Team Blog

A promising start

Jason

May 6, 2008

Last Sabbath, the Staten Island, Union Ave. church, had their youth day.

It was an incredible worship.

Not because of the program per se . . . no. It was because these young people genuinely conveyed a connection to God beyond their years.

The young lady who gave the welcome was just so full of energy. LOL I mean she couldn't contain how much she wanted everyone to feel a part receiving the blessings of the day. Her smile was so radiant and even more so genuine!

The young man (couldn't have been older than 12. 13 tops) who read the scripture, was so poised and deliberate. he pulled us into each word. On a side note regarding the scripture reading; it was SOOOOOOOO very refreshing to hear everyone read from the same version. One clear voice, one clear sound. It was beautiful.

The young lady who led the mid day prayer. All I can say is whoa! She emphasized our "need" to pray. The way she did this was a blessing in and of itself. That type of prayer doesn't happen the night before you are asked to lead the in congregation prayer! That young lady has a prayer life and I'm thankful she prayed for me that day!

Now the speaker took the platform which was already brimming with blessing by her friends and brought a message worthy of all that proceeded it! The speaker was a 14 yr old young lady, who I found out in her introduction (which was also full of much love and adoration from another youth) was born premature and weighed like 2 or 3 pounds. She was incubated for a few weeks.

Well God has a plan for everyone of us. Some plans are more visible and spotlighted than others; particularly for speakers, just because of the nature of that job. Well this young lady has been blessed with the gift of public speaking.

I'm telling you I was so impressed with not only how she presented the message, but with the message itself. She did not read. Yes she had notes but let me tell you, she had eye contact with us the entire time. She spoke to us not at us. She spoke from the heart, she didn't read from the prompter! She spoke what she believed. She was very encouraging and very authentic.

The praise team also provided some very uplifting and encouraging musical selections. They were so vibrant. I've seen where some praise teams have been a major production. A show unto themselves. I was impressed with this group, that they sought to blend in, not take over.

I appreciated EVERY facet of that worship. I needed to hear and experience it all.

I want to say how very good it was to see the efforts that the young adult leadership put into the youth. They were as much a part of the blessings as were the youth who led out.

To be sure, life will try your convictions and what was easily said on the podium, will not be as easily practiced on the pavement! This was a promising start. Now as you encouraged us to do, I encourage you, from years of real life experience, fight back. Even when you fall and fall hard, which may happen, fight for the courage to believe, that the promises of God are for you . . . even in your darkest hours!

Fight!

Respond

Tales from a Foolish Virgin

Shayna

April 24, 2008

It had been thunder storming all day Sunday, but I found myself getting dressed to head out anyway. My friend, Phil, just moved to DC from New York, so I’ve been trying to spend time with him on the weekends. Usually, Sundays are off limits so I can study, though.

“Hey, so what’s the plan?,” I asked after dialing his cell phone.

Phil’s dad was visiting from out of town and being oversaturated with academia, I left my open MCAT books on my desk and headed to the national mall, where they were waiting for me. We browsed a Smithsonian museum and had a good time, despite getting drenched and sloshing through a few too many puddles (it took my shoes TWO DAYS to completely dry). Having expended all of my nervous energy, I expected the night to be more productive.

Then, another friend called.

He was flying back from a business trip in Florida and after a series of delayed flights, he was expecting to land in Baltimore—with no one to pick him up. Of course, I said I would get him. Before I could make it to the I-495 pickup, however, he had text messaged to say that his plane couldn’t land in Baltimore. The pilot had circled for an hour, tried to land twice unsuccessfully, and basically terrified everyone on board with the stomach wrenching drops in altitude. The pilot had given up and they were on their way to Norfolk, VA instead. I was cleared for studying.

Not only were my jeans still wet from earlier, but my cold and wrinkled toes were starting to resemble raisins inside of my saturated loafers. Turning around and heading home, I changed into dry clothes and left again for a quick run at the gym. Before I could make the ten minute drive to the gym, however, my phone rang again. My friend had landed in Norfolk, took off again, and now was on his way back to Baltimore. My car was turned around for the second time and an hour later, I was circling BWI airport.

