The Princesses...

My daughter loves anything and everything having to do with princesses... especially Disney Princesses. She loves the dresses, the shoes, the crowns, the make up, the movies, and wants to go and visit Cinderella at her home in "Dinny Wood" (She can't say Disney World yet.) Two days ago after watching "12 Dancing Princesses" (a Barbie CG movie) she told her mom that she needed a prince to get married. SHE IS THREE!!!

Spotlight on... Reggie Dabbs

Most of LOYC knows Reggie Dabbs and what it means to sit down and listen to him speak. First of all, you spend most of your time son your feet (voluntarily or cuz he's told ya to get up). Secondly, he will have you laughing and then all of a sudden like a sharp curve on a slippery road, you will be sucker punched emotionally, leaving God an avenue to work in your life.

Reggie Dabbs will be speaking Winterfest Weekend (March 9-11, 2007). Get to know him: He has a myspace account with 3,000 plus friends (go ahead, add him); read his testimony (his story); and visit his website.

My personal Reggie Dabbs anecdote? Click here.

Lost (Let it go)

Yesterday we discussed the positive side of things being Lost. Sometimes it is good to lose. Jesus said, "If you grasp and cling to life on your terms, you will lose it, but if you let go of that life, you will have life on God's terms." We have got to realize that any plan, idea, goal we have for our own life pales in comparison to what God has planned. God's terms are much better than our terms. So we must learn to let go.

We must lose our hold for God to have control.

What are some things we are holding on to tightly that we should let go of?

1. Let go of the ATTITUDE: Whether it is anger, an air of rebillion or just plain "mean-mugging" nastiness, let go of it. Sometimes we hold on to our attitudes becuase it is a crutch, a feel-good, and we are afraid to see what we cna become with it. Let it go.
2. Let go of your HABITS: Habits can be broken if you replace them with something else. If staying in front of the computer gets you into trouble, then break it by getting that computer out of your room and into a heavy traffic area in your house. Do whatever it takes to let go of the habits that are keeping you from lif ein God's terms. Let it go.
3. Let go of your RELATIONSHIPS: Sometimes it's not even a specific individual you are holding on to tightly. It is the idea of having someone that you think you can't live without. Let go of that boyfriend/girlfriend and make God your priority.

The Red Dot Awards... first look

Lost (Be Willing)

Last Wednesday, I took a goldfish out of its bowl and dropped it on the floor. It bounced and gasped for air. Not for very long, however. Stephanie Curry swooped in to the rescue and plopped the fish back i it's bowl. I attempeted to take the fish out again, and with glossy eyeballs, Stephanie mouthed the words, "No, don't. Please."

Question: Are we that quick to help out those that are Lost? Those that do not have a growing relationship with God? Do we hurt for those that need Jesus? Need help?

Just like that goldfish was gasping for air, dying on the floor, we cross paths with people who are Lost every day. People who are gasping for air. People who are headed for death. And God wants us to go after them. God wants to use us to help recuse the Lost.

First step: Be willing.

Be willing to help your friends, classmates, family, anyone that God places in your path, even. Be willing to be used by God to help rescue the Lost.

Michal and I

Check It Out

We are in this world but no of this world... Focus On The Family has an awesome website that makes it easier to navigate in this world. Questions on movies? Videos? DVDs? Music? TV? Just click, click, click. Want to read what they say about the show LOST? Or Gnarls Barkley's St. Elsewhere? or the the new movie Employee Of The Month? It's all there. It's all comprehensive. It's all simple. [Plugged In]

LOST returns

The show is out there, I know. But what intrigues me is the mystery. And it's good writing. Good producing. Great story lines. Awesome acting. The season finale left us with a great big white explosion and a call put into some lady that they had "found him." If you don't know what I am tlaking about, you are not LOST. The season premiere airs Wednesday, October 4th at 9PM.

What Are Others Doing?

