You may or may not know that I am a Youth Pastor in Ohio. Every year - we take our group to some cottages on Atwood Lake for a Fall Retreat. This year's theme was H2o.
our goals being:
Hang Time with God -
develop
Habits that'll change our Lives
discover
Ordinary ways to connect with God.
I burned a playlist onto a CD and gave it to the youth a week or so in advance so that they could import it onto their Mp3 players. Then on Saturday morning - the youth were given 65 minutes (the length of the CD) to listen to the songs and work through a sort-of workbook that went along with the music. Each song had a page with pictures, scriptures, questions, comments and lyrics. They were encouraged to 'seek God' and to 'find Him' in the music.
Needless to say - this was the highlight of the weekend for most of the teens. It allowed them a time to creatively express their emotions and to connect the dots to see where God is in those moments that make up their complex, yet purposeful lives.
I truly believe that God uses unexpected things in order to speak to people. He spoke to Moses through a
burning bush... to Balaam through a
donkey...to Elijah through a
gentle whisper. To many of today's youth - He speaks to them through the music... or through film... or through art. God is alive and kicking, moving and breathing life into the things that surround us.
Below are 14 posts that correlate with the 14 tracks of the H2O cd. Each image was created in Photoshop by me (sized 8x10 @ 180dpi). The pictures used were found in a variety of places... some were pictures that my wife or I took, others were found via friends on my blog roll... others were found randomly. I've tried to cite what I could and have provided links to assist in further study.
Enjoy them. Let me know how you find God... or how he finds you... in the music... in the images and in the lyrics.
God bless.
