Month: February 2011

Last night we enjoyed Natalia’s Elementary Winter Concert. It was her first performance playing the viola. She has picked it up very quickly and her teacher has told us she is an amazing musician! She also sang in the choir.

GLEE School: Syosset High School: MyFoxNY.com

“Sometimes you have to decide: 
Do I want to be popular 
or do I want to be a leader?” – KM Jr.

Here are pics of our accident Friday night. You can read about the incident here.

Today at Planet Impact we talked about how we as Christians should approach and deal with loss and grief. Here are the points and Scriptures we talked about.

Death is a reality we all face.

• Job 1:21 – “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised.”
• Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 – There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.

It’s okay to grieve.

• The feelings you are experiencing is normal.
• Even Jesus grieved.
• John 11:35 – Jesus wept

Grieving is not a lack of faith.

• 1 Thessalonians 4:13 – Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope.

We don’t grieve as those who have no hope; but we DO grieve!

• We grieve with hope because of the resurrection of Jesus
• John 16:33 – I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.

Go to God with your grief. 

• Psalm 23:4 – Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
• His rod & staff = His comfort, direction, and protection.

Receive from God. 

• Isaiah 53:3 – He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain.
• Hebrews 2:18 – Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
• John 14:26 – But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.

Trust in God.

• Isaiah 55:9 – As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
• Proverbs 3:5 – Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding;

We all die, so the real question is how do we live?

• Hebrews 9:27 – It is appointed for men to die once.
• 2 Corinthians 6:2 – Now is the time of God’s favor; today is the day of salvation.

I believe it was on a CD that I heard once heard Ron Luce talking to youth workers about the importance of Sabbath. The way he put it really stuck with me. He recommended …

1 Day off every 7 Days
1 Weekend off every 7 Weeks
1 Week off every 7 Months

Memorable. Practical. A necessary rhythm.

“Yet it is not our part to master all the rides of our world, but to do what is in us for the succour of those years wherein we are set, uprooting the evil in the fields that we know, so that those who live after may have clean earth to till. What whether they shall have is not ours to rule.” – Gandalf (The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, p. 160)

Just finished reading the excellent book The Power of a Whisper by Bill Hybles. It was a great book discussing the ways God speaks to us, challenging us to be sensitive to His voice, and to have the guts to respond obediently to His leadings. Recommended for personal use or you could also pick up the Participant’s Guide and work through it as a small group.