How can God's Light shine MORE out of you?

As it is now Halloween week, we will or already have come in contact with many pumpkin carving parties (ours was fun!!) But, much of this holiday revolves around darkness, scary themes, horror movies, and vandalism the night before.

Some of you may or may not have celebrated Halloween to the same extent, or even at all. Some families choose not to give energy or worship to gools, witches, sorcerers, or little kids begging for candy.

As Christians, this holiday is not usually anything special, unless you enjoy dressing up. But I challenge you to make it a time of year for personal reflection.

This holiday symbolizes gools and ghosts, which some equate to fear. All year long, there is brokenness and fear abounding. This can be felt if you do not get good enough grades, make the state team (let alone the team in the first place), come home to a family argument, are rejected by a possible girl/boy friend, or other personal experiences that have kept you awake at night, doubting, or second guessing God. Even without people dressing up or the TV showing Halloween horror movies, there are always scary things around us.

We are free to have fun, dress up, or munch of popcorn as we watch a scary movie. We are also free and called to shine the light of Jesus Christ in our day to day existence!

At night, when all is dark and scary, sometimes the only thing lit can be pumpkins sitting in windows or on door steps. Notice how they are inside and outside! How can you better shine the light of Jesus Christ in your own personal way inside and outside your home while there is so much darkness around?

In tradition, enjoy some Halloween style sporcle quizzes :)

Can you name from the descriptions the most common icons for Halloween?

Can you name the most common Halloween costumes for kids and adults (2008)?

Peace and love,

Vince

Praise awaits the King!

As I have reflected on the past few weeks of Youth Group and Sunday school, I continue to Give Praise to the King of Kings, our almighty God!

"Praise is due to you, O God, in Zion, and to you shall vows be performed. O you who hear prayer, to you shall all flesh come. When we are overwhelmed by sin, you atone for our transgressions."

[Psalm 65:1-3]

Bible Term Look up!

Zion: a fortified hill in Jerusalem, then conquered and named "City of David", then also King Solomon's temple.

Atone: Making up for mistakes.

Transgression: mistake or a wrongdoing.

I just noticed the few words, "to you shall all flesh come".

Many different religious groups continue to come to God. This is a special week in the Jewish faith. From last friday to this friday, the Sukkot (Feast of the Tabernacle) holiday is being celebrated. I visited with some friends last night a Messianic Jewish household in nearby Scotland. We sat out back under their man made Sukkot, enjoyed hot tea, coffee, ginger bread cookies, pasta, fellowship, and a great learning experience.

There may not be many Jewish American's in this area, but where I am from there is a large community base. I grew up thinking Jewish people were cheap, followed too many burdensome rules, and were private to outsiders. Last night changed that for good.

Recently, I learned from some friends that God is seen and worshiped by many different religious groups in many different ways. This can be influenced by your culture, language, homeland, family, and religious book you go by. This family saw their observance of the Torah as a way of worshiping God, as a way of drawing closer to God, and by no means burdensome.

Talk to me about this experience, because it was really eye opening, fun, and I learned a ton about the bible! We could go and visit their family as a youth group sometime!

Here is a link that describes some of the similar within the Muslim community.

And some goodies...

--Women in retrospect as they say they began to diet in 4th grade!

--American states without the letter "A" in it. (Quiz)

--List the numbers 1-100 in 1 minute! (Quiz)

Peace and love

VMG