Fun Stuff!

Hi there!

The youth and I have been up to no good lately! Just kidding. Last night, we had our very first Youth Kickoff and it was a BLAST! We had lots of different games where you could win tickets, face painting, popcorn, and lemon shake-ups. At the end, the tickets were put into drawings for prizes and everybody wanted the two tobymac CDs! We all got wrist bands, key chains, silly bands, dog tags, and t-shirts, but only a lucky 10 got Christian CDs and I tell you what, they were coveted by all! We had all kinds of fun thanks to the many helpers! Then, we enjoyed a potluck/BBQ dinner with the rest of the congregation.

The next event we have coming up is a Halloween Lock-in on the weekend of Halloween. We will have a costume contest (appropriate costumes only), games, junk food, and all kinds of fun. Then, when the sun comes up, we will put on Youth Sunday for the morning service. I can only imagine how much coffee and sugar we'll need to stay awake for church in the morning after staying up all night going crazy! I've put on one other lock-in in the past and it went well, so I'm sure this one will be just as fun! While we're dressed up, we will "trick-or-treat" for canned and unperishable foods for either the Inner City Mission of Springfield or for the local food pantry. Both places are always in need of food. As a congregation, we collected a large bundle of unperishable foods for the ICM just recently. I know they will be thrilled to recieve our donation. I want to continue to do services such as this with the kids to show them how important and how gratifying it is to help others. I'm looking forward to the Christmas season because WIBI always does a "Random Acts of Christmas" program and I want for us to do a kindness for someone who needs it as a group. We will also do a "secret santa" kind of thing among each other where we'll make gifts for each other for Christmas. Additionally, we will do Operation Christmas Child boxes again this year. Those are always fun!

We have a lot we want to do, so please continue to pray that we are doing the will of God in all that we do! Thanks for reading!

Correction!

For several weeks now, I have been thinking about having the poetry slam on Wednesday, September 23rd...The reality of the situation is that there is no such date. *facepalm* It will actually be on Wednesday September 21st. On Wednesday, we worked on more poems. I had all ages in my class and we all created rhyming poems. Some struggled with ideas, but we all helped each other and came up with some really fun writings. I am very much looking forward to the slam! I'm currently on the hunt for a platform that will be used as a stage. We will have coffee with several different available creamers, doughnuts, and fresh fruit. I can't wait to hear what the kids have come up with. It's so interesting to see how very different everyone is because I know that there will be a variety of different styles and ideas. It will be a great time! After the slam, we have the youth kickoff planned. I have many different games and prizes in mind for this day. It should also be a fun time! If you are reading this, I have a request. Please pray for us as our numbers are steadily increasing. We have been getting new kids lately, which is awesome! The only problem I am encountering is that I have all ages in my class at one time and they just don't work well together. The little kids and the high schoolers just are not on the same playing field and we need more teachers! So, please pray that more of our congregation steps up to the plate to help out. Not only will it be a weight off of my shoulders, but the kids will be able to learn more and grow closer to Jesus and the teachers will benefit from sharing their knowledge of the gospel with younger ones who may not understand it fully. (But then again, who does, really?) The point is, that our little church is trying so very hard to reach out and grow, but we are struggling to find able people to help that process move. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I just pray for good things to happen with our little church!

It's the kids who are important

Hello there. It's been a while since I've last posted. The youth and I have been taking it easy on the activities lately. We were real busy there for a while when we were preparing for Six Flags and whatnot, but lately, most of the kids have been getting ready for the start of school, so attendence has been low. Regardless, I have been continuing with my series of the 9 Fruits of the Spirit and the 7 Deadly Sins. We just recently talked about how peace and joy come from Jesus as a result of His death upon the cross. We also talked about love and how it is a verb and not necessarily a feeling. And we talked about envy and how we struggle with the 10th commandment of not coveting our neighbor's belongings. As I mentioned before, we are preparing for a poetry slam. This will take place on Wednesday, September 23rd. Although several of the kids were not thrilled about having homework during the summer, they have been getting their poems written. I have also been writing poems on the fruits and the sins. I assured them that their poems do not have to rhyme, though all of mine do simply because I find rhyming poems amusing. I really just would like to see the kids come out of their shells and get to know each other better. We will be celebrating the poetry slam with coffee, lots of different creamers, and doughnuts. Now, I just need to find some sort of platform to use as the stage. I know that most of them are nervous about performing in front of everybody, but I think they will enjoy it. Goodness knows, I would have loved to do something like a poetry slam when I was a high schooler in youth group! As a teacher, I like to give my students the opportunity to share their own views, opinions, and information because that is what I wanted when I was a student. However, the majority of my teachers, if not all of them, did not give us students such opportunities. It was always lectures and the viewpoints of the teachers that were important. I think the viewpoints and thoughts of the students are the most important when it comes to learning.

Youth Sunday!

