It's been a while....

It's been a while since I wrote on here, unfortunately I forgot my password to this account. But I found it, so back to writing I go!

So Thanksgiving is coming up... a time honored tradition in which we reflect on all the areas of our lives in which God (or America...) has blessed us.  I think that this should be an important part of our lives, a time to stand humbled before our maker and realize that without Him we have nothing. But this year I'm starting a new tradition... In addition to being thankful for all that I have, I am going to spend time thinking of the people who aren't a fortunate as I am. The people who don't have a bed to sleep in, the people who don't have enough food to satisfy their hunger, the people who have no one they can call a "friend." 

But it can't stop there at just thinking about it. These thoughts that I have must lead me to do something about the problems we face in our world, otherwise it's just wishful thinking.

I wonder if you would join me in this new Thanksgiving tradition... 

Would you be willing to join me in giving someone else something to be thankful for? 

This doesn't mean that we need to go out and change the world immediately, but a lot of little things will add up pretty quick. It could be as simple as saying "hello" to someone, giving them a hug, or maybe even giving up some of our time at a food bank or a homeless shelter. 

So during this time of Thanksgiving, lets be grateful for what we have and find ways to bless those who are in need.

Blessings to you during this Thanksgiving season!

Updates HUZZAH!

Hey all,

Just wanted to let you know that I won't be with you this weekend at F.N.L. or on Sunday Morning as I will be at the National Youth Workers Convention is Sacramento, California. Matt McEnroe will be running youth group, so be sure to be extra good for him!!!

Keep thinking about what we talked about last week as we looked at John 12:1-8. Mary chose to adore Jesus, which should be at the heart of everything we do as Christians. We are called to love the Lord our God with everything we have in us.

Also, wednesday mornings I am going to be taking you guys out for breakfast, so if you are interested in that, let me know and I can pick you up to get some food and then drop you off at school. 

Blessings! I can't wait to be back with everyone!!!

Raising the Dead

Well it's been a long week on my end of the i-net. (That's internet in internet lingo for those unaware.) I've had so much going on- so many things that have been demanding my time. Responsibilities at the church, classes, homework, etc. If you've had a week like mine, which I'm sure you have, your coming to the end of the week exhausted. So kick back, grab a coke (or your beverage of choice), and take a moment out of your busy schedule to read about one of my hero's.

I have been watching a documentary these last few days on the life of the German theologian Dietrich Bonhoffer. Dietrich was a man who lived in Germany during the time of WWII when the Nazi's were at the peak of their reign of terror. He struggled against the Nazi regime, not only protesting against the exclusion of people of Jewish origin from Church offices, but by risking his own life smuggling Jewish fellow-citizens across the border to safety. He was also involved in an underground movement to depose Hitler and the Nazi regime, for which he was arrested after a failed assassination attempt on Hitlers life. He spent the remaining years of his life in a German concentration camp and just days before the camp he was in was liberated, the guards were give the order to execute Bonhoffer by hanging. It was always interesting to me that the guards who hung him had such a hard time doing it, for they had grown to love this mighty man of God. His last recorded words were: "This is the end - for me the beginning of life."

I am amazed at how often I give up in the face of hard and pressing times. Whenever life gets super busy and hectic, I have a tendency to throw God on the back burner and go back to Him once I figure things out. When I think about Dietrich, here was a man who drew closer to God when life got hard. Here is a man who stood by his religious convictions and left a permanent mark on Christianity, even though it cost him his life. I think it was easier for him to do this because he had a perspective on life that what we have here is not all that there is. Now I know that this is something we all know form Sunday school, but really- is this something that we believe and live out?

What would our lives look like if we truly believed in a kingdom that is yet to come?
How would our values change?
Would out priorities shift in life?
What about how we interact with our friends and family?

Spend some time thinking about this.... I think that we can learn a lot by looking at the way the giants of the Christian faith have lived.

Tomorrow night we will be having Friday Night Live at the church form 6:00-8:00 p.m. Come ready to look at the first part of John Ch.11. It is the account of Jesus raising his friend Lazarus from the dead after he had been lying in the tomb for 4 days. Be sure to read the passage a couple of times before you show up tomorrow night!

Hope to see you all soon!

SOME THOUGHTS FOR FRIDAY

Hey guys, sorry it has taken me a little while to make a post. The new house I moved into doesn't have internet yet, so I'm sitting at school before a class hammering out some thoughts for you guys....

Basically what I'm going to do with some of these posts is encourage you to check out some scripture that will be relevant to what we will be looking at on Friday night's so that you come in with a little knowledge of the subject.

This Friday we are going to be taking a look John 10:22-42, which is a passage where Jesus once again proclaims His deity (fancy word for being God). If you remember, Jesus had just had this amazing interaction with the Jews. He had healed this blind man who couldn't see at all, and then He goes on to make this analogy that He is the good Shepherd who loves the sheep. While the Jews didn't understand the analogy He was making (obviously), it did lead people to wonder more about who Jesus was because of the power that was in His words. People thought that He was either from God or that He was possessed by a demon of some sorts. (On a side note, when was the last time someone thought you were demon possessed? For me it was in Russia 4 years ago. Ask me about it sometime....) 

So in light of all of these questions that the Jews are having, we come to the text for Friday night. I want to encourage you to spend some time reading John 10:22-42 in light of what we have been looking at these past few weeks. Start to ask questions of the text. Like what does it mean for Jesus to be the Lord of our life? Are we hearing from Him (vs. 27)? Do we seek to know God and to be known by Him?

