INSIDE-OUT Youth Student Conference. Come!

I'm back!!! After a busy summer away, and a month of settling back in to home and school and all that good stuff I'm going to try and return to blogging!

Surprise!

Arms that hold the universe -fee - song lyrics

Seven Habits of Highly Evangelistic Christians

Here is a good article I am reposting from Josh Harris, who reposted from Kevin DeYoung.

I'm reposting the following from Kevin DeYoung's blog. Good stuff...

Thom Rainer, President and CEO of Lifeway, argues that the secret to being an evangelistic church "is really no secret at all. Ultimately evangelistic churches see more persons become Christians through the passionate efforts of highly evangelistic Christians."

And what characterizes these highly evangelistic Christians?

1. They are people of prayer. They realize that only God can convict and convert, and they are totally dependent upon Him in prayer. Most of the highly evangelistic Christians spend at least an hour in prayer each day.

2. They have a theology that compels them to evangelize. They believe in the urgency of the gospel message. They believe that Christ is the only way of salvation. They believe that anyone without Christ is doomed for a literal hell.

3. They are people who spend time in the Word. The more time they spend in the Bible, they more likely they are to see the lostness of humanity and the love of God in Christ to save those who are lost.

4. They are compassionate people. Their heart breaks for those who don't have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. They have learned to love the world by becoming more like Christ who has the greatest love for the world.

5. They love the communities where God has placed them. They are immersed in the culture because they desire for the light of Christ to shine through them in their communities.

6. They are intentional about evangelism. They pray for opportunities to share the gospel. They look for those opportunities. And they see many so-called casual encounters as appointments set by God.

7. They are accountable to someone for their evangelistic activities. They know that many good activities can replace Great Commission activities if they are not careful. Good can replace the best. So they make certain that someone holds them accountable each week either formally or informally for their evangelistic efforts.

How are you doing? I know the last characteristic isn't present in my life right now. Be sure to read the whole article.

(via Kevin DeYoung)

Before the Morning by Josh Wilson

Do you wonder why you have to

Feel the things that hurt you?

If there’s a God who loves you,

where is He now?

Maybe, there are things you can’t see

And all those things are happening

To bring a better ending

Someday somehow you’ll see you’ll see

Would you dare would you dare to believe

That you still have a reason to sing

Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling

It can’t compare to the joy that’s coming

So hold on you gotta wait for the light

Press on and just fight the good fight

Cause the pain that you’ve been feeling

It’s just the dark before the morning

My friend you know how this all ends

You know where you’re going

You just don’t know how you’ll get there

So say a prayer

And hold on cause there’s good for those who love God

But life is not a snapshot

It might take a little time but you’ll see the bigger picture

Once you feel the weight of glory

All your pain will fade to memory

It’s just the hurt before the healing

Oh the pain that you’ve been feeling

It’s just the dark before the morning

1. Take my life and let it be
   Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
   Take my hands and let them move
   At the impulse of Thy love.
2. Take my feet and let them be
   Swift and beautiful for Thee;
   Take my voice and let me sing,
   Always, only for my King.
3. Take my lips and let them be
   Filled with messages from Thee;
   Take my silver and my gold,
   Not a mite would I withhold.
4. Take my moments and my days,
   Let them flow in endless praise;
   Take my intellect and use
   Every pow’r as Thou shalt choose.
5. Take my will and make it Thine,
   It shall be no longer mine;
   Take my heart, it is Thine own,
   It shall be Thy royal throne.
6. Take my love, my Lord, I pour
   At Thy feet its treasure store;
   Take myself and I will be
   Ever, only, all for Thee.

Today

So here it is, another day. I did nothing to deserve it. I just woke up this morning, and there it was. I may have expected it to be there, but I had no right to. Just like Christmas morning, I got up to find a present waiting for me, a brand new day.

Yes, today is a gift. And it has my name on the tag. This present from God has been custom-made for me. God has filled it with blessings, some obvious and some in disguise. Its difficulties and challenges are tailored to fit my size. It may not be exactly what I asked for, but it is exactly what I need.

-Russell Board

World Magazine, November 18, 2006

"There is in each of us an envy; O how hard a matter it is to rejoice in the gifts, graces, and labours of others, and be content in circumstances, when God casts us by as unworthy, and uses others to glorify his name! We are troubled if others glorify God and not us or more than us, or if they are more holy, more useful, or more serious...We should be content to be abased and obscure provided Christ is honored and exalted."

- Thomas Manton

Signs of Spring

Love and Common Cents

Love and Common Cents

Posted using ShareThis

Keys to Relaxation After Playing in the Snow

Hot Chocolate

Kettle Corn

Reading by the Fire

Snow Play

"There are actually ways to use technology to create more quality family time....'Technology has brought me closer to my family. Parents need to keep the dialogue open about technology if they don't want to be shut out of their children's lives.'

Let your fingers do the talking. Text with your kids. 'Children can't roll their eyes at you or use a sarcastic tone in a text message...'texting limits negative interactions. Plus, parents tend to be long-winded, and texting is better suited to adolescent attention spans."

- "Family Time 2.0," Better Homes and Gardens magazine

Obviously Better Homes and Gardens never heard of kids "doing hard things" or "children obey your parents in the Lord" or anything like that. I'm not a parent yet, but when that time comes, I don't plan on finding parenting advice from this magazine!

HOW TO WRITE GOOD!

1. Avoid alliteration always.

2. Prepositions are no words to end sentences with.

3. Avoid clichés like the plague.

4. Employ the vernacular ad nauseam.

5. Eschew ampersands & abbrev., etc.

6. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are unnecessary.

7. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.

8. Contractions aren’t acceptable.

9. Foreign words are not apropos.

10. As Emerson said, “I hate quotations. Tell me what you know.”

11. Comparisons are as bad as clichés.

12. One should never generalize.

13. Don’t be redundant; it is highly superfluous to use more words than necessary.

14. Be specific, more or less.

15. Understatement is insipid.

16. Exaggeration is infinitely worse than understatement.

17. One word sentences? Simple. Eliminate!

18. The passive voice is to be avoided.

19. Bad analogies are like feathers on a snake.

20. Even if a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed.

21. Who needs rhetorical questions?

22. Colloquialisms are grody to the max.

23. Abjure polysyllabic obfuscations.

24. Finally, chech for pselling errors and typeos.