What is the first thing that comes to mind when I say, "Catch Phrase?" Studies show that 86.3% of people's minds will go straight to the ever-popular game titled Catch Phrase, but my mind drifts to another answer: Seasons. Since I am no longer a college student, I can now use Wikipedia in my writing (for some reason professors thought a website that could be edited by anybody in the entire world was not a legitimate source...weirdos). Wikipedia says that a catch phrase is a “phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance.”
Here is a list the ten most over-used Movie Catch Phrases that I found
10) "You had me at hello." - Jerry Maguire
9) "I'm the king of the world." - Titanic
8) "Say hello to my little friend." - Scarface
7) "Run, Forest. Run!" - Forest Gump
6) "Show me the money." - Jerry Maguire
5) "You can't handle the truth!" - A Few Good Men
4) "May the force be with you." - Star Wars
3) "Houston, we have a problem." - Apollo 13
2) "...Bond. James Bond." - James Bond
1) "I'll be back." - Terminator
I don't know what is more disturbing: the fact that I cried in three of those movies or that Tom Cruise appears more than once in this list. But anyways back to catch phrases. Lately I have been hearing the catch phrase SEASONS around Southeast. I guess it is more like a catch word, but nonetheless I have heard people describing the life of a Christian as going through different seasons. And since the Fall Equinox begins tonight around 11:00 (the beginning of the Fall/Autumn season), I thought it would only be fitting to tell you guys about the season i am in right now.
I'm currently 1/3 the way through my year long internship with Southeast Student ministry under Cody Walker. It just blows my mind to think about how fast the time has gone by these past four months. A couple weeks ago, Cody asked me if I felt like I could lead a youth ministry.
Rather hesitantly, I squeaked out, "Um...I think so." In this season of my life, I feel like I struggle with so many things, but the biggest struggle is my sense of confidence. I really don't know why I am in this constant battle of thinking I won't be able to measure up . After speaking or interacting with students, people tell me that I do a great job. But I don't think accolades from people is what is going to cure my lack of confidence. Because when it comes down to it, I am not trying to please those people. I'm trying my best to glorify God in the way I lead students, and that scares me.
To be honest, I had no idea what I was going to write about in this post. I knew it had something to do with seasons, but this whole post is me thinking (or typing) out loud. When it comes to my confidence, I guess I've never realized why I lack so much of it until now. I know it cannot be because I can't get the job done, because I know I can. I have so many people in my life (Jim and Christine lift me up so much!) that tell me that I am doing a great thing, but I still come up short in feeling like I can accomplish what God has called me to do. Why is this? Because I fall into the temptation that a perfect God will not use an imperfect man like myself. Oh how wrong I am. Scripture is bursting with example after example of God using messed up people to fulfill His purpose. Lets count real quick how many imperfect people God used in the Bible. One, two, three...wait a minute. Everyone in the Bible except for one man (Bartholomew...oops. I meant Jesus) were unholy, not able to live up to God's standards.
So I guess what I'm trying to say is that sometimes I feel like God can't use me to bring Him glory because of my many (may I stress MANY) imperfections...and this is why I have low confidence sometimes in my ability to do student ministry. But I need to understand that God can and will continue to use the weaknesses of man to show His strength and glory. And I'm so thankful to be one of countless people God is using.
Oh, and as we are talking about seasons. What is your favorite season? Is Fall the greatest season? It is the only season that can go by two different names. Just something to ponder.
