youth leader “RELATE” tip – “praise to parents”

Here’s a quick tip to help build relationships with your teens and their parents.  This month, chose one or two (or a few if you have a bigger youth group) of your teens and write something nice about them.  It can be something that they did that was note worthy, an area of growth that you see them developing in (like reading the Bible more, taking the lead in small groups, praying in front of the group, bringing a friend to Bible study, etc.), or maybe something that they recently achieved in school or somewhere else.

Say something nice and encouraging about them to their parents in a note, put the note in a card or something, and mail it or give it to them personally.  Chose different students to do this for each month and watch the connection between you and their parents start to grow!  The students will feel great too!

For more great Youth Leadership Tips, buy a copy of “Your First Two Years of Youth Ministry” by Doug Fields.

balloon boy – let’s not make haste!

So 6-year-old Falcon Heene was never in the home-made helium balloon that somehow accidentally lifted off 15,000 feet into the Colorado air early October.

Some of us were relieved. We had prayed through the CNN newscasts for hours, hoping that he hadn’t fell out of the aircraft his father built. But there were others who took one look at the silver flying saucer-like object when the story first broke, and thought, “Are you kidding me?” This skepticism may now be highly appropriate.

The Denver International Airport was temporarily closed down and National Guard helicopters searched for the boy’s body, but Falcon was found hiding in the attic. Days afterwards, the local county sheriff made plans to bring charges against Falcon’s parents, Richard and Mayumi Heene. Officials say the Heenes did it all for attention in hopes of fame and a television show.

There are so many lessons to be learned. But there is one biblical standpoint that sticks out sharply: No one can force a plan that is not in God’s plan for their life. In 2 Timothy 1:9, we find“…

God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace.”

How many times have any of us believed in a dream so wholeheartedly that when it didn’t come to pass, we tried to force it? Sometimes visions and hopes stir up so much excitement in our hearts that we know God had to have placed them there. Yet, there are many of us who year after year, wonder why the dream has not manifested into our realities.

The Heene’s family history reveal two parents who struggled to get acting gigs, and tried to get attention through storm chasing and YouTube videos. The height of their journey includes two appearances on the reality TV show “Wife Swap.” The couple had also been in talks with the producers for a separate reality show. And Larimer County Sheriff Jim Alderden believes the Heenes desperately thought the hoax would give them the spark they needed to seal a deal. If true, that spark has put them in a whole new struggle – fighting a possibility of felony charges, six years in prison and a $500,000 fine (The Chicago Tribune).

Sometimes we just have to go back to the drawing board, pray, reevaluate the origin of the idea and possibly let go of something that was more of a good idea than a “God idea.” Other times, it was in fact God speaking to us and His promise is still true. It’s just that we have to remain faithful until it’s our time. But if we try to pursue something despite God’s grace that’s not there to make it a success, we can lose ourselves and do anything to force it to happen. This choice disrupts our lives and causes unnecessary disappointment, or possibly as in the case of the Heene’s, jail time!

Proverbs 28:20 (AMP) A faithful man shall abound with blessings, but he who makes haste to be rich [at any cost] shall not go unpunished.

new movie – Disney’s “A Christmas Carol” with Jim Carrey

Christmas is approaching and soon the streets will be filled with lights decorating the homes of many.  There will be carols playing and every channel will have that one classic Christmas movie that you have to watch every year!  You know you can’t miss the Charlie Brown Christmas Special!  Disney has struck again and has remade a popular Christmas movie which will open in theaters November 6^th: the classic Charles Dickens “A Christmas Carol”.

“A Christmas Carol” is about a miserable old rich man named Ebenezer Scrooge who believes that Christmas is just an excuse for people to miss work and for lazy people to expect handouts. He doesn’t believe in all of the good cheer and charity that the season promotes, and he makes sure everyone knows it.   Because of his sour attitude he doesn’t have many friends and spends Christmas Eve alone.  That night Scrooge falls asleep and is visited by three ghosts: Ghost of Christmas Past, the Ghost of Christmas Present, and the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. They show Scrooge his mistake in valuing money over people.  Scrooge awakes on Christmas morning a new man. He becomes very jolly and charitable, and truly turns into the man he promised the ghosts he would become. He then begins to carry the spirit of Christmas with him all year round!

Disney has remade this classic and will be featured as a 3-D motion picture!  Jim Carrey stars as Ebenezer Scrooge and also plays Ghost of Christmas Past and Ghost of Christmas Present.  This movie will truly be a must see for this holiday season.

Check out the trailer here….enjoy!

FOR PARENTS – thank God for the mud!

