How Cool Is This. . .

I love working with teenagers.  I especially love to see when they allow God to work through them.

I had the wonderful privilege of seeing two teenagers being obedient to God and reaching out and ministering to some other people that needed to see the love of Jesus. 

Sometimes I wonder how many times adults turn a deaf ear to what the Holy Spirit is leading them to do.  And yet here are these teens that are listening to the prompting of the Holy Spirit, and then obeying.  One of the two teens told me that she had prayed that morning that God would use her that day for His Glory.  Yea!

Last week I was sick for a couple of days, so I sent out a message to the youth and their parents that we were going to have to cancel the midweek Youth Group.  I got a response back from one of the parents; her message said “Ok thanks”. 

Then I got responses back from each of the youth saying things like: 

Ø      We are praying for you and hope that you are healed soon.

Ø      I hope that God blesses you and heals you.

Ø      Get well soon.

Wow!  I know it may seem like a little thing, but I am so thrilled to see the hearts of the youth reflecting the heart of God.

Feeling challenged?  I hope so.  J

Blessings,

April

Let's Apply. . .

We were teaching Youth Group and the lesson was called Sin or Mistake.  We put together a Power Point with slides with different questions and accompanying fun pictures and the kids had to say whether they thought it was a Sin or a Mistake.

It was cool when we got to one slide and they said “Well it could be a Sin or it could be a Mistake, depending on the persons’ intention.”  Wow!  So good!  So perceptive!

We went through the Power Point and then we asked them how they could stop sinning.  We broke them into two groups and gave them white boards and color markers, and told them to come up with things they could do to stop sinning. 

When we had each group present what they had come up with, it was great to see things on their lists like:  Pray, Read your Bible, and Follow what the Bible says to do.  I got really excited that both groups had put that you should not only read the Bible, but that you should follow the Bible.

After each group presented and we had a time of discussion, I went over to my laptop and said “Oh yes, I want to change the Desktop picture on my laptop.”  We had the laptop projecting on the wall from when we showed the Power Point, so they could all see what I was doing.  I said “See the blue sky with the white fluffy clouds, the ocean, and the small island with the palm trees; well I want to change that.  I am going to change it to this, a picture of autumn trees with leaves falling to the ground.”  I asked if everyone could see the new background that I was choosing.  They all said they could.  I then said “Okay let’s see how it looks”, and I clicked out of the Display Properties Screen and went to the main screen.

As we all looked at the wall displaying the computer screen I said “What?  It did not change to the autumn leaves.  You saw me go in and click on the autumn leaves, right?”

. . .There was a slight pause. . .and then they said “Miss April, you forgot to hit Apply!”  (You have to remember we are living in a culture here in Thailand, where you do not want to cause someone to lose face, so it was a bold move for them to tell me what I had done wrong.)  I said “Really?  Are you sure?”  They assured me that they were sure.

I began to smile and they knew where I was going with this. . .”You mean I have to hit Apply, I can not just choose things and then exit out?”  “No” they said, “You have to hit Apply or it will not stick.”  Touché!

I told them that it was the same way with us, if we read the Bible and then put it down and do not apply what we have read, we will remain unchanged.  In James 1:23-25 it says, "For if you listen to the word and don't obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. But if you look carefully into the perfect law that sets you free, and if you do what it says and don't forget what you heard, then God will bless you for doing it."

I then asked them if they understood, and I was assured that they ‘Got it’. 

Praise God!

I am praying that we all ‘Apply’ God’s truths to our lives, not being content to live stagnant lives but striving to live passionate lives for Jesus.

Blessings,

April

Thanksgiving and Back Again

Wasn’t it just Thanksgiving?  We celebrated Thanksgiving with the Youth Group at the Youth Center, the day before Thanksgiving.  It was great we shared a wonderful meal, talked, laughed, played games and even had a pie eating contest.

The weeks leading up to Christmas were busy, but especially the week of Christmas. . .

