Does Prayer Work?

http://www.soulpancake.com/view_post/1443013/does-prayer-work.html

The Wild Things are Everywhere

Not only did I just watch this movie but wife just purchase this book for me on my birthday. I remember reading this as a child amazed at the imagination of the author. Every child would love to be king of their own world, in charge of other monsters, demanding their respect and submission. However, as the inevitable happened, and I grew up I come closer to understanding the truth and the sadness in this story. Are we raising a generation that after finding no love, attention, instruction, or respect, they must create their own world in order to satisfy thier desire for friendship, authority and love? Must we create our own friends and community in order to experience a real community? Are we so incapable of connecting with our own family that we must adopt the world to fill that void? If anything this movie reminds me how hard childhood was, not like I was raised in a slum or a third world nation, but I remember the gaping hole of loneliness that would just drive me crazy until I created my own world to play and feel accepted in. Week after week I see (I work next to a junior high) that the wild things have not disappeared or have been removed they are now everywhere. Teenager after teenager (who are now become young adults) are asking the same question, what is community? What does a "real love" even feel like? What is my family and what makes up my family? Questions that long ago answered themselves but now go unanswered and the world does not even try. But again what I hate the most about the world is what I love the most about God, the world cannot know what community, friendship, love and respect is; the world only sees the perverted slightly skewed look of those things. Yet, God not only knows those things but he has given authority to his body, his church, his people to BE those things to each other and to offer THAT to individuals of the world. The greatest form of success is to produce and maintain in each other an actual community, our little part of the kingdom, a real thriving nurturing compassionate…..pile.

The Power of Fellowship

I am continually amazed that God calls us to fellowship with one another for the purpose of building and strengthening not only the church but also the Kingdom of God. It is such a small thing that we so often take this amazing gift for granted. And it is a gift, a good gift given by our father who not only loves us but deeply cares for our spiritual and physical well being. I wonder how we would expand the kingdom without the vital role that fellowship plays. Fellowship being more than just “hanging out”, or playing games; it is the core to our connection with one another through our common savior. This is the key, the one truth, and it gives our “hanging out” and game playing validation on a spiritual level. And that is where I believe fellowship has its full impact. There is something to being just a simple companion and friend to somebody else for the only reason that they share the same common goal and God, as you. And because you share that truth there is a connection that can and does exist between you that is not found in the natural world. I am at this College advance with 24 other people that I would never know let alone fellowship with if not for the Christ that entangles us. Fellowship is pure, bright, and completely filling. It is something that can charge the soul for a whole year and it is something that consumes you entirely, it is a deadly infection and a gracious cure, it a sore problem to have and relieving solution to come across.

Bewteen Heaven and Earth there is Nevada City, CA

Right now I am up in beautiful Grass Valley, CA having mocha with my wife at the broad street bistro. The greatest theme I see around me is how great and loving God is to me a simple person. I know that God loves me just like I know that my mom loves me. He has to, you know he is your dad; it's kind of his job. But now I feel that God not only loves me but he also likes me, like your best friend likes you. This is a concept that strikes me hard because if God likes me he then wants the best for me in the simple small things and not only in the bigger picture type of things. If this article is confusing you I am truly sorry because I wish to convey this amazing truth and it is simply escaping me. To put it as simple as I can, God likes me and right now I see that all around me. The warming sun is out bathing the lazy clouds in light and trees are swaying to a breeze I can feel but I cannot see. People are laughing around me, my stomach is full and I have the companionship of the greatest person in my life right next to me reading under the shade of big oak tree.

Terms of Success

What is your goal or what is your vision that once accomplished you would then declare success. I imagined success being a mighty hill that I would have to climb or a river I must cross though the current is to strong. I want success to be unreachable, something I can look at and then despair because of the impossibility of it yet strive on because of sheer courage. I love the cliché movies that start with a ragtag group of athletes and then they throw in a messed up coach that teaches them life lessons; by the end you have the most elite team ever seen on the face of the planet. We love insurmountable odds, innumerable foes, and impossible terrain; however, in real life we neglect to celebrate the small goals and the small victories that with the grace and power of God we have accomplished. I challenge us to set those high and dangerous goals, make your visions as great as the stars themselves, come on, we worship the God that created those stars. Let us remind ourselves that it was God who said that he would never deny us anything. I also challenge us to not take the small goals and the small visions for granted.

Hit or miss

Man this weekend was awesome. On Friday we had our first everyone’s Birthday Party for Everyone. Sense a lot of our birthdays fall during the fall months any ways we decided to celebrate every body’s birthday. Everyone brought a cheap gift and we had a gift exchange. It was awesome because we had this in a non-members home and we were able to introduce the family to our group. Before the gift exchange happened I was introduced to 3 Guinea pigs and a dog that is not only the size of my step dad but also looks a lot like him.

On Sunday I took 4 guys to the Santa Paula Area wide youth devotional which I spoke at that was both encouraging and a growing experience for me. My general definition of a devotional is a time where we can spend a lot of time singing, like 45 minutes at least, and then have a short encouraging thought to challenge everyone. Here, a devotional means a party with random singing, crazy activities and then a lesson (I wrote down the words to the songs they were singing and then read it back to them in the form of a poem). God has taught me that most devotionals will always be a hit or miss, especially when doing it with different youth groups. Again, it was encouraging to be around that many diverse youth groups and youth workers.

All in all it was a blast but I have never been more excited about the work week. On Thursday we leave for Grass Valley and then Tahoe for the Grass Valley college advance. God bless you and know that he has blessed me more than I deserve.