Feel free to post some of your responses hear on the blog under the comments section, I would love to talk with you guys about this!

Remember, Friday Night Live is from 6:00-8:00 at the church on Friday night. Also, if you remember, we have a little competition this Friday. If there are more boys than girls at F.N.L., I will eat a live goldfish. However, if there are more girls than guys, I will not eat the live goldfish. So be sure to bring as many people as you can in order to achieve whichever outcome you desire.

Blessings!

Worship

So I just sat through a 4 hour planning meeting with a few of my friends with the goal of planning a worship gathering for the church plant they are involved with. (You can check out their website here.) We sat down and talked about the pluses and negatives of different styles of worship as well as the things needed in order to achieve certain goals. 

Ultimately we came to the conclusion that no matter what we do, the worship service shouldn't be about us and our musical preference. However, we are still stuck wrestling with the desire to create an atmosphere that will encourage the community to come and join in worship. Regeneration, the church, places a high priority on community. They want everything that they do to remind them of the need to develop and maintain community amongst the congregation. 

I think that they are on to something...

As always, my mind roams back to what we are doing with the middle school ministry at Y.L.P.C. I'm trying to figure out how we, as the junior highers, become a community that chooses worship as a natural response to who God is. 

Up at Hume Lake we had an amazing band that would lead us in worship through music every morning and evening. It was so easy to worship God as we were in His beautiful creation, it was so easy to worship Him as we were away from the distractions of life, it was so easy to worship Him when we were with others of a like mind who choose to do the same. 

This leaves us with this question, why is it so hard for us to do the same down the mountain? 

Why do we have a hard time getting excited about the hymns that we sing in "big" church? 

Is it because they are boring? 

Or is it because we don't have an appreciation about the truth they reveal of God?

I think that if we really take the time to consider these questions, we have to be honest and admit that the main reason the hymns of old have no appeal for us is because they don't have rocking guitar solos or loud drums. I know that when I was growing up out in San Bernardino I hated going to church with my grandparents because they would always make us sing the old boring hymns. However, over the last couple of years I have really developed an appreciation for the good theology (fancy word for the study of God) that they teach us. Someone told me that songs were written and taught to people back in "the day" as a way to teach people because they were illiterate. Now I don't know if that is true or not, but it is a very interesting subject to explore. As I look at a lot of the newer worship songs that are coming out, I find that a lot of them are really self-centered. They are about us and how we feel. What about God?

So my question is this: What can we do to become a community of middle schoolers who are intent on worshiping God? How should it look? Should there be guitars, drums, piano, rocks clanging in the background? I am curious what your thoughts are on this.

Rainstorm!

Hume Lake Summer Video

After much frustration I was able to get the Meadow Ranch video up onto youtube last night. Apparently I had to go back into the editing programing and re-export it so it would be small enough to format to youtube's space requirements. 

All that's to say is it's done. However, I have been having some issues on getting the video to load up on this blog, so I think that I am going to just post a link and try to figure it out later. You can fid the video on right here. Let me know if there are any issues in loading or whatnot. Be sure to also check out the Grizzly Barbasol video because he is more or less my new hero. 

Rainstorm!

REMINISCING HUME LAKE

I miss the trees, I miss the lake, I miss the air. When it comes down to it, I just miss Hume Lake and all it stands for.

Coming back from spending an amazing week with the Jr. Highers in Hume Lake I find that I am being overwhelmed by how many things there are seeking to control our attention. Our time is continually consumed by sports, home work, extra-curricular activities, and just the every day tasks in life. 

I begin to think about how easy it was to relax in Hume Lake as we were away from our cell phones and computers for the week. I begin to think about how fulfilling it was to watch students enjoy community with one another and embrace those who did not come into Hume as a part of the community. I begin to think about how easy it was for us to spend time with the Lord through prayer and the reading of Scripture. 

I watched students let down the barriers in their lives and make decisions to follow Christ and to surrender control to Him.

But as awesome as Hume Lake was, I still find myself being worried as we begin to settle back into our daily routines and prepare for this upcoming school year. I have seen too many kids who have made decisions to surrender control to Christ be swallowed in the following year by the hustle and bustle of life. They began strong but one small sacrifice lead to another and at the end of the year they were asking themselves how they traveled so far off their intended path. 

However, I have seen a few students who have stayed true to the commitments that they made to Christ at Hume Lake. I have seen students who have made the right sacrifices. They decided that to follow Christ is more important than anything else in their life, He became their top priority. It is my hope and prayer that this would be the story of each and every Jr. Higher who went to Hume Lake this year. 

It will be work, and it won't be easy. But I can promise you this, it will be good and fulfilling.

To do my part at Y.L.P.C., we will be doing everything that we can to help you along this journey in the coming years. Beginning September 5th, 2008 we will kicking off our fall programing as we introduce the new format for youth group call Friday Night Live. Traditionally we have always had fellowship on Sunday nights, but there was to much competition with other activities and it has kept us from our goal of being able to reach out to our friends who are not a part of a community that is united by faith in Jesus Christ. We will also be taking sign-ups for small groups in the coming weeks. If you have any interest in being a part of our small groups, please e-mail me at ndavis@ylpc.org or just leave a comment on this blog.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post, we will use this as our main way to communicate with students. Feel free to comment and send in items that you think would be worth having on here, such as funny stories or prayer requests. Blessings to you!

P.S.

RAINSTORM!!!

(see the video below)