Sorry...

I am very sorry for not posting anything in a very long time. I have been busy to say the least.

Last week with the photo directory, Awana Awards Night, and moving into my new house on Friday and Saturday - pretty busy.

So let me just say CONGRATULATIONS to all our Trekers who earned awards this year. Zack earned a Compass Point Completion Certificate; Becca, Jenn, Johnny, and Ryan earned their milestone awards; Katie earned her Timothy Award (well, actually last year but we gave it to her this year); and Kathleen, Elisa, Liz and Caleb earned their Meritorious Awards. And thanks to all of our Trekers and Trek leaders for a great year of Trek! It was great!

To finish off the Trek year we will be having a Trek End of the Year Party on Friday, May 18th from 5:30 - 9:00 p.m. at CBC. We will have pizza and pop, a scavenger hunt, a devotion, and flashlight tag. And it is a FREE event! Invite your friends, but let me know if you are coming so I will have enough pizza for you.

So what is going on this summer you may ask...well, on Wednesday nights every week we will have a Youth Bible Study. This time will start at 6:45 p.m. and end at 8:15 p.m. We will start with a little volleyball or some other games. After that we will head upstairs for some refreshments and a group prayer time. Then we will have our Bible study. This summer we will be studying through the book of Colossians together. I hope you can come. And of course, friends are welcome for this as well.

So that about sums everything up. Hope to see you this summer.

Jump and Run!

I got to go to Rachel's track meet yesterday and watch her compete in the long jump and in the 400 meters and the 1600 meter relay (4 people each run 400m). And even though it was cloudy, and windy and even a few drops of rain came down, Rachel did GREAT!!

So I thought I would include a few pics of Rachel doing the long jump into the sand pit and one of her running. I had a great time watching her...even with a wind chapped face.

Great job Rachel!

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS!

I had a desire to put a post up on the blog for each person's birthday. I started this with Josh Winton back on February 26. However since then I have failed to do it.

So, today is Liz's birthday and so I am starting back and making up for past birthdays that I missed.

So first of all. Happy 14th Birthday Liz - 4/19. Hope you have a wonderful birthday and a fun time celebrating with your family and friends.

Last Thursday, April 12th was Laurel's birthday. I am sorry Laurel for forgetting to post a Happy Birthday to you. But Happy Belated 13th Birthday Laurel. I hope you had a great birthday.

And I missed Andrea's sweet 16th Birthday on March 18th. So a very happy, very belated birthday to Andrea as well.

Happy Birthday everyone!

Thoughts and Prayers...

First let me thank all of you for your prayers these past few days as I have been sick. Just a sinus infection but to me it was significant...enough to cause me to go to the dreaded DOCTOR!! - horrific scream-. Anway, I am feeling much better now as the doctor loaded me up with medications to take. And I am thankful that the Lord is using these medications to bring strength back to my body.

But that is not what this post is about. As many of you are probably aware, yesterday was a tragic day in our nation's history with the murders that took place at Virginia Tech. The worst shooting in American history as I'm sure you have heard based on the number of people killed - 33 or 34.

But what I find interesting in times of national tragedy is how often prayer is mentioned. I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say on these news programs to keep the Virginia Tech family in our thoughts and prayers or that someone being interviewed or speaking says that the VT family is in their thoughts and prayers. Now, I am certainly not against people saying that, but how come it is ok to pray in tragedies and difficulties, but not when things "seem" to be going fine. Or maybe "thoughts and prayers" is just a saying that shows we care. Whatever the case, it is rather ironic that it is demanded by some that public prayer be banned, thrown out, and not mentioned until we seem to be in a place of "real need". Truthfully we ALL need prayer ALL the time because we ALL need to be depending on God.

But as I think of all these people saying they are praying, two questions come to my mind: Are people really praying? Are the prayers of these people being heard?

The reason for that last statement is that there are conditions or requirements for prayer...ones that often are forgotten. I take these from a book called Basic Bible Doctrine by R.C. Barth - founder of Friends of Alcoholics, a friend of our families, and the man whom the Lord used to show me my need of salvation; a man I hold in high regard as a man of God's Word.