We are not the only Youth Church on earth. Obviously. So what are others doing? Click on these links and get quick glimpse of what other youth churches are doing...

• The Mix: Located in the Dallas, TX area, this youth group took a mission's trip to New York City. Check out the video.
• Oneighty: This youth church in Tulsa, Oklahoma had a Flex Night to include competitons and $400 in door prizes. Click on the pictures link.
  
• Fire House: This is TD Jakes' youth ministry also in Dallas, TX. Check out their podcast.
• InsideOut: This youth church is located in Atlanta, GA. Check out their videos. Click on "Media" and take a look at Number 3.
• HSM: This stand for High School Ministry and they are located in Saddleback, CA. Cool site.
• Refuge: This was a featured youth church on a Youth Pastor's Website. Funny thing, they call there youth pastor PJ. (Noahalani?)

That's enough for now. Just realize, you ar enot alone in this. There are millions of other students who are striving to live a Christ-centered life.

Extra: "Chew it"

Since birth, Cora has been a picky eater. She didn’t latch on correctly for breast feeding. But then when we tried bottle feeding her, she didn’t like that either. Each time we move don to another level in her eating development, it was a struggle. When we introduced baby foods for the first time, she was stubborn. We had to take away the bottle in one swift move when we gave her a sippy cup. Green vegetables were the hardest. The first time, she hadn’t even tried them. Never seen them before. And was already protesting and making faces and crying. Finally, the solid food step came along. That was fighting it tooth and nail.

Now Cora eats, and she likes eating what she likes to eat. But she will not voluntarily try new things. I knew she liked nuts. She ate peanuts when I would eat them. So when I had sunflower seeds, I offered them to her. She said, “No. I don like ‘em.” I asked her how she knew she didn’t like them and she responded, “cuzth I don.” I took a deep breath and said, “Cora, eat this right now.” She reluctantly put the sunflower seeds in her mouth and moved them around a little in her mouth and finally smiled. “Papi, I like dos.” And me being me used it as a learning opportunity, “Cora, I told you you would like them. You have to try new things. Trust Papi, okay?”

It’s been the same way with cheese, chili, certain crackers and so on and so forth. We have had to force her to try something knowing that if she gives it a chance, she will like it.

For us, I think the Bible is that food that we may know is healthy for us but we just don’t want to try it. I mean really try it. Give it a chance. We either see in our minds the overwhelming amount of knowledge, the language, or just the amount of time needed as a barrier. We say “I don like it.” And when asked why, we responded “Cuzth I don.” We haven’t given it a try. A serious once over. And usually it’s because nobody has taught us how to practically chew it up.

In reference to itself, the Bible says: Mediate on the word. And we actually don’t know or fully comprehend hat that means. It means, in LOYC terms, to chew it up.

A grazing cow takes some grass and starts grinding it in its mouth. Adding saliva. Like a washing machine, grinding, wetting, rolling, moving, swishing that mixture till it becomes cud. Then it slows it. For the Word of God to taste good to us we must have some type of way of grinding it up, adding saliva to make it easier to swallow.

Here’s an awesomely simple way of breaking down Scripture so it makes sense to us:

1. Read it out loud three times. Each time you read it, stress differently words. Vary the pace of your reading. Change voice inflection, especially when someone is speaking.

2. Write it out. And when you write it out, make some words bigger than others depending on how important you think those words are. You can use all caps for words you want to add emphasis to.

3. Diagram it out. Circle words. Underline them. Put a box around them. Come up with your own system. For example: You can circle words that you will define. Underline words you would like to highlight.

4. Define it out. Get a dictionary and define the words you circled. Don’t define things in your own words. Getting the literal definition of a word will open your eyes to the meaning.

5. Ask questions. Go crazy writing out questions about words, phrases, circumstances, etc. But you must write them out. Many times, the act of writing a question done allows us to come up with an answer.