Today was Youth Sunday at Northside and it went very very well for my first one ever. We opened with a skit titled, "The Backpack". I had a boy and a girl do this skit. (I don't ever mention names of my kids for security purposes, if you haven't noticed yet.) The whole thing was silent. The girl came upon a backpack sitting in the middle of the floor. She kinda poked and peered at it with curiosity for a while. She lightly kicked it, then dropped it. Then, the boy, dressed as Jesus, came along, picked it up, slung it around his shoulder showing the word SIN, and walked her out. It turned out pretty cute! They did great! Then, I welcomed everyone, professed my love for Tobymac (as a joke because I enjoy making people laugh), and led the girls in a special. One of my girls sang Amazing Grace My Chains Are Gone by Chris Tomlin while three other girls signed the song. I sat in front of them and signed it too so they could watch me. That way, they wouldn't get lost and feel embarrassed. I could tell they were nervous, but they did a great job! Then, we led the congragation in song. We did many of our youth's favorites: I'll Fly Away, Peace Like a River, Mighty to Save, and Jesus Paid it All. One of my boys worked the slide show and the whole thing went very smooth. They really did awesome. I was so proud!

Tonight is the finale for vacation bible school. All this week we have been singing, dancing, moving kids from station to station, and having a great time. The theme was Crocodile Dock and we had a very enthusiastic group of kiddos! Last year, nobody really got into the music, but this year, they were all over it! It was awesome! Tonight, we're singing our songs one last time, having cookies and homemade ice cream, and pelting Carl with water balloons. We raised more than $600 for our missions this year! The money will be split up evenly among five local organizations: Caring and Sharing, Food Pantry, Coats for Kids, Tools for School, and Our Place. The whole thing went very well!

With my older kids, I've been talking about a poetry slam that we're going to do. I assigned either a sin or a fruit of the Spirit to each kid in Sunday School today so that we can get started on that. We'll do the slam coffee house style with coffee, doughnuts, dim lights, and snapping. The kids aren't too thrilled about having homework during their summer break, but I think they'll end up enjoying it. For now, I'm glad most of this stuff is over with and we can slow down a bit. I'm getting worn out!

Preparation

Last night, instead of having a lesson on the next Deadly Sin, the kids and I discussed more about what we are doing for Youth Sunday on the 31st. We chose our songs, assigned people to positions, and decided on two skits that we will be performing. I'm super excited about the skits! If all goes well, they will be very cool. So, hopefully, my skit volunteers have some acting experience. We also will be signing (as in American Sign Language) Amazing Grace My Chains Are Gone by Chris Tomlin. They all were eager to learn how to sign it! We got through a bit of the song and they caught on quick! The boys will be ushering for Communion and Offering and a few of my girls and I will be greeters. One of my girls even asked to work the sound system! So, we're really going to be running the show that Sunday! I'm excited, and I know that the board members are looking forward to seeing what we're going to do too. I just pray that God's light shines through us in perhaps a different way than usual that day. Everyone learns different and different things hit people in different ways. So, my hope is that we just touch lives as we do our crazy, young thing.

I chose to prepare Youth Sunday plans last night not only because I couldn't think of a lesson, but because preparation has been a big topic for me lately. I tend to go by the phrase, "go big or go home", which isn't necessarily a bad thing. I just sometimes bite off more than I can chew. The Six Flags trip is an excellent example of this. I didn't realize at first that taking 16 kids to Six Flags St. Louis was somewhat of a huge deal. It ended up being a great trip; but, I know now that I did not do enough preparation for it. Well, I took it as a learning experience. It got me down in some ways, but I have had tons of support regardless. My church family and I know that I am still very new at this job and some things I will inevitably discover the hard way. And it'll be ok because I have a God who is bigger than any setback I may encounter!

Gung-Ho and Ready to Go!

