A Beginning...

With all of the tumult of life, and with emphasis on how busy my life already is, I have decided to add a blog to the things that I do. My wife and I are leaders of a ministry to young people aged 9 to 12 years old. We call the group Infuzion. Infuzion has two basic focuses: 1 - on helping young people move as far along in their walk with God as they are able to understand, and 2 - helping those same young people find and develop their talents and giftings, and then encouraging them in them while they use them to serve God.

The concept is this... When a person is young, like under the age of 6 years old, most of who they are going to be is established. Most call these the formative years. We have a theory from watching others and from our own experience. Those same formative years seem to occur in a person when they choose to follow Christ. I have seen many examples of people that have come to Christ, and then been under some sort of authoritarian church leader, and I have seen some that have come to Christ and then been lead by someone that encourages their flock to become all that they can be. I have also run across many situations where someone comes out of the bad situation, and they still lives unde the negative beginnings of their faith. They never quite feel like they are good enough, or that they can do something that they really want to do.

A person's faith formative years can define who they are going to be for the rest of their life. It can be good, or it can be quenching.

What I want to try to do with this blog is to apply the Infuzion principle to different aspects of life. Infuzion has never been an idea that was meant to just hit the 9 to 12 year olds that we minister to. It is something that all who wish to be Christians should apply as well. Too many people have been squashed by words and attitudes of other people. God should be the one that defines who we are. Wasn't he the one that created each of us?

My pastor uses this little anecdote that he heard at a conference a few years ago. He says that the most valuable piece of land there is, is a graveyard. Think about all of the potential that died with those people... the books that could have been written.... the inventions that could have been made.... the businesses that could have been built.... the sermons that could have been preached.... the songs that could have been sung... all of the things that people could have accomplished but didn't because they didn't reach their full potential.

As a beginning, let me encourage you to reach for those things that you dream of. Try those things that you are interested in. Who knows? You may be incredible at them! Go after all that God has for you. Don't be afraid to try, and yes to sometimes fail. Learn from the failures, and pick up and try again... or even something else. Some people have talents that they have been afraid to use out of fear of what others might say or think. Others have talents that they have not used in years just out of neglect. God gave you those abilites. Go back and use them... refine them.

It is interesting the doors that you can unlock when you just apply these two ideas... Go after God, and use ALL of your talents for him. It is a change when you choose to be Living Infuzion.