6. Use helps. There are plenty of resources available to you. First, if you have a study Bible there will probably be commentary on the particular Scripture you are reading. Then, online there are numerous Bible study helps. Also, read another translation of your Scripture. NIV, MSG, NKJV, etc. However, only go through this step after you’ve done the others.

7. Paraphrase it. Now after defining the words, asking the questions and getting a better understanding of what you just read, put it in your own words. This will be your translation of the Scripture.

The Ultimate Deception

Before concluding our series on sin, let's recap...

1. Sin's endgame is to kill you. No matter how harmless, riskless, or secret the wrong doing is, sin wants to tangle you up and ultimately kill you. Sin is ruthless, toxic and focused.
2. The right YES gets you success; The wrong YES gets you a big mess. When you are faced with decisions, you must choose the right YES. Everyone is tempted and people have said no to temptation and God promises us to help us when we are tmepted. We just have to gathe renough courage to walk away from it.
3. Last one: The right NO makes room for the big YES.

Sin wants to get you to say "Hell yes." Meaning? That instead of life everalsting, life with out end with God, Jesus in a Heavenly place prepared for us, sin wants us to join it in Hell. Hell is a real place. Prepared by God for the devil, a former angel kicked out of the presence of God along with a third of the angels becuase of pride. God didn't prepare hell for humans. His intentions were that at the right time, he would send the devil to hell with his followers and we would join God in heaven. However, sin is on the loose tryingto get as many as it can join it in Hell. But we must change our "Hell yes" to a "Hell no."

In life the right NO's make room for the bigger YES's. Sin tricks you into thinking that you are powerless and can't say "NO." But with practice and true friend's encouraging you, you can definately say "no" to wrong doing and make room for the big "YES" in life.

She is her mother's daughter

So Cora got treated to her fifth "Build-A-Bear" yesterday from her Papa K and Nana (my parents). And in between those important decisions about what shirt should the doggie wear and what name should the doggie have, we put a bear wig on her and took a picture. Now tell me, red hair and all, ain't she her momma's girl?

Click. Click. Click.

October Newsletter

Restarting...

LOYC is reinstateing something new (what in the world does that mean?)... Our sports activities. If you are interested in playing basketball or flag football please sign up at THE SPOT this Wednesday.

The Ultimate Deception [a]

About two months ago, I rented Season 1 of ALIAS and got addicted to it. My wife and were watching two to three episodes everyday. In a month and a half we watched four years worth of show. If you are not familiar with ALIAS, it’s about the life of Sidney Bristow, who started off a s a double agent for the CIA. It has espionage, intrigue, even some convoluted mythology about Milo Rambaldi and plans to destroy the world. Syndey’s father, Jack Bristow, is consistently referred to as an expert of the “endgame.” He plans things out or analysis events and figures out what the agency’s endgame, their ultimate goal, really is.

Sin has an endgame. Sin’s endgame is to kill you. Simple. Yet it does so so subtly, slyly, elusively that sometimes you don’t realize it or choose to forget it. Romans states that “the wages of sin is death.”

Why then, if we know that something actively seeks to destroy us, put us in a coffin, kill us, do we engage in it? Why do we sin? Why is saying “no” to sin such a struggle?

Because sin is the ultimate deception. It looks so good that we falsely believe that “benefits” of sinning outweigh the consequence. Sin presents itself as beautiful, harmless, risk free when in actuality it is highly toxic and dangerous. Sin has one thing on it’s mind: your total annihilation. It will do anything, say anything, promise anything to kill you.

The first part of conquering our battle with sin: Knowing that sin’s endgame is to kill us. If we keep this in the forefront of our minds whenever temptation presents itself, we are more likely to see pass the instant gratification.

Movies, Movies, Movies

• Charlotte's Web: Did you read the book? I'm sure you saw the cartoon movie. Well, this is a live action film with everybody and there momma in it. Julia Roberts as the spider, Dakota Fanning as herself, it even has Oprah Winfrey and Andre Benjamin. Nice Christmas movie. Watch the trailer. It's nice.