On Saturday, we all got up bright and early for the much anticipated trip to Six Flags St. Louis. Everyone was wearing their new, brightly colored NCC shirts (except for two or three who forgot) and were practically bubbling over with excitement. We had a short meeting, went to the bathroom, assigned people to vehicles, prayed, and hit the road. I had never driven through St. Louis before, so it was a nervous trip for me, but mom kept me calm and helped keep the kids in the back from screaming. Upon arrival to the park, we gave them our parking vouchers, parked in a place that everyone complained about (because of the distance from the park), and grabbed our swimming suits and towels for the waterpark. We spent the morning in the waterpark and split up into groups. The older kids went with mom and Tiffany because they could take them on rides that I couldn't do, so I had a few of the younger kiddos. I am currently seeing a chiropractor to fix my neck and back problems, so riding anything that could give me whip lash was out of the question. I ended up being sore enough just from all the walking! Anyway, we all had a great time at the waterpark, then, we met up and went back to the van for a packed lunch. It was much cheaper to feed everyone on sandwich stuff from Aldi than it would have been to feed everyone in the park for $15+ a pop. Granted, everyone got an extra $20 for spending money from the fundraisers, but I tell you what, just about every penny was spent. Everything there is outrageously expensive! So, we finished our lunch and headed back to enjoy the rest of the park. We split off into groups again and spent hours riding rides, getting airbrush and henna tattoos, buying soda, playing games, and just having a great time. We had a check-in every two hours or so at the front gate where we could switch groups and keep everyone accounted for. At the second check-in, I was flabergasted when a lady came up to our group and asked us if we wanted the eight extra concert tickets she had for Tobymac. I couldn't get any tickets online ahead of time because they were sold out, so this offer was a God thing for sure! Of course, we had more than eight people, but hey, I'll send eight kids in to see Tobymac without question. This trip was for them, and I wanted them to enjoy every bit of it. Well, later, I was able to get my hands on even more tickets and the majority of our group got to go in and watch the concert! It was awesome! There were a few of the high school kids who chose to ride rides instead since we didn't actually have enough tickets; however, it ended up that they could have gotten in anyway, but they were having a good time regardless. When the concert was finished, I bought a Tobymac shirt and we all had just enough time for one more ride before we left for home. I took two of my younger kids and two of my older kids to the Scooby Doo ride. That was one of the few things I could actually ride! They were so excited to go on it too. The older kids and the other chaperones went to some of the bigger rides. We met up at 9:30 and headed back to the parking lot. The fireworks started as we were walking back, so we got to see them before we left. Thankfully, we had a safe trip home. Later, I got to thinking about the things I'm doing because I've been absolutely exhausted since the trip. I came into this leadership position gung-ho and ready to go full speed; but, now I just want to take a nap! I'm learning what my limits are, and I think I'm about to the end of my rope. Leave it to me to start with a huge trip to Six Flags. I think our plans will be a bit smaller from now on. I have to catch up with myself!

Self-Control....Do You Have It?

Wednesday night was the night where we found out who is and who isn't kind and gentle. Only a fraction of the kids brought back their eggs unharmed. Some were forgotten, some were broken by friends, and others were smashed on the very first day. Well, as I promised, there was a reward for bringing back an undamaged egg. Each of them got an Air Head candy. Of course I had a bunch left, so I incorporated it into my lesson, which was Self-Control. I said "self control...who has it?" then I threw the candy in the middle of the group. After a moment's hesitation, most everyone made a dive for their favorite colored Air Head. I was prepared for this, so I asked if anyone didn't dive for a piece of candy. There were four or five who didn't, so they got an even better prize: a bouncy balloon on a rubber band. (I know that sounds ridiculous, but everyone else was envious, so my point was made.) The point was that if we control ourselves, perhaps we won't get immediate gratification; but, eventually we will get an even better reward for our behavior. Like, say you are a student in elementary school, and if you have perfect attendence, you get to go on a field trip at the end of the year. But, one day in the middle of the school year, you feel like taking a day off to play or do whatever you want. Which would be better? Having the one day to do something fun now? Or having a better day to do something even more fun later? To get the better reward, you would have to have the self-control to not skip school. We can compare this to our salvation with Jesus. Though our good works are not what get us into Heaven, our reward for having self-control over our sins is an eternity with Jesus Christ. So, again I ask you; which would be better? The temporary satisfaction that comes from a sinful behavior? Or an eternity in Heaven with our Lord and Savior? It doesn't get much more simple than that.

The real reason behind the lesson on self-control was the upcoming trip to Six Flags. I knew that everyone was very excited for the trip, including myself; but, I wanted to make it clear that everyone needed to behave themselves when we got there. As a group, we represented followers of Jesus Christ, and it was important to behave in ways that represented how we, as Christians, are supposed to live.

Being Greedy is Bad

On Sunday night, we talked about our next sin: greed. I didn't write out a formal lesson plan like I have been because I've been having a hard time finding time to get to the computer to print things out in time. I'm only posting this now because I'm visiting my family at Dad's house. (I don't have internet access at home at the moment...it costs money that I haven't made yet.) Anyway, to begin the lesson, I dropped a 20 dollar bill in the middle of our circle and sat down without a word. They all just kind of looked at it and only one of my kids made a jump for it. I just smiled at him and he asked if he could really keep it. I didn't answer him and someone else asked if it was part of my lesson and I said that it was. Then, I confirmed that no, he couldn't keep it. It was part of the money raised for the Six Flags trip. Which, by the way, we met our goal for! That's the good news for that trip. The bad news is that I didn't order the tickets early enough and the tobymac concert is sold out. I was devistated about that, so I spread the word along to see if everyone still wanted to go anyway or wait until September when we could see Switchfoot in concert. The majority voted to go anyway. So, Saturday, I, 4 other adults, and 16 kids will be headed to Six Flags St. Louis. I know we all are very excited about it! When I found out that the concert was sold out, I was definitely upset, though I feel like now (four days before the trip) I shouldn't be surprised that tobymac is sold out. Well, I'm lucky for my church family because they all jumped right to my side to help support and encourage me. Les even prayed with me over the phone. I'd never done that before, but I thought that was pretty awesome!

