A response

To be fair I haven't done much with this blog over the summer.....so I missed this comment on one of the few posts I did have. I talked God loving us as we are. This was the only comment at the end of that post:
You say God doesn't expect us to be perfect? But at the same time we strive to live in his image. His image IS perfect right, so why should we strive to be like his image when you are already telling us it is impossible? Doesn't that make it a hopeless, and for that matter pointless, struggle?

I want to address this directly because it's a common thing that comes up. It's all pointless. We can never reach perfection so why try. Right? Wrong.

Check this out: My hockey hero is Grant Fuhr. He won 5 Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers in the 80's. He won a Vezina. He is in the NHL Hall of Fame. His number is retired by the Edmonton Oilers. He is amazing.

I own a book that he co-wrote from his glory years. It's called Fuhr on Goaltending. I've read that book a bundle of times. I've worked on all the tricks and exercises he has in the book. I completely understand everything that book has to say. But the guys I play with will be the first to tell you that I'm no Grant Fuhr. I'm not waiting by the phone for an NHL team to call me to come to training camp. Not only am I not like Grant Fuhr right now.....I'm getting older....and there's really no chance that I'm ever going to be Grant Fuhr.

That doesn't stop me from putting the pads on and going to play every week. I LOVE hockey. I look forward all week to playing. I can't wait to go out there. I won't be Grant Fuhr, but it's not going to stop me from playing hockey ever again.

You're right in thinking that we are called to be like Christ. Yes Christ was perfect. Will you ever be perfect? No. Because you are human the Bible tells us that we are all sinful. We are all not perfect. Will you ever full "be like Christ". No. However Jesus gave us tons of instructions and guidelines on how to live our lives. We strive daily to follow these. We know we will never be perfect. But we are in LOVE with the one who is. So we do everything we can to follow in His footsteps.

Hope that helps a bit. Just for fun here's Fuhr toward the end of his career...when he was playing with St. Louis. AMAZING still!

Being Good Enough

You are good enough. Did you hear me? You're good enough.

God doesn't ask us to be perfect and then come to him. If that were the case, we'd all be in a world of trouble.

Jesus had these guys that he hung out with. His disciples. Basically a disciple was a pupil. A student. Kind of like most of you. They were just there to learn from the teacher....Jesus. So Jesus spends 3 years wandering around teaching these guys. He teaches them privately. He teaches them with large crowds. He laughs with them. He eats with them. All day. Every day. 3 years. Pretty intimate.

If you've ever gone backpacking for any length of time (more than one night), you find that you get to know the people you're backpacking with pretty well. You talk, you eat, you walk together. Now multiply that out over 3 years.

So these guys got to see Jesus do miracles. They watched as he told people who had been crippled their whole lives to stand up and walk. They saw him take some fish and bread and feed well over 5000 people....and have baskets left over of extra food. They were there.

Guess what? They didn't get it. If you read through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, John) you'll find that time after time, they would see Jesus do all this cool stuff....and then they were like....."um, yeah....what just happened?"

This one time Jesus heals this boy that has an evil spirt. They left the area and start to travel. When they reach their destination, Jesus asks them what they were arguing about on the road. They confess they were arguing about who was the greatest. So they watch Jesus perform a miracle. Then they start trying to decide who the coolest is. WHAT?

Jesus outright told them that "The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. They will kill him, and after three days he will rise."(Mark 9) and they didn't understand. After Jesus has been crucified and buried...where are the disciples? HIDING in a room. They didn't get it.

So why am I telling you this? What does this have to do with you?

Jesus HAND PICKED this guys to follow him around. He wanted these guys to start telling people about him after he left the earth. He wanted these guys to start the church. These guys. The ones who time and time again, didn't get it.

I'm not close to perfect. I don't "get it" a lot. I spend a lot of time trying to figure out what God really wants. I recognize that God is so BIG that I'll never really understand him completely.

I'm going to go out on a limb here....and guess that you're not perfect either. You probably do stupid stuff. My guess is that you have some questions about God. Maybe you even doubt God exists. Maybe you wonder if He's listening.