• Meet The Robinson: It seems like we are being bombarded with CG movies. Some good and some not so good. The premise of this Disney film? Not too sure. A kid inventor, time travel, searching for a family. Comes out next spring.
• Dreamgirls: It's been pretty much highly anticipated and hyped up. Beyonce, Jamie Foxx, Eddie Murphy, the girl from American Idol. It's a musical about a Supreme's like girl group. If you into singing every five minutes, maybe this'll be good for you. watch the Exclusive Montage to get a feel of the movie.
• Flushed Away: Looks like claymation but it's actually CG. Tricky, tricky. It's about a rat and a toilet. From Dreamworks. They brought you Shrek so maybe this is good.
• Happy Feet: This movie was in production before "The March of the Peguins" but since it is computer animated it takes a bit longer I guess. They look cute with thier line dancing selves. Check out Trailer #2 for a spanish song.
• Jesus Camp: This one seems like the odd one out in this group of movies. A documentary on Children and Jesus, God, religion. It's rated PG-13. Do the director's have a negative spin on raising on children to be Christian leaders? I am not sure. I am suspicious.
  
• Everyone's Hero: Last one, for now. A bat, a ball, a kid and America's favortie pass time. No, not watching TV... Baseball.
  

The Battle For Your Brain [b]

Let's be practical for one second. When we are faced with a fork in the road, a decision needing to be made, we have to be prepared to make the right choices. How do you know what a right choice is? What does a right choice look like? Feel like? Sound like?

In Galatians 5.19-21, there is a list of things that are not good for us. If anything we are watching, listening to, reading falls in line with these things, then we know they are not right for us. If a decision is being made and it feels like jealousy, discord, hatred if it will sound like selish ambition, if it looks like witchcraft, idolatry, drunkenness, sexual immorality... then we know it is not right. We know not to do it. The messgae version of this list is awesome: repetitive, loveless, cheap sex; a stinking accumulation of mental and emotional garbage; frenzied and joyless grabs for happiness; trinket gods; magic-show religion; paranoid loneliness; cutthroat competition; all-consuming-yet-never-satisfied wants; a brutal temper; an impotence to love or be loved; divided homes and divided lives; small-minded and lopsided pursuits; the vicious habit of depersonalizing everyone into a rival; uncontrolled and uncontrollable addictions; ugly parodies of community.

So what does a good decision feel like? The list of things that are Godly include love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, goodness, kindness and faithfulness. If something that come sout of our mouths, into our ears or through our actions and it is inline, agrees with these words, then we know they are right.

In 2 corinthians 2.16 it says "But we have the mind of Christ." And instead of looking at this verse like it's impossible, we should repeat it every morning, noon and night. We should look at ourselves in the mirror and say "But I have the mind of Christ!" And start making decisions that are in line with the fruit of the Spirit.

Pose. Click. Send.

Waiting for your pictures. Send 'em in and we will post 'em.
jatwood@liveoakchurch.org

Quick View

• The Savannah Bridge Run is a fun event to help you prove to yourself that you can do anythign when you put your mind to it. The run is on Saturday, December 2nd. So you have plenty of time to train. Fill out the registration form and turn it in with $18 by Sunday, September 16th.
  

• Get your pipes ready. Dust off the batons. Practice your plate twriling. If your rusty on the yodeling, get to cracking. We are having a Talent Show Case on Wednesday, October 25th. Sign up. booyea!
• You asked for it (someone did I am sure), so it's back: The Red Dot Awards. Voting begins in November. Get ready. Wednesday, December 20th at 7PM.
• Orlando, FL anybody? Swan Resort Hotel? Sonfest seems like a long ways off (March 30-April 1st, 2007) but you have to start getting in your money now. The first $23 non-refundable deposit is due Wednesday, September 5. Your slot is not saved until you turn in the money.
  

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.