The Christian Life

"The Christian life can be explained only in terms of Jesus Christ,

and if your life as a Christian can still be explained in terms of you -

your personality, your willpower, your gift, your talent,

your money, your courage, your scholarship,

 your dedication, your sacrifice, your anything -

then although you may have the Christian life,

you are not yet living it."

- Ian Thomas

 

I've been thinking about this recently. Do we really realize that since we are saved...everything is God's? He made the earth, He sent His Son to die for us, He gave us our talents, He made us. But...do we get a grip on that?

 

Are we living the Christian life in terms of Jesus Christ or in terms of us? 

God's Refining Fire

O Lord, we pray "Thy will be done" or "Master, here am I."

We pray You'd do a mighty work That to the flesh we'd die. 

And when the answer comes to us In form of trial and test,

We fail to see Your loving hand, Refining fire is best. 

 

God's refining fire, God's refining fire, 

May it purge me now and make of me what You require.

O Lord, feed the fire, Your refining fire.

Now as gold and silver must be tried, 

Lord, may my heart be purified. 

Lord, send Your great refining fire.

 

That I may stand when You appear, Abide till Your return. 

O place the fire perfectly That all the dross be burned.

Whether furnace of affliction, Lord, Or unfulfilled desire, 

Bring forth a vessel pure and tried By Your refining fire. 

 

God's refining fire, God's refining fire, 

May it purge me now and make of me what You require.

O Lord, feed the fire, Your refining fire.

Now as gold and silver must be tried, 

Lord, may my heart be purified. 

Lord, send Your great refining fire.

 

This is the song that I played this morning for offertory. I wasn't planning on playing it, but the Lord wanted me to. I planned on playing O Worship the King, when I was finishing the prelude, I looked at the music that I was playing and realized that I was playing my supposed offertory!!!! So then when it came to the offertory I thought; "Lord, what am I going to play?" All of the sudden, the song God's Refining Fire started playing through my head...I thought; "Ok, Lord I haven't practiced it in a while, but I'm going to play it." As I was playing the song, it made me think of how I need to trust God to guide and direct in my life even in the little things ie: Sunday morning offertories ;).

 

How often do we sit back and say; "Ok God, I know this is a little thing, but I want You to make the decision." Or, do we just go ahead and do what we want without thinking and asking God? 

Irvine Park Youth Activity

Two youth leaders

+

10 teenagers

+

food

+

Irvine Park

=

Fun, Craziness, & Memories

 

Zebra

Baby Yak

Momma Yak

The Waterfall...

it was very pretty and so powerful sounding!!

Sister picture!

Amanda, Katie, and Courtney

Baby Buffalo

White Tiger

Tiger

This goat looks awful comfortable...

What do you think?

Donkey

 

 

Group Pic

Back Row L-R: Jordan, Ethan, Alex, and Caleb

Middle Row L-R: Katie, Amanda, Courtney, Ashley, and Mariah

Front Row: Me

 



T.E.A.M.: Reward Weeks 1 & 2

These past two weeks I was at camp working on T.E.A.M. again. I had a lot of fun being able to go back and work with some of the same people but also work with and get to know some of the teens from the second session. For our Friday activities, we went tubing down the Red Cedar River and Bowling. Sorry, I don't have any pictures from tubing because I didn't want to get my camera all wet...but, here are a few pics from bowling and some miscellaneous activities. Enjoy!

Toby, Emily, Hannah, and I

 

Hannah and I

 

Our final scores...I didn't do very well.

 

Four on a couch. This game became very interesting when there was only five girls and 12 boys...let's just say that we didn't play boys against girls.

 

We had crazy hair day and this is what happened to Isaac's hair.

 

Bethany and I

 

These last two months have been a lot of fun and I have learned a lot. The one thing that the Lord really taught me was to come out of my comfort zone. I'm not the shyest person around but, I'm not very outgoing either. The Lord put me in a group of 20 other teens that I didn't know and basically said; "You are going to be working with these people, you have to get to know them." Getting to know people most of the time means actually talking to them and starting up a conversation with them before you actually know them. As many of you may know...once I know someone, I have no problem talking to them but to begin with, I don't talk much. The Lord pulled me out of my shell and gave me many new friends as a result.

I loved working on T.E.A.M. and I am looking forward to going back again next year and being able to work with some of the same people. I love you guys and miss you all!

 

Success is Faithfulness!!!