Turning Tide

Okay, so I used the Valueless post as a jumping point for the youth to try and talk about some of the more pressing evolution vs. creation issues. As usual I put several hours creating visuals and points to touch and rehearsing it a bit, only to be left with a ten minute window to stuff it into. Instead of even trying I gave up.

I just talked about how it is surrounding them, how it effected Pekka-Eric Auvinen, and how evolution teaches a lack of purpose. (Taking only a brief moment to let them know how important the topic is to me and that they can come to me whenever about these kinds of things.) From there we went over how we all have value, but sometimes those values seem to be in flux. Maybe because friends/enemies make comments and sometimes because we see what others have that we don't. Sometimes, as was the case in our evo-example, a value system can be learned by believing what the world tells us is the value for life.

Ending it all out by going over God's value for us. Noting the order and scale of creation; how it was all built for us, who are the focus of it. Noting that God has since then been patient, forgiving, and above all loving towards a rather...frustrating creation. Noting lastly that God's word tells us that our values are all equal and that value is set in stone, unchanging, no matter what we do that seems to change it (up or down). The nice thing is I saw some interest in both the evolution talk and the talk of values, though most of the kids were more interested in their chitchat.

When I look at what we covered I am satisfied. It's only when I think of all that had been prepared (20 hurried minutes worth) that I get frustrated; all that I want to share with them each time, which is (in reality) far too much for one sitting with our youth. So the deal is I'm probably going to press against our usual ten minute time span, but I'm going to mix in my passions as much as I can, when I can. I'll be using visuals and recent events more because that seemed to get interest and it helps them in thinking critically with current events. All in all, it isn't so bad, who knows, it may be the opening to a very nice chapter in youth devotions.