Important Announcements

Mission Trip Team Meetings

Save the Date:

• High School, Enid OK Team – Sunday, 3/4 at 12:30. We will have pizza (or something) for lunch.
• Middle School. Loveland CO Team – Monday, 3/5, at 6pm.

These meetings are for the youth to get an idea of the “basics” of what is needed and expected on the mission trip this summer. This is the first of a series of pre-trip meetings for our youth.

PLEASE make every effort to attend. We want to take group photos at the meetings, and individual pictures too, to use for publicity.

March/April Fundraiser Dinner

We need some people to help us with planning and executing a dinner in March or April. We would like it to be a sit-down dinner in the lower level with some entertainment provided by our youth.

I can get the entertainment arranged, but I need help with making the dinner happen. Those of you that are gifted in the area of hosting, please contact Pastor Joe.

Church Announcements

Valentine’s Day Edition

Tuesday Thought

Quote of the Week

“All guys should learn from Mario Bros. No matter how far their princess is, they should go after her.” – anonymous

Live Love

Happy Valentine’s Day! Today is the day we celebrate LOVE.

As a society though, we are pretty confused about love. I can’t tell you how many times this week I have heard or read someone say “I love Adele” – it’s amazing how the Grammy awards bring out the fans. I’ve heard others say, “I love chocolate,” or I love my iPhone,” or “I love snowdays,” or “I love that dress,” or “I love my dog/cat,” or something like that. Then we say, “I love God,” and “I love my family.” We can’t be talking about the same thing, can we?

Love is more than flowers, chocolates, and pink paper hearts. One of the things that I believe that Jesus came to teach us is that love is about action. Love is not just something that we feel, it is something that we do. We talk about this in that verse just about everyone has memorized, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life” (John 3:16 NRSV). Love alters our behavior – God loved, God gave. Love costs us something. Love is unhappy when it sees the one who is loved being hurt.

In other words, when we see someone who is hurting, it is not loving to say, “I really feel for that person. I hope they feel better soon.” Love makes us approach them, walk with them in their pain, work to change that which hurt them.

May you and I love like Jesus taught us. May our love be so much more than one day of saying it. May our love be a 24/7 living of it.

Random Fact: St. Valentine

Not exactly cupid, is he?

A Christian priest in Rome, Valentine was known for assisting Christians persecuted under Claudius II. After being caught marrying Christian couples and helping Christians escape the persecution, Valentine was arrested and imprisoned. Although Emperor Claudius originally liked Valentine, he was condemned to death when he tried to convert the emperor. Valentine was beaten with stones, clubbed, and, finally, beheaded on February 14, 269. In the year 496, February 14 was named as a day of celebration in Valentine’s honor. He has since become the patron saint of engaged-couples, beekeepers, happy marriages, lovers, travelers, young-people, and greetings. (from Common Prayer online for February 14 at http://commonprayer.net/)

Video of the Week

Simpsons’ Theme by Nick McKaig

Since I was accused by someone of not having youth group on Sunday night so I could watch the 500th episode of The Simpsons, I thought this was appropriate. 

Quote of the Week

“‘Where there is a will there is a way,’ is an old and true saying. He who resolves upon doing a thing, by that very resolution often scales the barriers to it, and secures its achievement. To think we are able, is almost to be so – to determine upon attainment is frequently attainment itself.” – Samuel Smiles

What’s stopping you?

Here’s a Super Bowl story that you may not have yet heard. One of the players in the Super Bowl tweeted this yesterday: “2 yrs ago I was told I might never walk again. Just WALKED off plane in Indy to play in The #SuperBowl.” His name is Mark Herzlich. He is a rookie special teams player for the New York Giants.

In May 2009 Herzlich was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma, a type of bone cancer, while he was a star player at Boston College getting ready for his senior season. Instead of lifting and running to get ready for football, he was enduring six-hour chemotherapy sessions. But he never gave up hope. He convinced himself that he would beat the cancer and continue his life as planned. The New York Daily News reports that Herzlich said, “When I got really down about it, I d throw on my college tape that I made and I watched myself run down the field on kickoffs. I watched myself run down and say, ‘That is what is going to get me through it,’ he said. ‘I wasn’t always smiling and happy, but that is what would get me through it” (read the article here).

