The Battle For Your Brain [a]

I am a sci-fi nerd. Not the Star Trek kind. The Star Wars kind. There is a difference. We are closer to the cool-ness factor in the spectrum of things. But I digress... When it comes to your mind, their is a battle going on everyday. What we will spend your free time thinking on? Will you be negative, positive, will you hate, love, help, will your intentions be right, wrong, noble?

In the movie "The Matrix: Revolution", Agent Smith (the bad guy) has his final show down with Neo (the good guy). As Neo is on the ground trying to get up, Agent Smith says that it is useless. Why even bother fighting? Who is going to win? Why do you insist on getting up every time I knock you down? And Neo answers: "because I choose to." First off, the battle for our brain is a choice. We choose who will win control over our body. We choose who will win the influence.

At the end of Lord of the Rings (one of the many, many endings) sickly Frodo has a choice to make. Standing at the cliff with molten lava bubbling underneath him, he can finally throw that dumb-ole ring out. But when it comes time to it, he hesitates. His friend Sam yells "What are you waiting for? Let it go!" And Frodo can't. Or chooses not to. He doesn't want to part with the jewelry. Again, our choice! Even when the decisions get tough, we must make the right ones.

Here is a way of making the choices easier... Feed your brain positive, God-centered material and when you face choices, they will seem easier. You can have two dogs. And for two months you feed one everyday some of that good expensive dog food, let him go out and play and exercise. The other one, you forget to feed him and when you do, it's the cheap dry food and you leave him tied up for two months on a short leash. When you let these two dogs loose, who do you think would win? The dog you feed is the dog that wins. Simple. If you feed your mind negative, trashy, worldly influence... then your brain will easily succumb to wrong choices. But feed it the Word, positive thinking, God-influenced material and your brain will choose the right decisions at the right time.

Requested Fotos... Here Ya Go J.G.

Sonfest>>07

September06//InfoPage

Relax [Pt 2]

After turning off the noise of the world, what do you do? Do you meditate like yogo? Chant something? Ommmmmmm... No. Matthew 6.33 says if "we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, then everythign else will follow." This means Focus on God and everythign else will fall into place. So when you take your 5 minutes, 10 minutes out of the day to RELAX, it is to focus on God so that all the other junk in your life (the problems at home, the issues at school, the relaitonships, the work situation) will fall into place. So that God can take care of it all. Here is an easy way to relax...

• R: Reflect on God. Remeber all the good stuff He has done for you. Clothes? Food? Shelter? Mercy? Life? Check, check and triple check.
• E: Eject the world. You've got to kick out the world and it's influences out of your head.
  
• L: Listen carefully. DOn't know what to do about a certain situation? Struggling with temptation? Listen to how God wants you to handle it.
• A: Ask wisely. Have a time wher eyou ask God for direction in your life. Don't spend this time with your list of "I want this and that..." Ask wisely.
• X: eXpect change. His word says that if we focus on Him then everythign else will fall into place. So expect that to happen and watch your faith become stronger.
  

5k Race

Do not register online... I have spoken with the owner of FLEET FEET in Savannah and they are willing to hol dthe discounted price of $18 per person. That is a four dollar discount plus no online registration fee. So pick up a registration form from the Faith Room Lobby or in THE SPOT. Turn it back it to Pastor Jesse with $18 no later than Sunday, September 17. Let's get a good group going. and remeber: Let me know when a good day and time to get together.

LOYC Got Talent

Can you sing? Rap? Dance? Balance plates on you nose? Play an instrument? Got a magic trick..um, sorry, an optical illusion? a pet chinchilla? make a mean cupcake? lift a 200 lbs weight?

What is your talent? You know you got one... Show it off on wednesday, October 25th at The Spot for our second ever (and first one in a long time) Talent Showcase: booyea!

Relax (Pt. 1)

Psalms 46.10 encourages us to "be still and know that [He] is God." The Message version says it more plainly... "Step out of traffic and take a long, loving look at God."

The world has a bunch of noise. Not all of it is bad. Television, radio, music, drama, ipods, cell phones, video games, and on and on... But anything in excess is not good for you. All God is asking is for a few minutes each day where you turn off the noise of the world.

I challenge you to shut off the electronics, close the magazine, sit down and breathe. Relax. Do it for 60 seconds. Do it for 2 minutes. And while you have the world noise turned off, focus on God. Find out about Him. Think about Him. Get to know Him.

