my story

We all have a story, But Who's writing it? For me what I want people to say about me after I'm not here, tends to control what I do now. I don't know about you, but when I try to control the now, I miss out on a lot of opportunities, and 9 times out 0f 10 mess up. A year ago before I went to Ecuador, I encountered a new view on story writing, In a simple 5 letter acronym

L.G.W.Y.S.

Let God Write Your Story.

That was a shock to me, until I heard that I didn't understand that I had been denying God control.
It has been a life change to apply this to my life. It requires my All my trust, In His provision, in His promises,
That He knows what He's doing, That when I don't understand, I can let go, and Know God's got it, And be at peace.

Proverbs 3:5&6 say: "Trust in the Lord with ALL you heart; Lean NOT on your own understanding. In ALL your ways acknowledge Him, and He WILL keep Your paths straight."

Philippians 4:19

One last question:
When people read or see your story, What do you want them to take away from their experience?

By The Numbers

Hard things happen to everyone. some of those times In my life I have asked "God WHY???!!!" "God, I don't understand... I don't get it... God, where were You?" so what are some of the things that helped me deal with those "1 days?" as Josh put it...

About 2 years ago I had a close relative end up in the hospital from what the doctors said was a "heart attack" who ended up passing away less than 4 days later.
I asked God all sorts of questions like "God Why did you take the only person who could speak Your truth to my non-believing relatives? "God I can't see what good is going to come from this"

God's words came back to me in reply:

"And the peace of God, which transcends ALL understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; (6)in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."

at the time there was one other verse I was directed to which at the time I didn't understand:
1st Timothy 4:11-16

You know, the other thing I should mention is when I got the call about my relative passing away is the very first song on the radio after the call that I heard was "Blessed be Your Name."

and there are many more. if you would like more verses we'd LOVE to give ya'll some please comment and let us know.

a couple of verses you should read yourself Romans 8:28 & Philipians 4:19

Beyond my UnBelief: The Power Of Prayer

Prayer is the power, the "energy" Drink as it were, for all those who are in Christ.

In Ephesians 6:18-20 Paul gives us A look at prayer. Paul give us a guide to prayer:
"Prayer is the energy that enables the Christian soldier to wear the armor (Ephesians 5) and wield the sword. We cannot fight the battle in our own power, no matter how strong or talented we may think we are....Paul tells us how to pray if we would defeat Satan.
Pray always.
Pray w/ all prayer: prayer supplication, intercession, thanksgiving.
Pray in the Spirit. The Bible formula is that we pray to the Father, through the Son, and in the Spirit.
Pray with your eyes open. "on the alert" Nehemiah defeated the enemy by watching and praying.
Keep on praying.
Pray for all the saints. don't quit!

the bible says:
"wherever 2 or more or gathered in the lord's name He is there..."
when we pray we should pray in the will of God, which means we ask and ultimately It's God's choice, we have to learn and accept that and be content.

"I Believe... Help my UNbelief..."
many times when our prayers don't get answered the way we want and we accuse God of ________(Fill in the blank). the counter to this is "Trust in the Lord w/all your heart and lean NOT on your own understanding." God Will make it clear to us IN HIS time.

Minute to win it

Tonight we found out how many different things you can do in 60 seconds or less.
It's amazing that such a small amount of time can affect how we view life and the things we do.
here's a question:
How many of you have taken 60 seconds to tell a friend about Christ?
What can you do with each 60 seconds you're given?
If you could do a do-over of a minute in your life, what would it be?

fortunately we have more than a minute to win at life, each minute is important so how do we make the most of each 1?

When it's all said and done what minutes of your life will people remember?
What minutes do you want you/them to remember?

S.O.S.

Tonight, we had our spotlight on servants.

Being a servant leader in todays society of being judged by your accomplishments, where everyone wants to be recognized.

many of you know Bill at Crash, when I think of a servant leader, he's one of the first people that comes to my mind.

If you read the blog last week, you know what I believe characterizes a good servant leader.

Honesty
Humility
Wisdom

Being a servant leader will most likely not gain you acclaim in the world but, it will be recognized in heaven. remember its backwards. Lose to win, follow to lead, least is greatest.

