Where Do You Stand?

The above picture is of my church youth group, YPF. We came back yesterday from a week away together just outside Cardiff. It was an utterly phenomenal week, the highlight of my year. We went away and, in amongst stuff like going to the beach, boating, swimming and tying people up with handcuffs and cable ties and locking them outside at 1 am, we read, studied and heard teaching from the Bible all week. It may be an odd concept to those of you who don't really do church or religion but it was a brilliant week. It would have to be to make over 30 teenagers give up a week of their summer holidays.

If you're only an occasional reader of my blog or you don't know me very well then you may not know the fact that I'm a Christian. I love Jesus and my faith is the most important thing to me. It doesn't come up too often in my blogs; not because I am in ashamed or reluctant, just because I generally write about niche things to do with the music industry which don't too often provide a good opportunity to share Christianity. I'm not here to write about my struggling over whether to write a Christian or secular blog anyway. I'd just like to share something with you, especially those of you who aren't religious. Please keep reading, it won't take long what I have to say.

Throughout the week of YPF camp, we were taught from and went through a book in the Bible called 2 Peter- so called because it's the second letter written by St Peter, one of Jesus' closest Disciples and one of the biggest leaders of the early church. The whole message of the week was about making every effort to grow spiritually and to really think about where you are in relation to God. It was really helpful for me as a Christian and incredibly well timed. I'd just like to prompt a thought in the minds of the non or irreligious: where exactly do you stand with God?

Everyone has a standpoint with God. However much or little He features in your life, EVERYONE stands somewhere with God. Is yours apathy- you're not too bothered about whether He exists and, if He does, what effect that could have on your life? Is it utter disbelief- any idea of some omnipotent being is either just wishful thinking or idiocy, providing a crux to the foolish and weak minded? Are you a little curious- maybe there's something, you don't know what, you don't want to commit to anything, Maybe you had some kind of Sunday schooling when you were little and that's all you know, but you'd like to know a little more, just to see where it takes you. Maybe you feel totally adrift, wasted, lost or just a bit clueless in the midst of whatever is going on in your life and you've wondered if God possibly fits in anywhere?

I'm sure there are plenty of other attitudes towards God out there. Our individual experiences and lives shape how we feel about everything, including God. However, that doesn't mean that God is whatever you take him to be. Regardless of where you stand, God either exists or He doesn't, just as I either exist or I do not. John Lennon once sang that "God is a concept". If God exists, which I will endlessly tell you He does, then the Bible says that He is a being in the same way that you and I are. He thinks and He feels, so where you stand with Him means the world to Him. If God is real then knowing where you stand with Him is the most important thing in the universe. We live in a culture that totally minimizes the spiritual aspect of humans by heightening our physical desires for sex, drugs, food etc. and exploiting our emotional desires with things like film and TV. But your spiritual life has got to be the most important thing.

What you believe about God is the only thing that affects EVERYTHING you do. If you have no believe in God then your morals, what you think is right, wrong and permissible is totally different to someone who believes that God does exist. Something that massive, that powerful and all encompassing needs to be sorted out.

I would love to talk to anyone who'd like to know some more about God. Just to know where you're at and maybe answer some questions. Please, have no reservations of embarassements about emailing me (rhysydeesy@hotmail.co.uk), Facebooking, Twittering, phoning me, whatever! You've got to know where you stand with something that will affect your entire life and what happens after. God bless you!