02.23.10 - 09:33pm
Wow, lent really came out of nowhere this year, at least it did for me. I mean, didn’t we just have Christmas? And now it is time to give up something? My initial reaction is, ugh, groan, and sigh. When I was growing up, this was like the worst time of the year, always having to give up sweets, oh sweets, why sweets and for 40 days, why so long…that’s like more than a month…how horrible.
Now I am finally starting to see the season of lent for what it is, an opportunity for us to get closer to God, an opportunity to turn away from things that are keeping us from being who we are truly meant to be. Now are those HORRIBLE cookies going to make us a bad person or keep us from God? No, of course not,
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01.12.10 - 04:23pm
Well we have officially kicked off the New Year with a great Rock the Flock and fun Youth Group night with all the SURAR Cereal you could stand. We also welcomed some new 8th graders to our Youth Group now that all activities are open to any and all 8th graders and their friends as well as high school students.
At Rock the Flock, we reflected on what some possible New Year resolutions could be and why they might be important. We focused on Kris Allen’s song, Live Like We’re Dying:
Yeah, gotta start
Looking at the hands of the time we’ve been given here
This is all we got and we gotta start thinkin’ it
Every second counts on a clock that’s tickin’
Gotta live like we’re dying
We only got 86 400 seconds in a day
To turn it all around or to throw it all away
We gotta tell ‘em that we love ‘em while we got the chance to say,
Gotta live like we’re dying
Basically, we wanted to offer the New Year’s Resolution to Live Like We’re Dying (in the positive ways of course), to live our lives without regrets, to tell the ones we love that we love them while we have got the chance to say it. The reality is that we don’t know how much time we actually have here and we don’t know how much time those that we love have here with us, so don’t regret that you didn’t get the chance to say it and love like Christ loved.
“If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. You also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour.”
~Luke 12:38-40
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11.04.09 - 03:09pm
Mystery Flu
The day is over, you are driving home. You tune in your radio. You hear a little blurb about a little village in India where some villagers have died suddenly, strangely, of a flu that has never been seen before. You don’t think much about it, but on Sunday, coming home from church, you hear another radio spot. Only they say its not three villagers, its 30,000 villagers in the back hills of this particular area of India, and it’s on TV that night. By Monday morning when you get up, it’s the lead story. For its not just India; it’s Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and before you know it, you’re hearing this story everywhere and they have coined it now as “the mystery flu.” The President has made some comment that he and everyone are praying and hoping that all will go well over there But everyone is wondering, How are we going to contain it? That’s when the President of France makes an announcement that shocks Europe. He is closing their borders. No flights from India, Pakistan, or any of the countries where this thing has been seen.
Your jaw hits your chest when a weeping woman is translated from a French news program
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08.27.09 - 07:49am
17-year-old Brian Moore had only a short time to write something for a class. The subject was what Heaven was like. ‘I wowed ‘em,’ he later told his father, Bruce. ‘It’s a killer. It’s the bomb. It’s the best thing I ever wrote..’ It also was the last.
Brian Moore died May 27, 1997, the day after Memorial Day. He was driving home from a friend’s house when his car went off Bulen-Pierce Road in Pickaway County and struck a utility pole. He emerged from the wreck unharmed but stepped on a downed power line and was electrocuted.
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08.15.09 - 08:55am
At Rock the Flock, we reflected on the Parable of the Rich Young Man from the Matthew 19:16-30. The young man asked Jesus, “Teacher, what good deed must I do to have eternal life?”, Jesus replied, “If you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” The young man, after hearing which commandments he needed to keep, told Jesus, “I have kept all these, what do I still lack?” and Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be perfect, go , sell your possessions, and give the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.” When the young man heard this word, he went away grieving, for he had many possessions.
Likewise, Pope John Paul II says, “reject the seduction of wealth and consumerism and subtle violence sometimes used by the mass media, these all lead to a spiritual vacuum”.
We all have a lot of possessions…what are we willing to give up in order to follow Jesus?
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07.09.09 - 10:51am
“Dear young people: Do not be afraid of Christ! He takes nothing away, and he gives you everything. When we give ourselves to him, we receive a hundredfold in return. Yes, open, open wide the doors to Christ – and you will find true life.”
Pope Benedict XVI—From the homily of his inaugural Mass—April 25, 2005
“You’re my Prince of Peace and I will live my life for you.”
What does this all mean? What are we supposed to do? How do we live our lives for Christ?
We DENY ourselves and stop living just for us…we stop being selfish and thinking that we are the only one that matters. It isn’t all about what makes us happy and feel good…it is about what Christ is calling us to do and how He is calling us to live our lives.
Don’t be afraid of what others will say or think of you when you decide to REALLY begin living your life for God…it doesn’t matter what they think of you…all that matters is how God sees you and what HE thinks of you.
“I’d rather be a fool in the eyes of man, than a fool in the eyes of God.”
Go ahead and take that step of faith and give your life, the life that He has given you, back to him…surrender yourself, your ambitions, your concerns, your apprehensions to Him…he takes nothing away and gives you EVERYTHING!
Always remember that He loves you, that He is holding on to you and that He will never let go of you, He will never give up on you.
May God bless you and give you HOPE in your darkest hours.
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