Here's the great part. God loves you. He has called YOU. He desperately wants to have a major place in your life. He wants to spend time with you. He wants you to love Him. He longs for you. The God who created the universe. Who was around before time began.....is the same God who desires to whisper quietly in your hear and have you hear.

You don't have to be perfect. In fact, I'm pretty sure God knows that you're not going to be. I know for a fact that he loves you anyway. He's like that. He loved a bunch of guys who doubted him. He loves me. He loves you too.

Slacker

Ok straight up. ....I've been slacking this summer with blog posts. Sorry guys.

Forth of July. Meet by the YMCA between 9:30-10. Shirts are 7 dollars. This is an amazing opportunity for us!!!

Every Sunday night all summer we're down at Beatty field. We've been playing lots of ultimate frisbee....we're going to do a silly game for awhile this Sunday then play frisbee after. Hope to see you there.

Point Update

This is the last week for Connections BOO HOO. We'll be at the YMCA. Please come to dinner. I love sitting down to eat with you guys!

I'm going to do a summer fun night all summer. It'll be Sunday night at Beaty field. We'll start June 14. More info will be here. Please come!

Here's the points break down right now. It's a close race.

Magenta 21500
Burple 26750 (that's the adjusted score)
Ochra 22300

It's anyone's game. This week is the last hurrah.

If you get this I'll give you 10,000 points.

A3Q9Q8Q2Q3A1Q4A5A9A1A2A2Q3A2?

How Sweet It Is

Just thought you'd love to see some of the fun we had this past week. Kyrene, Jake, and Time I love you guys!!!!

Finally

So how many of you have been checking. I had every intention of posting stuff here Monday and the week has just slipped away from me. Sorry.

Sooooo....here's the points break down as of 9:41Pm Wednesday night.

Team Magenta: 9,500
Team Burple: 17,700
Team Ochra: 19,300

So Team Magenta you really need to get on the ball here.

Remember we're at the YMCA this weekend. I'm thinking of giving points for everyone who is there at 6pm when we pray for dinner. So you might want to encourage your friends to get there on time for once!



How many e-mail addresses do I currently have?


What was the first name of Pastor J's first crush.....(hint it's a pretty common name.)


I like to chew Wrigley's Double Mint gum. You should remember that for Sunday.

Also, what city was Tobiah born in?

I found this a couple days ago. Really good stuff.

Let's Get it Started.

Do you have the song in your head yet?

Ok so this past week at youth group we broke into 3 teams. We're going to be keeping these teams for the next couple weeks. Everything we do, everything you do can get you points. You should be looking for points EVERYWHERE!!! What I mean by that is that you don't have to wait until Sunday to get points!!!! If you weren't at youth on Sunday, and don't see your name below....relax we'll get you on a team. PLEASE COME NEXT WEEK!!!! If you did show up, here's the break down of point and teams this past week.

Team Magenta:
Brandom
Tim
Lindsey
Brianna
Whitney
Hammey

Team Burple:
Jake K.
Kyrene
Megan
Mary
Alex Gray

Team Ochra:
Riane
Chelsea
Jake
Sarah
Hannah
Nowell

Team Magenta finished Sunday with 1500 points
Team Burple finished Sunday with 1000 points
Team Ochra finished Sunday with 2000 points

So things are pretty close. This next week there will be enough points that you can flip flop pretty easily. ALSO....remember don't wear NICE CLOTHES this next week. I'm not saying what we're doing, but it might get a little messy.

WE ARE MEETING AT THE YMCA THIS NEXT WEEK.

This first video is for those of you who loved the Drive-Thru Raps.
















































If you're still looking: here's a chance for points. Post your answers as a comment below this post.
-What city was my son Tobiah born (hint: it's not Addis Ababa)
-How many e-mail addresses do I currently have?
-What year did my brother graduate from Eisenhower High School?

FAITH FELLOWSHIP THIS SUNDAY!!!

All I'm going to say is that you don't want to miss the next couple weeks!!!!

Short and Sweet

YOUTH GROUP THIS WEEK....is at Faith Fellowship. Be there or be.....not cool.

