Happy New Year!

I'm about four days late with this entry, but I wanted to wish everyone at the Redlands Church of Christ and every member of our youth group a very happy new year. I'm very excited about 2008 and what God is going to do with our youth group and with our church. I'm making it a resolution of mine to use this blog more. Besides updates, calendar events, and recaps on our events (complete with pictures) I'm hoping to add some spiritual reflections, Biblical thoughts, and Christian discussion questions. I encourage any reader of this blog to post responses and/or suggestions.

We have two big events coming up: our first activity for 2008 is this coming Friday night, January 11th at the building. We will have a night of spiritual planning and fun. We’ll reflect on 2007 and set goals for 2008. I want you to be there – so that you can help us plan for the future, as well as set personal spiritual challenges for yourself. Start time is 6:00 p.m.

The second event is the Winter retreat which is currently scheduled for February 8-10th. I cannot stress the importance of this event - we'll establish our theme for the year as well as dig deep into the Bible. We'll also have some great entertainment and fun. THIS will definitely be an event to clear the calendar for. You can miss an athletic event for this one and you can skip a school activity. We only have a retreat like this once a year - I want you there and am praying that every one of our teens will commit to attend this event. Please let me know if you can come ASAP.

In closing, let me leave you with this verse from 1 John 3:18: "Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth." I love this verse and wanted to use it in my first blog entry for 2008 because it is a challenge for every Christian and should be our calling as members of a church & youth group. God does not just want us to say we love each other, but he call us to actual genuine deeds and works of kindness. HE's pushing us beyond our comfort zone, to a higher form of love. This will be one of our focal points for this year - to go beyond just hanging out on Sundays and at youth events, and to truly care for each other through selfless giving and putting the needs of others above our own needs.

Christmas Party

I hope everyone had a great time at our Christmas party yesterday. Thanks to the Kays for opening up their home for our party and a special thanks for Debbie for cooking an incredible lunch! It was an honor to have Steve and Carol Smith as our special guests. The scavenger hunt at Tyler Mall was fun - congratulations to Briana and Kathryn who placed first. Ryan and Joey placed second (technically they tied for first, but Bri and Kathryn turned in their paper first) and Jon and Rikki placed third. We pray that all of our teens and their families will have a safe and happy Christmas. We're excited about 2008 and the wonderful things that God has planned for us.

Operation Christmas Child - Church of Christ Style!

Operation Christmas Child was definitely a success at our church. It was so impressive and overwhelming to see 60 boxes underneath and surrounding our Christmas tree in the worship hall. Consider that this is the first time our church has participated in this worthy service activity AND consider that we just had four weeks to get as many boxes together as we can! The boxes are going to a drop-off location this week where they will be shipped off to needy children in numerous countries around the world. I know that much time, money and love went into creating these boxes. Thanks to everyone who helped put these boxes together and helped make our first Operation Christmas Child such a rousing success. Continue to pray for Samaritan's Purse and for all the children around the world who will receive these boxes. Pray that during this upcoming Christmas season the greatest gift of all will be shared, the gift of God's love.

Here is a story from the Philippines about just one of the 7.6 million boxes that were delivered last year: Receiving a fully-packed shoe box made one young boy very happy. His mother is a laundry woman and his father is a janitor and is partially paralyzed. He helped pay for his Grade 3 schooling by driving a wooden trolley along a railroad track. He lived in a house 2 meters away from the railroad track and is an active member of a pioneering Presbyterian Church.The gifts were personalized for the recipient of the box. Letters, cut-outs, and posters were with it. His box was amazing! It came from a retired Union Pacific railroad worker and was received by a boy who transports people using a handmade trolley that runs alongside a Philippine national railroad track. Amazing! God connects people by a railroad track!

You can read more inspirational stories at: www.samaritanspurse.org/occstories

We probably started a tradition tonight! We headed up to Greenspot Farms for a truly frightening haunted hayride, complete with loud screams, chainsaws, deranged killers, and a long walk fending off other types of creatures. Then it was back to the church building where there was some intense pumpkin carving. The results were awesome. While we carved we listened to some Halloween music (The Nightmare Before Christmas Soundtrack), drank hot apple cider and hot chocolate, and had candy and cookies. Great job on those pumpkins - for those of you who weren't there, check out those pics and see what you missed!

Fun Day Out!

Just thought I would throw this out there in case any of you are looking for a pet OR a fun free outing with the kids. October 20, 2007, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oktoberfest at Ramona Humane Society. Family fun and entertainment for kids of all ages! Great food, music, crafts, clowns, face-painting, dancers, carnival games, frisbee tossing, and dog agility shows performed by the Muttley Crew Gang. AND if you are interested in adopting a pet they have 400 dogs at all times, lots of cute kitties and they even have bunnies, hampsters and birds. Cats and Dogs are only $25 on Saturday the 20th during the Octoberfest. We recently adopted a 3 year old Chihuahua mix there and she is such an amazing dog...potty trained, sweet with the kids and came with all vaccinnations, neutered and on Saturday you can too...for only $25. It's a little bit of a drive but it is a beautiful drive through the hills and it would be fun for kids...they even have large animals like horses, cows, pigs...Ramona Humane Society690 Humane WaySan Jacinto, CA

Happy Birthday Rikki!

The angels were singing tonight! Rikki Scates was baptized tonight by her grandfather, Charlie at the building. Congratulations Rikki - you've made the best decision of your life!

Meeting Dan in Redlands

This afternoon my wife and I took Sophie and Jack to meet Dan Haseltine, the lead singer for Jars of Clay, at the Barnes & Noble in Redlands. Dan recently published his first book - a children's book entitled "The One, The Only Magnificent Me." My daughter was so excited to get a book signed especially for her. This picture seriously makes me laugh and I thought everyone would get a kick out of it. Dan was very kind and generous to everyone who came and my daughter has a great, "magnificent" memory. God bless