Awake and Alive

"It's news I'm most proud to proclaim, this extraordinary Message of God's powerful plan to rescue everyone who trusts him..."  Romans 1:16 (the Message)

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes..."  Romans 1:16 (NIV)

     This verse has always been one of my favorites.  We took a group of youth to Winterjam in Dallas on Sunday night and this verse was referenced by John Cooper of Skillet.  He said the above verse as a lead in the their song: Alive and Awake.  The chorus to the song goes like this:

     I'm awake, I'm alive  
     Now I know what I believe inside
     Now it's my time 
     I'll do what I want 'cause this is my life
     Right here, right now
     Stand my ground and never back down
     I know what I believe inside
     I'm awake, I'm alive

     So when we are "Alive and Awake" when we know about scripture and are not ashamed to share it with others. We spoke about this idea in on Wednesday night at youth in worship and in small groups.  When we share our story with others we cannot be ashamed to share how important God is in our lives.  Not only must we listen to what God has to say to us, but we must hear as well-so we can learn.  This is how we become "alive" in God.  Since God is so important to us we must not be ashamed to share that as a big part of our story.  So when apply Romans 1:16 to us today we know that God's message is extraordinary and we must be proud to proclaim it to others, both those who know the message and especially those who don't.  To be able to proclaim the message of the gospel to others we must be "alive and awake" spiritually to do so effectively.

grace&peace
kevin

Build-a-Bike

     We had the opportunity to build some bikes with our youth at AUMC last week.  And all I can say is it was awesome.  Each team "got" to do some team building exercises to get everything they needed to put their bikes together.  The times varied but everyone was done in less than an hour, and that was with the time it took to bob for apples and complete a bible trivia quiz just so they could get started.  And then the real team building began.     It was great to see how everyone worked together to get the job done.  It was a lot of fun to see the junior high and senior high work together towards a common goal.  All of the bike building and team building and bike inspecting was fun.  The youth worked so well together to get the bikes in riding order.
     And the end result of the endeavor is what makes the team building even better.  The team building in itself is worthwhile but to have the bikes given to kids in the Rancho Brazos community who do not have bikes, wow.  I know they will be appreciative.  I am told that they already share bikes very well.  How awesome it is going to be for each of them to have their own bike for their bike rodeo next week?  The youth took to this activity with such enthusiasm and gusto.  We can't wait for the kids to get to ride these bikes this week.  If our youth continue to approach team building and working for others with such enthusiasm we will continue to be in good hands.

grace&peace
kevin