Cuz You Asked (Send me pix and I will post 'em)

PE: This Sunday [CORRECTION MADE]

Get your parents to The Spot this Sunday for Parent Encounter from 6 to 7 PM.

Get Set...

The 5k Bridge Run in Savannah is about four months away. That may seem likea log time, but it is not. Here are some thing syou need to know as we approach the starting line:

• Information on the race, including times can be found here.
  
• Race is Saturday, December 2nd, 2006
• 5k Race begins at 8:15 AM (Be at the Civic Center Entrance at 7 AM to get packet and chip)... 10 K race begins at 8:45 AM just in case.
• Click here for the race course.
  
• Register Early! It is $22 per person if ou register before November 19th. You can register online thru active.com.
• We are planning on having T-Shirts made for our group. If you are intereste din purchasing one, please let me know.
• Starting in September, we would like to get together on a weekily basis. If you have a prefernce on time and day, please let Pastor Jesse know asap.
  

Parent Help

Just a quick note on a great Parent Help link: Family Education. This site offers easy to navigate information broken down by age groups. You want to know what kind of math your second grader should be mastering? How about an article to help you with internet saftey and your teen? Or depression? CHeck it out... over and over. Let me know what you think.

On Your Mark...

Right now we have about 25 teens/adults signed up for the 5k Race on Saturday, December 2nd. I know, I know... these people have signed saying they are interested but that is a good number!

What I need is for you to tell me when it's a good time to meet as a group... What day of the week and what time woudl you prefer? I know not everyone will be in agreement and we may have to just have two different day & times but I am willing to work to get a good group of LOYC teens and parents across that finish line!

Note: Pastor Aaron and Christi have both said they are going to do the race! So, it doesn't matter if you are going to run it, jog it, walk it, crawl it, or a combination of some of those... just do it!

You can email me at jatwood@liveoakchurch.org or leave a comment on here... Mondays evenings? Early mornings on a Saturday? Sunday evenings? What do you want?

LIFE [pt. 2]

The word of the day: BALANCE.

During my teen years, I wanted to be so close to God. I fasted, prayed, read the Word, and strived to live right. I started having this mentality around senior year and especially my first two years of college, that if God doesn't say to do it I will not do it. Now, on the surface that may seem all fine and even admirable... but I wasn't planning things myself. I was just waiting for God. And not really "waiting" I was just being lazy. I would count on altar workers or people I viewed as very spiritual and in touch with God to tell me what God wanted me to do. I started using these people as psychics in a way. Palm readers or something.

Then my dad said something that at first I thought was wrong. "Jesse, you have to pray about everything. But there comes a time when you then have to DO something." It stung a little. I thought my father was being un-spiritual. Me do something? God does everything. But Proverbs 16.9 says "In his heart a man plans his course, but the Lord determines his steps." This verse doesn't knock down man planning his course. Actually, God gave us a brain to think and muscles to move and act. We should be planning, through prayer, what our course should be. The key? Ultimately knowning that the Lord has the last word on our steps. Actually, the Message version says: "We plan the way we want to live, but only God makes us able to live it."

So BALANCE right? Making a plan for succes in our lives. Takign inventory of what we have, prayerfully considering what God wants us to do.. and then carrying out that GOD-plan. Last time I said success starts with a decision. And now I am saying. Success ends by carrying out the GOD-plan. There has to be action following that decision.

New Links

So this school year, whenever I run across tools that can help you succeed in academics, I'll post them here and provide a perma-link. For starters, let's be general and cover the "three R's"... Reading, Writing & Arithmetcs.
1. Math Help: Here is a good link for help in algebra and pre-algebra. Click on the sub-category and the "tutor" will go step by step with you afte ryou enter your problem.
2. English Help: The Grammar Slammer is a pretty comprehensive but easy to use site. Read up on sentence fragments, rules on capitalizing, and common grammar mistakes and so on.
3. Reading Help: Reading Rockets is a great site for parents who want to help their struggling kid. Articles, links, resources, practical helps galore.

Pic of the Day (Not everyday, but just today... )

Believe it or not, it took some cajoling to get them to turn their frowns upside down.

Cool Movies To Come

1. The Nativity Story The teaser trailer is dramatic. It's by New Line. Hoping it's good and accurate. Visit the website. Pretty, pretty good.
2. TMNT From the holy to the mutant... Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles is coming in 2007 and the trailer shows cool animation and camera work. They jump around like frogs.
3. Transformers From the mutants to the robotic. Hey the trailer gets you at first. You think, another space movie? And then, blam! The answer is no.
4. Spider-Man 3 From robots to insects. Am not a big fan of the spidey movies but this one looks good. Has Venom. And as far as trailers are concerned, it definately keeps your attention.

