Good little blog…

Hi All, I thought I’d pass this on to all of you…Its from Justin Kendrick’s blog – its a good intro to this weeks I/O topic!

Enjoy!

http://www.agenerationtransformed.blogspot.com/

a quick song

great new album out: David Crowder “Church Music” , I am loving this song right now thought i’d share it with you all!

Devotions…..

Hey all, first post of the new school year!!! I read this article today and wanted to share with you, I took it from Relavantmagazine.com so please check out their site!  Its written by a guy named ed gungor….

4 Real-Life Ways to Connect with God

Ed Gungor Tuesday, September 08, 2009

          Most of us know we’re “supposed” to do devotions every day. And so we slog along, crack open our Bible every day and hope to pick something up by osmosis before we forget what we’ve read. Why do devotions seem so … pointless? What do you do when you know you should be doing them, but it just feels empty and insincere to do them? Do devotions even matter? I’ve been taking part in a daily devotional time for nearly forty years. I wish I could tell you it’s been an easy road. It hasn’t. Oh, I’ve had my moments when my prayer or study time seemed white hot with inspiration, but those were few and far between. There have been many more times when it seemed like I was investing more energy into my devotional time than I seemed to be getting back. And, truth be told, there have been a million times when devotion time meant little more than a horrible “should” for me, and I dreaded doing it. It hasn’t been till the past ten years or so that my devotional life has become something more for me—something I actually look forward to.

Here are some reasons why: They’ve helped me, and I think (and hope) they’ll help you:

1. Fight to keep “the point” the point. The point of doing spiritual things at all (like prayer, or reading the Bible, or singing in worship, etc.), is not so we can say we did them or to make ourselves feel like better Christians; the point of devotion is to open our deepest selves to the God who saves, to the God who engages the human heart, to the One who draws near to us when we draw near to Him. Devotional time is to be more about God than it is about us and what we do. This means we long for God’s Spirit to penetrate the various facets of our lives in real time and space. We are to come to our devotions in the hope that God will enter and shape our futures for His glory. That’s the point.

2. Devotions tap into grace. Grace is an amazing thing. There is no way it makes sense. It is God lovingly chasing us when there is no reason for it. When the psalmist caught a glimpse of it, he cried, “This is too much, too wonderful—I can’t take it all in!” Neither can we. Grace changes things. It changes people. The task of the devotional gesture is to figure out how a person with your unique personality and mind-set can best tap into grace. For me, grace is most easily accessed as I ponder the Scriptures. As I wrestle with texts, grace seems to dawn inside me. My wife, Gail, taps into grace as she sings and worships. Others touch God’s grace most by getting together with other believers or by retreating into times of solitude. Once you find some pathways to help you succeed at living under the influence of grace, incorporate those practices into your devotional rhythm.

3. Variety is the spice of life. I like eggs, but eggs every day, at every meal, would get old fast. One of the reasons that my devotional life took a dive early on is because I did the same things all the time. Things began to change when I discovered the many spiritual practices modeled in Scripture and church history—and there are a bunch of them (i.e. study, worship, celebration, service, prayer, fellowship, confession, submission, solitude, silence, fasting, sacrifice, etc. – Google these!). Now, when I practice my daily devotions, I mix it up—some days I do contemplative things (i.e. prayer, meditation, solitude); other days I take a long walk in silence and try to listen; some days I practice what’s called the Daily Office (the Daily Office is an ancient way to pray and meditate on scripture several times throughout the day); and then there are days when all I do is embrace Celtic spirituality and pray into the mundane things I do, like washing the dishes: Lord, cleanse my soul like I’m washing these dishes … scrub your church clean of whatever is not of you … , or when I clean up around the house or office: Lord, bring order into our world … let your kingdom come and your will be done … The goal with any kind of devotional break is to balance the responsibilities of our lives with a continuous awareness of God in the back of our minds as we work throughout the day.

4. Winters come. Winter is that season of the year when everything looks dead, cold and lifeless. But winter is actually not a bad thing. This is the time when the roots of plants push deeper into the earth, making them more healthy and resilient. St. John of the Cross talked about times when our relationship with God took on the characteristic of winter. He called it the “dark night of the soul.” St. John claimed this was the time when God’s working was imperceivable to us. In a dark night the spiritual practices of prayer or study or service would seem dead or flat, cold and lifeless, but that didn’t mean God was not working—just that His working was too deep for us to perceive it.

Madeleine L’Engle describes what sounds like the dark night: “Sometimes I just know that I am going to come down with an attack of atheism again. It’s like the flu. Spiritual flu, I call it. I get ready to endure three or four days of doubt and deep distance from God. Then, through the grace of God, I find myself spiritually well again.” Our devotion time is not to be an end in itself; it is to be a spiraling process of ever-expanding openness and movement into God. Through these times we say “no” to the way things are, but our “no” isn’t where we stop. Our “no” implies a “yes” to something more. It is in these moments of devotion we foster a conviction about the kind of life we are to live, clarity about our role in the world, and a sense of corporate mission and ministry. There is a critical and prophetic power about them. We are not just believing differently; these times cause us to do and live differently. We end up no longer using the world for our own self-interests. We find ourselves seeking God’s will and goodness for a hurting world—we seek mercy instead of retribution, reconciliation instead of rejection and alienation. A robust devotional life causes us to live better, which helps us write our lives large for Him.

Ed Gungor is a pastor and author. He can be found at SaltTribe.org.

Fame

Hi All,

Found this article on “pluggedinonline.com”, couldn’t help but thing this applied to some of us…..

