For the month of May, we did a series at Fusion called Prison Break. The series turned out incredible, from our "faux" prison bars, to our bright orange prison shirts, to the lame prison video we did (go to my Facebook to check it out). But more importantly than all of that, we talked about freedom. Freedom from sin, freedom from our past, freedom from the things that control us.

The message of the cross is a message of freedom and power. God came to set us free. And if the Son has set us free, "we are free indeed" (John 8:36)! Our story doesn't have to be one of prison bars, chains, addictions, and slavery. It can be one of freedom, power, and love!

At the end of the last night, we passed out these handcuff keychain things that I got on Ebay. Inscripted on each one was "freedom". We did this to remind students that we can be free. Jesus has come to give us life more abundant. Powerful stuff!

Confidence?

I ran across a verse a couple of weeks ago that has been playing in my mind over and over.  It is Psalm 57:7 and it says,

My heart is confident in You, O God;

My heart is confident in You.

No wonder I sing your praises.

This Psalm written by David came at a time in his life when confidence in God could've been lacking.  He was being chased by Saul, the king of Israel, out of jealousy.  Even though he had done nothing but honor the king and lived his life with the utmost integrity, David was living in a cave in the wilderness, eating God knows what, and wondering when Saul and his men would come and kill him.  So David probably had every right to question where God was and doubt whether God even gave a rip.  Instead, David's trust and confidence in God stood strong.

I told the students the other night at Fusion about my experience with a girl in 5th or 6th grade.  I was certain she was in to me.  She smiled when I was around.  We had good conversations, at least as unawkward as you can have as a 5th grader.  And she even laughed at my lame jokes.  

So I got brave.  I thought I was take the plunge and ask her to go out with me.  I'm not sure where we would go, but I could figure that out later.  So I called her up, waited for the right moment, and then popped the question.

The sound at the other end was laughter.  Not just a snicker, or a chuckle.  But a "bust out loud" complete meltdown of laughter.  I took that as a no and promptly hung up, feeling dejected and a bit of a loser.  To make matters worse, she called my good friend and told him, and he called me up and laughed at me too.  Needless to say, my confidence in a lot of things was shot at that moment.

Have you ever been confident in something?  A relationship, sports team, your ability to do well on a test?   Are you certain that this thing you have confidence in won't let you down when you need it the most?  And how do we even determine who or what is worthy of our confidence?

I've really been asking myself what am I confident in.  Certainly not the economy or my crappy sports teams.  Do I have this unwavering confidence in God, that no matter how chaotic life seems or out of balance things get, He WILL show up?  Do I know my God so well and trust His Word to such an extent that my confidence in Him is unaffected by what's going on around me? Because He has never let me down.  I may feel like He has because He didn't show up when I thought He should have or in the way I thought best.  But He has always been worthy of confidence!  When I go back and look at all the times He has shown up and provided exactly what I needed, it reminds me that He is worthy of trusting and believing.   

Do you and I have the same confidence in God that David has?  When life gets rough, are we quick to throw our hands up and question why the heck God put us in this position?  Or do we endure, confident that God will show up and defend us?