Tuesday, January 27, 2009

Stuck

by Heidi Biehler

I’ve always liked winter more than summer, until this week. One morning, my car got stuck in the driveway as I was trying to leave for work. My first thought was, “I wish my dad was here to fix this!” Unfortunately, he lives 2 hours away and obviously couldn’t come to my rescue. So, I went in the garage and got a shovel to dig the snow away from my car. I shoveled and tried to drive away, but only got a couple inches farther. Back to the shoveling. Again, I only got the car to move a few more inches. This process repeated many times…shoveling and then driving a few inches. I was getting really frustrated (and still wishing my dad could’ve been there. Dads can fix anything!) Half an hour later, I successfully drove out of the driveway! I made it to work, but very late. As I drove, I thought, “summer needs to get here. I don’t want to have to shovel my car out of the drive way again!”

While I was at work that day, thinking about how the morning had started, I was reminded of sin. Sin? Yes, sin. Sometimes I can get stuck in sin, just as my car was stuck in snow (getting stuck in sin frustrates me, too, just like I was with my car). When I get stuck in a certain sin, I try to overcome it, and make progress, only to find myself sinning again. So, I’ll attempt again to overcome that sin. I’ll make some progress, and then sin again. The cycle repeats for a while, until I completely recover from the habitual sin. I’ve found that sin can be very hard to overcome. I often need to pray about it, memorize scripture about it, have a friend keep me accountable, and possibly seek some advice and help.

I’m writing this to encourage you…you might be frustrated that you can’t stop sinning. My advice- don’t give up! Keep fighting and persevering. From my experience, sin doesn’t go away with the first try. I have to keep fighting it.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The God Squad

Preface by Ben Framstad; Post by Pam Leonard



Did you know that Wooster Grace Brethren Church has a puppet ministry team? The God Squad is an actively involved ministry that travels domestically to reach people for Jesus through the medium of puppets, drama, and music. Lately, they've done a lot. We asked Pam Leonard, founder and leader of The God Squad to share a few thoughts from their ministry this past fall and Christmas.

Our first program was for fall fun fest.

We did a 15 min. program in the middle school room. I was glad we got the middle school room, because, usually, we are so crowded. People were standing in the hallway trying to see the program. Next year we will have a longer program.

Christmas is my favorite time with the kids on the team. We have such fun programs.This year we did a lot of new things. We did our first black light painting, and it was well received. In addition to that, we were challenged by Nick to do a black light hand performance.This took a lot of time and creativity by the team (see video above). We even took suggestions from some of the parents who watch us practice every week. I think getting imput from a lot of different people gave the God Squad a lot of success. I figure we can only get better from here on out.

Our first performance for Christmas was at the Haven of Rest in Akron. It is the best audience in the world! The crowd is a mix of people and children from the inner city and those staying at the Haven. We have gone up to the Haven for four years in a row, and it is a wonderful ministry. It is such an honor for our team to be invited back.

The next program was for Mountain Vision. The God Squad has helped deliver toys, food, clothing and the Gospel. I said the Gospel last, not because the other things are more important, but because it is really hard to share the Love of Christ without SHOWING it first.

We had a scare this year. One of our Vans got separated from the other on the way down to Rosedale, WV. It was M.I.A. for two of the longest hours of my life. I called the Sheriff office - no accidents reported. I was just getting ready to call Nick at 2:00am and tell him half the students and four adults were missing. Then the van arrived. You see, in WV there is no cell phone reception; not even a little. The roads are narrow and the deer run along the side of your car, so there is a lot to watch for when you drive down to Rosedale. When all the kids filed into the church the next morning for their presents, cookies and the Gospel, I realized it was so worth the drive and the risk.

I once had a missionary tell me, "Where ever you are, if you are in the Holy Spirit's will for your life, you will be protected." I should have remembered that when the van came up missing. I'm so glad that God is so merciful and kind and that He first loved us. It makes it so easy to love others no matter where they come from.

Thanks for all the support of the Church. The God Squad is 10 years old.