After playing his senior season a year later than originally planned, he became a member of the Giants this season, and has been a star  on special teams (kickoffs, punts, etc.). His teammates say that he is a superstar for winning the battle against cancer.

When I first saw the story, I thought about all the things that people say we cannot do. Either because we are not good enough, or not the right build for it, or maybe not smart enough, or some other barrier they have decided is in our way. Herzlich was told he might not walk, and certainly not play football, but Sunday night he is going to play in the biggest football game of the year. So what’s stopping you?

Video of the Week

A Super Bowl Ad from Chevy

How would you react if you were given a brand new car? 

Quote of the Week

“I used to be indecisive but now I am not quite sure.” - Tommy Cooper, comedian

Decisions, decisions

Do you know what God wants you to do? I don’t mean way out there in the future. I mean today.

Most Christians are good about going to God with the big decisions. We might pray for days, weeks, or even years about them. Yes, the big decisions are a big deal, but life is made up of so much more than them.

Over the course of your entire life you will probably make less than 10 really big decisions (college, jobs, marriage, houses, etc.). You make more small decisions than that every day. Some don’t matter in the grand scheme of things – what you will wear, what you will eat for breakfast, etc. But other decisions do. You need to decide how you will deal with that friendship that has become difficult, and that fight you had with your mom last night. You need to decide how long you are going to study for that test, if you are going to come to youth group, and whether to ask that girl out. God is interested in those things too.

Sometimes we don’t go to God with the everyday decisions because we picture God like a busy teacher who doesn’t want to be asked questions about things we should know how to do for ourselves. But that is not who God is. God is infinite – a big word that means he has no beginning and no end. God has all the time in the world, literally. He is not too busy for your seemingly small stuff. And he loves you so much, that he wants you to chat with him about those things. There may not be a lightning bolt or a burning bush that will tell you what to do, but after talking to God about it, you might get a different perspective that will be a great help.

There is a slogan some companies use, “No job too big, and no job too small.” God really means it. There is nothing you can go to him with that is too big, and nothing too small. Make God a regular part of your decision-making process.

Video of the Week

Smell Like a Monster

Grover does an Old Spice commercial?

Quote of the Week

“Prediction is difficult, especially about the future.” - Yogi Berra, former baseball player

Making a plan

I’m leaving this afternoon to spend a couple of days in Loveland with the Group people where I will be part of a “field test” of this summer’s mission trip programming. I’m pretty excited to have been invited to do this. I hear there is a lot of new stuff I will be seeing very early. I understand there will be some youth there tomorrow who will go through the worship services and devotions and everything you will do this summer, minus the work. It’s a good way for Group to see how it will work this summer and to fix any problems they didn’t anticipate while writing it.

The field test is probably one of the final parts of the plan in getting ready for us to come to Enid and Loveland this summer. It is so wise to have a good plan for the projects of our lives. Too often we just go and do, hoping to find where all of our activity will lead us. Our parents don’t show up at the airport and then look at the departures board to decide where they are going on vacation. Instead they plan, sometimes in very great detail, how and when you will go on vacation. If you decided to do a better job this semester with studying, it would be good to have a plan of when you will study more, and then stick to the plan. If you want to make the choir or get on a team, it is good to have a plan to get yourself ready for tryouts.

A plan is no guarantee of success but it gives you a far better chance at it that just going forth without a plan. I’m sure the people at Group are well aware of that. Who knows? The power could go out in the middle of one of the funniest, or most important videos of the week. You can’t plan for that. When you know the plan though, that problem will only cause a minor disruption. When the power comes back on you will get right back on track. Without a plan a problem like that could cause one to lose the whole focus of what you are doing – total derailment of the program.

So make a plan and stick to it. You might encounter a detour along the way, but it is the best way for you to get where you want to go.

Video of the Week

One Time Blind: Birthday Jesus

I came across this Christmas video a little late, but wanted to share it anyway.