Our Blog Page Turns "1"

Our very own loyc blog page turns one tomorrow. The first post was on Wednesday, August 3, 2005 at 10:05 AM. It's come a long way. Still more to come. So eat a cupcake for our blog page. Or a sandwhich. Or just read it. Or leave a comment. Do something. Breathe. Note: Click on the image above and here a special rendition of "Happy Birthday To You."

LIFE

Last year we talked about "onelife" meaning that God has given us one life to live and the importance of what we do with that life. This month we wil be talking about LIFE again. In the Game of LIFE you roll a dice and try to "win." What constitutes a successful LIFE? Do you want a successful LIFE? Do you want to win?

Succes starts out as a decision. Plan and simple. And keep in mind that when I say success I don't use that word with the same connotation as the world. Success is not money, fame, fortune, all that stuff that is thrown at us as the definition of success by the world. I mean Brittany Spears has money and seems like her marriage relationship is rocky. Michael Jackson is so famous he has stepped into infamy and is now living somewhere in the Dubia region of the world. Even someone like Mel Gibson who has the money and the fame has recently, publicly announced that he has an alcohol problem and is asking for help. So no. When I say success I mean something totally different.

To me... success is threefold:
1. Positive mentality: Of course our brain will struggle with doubt, lust, hate and all the other temptations that arise, but what seperates a successful person from a "loser" is that we strive to take captive every thought and make it obedient to Christ. Even though wrong thoughts may enter, we don't entertain them.
2. Healthy realtionships: A successful person chooses their relationships wisely. Sure, someone will pass through our detectors, but we concsiously evaluate & re-evaluate every relationship. Do they take out of us more than we are willing to give? Do they pull me away from my relationship with God? Do they encourage me? Do they influence me to do wrong or right?
3. Consistently meets personal needs: A succesful person is not in want obviously. This doesn't mean that if you don't have the fifteen bedroom home with three Bently's in the garage you are not a success. It means that you have the means to meet your needs. Our needs? Shelter, food, clothing. Keep in mind, sometimes the Jones' with their mansion can't pay the bills becuase they are living above their means. That is not success: Portraying the image of success while suffering in the reality of poverty.

Put those three things as our new definition of success. Now we can move to try and "win" this game of LIFE the way God wants us to win. And the first step is "success starts out as a decision." You have to make your mind up that you want to be successful. It's amazing but there are people who have a deaftest mentality. They think the wrong things. And #1 of success is to have a positive mentality. So here are three things you must keep out of your brain...
a. "What if I fail?" Do not spend your time thinnking about failure. In fact, the obsession with specualtion is futile. When most of your thoughts are peppered with "if's" then you need to take captive your thoughts.
b. "What do others think about me?" Everyone has opinions. Some good, some bad. Are they leading your LIFE or are you livign your LIFE? If you practice hard, keep your character strong, and always give your best efforts, the results will speak for themselves. You know what I always say "Bump people"
c. "What about my past?" Dwelling on what was will keep you from what can be. Keep the past in its perspective. Learn from it. But then move on. There is a present you are neglecting when you dwell on the past. Then you run into the risk of repeating the past.

Fill In The Blank T-Shirt

What would you like to see on the next LOYC t-shirt? Our logo? An event? SOmething you come up with yourself? Help us fill in the blank t-shirt. We will be taking suggestion now through the month of September. Give us your opinions, ideas, drawings, suggestions... whatever.

A Little Too Nerdy... But Still

Found this site, Google Trends (Yea, Google) wher eyou can type in words and find out by region, language, country, the trend of "googling" or searching that word on the web. What did I put down? I typed in "Jesus" and "Sex" and not surprisingly, sex was searched much, much, much more frequently than Jesus. "God" and "Sex" didn't fair well either. It was difficult to see that "Wicca" far out searched "Christianity" except in the English language and in New Zealand. What does that mean? Since The Google Trend site is in its testing stage, and since searching for certain words does not necessarily mean you are pro that certain thing you are looking for, then data interpretation is loose. But still, it is intriguing nonetheless. I know, I know, a little too nerdy, but still.

Corn-o-copia Of Fotos

So what do you do when you develop film and it's from a long time ago? From sifferent events? Just stick 'em all together and hope yo find something worth while... Here ya go: An odd collection of LOYC pictures: