Youth Group 4/27

Ultimate Frisbee
Originally uploaded by shadow5speed.

Youth Group was awesome tonight. We had it down at Sunset Park, which is a great park for having meetings since it is so quiet and secluded. Tonight we switched things up a little and had the lesson first. The lesson was on Jesus' baptism - Matthew 3:13-17 and the other gospels. It was a good lesson that taught us more about who Jesus really was, and why he was baptized.
After that, we played Ultimate Frisbee until it was too cold to play any more. That was fun...
Then, we went to the Ledge and listened to Garrett sing "Yeah, Toast" during High School Open Mike Night. All in all it was a great time, and we all had fun.
Now I have to get to bed, because I need to get up for Prayer Breakfast at 7 am tomorrow... then pick up the rental car at 9 am in Lander. I'm really looking forward to the trip. I'll do my best to blog while I'm gone (as wi-fi access allows).

In His Service,

Isaiah

Rental Car... fun...

Our church had hoped to purchase a van before our trip to Spring Thing... that didn't happen.  So now we'll be taking our car (a smallish Saturn) and renting a small car (a Chevy Cobalt).  I'm glad that I planned about 2 and a half hours of free time, because with 9 of us going in two small cars (and most of us aren't small people) it'll be tight.  No matter what it'll sure be interesting! That's all for now, I'll blog after Youth Group... In His Service, Isaiah Written on my Zire 72

Lights On, Getting pulled over, etc.

Michael
Originally uploaded by shadow5speed.

This is a picture of Michael, one of the Kindergarden kids that goes to Lights On. He smiled big for this picture, so I had to post it. He's a great kid too.
Lights On is going well. It gets a little hectic sometimes, and some of the kids are constantly testing how far we'll let them go. Despite all of that, it is really cool to be walking around Wal-mart and hear a kid yell, "Hey Isaiah!" and come up and give me a big hug. It works really well for getting to know kids for the long-term youth ministry. I'm excited to see where we'll be in 2 or 3 years.
I had forgotten to blog about something funny that happened on Saturday night. Since the Summit team were down, we thought we'd go to Wal-mart... It's the hangout spot, if you haven't noticed... and take Gabe and Nathan (two SCC students) with us. Well, on the way there... I was pulled over. Luckily it was just for a broken tail-light, and we got a warning, but during the very loooooooong time the officer was checking out our information, Gabe kept saying he was going to make a run for it. Silly guy... I guess that story wasn't all that funny...
Well, better get back to work...

In His Service,

Isaiah

Back to 50* today, Ubuntu SMB server, Proporta Cases

The weather is once again back to 50* F, and made all of the snow melt away.  Whee. I spent some of yesterday and today working on the old 466 celeron we have, installing a 40 gb harddrive and reinstalling Ubuntu 5.10. Ubuntu is a distribution of linux in case you did not know.  Linux is a free (open-source) operating system, and this distribution includes free alternatives to Microsoft Office (Open Office 2.0) and pretty much every other application you can think of.  It is a great distribution because everything works right out of the box.  It even picked up the old usb wireless lan adapter I had lying around.  Right now I'm ripping cd's to set up a Samba server on it for all of our music.  It is now to be our backup server for music, pictures and other assorted documents.   Today I worked on the Youth Handouts and sent out letters for the youth that want to go to Spring Thing this weekend.  Spring Thing is a youth rally for 6-12th graders that is in Scottsbluff, NE.  We'll be leaving Friday at 11am.  That will leave us plenty of time to get there and take our time.  I'm looking forward to it. Yesterday I recieved an Aluminum Case for my Zire 72 from Proporta.  I was offered to review a product of Proporta's as an Associate Writer for Palm Addicts, so I picked the aluminum case.  I recieved it yesterday in the mail, and it is a beauty.  I'll have a review that I'll post a link for by the end of the week on Palm Addicts.  I am very fortunate to be a part of the Palm Addicts team! Well, off to bed to be ready for a new day... In His Service, Isaiah

Snowing again... and weekend update

It is snowing here again... but is supposed to be back to 70* by Wednesday. I remember on Saturday it was 80*. Over the weekend, Summit Christian College came down with a team of students. We had a BBQ with them at Jaycee Park on Saturday night. I grilled up some burgers on our new grill and found out that those who grill are usually left out :D. They played some football before eating and tossed around the ball a little after. Then we played some more games. After that was over (and we were tired!) we went back to the Church and ate ice cream and cookies while Nathan (one of the SCC students) did a testimony. It was a lot of fun to see some of the students that I knew from my time going there. Yesterday the SCC team did the worship time and Scott (a professor there) did the sermon. After that, we had a potluck and business meeting (where I was given the green light to buy Interlinc and was given a $100 a month raise yay!). All in all it has been a very busy weekend, but this next weekend will be even busier! We'll be heading to Spring Thing (a youth rally) in Scottsbluff, NE. I better go, Thomas (one of the youth group members) is coming over to play some video games before I go to work. In His Service, Isaiah

Flamingo Football

Tonight we played Flamingo Football.  It is full-on tackle football, boys versus girls... with one catch.  The boys have to play hopping on one leg.  The girls beat us pretty handily tonight.  The sad part is, it probably wouldn't have been close even if the guys could use both their legs ;). Tonight's lesson apparently wasn't very engaging with the kids.  It was on Mary and how she show's us many aspects of Jesus through the song that she wrote (recorded in Luke 1).  I feel I kind've dropped the ball, but that's the only way you learn, I guess.  I'll be ready with a much better lesson next week...   I am exhausted tonight... It has been a tough week.  I didn't sleep very well last night (woke up at 2 and didn't get back to sleep until 4am), and and having to do everything I usually do yesterday today made today really tough on my mind :D.  I'll be fine after a good night's rest though.  I hope I sleep the night through because I need to be up at 7am for Men's Prayer Breakfast.  So, I'm off to bed... In His Service, Isaiah

Games... are... fun...

