April 15, 2015 Rock Update

From Spring Break to Testing Season...

Have you ever woke up from a great dream only to be placed back into a harsh reality?  I have....my first overseas mission trip.  It all began one summers morning when our team left the church at 5am and caught a flight to Houston from which we caught a connecting flight to Tegucigalpa (the 2nd most dangerous airport in the world) then hopped on a school bus (yes, it was orange) to drive 5 hours on pavement and then 5 hours on pig trails to finally arrive at our destination at 11:30 pm local time (that'd be 1:30am Georgia time.)  I was tired, the bedroom (10x10) was arrayed with old creepy dentist chairs, I slept in one.  I was beginning to wonder if I'd made a mistake.  I needed a shower and a light and a chair and a coke.  1 of 4 wasn't bad except for the fact the power had gone out so my shower was cold and dark, but at least I was clean and ready to bed down for the night in my 1960 dentist chair. We had a major snorer, he is still attending our church so I will withhold his name for protection.  I have difficulty falling to sleep, this night was even more hard.  That night I eventually fell asleep and I dreamed of home, not heaven, but my bed, family, chair, fridge, lights, hot water heater.  I was dreaming good and I was happy.  But what happened next would be a harsh reality.  The sun comes up early in Honduras, way too early.  Like 5 am early.  Roosters are all over the place in most parts of Honduras but glass windows are not.  My harsh reality came in the form of a Rooster in one open air window who decided it was time for me to wake up and the other harsh reality was a local staring back at me through the other open air window.  I'm not sure who was more surprised to see the other, the rooster, the local or me.  That morning for me was about like this morning for many of our students after a week off of school only to return to the stressful situation of testing season.

I prayed this morning for all the students just like we prayed for many of them last night at The Rock.  The assurance was this.  God is in control.  In Honduras when roosters are waking you up to locals staring back at you and also to testing season the moment you return from the beach and also to that phone call you receive just when everything is going good.  God is in control.  That is not in question.  The question is this....will we trust in Him and walk with Him?  

moment to moment

The sad reality is that the majority of people living today live moment to moment. We often find ourselves looking from one source of happiness to another source of happiness.  Rather than trusting God completely in every situation we look to what this world can provide as these mystical "X's" on a treasure map.  We must understand that Jesus is our greatest treasure and that each moment we have is anchored in Him.  

Start in January, consider how we often think.  MLK Weekend (a break), Spring Break (Relief), End of school, Summer (vacation, ball season), Fall (football, fall break trip),  Thanksgiving, Christmas.  We all have a next moment, trip, season, thing we're looking forward to in life.  These our not bad but there is something much greater that is sealed.  You see situations could easily change in our life that could drastically change how we view the "next big things" in our life or year.  All the while the one constant remains.  Jesus.

So maybe we remain focused on Him and allow this one constant to reign in our lives as we live for the glory of God? 

Last night we looked at this a bit...the thought is we do not want students wasting their lives.  So we want to dive into Scripture and seek out what this means.  How do we NOT waste our lives?  The answer is there and last night we learned that the cross is the blazing center of this thought.

Attached are the notes from last night as well as the bulletin.  I've set you up to take a look and I pray you do and also continue the conversation of this huge topic within your homes.

april_15_bulletin_and_outline.pdf
File Size:	125 kb
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don’t_waste_your_life_-_week_2.pdf
File Size:	77 kb
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REACH Camp & Mission ATL

Please be speaking with your students about our summer plans.  Two big events coming up we need to get signed up for as we quickly approach some major planning.  Use the tabs above, under Events, to gain more information or feel free to email me.

Have a great day and weekend!