Bad Company Corrupt Good Habits

Meet Mr. P (Dan Perotta). He's a high school youth leader and the games master! As always, to learn more about Amp'd Youth Ministries and Mount Airy Bible Church please visit our website (http://youth.mabcmd.org/) or Facebook.

 

Last week during our Wednesday AMP’D gathering, we were all treated to a message from Pastor Keith (PK). But it wasn’t like a usual message from him. No, PK started out by telling us some of the craziest stories and moments from his young life with his friends. For example, PK and a friend once thought it was a good idea to throw rocks at each other, until he got hit in the mouth and broke one of his teeth. Or the one, when PK thought it would be funny to put his cat in the mailbox and leave it there until the mailman arrived. PK never forgot it, and I am sure the mailman will never forget it either. Let me share with you a couple of stories from my own life. My best friend and I once thought it was a good idea to go sledding backwards, moments later I ran into a house bleeding from my head. Or the time that all my friends got together and my brother decided to shoot an arrow straight up in the air, to see what would happen. I have never seen that many kids run so fast, in so many different directions! Thank the Lord the arrow only landed on top of our roof. We were a special group of kids.

But the message just wasn’t about the dumb things we do with our friends, it was about how we should go about picking our friends or better yet, how we act with our friends. How do others see us when we are with our friends? Do they look at us and think, “that person has Jesus in their life”, or do they think, “that person needs Jesus in their life.” Which one would you rather they say of you?

Having fun with our friends is one thing, but having fun at the expense of our relationship with Jesus is another. This is the “big idea” that PK was trying to get across to us last Wednesday, and many of us (leaders and kids) have been meditating on for the last week. It is my prayer that many more will continue to meditate on this and hopefully we will make wiser choices in the friendships we keep.

 

Mr. P with one of his childhood friends.