Don't you hate it when people say that to you? It's almost like they don't care. It's like they don't sympathize with us about our worries. But...that's exactly what Jesus said to do - not worry about it.  

25 “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? 27 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 28 And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, 29 yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. 30 But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? 31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. 33 But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

 34 “Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.

I'm a worrier. I worry about things non-stop. But as our pulpit minister Kyle Bolton pointed out in his sermon yesterday, there are some things we need to know about worrying, and some specific points Jesus makes in Matthew 6.25-34.  

Worrying is illogical (v 25). Mr. Spock on Star Trek would say this. Worrying is highly illogical. 

Worrying is a distraction (v 26). We are distracted by so many things in life, and worrying about things is a distraction to us being able to serve God to our full potential. If God can take care of the birds, why can't he take care of us, his greatest creation?  

Worrying is useless (v 27). What good will worrying do? What will it accomplish? Will worrying solve problems? No! 

Worrying is pointless (v 28-30). Have you ever seen Caffeine-Free Diet Mountain Dew? Neither have I. But apparently, it exists. What's the point of drinking a drink like Mountain Dew with no sugar and no caffeine? If you are the type of person that drinks that, you don't drink it for the lack of those things, you drink it in spite of and because of those things. Just like Caffeine-Free Mountain Dew, worrying is pointless. Why even bother with it?

Worrying is faithless (v 31-32). This one hits me hard. If we as Christians are supposed to be the "called out" and distinctive in this world, why do we worry about trivial things so much? When we worry, it demonstrates a lack of faith. 

Worry is out of focus (v 33). If we would put the first things first (i.e. God, Jesus, and His church), then all the small things in our lives would fall into place.  

Worry is borrowed trouble (v 34). Most of worrying is completely unfounded, meaning what we worry about usually never comes to pass. Think about that. When we worry, we are just borrowing trouble from the next day, week, or month - and friends, this day has enough trouble on its own.

Take one day at a time. 

Refuse to borrow trouble.  

And don't worry...be happy! 

For some of you youth ministers, the end of summer is here. 

Sure, you're probably still wrapping things up. Me? I'm helping tear down buildings and gut houses in Moore, Oklahoma with several of my teens and college kids this week. But this is our last big event until Fall Retreat. You're probably doing the same. Maybe it's VBS, or a DayCamp, a lock-in (let's hope not), or a back-to-school barbecue. Whatever it is, for all intents and purposes, your summer is pretty much over.  

Here's some recommendations I have for you on what to do now. 

Take a break. You've earned it. Spend some time with your family, be it your wife and kids or your mom and dad - or both. Vacation time is now while the kids get back into school mode. Take a breather from work even if it's just a couple of days. And if you don't have any time off left, work only when you have to. You can take it easy for a couple of days and recharge.  

Don't plan anything else in August. Most kids start back to school pretty early in August now, some not until mid-August. Have your back-to-school barbecue or your regular Wednesday night eating deal, but don't plan any major events at least for the next month. Your kids need a break to concentrate on getting back to school and you a break to plan some fall events. Parents will appreciate this short lull as their kids get back into the grind of school. Don't be that guy that figures he has to have an event every week. This is not the time of the year to do that. 

Do a summer review. Get your youth committee, your elders, or both of them together and do a summer review NOW. Don't wait on this. Write a summer report while it's still fresh on your mind - just a couple of pages on your major events and what went right and what didn't go so right in said events. Ask your parents and leadership for suggestions on what could be done better. Were the events spiritually-focused? Were the events managed well? How could they have gone better? 

Organize, organize, organize. I talked about this already, but you really need to do this. Organize your files and papers from your different events, your files on your computer from those events, organize your storage area for supplies and equipment so you're not having to do it before camp next year. 

These are just a few things I will be doing to end my summer. What will you be doing?  

I love to grill. Like, hardcore. When my wife and I had a grill that worked (we've been "grill-less" and too busy to buy one lately), we'd grill out every other night.  

When I was in college, however, we couldn't have grills in the dorms. Something about setting off smoke detectors and being a "fire hazard." Whatever.  

So I got a George Foreman grill. Biggest mistake ever.  

This funky clamshell cooking apparatus had such promise. It was going to be the savior to my college grilling problems. I had dreams of cooking hamburgers and steaks for my friends, and us having one of those dorm parties that makes all the other dorms jealous.  

It worked fine for a week. Then reality set in.  

For some reason, the GF Grill didn't want to get hot anymore. It would literally take 4 hours to cook a burger to medium rare. I believe the hottest the grill got was like 85 degrees. It was like sitting my meat outside on the sidewalk or by the pool. In fact, it got so bad that I would start to put my various meats in the grill to keep them cool. 

And if that wasn't enough, when it did work, there was this handy little grease tray THAT DIDN'T ATTACH to the grill. If you know anything about Foreman Grills, they're kind of set on this downslope so all the unhealthy grease just slides right off your food and into this little tray so you can have the illusion of being healthy. But if the little grease tray was one micron off, all your grease from your food would be like a waterfall of nastiness spilling out into your countertop and floor. 

