david, car saga continues

So today i am working on a sermon series on the life of David. pretty cool stuff. there's lots of inspiration for the students in my group from his life, both the early years and the King years. it is always such a good reminder to hear what God said to Samuel in 1 Sam 16:7, "Man looks at the outward appearance, but God looks at the heart." (paraphrase mine) i hope that i can get this idea into a solid message so that our students can hear that. it's so frustrating to see these awesome kids totally rip themselves apart over their looks, what they wear, blah, blah, blah. such crap. i'm hoping that the message of David will help them to see how awesome they really are in God's eyes and to stop caring so much about what everyone else thinks!

Also today we figured out that the "new" used car i got yesterday will actually need a timing belt which basically makes the car not worth keeping. fortunately for me the guy who gave it to me is being gracious and honest and is letting me bring it back to him and look at getting a different car from him,but they are all in Flagstaff about two hours away. oh well, not a big deal, God will provide, it just makes one more distraction to the day. speaking of distractions, why am i writing a blog when i should be

R.I.P. Chevy Cavalier

I headed out early Wednesday morning, to try to catch a breakfast/seminar from Big Brothers/Big Sisters. I got out on time and was enjoying the morning ride and generally liking life, when...bang, clank, clunk, thud. My car knocked hard and choked. Pulled over with the last bit of momentum and prepared to rage. but i had a different thought enter my head. "God you are in charge, and if this is your will than that's fine with me." a simple little prayer, but my bad situation turned into beauty real quick. right away i knew that the car wasn't going to be miraculously healed and i'd probably be on the side of the road for at least 45 or so. but i didn't care. it's so nice knowing that God is in charge. it doesn't seem so bad when something bad happens if we remember that "all things work together for the good of those who believe..." As i was sitting there on the side of the road i noticed the birds singing, the fresh air, the cars whizzing by. all beautiful. all singing God's praise. probably my best morning in a while.
Sometimes it's hard to see the beauty when life is coming at us with problem after problem. just remember that all things work together for the good and God uses all situations to achieve His will, even if it temporarily sucks.

Hell

So i got a itch to do a sermon on hell. i can't remember the last time i heard about it in church on a sunday morning and i started thinking.....i bet my students don't even believe in it!
I think the doctrine of hell is a scary one, but one that we cannot deny. the bible is plain about it. a lake of fire that burns eternal.
I think most of our students will fall into the "a loving God would never send anyone to hell" camp at first, but i'm hoping that through a little biblical proof, students came come the the same realization that i had, and that is hell is a real place (sorry pope benedict, you're wrong). I think if we are gonna treat hell as not real then we better think of heaven as metaphorical too, and that just sucks! who would want a metaphorical heaven? what's the point?
this weekend i will be teaching at our 'it' service and i'm very anxious to throw in a few lines about hell and have some discussion time with the kids in the middle of the message to see what they think about hell. one thing i know, is that if hell is a reality, we need to be motivated to start spreading the gospel story with as many as possible. We're making a commitment in our ministry to help mobilize students to evangelize. We will be reteaching the GOSPEL acrostic every week until it's like second nature to students. i really want to get them to feel like they know what they believe about the Gospel and why it's important.
i don't want to beat everyone over the head with hellfire and brimstone, but i feel as though i can't deny the doctrine of hell and be loving to my students...how can i honestly say i trained them while leaving out the cold hard realities of eternity?