Pam Leonard"

Monday, January 12, 2009

Philippians 2

by Ben Framstad

Last week, I got a chance to read through Philippians a couple times and I was struck by how many times Paul says to have "joy" or to "rejoice." The crazy thing was that Paul had the most excuse out of anybody not to have joy. He was in jail! Not only that, but he had an outstanding record of having the tar beaten out of him all the time by the governments of the world and the religious leaders because he spoke about Jesus. His relationship with God actually brought him A LOT of suffering. And yet, he had joy and he told others to have it as well. So give me these thoughts on the two questions below:

1) What do you think joy is?

2) And why do you think Paul had it?

New Coca Cola product out on the market

So, have you seen this new flavor in the vending machine?



Friday, January 9, 2009

Philippians 1:1-2: Be A Servant!

by Ben Framstad

In HSM, we're discovering the book of Philippians together. Every Sunday, we're focusing on one chapter of the book. Last Sunday, we studied chapter 1 and how God began a good work in us at the moment He saved us. The good news is that He will continue a great work in us until we die and go to live with him.

If you're studying Philippians with us, you may have that devotional book that we offered at the end of the service. I was reading through some of the questions in the first week's study and my eyes caught this question: "What would a present-day servant 'look-like'? Give some specific examples."

That question was asked because in Philippians 1:1-2, Paul introduces himself and his friend Tim as "servants of Christ Jesus."

So how would you answer that question? What would a present-day servant 'look-like'? Add a comment to this post by giving a specific example of a person you know (personally or who you've seen in the news, etc.). Wanna know mine?

A person that strikes me as a servant is song writer and recording artist, Brooke Fraser. Before writing and releasing her current album "Albertine," she made a journey to Rwanda. While she was there, God burdened her for the people she met in the villages. He broke her heart for them, much like Paul was broken for the church in Philippi. She ended up writing a song entitled "Albertine," named after one of the girls she met in Rwanda. Part of her mission is to tell people in New Zealand, Australia, and USA of the real need in Rwanda, both for meeting people's physical needs and ultimately their spiritual need, which is Jesus Christ. She's a servant of God to Rwanda. Below are the lyrics to the song "Albertine" and her music video.




"ALBERTINE" by Brooke Fraser
I am sitting still
I think of Angelique
Her mother’s voice over me
And the bullets in the wall where it fell silent
And on a thousandth hill
I think of Albertine
There in her eyes what I don’t see
With my own

Rwanda

Now that I have seen
I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you
In my own arms
I cannot let go ‘til you are

I am on a plane
Across a distant sea
But I carry you in me
And in the dust on, the dust on my feet

Rwanda

Now that I have seen
I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you
In my own arms
I cannot let go ‘til you are


And I’ll tell the world
I will tell them where I’ve been
I will keep my word
I will tell them, Albertine

Now that I have seen
I am responsible
Faith without deeds is dead
Now that I have held you
In my own arms
I cannot let go ‘til you are


I am on a stage
A thousand eyes on me
I will tell them, Albertine
I will tell them, Albertine


Don't forget to leave a comment! What's your example of a present-day servant?

Tuesday, January 6, 2009

It's About People

by Josh Atkins

I just met with a student a couple days ago. Here’s what I knew about him before we hung out together:


- 7th grade, public school, started coming to our church about 5 months ago

Here’s what I learned after meeting with him:


- He likes to draw anime characters, he likes to skateboard, he’s lived in Wooster his whole life, his family has a New Year’s tradition of drinking cups of whatever they can find in the fridge (pop, milk, chicken) as the ball drops, his little brother is 8 and is in 2nd grade, he likes The Dark Knight (he was wearing a Joker t-shirt), he has a PSP, he got a Wii for Christmas, his birthday is in February, he can also draw Ninja Turtles (I had him draw me one on my white board).

All in an hour. That’s why you meet with people.

Monday, January 5, 2009

Happy (Belated) New Years!

by Nick Cleveland



Happy New Year! Hopefully you and your family had a great holiday season. Are you ready for Kalahari ’09…check out our band at Kalahari this year by visiting their myspace at http://www.myspace.com/exodusband