When my friend text messaged to say his flight had landed, I was pleased with my perfect timing—having waited a mere five minutes in the cell phone waiting lot. As fifteen, then twenty, then thirty minutes passed, though, my patience was waning. I had entertained myself with my audio MCAT review, pulled out an MCAT book when I couldn’t sit still any longer, and even parked in the airport garage and stopped to eat dinner. I started thinking about what I needed to get done at home and the fact that I definitely wouldn’t get to bed before midnight at the rate we were going. With every thought popping into my head, I lost more and more focus on what I could have been doing (studying) and on the task at hand (rescuing my friend from his horrific day). It wasn’t until he slid into the car, visibly expended, that I was jarred back to reality.

“I think this has been the worst day of my life,” he declared.

He looked a little disheveled and he was actually shaking from the low blood sugar (he wasn’t able to eat during this day long episode).

A few weeks ago, Brenda blogged about the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. Here, Jesus encourages us to stay ready and be prepared for His second coming, even when “the bridegroom [is] a long time in coming” (verse 5).

Sometimes it’s really hard to stay focused on our purpose here on earth (explained in Matt. 28:16-20), especially when it seems like we’ve been waiting forever. It becomes easy to lapse into our own selfish thinking and before we know it, we’ve completely forgotten the motivation behind our actions. Revelation 16:15 encourages us to “stay awake,” though, and promises that those who do so will be “blessed.”

So, what about you? When was the last time you got a lesson in patience?

3 Responses View All/Respond

I could so identify with your situation--getting off track and not getting done all the things you intended! It seems like every time we get off schedule to help someone, God makes up the time. Happy studying!
-- By: Michelle

Brenda

April 24, 2008

It had been thunder storming all day Sunday, but I found myself getting dressed to head out anyway. My friend, Phil, just moved to DC from New York, so I’ve been trying to spend time with him on the weekends. Usually, Sundays are off limits so I can study.

“Hey, so what’s the plan?,” I asked after dialing his cell phone.

Phil’s dad was visiting from out of town and being oversaturated with academia, I left my open MCAT books on my desk and headed to the national mall (in Washington DC), where they were waiting for me. We browsed a Smithsonian museum and had a good time, despite getting drenched and sloshing through a few too many puddles (it took my shoes TWO DAYS to completely dry). Having expended all of my nervous energy, I expected the night to be more productive.

Then, another friend called.

He was flying back from a business trip in Florida and after a series of delayed flights, he was expecting to land in Baltimore—with no one to pick him up. Of course, I said I would get him. Before I could make it to the I-495 pickup, however, he had text messaged to say that his plane couldn’t land in Baltimore. The pilot had circled for an hour, tried to land twice unsuccessfully, and basically terrified everyone on board with the stomach wrenching drops in altitude. The pilot had given up and they were on their way to Norfolk, VA instead. I was cleared for studying.

Not only were my jeans still wet from earlier, but my cold and wrinkled toes were starting to resemble raisins inside of my saturated loafers. Turning around and heading home, I changed into dry clothes and left again for a quick run at the gym. Before I could make the ten minute drive to the gym, however, my phone rang again. My friend had landed in Norfolk, took off again, and now was on his way back to Baltimore. My car was turned around for the second time and an hour later, I was circling BWI airport.

When my friend text messaged to say his flight had landed, I was pleased with my perfect timing—having waited a mere five minutes in the cell phone waiting lot. As fifteen, then twenty, then thirty minutes passed, though, my patience was waning. I had entertained myself with my audio MCAT review, pulled out an MCAT book when I couldn’t sit still any longer, and even parked in the airport garage and eaten dinner. I started thinking about what I needed to get done at home and the fact that I definitely wouldn’t get to bed before midnight at the rate we were going. With every thought popping into my head, I lost more and more focus on what I could have been doing (studying) and on the task at hand (rescuing my friend from his horrific day). It wasn’t until he slid into the car, visibly expended, that I was jarred back to reality.

“I think this has been the worst day of my life,” he declared.

He looked a little disheveled and he was actually shaking from the low blood sugar (he wasn’t able to eat during this day long episode).

A few weeks ago, Brenda blogged about the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. Here, Jesus encourages us to stay ready and be prepared for His second coming, even when “the bridegroom [is] a long time in coming” (verse 5). Sometimes it’s really hard to stay focused on our purpose here on earth (explained in Matt. 28:16-20), especially when it seems like we’ve been waiting forever. It becomes easy to lapse into our own selfish thinking and before we know it, we’ve completely forgotten the motivation behind our actions. Revelation 16:15 encourages us to “stay awake,” though, and promises that those who do so will be “blessed.” So, what about you? When was the last time you were reminded about the importance of patience?