Quote of the Week

“When it comes to football, God is prejudiced – toward big, fast kids.”  -Chuck Mills

316 & winning

I’m sure you have heard by now that Tim Tebow threw for exactly 316 yards in his improbable win over the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday night. Three – sixteen. Goodness that number sounds familiar. Yes, people are going all goofy trying to find some heavenly significance to it. Of course there is the famous John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world…” But what if God was pointing to Leviticus 3:16 which ends with, “All fat is the Lord’s” (really, I didn’t make that up).

As you can see, I have a hard time believing that God has chosen Tim Tebow, the NFL, and the Denver Broncos to make a statement about faith. I think our faith has to go deeper than that. We cannot reduce Jesus to a good-luck charm. I’ve been with people who have had a faith centered on God making everything go their way. That works well until something horrific happens and then their faith is shattered. At the very time they ought to be running toward God, they find themselves running away. They think their faith should have been their rabbit’s foot protecting them from tragedy, so what good is God now?

We seem to have this idea that Jesus is for the winners (said in my best Charlie Sheen impersonation). But that’s not the case. At least not winners in ways others would see us as winning.

In our Advent study we talked about how when Mary agreed to be Jesus’ mom her life didn’t get easier. It actually got a lot harder. She had to explain this to her fiancée and parents; she ended up going on a 100 mile donkey ride while 9 months pregnant; and eventually watched as her son was put to death. You could go through a pretty long list of the people of God who didn’t wind up “winning.”

Even Jesus himself could be numbered among them. Satan tried to tempt him with the power and prestige that we associate with winning, but Jesus would have none of it. Some thought Jesus should be a leader from God who would conquer. Jesus showed us a different way.

I like Tebow, and I am rooting for the Broncos to go to the Super Bowl (now that the Steelers are out). I want Tebow to keep showing a humble way to play, compete, and win. I want to keep seeing his optimism even in the midst of struggle. And when they lose, I want him to show what it looks like to lose with dignity. But I need a faith that is bigger than a win-loss record.

Video of the Week

Making the Best of Doing Dishes!

Doing chores with joy!

Quote of the Week

“He who has not Christmas in his heart will never find it under a tree.”  -Roy L. Smith

It’s all over

Decorations after Christmas

After weeks of preparation and anticipation, it’s all over. Today many people go back to work. Soon, all of you will be back in school. The decorations are coming down. The Christmas lights are not displayed anymore. Most of the gift cards are already spent.

But it isn’t over. Or at least it shouldn’t be. There is more to celebrate every day. Christmas taught us that Jesus is Emmanuel – “God with us.” As followers of Jesus, we need to celebrate Christmas throughout the year.

This morning I read about Moses’s encounter with God in the burning bush (Exodus 3) and saw something I guess I had forgotten. God calls Moses to a very intimidating task – to approach the Pharaoh, the most powerful man in the world, and tell him to let all of his Hebrew slaves go free. The last place he wants to go, and the last person he wants to talk to, is the Pharaoh in Egypt. We learn earlier in the story that Moses ran away from Egypt and the Pharaoh because he killed an Egyptian who was beating a Hebrew slave. Not to mention the fact that there is no earthly way the Pharaoh would just free his slaves.

So Moses asks God a very good question, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (vs 11). God’s response is very simple, yet changes everything. God simply says, “I will be with you” (vs 12).

That is what Christmas is all about. God is with us. That is the message of the manger. God is not a far away God waiting for us to find our way to him. Instead, God made his way to us in Jesus, Emmanuel, “God with us.” As that changed everything for Moses, so too it changes everything for us. God is with us, not just during Christmas, but even when we go back to school and life goes back to normal.

Soon we will put away all the decorations because Christmas is over for another year. But we still celebrate that God is with us. That changes everything.

Video of the Week

Skit Guys: Let Your Light Shine

You don’t have to leave the lights up to let it shine!

Tuesday Thought

Quote of the Week

““Do or do not… there is no try.”  - Yoda

What are you going to finish is 2012?

