SPAM - Week 1

Okay, so I've been off of SPAM for almost a week now, and I have to admit, it's been weird trying to readjust. It's almost uncomfortable being back on the computer again. So to adapt and integrate SPAM into my normal everyday life, I decided to take the advice of one of my leaders at my youth group and start this blog. I'm not exactly sure how I'm going to use this yet, but for now the best thing I can think to do is start typing summaries of each week I participated in SPAM. So here's week 1.

Week 1: Days 1-7
Weekly Memory Verse: "Therefore, get rid of all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent and humbly accept the word planted in you, which can save you." ~ James 1:21
Daily Reading (Days 37-43 of my Bible reading plan): Proverbs 17-23, Psalm 37-43, Job 38- 42, Isaiah 2, James
Additional Reading: Colossians (I later decided to add Colossians to my daily reading plan, but I slowly drifted from that and have since stopped reading it every day, though I do still read it every once in a while), Hebrews, Philippians

For the first week of giving up unnecessary technology, this week was not very hard at all. In fact, it was almost fun. Well... okay, this wasn't really my first week. I started writing in my journal on February 17th, Ash Wednesday. This was when I had first planned to start SPAM. But in late January, as I saw SPAM approaching slowly, I couldn't wait any longer. After a less than friendly conversation with my cousin, I decided I needed some time to get my facts and priorities straight with God. Now. So I started three weeks before the official start date. But even then, the first week was much appreciated.

With unnecessary computer use out of the way, I started spending a lot of time with God. I had such a thirst for His word that I found myself actually wanting to read the Bible throughout the day. This was unusual for me because, before, I had only read the Bible as part of my daily routine before going to bed. But now I was reading more than just a chapter a day right before bed. A few weeks before, I had set up a Bible reading plan for myself. So now I was reading a chapter a day from Psalms and a chapter a day from Proverbs every morning, and all of James and a chapter a day from a specified book (I was reading Job at that point). But it didn't stop there. I was reading even more than that. In just the first week (the first official, recorded week), I had read all of Colossians six times, all of Hebrews, all of Philippians, and I had done studies on three different passages of Scripture, which I had never done on my own before.

Just a couple weeks before, I had joined a small group with other members of my youth group. Up until that point, I had been involved with a small group at a different church, but they met inconsistently as they had different "seasons" in which we would study one thing extensively, then stop meeting until a new topic was decided on. So I finally joined a more consistent small group, and I have loved every day of it. So it was for this that I conducted my first individual Bible study. In my small group, the students "present" the weeks Scripture for discussion. So I had to go through the next week's passage, 1 Corinthians 6:12-20, and examine it so I could lead the discussion. I probably should have studied it over the course of the week, but I ended up doing the entire study on the first day, and then I just left it at that. All the same, I did feel like I got a lot out of that brief study session.

To summarize the week, it was a great week for avoiding technology and taking time to grow closer to God. A few friends and I went to a band clinic that weekend, and I was surprised when one of my friends asked me for my Bible. It turns out he has gotten into the habit of reading Psalm 23 before any audition. I was shocked because I had never really known if he was a Christian or not. So it was a nice surprise to find out he is a Christian, and now he has given me the idea of reading Psalm 23 before auditions and performances, and I plan to continue to do that. I have heard that some counselors will read passages from the Bible, and their patients will immediately grow calm. But it wasn't that weekend that I personally witnessed the counseling power of Scripture.

That Saturday, a friend in my small group, sent me an email asking for a few Bible verses related to a specific topic we had talked about at the previous week's small group meeting. I debated for a little while whether or not checking the email would violate SPAM, but eventually I decided it wouldn't, so I read the email, then went to look up some verses. I realized that the verses I found had a personal application to my own life, so I decided it would be a good idea to do a study of the verses I had found. Unfortunately, I never finished going through all the verses. (Maybe that's one thing I can do to keep SPAM involved in my life now that it's over.) I got through two of the passages, and again, I felt like God was revealing a lot to me.

Over the course of SPAM, I have come to know and love my small group, and I'm very proud to have such godly brothers in Christ. We all help each other grow, and, as one friend said at the winter retreat, "If a brotha falls down, pick a brotha up." I'm very glad that I decided to join my current small group, and I'm even more thankful that God has given me the desire to know Him better such that the desire to be a part of a small group came along with it.

Sadly, I did miss one day of writing in my prayer journal in that first week. But later on during SPAM, I heard a sermon on legalism, which is the act of doing something simply to do it. So after hearing that, I realized that I had been doing some of the things I did in SPAM just so I could say I did those things. So even though I did not like the fact that I missed a day, I am now somewhat okay with it. After all, we are imperfect humans, so we can't expect to not make mistakes. If I miss a day, God won't love me any less. He does want us to get to know Him through the Bible and His Son, but missing one day isn't going to harm me... as long as I leave it at that and don't take advantage of that knowledge.

So with that, the first week of SPAM was over. The first checkpoint in my seven-week journey with God.

And now with that, I'm off. God bless!

Michael

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"I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. For to live is Christ and to die is gain." ~ Philippians 1:20-21