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YS STUDENT NEWSLETTER #331
March 3, 2008
Contents
1. Something for Your Heart
2. Surf Report
3. Forgettable Fact
4. Potent Quotables
5. Uh, That's Funny?
LEARN HOW TO BE A NEW KIND OF SUPERMODEL
We all have big dreams. In "Confessions of a Not-So-Super Model" you'll begin to reshape the way you see yourself and the way you dream. You'll find that God's plans for you may far exceed your own dreams.
Learn more about "Confessions of a Not-So-Super Model" here.
https://shop.youthspecialties.com/store/product.php?productid=574
Also available in your local Christian bookstore.
Find a Christian bookstore near you:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/store/dealers/
1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART
PLATFORM
Confession: I am a passionate person and when I'm passionate about something, I want to share it with others. In middle school I wanted to save the whales, and I believed everyone else should want to save them, too. When I find a drink I love, I tell everyone how amazing it is and insist that they try it, too. (7-Eleven Slurpees are amazing!) I think it's important to chew lots of gum and hang out with people you love. I think women should have equal opportunities in the church and in our world. I'm passionate about helping those who are oppressed and use curriculum like "The Justice Mission" and 30 Hour Famine materials in my youth group. I think everyone should wear clothes made by socially-minded companies. (My personal favorite: www.jedidiahusa.com.) I support friends who have the courage to start their own businesses.
When I believe in something, I share it with the world. I guess you could call me a platform junkie.
One of the many joys of being a festival queen is having the opportunity to share your platform. Now when I say "platform," I'm not talking about the stage that contestants stand on during the pageant. I'm referring to the things you stand for, what you represent, the views you want to share with the community when given the chance.
I found out that being a festival queen was far more than dressing up and waving in a parade. It's also about representing your town and festival. My family loves the town of Nelsonville very much, and their love for the town gave inspiration to my long weekends on the road to the next festival. To my new queen friends and to the people who heard my speech at festivals all over Ohio that year, I represented Nelsonville and the Parade of the Hills.
My platform as Miss Parade of the Hills consisted of a quick speech I would share at each festival I attended. Some time during each weekend, all the queens would line up on stage and "sell" their various festivals. My speech changed from week to week, but the basics were pretty much the same each time. It went something like this...
"Hello, my name is Brooklyn Alvis, 1996-1997 Miss Parade of the Hills. The Parade of the Hills is held annually the third week of August every year on Nelsonville's public square. Our festival includes local artists, an old-time fiddlers' contest, a 5K run, and the queen's competition. The week ends with a parade and plenty of food, fun, and friendship for everyone. Whether you're young, old, or somewhere in between, the Parade of the Hills seeks to bring families together, encourage community cooperation, and celebrate music, arts, and our fine Appalachian history. So head down Route 33 and join us this year at the Parade of the Hills! Thank you, and we hope to see you this August."
At first, this speech didn't mean a whole lot to me. But over time, after seeing the ways being a festival queen had brought me new friends and a better understanding of other people, I began to really believe what I was saying. The Parade of the Hills will never make national headlines. But it brings families and friends together to celebrate some of the things that matter most. I was proud to be Miss Parade of the Hills because the people who chose me believed I represented the values and beauty they hoped to see emulated in their festival. It was an honor to be chosen as festival queen in the town where many members of my family grew up and still live today. So over time, I felt more and more enthusiasm for my platform of sharing the hopes of our festival and offering an open invitation for all to come to Nelsonville and experience a week where everyone comes together as one.
Whether we've won a festival competition or not, we all have a platform. We all have to decide what we want to represent, what's important for us to share with the world. Although I am no longer Miss Parade of the Hills, I still have a platform as a follower of Christ that's been pretty consistent throughout my life.
First, I know I am saved by God's grace. I am forever thankful for God's forgiveness and for Christ's love and compassion for me and every soul who seeks it.
Second, I believe the Holy Spirit guides and protects us even during our darkest moments.
