Making the Most of Your Senior Year (aka Punching Senioritis in the Face)

This post is for friends who are in their senior year of high school. 

The senior year of high school can be one of the most awesome years of your life. You’ve gotten into your niche in academics or sports or band or whatever at school.  You get to do college visits!  You get to do crazy fun stuff with really cool friends!

It can also be one of the most stressful.  There’s relational stress with friends.  There’s emotional stress as you figure out what you’re going to do with the rest of your life. There’s physical stress with late nights and big assignments and lots of activities.   And there’s that awkward tension with your parents as you try to figure out how to be an adult and they try to figure out how to let you be one.

And it can also be one of the most blah.  When some people get to their senior year there’s this weird feeling of “blah” that settles on them.  They have a hard time finding motivation to get important assignments and responsibilities accomplished.  Some people call it “senioritis.”

Whatever your year has been like so far, here are a couple tips to make the most of the rest of it.

1. Enjoy it!

With college on the horizon, it’s easy to become far-sighted during your final months of high school. That’s why you should be careful to not miss the amazing moments sitting right in front of you. Your senior year can be one of the most rewarding and enjoyable years you’ve had yet. Enjoy the special times and opportunities that will surround you. Takes lots of pics and videos.  You’ll only be a high school senior once — hopefully — so get out there and make some memories.

2.     Think Long Term—Don’t  grab at short term thrills

How are you giving up long term good for a present thrill? Think about your decisions with money, school, and even sexual purity. Don’t sacrifice God’s great plan for you for a temporary pleasure. Many who are sexually active or involved in drinking or recreational drugs in high school pay a heavy price down the road.  It’s not always easy to say no, but it is worth it. You may not feel like continuing to follow Jesus and doing the right thing now, but remember, “No eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him” (1 Corinthians 2:9). It will be worth it in the end.

3.     Leave a legacy

As your thoughts and plans become more and more focused on next year, remember that you still have work to do where you are now. You are a senior. You are a leader. God has called you to be where you are “for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). Don’t try to fast-forward to college. Instead, make your senior year count. Seek God for courage and strength to make a mark for Him and leave a legacy behind you.  Find a way to make a difference and then do it!

4.     Mentor a younger student.

Remember those high school seniors you used to look up to a few years ago? Now’s your chance to be that person for someone else. Take the opportunity to build some positive relationships with those who are younger than you and to be a role model for them. Whether you’re on the football field, in the classroom or at your church, you just might be surprised who’s watching you, and you never know how much of an impact you could make on their life.

5.     Thank a mentor

There have been lots of people who have helped you get where you are.  Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, teachers, youth workers, have all put energy and sweat in order to help you get where you are.  Take a moment to think about who has impacted you.  And then thank them.  Tell them what it was about their life that impacted you the most.  Believe it or not, your word of encouragement might be just what they need that day.

6.     Spend quality time with your family.

You likely won’t be seeing your family as often once you move off to college, and many college freshmen are surprised by how difficult this turns out to be. When your little sister wants you to play a game of Sorry with her or your parents suggest a trip out for ice cream, say yes and cherish the time spent with them. There will be days next year when you will wish you had the opportunity to enjoy those kinds of moments together.

7.     Let Jesus be your mentor, friend and guide—PRAY A LOT

This really is the most important.  Jesus wants to involve you in His mission to redeem this world, in His plan to show his love to all people.  Do not push Him to the side in your efforts to enjoy your final year of high school.  The more you ignore Him, the easier it will be to ignore him.  But instead of that, “let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.” (Hebrews 12:1b-2a) Fix your mind and your heart on Him.  Allow Him to mentor you, to be your friend and to guide you through this school year.  This means spending time in prayer, talking with him, listening to him.  As you do that, he will shape you into the person you need to be for this time and prepare you for whatever comes next.

This list has been inspired by and adapted from two interweb articles. Here they are:

http://www.evangel.edu/2013/10/09/15-things-senior-year-high-school/ and http://fervr.net/teen-life/dont-give-up

My Friend Doug Paul Has Moved

My good friend (so good he was my best man and I his!) Doug Paul (not this Doug Paul, the original sounding voice actor) has been a part of a church plant called Eikon for the past few years and has been blogging about the church's journey.  He has moved his blog.  I think it looks quite nice!


