College Group Night Uno

Well, we actually had a group! It was small (like, myself, my wife, and one recent high school grad...but another was coming and got confused as to the locale and went to the church instead of our house haha!), but I think it was worthwhile. We just hung out a bit, then ate some grilled beef (yummy), salad, and garlic bread (mmmmmm), then as we finished up eating started the Andy Stanley "Breakaway" video. It was a good video...not necessarily geared specifically for college agers though (Missy even said, "This might be better more for mid-20s and up"...and I may agree...), as Andy was obviously speaking to a cross-section of folk at his church. Still, we may watch one more of the series next week before deciding whether to "punt" or not after mission trip...

But last night's lesson was obviously an "intro" to a series, so just like the first movie of a trilogy often is, it's alot of "setup and character development with bits of action dropped in", so I'm hoping for more during the "meat" of the series. Still, I liked the main point, going off of Romans 12:2: http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=romans%2012:2&version=31. Just as God calls us to allow him to renew our minds (aka attitudes, beliefs, and thought processes), Andy talked about how our decisions (followed by outcomes) are directly a result of our core beliefs on those issues...and how when we don't always like the outcomes, we usually spend lots of energy on changing the decisions...but not questioning the root beliefs that drove them.

Probably the best example he gave was folks who have been married multiple times. Stanley said that he often meets with folks being married 2, 3, or more times, and when he asks them about what the "common denominator" was in each failed marriage, every time people say, "I keep marrying the wrong person...I'll get it right next time". Andy says that is SOOOOO missing the obvious point...the common denominator isn't the "wrong person" (as they are different people each time...thus not a "common" denominator), it is YOU (as in, the one who keeps getting married). And as a result, the habitual divorcee/er needs to allow God to renovate their core beliefs on that issue...because they can't expect others (the "decision" part of the equation) to always drive the desired outcome. I'm not saying (and I really don't think Andy is either...but like I said he's just setting up the series) that desired outcomes are all about "us" and what we simply want (and just gritting our teeth to get here), but it's about acknowledging and LIVING God's truth in all things...and allowing the outcomes to be "all God"...and resting in his will, no matter what...