The third key point in my personal platform is the belief that God has created every one of us with unique and special gifts. There's no other person in the entire world who has the exact combination of gifts you have. I like to tell my students that if they don't share their unique gifts, passions, and strengths with the world, then no one else can. The same is true for you. No one else has what you have to offer. If you don't share those gifts, you are robbing the world of an opportunity to see part of God's image that no other person can reveal. This makes you unique. This makes you rare and highly valuable.
You reveal a piece of God's likeness that no one else shares. To deny the person you are in Christ is to hide something valuable and wonderful. Trusting that God has made you for a specific purpose can give you confidence when you feel like you have no purpose. You are beloved.
Trouble seems to camp out in our backyards in the form of doubts, low self-esteem, relationship problems, family dysfunction, heartbreak, schoolwork, and peer pressure. But when we learn to dwell in the house of God, we prevent trouble from creeping into the houses of our hearts.
Nothing can separate you from the love that keeps you seeking truth. Nothing can stand in the way of you sharing your life with the world. It is our ministry to one another to reveal God's character, to participate in God's love.
WHAT'S YOUR PLATFORM?
Each of us must decide what we stand for. What we say and do in life reflects who we are deep inside, and maybe more importantly whose we are. If God's fruit and God's nature dwells deep, that's what is going to come forth in our actions and in our speech.
Mother Teresa had a platform of love. She spent her life caring for those who were lost and lonely. Her book, In the Heart of the World (MJF Books, 1997), includes a prayer that reflects the spirit of her work: "Shine through me, and be in me, so that every soul I come in contact with may feel your presence in my soul. Let them look up and see no longer me, but only you, O Lord!"
Rahab had a platform of faith. In the book of Joshua, we learn that Rahab had been living a life of sin as a prostitute. But she realized her need for redemption and hid Israelite spies who were being pursued by the King of Jericho (Joshua 2:1-21). She did not let her past or her pride get in the way of her belief in God.
Learning was central to the platform of Jesus' friend Mary. When Jesus visited the house of sisters Mary and Martha, Mary sat at Jesus' feet, setting her heart on every word that came from his mouth (Luke 10:38-42). Her sister, Martha, scurried around the house cleaning up, jealous that Mary was getting to spend time with Jesus and angry that she wasn't helping out. Mary's platform was to be a learner; Martha's was to be a pleaser. Each of them chose what she would be about that day when Jesus came to their home.
Bethany Hamilton's platform is focused on God's saving love. In 2003, at the age of 13, Bethany was attacked by a 14-foot tiger shark while surfing in Hawaii. Bethany lost her arm in the attack but chose to resume her professional surfing career and use this tragic experience as a platform to share what God had done in her life. Her deep and abiding faith became a catalyst for sharing the good news of Christ and the hope that is available even in the worst circumstances. Bethany's life is a speech testifying to the power of God's love.
We could list many other examples, the greatest of these being Christ, who never gave up his platform of love and forgiveness. His dream comes true every time one of his children turns to him for forgiveness and decides to live out the calling given to each of them.
Even if you never give a speech in a microphone, your life speaks to the world each day. What does your life say about what is most important to you? What message do people hear when they listen to the platform of your life?
YOUR CONFESSIONS
*Have you felt afraid to share with a friend about something you believed strongly?
*What is unique about you? Could this uniqueness lead to a platform that could be used by God?
*Would your friends say you have a platform? If other were to look at the things you value in your life, how might they describe your platform? Try to be as honest as possible.
**
Taken from "Confessions of a Not-So-Super Model" by Brooklyn Lindsey, copyright 2008, Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here.
https://shop.youthspecialties.com/store/product.php?productid=574
2. SURF REPORT
~ Engineer Your Life: A Site to Encourage Teenage Girls to Pursue Engineering
http://www.engineeryourlife.org/
~ Bite Back: Help End Malaria in Africa for only $10
http://www.biteback.net/
3. FORGETTABLE FACT
It is possible to see a rainbow at night.
4. POTENT QUOTABLES
"There is within every soul a thirst for happiness and meaning."
~Thomas Aquinas
"All the troubles of life come upon us because we refuse to sit quietly for a while each day in our rooms."
~Blaise Pascal
5. UH, THAT'S FUNNY?
Q: What's green and purple and wants revenge?
A: The grapes of wrath
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