The first requirement for being on "praying ground" is having a relationship with God through faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, a person has to be saved. If a person is not saved (an unbeliever) then God does not hear their prayer. Sure God knows what they are saying because He is omniscient and so in that case he knows or hears their prayer. But we can only come before God in prayer through our relationship with Jesus Christ who is the Mediator between God the Father and us. Therefore, no relationship with God through Christ = no access to the Father.

The second requirement for being on "praying ground" is having fellowship with God. This concerns believers - those who already have a relationship with God. We do not have fellowship with God if we have unconfessed sin in our lives. So we must confess (say the same thing about our sin that God says about it - calling sin, sin and acknowledging we are guilty) our sin and restore that fellowship before we can have this access to God in prayer.

So relationship and fellowship are the two requirements for being on praying ground. Sincerity is not a requirement. I am sure that there are many people sincerely praying for the VT family during this time whose prayers God will not hear because they are not on "praying ground". While that may not seem like the nicest thing to say, the truths we have mentioned are based in God's Word. That is where I will stand for the truth. For those of us who are on praying ground, we must be faithful to pray often. We have been called to do so.

No Resurrection = No Hope!

Sometimes as we think about the gospel message we understand the importance of Christ's death on the cross for our sins, but we do not completely understand the full importance of Christ's resurrection in the gospel.

In 1 Corinthians 15, the apostle Paul makes it clear that the resurrection is part of the gospel and is important in salvation. In vv.2-4 he says "By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word preached to you. Otherwise you have believed in vain. For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that He was buried, that He was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,..." Obviously the resurrection is important for someone to understand if they are placing their faith in Jesus Christ. I mean, who would want to believe in someone who died and is still dead.

Paul goes on in vv. 13-14: "If there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith."

Then in v. 17: "And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins."

And finally in v. 20: "But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep."

This would be the longest blog ever if we went into all of the things that were provided for us by Christ's resurrection. But I want us to understand that Christ's resurrection means so much for as Christians. Without it, we have no hope and are still in our sins. Without it we have no eternal life. No doubt, it is something to remember every day and it is great to celebrate it on Easter.

For Christ to be our Savior, He had to be resurrected. His resurrection was just as important as His death for our salvation.

Romans 4:25 tells us that Christ was raised for our justification. Justification means that God the Father declares us to be NOT GUILTY. Although we have been forgiven, justification goes beyond that. Forgiveness recognizes guilt but refrains from judgement, justification declares one not guilty. But we are guilty as sinners (Romans 3:23), so how can God declare us not guilty? Only because Christ paid for our sins when He died on the cross. He died in our place and was made sin for us. And only if all sin had been paid for completely would God the Father be able to declare us not guilty. And if all sin had not been paid for, then Christ would not have been raised. Sin results in death and if a single sin placed on Christ had not satisfied God in payment of that sin, Christ would still be dead. But HE IS ALIVE and therefore the payment for sin was satisfactory to God.

We also read in that passage that Christ was the firstfruits of the resurrection. Because He was the firstfruits, we know that we too will be resurrected one day. In fact, all people will be raised one day. Those who are believers (having placed their faith in Christ ALONE for salvation) will be raised at the rapture (church age believers) and at the end of the tribulation (tribulation saints and OT saints). Unbelievers will be raised after the 1,000 year rule of Christ. Believers will be raised and spend eternity in heaven; unbelievers will be raised and spend eternity in hell.

As believers we are told that we are identified with Christ in His death, burial, and resurrection (Romans 6:4-5). This means we have resurrection life at the moment we trust Christ as Savior. Because of this resurrection life that we have, we should count ourselves alive to God in Christ Jesus (Romans 6:11).

We also have resurrection power in Christ. The same power that raised Christ is available to Christians. We have the Holy Spirit indwelling us. We have power from God. We must utilize it. Because of Christ's work we have this available to us. This doesn't mean you are going to start healing people and raising people and flying and all that like super powers. But you have power from God meaning that nothing is too great to overcome in our lives...especially when we fall short. (Eph. 1:18-20)

We could go on, but I will stop there. Be reminded of the importance of Christ's resurrection and understand that Christ was raised so we do have hope. And give praise to God for it.

Resurrection = Hope!