"Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God."- 2 Corinthians 1:3-4
Death is always hard. It come swiftly and leaves us wondering what in the heck just happened. Struck with feelings of incomprehensibility and devastation we are left to pick up the pieces with nothing left in our hands but memories.
During this hard time it's been said that God is always closer.
It doesn't feel like it though.
We cry and sob for our loss but nothing gets better. All we have are the memories in our hands.
We take comfort in these small pieces of joy, hope, and peace.
We latch on to them and clutch them like candy.
Candy that seems to taste good no matter how much you eat it.
We latch on to these memories because these give us comfort. That joy and hope you feel when thinking of those memories is God.
God is hope.
God is love.
God is joy.
God is comfort.
Those pieces of comfort come from the hands of God who is here with us in the realms beyond our sight; in the other layers of this world. Even though we may not see it, God is here always comforting us through Christ and the Spirit. Praise be to the trinitarian God that covers all our bases.
These memories in my hand as I hear the pastor speak of my coaches I am filled with hope and life as I know that even though there is bad and evil in this world there is a very good God who watches after his people and gives them love and comfort.
I guess God was comforting me by telling me about comfort.
With memories in my hand I try to pass them onto others, helping them through their problems.
God is everywhere, you just have to open your eyes.
Everything is spiritual.
Memories. Concerts. Your Mom. Your Dad. Your uncle Phil.
Everything one way or another is connected to God.
This candy really is about memories of joy.
That joy might really be about God.
"This is really about that."*
Death is a strange thing. It makes things darker but everything seems so much more beautiful because it is the only time that you will ever be in that exact moment in time. Everything else is the past. Take your time to use the Memories in your hands of loved ones, the awesome experiences at a concert, or the first time you kissed your girlfriend and look past what it really is.
There's something more to everything.
*Sex God - Rob Bell
Thursday, March 8, 2007
Monday, February 26, 2007
P-r-a-y-e-r
Hey everybody, Adam her with the pray requests and a summary of what went down last night.
Because of the snow and ice and melting there were not alot of people there last night and I think the band was about the same size as the youth group but the worship was really awesome this week. After worship we played some really violent frisbee. I got hit in the neck, Stephanie got hit in the mouth, Ethan got hit in the neck, and Spencer got a frisbee to the nose.
Ouch.
From what I know he's alright but it wouldn't hurt to pray for him.
The winner of the Jesus and Myspace blog contest is Dan Fernandez who had a message about loving the community and living in harmony.
Patrick then took prayer requests for the next week. If you would like to update this or you have any praises, answers, or anything you want to share please email me or patrick.
Patrick - patrick@ccatg.com
Adam - Adam.Rawkz@gmail.com
Prayer Requests
Benji // Leah is sick - Musical at Snider - Tap Dancing Routine
Tom // Mom - the new baby - Aunt in hospital for drugs
Adam // Mom getting better from cancer - college money - homework - sermon
David // Ball State Money - Marina's Cist
Taylor // Musical Audition - Solid Rock
Spencer // School - Nose - Head
Justine // This Week - Survival
Paul // Benji's Accident
I hope all of you are safe and sound. I hope your week is good.
-Adam
Because of the snow and ice and melting there were not alot of people there last night and I think the band was about the same size as the youth group but the worship was really awesome this week. After worship we played some really violent frisbee. I got hit in the neck, Stephanie got hit in the mouth, Ethan got hit in the neck, and Spencer got a frisbee to the nose.
Ouch.
From what I know he's alright but it wouldn't hurt to pray for him.
The winner of the Jesus and Myspace blog contest is Dan Fernandez who had a message about loving the community and living in harmony.
Patrick then took prayer requests for the next week. If you would like to update this or you have any praises, answers, or anything you want to share please email me or patrick.
Patrick - patrick@ccatg.com
Adam - Adam.Rawkz@gmail.com
Prayer Requests
Benji // Leah is sick - Musical at Snider - Tap Dancing Routine
Tom // Mom - the new baby - Aunt in hospital for drugs
Adam // Mom getting better from cancer - college money - homework - sermon
David // Ball State Money - Marina's Cist
Taylor // Musical Audition - Solid Rock
Spencer // School - Nose - Head
Justine // This Week - Survival
Paul // Benji's Accident
I hope all of you are safe and sound. I hope your week is good.
