Once again Chasing our kids on the track!!

Once again we chase our kids on the track with the LS track teams. For the glory of God they run the race. The joy comes in seeing your son raise his hand pointing to the heavens to symbolize this race is for his Savior's honor. He wins with much space to spare. Knowing that the race of life is being run like Paul challenged us to run. Yea!!

New Slideshows Posted without time to talk!! :)

Check out the Slideshows! No time to blog about them. What a busy week. Good stuff!! Hopefully a chance to blog later.

Packing coats for Siberia, making Gospel bracelets for the lost.

The Loft & Beyond serving at the GAIN warehouse Wednesday 3.11.09. Seeking to help students look beyond themselves and see the needs of the world. Every 15 seconds a child dies of contaminated water. We were able to spend about an hour at the warehouse helping make Gospel bracelets and packing coats. We have been collecting money at the Loft for $.10 meals and water purification systems for people in need.

ONE Youth Event - the first of many!?

Not long after returning from the Backpack trip we got changed around and unloaded the Big Red so that we could load it back up again for the ONE Youth Event. Click on the link to see the OneYouth web page. It will describe much about the event and who all is connected etc. What a great time seeing youth connecting in a positive way, in worship, and in discussion in out to live out the CODE so the world in our mission trip to our schools can see Jesus. (click on the word Code at the above link) What a great passage from God's Word and one that is powerful to live by.

"At our first ONE Worship Night, we presented a CODE that Christian students should follow on campus and in their community. The CODE is based on Romans 12. To keep it simple and easy to remember, it focuses on 5 character qualities: Humility, Love, Grace, Peace, and Justice. These should control the way we think, talk, and act."

What a powerful nite with many youth groups coming together to be the power of God on our school campuses.

March 7-8, 09 Trekking on a First Spring Weekend

What a great 'winter' backpack trip this past weekend that ended being a great spring weekend. I don't think it got much below 55 degrees. We had 11 of us walking the Appalachian Trail west of the Susquehanna River. We had a great time enjoying the fellowship of each other and spending time memorizing Ephesians 5:8-10. What a great time with family and friends creating a great campsite and sleeping out under the moon and stars all nite. We are always challenged to walk in the way of our Lord. Hopefully pictures will be coming. Probably the key word I heard was relaxing, getting away from the 'race' of life to slow down and just be.

Creative Foil Sculptures Illustrating Scenes from the Bible

Always looking for ways to help students make tangible connections with truth. We are studying thru the Bible. We are starting in Genesis and creation. The challenge was to use aluminum foil to sculpture a scene from scripture. Again always looking for ways to funnel the energy of the Loft & Beyond Wednesday nites to move us toward the Truth. In this picture we see the cross with Christ and the nails and the spear showing the physical pain Christ went thru so as to carry the sin of the world. This next picture is one of the 4 horsemen of Revelation. See slideshow for all the sculptures. We are about students Discovering Truth, the Truth, Jesus Christ. As you can see on the "Mountain Dew" t-shirt, Jesus was meant to die, so we can live. It is the Great story of God that we are apart of. A great YouTube clip by Louie Giglio is excellent in explaining this story. Louie explains how the story, history, is His story and he allows us to be apart of this story that gives honor to Him.

22 Hour Prayer 'Boot Camp' Feb. 20-21.09

What an amazing time to spend 22 hours on a getaway to concentrate on learning a way to pray and praying for hours. Our Church's youth group GSM, Grace Student Ministries took 24 students and leaders to our cabin, The JT Getaway. We worked thru the ACTS 'method' of praying. Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication. What a joy to have several Loft & Beyond students ready to attend this kind of spiritual growth event. We did just pray for 22 hours we had a chance to worship in singing and fellowship with ice hockey and polar bear plunges. All in all we were blessed beyond what we had anticipated and hoped for. I guess we need to place our hope higher, our Great God is higher and can do mighty acts. (see slideshow, pics were taken with my cell phone, quality is poorer) Not sure when I can get the slideshow up and when you can check the ACTS plan laid out by our Youth Pastor Sam. Check for attachments sometime when I can figure that out. :)

Store Recovery for the Salvation Army

So what is store recovery? Well it is putting it back in 'shape' at the end of the nite so it is presentable for the next day. As people look at clothes many times they do not put things back. We were able to spend about 45-60 minutes volunteering in putting things back where they belonged. A clerk said as we were leaving, "Without our help they would have had to stay til midnite doing store recovery, what a great help you were." Yea, in Jesus name we could be a helping hand. We are seeking to help our Loft & Beyond students look beyond themselves and gain real joy by serving others. Joy comes as place Jesus first, Others next and Yourself last (JOY).