Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Attention Span






I am very often baffled by some youth's behavior in the YPG meetings.

They get sooooooo easily distracted. Why?

Before going any further, let's analyze their behavior at school first for comparison's sake.

From what I heard, 'cause I never went to school here in America, a student can spend 6 to 8 hours in school, DAILY.

Some of them have told me that after 2 hours of class your head begins spinning around. You feel like asking the teacher for a break, before the real break time.

Well, they can't do that. So, they re-gain concentration and force their brains to focus on the particular subject. There isn't much choice. They have to be there no matter what. Otherwise they bomb out, flop at the end of the year.

To think of the possibility of having to be an employee for the rest of their lives, never becoming financially independent or seeing their peers becoming successful when they are just one more among the crowd is very painful. 

Specially if you have someone in your family like an uncle or cousin, maybe even one of your parents who never achieved anything great in life. You say to yourself, 'No way I will end up like one of them!'

Okay. Now, let's talk about the YPG now. The time spent in the youth meetings, which varies between an hour to an hour and half, twice a week only, is no where near to the seven hours spent inside classrooms daily. 

Please, don't get me wrong, but some teachers are way more boring them we pastors!

In some of the meetings the youths are even allowed to share their opinion and thoughts. They hear testimonies of other youths whose lives have been changed dramatically, we take sometime to talk to God, express our feelings, etc. All this in 1 hour!

It goes without saying that on Sundays we have a lot of fun, which in a classroom it'd be impossible to happen.

Why is it then that they cannot remember what was preached last Sunday in the YPG meeting?

Why is it that they show less interest in absorbing as much of the message as possible, knowing their lives depend on that very Word? 

Why is it that they come one week or two and miss four or five? 

Aren't we dealing with something much more important than career here? 

Something called LIFE?

Can we be TRULY be successful in life without God's companionship? Can we? 

Hence, as I said right at the beginning of this blog, this whole attitude baffles me.

I wonder if they are expecting to show God their report card, where it shows that they were A+ students, in order to be accepted into His Kingdom.




Pr Luke Castro
YPG National Coordinator



12 comments:

Debora Anjos said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Debora Anjos said...

This is so strong Pastor. Bishop Renato had a blog post that relates to this.
In today's society "Education" can be a God. Parents won't allow their children to get bad grades, will ground them for it, will pay for extra classes etc just to make sure their children have a good education. And thus, a good future - or so they think.

However, when it comes to the things of God, a C- and even a F is acceptable. As a matter of fact, from what we've learned, there's no C-, we're either A+ students in the things of God or we already flunk in our spiritual life, which should be quite a state scary for people.

"O mundo jaz do maligno", therefore the things of the world don't make much sense in the sight of the things of God

Bianca Moctezuma said...

Wow this is really true and strong message.
In school we might be doing great with A+ but what about our spiritual life? We should be an A+ in our spiritual life.
Thanks for the post Pastor.

Revolted_Manila said...

Hi Ptr Luke,

only Lord Jesus. it's also my questions in my head. even the top 5% i cant even notice.

it's all depends on the time they will humbles their selves and acknowledge that they need God. that's what I think.

God bless.

in faith,
Cindy from Manila

Revolted_Manila said...

Hi Ptr Luke,

only Lord Jesus. it's also my questions in my head. even the top 5% i cant even notice.

it's all depends on the time they will humbles their selves and acknowledge that they need God. that's what I think.

God bless.

in faith,
Cindy from Manila

Revolted_Manila said...

Hi Ptr Luke,

only Lord Jesus. it's also my questions in my head. even the top 5% i cant even notice.

it's all depends on the time they will humbles their selves and acknowledge that they need God. that's what I think.

God bless.

in faith,
Cindy from Manila

diana said...

very very true...strong post..not only in shool we need to have A+.. but in our salvation we need to have not only A+ but more than that!!:)

diana-fort worth!

Uma Sirena said...

Hi Pr Luke!
I'm so proud of the Youth Power Group! I'm here in Brazil working hard for a few teenagers while you and another persons are working hard to reach these young people out there. There must be so ineresting! There the violence appears more than ever, prostituition... Bad things.
I'm praying for all of you! I hope to meet you someday.

Thanks, Thainah.

São Paulo - Brazil.

Uma Sirena said...

É, confesso que tem sido complicado tomar uma decisão... Mas eu, com a ajuda de Deus, consigo sair dessa, sim. Se o senhor puder, ore pelo Força Jovem de Taubaté, tá? Sou secretária do Fj de uma igreja de bairro, Gurilândia.
Abraços.

Andrea Dos Santos said...

Very strong message!

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