The Rock Junior High

I'd Go to the Gym More Often If...

Want My Kit-Kat Wrapper? It's Crusty!

My birthday’s coming up! I turn 30 (yuck!) on June 17^th... You know what I would love for my birthday... If everybody who cares about me talked for days about the awesome presents they were going to get for me – and then my birthday came, and everybody gave me a bunch of left-over junk that they were too embarrassed to put in their garage sales.  That would be awesome! 

Have you detected my subtle, sarcastic tone?  Nobody wants to get handed a crusty, empty Kit-Kat wrapper and be told it’s a gift.  But sometimes I do that to Someone I claim to love more than anyone else… I don’t think God likes getting my leftovers.  It doesn’t seem right to me the only time I give God during the day is my half-conscious sleepy-time when I’m waking up in the morning.  It doesn’t seem right to me when I don’t thoroughly prepare for our get-togethers on Sunday mornings… I don’t like when I look back at a week and realize that I treated God like He’s not the most important Person I will ever know.  But I do it. Am I the only one? 

I’m teaching this Sunday, and instead of talking about not giving God your leftover junk, we’ll focus more on how to give God the best that you can!

The reading schedule for this week (1 day late due to the holiday) is: 

Monday: 1 Samuel 15:1-9 | Tuesday: 1 Samuel 15:10-23 | Wednesday: 1 Samuel 15:24-35 | Thursday: Mark 12:13-27 | Friday: Mark 12:28-40 | Saturday: Mark 12:41-44 

And the memory verse is: 

1 Samuel 15:22
But Samuel replied, "What is more pleasing to the LORD: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Obedience is far better than sacrifice. Listening to him is much better than offering the fat of rams.

But God Wants Me To Be A Professional Wrestler!!!

Doh! I forgot to post yesterday – no good – especially since I get to post about pro wrestling!   

So, I love when Nacho Libre is praying in the chapel at the orphanage and decides that God wants him to be a pro wrestler!  I don’t know if God has EVER really told someone they are destined to be a pro wrestler (especially considering the fact that Nacho caught on fire shortly after receiving his “calling”) but I do think that God has a destiny for everyone.

I know, destiny is kind of a fruity word, but I really think God has something for me to do!  In fact, I think God really has something for every Christian to do… I really feel like God wants me to love on student types and (hooray!) here I am! Right smack in the middle of what I believe is my destiny!!! That’s a good feeling.

Despite the rumors you may have heard, I don’t think I’d be a good pro wrestler.  I take it pretty personally when someone hits me with a metal chair.  I don’t feel comfortable wearing outfits comprised completely of metallic spandex.  I do like the thought of having my own theme music… but I don’t think that makes up for the rest of it.  God has a destiny for me to be a student ministry type, and that’s what I’m happiest doing!   

This Sunday – Matt Vaughn will be talking in G For Jesus about finding the destiny that God has for you… pretty cool, eh?! 

Here’s what to read this week (sorry it’s late!):
Monday: Jonah 1:1-16 | Tuesday: Jonah 1:17 - 2:10 | Wednesday: Jonah 3:1-10 | Thursday: Jonah 4: 1-11 | Friday: Psalm 119:97-104 | Saturday: Jeremiah 29:4-14

And the memory verse:
Psalm 119: 99  - I have more insight than all my teachers, for I meditate on your statutes.

(incidentally, it’s fun to take this verse out of context and just quote the first part at school…)

Poo Flinging Fun

OK - So, hopefully you got the flyer but if not, here's the deal...

Gawk at giraffes.  Laugh at Lions.  Ogle ostriches.  (Watch out for the monkeys - they fling poo.)

Woodland Park Zoo
THIS Saturday (the 19th)
Meet at Laura's house @ 9:30 am
Bring $20 (yep - this covers lunch and dinner.)
Get somebody to pick you up at Laura's house at 7:30 pm

See you there!!!

Yodel-Dancing

You know what I like about my dogs: I can do whatever I want to do around them. My dogs couldn’t care less if I’m slumming around the house in yoga pants and a ratty sweatshirt. If I dance around while Gwen Stefani yodels in the background, they’ll watch adoringly like I’m a prima ballerina. If I’m feeling a little snippy and just want sit down and pout for a while – the dogs don’t care! As a matter of fact, they’ll come over and keep my feet warm as I sulk. 

People – now that’s a different story. Take my pouting example, if I come home and tell Charley that I’m feeling a little snippy and I just want to sit down and pout for a while, a cuddly foot-warming is the last thing I’m going to get. (As it should be!)

The way I act, like it or not, has an effect on the people around me, and in some cases, the way they choose to act. This isn’t as big of a deal when you’re talking about ratty sweatshirts, or an ill-choreographed yodel-dance, but it is a big deal when you start talking about people that are skeptical about Christ and God watching people who claim to be Christians. 

“The people who have been horribly mean to me or mistreated me the most have all been Christians.” Has that been your experience, it’s certainly been mine. As a believer, I’ve given up my “right” to be a butt-face. And as a believer, I have an incredible chance to be light instead of darkness (Matthew 5)!

Jesus spent His whole life being light. Over and over and over again the way He treated people, the words He said, the things He did – these things prompted people to seek God and His presence then (and now) is shaping lives 2,000 years later. He didn’t have Christian stickers on the back of His sandals, or “clever” Christian sayings on His favorite robe (can we please burn all of the “Eternity: Smoking or Non-Smoking?” t-shirts?!?) He didn’t need to. His life said what He believed.

OK – I’m done now. Our lesson this Sunday is: “Yes, I see that you’re drowning. I just don’t care.” (Ooh. Harsh!) Chandra will be giving her view on how our lives can be our greatest asset in helping the people we care about meet God.

Reading Schedule:
Monday: 1 Corinthians 11:1 | Tuesday: Romans 3:19-24 | Wednesday: Romans 5:1-10 | Thursday: Romans 6:1-11 | Friday: Romans 6:12-23 | Saturday: Romans 10:3-15

Memory Verse:
Romans 10:13-14
"Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved."  How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them?
 
I’ll write about the zoo trip a little later… : )