Anyway, the lesson Sunday was about greed. We talked about different scenerios for a while and we all decided that we are greedy sometimes. After a while, one of my kids asked me what "my wisdom" for the day was. I told him that we shouldn't be greedy because it's bad. You can quote me on that if you'd like. We had some hilarious conversation and talked about the Six Flags trip. We are all very excited about it, and I'd like to ask you to pray for us for safe travels!

We're Headed to Six Flags! Woo Hoo!

Since the last post, the kids and I have had a Question and Answer night, a laid-back plan night, and a missionary program night. The Q&A night was pretty successful. I actually had to tell some of them to hold off their questions so that some of the adults could get theirs in. What I mean by "laid-back plan night" is that I ended up not having many kids, so we talked about Youth Sunday and made signs for the carwash fundraiser. Then, on Wednesday night, I had a very successful lesson. It was rather short because our missionaries from India came to give a presentation and I wanted the kids to see it. The lesson was on two Fruits of the Spirit: Kindness and Gentleness. For our activity, I gave everyone an egg. I ended up giving out more than one to some to make up for accidents, but we used two dozen eggs for this activity. I had more kids that day than I ever had! It was awesome! Well, I had everyone poke holes in the top and bottom of their eggs and blow out all of the insides. Many broke at this point and had to start over, but luckily, I had plenty of eggs. Then, we wiped all of the goo off and drew faces on them. I informed them that they all had just "had a baby" and their assignment for the week was to be kind and gentle with their babies. To know that they have been, I gave them all some paper as their journals so they could document each kind thing they did for it. The question they gave me was, "What kind thing could I possibly do for an egg?" I told them that they could make a bed for it, read it a story, take it to the park, or anything really. Some eggs broke before the night was even over, but they really seemed excited about the activity! I told them that if they brought their egg back undamaged and with a full journal, they would be rewarded. I'm anxious to see how many of them completed it. After that, we listened to our guests from India talk about their missions and we watched movies that depicted what life is like for Christians in India. The kids kept asking me if it was real and I assured them that it was. At the end, most of them said they wanted to take a mission trip to India to help them. And one of my girls asked me why they all (meaning all of the people in India) didn't come to America with our missionaries.They were so precious.

Recently, we also had our carwash fundraiser. I had several kids come out to help and we washed quite a few cars! We ended up making about $400! This being about half of what we need for our trip to Six Flags. We have 27 kids and adults interested in going! I'm so excited! We're spending the morning at the water park, then having a picnic lunch that we're bringing, and spending the rest of the day/night in the "dry" part of the park riding rides, playing games, and watching tobyMac! I also want to get an Old Western Photoshoot in there somewhere for the whole group! I can't wait! Anyway, so, last minute, Tiff and I came up with an emergency fundraiser. On Sunday and Monday, we will be having a bake sale at Walmart. We're selling baked goods and lemon shake-ups. I think it'll be a good time. And I'm sure it will be successful, because lemon shake-ups sound fabulous when the weather is as hot as it was today. Now, I'm off to make bake sale and lemon shake-up signs.

Grumpy Old Lady Syndrome

Anger and Wrath was our last lesson, so this Sunday we talked about our first Fruit of the Spirit: Patience. I chose to talk about patience first because impatience is definitely something that we all struggle with daily. We live in a very fast-paced society where everything we do, we want done now. We can’t have lunch if it isn’t prepared quickly, thus, fast food restaurants were born. We don’t have time to wait in line behind three full carts at Walmart, so we have “20 items or less” and self-checkout lanes. We don’t want to wait an hour to print our photos, so we have machines that print them instantly. We can order something online today, pay extra for express shipping, and have the thing arrive on our doorstep tomorrow because we just can’t wait! This list could go on and on. Let’s face it. We’re busy. We don’t have time to wait for things. Generations before us had to wait for and take time to prepare the things they wanted. So, patience was a skill they had to have. Nowadays, people are not as skilled with patience.

So, we talked about what I lovingly call, “Little Kid Syndrome”. Have you ever taken a toddler to the store? As soon as you walk through the automatic sliding door, the wanting begins. “I want a toy!” shrieks the small child. You respond with, “We are here for groceries today. Maybe next time”. Then, the ultimate fit is thrown. Who wants to wait until “next time”? No little kid, that’s for sure! Then, there is Grumpy Old Lady Syndrome. This typically targets adults, but is not limited to females. Grumpy old ladies are often found in Walmart grumbling about not being able to find what they are looking for. Grumpy Old Lady Syndrome is also found in raging drivers who absolutely have somewhere to be right NOW, but are stuck behind a stopped school bus. And don’t even get me started on restaurant customers…

So, my question was, “Are we born with or without patience?” The unanimous vote was without. Patience is a learned skill, for which we must work hard to have. Have you ever prayed for patience? I have. But, typically, God doesn’t send us patience on the spot like we’d like for Him to. There’s a quote from the movie, Bruce Almighty that I like a lot: “If you pray for patience, does God give you patience or the opportunity to be patient?” I love this because it shows that God wants us to be patient, but He won’t make us patient all on His own. He wants us to work hard and prove to Him that we want to be His followers.

