CollegeLife

We had a great night on the hill Sunday Night as we had a relaxed night of cooking hot dogs, smores and just enjoying a fire.  Thanks to everyone who came out.  Remember there is no CollegeLife Sunday because of Thanksgiving Break.

Have a great Thanksgiving.

We are having a special collegelife this weekend to get you ready for Thanksgiving break.  Sunday night we will meet at the church instead of Greenbrier, we’ll have fire, hot dogs and of course- smores!!! We’ll start at 6pm, but feel free to come throughout the evening.

Last night we talked about it being “that time of year.” Your final projects are due, one more presentation, finals, shopping for Christmas, going home for a season, dealing with family issues, $$, and the list goes on.  Simply put- stress can be high!

The truth is that during stressful times we see what kind of person we really are.  Just like when you squeeze a stress ball it stretches and expands- when we are put through stressful situations we are stretched and people see what kind of person we are.

Jesus promises us that we will have trouble (John 16:33), but he also says we can take heart and have peace “in Him” because He has overcome the world. How would it affect your circumstances this week to know Jesus has overcome your situation and whatever has you stressed out?

It’s interesting that Jesus says find peace IN HIM.  Not in a break, or a promotion, or money, or a relationship, but in HIM.  As we approach the end of the semester don’t seek peace in your circumstances, seek peace in Him.

In case you missed the last 3 weeks in CollegeLife we just wrapped up a series on “The Sanctity of Life” led by Greg Bock.

The issues were tough, there were not and are not easy answers, but great discussion was had and we were forced to examine our beliefs.  We looked at abortion and the right to life, we touched on physician assisted suicide and other matters at the end of life and finally we looked at ethical treatment of animals.

We stood hard by the fact that extreme cases make bad laws, and the sanctity of life should be our guiding principle in these tough situations.

Thanks to Greg for leading a great series.
Hope to see you Sunday.

Don’t forget in two weeks we are having a hot dog and smores night at 6pm at the church.  Bring a friend.

Hey Folks

Here are some awesome pics from our Halloween edition of CollegeLife, taken by our very own Loc (who came dressed as a tourist photographer-fitting).

 we had indians

doctors, princesses /Audrey Hepburn,

nuns, cowboys, static cling

sumo/marshmellow man

gameboy and ipod

and Jack Skellington- as we talked about the Christian response to death!  I PROMISE we did not plan to talk about death on the Sunday we had a Halloween party! Ask Greg Bock, he wouldn’t lie. 

This is just a small sampling of the outfits, stayed tuned for more later.

See you this weekend as we wrap up our 3 part series on the Sanctity of Life.

Happy Halloween.

So you won’t want to miss the Halloween addition of CollegeLife.  Same time and same place- 7pm at Greenbrier Ridge Clubhouse, but this week you have to dress up in your Halloween Costume!  Be creative! A box of cereal, a flashlight, thumbtack…  Hope to see you there. 

Also we will be continuing in our 3 part series led by Greg Bock on the Sanctity of Life.  If you missed the first week you missed some great discussion on abortion, the beginning of life and our Christian response to them all.  I really hope you can make it this week.

The grim reaper might not be a bad costume as we talk about the end of life this week!

Go Vols beat S. Carolina.

A little calendar update for ya:

There will not be at UT vs. Alabama tailgate this weekend Sorry, just a bit much going on this weekend.  So grab your friends and head to Gatti’s buffet and watch it.  I mean honestly, who doesn’t love Gattis!?

And this weekend CollegeLife is back.  After a week off for Fall break we are back in the saddle.  So grab a friend and head out to CollegeLife at 7pm on Sunday night at Greenbrier Ridge.

Money. it is necessary. it is powerful. it is tricky. it is deceiving. there is not enough.

it seems that we always say, “if i had “X” amount of money i’d be fine”. the problem is we know people with “that” amount of money and they don’t seem fine. so what are we to do?

In collegelife this week we talked about how Jesus tells a story about a shrewd (practical, sharp) manager, who takes his limited amount of time and leverages it for maximum impact/influence.  So as college students, who have limited resources and limited time, will we leverage what little we have for maximum impact?

Jesus says people of this world are shrewd in dealing with their time and money, and people of the light (Christians) should do the same. (Luke 16) Money is a tool and one day it WILL be gone (Luke 16:9), so how will you use it now? For yourself, new stuff, or will you choose to use your limited resources and leverage it for others?

Are we saying everything should go to Africa or inner city? No, but we are saying, how much more of an impact could $10 a month do for a child in a 3rd world country or the local church, than your venti, no fat, sugarfree vanilla, double pump caramel machiatto latte. 

$$- it’s clearly a big issue, Jesus talks about it a lot. Do you?

Everything is God’s and He’s given you some to manage, what kind of manager are you being?

Go buy a coffee and think about it.

So we wrapped up our “The Way I see it” series last night. We continued to see that Joseph is the ultimate example of living like he was confident that God was with him.  Even in the midst of having all the power, he did not take it out on his brothers!? Instead of paying them back, he forgives them- it’s sort of crazy!

But the question remains for me and you- how will we live this week?  Will we leave in our circumstances, or will we let our faith guide us through our circumstances?  No matter how good or bad, will we live like we are certain God is with us?

The way I see it…I’m confident God is with me!

 See you round.

This week we talked about if there has ever been anyone who had the right to say, “God has left me!” it was Joseph.  He was favored by his dad (not his fault), had dreams that were given by God (not his fault), and told his brothers about those dreams (maybe he should have kept his mouth shut, but still).  So because of this his brothers strip him, sell him into slavery, his boss gets wealthy because of HIS faithfulness, he’s thrown into prison for being faithful to God and not sleeping with Potiphar’s wife, he interprets some other dreams for the cupbearer and the baker and to wrap it up- he’s forgotten by the cupbearer!

If we were writing a “Way I see it” for Joseph we would have to say something like “The Way I see it…”

- God has forgotten me

- God has abandoned me

- God doesn’t care about me

But all we know about Joseph was God was with him!?  Just read the story- Genesis 37-40. God is constantly with Joseph? It doesn’t sound like a story we would write, but it says that God was WITH Him.

Joseph is the ultimate example that really the way we see things doesn’t really matter, because God might be up to something behind the scenes that we can’t even imagine.  A story much bigger than us, a story much grander than us, a story that in the midst of it we don’t understand but in the end we see it’s a God size story.  So what would our lives look like if we really believed that God was with us?  How would it change our circumstances to believe that in the midst of it all, God was there? How would this change, “the way I see it?”