-Adam
Sunday, February 25, 2007
Agape
I just got done reading a book by Rob Bell titled Sex God. I'm not going to tell you what it's about so you can go check it out for yourself and all I can say is that is a very profound book.
So profound that I needed to share it's central message with you.
It's words that we all have been dying to hear.
It's a feeling that we all search for but never realize it's in front of us.
It's the deep desire within the human soul to be desired. To be desired heart, body, mind, and soul. To be known known by the other person so well that they know all of your flaws
failures,
mistakes,
bad habits,
annoyances,
sins,
and hurts but still loves you.
They still love you enough to die for you.
These are words we are all dying inside to hear. We reach out for this love everyday in the way we dress, the way we talk, and the way we treat each other. We give little parts of ourselves away hoping that they still love us in the morning because we slept with them. It's a cycle in which we give ourselves away more and more to get more and more only to find that we have nothing or our left anymore.
Nothing of any value.
Nothing of worth.
I want to tell you that whatever you may have done, said, or thought about me...
I love you.
I love you so whole-heartedly that I see your problems but love you anyway.
I love you because your a creation of God.
I love you because you are you.
I love you because you are unique.
There is no other person like you on the planet. You know that. I know that. God knows that.
This kind of love is called "Agape" in the greek.
Say it with me. A-gap-e.
This is the same love described in the most famous verse in the Bible. "For God so loved the world..."
For God so agaped the world...
This turned out to be much longer than I intended it to be. But I wanted to tell all of you know matter who you are that you are loved, your worthy of love, you don't have to show me anything for me to love you, you don't have to give me anything, you don't need to take me to dinner or vice versa, or flirt with me to get attention because I love you because your a human being created in the image of God and you are special. I mean this for all of you whether you be old friends from band or teammates or classmates or people I've never even met. This is just not good news for people that I go to church with or people I already love or know intimately. This is for all people who come across this whether I know them or not.
I love you enough to suffer with you, hurt with you, and die with you or for you.
This is the same type of love that God gives.
Agape.
I agape you.
God agapes you.
If your hurting let me ease your pain.
If you need to talk, let me listen.
If you want help, let me help.
If you need anything, let me do anything.
Your worth it whoever you are. Your worth any price.
It's true and if you ever need told that. Please message me and I'll tell you however many times it takes to get through to you.
Agape.
It's that weird principle which so many people are searching for but so few understand and those who do understand don't want to share or are too afraid.
Bring me the weary, the sick, the poor, and the downtrodden. Give me the hungry, the tired, and the restless and I will give them home.
Sound familiar?
Jesus loves you in this very transcendent ways. The way of Jesus isn't hell, punishment, sin, death, and hatred like it's been presented so many times in our cultures. No matter how many times you see the people in the streets with the signs that say "God Hates Fags" or "Jesus wants you to burn in Hell." or "Who would Jesus bomb?" you shouldn't believe those signs. Their not Christians signs even though they masquerade as Christian signs. The word Christian means little Christ as the believers were first called in Antioch. They annoyed the people of the city so much that the citizens started to call them little Christ's because they were so much like Jesus.
Those signs... are not like Jesus.
Jesus loves you.
This you know.
For the bible tells you so.
That's a song that was ingrained in my brain as a kid but it never made sense till a few months ago.
The whole Jesus thing clicked.
Jesus loves people, he loves the bad people, he loves the good, he loves the sinners, and hates sin because it causes people pain, seperation, and death. The three things that humans fear the most. Jesus has defeated those. His love transcends over all because it's not just love, its divine.
He loves me.
He loves you.
He loves the poor.
He loves the rich.
He loves sluts.
He loves porn stars. (www.xxxchurch.com)
He loves Mohamed.
He loves Buddha.
He loves Osama.
But most of all he loves us. All of us. Every single one of us. From the scriptures Jesus reveals that the more lost we are the more he loves us.
Radical love.
It's not infatuation.
It's not lust.
It's pure love, the deep soulful love that you see between newlyweds. It's that look that we all feel at a wedding. The look that each of them would give their lives for the other. The look that says even though you brush your teeth diffrently and you have this bad habit of farting after a meal and they smell so bad that a skunk would keel over and you've got a few extra pounds here, even with all of that I still love, end of story.
That's Agape. That's love.
If you've never felt that please,
please,
please,
please,
please,
please contact me somehow.