Right now, I'm getting ready the games for tonight's youth group.  It is really one of my favorite parts to get ready, because... well... its games!  I have a few ideas for the games tonight, but I'll blog after Youth Group and tell you how the games and lesson went. This weekend a team from Summit Christian College is coming down to do the Worship time and Preach/teach.  We'll be having a BBQ this Saturday at Sunset Park (here in Riverton) where we'll be playing games and much more.  It's at 6:30p.m. and should be a blast... I'm looking forward to it. Better get back to work, In His Service, Isaiah

You can do what you want... Just don't say anything about Jesus

In Acts 4 and 5 Peter and John were put in prison because of teaching in the name of Christ. God miraculously released them from prison, so they went back to preaching in Jesus' name. The chief priests were furious and brought them back to the council as follows: Acts 5:27-32 27 And when they had brought them, they set them before the council. And the high priest questioned them, 28 saying, "We strictly charged you not to teach in this name, yet here you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching, and you intend to bring this man's blood upon us." 29 But Peter and the apostles answered, "We must obey God rather than men. 30 The God of our fathers raised Jesus, whom you killed by hanging him on a tree. 31 God exalted him at his right hand as Leader and Savior, to give repentance to Israel and forgiveness of sins. 32 And we are witnesses to these things, and so is the Holy Spirit, whom God has given to those who obey him." (ESV) Many people in the world want help with their problems, but tie the hands of ministers when they say, "just don't tell me about Jesus." "Just don't push that 'book' at me." I understand that when people say that, they just want their privacy, but that's tying my hands as a minister. If you come to me for help, you're going to hear about how Jesus can help you... not how doing this and this will fix your problem or how I can help you. I am not a minister for the pay (obviously), or to feel important. I am a minister of Christ because I believe that he has the power to change lives. I believe that He is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and that he died on that cross as a perfect sacrifice so that we could be forgiven of our sins... and that he raised from the dead to give us hope of eternal life with him. If a person comes to me and says, "I need help, but I don't need that Bible," all I can do is try to be a friend to that person... I can't give them hope without the reason for my hope... What do you think? Is it more important to obey men or to obey God? In His Service, Isaiah

11 months in Ministry!

Well, the snow built up to a few inches, but melted off all but the grass and vehicles.  Now it seems to be a nice 30-40* day, although a bit cloudy.  Its all good. Right now, I'm working on the Youth Group handout for this week.  Its hard to believe that I've been here for 11 months now.  Time flies when you're having fun... but I think that it flies double when you're busy!  When I came, there was no Sunday School, Children's Church or Youth Group.  Now there are all three, and 4 Sunday School classes! There were no elders when I came, and now we have 3 active ones.  The website went from a static page with a calendar (updated every once and a while), to a full blown content-managed site with downloadable sermons, photo galleries and more.  I'm not trying to toot my own horn, as all of these things could not have happened without God (of couse!) and the support of Sara (my wife), Dave Case (the Senior Minister), the elders, and a supportive congregation.  It is just crazy for me to reflect on how far this Church has come... and it blows my mind to think about the potential that we have in the future! Well, that's all for now... In His Service, Isaiah

Snow here, crazy!

It is snowing here in Riverton, Wyoming.  The weathermen say that we're supposed to get 3-5 inches from this storm.  We're going from 70* days to 3 inches of snow.  That's what you get when living close to the mountians, I guess. Sara and I watched "An Unfinished Life" today.  It was a pretty good movie overall.  The acting was great, and all the cast were believable.  I recommend it! Well, I'm glad the taxes are done and sent off... now I can wait until next year to get all worried :D.   I'm going to start writing once a day again.  It's just an experiment, so we'll see how it goes.   Well, time for bed, In His Service, Isaiah  

YG 4/6, Sermon today and more

Thomas knocked over in Sparrow
Originally uploaded by shadow5speed.

Ah, what a crazy youth group time that was... We had a BBQ at our (Sara and my) house. After we ate our full of hamburgers, hotdogs, chips and pop... we had a quick devotion, then played several games. The one pictured is called Sparrow... and involves having the players grab their ankles and flap their arms like birds as they try to knock each other over with only their shoulders. It was a blast.

Today I preached the sermon, as Dave was gone most of the week for his grandpa's funeral. It went well, I think, as most of the people have said that it was really good... but you never know...
It is downloadable at rivchristian.com, so check it out!
I'm off to bed... Preaching wears you out (I've heard that preaching a 30 minute sermon is equivalent to working an 8 hour day... and they aren't kidding!)

In His Service,

Isaiah