NO YOUTH GROUP NEXT WEEK!! ENJOY EASTER WITH YOUR FAMILY!!!

Bouncy Bouncy SPRING!

Yeah for spring right? I kind of like seeing that bright fireball in the sky.

THIS WEEK!!! We're at the YMCA again. You don't need to bring a swimsuit because SCUBA is over, but it was lots of fun to be in the pool. Really would love to see you this Sunday night!

Coming up....NO YOUTH GROUP EASTER SUNDAY. We're at Faith Fellowship NEXT week then we have a week off for Easter.

Pool Side

You guys put the cool in pool....or something. Here are some pictures of you drowning....or playing....or diving...or something...

It's been a long week

Sorry guys, I'm still suffering the effects of some weird flu bug I got during the retreat. If you noticed I disappeared for awhile on Saturday and then missed the talent show Saturday night....yeah I was down and out. I was actually messed up the whole way into Tuesday before I started to feel better. So I"m lagging a little with updates. Sorry.

THIS SUNDAY NIGHT.....We're at Faith Fellowship at 6PM. Hope you can make it.

NEXT WEEK we go back to the YMCA. Remember this is our SCUBA night. If you did not get your clearance form to do SCUBA, you need to grab those this Sunday night. If you answered yes to any of those questions on the form, you need the doctors clearance form which you can also pick up this week. YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO DO SCUBA WITHOUT THE CLEARANCE!!!!! You can swim, but no SCUBA. Also note: If you don't like water, you might want to sit next Sunday out....there will be no other activities that night. We won't be using the gym.

Looking ahead: No Youth Group Easter Sunday. DUH!

info you need this week....

This is my 2nd post today....so make sure that when you're done reading all this, you scroll down and read the post below it.

The most important thing you need to know is....CONNECTIONS IS CANCELED FOR THIS SUNDAY!!!!!! I know we asked who would show up this week and you all overwhelmingly said you'd be there. Here's the deal though.....the adults were having a discussion upstairs and they already canceled. I didn't know until this morning. Also, as leaders we are kind of being irresponsible by having youth group on a super busy weekend. I think you are underestimating how tired you're going to be on Sunday afternoon/evening. If you have any homework, you won't be getting it done during the weekend which only leaves Sunday. We'll see you in two weeks back at FAITH FELLOWSHIP!!!!

Did you get that last sentence? The next Connections is in two weeks March 15th at Faith Fellowship.

RETREAT: Dawn updated us that the weather this weekend is looking like rain. We're going to try avoiding any mud and dirt, but you might want boots or a raincoat.
-Bring sleeping bag and pillow
-Bring comfortable clothes (it's not a fashion show)
-Bring a Bible and maybe something to write on and with
-If you still owe money for the weekend you need to bring that with you!!!!!!
-If you can bring a snack. Give that to the registration person when you get there.
-If you have a favorite board or card game, feel free to bring that along as well.
-MOST IMPORTANTLY: Bring a good attitude to be open to new things and hear a word from God.

SCUBA- On March 22nd we meet back at the YMCA for Connections. That night we have a cool opportunity to try out SCUBA diving in the pool. This past week we past out some papers to allow you to participate in that. You need those filled out by a parent or guardian. If you answer NO to any of the questions you need to get another form that needs filled out by a doctor. Please understand that if you don't have the proper paperwork, you WILL NOT be allowed to participate in the SCUBA portion of the night. We'll be in the pool regardless, but you won't be able to do SCUBA. I don't want you to miss out, so if you didn't get the paperwork or need more, let me know and we'll hook you up.

What's cooler than a heavy metal grandma? Not much

Continued Thought from Sunday

This past week we talked about how God is unchanging. The God who spoke to Moses and David and Jonah is the very same God who wants to speak into our lives as well. Even though we are constantly changing (our hair style, growing, graying, growing older, etc) God is the same. We can always count on Him to be the same.

I wanted to take that thought just a little further.

God's word (one of the ways God speaks directly to us) doesn't change, but how we read it does. What it means to us as our lives change, is different. Let me give you a very personal example.