Recently I went on a field trip with my son Quad and his pre-school class to the pumpkin patch. Just to give you some sort of an idea of what this trip was like; it had rained almost every day the prior 16 days…so to describe that place as muddy is a vast understatement. It was sooooo MUDDY! There was not one place we could step without our feet sinking into squishy, mushy grass and mud. I honestly don’t think I have ever been somewhere (on purpose) that had that much mud. LOL!

Well, it probably goes without saying that a class full of four-year olds thought that this was the absolute best place to be. My son, even without a pair of goulashes on, splashed in every mud puddle, visited every muddy farm animal pen, ran multiple times through the muddy hay maze, climbed a huge, soggy wood chip hill (and ran down it countless times), rode the muddy hay ride (where we were warned that the tractor may get stuck), and let’s not forget, picked a muddy pumpkin. He had a ball and I truly had a blast playing with and watching him.

While there, however, I overheard some comments from a few other parents. One warned me as I walked in, “It is too muddy to have the kids here!” Another said, “This is just ridiculous!” Many complained about the mess their children were – mud-splattered coats, shoes soaked through to their socks, pant cuffs turning from blue to dark brown (believe me, you can forget about the cuffs of their pants!). So many chaperoning parents (from other schools I must add – not our wonderful pre-school!) were disappointed in the condition the pumpkin patch was in and the brown blurs their children were becoming. I was unsure how to respond to them; I mean I was quite enjoying watching Quad splash and run in the mud. I splashed and ran with him as a matter of fact. My perspective was quite different – I had never been on a field trip with my child before and with this being his last year before going to school, I was so thankful to have the freedom in my schedule to go with him. It was SUCH a joy and I was so blessed for it.

Now, I’m not writing to talk about how unthankful these “other” parents were about being at the pumpkin patch with their child. On the contrary, listening to these other parents complain actually made me repent about all of the things in my life I took for granted but needed to be thankful for. For example, I relocated to Chicago from Florida and every since I have been here, I have complained about the weather. How much better would it be for God’s ears if I thanked Him for giving me the opportunity to live in the same city as my parents and sisters? Another example (I could go on an on folks…): when we moved here to Chicago, we moved into a small two bedroom condo which was probably less than half the size of our three bedroom home in Florida. Oh, hear me when I say I complained about that one! Once again, how much better would it have been for me to thank God for allowing us to live in that condo rent free for almost two years!

I know there are a lot of things that happen in our lives that are crappy…or even tragic for that matter. The Bible tells us the following:

John 16:33 (AMP)
In the world you have tribulation and trials and distress and frustration;

Trouble is a part of life. We all know what it is and we have all experienced it. There is nothing good or joyful about going through trouble. Whether it is in our finances, our relationships, with our children…trouble ain’t fun.

But, the last part of this verse says this:

…but be of good cheer [take courage; be confident, certain, undaunted]! For I have overcome the world. [I have deprived it of power to harm you and have conquered it for you.]

Because Jesus has overcome the world and the trouble this world brings, there really is no circumstance or situation that I come across that I cannot give God thanks in…because according to this verse Jesus has deprived it of power…and in the end I win. This is applicable even with whatever you may be going through with your teenager. Isn’t it wonderful to know that no matter what it is, the power satan would like to give to it has been taken away by our Lord? Wow. That should minimize your issue down to itty bitty when you look at it like that.

When you look at life through these eyes, not only does a muddy pumpkin patch and dirty four-year old kid not disturb you, the other nuisances of life should be small in our sight as well. What a blessing it is to have our families, our children, our jobs, our homes…whatever it is, you fill in the blank; and it doesn’t matter if we are not in the exact place in life that we envision ourselves to be. Whatever place life has us, let’s take Jesus’ advice and “be of good cheer.”

So, in this season of Thanksgiving, take inventory of your life. List all of the good that you can, and give God thanks. For the not so good things, know that God has overcome them and still give Him thanks for doing that for us. Don’t let the trouble in life rob us of the joy the good in life brings.

16 days of rain + dirt + four-year old = one big mess!
Four-year old in muddy pumpkin patch + parent watching = JOY!

I thank God for it.

a lifestyle of thankfulness

1 Thessalonians 5:18 AMP – Thank God in everything no matter what the circumstances may be, be thankful and give thanks, for this is the will of God for you who are in Christ Jesus…

Every November, we start preparing to celebrate one of our biggest holidays…Thanksgiving. I find it so interesting that we have an entire day set aside for us to reflect and give thanks for the wonderful things we have and enjoy in life.  For most of us, this is one of the happiest days of the year and we can easily see so many things in our lives to be thankful for. But as we head back to the reality of our everyday lives, will our being thankful start and end on that one day?  Selah (which means “stop and think about that!”)

When you are in an environment or celebrating an occasion that makes or forces you to think about the good in your life, it’s very easy to be thankful.  But what about each of the remaining 364 days in which your life could go extremely well, extremely bad or mediocre? Will you be thankful on any of those days and any one of those circumstance?  Selah again!