Everyone agreed that it is very hard to be patient. So, we talked about things we can do to be more patient. They included:

*Deep breaths

*Praying

*Understanding that we can’t always get what we want when we want it.

The last one is the big one. We often want exactly what we want exactly when we want it. For example, I want a cat more than anything, but my landlord does not allow pets. So, I have to wait patiently until I get my own place. It’s frustrating to not have what you want! That’s why children go ballistic at Walmart!

Romans 12:12

Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble and keep praying.

John 16:33

In this world you will have trouble, but take heart. I have overcome the world.

I read these verses aloud and we discussed them. Jesus says in John that we will have trouble in this world….He didn’t say “In this world you might have trouble”. He said WILL. Then, in Romans, it says to be patient in trouble and keep praying. Well, when things aren’t going the way we want them to, we get impatient for them to change. We need to be patient for God’s plan for us to unfold. He has a plan for all of us, but we often try to live by our own plans which get us into trouble. As a class, we decided that patience is important because it leads to anger. Then, we tend to say mean things and stress ourselves out.

At the end, we played Apples to Apples: Bible Edition, had some cake that I brought from my dad’s wedding, and had a good time.

Anger/Wrath

Tonight, I began the first lesson of my new unit plan. For the next eight weeks, we will alternate lessons on the seven deadly sins and the nine fruits of the Spirit.

Seven Deadly Sins:
*Wrath           *Sloth
*Gluttony        *Lust
*Greed           *Pride
*Envy

Nine Fruits of the Spirit:
*Love             *Joy
*Peace            *Patience
*Kindness       *Goodness
*Faithfulness    *Gentleness
*Self-Control

We started off with wrath; or anger. At the beginning, as usual, I opened with an activity. Now, I wanted to do this to make a fabulous point because I have read about it. But at the same time, I did not want to do this activity because it's quite heart-wrenching. I filled a trash bag with blankets and other soft things and taped a paper target to the outside. I gave everyone a sheet of paper and instructed them to draw a picture of someone they can't stand; someone whom they would love to just punch in the face. And one by one, I taped their picture to the target and let them kick or punch the crap out of it to release all of their pent-up frustrations with their person. I even did it too. At the end, I removed each person's paper and flipped the target over to reveal a picture of Jesus Christ. This was to show that when we hurt others, we hurt God. We are ALL His children and he loves each and every one of us. We talked about how God doesn't want us to kick the crap out of our enemies; He wants just the opposite.

Romans 12:20
"If your enemies are hungry, feed them. If they are thirsty, give them something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals of shame on their heads."

We read this passage a couple of lessons ago, but it's good to be reminded. It doesn't matter what someone does to make us angry. It doesn't matter if we think they deserve to be lashed out upon. We are commanded by Jesus to be kind to EVERYONE. I heard a quote recently that I really liked: “Jesus said to love your neighbor, not love only those you like.” We fall guilty of this all the time; well, I do. I tend to show more kindness to those I especially like than I do to those I don’t feel as close to. The thing is, that if we want to spend eternity with Jesus, we need to not only believe in Him, but be kind to His people. This is what will be said to Jesus’ followers at the end of time. It is also mentioned in Revelation.


Matthew 25:34-36
“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’”

Then, we did another activity called Dear Abby. We elected two “Abbys” to be our advice givers and everyone else wrote down an issue they needed advice on. The “Abbys” took turns and read them aloud, then gave advice on them. My favorite bit of advice was something I had never heard before. The issue was name-calling. Abby said to remember that the hurtful words you say are like nails in a wooden board. You can take the words away (remove the nails), but there will always be that hole where the hurt was driven. It’s easier to forgive than it is to forget. This is why it is important to be careful what we say when we are angry. We ended with a prayer and played knockout basketball for the rest of the time. One of the boys pulled the hoop over and a frog hopped out of the bottom! My attention was officially diverted, so the girls and I played with the frog while the boys were shooting hoops. Successful day? I think so.