The very first Sunday of connections I shared with you how I came to a PERSONAL relationship with Jesus. I knew since I was tiny that there was a God and He was real. I also knew who Jesus was and that He died for my sins. I believed that. I accepted that as truth. However....it was just head knowledge. I knew it just like I knew Christopher Columbus sailed across the Atlantic in 1492.

In jr. high I came across this verse from Joshua 24:15. This is what it says, "But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your forefathers served beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD." At the time I felt like God was speaking directly to me. He was saying, "Aaron I want you to be serving me with your heart, not just your head. I want to be the most important thing in your life. I want to take priority here."

That was half a lifetime ago. Now I'm 33 and have wife and two beautiful little boys. That very same verse means something very very different to me right now in my life. I read that now, and I hear God saying, "Aaron I want you to lead your family. I want you to teach your boys that there is only one God. I want you to help your family understand that I need to be focal point of all of your lives. Aaron I want you to be the spiritual head of your house."

Did God change? No. Did the words change? No. Have I changed in the last 20 years? Yes. How these words apply to my life are a bit different as a 33 year old than they did as a 12 or 13 year old (or however old I was).

God is unchanging. We are the ones changing. We find strength knowing that we can run back to God time and time again and He hasn't gone anywhere. He's there waiting with open arms ready for us to fall into.

Later than normal

After telling you all to check the blog, I figured I better actually update it. It's been a weird week, so it took me this long to get around to it. Sorry if you checked already and got last weeks stuff.

Youth Group this Sunday is at Faith Fellowship. Last week was a new experience for us being down there. I'm looking forward to being back there now that I know what we're getting into (casket in the next room!) Regular time of 6pm. Hope to see you there!!!!

Remember that next weekend is the retreat. PLEASE try and bring me your registration form this Sunday. You don't definitely need money this week (you could just bring it when you come to camp) but that form would be SUPER helpful. We did a bunch of planning yesterday for the retreat...and I have to tell you that I am STOKED for next weekend. It's going to be a lot of fun.

I have another surprise of an upcoming event that's going to happen in the next couple weeks, but I'm not going to tell you here....you need to come to youth group Sunday night. IT'S COOL!!!!!

For those of you who are new to a blog format, here's how it works. The newest post is always at the top of the page. As you scroll down the older posts are below. I would suggest scrolling down a bit because some weeks I might post more than once. ALSO....if you would like to comment on the post or on youth group or on anything at all....at the bottom of each post there's small print that says X Comments. Right now this post says 0 Comments. If you click it, it'll bring you to a screen where you can post a comment. You can leave it annonymous if you want or put your name to it. Pretty easy stuff. Now for something funny.

choking hazard

REMEMBER!!!! This week we're at Faith Fellowship NOT the YMCA. That's the church across the street from the library. There's a parking lot right next to the church on Market St. Same time as normal.

Retreat papers need to be in soon. Money isn't as important as those sheets. If you lost yours I can give you another one tomorrow night OR you can download the form on the right sidebar there--------------------------------->

This is one of the coolest things I've ever seen

Followed closely by this. Sharks spinning in the air.

Comparative Faith Part 2

So this past week at youth group we talked about Comparative Faith and a our faith costing us something.

I talked about how I think we look at people around us and say "well I'm better than them, so I'm good." We say, "well I go to church, I don't swear, I don't drink or do drugs or anything really bad....so I'm doing exactly what God wants of me."

As the week has gone along I've thought of two other possibilities for Comparative Faith and I want to share them with you.

The first is almost the inverse of what we talked about Sunday. It's seeing people around us and say, "I'm horrible. What's the point in trying?" It's choosing to do nothing. It's hearing stories of faith and saying, "that only happens to missionaries and pastors.....the really "holy" people". It's believing that God doesn't have a plan for YOU....just everyone else.

The second is actually a positive Comparative Faith. This would happen in more of a mentoring type relationship. I think it's possible to see amazingly Godly people in our lives and say to ourselves, "I want that kind of active God seeking faith that consumes their lives." I know in my own life I can point to people in church and even my parents who have served as roll models in my faith and encouraged me to take my relationship with Jesus Christ to a deeper level. Be clear here....our real pursuit isn't to be like another person....it's to be Christ-like. However seeing other people passionately pursuing Christ could spur us to also passionately be pursuing him because we see what He has done in their lives.