The grease tray design was bad enough. The grill didn't work properly either, so about 11 days and 50 bucks later, it was retired to the closet. I was too embarrassed to even bring it back to Target.  

So what's my point this morning? Don't be a George Foreman Grill.  

Don't promise the world and then not deliver. Specifically, for youth ministers, don't make grand plans and promises you can't keep. Keep it real, be realistic with your goals for the ministry you work for.  

Don't be lazy. In a couple of weeks, school will start back. It's what youth ministers refer to as the "Happy Month." You need to take a break, yes, and perhaps even a vacation, but don't look at August-September-October as the "easy months." Be aggressive and get some things done. Organize your youth storage room so you won't perpetually be looking for stuff come May. Write out a report for your leadership on the events of the summer, letting them know just how awesome you are. Maybe, after school has settled in, you plan an extra even for your teens. Look far in advance to any camps and retreats that need speakers booked and events planned. Don't be ineffective after a period of work like a George Foreman Grill. 

Realize your ineffectiveness. Is an event or tradition that you have not having the same effect for your youth group or church? Maybe it's time to take a hard look at what is doing a good job of getting people to Jesus in your ministry. It's so easy to do the same things over and over, year after year, but what about when things become ineffective in leading people to Christ? What about when you start to become ineffective? It may be time to look at a break, a vacation, go to a conference, or even, in the last resort, a move. We as youth ministers can become burnt our very quickly if we don't watch ourselves. 

Don't be a George Foreman Grill. Don't be broken, badly designed, and ineffective at what you do. Always be striving for the best to get people to Christ. 

(And I swear if anyone comes on here and says "I loved my GF Grill, it was the greatest!" I'm going to punch you in the face.) 

If you have a DayCamp at your church for kids this summer, it may be the last thing on your list. It may be the least prioritized thing that you think you have to do. What you may not realize is that DayCamps can be integral to the future of the youth group where you work. 

Here's some things I'm doing to prepare for our DayCamp next week, and I'll also explain the structure of how we do things here. Hopefully some of these tips can help you plan your own awesome DayCamp.  

Take every opportunity you can to teach. DayCamp isn't just to give parents a break for a few hours - it's to teach Bible lessons as well. If your DayCamp doesn't have a Bible-themed message, or if you don't take time to talk to the kids at you DayCamp about Bible topics, then you're missing an opportunity to bring young minds and hearts closer to Christ. Some of the kids at your DayCamp may be exposed to the Bible for the first time while they are there. Take advantage of every opportunity! 

Get help! Lots of teens love to help with smaller kids, believe it or not. I have more participation from teenagers at DayCamp than any other "service" event of the year. Also solicit help from adults to just be eyeballs on kids - you will be happy you did. 

Make playtime structured. You hear it all the time: "Kids need structure." They really do. You'll have lots of playtime at a DayCamp, but most of that needs to structured playtime. Have a list of games and how to play them. Make sure your volunteers can run them as well, so that can free you up to do other things. Have a Water Day one day of the week, fully explaining the dress code and what is expected of each camper.  

Have the kids bring their own lunches. Just like in school, have the parents pack the kids a lunch every day. This helps a lot with organization and food costs.  

Don't have it all day. You will be exhausted if you do, and so will the kids. We have ours Monday thru Thursday, from 9AM to 2PM. This is a great block of time, and it's not so much that it absolutely exhausts you.  

So if you're planning a DayCamp for your kids this July or you've already done yours, share your thoughts!

Summer is a hectic time for youth ministers. I had one youth minister tell me that out of the 8 weeks of summer, he was going to be gone for 6 of them. So it's best to take the time to get reorganized when you have it. 

Most of us would want to take a few days off and recharge on a week that we don't have an event, but most of us don't have that luxury because we're planning the next event. You can, however, take a day or two and get organized. How you get organized now will help you this fall. 

That's what I'm doing this week - a little mid-summer cleaning, if you will. As I prepare to "wind down" my summer with a week of DayCamp and a relief trip to Oklahoma, it's time to get reorganized. Here's a few things I'm doing.  

Reorganizing storage rooms. This can be a big job if you've neglected the "camp room" for months. Spend some of your budget money and go buy some plastic tubs and label them with events that you've done in the past few months. Categorize game stuff, craft stuff, VBS stuff, and make your storage room where anyone could walk in and find what they need to.  

File things away. This is important because you don't want to have to reinvent the wheel next summer. File the documents, sign up sheets, everything you can into folders, filing cabinets, or whatever filing system you have. Additionally, it's time to organize those files on your computer as well. I have a folder on my computer for every major event in our youth program. Paper documents go into their own folder in my filing cabinet. Next year you will be looking for these, I promise you.  

Backup your computer. This is a huge deal because you've probably been so busy the last few weeks that you've forgotten to do it. Take a few hours and do it now. Organizing your folders on your computer will help with the backup as well.  

This is what I'm doing...what are you doing to stay organized this summer?