Plastic Jesus

I wonder how many of us are living a life un affected by Jesus and the church? Would love to hear from all of you on what you think of this video and that questions. How is Jesus making a REAL difference in your life?

Prayer

We have been looking at prayer and what it means to live a life of prayer at Youth Am. If you are unaware of what Youth AM is; well ask one of our youth who participate. We have been wrestling with the concept of praying continually, making prayer a habit and beings generally interested in developing a stronger prayer life. But there are a few questions that bug me as we have developed this study and have begun to discuss and share with one another. First of all, does prayer really matter? Does it work?Are our prayers really heard by the all powerful God? If you can answer yes to these questions, great; but for us who are struggling to find answers or what we really believe we need to continue to ask and to seek.

Matthew 7:7-8 says, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened."

I don't think that Jesus was saying that every wish is His command. I think He was asking us for open and honest conversations with Him. Jesus is longing for us to engage Him in relationship; not just typical Sunday rituals, but rather life transforming encounters with the creator. Jesus is asking for us to pray, to seek and to take a proactive part in our communication and relationship with Him.

For me prayer often is something we just do. I say my words, sometimes repetitive and then Amen and hang up on God. I don't take the time to be still and listen for a response. To seek the heart of God and what He may be sharing with me in response. Why is that? Do I not believe that He will answer? Am I too selfish and inward focused?

Well I am not going to give up. There are certainly better days than others. But I am not going to stop praying, I am going to continue to struggle and build a better prayer life. To make a habit of being continuous about prayer. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 "pray continually". And then take the time to listen and allow God to speak back. To believe that He cares and wants to speak to me. I may not always like the answer, but I am going to engage!

John Wesley offers us much insight to the Christian practice of prayer. He wrote, "All who desire the grace of God are to wait for it, first, in the way of prayer." I don't know about you but often I grow impatient and want instant answers and action. But this isn't how God works. If you look over scripture you see that through the generations God worked in His timing and His timing alone. Many grew impatient. But it was the patient the steadfast that were rewarded and encouraged. Wesley also stated, "the most useful of all pastimes." When I think of pastimes this time of year I think of sports; particularly football. We certainly don't equate prayer with pastimes, but we also don't live lives as reckeless and with as much enthusiasm as John Wesley did. I wonder why not?

Coffee Make & Grinder took off this weekend

So this weekend when Sarah and I were gone camping our Coffee Maker and Grinder took off on an adventure. The good news is that they have saftely return. I guess you shouldn't mess with other people's furniture? Here is a tale of their adventures. These are the excerpts that were e-mailed to us from coffeeandgrinder@yahoo.com

We are tired of you only using us to fulfill you basic morning, and occasional evening, needs. We are more than just appliances to be ignored. We need to break free from the bonds of Anniston. We are done with this place...We are GOING FOR A RIDE!

We never knew how much fun it could be to sow our wild beans. We have so much to do... It has been great enjoying the wind in our grounds and the sun on our knobs. Oh how we do enjoy playing around.

Man is it hot out there, playing around gets us all perked up. We need to take break from the fun and get a good cleaning. Nothing to fancy, but a refreshing dip can ready us for more days of fun. Krups can kiss our filters.

We have had so much fun on our first day out around town. Last night we met so many new friends. They were party animals! This morning as we hit the ground grinding. We have a big day planned. So much to brew and so little time to brew it in. Here are some other friends we met on our adventures.

Wow, this is a fine medium roast type of day. With all the great outdoorsy things to do, We may never come home. Check out our cool rock climbing experience.

Too much fun, leads to the occasional dash to the sketchy toilets. But, when you gotta drip, you gotta drip.

We have quickly realized our batteries are getting low and we needed to find a way to juice up for the fun yet to come.... We thought about haning around for job interview, but something tells me it we just couldn't grind it.

Nothing makes you appreciate one another more than a little time together. I am sure that since you have been without us, you have spent lots of time thinking about us. Well, we have been thinking about us too. And we think you should do more for us. You two are always doing fun things, and never, ever do you take us with you. You expect us to be there when you get back, be there when your gone lying in wait for your every caffinated command. We just wanted you to not take us for granted. We appreciate you and what you have done for us. Organic Fair Trade fillers warm us up and make life good, but so does a little TLC. That's what we have been up to.

AHHH. . .
Summer is Crazy busy. But so much going on. Need to update and share about Project Noah, CCE, WOC coming up soon! And the many things happening at CGC in Cedar Grove! Wow one of these days will get it all done. Or not? I guess it is more about the adventure and process than the finsih?

Big-D this Weekend

Am I ready? I think so. Sarah and I will be running the BIG-D Dallas Marathon this Sunday. You can watch our progress at www.texasmarathon.com Pray that it is good weather and most importantly is that Sarah's knee is good and healthy! We are looking to just finish this one. Well hope you all have a good weekend.

On another note we had staff retreat this week Sunday-Wednesday for our church. It went well. I think we all bonded in new ways and learned something new about each other. I am excited to see what happens down the road. We are sensing a re-awakening within our staff and congregation. These are certainly amazing times to be involved in the work of Christ. Pray for us as we pray for all of you in your area of the world.

Thanks be to God for all of you.

Knocking out Laziness

This past weekend we knocked out laziness. We challenged the youth to identify areas of their lives that they were being lazy. Specifically we asked in the area of their FAITH, WORLD (Social Action) & FORGIVENESS. We challenged them to paint their shortcomings on three warnout broken lazy boy chairs we had. Then we gave these things to the Lord in an old fashion knock out. We took hammers, fits, and whatever we could muster up and destroyed these chairs as a sign that we are not going to be lazy. That we are serious about our Faith and growing deeper, that we are doing our part in the world and our community and that we continue to forgive and as forgiveness to those who we wrong or are wronged by. Check out the video we shot of them destroying the chairs!

Well it is eight in the morning on Monday, February 16, 2009. We are almost 24 hrs into the 30 hour fast/famine. Last night with the youth we slept outside in cardboard boxes. The temperature dipped into the upper 30s but stayed plenty warm in my little cardboard house. Doing pretty good so far on the fast. Last night falling to sleep was the worst of it all. Wishing for just a little snack. My stomach turning and growling for just a bit of nurishment. But then I was quickly reminded of the thousands of children and people across the world that were going to sleep with nothing in their stomachs as well. But theirs was not by choice! Today we continue our famine projects as well as head to the local food pantry and our mission "The New Room" to serve. I think this moring will be the most difficult for the youth to focus and stay motiviated. Pray for them. This afternoon at 3:30 we break the fast with a communion service and then dinner. The 30 hour famine is teaching our youth how fortunate they are. They are making a difference in Shreveport, our congregation and the world by bringing attention to the many who suffer everyday. May we all remember the 26,000 children who died this past day due to hunger related diseases.