Don’t count your kittens before they hatch

I have a cat again! Hopefully this time she’ll stay around. The little gray one, now called Mollie, was found hanging around the church again last night. So the kids, knowing that I thought she was gone, brought her to me to let me know that she was back. (I have cool kids in my youth group!) That was just a the beginning of a good night. We had a good game time followed by an object lesson and teaching time and a discussion. I thought it was the best Big Deal that we’ve had for sure this year and maybe a while before that. With all that in mind, what have we learned? Every youth group needs a good cat to bring them together. (No, sorry, that’s not true at all!)

Proverbs 9:7-8 says, “Whoever corrects a mocker invites insult; whoever rebukes a wicked man incurs abuse. Do not rebuke a mocker or he will hate you; rebuke a wise man and he will love you”. This is a strange truth though sometimes hard to swallow. It almost seems backwards to think that the wise man would love you for being rebuked or corrected. But in the end, who will gain more from the correction, the wise or the foolish? Think about it this way: consider some of the kids in your classes from school. Who got into the most trouble? That’s easy. Think about the kids who got into the least amount of trouble. They are/were usually the top students in your class, with the best records, grades, and seemingly the best futures ahead of them. Do you ever remember a time when they were the ones who got into trouble? What happened? What did they do? I can almost assure you that they didn’t repeat the thing that got them into trouble! The guys/gals who are always giving administrators trouble are the ones who don’t learn from their mistakes and keep repeating the acts that bring about punishment. Then they go off in a tirade about how unfair and horrible the teacher/principal/authority figure is! Sounding familiar still? This whole wisdom/foolishness thing is a no-brainer when laid out in these terms. Seek wisdom and stay out of the principal’s office!

Sign up for the Windows of the World/Nat. Missionary Conv. Oct 1-3. Cost will be between $60-80.
The Hootenanny/Fall Lock-in is coming up soon! We’ll have a big couple days planned on Oct 10-11. Talk to your friends and plan to come! Check back for details.

Later…

Dog…err…cat…gone

Well, I guess I’m not a cat person. The little gray one seems to have moved on as well. Since I’ve gotten out of college, I’ve wanted a dog. But it has occurred to me a number of times, and sometimes not so subtly, that I am gone way too much to have a pet long term. It’s sad but true. I’m glad I learned that lesson with stray cats instead of a dog that I had to pay for, though. I would hate to think that I ruined a dog for life! Listen to me. I sound like a nervous first-time parent! There will come a day, someday, when I’m able to enjoy the company of man’s best friend and have the time and dedication to care for one the right way. Until then, youth ministry!

Proverbs 8:6-7 in the NLT says, “Listen to me! For I have excellent things to tell you. Everything I say is right, for I speak the truth and hate every kind of deception”. I really like these parts of Proverbs that personify Wisdom and Folly, specifically Wisdom. This is another section where she is calling out to all that will hear and giving them the truth. Sometimes she’s gentle and pleading, but others she’s pretty blunt with the fact that people are pretty dumb and need what she has. These two verses serve to reveal a little bit of the character of Wisdom. She says “Everything I say is right”, and she tells us why. First, she speaks the truth. That’s a great start. However, in today’s culture where truth is relative and can be different from one person to the next, this might not hold water for some. I think the second part does well to fill in the blanks. “…And hate every kind of deception” covers the bases that the first may have missed for some. No one likes to be lied to or to be deceived. But if truth only goes so far as being true for you, if someone else’s truth crosses paths with your own and leaves you feeling slighted, deceived, or used, how truthful is that? No, truth is a constant: something that can be proven across the board, for everyone, everywhere. If someone is claiming to give the truth but is himself not truthful, then the message is severely hampered or lost completely. Wisdom hates deception and in the NAS says “wickedness is an abomination to my lips”! An abomination is something that is hated and is disgusting to a person. If deception is that to Wisdom, then you can be assured that what is being said is not deception in any sense. God, speaking through the character Wisdom, is crying out to us today to embrace his words because they are true and excellent.

Big Deal starts at 7 pm and goes to 8:30.
Sign up for Windows of the World/National Missionary Convention Oct 1-3. Cost will be in the neighborhood of $60.