Some of the pitfall are opposite characteristics of the ones I listed:

Pride
Dis-honesty
Fear

All who are in Christ are princes and princesses because we're children of the King, so we should treat them as such. Also remember 1st Timothy 5 " treat older females as mothers, younger as sisters, older men as fathers and younger men as brothers. With absolute (look this word up) purity."

I think if we treated others better than ourselves the world would have a lot less problems. If we wanted to take care of others needs there would be a lack of things we want cause we have what we need.

some scripture
1st Timothy 4:12-16

follow the leader

history has provided us with many glimpses of what leadership should look like:

George Washington
Abraham Lincoln
Gen Robert E. Lee

What makes these names stand out from the rest?
(good)Leaders have many qualities and characteristics:
Honesty
Humility
Wisdom
The ability when required to go against the crowd
Love others
Put others needs above their own
Soft spoken yet direct
Self-control
courage
Those are qualities I look for in a leader

Our spheres of influence are usually much bigger than we think. My sphere of influences:
My family/friends
church/dgroups/crash

Each leader has a gift or more than one which they have in abundance. some of the ways I lead are:
using my creativity to think outside the box
Music is another area in which I can lead
Writing

I do not think waiting for some day is wise As Max Lucado said in one of his books "If you don't do it.... No one else will"

Fear is one of the most potent pot-holes in the road of leadership
Fear of failure
Fear of being inadequate
Fear of being made fun of
Fear of being rejected

to be a leader one must move in spite of any fears you may have that's called courage.

I would not want some one to follow me. I have heard many times a good phrase that I'll leave you with:
"Don't follow me... BUT... Follow who(Christ) I follow."

Easter review

Instead of doing a lot of writing I'm just Going to leave you a few scriptures to thnk on:

God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. 2nd Corinthians 5:21

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. 1st Timothy 1:15-16

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Hebwers 12:2

Now if we are children, then we are heirs-heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ... Romans 8:17

GUYS & GIRLS

Oh you've gotta love talking about guys and girls...and how we're all so different. And last night we did just that! You rocked it going back and forth answering questions from "the other side." And just like we promised - we've posted the additional questions on our Facebook group page... go join in the discussions today! Can't wait to hear what you have to say... and this is just the beginning.

Thankfulness - Thanks-giving ... Whatcha think?

so... do you think this quote is like what Josh was talking about tonight...

"Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus. And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. Keep putting into practice all you learned and received from me—everything you heard from me and saw me doing. Then the God of peace will be with you."

What do you think? How does it relate? What do you think you learned from Josh & from this quote (oh, by the way it's from the Bible --- Philippians Chapter 4, verses 4-10

the tough stuff

Hey Crashers,how are you? are you feeling challenged? Good... let's break it down...

Hard things are well... hard, yet it's about being willing to TRY even if you're not sure. DO you know what the bible says about you guys and what's expected of you? let me give you a couple examples:

James 1:1-6
2nd Timothy 4:12&15

Trials are hard but through them we can grow.

I'm going to answer some of the discussion questions again because I like doing that and I think you guys like hearing from someone who's been there.

Some expectations for myself are to learn and grow both spiritually and mentally, and give 100% to whatever task Ive been called to do.

What we become is based partly on who we are and who we want to be, but also who you put first... If God is who we want to reflect OR if "It's all about me." is the most important decision you can make in life.

What a mature adult might say depends on who you ask. I would hope they would say someone who seeks God and God's plan, but that may not be the case. I hope they would say the previous.

Fear of failure or discomfort does affect me usually it's a combo of them 1 just out balancing the other. It affects my ability to serve and work at my full potential that God has gifted me with.

this week I challenge you to find two more scriptures that mention both "youth" and "expectations or challenges" write them down and and your thoughts on them give them to your leader.

The elephants trunk A hard nosed look

Welcome Crashers to another episode of Crash Chronicle, that is sure to warm your heart.

Tonight we had another MEATing w/ The Ham sqaud who will be with us at fall retreat. we played a game which the 8th graders won by 150 points

One of our songs tonight was "Blessed be Your name"
Have you ever thought about how much you're blessed Or tried counting your blessings. it'd take a long time. If you wonder about how much you're blessed think about the fact you and your friends can come to Crash without having to be secret about it. in some countries this type of event would not be allowed.


