Youth Game Night!

We just had our first tween to teen fellowship!

We had all the fixins for a junkfood junky (aka: teenager), pizza, hot wings, chips, brownies, cookies, and soda! Then Jason gave a message on keeping your heart clean from sin and rebellion. One of the troubled young people sought help afterwards; what a blessing! A couple of the teens brought some friends, we had a good turnout! We followed the service with the games! I had so much fun looking for and thinking up games for these kids. Thankfully we have a very good natured crew of kids who like to have fun! I was blessed to have grown up in church knowing what good clean fun was all about! We had the best teen fellowships and outings! So now I get to relive those good ole memories through these kids in watching them compete and go crazy! I've got a few more crazy games up my sleeve! When I run outa those ideas, I'll be giving my "old" teen director a call!

The first game: Sponge Relay!

Objective: Beat the other team in moving water from one bucket to the next with one sponge.

Team 2 were the winners~!

The night grew dark, the cameraman still needs to figure out how to take good pictures in the dark! So, we didn't get any pictures of the potato relay! That was a funny one too! The teams raced each other in transporting a potato between their knees to another bucket across the parking lot. If they dropped the tater, they had to start all over! It was rather comical to see the kids' creativity come into play!

One of our favorites growing up: Fruit Basket! This accounted for many a broken chair! We didn't break any chairs or backs, though we did end up with a few knot-heads!

Bro. Russell found a new way to play ping pong! Girls vs. Guys! You'll never guess who won? The Girls! Sorry girls, you've proven once again that females have WAY too much hot air to blow!





We had to add more craziness to the night, so..... we buried M&Ms in whipped cream! The kids raced each other in eating all the M&Ms, hands free! Made for great pictures!

I figured, with enough sugar in them, they would be crazy enough to go along with anything that was written out for them to do! So after popping a balloon which they had chosen, they were to perform the task written on a piece of paper that was previously inserted into the balloon. First, we had fun just getting some balloons to pop! Those balloons were pretty resilient! I went first to prove that I wasn't above getting in on crazy! Thankfully, I had a fairly decent one! I had to draw an ocean scene blindfolded or in the dark! I did quite well, if I should say so myself!



So yes, some of us were quite amused! Jonathan tries his hardest to whistle "Yankee Doodle" with a mouth full of Cheezits! Glad I was behind him! The crackers were flying, that's pretty much ALL he was accomplishing!

Zac was challenged to blow up a balloon until it popped! Of course, he was given the longest balloon in the bag! Poor guy, he's really trying, he's red here!

We ended up just calling it good before he passed out on us! Way to go Zac!

Daniel got to carry a partner across the room this way. I hope Jonah's back is okay!

Emily had to put on the first article of clothing she felt from the crazy costume grab bag! Next time we'll get everyone to do this! I've got to round up some more costumes!

Overall, we had a great time! Thanks all you guys for making it a great night! I got to let loose with the kids and be a kid again! That's the best part in working with kids, you have an excuse to act crazy and not like some stuff-shirted adult!

God's Beautification Process!

We recently had the opportunity to go to an Okinawan glass company. It was so cool to watch the workers pull the orange-red hot sticky glass from the kiln and work it into shapes: blowing it into a mold, hitting and shaping it, then heating it up again in the kiln to set the current shape. I was reminded of some verses in the Bible that I had memorized as a child.....

"That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of
gold that perisheth, though it be tried in the fire, might be found unto praise
and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ."

As Christians, we liken our trials as being put through the fire. God is the master designer and we are but the creation of His hands. Let me illustrate..... I love typologies!

First, we started off with a hard clear stick of glass, hardened by a cooling.... As Christians, we can become hardend by a spiritual cooling. Hebrews 3:13 ".....lest any of you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." I have experienced this and didn't even realize it! As I read a little further, Paul writes, "....if we hold the beginning of our confidence stedfast unto the end...today if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts..." We can become hardened as this stick of glass by allowing our hearts to become "cooled off" to our beginning in Christ. We can become critical of those around us, comparing ourselves with others, making up our own 'list' of what we feel is spiritual growth. We can quickly forget where we came from, what Christ brought us out from, and how long it took for us to make changes. We can become hardened by sin, though we may not even realize it's sin, hey, that's why Paul referred to it as "the deceitfulness of sin". We're teaching our children to keep or guard their hearts as written in Proverbs: "Keep thy heart with all diligence.."

In order to get the bead that we were designing, we had to get this stick of glass hot enough to melt, so that it would be pliable for molding it into what we had in mind. The Christian life is a growing process, a molding, or at least it should be. If you are not growing, then think again, you might have been put up on the shelf for another day! Don't you ever wonder that right when things seem to finally be going right in life, you get 'blessed' with another trial?! You are the 'diamond in the rough' and God is shaving off those raw edges to make you shine! Through just enough heat, the glass will melt and become very pliable, it may even start to drip if not removed from the heat in time. God as our Master Designer knows just how much fire to put us through, He knows what we can take. As our Creator, He knows what we're made of!

"...but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able..."

Our consolation is that God is in control! But it's not until we've exhausted all our power and ability, that He will take control. God will not force you to do His will.


Once the glass had reached it's pliable state, we had to constantly turn it back and forth to keep it even on all sides. We pulled it out of the fire to cool it off a bit, blowing on it as we turned it back and forth. We are held in His hands as a precious fragile piece of glass, melted by the heat of the trial, pliable in his hands for the molding process. He can shape us into the image that He so desires, as we move to His turning, yielding to the Holy Spirit. Paul writes:

"..... but though our outward man perish, yet the
inward man is renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but
for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of
glory;..."

Once we had the bead shaped to our desired size, we added color through the same melting process. A little more heat would be required to add the beauty that would set it apart from the rest! One can think of a trial as God's beautification process, He has seen you as someone He wants to use. He's making you again into what He wants you to be. He's adding beauty to your life, by taking more of your will away and giving you His.

"But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some to honour, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honour, sanctified, and meet for the master's use, and prepared unto every good work."

I like the words of this song:

"He made it again, made it again, as it seemed good unto the potter, though it was marred, weary and worn, He took the clay, new life was born."

Well that brings up another typology...... for another day!