Kenny Bowyer's Blog

I also want the women to dress modestly, with decency and propriety, adorning themselves, not with elaborate hairstyles or gold or pearls or expensive clothes, but with good deeds, appropriate for women who profess to worship God. ~ 1 Timothy 2:9-10

What do you like to wear?  If you’re like most girls, you probably like to dress with today’s latest styles.  But anymore, today’s styles are ever so changing.  Clothes are tighter, shorter and lower cut.  Dressing sexy is IN and people notice.  Girls, the guys notice, and that’s not always a good thing.

Just for the record felllas…nobody wants to see your nasty boxers hanging out of your jeans either.

I can hear girls saying right now, “yeah, but I have a great body and I want to show it off”.  There’s nothing wrong with having a great body.  There’s nothing wrong with working out and trying to improve your health and body.  You read the Bible to become stronger in the Word, right?  Well, working out does that same thing for your body.

However, there is a issue when it comes to dressing cheap or trying to show it all off.  First, it’s not honoring God, and second, you can cause your brothers in Christ to stumble.  And since we guys are extremely weak in the area of “visual stimulation” that can cause us to lust, which means you’re causing us to sin.  Those tight clothes you ladies wear sometimes can be stumbling blocks to guys.

Modesty means to be humble.  By dressing modestly, you might get passed over by that one guy, but wouldn’t you rather a guy like you for WHO you are, not WHAT you are?  I’m not saying you have to dress like a grandma, but just make wise choices when it comes to your “style”.

Remember…modest is hottest.

Pardon me, my lord,” Gideon replied, “but how can I save Israel?  My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”  The Lord answered, “I will be with you, and you will strike down all the Midianites, leaving none alive. ~ Judges 6:15-16

As a Youth Pastor, I have several things that come with my job.  Whether it is preparing sermons, updating our websites, doing financial things, trying to find ways to raise money, checking on the youth…whatever the case may be, the hours are endless, but so rewarding.

Recently, we felt like we are supposed to go on a mission trip in 2013.  I have never been on a mission trip before, let alone try to plan one.  There are so many details that go into a mission trip, often times I feel like I can’t do it.

Just to be honest, there are a lot of times I feel like I shouldn’t be a Youth Pastor.  I mean, why me?  Of all the people out there in this world, I am sure there are more qualified people out there who could pastor the Cutting Edge Youth Ministry, in Chouteau, Oklahoma.  I am a nothing.  I don’t know the entire Bible.  I speak to God, but I also use Google and other Bible software to look things up.  I struggled through high school, completed one year of college, got married and had kids. 

I’m not a scholar; I’m not rich; I’m not handsome (ok…maybe I am that), but there are way better people out there to pastor this youth.  So why me?

Because God called me to.

That’s why I love the story of Gideon.  God tells Gideon that he is the one to save Israel.  Yet, in Gideon’s eyes, he’s a nobody.  He’s the weakest person in the weakest tribe.  He’s not powerful, he’s not a scholar, he’s not rich, he doesn’t even use Google…so why him?

Because God called him…and He’s called you also.

Gideon goes on to defeat an entire tribe with only 300 men. (You really need to do yourself a favor and read Judges 7)  But the cool thing with Gideon is that no matter how he felt, God was with him!  No matter what we go through, or what God calls us to do (even if we feel like we’re not worthy to do those things) we can, because God is ALWAYS there with us.

A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for a time of adversity. ~ Proverbs 17:17

When I was growing up, I thought I had the coolest friends.  We did everything together.  We played softball, we hung out at each other’s house, we camped out and a whole bunch of other stuff.  When we got older and into our high school years, that friendship continued as we drove around town together, ate out and just did life together.  In our eyes, nothing was ever going to separate us.

However, after graduation, those friendships began to dwindle.   What used to be dinners and lunches together, turned into occasional phone calls.  Then, life happened.  We married, had kids and moved on with our lives.  I can’t tell you when the last time I talked to my friends.

Nowadays, thanks to sites like Facebook, it’s easy to reconnect with our long-lost friends.  However, it is also easy for us to get caught up in how many “friends” we have on Facebook.  The last I looked at my profile, I had over a thousand “friends” on my Facebook, however, maybe only a handful know the REAL Kenny Bowyer.

So what am I trying to say?  Very few people want to spend their life without friends.  It has been said that if you end up with five really close friends over the course of your life that you should consider yourself to be really blessed. Think about it.  How many really close friends do you have?  I am not talking about acquaintances.  I am talking about friends that know everything about you and still love you and vice versa.

True friendship is a gift and should be treated that way.  So, what if you don’t have many friends?  God’s Word offers advice on the type of friends you should have and what kind of person you need to be to get good friends.  Having a best friend is a great thing

Praise be to the Lord, for he has heard my cry for mercy.  The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me.  My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him. ~ Psalm 28:6-7

“Trust me…what’s the worst that could happen?”

Man, those eight words were never a good thing to hear if they ever came from me or any of my friends.  Chances were, someone was going to end up in trouble or at the doctor…or maybe even both.

I can remember one time out in my neighborhood; we got the bright idea one night to run a string of yarn from one mailbox, across the street to another mailbox.  The height was perfect for when a car would come by, it would hit the string.  We didn’t think anything bad would happen, just thought it would be funny. 

So, after a few cars and some angry customers, we decided to do it again, but this time we were going to get on my buddy’s roof top to watch all the action.  The plan sounded good, until we see a headlight coming down the street…one headlight…as in a motorcycle.  Needless to say, we began to panic.

Luckily for us, he saw the string before he hit it.  However, after cutting the string (and hearing us freaking out), he decided to park his ride and come find us.  We were flipping out.  As I climbed down the ladder, my buddy jumped from the roof, falling hard and nearly breaking his leg, and we took off into the woods.  Of course, the famous last words before the whole thing went down…“Trust me…what’s the worst that could happen?”

It became hard to trust my buddy after nearly getting ourselves into some serious trouble.  It wasn’t his fault, I could have easily not done that and went home, but I chose to do it. 

Sometimes in our lives, bad things happen to us, and we think God was to blame.  Then, people tell us to trust in Him, but it’s hard for us, because of all the bad that has happened.  But just like in my example, it’s not God’s fault we mess up.  We could have not done those things, but we chose to do them.

You may have trust issues with people, but you can trust God with all your heart.  God wants us to trust Him to handle our problems. God is powerful and has everything under control even though we can’t always see His purpose from where we are.