Also, if you are interested in the way of discipleship that his church is following, check out 3DM.  Very rooted, spirit-filled and innovative stuff happening through this.  Alan Hirsch, who has some great work on missional church work,  recommends 3DM with this youtube video.


This video does a good job of explaining why they are doing what they are doing the way they are doing it.

A Song From Chapel

One of my fav

orite parts of coming out to seminary (www.nts.edu) is that twice a week all the students come together for chapel. And during the module sessions (which last four hours!), that means that we stop our classes and join together for worship. It's a way of saying that while we're here to grow in our understanding of God, Scripture and the Church, true education is incomplete without worship. We could certainly learn an abundance of facts and preaching methods, but these fall flat without an adoration of God, without a love of God.

Well, today we had a singing and prayer service centered on God's call for the church. The prayer time was beautiful as we offered prayers of gratitude, prayers for God's people and prayers for the persecuted church.

After the prayers we sang a song that I am unfamiliar with, but the words were so powerful to me that I thought I'd share them with the intranet world. Thanks to the Oremus Hymnal for having this.

The Church's One Foundation

Samuel John Stone, 1868

The Church's one foundation
is Jesus Christ her Lord;
she is his new creation,
by water and the word:
from heaven he came and sought her
to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her,
and for her life he died.

Elect from every nation,
yet one o'er all the earth,
her charter of salvation,
one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy Name she blesses,
partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses,
with every grace endued.

Though with a scornful wonder
men see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder,
by heresies distressed;
yet saints their watch are keeping,
their cry goes up, "How long?"
and soon the night of weeping
shall be the morn of song.

Mid toil and tribulation,
and tumult of her war
she waits the consummation
of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious
her longing eyes are blessed,
and the great Church victorious
shall be the Church at rest.

Yet she on earth hath union
with God, the Three in one,
and mystic sweet communion
with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy!
Lord, give us grace that we
like them, the meek and lowly,
on high may dwell with thee.

Some www wanderings...Francis Chan and Children Labeled 'Bipolar' 02.10.2010

So, I really like Francis Chan. He's the pastor of Cornerstone Church (cool website, btw) in CA, and author of some cool books including an interactive one called Crazy Love (check it out at Amazon, but if you're gonna buy it new, but it from Hearts and Minds). But I don't get to hear him often. Last I heard him was at Nazarene Youth Conference 2007 and that was a blast.

But I stumbled across somebody's sermon notes from his session at Verge2010. My favorite line: "Be courageous – Biblically. Erase what you’ve seen everywhere else – and just go to the Bible. Don’t just go around to other patterns – to tweak what other people are doing. Have the courage to read the Bible and do what it says."

I also heard that Flannel (the guys who do Rob Bell's Nooma's) is putting out a new series featuring Francis Chan! I'm looking forward to these and will most likely feature them in our Sunday morning format with our teens!

In other news: the diagnosis for children who show symptoms of bipolar is being reconsidered. It will be interesting to see how this plays out...In between all the posts on this crazy winter weather, I found this post.

Together

Some ponderings from my Theology of Church and Ministry notes.

I've been asked before "How is your relationship with God?" Usually it causes me to ponder and reflect, finding those places of joy and sources of sorrow. Sometimes I've used the question with teens. The usual response is, "Um, good, I think." Okay. Good. What's that mean?

Anyway, I've been thinking about the question and wondering if it can be asked in this way, "How is our relationship with God?" or "How is your family's relationship with God?" Is it possible to relate to God together? If so, what does this look like? Is it only on Sunday morning or through Bible Study or serving?

When Christianity has primarily been viewed through the individualistic lens of "my relationship with God", it is important that we ask further questions, guiding us to examine how "we" are relating to God together. I know this, but I'm wrestling with what it looks like.

So, I've just typed about 13 sentences. Incoherent they seem to me now that I look over them, but I wanted to see what my ten readers think.

How do we relate to God together? Is it possible to evaluate/measure/picture a community's relationship with God?

what if...

what if love was the hallmark of the church?

what if people left the church because the community loves so much?

Good Conversations

here.

focusing on these questions:

What do we all have in common that keeps Christianity alive?
What does it mean to be a practicing community of faith?
What are the basics of Christian practice that we have forgotten?
How can we truly change the church to embrace our diversity and bridge our differences?

my friend brian pointed me here.

also friend from college just discovered on blogosphere. mr. swaim. good kid, he is.