This article deals with fame and how we all hope to achieve it, and then outlines the consequenses of that yearning.

http://www.pluggedinonline.com/read/read/a0004796.cfm

Atheistic Humanism…yikes. BIG WORDS :)

 

Atheistic Humanism

 

     Could many of us define what people mean when they say this?  It is important since it is one of the dominant world philosophies today.  If we can’t, we should since a lot of conversations with classmates, friends, and co-workers can take on different meaning and angles when we know where they are coming from.  Here is one definition –  “ROT” like what happens to garbage that is left out.  If people are honest who are Atheists, who deny GOD when they die…they simpy ROT.  Sad, and strange but the truth of that way of thinking.  I suggest you guys check out these 2 recent radio podcasts from Focus on the Family which are of a debate between 2 professors, one a Christian and one a Atheist.  They are fascinating and really funny too, the guys disagree sharply but are also friends. 

 

The Podcasts can be found here:

http://feeds2.feedburner.com/FocusOnTheFamilyDailyBroadcast

 

The titles are Debating Darwinism 1 and 2

 

For those who are going to find themselves on a college campus this fall, I would definetly check these out since you will definetly be faced with dealing with this worldview in ways you havn’t had to before.

 

Peace-

 

Joe P

Breakaway 09

Well we survived Breakaway 09!!!  It was an amazing weekend for all who went.  I was touched at just how much evidence of God’s love and work were on display the past three days.  He worked in the hearts of Jr. High all the way through the adults that were present.  Our theme was “Open Your Eyes” and it seems that was the case for a great many of you!  Whether it was relationships, forgiveness, accepting a relationship with Jesus, or conquering your fears about sharing the Gospel, God worked great things!   This hasn’t been a highly active place yet, but I would love for all of you to start posting changes in your life as a result of this weekend.  You may post anonymously, or if your talking about forgiving someone please use discretion and not use thier names or say mom or dad if thats who it is, you can be general in your description.  We don’t want anyones feelings to be crushed or to feel betrayed.  I am just excited to hear how God is moving in your hearts.  If it is your child you are posting about be sensitive as well.  Tell some stories about what happend when you got back and your efforts therein. 

Blessings!

O Holy Night

Merry Christmas everybody!!!!

As we celebrate Christmas Eve/Christmas Day I wanted to post this song as it is one of me and my wife’s favorite Christmas songs, (Geoff Zini says its essential Christmas).  So check this guy out – he does an amazing job, the first round is great then he hits some amazing notes! 

crazy animals singing…

Hello all,

What kind of blog would this be without one post dedicated to a cute animal video?  So I found this to share with you.  This is in no way related to a devotion time as far as i can tell…..I personally found it amusing and a bit creepy really but thought you could use a laugh today! (I do not endorse nor sponsor the makers of the video, its just really funny).

Dan

Humility…

Hey Guys and Gals,

Been awhile, its finals week so the post will be brief but didn’t want you to think I forgot you all!  At our leaders retreat last week we talked alot about humility.  What does humility mean to you?  How are we to be humble in Christ?  What would be the impact if you understood humility through God’s eyes in your life?  Let me know how you answer this…..leave a post, all are welcome to respond!

Psalm 23:4

Hi Guys and Gals,

Some of our student leaders were challenged to write a devotional message and in the coming months you may see a few of these pop up now and then.  Todays is written by a student for you students so here it is:
Psalm 23: 4
“Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for you are with me;
your rod and your staff, they comfort me.”

I was thinking about this verse the other day and pretty much can say that we all go through some tough times.  I chose this verse as it not only comforts you when you go through those hard times, but it shows us how to live each day as God wants us to.  Every day we have to choose between right and wrong. The valley of the shadow of death is our life here on Earth. We can be put in these difficult situations anywhere, whether it’s at your school, at work, or when you’re with your friends and family. But, since God is our shepherd, he will help you through these hard times. God will lead you through good times and will stand by your side through tough times. Another plus is that he will get rid of all your fears too! He never promised there wouldn’t be suffering along the way, but we know we don’t have to be afraid as long as we follow our shepherd aka God!

So I have this friend who knows that I go to church and have gone to, as she puts it, “Jesus camp” and a bunch of missions trips. She’s not against what I believe but she has gone out of her way to make a joke about it. Sometimes she’ll bring it up to other people saying that I’m “religious” and will laugh. When she does this I’m at first shocked and then hurt. Whenever she does this I remember God is with me and that he will help me when she makes fun of me. I have tried ignoring her… it does work for a time but she’ll find ways to bring it back up. What I’ve realized is that for some apparent reason God has put her into my life. I don’t like it but I’m sure there’s a purpose.  I may not see it now but I know it is there.  So for the time being I will do my best to follow God and hope that impacts her in positive ways. 

Even though we are in the “valley of the shadow of death” there is comfort in this verse! The shepherd uses his rod to guide, protect, and rescue his sheep from our enemies (we’re his sheep btw).   It is good to know God cares enough to protect us.  His rod is sometimes used to discipline us too. That’s right, discipline! When he disciplines you, know it’s for the best and was meant to be. Also, his staff will make us stay focused on him. He helps direct us and keep us on track. This will help us do what’s right.  Its like a parent who teaches their kids not to run in the street, or touch a stove when its hot.  There may be some temporary pain and/or punishment, but in the end the kid learns to make good desicions.  God disciplines often out of love.  When there is touble in my life, or I feel like God is disciplining me, I think of this song. It helps me realize that I should be praising God in the good and in the bad/tough/trials, and that God is true to his word, that he will comfort and guide me.  I hope this helps!

-Brooke Whalen