Love,
Adam
So profound that I needed to share it's central message with you.
It's words that we all have been dying to hear.
It's a feeling that we all search for but never realize it's in front of us.
It's the deep desire within the human soul to be desired. To be desired heart, body, mind, and soul. To be known known by the other person so well that they know all of your flaws
failures,
mistakes,
bad habits,
annoyances,
sins,
and hurts but still loves you.
They still love you enough to die for you.
These are words we are all dying inside to hear. We reach out for this love everyday in the way we dress, the way we talk, and the way we treat each other. We give little parts of ourselves away hoping that they still love us in the morning because we slept with them. It's a cycle in which we give ourselves away more and more to get more and more only to find that we have nothing or our left anymore.
Nothing of any value.
Nothing of worth.
I want to tell you that whatever you may have done, said, or thought about me...
I love you.
I love you so whole-heartedly that I see your problems but love you anyway.
I love you because your a creation of God.
I love you because you are you.
I love you because you are unique.
There is no other person like you on the planet. You know that. I know that. God knows that.
This kind of love is called "Agape" in the greek.
Say it with me. A-gap-e.
This is the same love described in the most famous verse in the Bible. "For God so loved the world..."
For God so agaped the world...
This turned out to be much longer than I intended it to be. But I wanted to tell all of you know matter who you are that you are loved, your worthy of love, you don't have to show me anything for me to love you, you don't have to give me anything, you don't need to take me to dinner or vice versa, or flirt with me to get attention because I love you because your a human being created in the image of God and you are special. I mean this for all of you whether you be old friends from band or teammates or classmates or people I've never even met. This is just not good news for people that I go to church with or people I already love or know intimately. This is for all people who come across this whether I know them or not.
I love you enough to suffer with you, hurt with you, and die with you or for you.
This is the same type of love that God gives.
Agape.
I agape you.
God agapes you.
If your hurting let me ease your pain.
If you need to talk, let me listen.
If you want help, let me help.
If you need anything, let me do anything.
Your worth it whoever you are. Your worth any price.
It's true and if you ever need told that. Please message me and I'll tell you however many times it takes to get through to you.
Agape.
It's that weird principle which so many people are searching for but so few understand and those who do understand don't want to share or are too afraid.
Bring me the weary, the sick, the poor, and the downtrodden. Give me the hungry, the tired, and the restless and I will give them home.
Sound familiar?
Jesus loves you in this very transcendent ways. The way of Jesus isn't hell, punishment, sin, death, and hatred like it's been presented so many times in our cultures. No matter how many times you see the people in the streets with the signs that say "God Hates Fags" or "Jesus wants you to burn in Hell." or "Who would Jesus bomb?" you shouldn't believe those signs. Their not Christians signs even though they masquerade as Christian signs. The word Christian means little Christ as the believers were first called in Antioch. They annoyed the people of the city so much that the citizens started to call them little Christ's because they were so much like Jesus.
Those signs... are not like Jesus.
Jesus loves you.
This you know.
For the bible tells you so.
That's a song that was ingrained in my brain as a kid but it never made sense till a few months ago.
The whole Jesus thing clicked.
Jesus loves people, he loves the bad people, he loves the good, he loves the sinners, and hates sin because it causes people pain, seperation, and death. The three things that humans fear the most. Jesus has defeated those. His love transcends over all because it's not just love, its divine.
He loves me.
He loves you.
He loves the poor.
He loves the rich.
He loves sluts.
He loves porn stars. (www.xxxchurch.com)
He loves Mohamed.
He loves Buddha.
He loves Osama.
But most of all he loves us. All of us. Every single one of us. From the scriptures Jesus reveals that the more lost we are the more he loves us.
Radical love.
It's not infatuation.
It's not lust.
It's pure love, the deep soulful love that you see between newlyweds. It's that look that we all feel at a wedding. The look that each of them would give their lives for the other. The look that says even though you brush your teeth diffrently and you have this bad habit of farting after a meal and they smell so bad that a skunk would keel over and you've got a few extra pounds here, even with all of that I still love, end of story.
That's Agape. That's love.
If you've never felt that please,
please,
please,
please,
please,
please contact me somehow.
Love,
Adam
Sunday, February 11, 2007
Blog Competition
Hey everyone thanks for coming tonight to The Wire. It was great and we had some awesome music, a good message (if I don't say so myself), and a great time. I was really excited that I was able to preach to you God's Message. I'm thankful you guys didn't boo me offstage and stuff.
