I want to be a star

Star. What do you think of when you hear that? Celebrities? Do you want to be a celebrity? American Idol?

Those were some of the ideas thrown out in the sermon today. I guess I'm probably still in the spirit of Christmas because I didn't even think about celebrities or American Idol. I was thinking about the star of Bethlehem, which is actually what our pastor was talking about.

Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe. Philippians 2:14-15

This is one verse that really stuck out to me today. The part that is in bold is kinda important to me since that's the part of the verse that my Bible case kinda quotes. My case says "You glow girl!"

A few things that my pastor said to me have stuck out to me. I know it was a few things, but I'm having a difficult time now remembering them, but I'll try my best.

One thing has to do with being stars. I don't particularly want to be a celebrity or anything. But I do want to do what God wants me to do. I want to shine for God. Sometimes we argue and complain about where God puts us, but He puts us in places that fit our abilities. Personally I don't want to argue with God. I am more than willing to go wherever He places me even if it's not that big of a job.

We may want to be out in the spotlight while God believes we need to be behind the scenes. Listen to Him. He knows what's right. I think I like being behind the scenes. Prayer was mentioned today. Sometimes we feel like the only thing we can do is pray. And sometimes we think prayer isn't that great.

Last year around this time when I talked to my pastor about youth group, he said I should pray about it and to be completely honest, I wasn't too happy about that answer. What's so good about prayer? Prayer isn't a big job. Prayer isn't something out in the spotlight. I didn't feel like I was doing anything to help the youth group by just praying.

Now I'm just a prayer warrior. It's not a spotlight job, but I think it's a bigger job than I originally thought it was. I don't know how much youth group has changed in a year, but I'm praying for a change to happen and I feel like something big is going to happen. When? I have no idea, but I just have a feeling.

I'm actually happy that I was put in this position. I like to pray. I have a prayer journal that I use because if I don't write down the names, I'll fall asleep before I get done praying. I've done that a couple of times actually. I'm more happy than I originally was because I've realized that this is something that needs to be done. It might not feel like anything is happening with the youth group right now, but God is working. We just have to have a little patience.

My pastor gave us a challenge today. The beginning of that verse says to do everything without complaining or arguing. He challenged us to go a week without complaining. I had to laugh at that. I've been through that before. Story time.

About 3 years ago when I was a freshman, I used to complain a ton. If you know me and think I complain a lot now, you might not have known me in 9th grade. Just about everything out of my mouth was negative and complaining. So at about the end of the school year, my Aunt Ann bet me that I couldn't go a week without complaining. She and my dad said they would pay me to not complain for a full week. Guess who won that? Yeah, I lasted two days.

So yeah, I'm all too familiar with that challenge. A lady at my church said I should try going 3 days this time. Because I'm more positive and don't really complain as much, I might be able to do that, but who knows. Some days are better for me than others.

You know another example of my complaining that I just thought of was my first mission trip. We did a video that year and the people who did it went around interviewing us for what we learned. I learned not to complain. Somehow I get really negative sometimes on those trips. Oh I don't want to do this or that. Tough luck. You're on that trip to do something, so get over it.

We do complain about where God puts us, but we really shouldn't. Whether it's an overly strict boss, a dinner you don't want to eat, a chore you don't want to do, or anything else. God is in control. He knows what's right for us and will put us where He sees fit no matter how we feel about it. We need to stop wasting our breath complaining and get out into the world to show everyone who Jesus is.

Who wants to see a negative, complaining Christian anyways?