REMINDERS

Hey just wanted to remind you of a few things.....

CREATION is tomorrow night...Saturday.....its going to be AWESOME. It starts at 6 SO DON"T MISS IT!! Oh....and did i mention there is FREE PIZZA!!!!!!!! HORAAY!

Also week two of crave idol is this sunday night.......This one is hilarious!! Trust me you don't want to miss it. So bring ALL your friends!

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!!!!!

Mixed up

I heard a story the other day about a pastor who told his congregation one sunday morning that they had a very special guest in the building. To make a long story short....he said that Tim Magraw and Faith Hill were in the building and wanted to greet the people. Now this is a very large and contemporary church so this was something that could very well happen. People started freaking out!! They were getting out cameras and running to the front so they could see. When the pastor said, "Lets give them a warm welcome" The place went CRAZY!! The pastor walked off stage........people cheered for a solid minute.....until the pastor walked back on stage and said he was just kidding.........

You wouldn't believe how mad people got. People actually got up and left.......his point was that we get so pumped and passionate about people that we have never met, when the God of all creation (Jesus) was there all along. Why can't they get that passionate about Him? TALK ABOUT STEPPING ON TOES!!

But this made me think.......Why do we do that? we freak out and go crazy over people who don't even know we exist. They could care less if we lived or died...... yet we neglect and mistreat the people who are there and love us every day. Something is messed up!! We have our priorties all mixed up....

Stop wasting your time on things and people who don't care about you. Begin to focus on relationships that are meaningful....ones that build you up instead of tearing you down. Thank God everyday for the people who LOVE you. People you know would be there no matter what. And here is the key....TREAT THEM RIGHT! It is so easy sometimes to take advantage of people who love unconditionally, because we know that no matter what we do, they will be there.

Lets get back to the way that we were told to live....IN LOVE. Not fake conditional love......but unconditional, passionate, no strings attached love. And when you find people who love you like that.........HOLD ON TO THEM!!!!

Just my thoughts
Josh

Last night at FCA we talked about John 13:1-17. It's the the story of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples. I know that sounds a little odd, but think about it...the God of all creation washed someone's feet! Now they didn't have regular showering time way back when so their feet had to be pretty disgusting...but Jesus was willing to serve them. He knew that Judas would betray him soon....but he served him just like the others. Now if the the creator of the whole universe can get down on his knees and wash the feet of a man who would soon cause his death on the cross...can we not give a simple hug, a "thank you", or a"is there anything you need?"Just get rid of your pride long enough to do something for someone else....and you'll be that much closer to being just like Jesus!

-Nora

CRAVE IDOL!!!!!!

We did the filming of the very first crave idol last night and I have to say.......IT WAS AWESOME!!!!! Crave idol is going to be DA BOMB....so i PROMISE that you do not want to miss it.....so go ahead and start calling all your friends, pick people up off the street, kidnap people, whatever you have to do......GET THEM TO CRAVE SUNDAY NIGHT!!!!

Wes is going to be our special guest....so if you don't know who he is COME AND SEE!!!!!!

See-ya at crave!!

josh

Life

this may be long so bare with me

In his book "Dangerous Wonders", (which i highly recommend), Mike Yaconelli tells a story about his 4 year old son......

He talks about how when his son was 4 they had their first big snow of the year. It covered the entire yard. They began to get excited because it was going to be his son's first time experiencing snow.......So they got the video camera ready, his son was so excited that he could hardly stand it. Mike went ahead and went outside so that he could catch the first reaction......Then they opened the door and his son came out......first it was a shock as the cold air hit his body....and then the tingling sensation of the snow flakes falling on his face, it was breathtaking........soon though the excitement set in and the joy on his sons face was unexplainable............I wish that this could be the end of the story, a story of excitement & passion....but soon the son would grow up and lose the awe and wonder of that moment. God's creation was no longer breathtaking......

He also gives another illustration that really relates to my life. When I was a kid I loved Superman. I would actually get my moms towels and tie them around my neck. Then I would run around looking for things to jump off of because I thought I could fly! I take that back....I knew I could fly! Even though my mom and other people keep telling me, "YOU CAN'T FLY", I didn't believe them...I KNEW i could........but then a sad thing happened...I grew up. Soon "logic" and "reason" set in and i realized that no matter how hard i tried.. I couldn't fly.............

Doesn't this sound like life? Remember being a kid, how much you enjoyed life, how much fun you had......then we "grow up".......all of the sudden stress sets in, responsibilty sets in, we began to work, we become busy, all of the dreams we had as a child people began to tell us aren't realistic.............we stop believing that we can fly......

But this isn't the life that Jesus wants for us! John 10:10 says that God wants to give us a BETTER life than we ever imagined. God wants us to know that we can fly............
I don't know who is reading this but i do know that God wants you to have a better life than you ever imagined! What are you passionate about? if you had no limits, what would you do?......
DO IT! Don't let people, culture, the world, the church, or whoever tell you that you can't do it! YOU CAN! Follow your dreams and don't stop until you achieve them....

Maybe your reading this and you feel like nothing is happening in life...your not sure what your dream is. I want to encourage you to look down deep. Think like a child. What are you passionate about? What gets you excited? God works out of the desires of our heart....Maybe thats why Jesus said to become like little children....to rediscover your passion, and have the faith to know you can do it..........

