Update on Student Leaders from the First Glance Newsletter

      As most of you know First Glance has a Student Leader Program for students who are interested in becoming leaders. One of the hopes with this program is that one day, we will have students that take over our jobs and run First Glance. A believer who has grown up in this culture will be able to reach students much better then we ever could. They will also have much better insights into the community and what its needs really are. We are really excited about some things going on with the student leader program. 

      A few weeks ago First Glance hosted a dance for student because Kenmore High School cancelled their formal. I have been trying to give Student Leaders a chance for more ownership over things at First Glance, and this was the perfect opportunity. We gave the students a budget, and let them determine the theme for the dance. It was really cool to see many of them make it their own, and really invest a significant amount of their time in it. Since it was Spring Break they spent quite a few days making and putting up decorations at First Glance. They even made a pizza and shared it with the staff! They also volunteered to help us with a few other projects we were working on. It was a great week of ministry with my students.

      Another way they have been taking ownership is helping to develop a culture of pride in First Glance. They all stood up on stage as a group on a Thursday Night Rec Night and talked about this being “their” place so lets respect it and pick up after ourselves. Many students seemed to identify with them and respected what they said. They also designed their own signs to hang up around First Glance as a reminder.

      In order to keep fulfilling our vision for the student leader program we will be revamping and rethinking how we do things in the next few months. Please be praying for wisdom for us as we do this. I also urge that you would pray for God to raise up leaders from amongst our students, especially amongst the young men as we are lacking in young men who want to be leaders. Thank you for your continued support.

Love as a brother in Christ,

Benjamin Rahe

What We Need

 As I was laying in bed at the fire department about a week ago I prayed before I went to sleep asking God to be with me tonight. I often pray this as I may wake up in the middle of the night, having to rush into a dangerous situation and risk my life, or I may have to think quickly in a stressful situation to save someone else's life. This realization makes me have to rely on God because I realize that I can not do it on my own.

As I was laying there I realized I always need to have this same attitude. We all need to have this attitude because it is true. Every moment of every day is a moment that could be your last, or a moment that could throw you into extreme danger where you will have to rely on God and not yourself. The events of this week have further illustrated that point to me. First there was the bombing at the Boston Marathon. The spectators and runners in the race had no idea what would great them at the finish line. It was just a normal day at the races, for many of the runners, one of the more meaningful moments of their lives. Many of the spectators were there to support a runner or just enjoy the day at a prestigious sporting event.

The second is the explosion at a fertilizer plant in Texas. How could the workers at the plant have known what would happen. I am willing to bet most of them did not consider their job that dangerous. The explosion took out the surrounding neighborhoods, who were no doubt unsuspecting that anything like this could ever happen. I am guessing some of them didn’t even know they lived near a plant that produced anything that could be this dangerous. Please keep them in your prayers, as the search for  survivors is still ongoing, which is made all the harder by the fact that some of the people killed in the explosion were firefighters. ( Little side note here, but we could all spend so much more time in prayer with all that needs prayed for in our world.)

The third case hits home a little more. A Kent high school student died at an AAU basketball practice this week. He was a young healthy man who played on the football team as well. The cause of death has not been released yet. Please be praying for his family and friends, including kids from Riverwood who know him. Now I don’t write all these things to make you scared, but it is a reality how fragile life is, and how we are really safe nowhere, no matter how hard we try to be. I don’t think fear is a good reaction to have especially since the Bible says:Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell -Matt 10:28. Instead we should more fully lean on God, because we can only get through these things with his strength. 

Taking this even further we are living in a world at war. This is perhaps even more important to realize then the dangers of the physical world. Every day we are in a dangerous situation because satan is currently ruling this world. If only we were more aware of the spiritual battles around us. We need to lean on God more every day because we really actually need him. I pray that I continue to realize this and do this every moment of every day.

Until next time,

Ben

Imitate Christ?

Sometimes I feel i don’t really know what it looks like, or what it means to follow Jesus. Sure, I know how to say and do the right things to make it look like I have it together, like I really am willing to surrender everything to Christ and fully trust him. Like I lean on him for guidance all throughout the day. But here is the truth. I rely on myself much more then I do on HIM most of the time. That is why I don’t really know what it means to follow him. I have been following and idea of him that I came up with. But what does it look like to really follow after him? First we have to really know what Jesus would have done before we follow. I find I am often thinking to myself what Jesus would have done in a certain situation I am in. Unfortunately this usually takes place after I am out of the situation, thinking of what I could have done better. What if I was asking that to myself in the middle of the situation, while praying and trusting the spirit to guide me? What if I had an intimate knowledge of the Gospels, so I could draw from the situations I saw Jesus in, and act how he did and love as he did. 

So I have been studying the gospels, by myself and with others, not really seeking to break them apart and deeply dig into the meaning of scripture, but to find out what Jesus did, thought, and said, so I can put those into practice in my own life. Some of what we see about Jesus can be shocking. He was very controversial, and often called religious leaders out, many times in very harsh ways. He hung out with people no one else wanted to hang out with, and touched people with diseases that would make him unclean. He did many things that I am sure were not comfortable for him (after all, he is the ruler of the universe), and I am sure made those around him uncomfortable. He was also very humble not seeking any gain for himself at any time. Of course he performed miracles and the like, and did a lot of public speaking. So what are we called to imitate exactly? What are your thoughts? I would love to hear them. Feel free to respond here, or on facebook. 

I deeply desire to live a life rooted in Christ, but I have found that it is very hard to follow after him in this age, as I am sure it has been equally hard in previous ones. I struggle every day to surrender my will to him, because I want to have control over my life. I don’t want to follow him everywhere because that often means going into hard and messy places. First Glance is just one of the places I have seen this play out. However, if I really believe what is in the Bible then I have no choice but to follow after Jesus. I must trust that ALL of his promises are true. I must truly believe in everything in the Bible, and not just believe as an idea but as an action.

To really follow Christ I must genuinely love him. If I don’t love him and trust him then I will never be able to follow him to the places he will ask me to go. So I have been asking that I may love him more in my prayers. I desperately need him, and I realize it more and more each day. I hope you realize this as well

As you are reading this blog I don’t want you, my supporters to just be getting updated on the things I am doing, or the things God is doing. While that is great and a needed part of this blog, I also want to share how God is working on my heart and the things I am wrestling through. I also would like this to be a place where we challenge and encourage one another. So I want to encourage you to participate if you are reading this. With todays technology, even if you can’t physically be here to come participate in my mission, you can still be more involved in it then was previously possible. So please, join me as we spur one another on in faith.