Not My Own

I don't need to hear it's not my fault and I don't need anyone to explain to me why I should or shouldn't feel this way. I am a writer. I just need to write. I welcome those who care to read/listen and learn from whatever God is doing in my life. I am not my own, so everything He puts on my heart to write is for His glory. I pray He uses my life as an open book to help others grow closer to Him. When I tried calling Andrew I bumped some numbers that somehow had my dad's phone number on speed dial. When I saw his name pop up in my phone my heart sank. This is for real... not a dream. He really is gone and I should probably delete his number in my phone so that I can live in the reality that he is gone. There is no reason to keep his phone number any more. Yet, I cannot seem to make myself delete it. Maybe if I call the number I will hear his voicemail and I can just hear his voice! No, that's so stupid. Wake up Sam. He is gone. I hit send anyway and listened ...

A few days ago when I was getting a drink of water in the youth kitchen I heard something rustling around behind the cupboards. It scared the junk out of me for a second because I knew I was the only one in the youth area at the time. Then I remembered it was just my friend Stewart, the mouse. I saw his tiny gray body dash across the counter top and instead of shreaking in terror and complaining to the trustees I just smiled and calmly said, "Hello Stewart." I could stress out about the mouse and worry what others would think if they saw him, or I could make a new friend and maybe even create a new youth game called "Catch the Mouse and get a prize!". This new attitude started making me wonder why I stress so much about little things in life. I have been at our church for four years now and mice in the youth area have always been a problem. I try to remind everyone not to leave food out and to clean up etc. We have left mouse traps and had pest control come. Ho...

This is a sermon written by one of my AMAZING students! I am blown away by his words and can hear God speaking clearly through this. I hope you can to!!!! Congregation, what should a church be like? I think it shouldn’t be a place to be at by 8:30 and squeak through, but a harbor for the lost and a spring of renewal for the redeemed. Let’s be honest though…is it really like that anymore? Do people come here to be rejuvenated in fellowship so that they may better spread the love of Christ? Or is it merely a place to come get your slate wiped clean so you can go about your life as normal? I see it every day, people who I KNOW are Christians, I know they love Jesus, but they’re sinning right along with rest of them. I’m not excluding myself, how else would I see it if I wasn’t right there with them? But today, on this great day celebrating our savior’s resurrection, I want to set things straight. Welcome to Sinners Anonymous! Now I know we can’t break this addictio...

Want to hear a joke? How do you prolong adolescence and have a job?... Become a youth pastor! This is not my favorite joke but I see how it applies. Being a youth pastor is a difficult role because most people see youth pastors as slightly older youth (although legally an adult) who temporarily oversee the youth until we find our "real job". In all honesty, many youth ministers I know are pretty immature, goofy, and are certainly not the most organized or responsible. We are a bit of a mess. This is what inspires me most! God constantly used people in the Bible who were broken! God used not only the imperfect people, but those who were insanely unqualified, not talented, had little faith, and mostly were a complete wreck! He used people who didn't even believe in themselves like Moses. He used Peter and Paul to start the entire foundation of the Christian Church and these guys were a wreck before and after meeting Christ.   The list goes on... but all this to say God LOVE...

Time is just the craziest thing. That's just what it is... a thing! It's not really a concept or an idea. It's not really a personality or character. It's real. It's moving. It's always moving. It cannot be stopped. I believe time to be one of the most valuable things we are gifted with on earth. Today, I turned twenty-six years old and I can't help but ask what have I done with the past twenty-six years of my life? I hope and pray it was time used to bring glory to God because if God is not in the picture than what's the point? As the author in Ecclesiastes states, "Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return"  If what we do on earth does not have a lasting effect to bring glory to God's Kingdom than it is absolutely meaningless. Sounds a bit harsh, but not when you have just experienced a birth and a death within the same season. I have been thinking about birth and death in abundance ...

 Your story started out as a testing of your faith. James 1:2-4 says..." Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds,because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." I believe this is the reason for my story too. A test of faith.  What does that mean? How do you know when you pass? What does it mean to really keep the faith? Did you consider it pure joy when your whole life went to hell?!  Did it feel like God was helping your faith mature when your own wife and friends told you to curse God and die? Job, how did it feel when one crappy thing in your life kept happening after another? Did you have times of hope during those times and then BAM another horrible thing would happen?" Did you believe you would be blessed in the end? What kept you strong? Dear Job... what was it like?! Were you surprised when a...

"One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to gooooooo!" My dad used to yell as he blasted me off his shoulders and into the water. He loved Lake George, a special place for the Ehlerts where our family cabin is. I never imagined at twenty five years old I would be dumping my dad's ashes into this same lake where so many good memories have taken place. Some of my earliest memories of my dad are being excited for him to come home from the army. I remember waiting outside on the steps of my grandparent's house and hugging him in his army uniform. One of my few memories before the divorce was my dad again in uniform sitting on the kitchen across from my mom and the both of them were arguing. My brother and I crawled back and forth on the floor switching between their laps. Since then I saw my dad every other weekend and every other Wednesday evening most of my childhood. In all honesty, we didn't have a close relationship. I had to over co...