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions. They seem to be a thing of the past for most people. Maybe because they tend to set us up for failure. I cannot remember a time someone telling me their life was changed because of a resolution. I find the idea of starting the year with a list of things we would like to change or improve in twelve months to follow a good and helpful instinct. Jon Acuff (@jonacuff), author and blogger, recently posted about an alternative for 2012 that I really like. He says we ought to create “Finish Lists” for 2012 (read Jon’s How to build a “Finish List” and surrounding posts to learn more).

A “Finish List” is different from a list of resolutions. It isn’t about things we are going to try or hope to see change in the new year. Rather it is about things we are going to do – and finish – in the year to come. As Yoda told a young Luke, “Do or do not. There is no try.” Another blogger, Michael Hyatt, used this Yoda quote to write on this topic in a post I recommend called “THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN TRYING AND DOING.”

There is one you can all put on your list right now – finish ___ grade. Put it on there. Even though you have little choice in the matter, that IS something you will finish. Then go after the BHAGs – Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals. If you want to put in a school one – don’t make it “get all A’s” (you don’t do the grading so you can’t make that happen), or “study harder” (that is too vague). Instead, put something like “I will study a minimum of four hours for each test” on your finish list. That is something you can finish!

The same is true if it is a personal goal. Don’t put on your list “I will get a boyfriend/girlfriend” or “I will make the team/choir/play/whatever.” Again, the results are not something you can control. Instead put on something like, “I will ask out at least three girls this year until I get a girlfriend” or “I will try out for the team/choir/play/whatever, and give it my all.” Those are things you can actually finish. Or maybe you want to get closer to God, spend more time with family, read more, or something else. Be specific on your list. Instead of “I want to get closer to God,” think “pray everyday,” or “attend youth group/small group/Sunday School at least 3 times a month,” or “read the entire Bible” in 2012. Instead of “spend more time with family” get specific: “eat dinner with family every Friday,” “participate in family game nights,” or something like that.

Here are a couple of mine to give you an idea. I started a blog at the beginning of December called AssociatePastor.org. I would really like to have tons of people reading it and want to put down a number as a goal in 2012, but I cannot control that. So I put on my list that I will post every Monday in the new year. I can finish that, and leave the results to those who will or will not subscribe. I also want to continue to get published and grow as a writer, but I cannot control whether editors will choose to publish my work. Instead I have put on my list to submit to every deadline of one particular publication, and to submit to at least two more. I can finish that. Are you getting the idea?

“Do or do not. There is no try.” What are you going to do and finish in 2012?

Video of the Week

Skit Guys: This Year Will Be Different

The Skit Guys, as they often do, start funny and end with a great point.

Quote of the Week

“Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”  - John Wesley

Extending the season of giving

I saw a story the other day of a woman who went into a Kmart in Indianapolis and paid off the layaway bills for about 50 people. Then, on her way out of the store, she started handing out $50 bills to random shoppers. Can you imagine? (You can see the story here)

Layaway is a program that some stores offer where you can select items you want to purchase but can’t afford right now. The store lays the items away in storage (hence the name) while you make payments on them. When the merchandise is paid in full, you pick up your order. It is a good way to buy Christmas presents using cash instead of a credit card.

As you can imagine, most of the layaway orders this woman paid for, like most orders in December, were parents who had put aside toys for their children’s Christmas presents. She was literally giving, so that others could give, and still have money for the things they need. What a great gift this anonymous woman gave to those families.

We often think of Christmas as the season of giving, but I can only imagine how satisfying it must be for that woman to know what a difference she has made in the lives of those people. Those of you that have been on a mission trip know that feeling as well. Sometimes when we finish painting a house, building a wheelchair ramp, playing a game with one in a nursing home, or doing something similar, we see the gratitude in their eyes and know we have been part of doing something great for them. In those moments we can become overwhelmed with the blessing we have of being able to serve others in such meaningful ways.

Somehow those things are easier to do on a mission trip or during the Christmas season. But for we who follow Jesus – who fed the hungry, healed the sick, and loved the unlovable – should be seeking to be generous every day. May we be known, not so much by what we say, but by the love we share at Christmas and all through the year.

Video of the Week

Skit Guys: The Innkeepers Dilemma

If you have been with us for the Fridays, you know that there is no innkeeper in the Christmas story, but this is a great re-telling of the story of the birth of Jesus.