Don't settle. Don't settle for a mediocre life, don't settle for mediocre relationships, DON'T SETTLE!! Pursue a life of passion and a life that is....Better than you ever imagined!

Josh

Rain, Rain, Rain

Man it just started pouring here in Seneca! it came out of nowhere..........I don't know about you but I don't like rain, it kind of gets me in a depressing mood.........but guess what?....there is nothing that I can do about it. Nothing that I do can prevent it from raining.

Since I am on that...here are some thoughts from DEEPER........

For those of you that weren't there, we talked about Matthew chapter 11. Where John the baptist is in prison and sends some of his disciples to ask Jesus if He is the One or should he be looking for someone else. Isn't this an odd question? John had already seen Jesus perform miricales....he even baptised Jesus, and heard the AUDIBLE voice of God! This would be enough to erase all doubts about Jesus being the Son of God. I mean Johns ENTIRE purpose was to pave the way for Christ!......So why did he ask that question?.........................
Because he was in prison! And it didn't seem like Jesus was coming to do anything about it!

Even more puzzling is the response that Jesus gives......He bascially tells him about all the miricales going on. (blind people are seeing, dead being raised, etc) Things that John ALREADY KNEW!!!! I'm sure this wasn't comforting to him......I can hear him saying..But what about me! Those things are great but I need You to come through for me!............

But listen to what Jesus says, Blessed is the man who doesn't fall away on accout of ME.....
That is a puzzling statement.......Basically Jesus said I'm not coming through for you this time, but your still going to be blessed if you hold on................you see John died in that prison.

What does this mean? You see Jesus had a kingdom mind set...He understood that to win a war you had to have some casualties.....

How does this apply to us? Maybe.. just maybe. Being a christian is not all about you. Maybe its more about US. And maybe we, as individuals, have to lose some personal battles sometimes in order for the overall war to be won......

Maybe you fell like God hasn't come through for you in some situations, but maybe there is a bigger picture going on. Even though we can't see it God knows what is going on..........remember God is in CONTROL!!...

I would love to hear your thoughts on this....whether you agree or disagree........

Josh

It stinks being sick!!!!

Don't you just hate being sick? I DO......... Last night I went to bed feeling fine...and about 3:30 a.m. I woke up with the worst stomach ache I think I have ever had...I will spare the details about the events that followed, but it was awful!!!! It ruined my perfect night of sleep. It actually made me mad!!!! I had no idea that it was coming..........

Doesn't this kind of remind you of life. Things are going great, everything is going smooth and then BAM!! Something happens thats ruines the harmony.....Things come unexpected and alot of times they are painful. They are things that we don't want to deal with....but the reality is that we HAVE to deal with them. As much as I wanted that stomach ache to go away, it didn't. I had to fight through it. I had to ALLOW it to disrupt my perfect night of sleep.....

We are going to talk about some of this tonight at DEEPER.....So dont miss it!!

If you are not able to be there I will post later on what we discuss....SEE-YA

Josh

Happy Monday!!

Hey everybody!!!!! I hope you are having a great day......last night was AWESOME!! I really believe that this time next year we are going to look back and see that last night was the beginning of something GREAT!!!!!! Just remember that we have to stay focused on what God has called us to do this year. If you don't know or if you weren't there read the post under this.... Anyway just wanted to express some random thoughts today......here goes....

1. This FAST is EXTREMELY hard- this is one of the hardest things that I have ever done. It is amazing how much food rules our lives.....I can just hear cheeseburgers calling my name!

2. My foot really itches............no it really does

3. i can't believe that football season is really over!.....Clemson finished 21st in the nation...GO TIGERS

4. Crave idol is going to be the BOMB!!...... DO NOT MISS IT!!! it starts January 22nd

5. LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006!

HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!! I can't believe that it is already 2006......Time is flying by!

Anyway, I have spent a lot of time lately thinking about the new year. Asking God to direct me where Crave student ministries is supposed to go. And I felt like God wasn't telling me anything!......I was starting to get frustrated, when God began to deal with some stuff in my life.
Thats when I realized that the stuff I was going to go through in 2006 and the direction that God was taking me.....is exactly where he wants the youth ministry to go! God will take me first so I can lead you guys..... So I will give you a preview of what we are going to talk about on Sunday night. These are the 3 things that we are going to be about in 2006......

1. Salvation--- Crave is going to be a place where hurting people can find the Saviour that they have been looking for. I'm not saying that we haven't done this, but this year we will put forth way more effort in providing an atmosphere that people can fell comfortable coming to. A place where they can find Jesus.......

2. Growth---- We are going to grow not only numerically but spiritually, financially, and in every other area of our lives. Let me make one thing very clear. GOD IS CONCERNED WITH NUMBERS and so should we! Not so that we can be the biggest, but so that we can enlarge the kingdom of God......people that say it's not about numbers feel that way until somebody close to them becomes one of those numbers.

3. LIFE---- That right we are going to be about life in 2006. What do I mean? I mean that we are going to enjoy life and show people that being a follower of Christ is the most AWESOME thing in the world!! We are going to have the joy that Christ instructed us to have.... To have life and have it more abundantly!!!

This is just a quick preview of what we are going to talk about Sunday night!....So don't miss it!!

2006 is going to be the BOMB!!!!!

Josh