To make sure that our being thankful starts before and goes past the Thanksgiving holiday, let’s get some basic understanding about thankfulness.

What Does Being Thankful Mean?

Being thankful is simply some sort of expression to God, your parents, your siblings, your friends, or anyone letting them know you appreciation of something they have done for you – specifically some act of kindness or goodness they have shown to you. In other words, an expression of favor and/or kindness shown towards you should demand an expression of appreciation from you.  This can be done by simply saying, “Thank you.”  However, being thankful should also be an expression of appreciation from your heart, and this expression should have value to you and the other person.

Understanding Thankfulness

Now, living as a “thankful” person is more of an attitude in which you make a conscious decision to always acknowledge and recognize someone, specifically God, for showing you favor and kindness in your life – no matter how good or how bad you may feel at the time.  In other words, thankfulness says, “I purpose in my heart and mind to not allow the things that are going extremely well or extremely bad to block my view of God, what He’s doing in my life or circumstances or to hinder me from giving Him thanks for it.”  For example, if you are in a season of life where you have a lot of money, don’t let your abundance in money stop you from recognizing God’s hand on your life and His goodness towards you.  The same goes if you are in a season of “not so much money.”  Not having all the money you desire should still not stop you from giving God thanks for still taking care of you and providing for you.

Thankfulness is an inward decision to express appreciation, and being thankful is the outward expression of this decision.

Bible Examples

Now let’s look at a Bible example of these two things.  First, let’s look at being thankful.  Get your Bible and read Luke 17:12-19. This is the account of Jesus healing ten lepers. Notice that they all were healed, but how many of them came back to say thank you to Jesus???  Only one of them expressed appreciation towards Him. In verse 15, he did this by glorifying God with a loud voice, falling down on his face and giving thanks to Him. Jesus took note that this man knew what it meant to be thankful. But observe what the other nine did. They just went on about their day. They allowed the events of an extremely good day to rob God of the appreciation that was due to Him.

Now, let’s look at another example of being thankful, and things were not going too well for these people! Read Acts 16:16-25. This is the account of Paul and Silas being jailed for casting a spirit out of a young girl.  Now think about all that happened to them. They were falsely accused, stripped naked, beat and thrown in prison. From reading these verses and looking at it from an outside perspective, there is no obvious sign God’s goodness or kindness in their lives – they were having a pretty bad day!  Paul and Silas must have had a different perspective. Verse 25 holds an important key to their attitude while experiencing all of this. It says that at the end of their day, they were praying and singing hymns to God. They chose to sing songs of praise and give thanks to God in the midst of an extremely bad day. They did not allow the circumstances to block their view of what God was doing in their lives, or hinder them for giving Him thanks for it. And notice that in the midst of their praise, an angel set them free from jail!

Let’s start today with developing a lifestyle of thankfulness and being thankful.  Let’s not take for granted the things God and others do for us that express their favor and kindness. And no matter how good or bad life may get from this day forward, don’t allow the good things or the bad things to block our view of what God is doing in your life.  And let’s thank God in everything no matter what the circumstances may be…even after Turkey Day has come and gone!

youth group game – “over the mountain!”

This is a good way to get the teens talking and interacting with each other.  Some groups might need to be encouraged to keep the statements appropriate, but it is typically fun and hilarious!

Materials: Chairs for every player minus one.

Instructions:

1.)    Each player sits in a chair in a circle facing the center. One player stands in the center to start the game, (usually the youth leader after he or she explains it.)

2.)    Whoever is in the center makes a statement that applies to him or her and follows the format “Over the mountain if you have ever/never ___________________.” For example, the youth leader may say “Over the mountain if you have ever got called into the principal’s office.”

3.)    Anyone around the circle who can identify with the statement gets up and moves to a new chair. The last one left standing makes the next statement.

You can decide when to end the game. When time gets short, let everyone know when one round is left.

Sony launches the new PS3 Slim

Remember when the first PS3 dropped?  $600 bucks right? Well now Sony has a new and improved PS3 version called by some PS3 Slim… and the price… $300 bucks.

The Sony Playstation 3 was unveiled in August 2009 and in September 2009, became the top selling video game console for that month. (CNET.com)

There isn’t too much difference between the PS3 “Fat” and the PS3 “Slim”.  What you are not able to do with the “Slim” is install another OS on it and play PS2 games.  In addition, it doesn’t have an infrared port and online gaming, media, and commerce options are still lagging in comparison to X-box Live.

However, even though there aren’t any new features for the “Slim”, you get a 120 GB hard drive, smaller/lighter console, and all of the other features that the “Fat” has (Blu-ray, Wi-Fi, usb ports, etc.) but at a lower price.

For a more detailed review of this product check click here.