I was glad to meet some of the new people we had tonight. Thanks Tom and everybody else that came tonight. I thought it ironic that one of our guests for our Jesus and Myspace series' name was Tom. I thought Tom was supposed to be our first friend. But it was great to meet all of you and I hope that God blesses you with oppourtunity to tell people about his love and grace and redemption. I pray that your faith and love will increase and that we have more snow days.
Love You Guys,
Adam
I was glad to meet some of the new people we had tonight. Thanks Tom and everybody else that came tonight. I thought it ironic that one of our guests for our Jesus and Myspace series' name was Tom. I thought Tom was supposed to be our first friend. But it was great to meet all of you and I hope that God blesses you with oppourtunity to tell people about his love and grace and redemption. I pray that your faith and love will increase and that we have more snow days.
Love You Guys,
Adam
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Hey
Hey everybody.
This is Adam just reminding you that the blog competition is still on. Please, please, please send in your submissions in the form of comments to this blog because the best blog will be taught by the blog writer on the 25 of February on the last day of The Jesus and Myspace series.
So please send them in.
-Adam
This is Adam just reminding you that the blog competition is still on. Please, please, please send in your submissions in the form of comments to this blog because the best blog will be taught by the blog writer on the 25 of February on the last day of The Jesus and Myspace series.
So please send them in.
-Adam
Wednesday, January 10, 2007
Write to Compassion Kids
Our kids would love for us to write to them. If you leave comments for this post, in about a week I will print those off and put them in the mail to Gerson and Mariela.
Also, did you know in the society where Gerson and Mariela live only 3% of people graduate from high school? I'd love to have someone take on the challenge to do a little report for us some night at the WIRE about Honduras, where they live.
You gave over $60 to them last Sunday... Great Job! We have been faithfully supporting them with only gifts from the student ministry for a year and a half now.
Also, did you know in the society where Gerson and Mariela live only 3% of people graduate from high school? I'd love to have someone take on the challenge to do a little report for us some night at the WIRE about Honduras, where they live.
You gave over $60 to them last Sunday... Great Job! We have been faithfully supporting them with only gifts from the student ministry for a year and a half now.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
Compassion Kids Letters
We recieved letters in the mail from Gerson and Mariela this week and I want to share them with you. Here is Gerson's letter....
"This is Gerson's mom, Blanca. Hello, Christ's Church. Gerson says he is 
thankful to God to write to you again, hoping you and the youth group are doing well. Gerson says he is doing well here and he says the weather here is cool. He wants to tell you that he went on a trip with the project to a beautiful forest, where they celebrated the day dedicated to the children and Gerson says they played and ate and it was very special. Gerson says he is doing well at school and he is going to end his school year. Gerson sends a photo with his cousins Kevin, Andrea and Gustavo. (Gerson is the one in the red shirt and blue shorts) They are also a part of the project. Gerson says good bye to you warmly and hopes you write soon to know about you and tell you things about me. May God send rich and abundant blessings."
thankful to God to write to you again, hoping you and the youth group are doing well. Gerson says he is doing well here and he says the weather here is cool. He wants to tell you that he went on a trip with the project to a beautiful forest, where they celebrated the day dedicated to the children and Gerson says they played and ate and it was very special. Gerson says he is doing well at school and he is going to end his school year. Gerson sends a photo with his cousins Kevin, Andrea and Gustavo. (Gerson is the one in the red shirt and blue shorts) They are also a part of the project. Gerson says good bye to you warmly and hopes you write soon to know about you and tell you things about me. May God send rich and abundant blessings."And now here is Mariela's letter...
"I greet you with a big hug and in the name of the Lord. I want to tell you that my family and I are doing well and healthy. We have, as tradition, to celebrate Christmas and September 15th. When we go to the parade, we take the national flag. Our national hero is Francisco Morazan. I want to tell you that the weather here in Honduras is warm and we have lots of mountains. Our community is in the counrty away from the city we go to church, where we learn verses. My favorite verse is Psalms 138:1. The teacher of the project is Lidia Perdona. She is a good teacher and we study the physical, intellectual, and spiritual areas.
One of our activities is to have a church. Good bye in the name of the Lord. I hope you write soon. Kisses and hugs."
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