Our first song tonight was "There is no one like You" Which is true of both God's character and yours as well

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also pre-destined to be conformed into the likeness of his son. And those he pre-destined he also called, he also justified, and those he justified, he also glorified.” Romans 8:28-30

Wait a minute, Does that really apply to me?

Believe it or not, you are not the first one to ask that question. You have company there,

Moses: “Who am I that I should go?”

Gideon: “How can I save Israel?”

Even the shepherds on that lonely night. You know, being a shepherd is not a pleasant job, or a wanted one, and they were probably thinking….

“WHY ME?”

Moses: “Since I speak with faltering lips, why would pharaoh listen to me?”

Gideon:” My clan is weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family.”

Bob the shepherd: I’m not special, I don’t smell good, I’m not even liked, (except by the sheep that is) I’m just an ordinary person.

God uses the ordinary to do the extraordinary. God made you special, there will never be another you, YOU are Gods’ brand new idea; with unique gifts and unique purposes. You can do something no one else can do in a way no one else could do it.

Discover your gifts, your talents, exercise them every chance you get. Because if you don’t, no one will. Only you can be you. We need you.

Moses had a rod,

David had a stone,

Rahab had a piece of cloth,

Samson had a Jawbone,

What do you have?

Who are you going to be?

Who are you going to serve?

In small groups we discussed expectations and instead of asking all the questions I'll answer most and leave 1-2 for you guys and gals, How's that for cool???

What's expected from me at home is for me to be responsible, big word I know, and the requirements for my sibling versus myself are a little different, because of our age and other various differences that exsist, I won't go into details. I will say that my parents (I know this might be tough for you to believe) have ALWAYS been fair and treated us equally.

What I expect from my parents is love and a place to turn for advice and counsel, and i know I can count on them to be honest with me even when I don't like it.

My friends would expect me to act my age (boring I know) but if I don't how can I expect them to take me seriously?

I'm not in School right now (So lucky!!!)

But they would expect me to do my homework and turn it in on time as well as be on time to class.

The media would expect me to trust them and believe them, and act according to what they portray as right

the way these expectations effect me are for me to want to put on different masks depending on the company I'm with.

There are 3 major events that changed my life.

one is The Life conference of 2007.

one is the sudden death of my uncle about 18 months ago.

and the last is Getting involved With you guys and gals which is my top one.

The people who most affect my life Are my family and some very close friends ones who I trust and can be honest with. And that is the most important thing for me finding people I can be honest with. I live my life as honestly as i can admitting when I make mistakes and doing what I can to amend for them. What most affects who I am is the things I spend the majority of my time around.

So what about you what's your story now and what do you WANT it to be when it's all said and done?

"it's not Who you are or Who you've been It's HOW YOU LIVED and who you lived for."

Can you think of ways that you are unique?

What Gifts do you have that You can develop?

God can use you no matter where you are or where you’re going.

“Give thanks to the Lord, call on His name, make known among the nations what He has done.” Psalm 105:1

A smashing opening night

All right crash, whose ready for the first weekly Crash Course Chronicle???

I know i am.

Well tonight we started thing off with our annual smash event, which was so enjoyable the local law enforcement wanted to help.

Tonight we sang Romans 16:19 says:
isn't it great to know that God wins???

and the 7th graders won the cup staking contest Yahoo!!

we also sang Your Grace is Enough, speaking to what Christ did for us.

And lastly we sang Mighty To Save, which reminds us That there's no hight or depth that God won't go to save us.


So, what are you expecting from Crash this Year?
Fun hanging w/friends?
w/Crash staff?
spiritual growth?


What do you think is expected of you at Crash this year?
To have fun?
play silly games?
Learn and grow?

If You've been to Crash before what are you looking forward to?
Fall retreat?
S.W.E.A.T.
Small group discussion?

Is there stuff that makes you nervous about Crash? What is it?
talking in/with your small group?
singing?

Why does it make you nervous?

What does Crash mean to you?

How would you explain Crash to a friend who hasn't been here before?

Who's 1 person who you'ld like to bring?

welcome to 2009-2010!!!!!

What are you excited about for Crash this year!!!!??????