Shrine Circus Trip 2011

On June 10^th, Northside Christian Church went on a trip to the Shrine Circus in Salem. It was planned for quite a while and it seemed that I was more excited about going than the kids were! Well, we took four vehicles and had around 12 kids that went. My car was full of girls. Three younger kiddos and one of my older kids. Those girls had the seating arrangements planned out for days before the trip! We just chatted and laughed the whole way there. It was fun. Once we got there, we were mesmerized by all of the colorful toys for sale, the smell of carnival food, and the balloon-making clowns. We stood around for a while, getting balloon flowers and swords and then jumping out of our skin when they suddenly popped. We found our seats, put balloons there so they wouldn’t be stolen, then went out to get food and drinks. The older girls were ok wandering around by themselves, but I kept the younger ones with me. And I tell you, they had me running all over the place. “I want a corndog.” “I need to go to the bathroom!” “I want some cotton candy.” “Can we buy some toys?” In my adult mind, I went there to watch the circus. Apparently kids think a little differently because wanted to be all over the place! It was fun though. Luckily, the Lord blessed me with extra patience that day. We all enjoyed our corndogs, funnel cakes, lemon shake-ups, and cotton candy while watching some really incredible acts. One of my girls accidentally dropped her cell phone in her cup of soda, but other than that, we had no catastrophes. We were all looking forward to riding an elephant, but it was $10 EACH! Of course, we had already spent most of our money on food, so we watched the elephants from the ground for a while. A few of us went to get our faces painted and we watched the rest of the show. By the end of it, I was exhausted and jokingly asked which of my girls was driving home. They definitely kept me alert the whole trip home though. We played word games and laughed the whole way. I was definitely pleased with the trip. It went very well and we had a great time. I can’t wait for more adventures with these kids!

The Spirit is Willing, But the Flesh is Weak

Wow, it has been a while since I last posted. I don’t want to make excuses, but my life has been moving full steam ahead since I moved back home. In the time since my last post, I have taken the kids to the circus, moved into my own apartment, and started my full time lifeguard position at the pool. I feel very blessed to have so many wonderful things going on in my life right now. I am very busy, but I’d take busy over bored any day. And I tell you, with all the kids in the youth group to keep track of, I am rarely bored!

The last lesson I gave, I invited the younger kids to join my class. So, I had a range from elementary kids up to high school kids in one room. It was interesting to say the least. While they were doing a written activity, I had to keep the older kids focused and tell the younger kids how to spell certain words. I suppose I didn’t really take into consideration that they were on very different levels. My mistake. Though, I modified my lesson a bit to accommodate the younger ones and it ended up being really fun! My lesson was about choices. The written activity I began with, involved the personal experiences of everyone in the room. I gave everyone, including myself, two slips of blank paper and a pencil. On one, we all wrote a good choice we recently made and on the other, a bad choice we recently made. Then, we tossed them into a basket and I read them all aloud. Surprisingly, they were all relatively the same. Most of the bad choices were about not listening to parents, lashing out at siblings, and calling people names. A lot of the good choices were about helping with chores. So, we all could relate to those. For my bad choice, I put in something I did when I was younger; back when Vandalia had a movie theater. When I was little, I went to the movies with my friends and I didn’t take any money because I thought that my friend’s mom was going to take care of it. Well, I was wrong and I snuck into the movie without paying for it. When I told everybody this, I had their undivided attention. They could hardly believe that I would do such a thing! It was pretty funny. So, we discussed our choices for a while and talked about what could have been done differently.

Mark 14:38

“Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

We read this passage and talked about how spiritually, we want to be good and do the right thing, but our human nature is very gullible and falls easily into temptations to make bad choices. We also talked about how many people don’t want to be Christians because we seem to have this big, long list of “rules” that we need to follow to get into Heaven. No drinking. No drugs. No stealing. No swearing. No sex (I cut that out for the sake of younger ears). To many people, it seems that we Christians just aren’t allowed to have any fun. So, we talked about how He doesn’t set rules for us, but he does set guidelines for us to follow. The above examples can have negative consequences. We get hurt when we drink and drive. We hurt others when we cuss at them. Etc. The thing is, that God loves us and wants us to make good choices because He wants us to be happy! He wants us to live a wonderful life feeling loved and loving others. Making bad choices tends to prevent us from doing that. So, we talked about how we all have made mistakes and that it is never too late to make a good choice to correct a bad one.

Flexibility

I have had my lesson for Sunday night planned for several days, so I was more than ready to talk to the kids about a very important topic: Choices. Of course, we all have several choices to make daily, but I feel like teenagers have a more difficult time making good decisions than adults do. For this reason, I was eager to present my lesson. Well, things can change at a moment's notice, and for whatever reason, I only had three teens show up. Even after I had invited two more kids earlier in the day. I typically plan my lessons and activities for several students, so not having kids there really puts me back. But, I try to be flexible in every situation I get myself into because if I only have one plan and it fails, then I feel like the end of the world is upon me. So, I saved my lesson and the girls and I looked through designs for t-shirt ideas. We are in dire need of new t-shirts. Well, perhaps we don't "need" them, but it's been five years since we've made some. I brought it to the Board at the meeting last night, and everyone approved it. So, this morning I skipped by Champion Trophies and Ts and placed my order. She said that they may be done by Friday, which would be awesome because we can all wear them to the Shrine Circus that day! I honestly didn't think they would be done so soon, but it looks like they might be. Good deal. Anyway, we also took some stuff outside to play with. I used it as a "hang-out day". We drew with chalk on the pavillion concrete, some of the girls played with a hula hoop, and we just talked and had a good time. Hopefully this Wednesday will bring more kiddos to NCC. I know it's still the beginning of summer and sports are starting and people are still settling into the "boringness" that is to come (kids always look forward to summer, then complain after two weeks that there's nothing to do), so I have high hopes that they'll be back.

