What Motivates You?

Whenever we have teams come for a visit, we usually take the first day to give them a tour of AFE and give them a short history about how the school started. During the tour, we take the group into a few classrooms to meet some of our students and ask them what they want to study when they graduate from AFE and move on to the University.

We always receive interesting responses. For so many years, the greatest dreams of many of our children were to become a Dump Truck drivers. For them, that was the highest they could dream. Now we have students with dreams of studying medicine, becoming lawyers, engineers, teachers, and so much more! God has truly brought HOPE into the lives of these children.

On one particular occasion, we had a group who not only asked what...but why? There were several good responses, but the best came from a student named Douglas.

Douglas is 18 years old and is looked at as an example among his classmates.He is hard working, humble and always has a gentle attitude. His goal is to become a Mechanical Engineer. He loves cars and feels free when he gets the chance to work on one. When asked this question, he did not direct his answer to the group that asked the question, but rather to the rest of his classmates in the room. He encouraged them to continue in their studies, but that their motivation should not be to do it for themselves or their families, but first and foremost for GOD. He also told them that he wants to continue in school so that he can be a positive example for those that come after him.

He along with the other male students at AFE are a wonderful example of what it means to live out Romans 12! They are not conforming to the patterns of this world! So the question that remains for all of us is: 
    
WHAT MOTIVATES YOU?

Growth Through Participation

One of the amazing things we can see in the Gospel Narratives is just how quickly Jesus decides to send out his 12 disciples with his mission. In the Gospel of Matthew, he begins the process of selecting his 12 disciples in chapter four, and sends them out into the world in chapter 10.

The fact that Jesus made this leap so quickly is shocking.

How could he possibly think that these men were ready?

How could he be confident that they knew what they were doing?

Sure they had seen a lot up to this point, but it is not possible that they could have fully grasped the message of Jesus.

The more time I look at this passage and timeline, I start wondering if maybe the point that Jesus is trying to make with his actions is that there is a great deal of GROWTH that can come from PARTICIPATING.

Maybe he is saying that preparation does not only come from listening.

As many of you are aware, AFE celebrated its first graduating class last year. In an effort to allow our graduates the opportunity to give back and to also grow in their own maturity as adults in this world, AFE has provided the opportunity for several students to teach in the afternoon for our adult education. Although it has been a big step for them, they have welcomed the challenge and are finding GROWTH through PARTICIPATION.