"...fearfully and wonderfully made...." Psalms 139

In case you missed either of the last two Wednesday nights we have had some great discussion about how we are reminded in Psalms 139 that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made" and how that should be reflected in how we view, "decorate", and conduct ourselves....in the light of our Creator! It should make us less critical of our crooked teeth, moles, and body parts that don't work, etc., and MORE critical of our own motives for changing our appearance! So give yourself a break from the self-criticism and start seeing yourself as GOD Himself sees you....as His own unique creation!

Even this guy, though he is more "fearfully and wonderfully bipolar", reminds us of this important principle!! :-) (Be sure and hang around for the shocking 2nd verse - and make sure you are sitting down!)

The scripture I promised I would post here is I Cor. 6: 19-20..."Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body."

We had a great discussion, too, about how our decisions about our appearance do not JUST affect us alone, but also how OTHERS view us and make assumptions about our commitment to God based on that. Is it fair? Maybe not, but it still MUST be a part of your decision about how you present yourself!

My 3D Self

For those of you (namely my children) who find the image of me in bike shorts emotionally painful and makes you claw at your eyes, here's one that doesn't have the some psychosis-inducing side effects...... This 3-D site is kinda fun to play with if you are a pathetic loser with waaaay too much time on your hands. By the way, I ALWAYS wear a helmet...only my animated 3-D self doesn't need one as he could be regenerated easily in the event of a face plant. KR

Recognizing the Day of Prayer

It was fun last Wednesday night to join with the younger kids and enjoy the Day of Prayer by writing down our prayer requests, attaching them to a helium balloon (or TWO balloons if your prayer was especially heavy), and then releasing them as a group into the sky!

It was all business when things got a little tangled up. Personally, I think you guys have taken one too many MySpace pics. Bunch o' posers..

Sabrina gave it some serious thought...

...and so did Sierra...




Savanna and Nick got comfy on the Sport Court...

....and the balloons made for a great shot right before liftoff!!

One question: "How did people pray before helium was discovered?" :-)

Click here to see the balloon release as it happened!!!

Teen Sunday!!! May 4th, 2008!

When you ask God to show up someplace where we are all going to be expecting Him to do something awesome, He ALWAYS comes through!! And this last Sunday was no exception! I have to tell you that I was really proud of the way you all used your gifts to bring the rest of the congregation to the throne room!

Alex welcomed the crowd in!

Kyle and Sergio made the announcements and made sure everyone's phones were on a "non-distracting mode".

Sierra's demon tries to pull Allison to the dark side...

Hunter strummed out the choruses!!

The "temptations" worked Allison over, but....

.....help was on The Way!!
[click on this picture to enlarge it - it ROCKS the way Jesus (well, Parker) is clear and bright and the demons/temptors are blurred and transparent-ish!]

Click on the arrow to see Jesus intercede!!!

30-Hour Famine!! It's not about the food...

Hunger.....it's probably the strongest physical driving force we deal with as humans. That's what makes the "30-Hour Famine" such a defining test to put yourself through...and that's just what we did!! After weeks and weeks of prayer, raising money for World Vision, and hours of planning, at 12:00 on Friday, April 25th, we started our fast at school and then met at the church at 6:00 p.m.!! For the next 24 hours we had a blast singing, watching "The Truth About Guys", making personal video segments, drinking juice, practicing drama and music for Teen Sunday, making beaded jewelry, sleeping, playing dodgeball, drinking more juice, collecting canned food, serving with the Angel Food ministry, pulling out staples, washing vans, grooming Martha Mohr's yard, doing a picture scavenger hunt, and purchasing food for our food pantry, putting crosses, finger painting, praying, and having a candlelight service.....just to name a few. :-) The amazing thing was how God was obviously helping us the whole time!! Some people even used the "easy" to describe how it was getting through it!! That's miraculous!! A few OTHER cool ways God made his presence known was in the cool thunder and lightning storm Friday night, the beautiful weather on Saturday, the way we all encouraged and supported one another, Joe's "Dri-pod" survival on the playground during the storm, the "undisturbed" crosses and signs after the storm, and the overall joy we felt in emptying ourselves so that God could pour Himself into us!!

Madame Blueberry!?

Allison and Savanna put the "angel" in Angel Food ministry!

Maybe we shoulda let Conner get one more hour of beauty sleep?

During the candlelight service we were reminded that time is short....

That month-old window chalk left over from Extravaganza was baked on
there good!

Mac says "Pizza, it's not just for breakfast anymore!" It was a nice way to end 30 hours of being filled by the Lord spiritually and serving our community!! Let's plan on doing it again NEXT year! A BIG thank you to Julie Crawford and Cheryl Katrenick for a fantastic job of planning and preparing us for it!!