Forgiveness...Only for the Worthy?

Tonight, during SHINE, I had a class full of four whole kiddos. Well, our number was small, but we still had a grand time. I did not post on Sunday because we did not have a SHINE meeting that night. As it was the fifth Sunday of the month, we had Question and Answer Night with Carl and the Board. (Though Carl answered most of the questions.) I came prepared with a few questions of my own, but was going to get some questions from the teens beforehand so they could ask their burning questions too. Well, no more than two kids came, so one of the girls and I sat up front to get in on the action. It turned out that we both had some of the same questions, so Carl explained a lot of the things we both wondered about. For example, I have been confused about Catholocism for a very long time. What was it exactly that made Catholic believers different than us? Well, I found out that a lot of it had to do with the hierarchy that we don't have and our beliefs about baptism are different. It was my first Q&A Night and I really enjoyed it. I only wish that we could skip the music and spend the whole time drilling the board with questions.

Anyway, tonight was fun. I wrote the lesson a week ago and it really seemed that it needed to be heard tonight. Most of the kids present, myself included, have recently struggled with or are currently struggling with forgiveness. It is very hard sometimes, for us humans to forgive eachother when we've been wronged. I started the lesson with a group activity. I split the kids into two groups. It ended up being boys vs girls (big surprise there) and I gave them an assignment. Each group had to come up with a skit about forgiveness. They could use whatever props they wanted and could do whatever scenerio they wanted as long as the point was forgiving someone. While they were preparing and practicing, I went outside to wrangle up an audience of younger kids for fun. We watched as the boys hit eachother with sporting equipment and apologized, then giggled as the girls acted out a robbery scenerio. One was a robber coming to steal the other's pinto beans...that she happened to be napping with. Somewhat confusing, but hilarious all the same. I like to start with something fun to capture attention. (Which is rather difficult to keep from teenagers, mind you.) We then learned that it is just as important for us to forgive eachother as it is to ask God for forgiveness of ourselves. For one thing, it is not our place to condemn, which often happens when we refuse to forgive someone.

*Deuteronomy 32:35*
"It is mine to avenge: I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them."

I used this verse to show that we need to leave the revenge to God. That it is not our place to judge what others do or do not deserve and He will take care of our issues in His way; not ours.

*Romans 12:19-21*
"Do not take revenge, my friends but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: 'It is mine to avenge: I will repay,' says the Lord. On the contrary: 'If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."

We then read this verse to see exactly what we are supposed to do when we have trouble forgiving someone. I asked the kids if they would feed their enemy and they replied with, "Yea...with poison!" Needless to say, they didn't 100% agree with caring for their enemies, but who would really? Jesus would. And that's reason enough for us to as well.

*Matthew 6:14-15*
"For if you forgive men when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."

And there, in Matthew it plainly states exactly why we need to forgive eachother. Not just for them, but for ourselves. And who isn't looking out for "Number One" anyway? As it is important for us to ask for forgiveness, it is also important that we give back that forgiveness to others. After all, in the eyes of God, hating someone is equivallent to murdering them. Let's not murder, people. It's not right and it's not cool.

It Can't Rain on Our Parade

Rain! Hail! Thunderstorms! Tornadoes! The severe weather just doesn't seem to want to let up! Well, that won't stop us from having Wednesday night dinner, Bible study, and youth group! Though our numbers were small and the view outside was intimidating, several of us still gathered for Wednesday night SHINE. I prepared a lesson on forgiveness beforehand; but, since there were only six of us, I chose to save the Forgiveness Plan and just have a hang out day. We talked about everything from the scary weather, to tobyMac, to monkeys in space. We played a few games including, Ninja and What Comes to Your Mind and avoided playing Duck Duck Goose at all costs! The activities I had planned will be more fun with more people. So, hopefully (weather permitting) we'll have a good-sized group on Sunday night so we can have a good time while actually learning something useful. Granted, the knowledge that monkies have flown around in the stratosphere could be useful in perhaps a game show; however, it won't teach you about the importance of forgiving your neighbor. Tune in next week for....FORIVENESS: Is it really necessary?

Doves and Olive Leaves

This Sunday, I spent the majority of the day at the church. At the morning service, we did a graduate recognition (WOO HOO!!!) and later that afternoon, I went back to prepare my lesson and clean up the teen room. That room was a disaster and a half, but now it's much more organized and less sticky.

