What Am I Looking At?

A couple weeks ago, two thirds of my family took off to Myrtle Beach SC for a week long summer youth conference. This is only the second time in the last ten years that the bus full of luggage, teens and snacks has taken off without me. Although I did get to follow it down there a couple days later to rescue my mommy with a sore back. Nine hours of driving in my new car, baby. But the eye twitching in the last hour tells me that my limit should just be eight. Anyways, the few days of a silent house gave me a chance to remember several of the things I had learned while attending SeeSalt.

Yep, it's called SeeSalt. I know you're thinking "They spelled it wrong!" but no, it's intended to be that way. That, or they misspelled it while first creating the conference and never bothered to change it. But since the constant theme of the conference is being the light of the world and salt of the earth, Imma go with a purposeful misspelling. The conference is unique in more aspects then just its name though. Unlike many other youth conferences, they use no preaching in their evening worship services. At all. All of their messages are told through brilliant dramatic performances and it is quite effective. For someone like me who has grown up listening to sermons each Sunday, it's a refreshing change and always enjoyed it.

Every time I attended the conference, I came home having learned so much. While I could go on and on about all the various things I discovered, one of the things that has stayed with me is an interesting aspect of the story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17) that I never really considered before then. I forget the main point of the class I had heard this in, but the teacher went on to talk about how the Israelites were paralyzed in fear at the sight of the giant while young David confidently went to battle with him. She pointed out that the main issue the Israelites had was where they were placing their focus. While they were busy focusing on the size and muscle of the enemy, David was focusing on God and all His power. The people shook in their boots while David was peaceful and calm, knowing that their great and mighty God would give him the victory.

So who are we looking at? Who are we focusing on? Are we focusing on the problems standing before us ready to beat us to a bloody pulp? Or are we focusing on the God who has the power to use the abilities He gave us to defeat the threat? So often I get caught up in a paralyzing, dropped-jaw stare at the challenges facing me that I forget He promised He would take care of me no matter what. I need to divert my focus from the problems and place it on the ultimate Problem Solver. He's much bigger than my problem anyways, so why do I even bother wasting the time and energy by being scared of it? Apparently, that lesson is a little more difficult to learn than the ones at the conference.