the game

So if you're one of the lucky ones who's played with us, you know what I am talking about when I say, "The Game". If you haven't played with us... here's just a little taste.


You start by putting a tennis ball in a knee high stocking and then stretching the stocking over your head.


The you swing the tennis ball around and try to lock your tennis ball onto the other player's tennis ball/stocking and pull it off their head. Unfortunately I was laughing too hard to take a picture when anybody won.

creation festival tour

here's a picture of a few of us with the guys from pillar. thanks to all the bands involved for a great day and night of Christian ROCK.

LaserQuest

Yesterday, following Rally Day for Sunday School, we went to LaserQuest in Nashville. If you weren't there... here's what you missed. We played three games, and every game had about as many people not from Advent as there were from Advent (15 of us, 15 other people). But, we dominated... winning every game. Mrs Whitaker won the first game, Chris Smith (the contemporary worship leader) won the second game, and then I won the last one (thanks to some help from the other spice people -- you'll have to ask me for that story).

Teen Sermon 2

Coming soon!

Teen Sermon 1 (finally!)

My best friend is what you could call (sorry, Em) the quintessential cheerleader stereotype-- lively, effervescent, and best known for being completely drama-prone. She was on my team last year, and never once had I heard a thing that didn't revolve around secular things-- homework, drama, her boyfriend, drama, who got voted off American Idol last night, drama... you get the idea.
This being said, you can imagine it came as a bit of a shock to me when she invited me to come to her church's youth retreat.

That, in and of itself, couldn't have been more unexpected. Here I am, listening to her describe who said what about her that day, nodding and inserting any words of wisdom that I had on the matter (which were, admittedly, few), when suddenly-- "Hey, do you want to come to this church retreat with me this weekend? It's going to be like one big bible study, and we're going to do a big community service project and everything. It's going to be a lot of fun."
That really sent my mind spinning. Up until that point, I didn't think she was that kind of Christian. The kind that goes to church for pleasure, the one that isn't afraid to cancel plans because she has youth group that night. She was the last person I ever expected to mention something church-related outside church. Then again, as I look back on life, I've never really expected anything extrovertedly Christian from anyone. But that's coming later.
No, what really caught my interest in her invitation was her enthusiasm. The phrase it's going to be a lot of fun got me-- in those few words, she told me that not only was she inviting me to do something church-related, and was going of her own free will rather than being forced by her youth minister, but she was looking forward to it and anticipated having fun.I said yes somewhat tentatively-- I was almost waiting for her to cancel, in favor of something I would expect she, the Emily I had come to know, would to want to do-- shopping, or something.

She stuck to her word, though, and when the day of the retreat came she showed up ten minutes early at my house to pick me up, all smiles and excitement. I found out she goes to one of the biggest Baptist churches in Murfreesboro. (Well, I suppose it only seemed big to me. I've known nothing but small churches all my life.) There could have been about 200 youth in that one building alone.
You could really only appreciate the sheer number of kids when the band began to play-- 98% of the auditorium was at the front of the room, jumping up and down, singing, laughing, dancing-- one big, Christian mosh pit, if you can imagine it that way. Emily and I sat somewhere near the back. Part of me wanted to go join the thrashing, music-fueled group by the stage, yet the other part didn't want to leave Emily all by herself.

It was a strange time, when the music was playing; it didn't feel as if the same girl who had invited me was sitting next to me any more. She was a new person altogether when the music played: she had this look on her face as she sang. It wasn't quite pain, but it seemed too intense to pass as joyful worship. Now and then, I would shoot a glance over at her, trying to understand her reaction to the music-- she wasn't smiling, which seemed out of place.
It was only when they began to play one of my favorite songs (and the only one I knew the words to), How Great Is Our God, that I finally understood what happened to her when the music began to play.The song started out as all the others did: the band struck the beginning beat, the crowd roared its approval of the song selection, and arms were thrown in the air and swayed from side to side. As usual, I glanced down at Emily, to see if maybe she was going to sway with the rest of the crowd, like I was going to.

What I saw there changed the way I ever saw her again.

Her eyes were closed, her head tilted back towards the heavens. Her hands, rather than folded together in prayer like they had been for the entire service, were out in the air, almost spreadeagle. At first glance, the sight screamed: I am yours, and yours alone, Lord. No greater joy could fill my heart.
It was only when I saw the tears sparkling in the corners of her eyes, running down her cheeks silently, that I saw what she was truly saying. She was not screaming her faith to the Lord; she was not proclaiming her undying love for Him.Instead, she was whispering, almost as quietly as the tears that ran down her face: I am lost, Lord. I am broken and dying inside. I need you... I want to know that you are here with me.

It was as if no one else was in the room. In that one moment, all was gone: the music, friends, the world. Everything disappeared. It was the first time that I really, truly felt Christ in my life. Not just in the same room as me; I felt Him, standing beside me in Emily's place, his hands raised to God, tears streaming down his face as he sang. And in that moment, I was crying, too. I couldn't explain to myself why; all I knew was that my hands were in the air, too, all barriers forgotten, singing with renewed faith...


And to think, I never would have known this kind of faith if it weren't for my stereotypical best friend. She made me forget everything on this earth, and brought God even closer than I had ever known. I had taken her faith for granted, and it's made me realize something...

How many times in our lives have we really been inspired by God's work in this world? How many of those times have we wanted to share it with someone?
Now think about this... How many of those times that we've wanted to share our discoveries have we actually done it?
..........
That's what I thought.

Now the question remains... why?Why are we so determined not to share our faith with those around us? What keeps us from proclaiming the good news to all those we come across in our daily lives?

