Greetings to THE GALLERY!!! As far as I know, you are the only ones who know about this web page so far. Hopefully, before long, there will be hundreds, no . . . THOUSANDS of teens just like you who are wanting to listen to the right voice.

THE V.O.I.C.E. is a web page set up based on the five-part series of sermons preached at Salt Run Bible Camp, "Whose V.O.I.C.E. Are You Listening To?". We talked about the

Value of listening
Only God can bless
Ignoring God’s voice guarantees ruin
Choosing God’s way promises success and
Encouragement to choose God’s way

Many times teens find going home from camp makes keeping decisions impossible. You may have good intentions and strong motives, but you feel the pressure is too great once you return to certain friends and habits. Someone has told me, "If we only had the same kind of encouragement that we had at camp." Well, THE V.O.I.C.E. is just one small way to find the encouragement to keep doing what God put on your heart to do.

KEEPING YOUR SPIRITUAL TAN

One of the greatest perks of vacations is coming home to friends and making them horribly envious of your vacation tan. Unlike them, you had the opportunity to be exposed to the sun in an intense way. Some may be jealous of your tan. Some may desire a similar tan. Some may think such a tan is an unnecessary waste of time. But, have you ever had someone say, "I’m not even sure that tan is real!" Nothing would frustrate you more than the last response. It wouldn’t be bad if they simply were jealous or wanted one for themselves, but to actually act like yours wasn’t real. WOW! That could really get you upset. Perhaps many of you have come home to friends and family who are doubting your camp decisions were real. Unlike them, you had the opportunity to be exposed to the Son in an intense way for one full week. Maybe some will be jealous. Hopefully some will desire a similar work of God in their own life. However, there will no doubt be friends and even family who will say, "we’ll see if your decisions were for real." I want to encourage you in this issue of THE V.O.I.C.E. to respond properly to these doubting critics.

There are a few reasons why they might think your decisions were not real.

• They have seen past decisions fizzle out in a short time.
• They have experienced in their own life failure in trying to keep decisions.
• They believe your decision was based on the emotion of the moment.

Even though you may have had past decisions fizzle out, those decisions were not necessarily fake. Many times, such as at camp, it is very easy to make and keep decisions because of the spiritually concentrated atmosphere. Then, when you go home, it becomes very difficult to keep those decisions because there are many pressures and temptations drawing you. The solution to this problem is really rather simple. You need to create an environment at home that is similar to the one at camp. At camp your appetite for the things of the world was greatly diminished because you did not regularly feed on TV, movies, and other worldly menus. At the same time, your appetite for God’s things was enhanced by constant saturation in the Word of God, prayer, study, good Christian songs, and good Christian conversations with your friends. You were being highly exposed to the presence of God, and it affected you. Now, at home, you need to have similar exposure to the Son if you're going to keep that spiritual tan. My soul, what a testimony you will be to your friends, family, and entire church as they see your spiritual tan not fading away. They will be forced to say that your decisions were real, and they will also be challenged about some short-lived decisions in their own life.

Another step you can take to keep that spiritual tan is to make good on any specific decisions you made while at camp. When you actually throw those CD’s away and burn those magazines, you will know the work God did in your life was a real work. When you separate from those bad friends or dump that lost boyfriend/girlfriend like a bad habit, everyone will know you mean business. By doing that, you are "burning some bridges" which will make it impossible to go back to those old habits.

Last of all, if you want to keep that spiritual tan, you need to encourage each other about the decisions you have made. Give someone in THE GALLERY a call and tell them you are praying for them about their decision. Confide in someone about the struggle you are having to keep your decision. By the way, don’t confide in someone who is not completely behind you keeping your decision. Most likely they will simply tell you that you are taking things way too far and being far too serious. Serving God, being pure, having His best for your life, finding the right mate, having a successful Christian life, and being pleasing to your Savior is serious! Do not be dismayed by someone who does not have your same zeal for God and your commitment. STAY THE COURSE! You are not alone. I am praying for you.

Well, we will see you all in the Internet sky next Sunday. I look forward to posting some notes from THE GALLERY. I leave you with this one question: Whose V.O.I.C.E. are you listening to?

NEXT ISSUE: Next Sunday we will begin a series entitled, "THE W.E.D.G.E. PRINCIPLE." This is going to be a tremendous five-part series that will deal specifically with how to:

• Break the cycle of sin in your life.
• Gain victory on a consistent basis over the most difficult areas of past defeat.
• Begin to gain a secure position far from temptations of sin.