On Earth As It Is In Heaven.

Wow.  I have not been totally the same person since I started reading this woman's journey a few days back.  I can't stop thinking about it.  I was encouraged, convicted, moved to tears, brought back to a place I had left behind, but mostly inspired.  

Read this girl's blog.  If nothing else, read the entry on August 14th, 2009.

You will be moved.

http://www.kissesfromkatie.blogspot.com/

Angela  

Fall Group

Hey gang,

Just wanted to let you know I am really looking forward to this fall for our group. I think as we head into this part of the year we can really form lasting bonds and friendships. I look forward to serving our Father together and am excited to all become more spiritually mature as we move through the rest of the year. We are extremely blessed with some awesome people who love God, and want to help advance the Kingdom. Lets try an always remember that our time on this earth is NOT about us, but it is about bringing Glory to our Heavenly Father! It's a hard thing to remember in our culture, but the sooner we accept this reality, the sooner we can become more Christ-like.

Love you guys!

Mark

Enemies

What a great message Tony gave last weekend...the more I ponder who my "enemies" are, the more I realize I have more of them then I thought. It is so hard to walk with Christ, and sometimes it feels downright impossible, especially when we tackle massive tasks like loving our enemies. I would encourage all of us to sort through a mental list of our enemies, and to try and reconcile with them. That may look very different in each situation, but I know that there IS something very powerful and transforming when we do this. To truly live like Christ we must all lean on each other as a group and hold each other accountable for the things we want to change in our walk. That means being open and willing to listen to each other. It's being able to accept the truth from our brothers and sisters in Christ with humility. I love our group, and am excited to watch God use us all to advance his kingdom! I can't wait till we are all in Heaven, spending an eternity together (Eternity...wow that's hard to imagine, hopefully I won't get sick of you guys!). Have great week, stay in scripture, pray as much as you can, and share your faith whenever possible!

Mark's Militia

I remember someone saying once that the real test of serving is the serving we aren't thrilled about doing. I think of the Calvin and Hobbes cartoons in which the dad says, "It'll build character" to the many menial tasks. (For those of you not familiar I'm sorry you had to live in a cave as a child)

I have found this to generally be small things. Example: Go clear an entire forest to serve the Lord, no problem - Take the trash bag out because it's getting full, I think I'll just ram it down and compact it. Like Joe commented on in service, true service doesnt end when we get home or know no one is watching.

Sugar

I just wanted to thank Kenton for 5 pounds of sugar I ate last night...Seriously though I wanted to recap last nights message. I think this message was great for our group to hear, it will only help to motivate us as we take on some service projects. I so badly want to do things 100% selflessly, and want to serve from the heart with no expectations on anything in return. It will be a struggle, but it is something we all need to pray about, and consistently challenge ourselves to see what our true motives are. I believe it's great to feel like you've accomplished something or to receive praise for you acts of service, as long as we are not doing it just for that reason alone. I am amazed by Christ and his willingness to humble himself. He came to this earth in human form...to serve us! We don't deserve it, but our Father wants a relationship so badly with us, and wants us to come home to spend an eternity with him. I look forward to serving on the front lines with all of you in the name of Christ. Thanks so much for being part of our lives guys!

a needed change

this past week's message had been convicting for me. especially the thought of Jesus in my shoes and how would he live my life. it has made me see real changes that i need to make, changes for the better. taking one thing at a time and working on it...not necessarily the most obvious things, but the ones closest to my heart! i want to feel that what i am doing, or trying to do is what God would want me to do. I need to spend more time in prayer and let God work in my life, I can do all the changing I want...but until I place God in the center of the changes, there is no real change made! have a great rest of the week everyone. you are all in my thoughts and prayers :)

Someone write something!!

Inspire me...Don't forget to let the 2 questions I asked last night roam around in your heads.

1. If Jesus took your life over now, how would he live it? How would he treat his wife? How would he treat his kids? How about his career? What would he value? His 401k? His savings account? His image?

2. When you are on your death bed someday...what will you want to see right before you die? Your fancy cars? Your big house? Your great clothes? Your fancy TV? How about your family and friends, and people who love you because you shared the good news with them, and SAVED THEIR SOULS from going to hell!
You will want to know where you are going (Heaven) and be 100% sure that you lived your life as Christ-like as possible...right? We all want to get to our Father and hear him say "Well done my good and faithful servant"...right?

Keep pushing yourselves to share your faith whenever you can. I pray that we all have people put in our paths daily, and that we all feel a sense of responsibility for the lost people we are already connected with.

Love you guys!