Respond

My First Metro Ride

Brenda

April 17, 2008

Have you ever been in an unusual place and felt like the Holy Spirit was speaking to you, saying something that seemed off-the-wall at the time?

A couple of weeks ago my son, Brian, was home from college for spring break so we decided we would go down to Washington, D.C., and see the cherry blossoms in bloom. We thought it would be best to take the metro instead of driving, because we knew it would be almost impossible to find a parking place in the city. So on Thursday, my husband, Randall, stopped to buy us tickets to ride the metro for our trip.

This was my first time on the metro, and I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. Going to D.C. on the metro wasn’t too difficult, until we switched at Metro Center. We got off the metro and the mob of people at the station was unbelievable. We had to push our way onto the train at Metro Center for the ride to the Smithsonian stop. My sister Tonya and her husband also went with us. Tonya is a little claustrophobic and was not comfortable with the situation at all. As we were pushing our way on, she replied “I feel like we are cattle on our way to be slaughtered.”

When we reached the Smithsonian stop and got off the metro, we got on the escalator and looked back too see that the mob appeared even larger! For a few moments we stood at the top of the escalator looking down, and I thought to myself, just think if all these people were coming to see Jesus! Instead, like the Bible says, they will be lovers of pleasures instead of lovers of God (2 Timothy 3:4).

We had a wonderful day, and the trees were so beautiful! We walked from the Smithsonian all the way to the Lincoln Memorial and back. It is amazing what God has created, and it makes me think about how much more beautiful things will be in heaven.

On our way back we were sitting quietly on the metro, when out of the blue I asked to my husband, “Do you think there are people on this train that know that Jesus is coming soon? We see lots of signs of His soon return, but do they?”

Randall looked at me and said, “I don’t know, but if they don’t, it is our job to tell them.” At that moment I felt as if the Holy Spirit was telling me to stand up and warn them that Jesus was coming and to be ready! But instead I sat there and thought, Lord, if I stood up and said that right now, these people would think I’m crazy.

That day when I got home, I felt like there might have been some people on that train who needed to hear that Jesus is coming soon, yet I sat there too embarrassed to speak up. Was this a test for me? If it was a test, I feel as though I failed.

Young people, don’t make this mistake! When you feel God is calling you to speak out and shine for him, do it! Don’t be afraid and embarrassed, because our reward is in heaven, and you might be saving someone for the kingdom of God.

I pray that the Holy Spirit will give me more opportunities to speak up, and I pray that I will listen and not hold back because of what reactions I might get (see 1 Timothy 6:12; Acts 26:22).

1 Response View All/Respond

Aww, don't worry Brenda, there are lots of crazier people than you could ever be on the Metro. I too chose the Metro for the Cherry Blossom Festival...you sister is hilarious, but accurate. :)
-- By: Shayna

Good Times @ Cohutta Springs this Weekend!

Michelle

April 10, 2008

Hey, Everybody,

A couple weekends ago I went to a Women's/Teen Girls' Retreat put on by the Georgia Cumberland Conference at Cohutta Springs Camp in Crandall Georgia. On Sabbath morning I met the teen girls who were attending the Teen Girls' Retreat. I told them about theFlow, and I told them that I was going to be taking their picture and blogging about them when I got home. Already I see that one of them has joined theFlow. Hi, Tabetha!

The girls had their own meetings, where Jan Yakush talked to them about Samson, the "stupidest guy" in the Bible, about James' and John's bold request of Jesus ("Hey, can we be the top two guys in Your new kingdom and sit on your left and right?), and Joseph, a guy who made all the right choices but still had a tough life.

With my digital camera I caught the girls all around camp having fun, hanging out, and attending the 50s party on Saturday night. So you'll see some of them hola hooping, blowing bubbles with their Bazooka bubble gum, and wearing poodle skirts.

All I can say is, I hope they had as much fun as I did, and I hope it recharged them spiritually, like the retreat did for me! Here are some of their names--see if you recognize anybody you know: Sara, Kayla, Shandi, Lisa, Tammy, Valerie, Christy, Tabetha, Stephanie, Alissa, Kattie, and a lot of other hot girls! Girl in Pillow