There was always a notebook full of statistical information gleaned with the latest tools and precise analysis. We spent hours talking about how ministry can help families be what God wants them to be, and about how the church can help plug youth and families into a growing relationship with Jesus. I appreciate all the expertise and wisdom that came with the conference, but my most striking memory is of the worship time. One time in particular, we sat and listened to a six minute excerpt of a sermon. The speaker spent the entire six minutes giving short phrases that all began with, “My God is…” Over and over, he painted a picture of God in his life. After we listened, the worship leader stood up and asked a question. “If you had the chance to fill six minutes describing God, how would you do it?” The Psalms is a collection of 150 different works of literature, all pointing to who God is and how He works in our lives. It is an amazing thing to think of how much our God wants to work in us and how much our God cares.