Teens and Prayer

Prayer is important. It therefore follows that Christian youths should pray and be prayed for. Also, they should be taught to pray.

How best to do that? I suppose that varies from teen to teen, depending on their learning style, spiritual development and other factors.


I volunteer with the Christian Youth Conference at Ocean Park and we have tried something in recent years that seems to work. Of course, we have always prayed at CYC. We pray in chapel and classes, at vespers and devotions, as the opening of programs. We also have always offered prayer support, both praying individually with teens and praying for them as staff.

Two years ago, though, we began to think about how to best teach teens to pray themselves, so that it would become a habit. We also realized that a new class schedule had opened up a 15 minute slot between chapel and lunch. We decided to make use of that quarter hour. We decided to try prayer groups. These would give us structured opportunities to pray with campers, to encourage them to pray and to model prayer. The Chaplain would provide "blueprints" but each group would work as they found best. Different types of prayer were to be explored.

The teens and staff were divided into small groups. Each group had a faculty member, cabin staff and campers. The faculty member was responsible for some aspects of the group, but the leadership of the prayer time was to be shared by all participants who were wanted to and were able. Campers were to be encouraged to step up.


It worked. Campers rated the prayer groups very highly on their yearly evaluations and staff spoke highly of them as well. It was very exciting to find something so effective.



Have you found good ways to teach teens to pray? I'd be very interested to hear. Always looking for new information.

Have a wonderful day!!







Christian Youth Conference at Ocean Park (CYC) is a two week ecumenical conference for high school students held in August on the beautiful southern coast of Maine. The theme for the 2011 conference is "Face to Face" and will look at restoring relationships between God and individuals, and amongst people. Click here for more information.

July -- Posts and Prayers

Well, that was quite a hiatus. I wonder if I have any readers left?

I have decided to take the Ultimate Blog Challenge in July, so there will be a post everyday for a month. I hope.

Another thing I will be doing every day for the month of July is praying for my favorite ministry. CYC is once again conducting a Prayer Blast. We know that prayer works and that attempting ministry without it is not a good idea. Therefore, we are asking our campers, staff, alumni and friends to pray for us 10 minutes everyday throughout July. We send prayer requests and ask people what insights they gain from the exercise. We are very grateful for all who participate. If you want in, click here: CYC Prayer Blast (Strangers welcome.)


Tomorrow's post will carry on the theme of prayer.

Have a blessed day!





Christian Youth Conference at Ocean Park (CYC) is a two week ecumenical conference for high school students held in August on the beautiful southern coast of Maine. The theme for the 2011 conference is "Face to Face" and will look at restoring relationships between God and individuals, and amongst people. Click here for more information.

Small stores

I have a concern for the environment and I like to shop locally when I can manage it. Until recently, I thought that small local stores gave better advice but were much more expensive than the big box stores.

But I have been shopping for paint and related items. I found that a local hardware store is cheaper than one of those warehouse style home stores. Their paint is cheaper, their rental fee for a wallpaper steamer is cheaper. And their customer service is excellent.

I also found that the local bike shop sells bike racks for less than the big outdoor recreation chain. This is awesome. I get to support local businesses, reduce my carbon footprint and pay less. I'm happy.

I also found that it pays to shop around the locals a bit. That hardware store sells paint for about half the price of the local paint and decorating store. Same paint, too.


Just something I discovered and wanted to pass along.

Have a great day!

Update on Home Maintenance

I have new windows!!

They are great. They are the energy efficient ones and they cover up the crumbling lead paint. We tried several solutions to get rid of the paint, but no one wanted the job and I was uncomfortable doing the removal myself, so we ended up replacing all the windows. From what I hear, we'll save a ton on our heating bill as well. Hopefully,the windows, will pay for themselves completely in about 10 years.

I am very pleased.

This is the follow up to:

Home Maintenance Confusion

and

Putting it in God's hands


God is good, all the time!

Have a great day. :)

Home and Heaven

I am staying away from home while the repair issues I have mentioned in other posts are taken care of. We ended up replacing all the windows in the main house and the basement. More on that later.

I am in a place where I am comfortable, where there is company, "siblings" for my son and pie. But I am anxious to get home, see the windows, get unpacked from the move. Part of me is enjoying myself, part of me just wants to be back there.

Isn't it like that with Heaven? We seek to enjoy this life which is a gift from God, but part of us longs to be with Him more fully.

Here's a classic poem. It's in the public domain. While the message applies to those away from their earthly homes, it is also the sentiment of Christians whose hearts long for their heavenly home.

Home, Sweet Home
Mid pleasures and palaces though we may roam,
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home;
A charm from the sky seems to hallow us there,
Which, seek through the world, is ne'er met with elsewhere.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

An exile from home, splendor dazzles in vain;
Oh, give me my lowly thatched cottage again!
The birds singing gayly, that come at my call --
Give me them -- and the peace of mind, dearer than all!
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

I gaze on the moon as I tread the drear wild,
And feel that my mother now thinks of her child,
As she looks on that moon from our own cottage door
Thro' the woodbine, whose fragrance shall cheer me no more.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

How sweet 'tis to sit 'neath a fond father's smile,
And the caress of a mother to soothe and beguile!
Let others delight mid new pleasures to roam,
But give me, oh, give me, the pleasures of home.
Home, home, sweet, sweet home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

To thee I'll return, overburdened with care;
The heart's dearest solace will smile on me there;
No more from that cottage again will I roam;
Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home.
Home, home, sweet, sweet, home!
There's no place like home, oh, there's no place like home!

John Howard Payne


Last Sunday was Ascension Sunday, the day we celebrate Jesus return to Heaven. He, too, must have longed for Home. Someday He will return to take us there. We should love life and our time here as we wait, but "Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus."


Have a blessed day.

Retiring the 1942

The phone number ending 1942 was in our family ever since we moved to this town. It's easy to remember --all my childhood friends still knew how to call me at Mom's. And it was my mother's number right up until she died. Today, we retired it.

When my husband, son and I moved into my mother's house, we brought our phone number with us. We were moving within town and it was portable. It only made sense to keep it.

Still I feel a bit nostalgic about the old number, silly as that may seem. It's part of the transistion, the moving on and all the change that has happened in the last few months. For some reason, I will have a fond memory of that old phone number.

So, good-bye 1942. You served us well for a long time. (and if you are one of the people who knows it, only use my number now.)


Have a blessed day, everyone. :)