Later…

My NEW, new cat

If you’ve been to church in the past couple weeks, you may have noticed that we have an abundance of cats in the area. Pending on who you are, this can be a good thing or a bad thing. If you like cats, obviously, then this would thrill your soul. If however, you do not like cats (i.e. you think they are the bane of human existence, wonder if they were a result of the Fall, find yourself saying, “The only good cat is a dead cat”) then this may put a damper on your trips to church. Recently, I took such cat in and made him my own. This was a short lived venture because after a long weekend away, I returned to find that he had sought greener pastures and took up residence elsewhere. This came as a bit of a shock because I thought I had done an adequate job in caring for the little fellow. Alas, he I moved on and so did I. On Monday of this week, the staff started noticing a new cat who is quite friendly. Actually, she’s a little too friendly! And she talks constantly! This is no joke: the silly thing meows almost nonstop when in the presence of anything she thinks she can receive attention from! (I know other girls like this, but we’ll not be discussing them here nor there!) Yesterday afternoon while walking across the parking lot, I discovered yet another feline! This one is dark gray and white. She has a patch of white that goes from below her nose to the middle of her chest, white gloves and socks up to her knees. This cat almost has a super-hero look to her. Anyways, this one wasn’t nearly as annoying as the other, so I took it home and fed it. I’m still out on a name, but we’ll see if it stays around for more than a week before we get too attached. (Post a comment if you want to contribute to name ideas!)

Proverbs 2:7-8 says, “He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones”. On Monday of this week, I talked about the Lord being a shield and his promises being comforting. Here is a good example of that. The upright and the blameless are his people. God will work in the lives of those people who are living for him and keeping their lives straight on his path. As we’re walking on that path, whether we feel like we “see” it or not, understand it or not, or agree with it or not, the Lord will guard the path and protect those who are on it. It’s a simple thing to say, but I’ll be the first to admit it’s hard to live out. I have sin in my life as well as the next guy. Because we sin, we die. That’s life. But that sin isn’t the death sentence it used to be. The life of Christ showed us the path to walk on and Scripture lights that path well. His death on the cross and the resurrection from the dead has taken the death-sting out of sin, if we live for God in Christ. We still sin, sure, but we can’t live in it, or we aren’t truly in Christ. We have the victory because sin no longer has hold of us. Walk the path for it is guarded and it is straight and it has been walked before!

National Missionary Convention/Windows of the World on Oct. 1-3 will be an event that you should not miss. Make a place for it on your calendar today!
There are NO Sunday pm services this week.

Later…

Day one wrap-up

I made it through my first day of school with no real complaints and with nothing but hopes for a good semester. The moment I stepped out of my car and onto the campus, I blushingly have to admit, I beamed from ear to ear. It was just so good being back there, and I hadn’t done anything other that turn off my car! The first person I saw was my E2 buddy Sonny, whom I ended up staying with and probably will for the semester. We exchanged a quick “Hello”. And I headed in to Titus Hall. I didn’t recognize any one in the lobby, but remember as I had to, that this is a new school year with a lot of new faces. I got checked in and went to my wing. Upon entering, I again didn’t recognize any one right off but that changed soon as I ducked into a busy-sounding room full of my buddies from the past year! I was quickly, but without much resistance, cajoled into playing a quick game of Halo after which I called my Laura. (No comments about priorities, okay?!?) I settled in pretty quickly after seeing Josh and Clayton, a couple of upper-classmen on the wing. The next morning, going to class as somewhat of an authority figure was a switch but was welcomed and exciting. After chapel, I got set up for the school year, getting all the necessary papers signed and what-not, and got ready for class. Both classes, Biblical Worship for Today and Contemporary Christian Philosophy, were mainly focused on introductory/syllabus stuff but we did get into the material a bit. I think I’m going to like both of my profs and playing one in the mornings, too. Now the trick will be to get the rest of me in gear and make sure that the semester has as good an end as its beginning.

Proverbs 1:5-6 in the NLT says, “Let those who are wise listen to these proverbs and become even wiser. And let those who understand receive guidance by exploring the depth of meaning in these proverbs, parables, wise sayings, and riddles”. Let this little commentary stand as my plug for reading a chapter in Proverbs daily. And this is an especially good time to start, being as today is the first day of the month (It’s September, by the way, if you’d lost track. Three months, 25 days till Christmas.) This passage addresses those people who are already wise in their ways and invites them, and all that read, to expand that wisdom to even greater “depths”. Two thoughts for today: 1.) The knowledge of man and the achievements of man in the last century have been mind boggling, if you really think about it. What a gift we’ve been given in having a creative mind. But on that mind’s best day, it will not come close to surpassing the wisdom of the Mind that created it, in it’s Heavenly Father. Point 2, and I’ll quote this from Romans 11: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths peyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

Big Deal tonight from 7-8:30

Later…