The lesson was about how life is hard at times, but it gets better when we have Christ in our lives. I began with a Horoscope activity. I gave each student a "unique" horoscope based on his or her zodiac sign. In reality they were all the same. They read:

You have a certain amount of independent thinking and reasoning faculty. You have an unusual desire to succeed in the things that you set your mind to. You tend not to follow the path of conformity and have your own ideas of right and wrong. Oftentimes you are very stubborn, impulsive, and courageous; but, on the inside you fear rejection and being alone. Your recent conflicts have been heavy on your mind, but you know how to hide your ill feelings well because you do not want those around you to feel sad. You strive to create a happy environment even when you are toiling inside. This week, you will find piece of mind in a true friend.

After they had read them, almost all of them said that it applied to them 100%! Then, I had them trade with a friend so they could read each others'. They were surprised to find out that they were the same! The point was, for one, to show that these things are written in a way that you could apply it to anything. Also, to show that everyone has some kind of struggle that they are dealing with. All of the kids really seemed to enjoy it and one said, "I want mine back!" I laughed and reminded him that they are all the same and he said that his had "sentimental value". I died laughing!

Next we talked about the story of Noah and how he sent out a dove to see if the water had receded after so many days. When the dove brought back an olive leaf (in other translations it is an olive branch), Noah knew that there was dry land and that their new life was about to begin. We compared the story to how we have "rain" and "floods" in our lives, but then God sends us an "olive leaf" to remind us that we have new life with Him. For this reason, the article that I write for our newsletter, The Compass, will be called The Olive Leaf. I told the kids this and one said, "What?!?! Isn't that a national magazine?!" Those kids are priceless. I love my job!

Jumping in Head First

I titled this post with a cliché because it most accureately describes what we, as a youth group, are doing as of today. I've announced that I have been working on a long list of fun things we're going to do this year, but it wasn't until today that I really got the ball rolling. We spent the majority of the group time discussing future plans. I've come up with a Summer program: The 777 Program. It will include participation in at least:
                       
                        * 7 Service Projects
                        * 7 Fun Events
                        * 7 Worship Events
                   (7 is just a great number)

When 7 of each category are completed by each student, a prize will be awarded. And for those who complete all 21 (or more) will be awarded with a bigger prize.

Some service projects we will be doing include, but are not limited to:
                        * Trash-Pickups around town
                        * Visits to Long Term Care residents
                        * Volunteering at local businesses
                        * Yardwork
                        * Visits to Brookstone residents
                        * A Free Car Wash

Some fun events we will be doing include, but are not limited to:
                       * Serving a sit-down meal at the church
                       * A lock-in
                       * A week of our own church camp
                       * A talent show
                       * Bowling night
                       * Six Flags

Some Worship events we will be doing include, but are not limited to:
                       * Our church revival
                       * Question nights with members of the board
                       * Dramas/Skits
                       * Youth Sunday

We also discussed making new Shine T-Shirts. A lot of ideas were tossed around, but we didn't officially decide on anything specific. At the end, we had some time to spare, so we learned the first two verses of Amazing Grace in ASL (American Sign Language). We'll sing/sign Amazing Grace when we visit Long Term Care on Sunday. I was pleased with the interest in doing that. Discussing all of our plans was very tiring, for me anyway. I would love to have all the energy that teens have, but I guess I'm getting old quick because I am absolutely exhausted. We wrapped up the last fifteen minutes with a game and a prayer and called it a night. I took a couple of the girls home and kept thinking about all of the organizing I still have to do. I'm going to get my papers, notes, forms, and everything else together and organized in a binder. I also have to tear that teen room apart because it is an unorganized mess if I've ever seen one. I'm hoping to make it feel more like home; for me and for the kids as well.

Jello + Apples = Good Time!

Yesterday, I taught my very first Sunday night class as the official youth leader of Northside. I knew I had to kick it off with something spectacular, so after the lesson, I had a game planned to get everyone all kinds of messy. As for the lesson, I chose to start with a very basic topic; "What Makes us Christians?" It took a while to get to the point of the lesson because we kept getting sidetracked. I have a feeling that that will happen alot because I have a very talkative group this year; which is awesome! I remember having to practically beg my former class to give any kind of input on the topic, so as long as we can stay on topic, I think this group is going to be a very fun group to work with.

Unfortunately, our time was cut short because we only had 30 minutes to work with. Normally, we get an hour, but it was shorter this time as a result of the spring BBQ taking up most of the time. So, we were still getting through the lesson when parents and grandparents were coming in to snatch their kiddos away. I didn't want them to miss out on the fun game at the end, so I offered to take a couple of them home. We wrapped up with a prayer and headed out to the fellowship hall where we brought out two big punch bowls filled with jello and apple slices. The game was a race. We played boys against girls, boys having green jello and girls having red. The first team to remove all of their apple slices using only their teeth was the winner. Of course, the boys dove right in (quite literally) and the girls were more hesitant, so the boys won by a landslide. It was great to watch, and Carl and I took tons of pictures. They really seemed to enjoy it, but this is only the beginning. I have so much more planned for this summer! It's going to be a great time!