When: Sunday, August 24th during the Sunday school hour

Where: Fellowship Hall

We will eat, talk about the new year and get feedback from you on your praises and concerns. Mostly praise, please!

We will also give you the opportunity to sign up to help us out throughout the year on D’Now, mission trips, etc. See you there!

Musical Opportunities for Youth

Church Orchestra

Sundays @ 3:30 PM in the Sanctuary

Ages: High School Youth-Adults

Youth Handbell Choir

Sundays @ 4:30 PM in the Choral Suite

6^th Grade-12^th Grade

Some musical knowledge and reading is important.

Youth Choir

Sundays@ 5:30 PM in the Choral Suite

6^th Grade through 12^th Grade

Wide open – Y’all Come!

We are going to Camp Jabez (check out the web site) the weekend of October 11-13. You don’t want to miss out! The cost is just $180, which includes all meals, paint ball, live band, ropes course, climbing wall and smores! We will have the sign up on-line very soon, so check back!

http://www.campjabez.com/

youth-calendar-august-08.pdf
youth-calendar-september-08.pdf
youth-calendar-october-08.pdf
youth-calendar-november-08.pdf
youth-calendar-december-08.pdf

Our Sunday night conversation begins this Sunday after choir. Come for choir at 5:30pm, stay for snack supper at 6:30pm (Bring $2!) and we’ll have our discussion groups from 7pm-8pm. We hope to see all of you, 6th grade through 12th grade, for topical discussion about today’s issues.

Hey, gang! Come join us for games, music, a message from Nate Dog and The Boggan, and fun galore. We are in the basement again, beginning at 6:30pm. We’ll see you there!

p.s. Check out Smokey, Jr. trying to steal my carrot cake.

Kristy, Lee, David and Ashley

What an awesome group! 

Our first dinner at the diner.

Our abode for the week.

The best shop ever!

The crowd.  That’s 4000 teens!

Rockin’ out to the band!

See y’all soon!

I had a very deep and very meaningful conversation the other day that led me to go to this verse.  This is the part of 2 Corinthians where Paul is taking about the thorn in his side and the difficulty he has had removing it.  The subject of the conversation mentioned previously centered on this very thing, asking:  Why do we all have holes in our lives that we think we must fill with frivolous and empty things?  What are the thorns that plague us and cause us pain, therefore driving us to temporary solutions for our pain.

I’m sorry if this subject seems depressing but it is a fundamental question to our human existence.  A possible answer came to me upon reading this verse.  “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  How wonderful that God’s presence in our life can make us strong against our weaknesses.  The question remains:  Why haven’t we, humanity, conquered our weaknesses?  Why are we continually, perpetually and destructively flawed?

I believe that God can take away all weakness.  But it will be on God’s timing.  That seems like one of the top 5 “cop-out” answers in Christianity today.  But it has to be true.  For a loving God would not doom humanity to its iniquity without promise of wholeness at some point in time.  For Christians, this may be what we conceptualize heaven to be like…a completeness with God.

Why does this reality not exist in our world, in our time or in our reality today?  Why did Christ suffer and die?  These questions are aligned in the same category and in the same vein of mis-understanding.  Only God can answer this question.  But is it not wonderful, powerful and full of hope, the promise of grace being sufficient.  Maybe that is the answer in and of itself.  The moment we accept the gift and promise of grace is the moment we stop worrying about our awareness of incompleteness and we lean on the completeness of God instead.

Continue to remember that life is a journey.  Make mistakes and learn from them.  Recognize your weaknesses, ask God to give you strength and lean on the grace God provides when inevitably, your nature fails you.  Know that grace covers guilt and following Christ covers sin.  Nothing but this is sufficient for our lives.

Awesomeness Abounding!

Lee

I’ve also seen you grow spiritually.  Don’t think you have?  Trust me, you have.  It is through our work, our worship, our prayer life and the careful study of the Bible that we grow in our relationship with the Creator of the universe.  And you have all done that this year.

I wish to encourage you to end the summer strong because we have some momentum going into all the exciting things planned for fall.  Fall Retreat!  Wednesday and Sunday nights!  Ski Retreats!  Gatlinburg!

It’s going to be fun.

Awesomeness Abounding!

Lee

I remember when I was in school this was the time of year that we began to get the “Back to School” advertisements in the paper. That was always a BAD Sunday. “But wait, it’s only July 13^th!” Yes, but look at the calendar. Can you see it on the horizon?

I’m not trying to bum you out. We still have plenty of summer left. But the preparation time for a season of change is always important in life. We cannot deny what is ahead, especially if it is already planned. I know that in my life, I have felt God preparing me for new things. The recognition of that preparation time and the conscious involvement in it is where a lot of growth in our spiritual relationship takes place.

I see many examples in the Bible of God laying the ground work for those he chose to do his work, preparing them for what was to come. We don’t know much about Jesus first 30 years but I am certain it was used in preparation for what lay ahead. The preparation time for Paul included deep study and practice of the Jewish orthodoxy of the day. And while he spent that time persecuting those who followed Jesus, once his passion was turned 180?, he was prepared to defend Christ with all of his being. The key is that they were not scared of the future, even the future that they saw clearly before them.

The anticipation of a moment can kill the enjoyment of the present. The anticipation of a moment can impede the things that we are to learn during the present. Enjoy your time now, look to the future with anticipation, and use the awareness of both to live your life to the fullest. One cannot live in two places in time. You will miss out on both.

Happy Summer!

Lee