Winter Break

I will have to be honest with you, I never had winter break growing up. I actually feel like it is a waste. Why do you need a whole week off? Don't you get a week off in like a month? Didn't you just get a week off like two months ago? Why then? Why this week, which extends your schooling into late June? I don't like it, but I will roll with it.

So, this week, you have no school! Come hang out with us at the church! Yesterday we played RISK, the game of global domination.

Today, at one pm, we are going to play ULTIMATE FRISBEE! Be here today! Bring water, shoes that are good to play in, clothes that are good to sweat in, and meet at TCC Gig Harbor. That is kitty corner across the street from the church.

See you there!

much Love,
johnny

Sunday's Challenge

Sunday morning in High School, we talked about the unrelenting Grace of God. God pursues us, seeks us out, makes us realize our sin. When we realize what we have done, its called conviction. This is hard, but so good! When we are convicted, we have the opportunity to repent. Repentance is turning from sin. Its a spiritual turn around!

We read the story of David and Bathsheba on Sunday, and we saw how the fence of Grace is moved to let us in...regardless of what we have done! We looked at David’s response to his very messy situation; his psalm of repentance. It is Psalm 51...and amazing! Check out the first six verses.

1 Have mercy on me, O God,
according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion
blot out my transgressions.

2 Wash away all my iniquity
and cleanse me from my sin.

3 For I know my transgressions,
and my sin is always before me.

4 Against you, you only, have I sinned
and done what is evil in your sight,
so that you are proved right when you speak
and justified when you judge.

5 Surely I was sinful at birth,
sinful from the time my mother conceived me.

6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

I want to challenge you! Go ahead and face your convictions. Remember them, and remember the repentance that you went through. My challenge to you is to write out your psalm of repentance.

Click on the comments link below and write them out for us all to be encouraged by it. You can comment anonymously to protect your identity, and be as real as you want.

much Love,
johnny

Transit tonight!

Step on the transit bus tonight for the unveiling of all of the questions you have been asking and answering about the opposite gender! We have tonight..."Revelations" all your questions answered! Plus there will be fun games. You will all make new friends, and make fun with the ones you have, in the "Newly Friend Game!" So come on out for valentines Transit. See you at 6:30-8:30!

Love Life Connections!

Tonight is the night for love! That's right, tonight is "love life" connections. There is a lot that goes into nights like these, so lets enjoy them!

We will start with a fancy dinner, followed by the handing out of valentines!

We then will move upstairs for some announcements and worship (can't leave our love for God out!)

Then, let's get in the Word to see what God has to say about love...

Then it's on like donkey kong. Brush up on your love songs, because we are going to play a special "Don't forget the love lyrics."

Followed by the "Newly Friend Game" and we have our selves a fun night of love life!

Don't forget to dress your best! Come as fancy as you can...you only do this once a year, so have fun with it. But please dress modestly!

See you tonight!

much Love,
johnny

Some photos of the Gala

Here are some pics from the Gala, there will be these and more at our smug mug account. You can get there by clicking on the link that says "pictures you can download from cwsm events."

Great is Thy faithfulness

What a weekend! The Gala on Saturday was the longest day of 2009 by far! Followed up by worship on Sunday, it could not have been better. The theme of the Sunday's worship was the Faithfulness of God. How fitting it came after the 2nd annual crosswalk gala, the day we have been working towards for over two months! We did a lot of prep before hand, but there is only so much you can do. Some of it you have to do the day of. Brooke and I were talking on Friday night that we just wanted it to be here. We felt like we packed for a trip two weeks in advance, and now we just wanted to leave on it. I suppose the best way to understand it is this: it felt like we were pregnant with the gala. There was so much to do, and we felt we were ready to birth it, but the due date was a week away.

I have never been pregnant. And I can't imagine it. But...(can you seriously put a but after that?).

Yes, but... I have heard women talk in their 8th and 9th month of pregancy, and they are ready to go. They are so uncomfortable, and achy, and they can't sleep at night. They are ready to have that baby. And when they do...it's beautiful. Maybe not at first because they are really tired and the baby is covered in whatever babies are covered in when they first come out. But the next day is a beautiful.

That was the gala for us. It was long, and tiring, but oh so worth it. The Gala was a tremendous success! Thank you everyone who participated! Thank you for your contributions (both in giving of your talents and skills by donating an item) and thank you for your contributions (by buying items). Thank you students for working so hard in getting items to auction off. You all did great!!! We had over 100 items to auction off and we raised nearly 11,000 dollars!

So, this brings me back to the Sunday after the Gala. The theme of worship time was "the faithfulness of God" and it could not have been more fitting. I clapped to the beat, and raised my hands with out shame, and I sang at the top of my lungs in praise to God for His faithfulness in my life, and in the life of this church! Join with me in praise to God!

much Love,
johnny

So much to do, so little time

Do you ever wonder why God only put 24 hours in a day? Sometimes I wish that he made 28 hours in a day. Think about that...if only we had four more hours to do whatever needed to get done. If I devoted fours hours completely to learning the guitar, I would rock. Or if I shot a basketball four extra hours a day, I would rarely miss. Or if I spent four hours more with my wife everyday, we would have an even more awesome relationship (she might get tired of me though). Or, this is going to sound crazy, but what if we spent four hours a day just hanging out with God? Reading His word, memorizing it, singing to him, praying to him. That would be amazing!

But to be honest, I don't think I would use the four hours productively all the time. You know what I mean. When you heard "four hours more" some of you were like...yeah, I could use four more hours of sleep. Or yeah, four more hours of WoW (which I have never played, simply because it seems like a colossal time waster in which I would then need 32 hours in a day to make up for all the lost time a spent playing a video game).

I guess what I am trying to get at...is that I want to do too much sometimes. And I think that some of you out there are on the same track. We try to do as much as we can because we like people, or we like sports, or we like music, or we like ______ (that's a fill in the blank, duh).

But God is good. He made the day with 24 hours in it because he knew that if we had more time, then it still wouldn't be enough. We would still have days that were productive and glorifying to Him, and we would still have days where we have a million things to do and do only one of them. But what are the important things? What are the things that we should be doing no matter what? I don't think that it is an actual thing to do...I think that it is a thing to be.

We need to just be sometimes. We are not human doings, but human beings. We are not defined by what we do but who we are. Being good at music doesn't define me, or being good at basketball or WoW doesn't define me. It is not what I do, it is what I am.

So, regardless of what I do in a day, am I the best husband I can be? Am I the best son I can be? Am I the best child of God I can be? Am I the best youth pastor I can be? I think if we ask these questions to ourselves we will end up doing the things that need to be done, because of who we are. Think about that.

I was really tempted to go into the theology behind DC Talk's (not so) hit song "time is tickin away" but that might be too much decent Christian talk in one week. So lets strive to be, as opposed to do, and I think it will all fall into place.

And yes, I wrote this because I wish there was more time to prepare for the busy weekend. But God is good and He has it all planned out for us. We just need to be his children.

much Love,
johnny

p.s.- my favorite line from that song..."get busy like a school boy makin' an A, cause time my brotha' is tickin' away." I know. Profound.