And this is what I found out: we are stereotypical. We do to our neighbors every day what I did to Emily. In our everyday lives, we don't see people as Christians; we see them as the faces that they put on for us to see. Nothing that they say or do to us or near us gives us reason to believe that they are Christian-- thus, we don't bother wasting our breath teaching them of Christ's unending love.

And it's this impassivity-- can I get away with that word?-- this indifference, then, that intimidates us. We are scared out of sharing God's love by the thought of the reactions of our peers. Scorn, mockery, embarrassment.... in our minds, we shy away from what could damage our reputation in their eyes. If that means refusing to willingly acknowledge God.... hey, as long as we look good, right? Better to be cool than a bible-thumper, right?

No.

Assuming that no one will care is the worst possible assumption we can make in life. We cannot ever just think that because someone looks or acts a certain way does not mean that there is a voice within them whispering, just as quietly as Emily was, for God to find them. We never stop to think that what we have to say may change someone's life, and lead them into Christ's arms where they belong.

As for fear.... it's an understandable reaction. Fear is only human.......But then again, so was Jesus. And we've all seen and experienced the message he brought into the world.

Chances are, the people you know could be intimidated, too. They may see you, and long to share what they know of God's love. But they might assume, just as you've done to them, that because you are not outwardly religious, that you won't care what they have to say.It happens every day. It will keep happening until we are strong enough to stop it.

We are examples for and of this world. Stand out-- let others know it's okay to be Christian. Do what Emily did. Show the world that yes, I'm a Christian, and I don't care. I am a child of God, and I can show you the way to Him.

Don't be afraid of being Christian.

And don't be afraid of creating them.

lock in!

Thanks to everyone who came out Friday night for our school's almost out lock in. Here's what we looked like when we got started.


After we finished planning our sermon/skit for youth Sunday, we played a few games of sardines, and then it was time for Wii sports and Guitar Hero. Elizabeth was our reigning boxing champ. Check out her mad skills as she pummels Alex. You should also be impressed with the effortlessness of our Guitar Heroes Rob and Amanda.

Then we found out that we had Rock Band.... Those of you who like to sleep at lock ins... don't bring Rock Band. This is one of our bands around midnight. Check out Alex's rock stance/face - that's true rock.

This is what our bands looked like about 4am.


Here's an action shot of Rob Wii boxing around that same hour. You can't even see his upper body he's moving so fast!!

We finally went to bed around 5am. Thanks to the Hawkins for having breakfast ready for us just a couple of hours later.

Parking Lot Pictionary

It started with Elizabeth spitting out hot coke and ended with us spitting water on the parking lot to play pictionary with. If I can figure out how to turn the videos right side up, you'll be able to see - in action - how much fun it was. For now, here's a picture of Nicole's skiing mouse and our "I (heart) Jesus" mural.

Testing

I havent been able to get online yet and blog yet but dont fret Im on here now.
As most highschool students know this is the horrible exams section of our fun (boring) school year and like most students I have E.O.C.s and AP exams all crammed together into 2 whole fun, exciting weeks. What joy. This year Im priveledged enough to get to take one E.O.C. and two AP exams. For those of you who dont know what those are let me explain them:
E.O.C.- an easy as eating pie test that the wonderful state forces all students to take
AP- advanced placement test that can earn you up to 6 hours of college credit
Gateway- same as E.O.C. only more important I think.
Like I said Im priveledged enough to be taking 3 total tests:
U.S. History E.O.C.
AP U.S. History (APUSH)
AP English 3
What fun...and the teachers think that only their class and their test matters so BOTH of the teachers of the exams Im taking are forcing review work on my classes right and left. What happened to the boring lectures and class discussion where there was really no work and just relaxation?!? Well I got to go cram for my AP History test that is Friday and by what my fellow students who have taken it say I think I need to go study or I might have one upset teacher and two upset parents when scores come back.

Old Dog, New Trick

This old dude never blogged before and I just wanted to be able to say I had done it. Here it is. There it goes.

Thanks for including me.

Lutheran Teens Speak Out Too!

There are times in life where something happens to me (or near me) that makes me think, "You know, this is something that has so much Christianic value in it. It's a shame no one else saw it." So when something like this happens, I have a few immediate thoughts on how to share it-- but, seeing as reporting it on Myspace seems a lost cause these days and considering the odds of my friends truly listening to what I have to say as opposed to discussing who's dating who at the next table over, (which, most of the times, is a waste of a conversation seeing as that same person will probably be dating someone else next week... highschool), that something goes unnoticed.
So I do something a bit different-- I begin to dissect the event, bit by bit, and rewrite it into a sermon. You know what I mean? I know I'm not the only one who's done it-- I hope. Of course, the sermons are never said aloud-- they're more for myself, just for me to remember what I saw God doing that day.
Well, thanks to this spiffy blog, I can share these random sermons that I write. And these will be different than Pastor Ed's sermons-- you can choose whether or not to listen to what I'm saying or not. This might be something you simply scroll over on your way to read what Harry's written about-- I wouldn't blame you one bit. I just thought I'd put them out there, a christian teen's perspective on the world.
Today's sermon is in the next post. I'm still wording a few points I overlooked. Also, I thought I would waste some space explaining my future ramblings. Sorry!

Lutherans play games too!

It was a beautiful day, so what did we do? We played games.

Check out Elizabeth's face as the Aerobie gets closer in our game of "ring toss". It changes from pure joy to please don't hit me in the face.

Oh, and Erica swallowed a bug. When asked where it went...

Lutherans are bloggers too!

This is going to be the home to the blogging of the youth from Advent Lutheran Church of Murfreesboro TN. You better be getting excited.