Reset

Does anyone actually check this? I pretend that you do.

We're at the YMCA this coming week. Can't wait to see you. I know this is unspoken, but you're always welcome to invite a friend or 3.

This week I passed out registration sheets for the Time 4 Revolution retreat at Mission Meadows. It's March 6, 7, 8. I want you to go. If you want to get the registration form right this minute I've put it up on the right hand column over there.

DON'T LET MONEY BE A REASON NOT TO GO!!!! I know money is tight for some of you. If that's the case, talk to me and we can work out either a partial or a full scholarship for you to go. I want you there. I'll make it happen. I WANT YOU THERE!

Also, if you have a Bible that you normally read, or should read, why not bring that along on Sunday nights. I'd like us all to be looking in God's word together instead of me just reading to you each week. If you don't have a Bible, or you need a new one, I have some cool teen ones that I bought and you can HAVE one.

I feel like I'm forgetting something. OK whatever. Later.

Hello Friends

Hey everyone. How are you handling the cold?

-Remember NO CONNECTIONS THIS WEEK!!!! Go watch the Super Bowl. or not. Either way, No Connections.

-Next week Feb. 8th we're back at the YMCA. If you ever have any doubts you can check the calendar on the right there....it should be up to date.

-MARK YOUR CALENDAR (if you didn't already when I told you to...) March 6, 7, 8.....Time 4 Revolution retreat at Mission Meadows Camp. If you've gone in years past you have a rough idea what you're in for. If you've never gone, this is your year!!! This is a great time to hear a word from God, have fun, and get away from home for a weekend! Plan on coming. We'll talk about this when I see you next! I really want YOU to go to this.

This week I leave you with a time wasting game. This is fun if you play around with the functions. I particularly like flames, C4, and napalm.

YMCA

Everyone do the motions with me. YMCA....it's fun to stay at the YMCA.....

We're at the YMCA tonight. Sorry for not posting sooner. It literally slipped my mind until right now. My bad.

NO YOUTH GROUP NEXT WEEK.

CONNECTIONS CANCELED!!!!

I doubt anyone's going to look here....but just in case....

CONNECTIONS IS CANCELED FOR TONIGHT!

We'll be back at the YMCA next week at 6pm

UPDATE FOR THIS WEEK

Hey there rockstars,

Hope you're having a great week.

Reminder that we're NOT at the YMCA this week. We're going to be meeting at Faith Fellowship Church. It is directly across the Market St. from the library. The parking lot is on the side of the building. Same basic format...they have a gym so we'll do some big dumb game before our lesson. Hope you can make it!

Now on to the fun stuff...
This is a cool way to sharpen a pencil....not very portable though....

Someone has WAY WAY WAY too much time on their hands to plan this sort of thing....

Follow up to this past Sunday

Hey guys!

I'm sitting in a coffee shop thinking about this past Sunday night. For those of you who weren't there we talked about how God calls us to love him above all else....and then to just love the heck out of everyone else around us.

I wanted to add something that I think I forgot Sunday night. We started off by doing some charades. We said that you can act like an auto mechanic, but until you grab a wrench and use it on a car, you're not one....you're just going through the motions.

This applies to us too. I read a lot of books about God, church, our spiritual walks, etc. All those books are really only knowledge. It's like reading about how to be a mechanic. Those books won't do me any good unless I put that information into practice and live my faith out. It's like reading car manuals without getting greasy and working on cars.

We can read lots of nice books about God. We can talk to our friends about God and who he is. We can go to church and youth group regularly. Those are all awesome things and I would even say that God would want us to do those things.....but is that wholly putting our faith into action? Is that really want Jesus is saying when he says "feed me, cloth me, visit me in jail, give me something to drink, cloth me etc..."? I think for most of us those are just "manual reading" things.

Ok more later. Take care!

We're back.

We're back at the YMCA this Sunday at 6pm. I hope to see you there and I hope you're bringing a friend, or not a friend too.