Peace.

Jesus is about to die, and he knows it. So in the Gospel of John we find him giving some final instructions to his disciples, and in verses 32 and 33 he says something startling.

"Behold, the hour is coming and has arrived when each of you will be scattered to his own home and you will leave me alone. But I am not alone, because the Father is with me.

I have told you this so that you might have peace in me. In the world you will have trouble, but take courage, I have conquered the world."

I often find it amazing how true these words ring in our own lives, especially in the days following a retreat. Jesus is telling his disciples that in a while they will be scattered, and that in the world they will have trouble. Not really the best "go-get-'em" talk I've ever heard.

Yet, there is a great comfort in the words of Jesus, isn't there?

Take courage...I've conquered the world.

There is always the Monday morning after that big retreat. You know, the one where you all wear your t-shirts to school, are still on a total energy rush from the weekend (even though you barely slept), and are ready to bring all of your friends to Jesus. And inevitably the same conversation is happening all over the school.

"Rejected? Yea, you are a reject."

"How was being brainwashed in your youth group cult?"

"Why do you have a bible? That's dumb."

And we encounter something we hadn't encountered all weekend - we encounter a very active resistance to our faith. At first, its confusing. I mean, why do people want to put down our faith? Is carrying a bible around school really offending anyone? Is the t-shirt that I'm wearing making a statement that you are so uncomfortable with you need to comment?

It starts to take the energy we had and drain it. It begins to set in that we cannot be on retreat forever. The group of people gathered - from all schools, all social cliques, all different grades, is begin scattered. Its kind of sad. And its upsetting. Jesus - I wasn't expecting this.

That's why its so important to go back to the words of Christ in the Gospel of John. Jesus assures us that this is going to happen. He made it explicitly clear.

In the world you will have trouble.

That means people may make fun of you. Friends may be rude to you. You might get strange looks for carrying your bible. Or wearing your t-shirt. People who don't understand might say you are "brainwashed."

Yes, in the world you will have trouble.

You may lose relationships. You may lose friends. You may feel like snapping at the next person who calls you a "Jesus freak." Or just a "freak" in general.

But, take courage, Jesus has conquered the world.

This is the great promise. Because you know the ending. Right now in your schools, your homes, your jobs it may seem like a battle. Maybe even a battle you feel you are losing. But we don't lose. Christ conquers all, and everyone's ultimate end rests with Him. We are all going to come face to face with Christ at the end of our lives. In fact, many of us will come face to face with Christ many times before that, but behind a veil.

And so will everyone else.

That's why living our faith is so crucial. Because if we don't give in and crumble under the pressure to abandon our faith in Christ, then we can begin to live our lives as they were fully intended to be. And in that moment when we meet Christ unknowingly, we can be ready. We can serve everyone with love, even those who hate us. And we can even convert our oppressors. Everyone is waiting for God. Not everyone realizes it yet. To give up on them is to give up on God's power to work in them.

It's to give up on our ability to love, even in extreme circumstances.

The line that always gets me is that Jesus tells us all this that we may have peace.

In the world you will have trouble...and just so you know, I'm telling you this so you can have peace in me.

Notice that. Jesus tells us this so we don't feel that he pulled a bait and switch on us. He promises abundant life, but not a carefree, whimsical kind of life. The life that Christ promises us may have trouble in it, but he tells us this so we know what to do when it happens.

Find peace in Him.

In the world you will have trouble. I've told you this so you may have peace in me. There is no where else we are going to find peace.

So you may think that if you go back and start partying again you will find peace.

If you join in making fun of people you will find peace.

If you renounce your faith in front of your friends you will find peace.

If you become sexually active again you will find peace.

But you won't.

You can only find peace when you are confronted with trouble if you find it in Jesus. That's the promise. That's why he tells us we are going to run in to trouble - so that we can know what to do. The solution isn't to find comfort in our own lives, but to entrench ourselves more deeply in Jesus - to find our peace in him.

Know that as you confront the world, you may be rejected. But remember, Christ has conquered the world. That means that even your oppressors are being called into a relationship with Him. That means we know how it ends.

And it means to truly find peace in this world of unrest, we must now find it in Christ. And there we find freedom and truly abundant life - life that never tastes true death.

Preparations

The first month and a half of LifeTeen has certainly been exciting - which is strange to say. Not because its been exciting, but because its only been a month and a half. It seems like this has been going on for much longer, and part of that may be due to the retreat that is fast approaching.

And its something we are definitely excited about. On November 20th, 21st, and 22nd, only two months after LifeTeen began this year, 125 teenagers about 20 adults will spend time in prayer, community, and the sacraments at Green Lake Conference Center.

I'm still trying to wrap my head around the number.

Not because it looks good for other people or because we can say, "Oh, look at what a great job we are doing!" But because I am astounded that this many teenagers would say "I want to spend a weekend away to work on my relationship with God. Of all the things I could be doing that weekend, I want to do this. This is what is important."

That blows my mind.

It also scares me.

For a brief moment I think that I have to put together something spectacular for these teenagers so they have this life changing weekend and come back as perfect saints. So that on Monday morning they are all at 6:30 am mass before school. And for the rest of the year they go to every LifeNight and bring their friends.

But I realize quickly that it isn't about what I'm going to bring.

God is bringing something way bigger.

Will the teens come back as perfect saints? No. They will still struggle with sin like we all do, and may even fall along the way. But I believe that God is going to lead them all a lot further on their journey to sainthood.

Will some of them go to morning mass? Possibly. Will they all attend every LifeNight and start evangelizing their friends? Who knows?

What I do know is that God has called 125 teenagers to grow deeper in their faith and root their identity more fully in Him. What God's plan is for that I cannot know, but I know it has to be something big.

Way bigger than what I've got planned for the weekend. And so its pretty awesome we all get to be a part of.

So, as we prepare in these last two weeks before the retreat I would invite you to keep us all in your prayers - from the teens who will be attending to the team who will be planning, to the priests who will be administering the sacraments that weekend. We are going to need the prayers - not for it to be a great weekend, but for us to be able to keep up with the great plans God has.

We are looking forward to it.