We had such a busy, blessing filled week.  We had a wonderful time with the youth on Wednesday night at the Youth Group Christmas party.  In the weeks leading up to Christmas, the youth made an 8 foot tall Christmas tree out of more than 500 re-cycled soda cans.   We stood around the lit Christmas tree, holding candles and sand Christmas carols and we gave a message about how God takes us when we give our lives to Him and recycles us into something far better than we ever could have imagined.

During the party, Bill received two phone calls.  One from a friend asking to come speak with us when we got home from Youth Group around 8:30, and the other asking if it would be okay for 20 to 30 Korean university students from Handong Global University in South Korea to come to sing carols at our house around 9:00 pm.  Bill told me about the calls as we drove some of the youth home from Youth Group.  As he spoke I glanced at the clock in the car and saw that it was ten of 8:00.  My first thought was ‘Yikes!’, and then I started planning what we needed to do when we got home.  As we arrived home I felt confident with the quick plan of moving a table, getting together snacks and juice, water and soda for the university students.  However, I had just put my purse down when our 8:30 friend arrived.  Fortunately, while we spoke with our friend, the Korean university singing group called and said they would be about 20 minutes late.  I thought ‘Great!’ we can still make this work.

The Korean group arrived and one student did a series of magic tricks with a rope.  He was really good, but it was funny because our puppy Alphie went and stood right in front of him wagging his tail and looking like he was going to jump up and grab the rope.  I am happy to say the Alphie restrained himself from grabbing the rope and running off.  Then the Pitch Pipes, an incredible a cappella group of university students sang a wonderful array of Christmas songs and finished by praying for us.  We then prayed for them, and offered them refreshments.

What happened next reminded me of a cartoon, the students surrounded the table and moved in tightly and then they swelled back out.  I looked at the table in disbelief. . .there weren’t even any crumbs left.  I dashed over to Bill and told him that I was going see if I could find any other food to put out for the students.  I triumphantly returned with some chips.  I handed the chips into the circle and someone relieved me of the chips, I saw that they were dumped on the table and again they went in tight and backed away revealing that the chips were gone.  Again I went searching for more food, I found a little more to put out, and everyone was looking satisfied so I thought all was well until. . .

One of the students picked up a can and said “Beer” pointing at the can; I quickly looked at the can and said “Root Beer” “soda”.  He again pointed at the can and said “Beer”.  I tried to assure them that it was soda, not beer.  Finally one of them opened the can and tasted the sugary sweet root beer.  Okay, they understood soda not beer.  Ahhh.

Thursday, I taught ballet class and then led rehearsal for the Christmas Eve and Christmas Day presentations at Market Village Mall and Power of Love Church.  While I was teaching and rehearsing the girls, Bill was downstairs leading a cookie baking group.  After rehearsal we then joined them in making cookies to give away at the Youth Group table at the Christmas Eve celebration at the mall.

Friday, we went shopping for more cookie baking ingredients, followed by a wonderful evening with friends at the Connect3e fundraising dinner at the Sheraton to raise money to build a second home for Karen students. (http://connect3e.org/)

Saturday, we baked and baked and baked cookies to give out to people at Market Village at our Youth Group outreach table, where we also gave out free Thai and English Bibles and tracts, as well as information about the Youth Center. Fortunately we had a lot of help from the Youth Group. :-)

We just had enough time to dash home for the costumes for the girls to dance at Market Village as part of a Christian Outreach Christmas Eve celebration. The girls did an amazing job. I am so proud of them! They danced to one Christmas song in English and one in Thai.

Then bright and early Sunday, Christmas morning, I picked the girls up to dance at the Power of Love Church.  Bill preached at the Power of Love Church this morning, and in my unbiased opinion, did a wonderful job of making us want to draw closer to Jesus - not just for one Holy day, but for a lifetime. The girls danced wonderfully. It is amazing to me that I have only been teaching them for just over 3 months, they are already so good.

Then Christmas afternoon we were so blessed to spend the afternoon with wonderful friends, laughing, telling stories and sharing a meal.

And so here I am, my heart is overflowing with joy and thanksgiving.

I pray that each of you found yourselves drawing closer to THE CHRIST in Christmas.

Blessings to each of you in 2012!

Blessings,

April