FBCYouthGroup

Don't Want to Wake Up

by Jackson Cooper, SMS 7th Grade

I don’t want to wake up from this dream
Because it’s a dream of a world where nothing is mean,
It’s a dream of a world that’s without fear
Because it’s a dream of a world when Jesus is here.

I don’t want to wake from this dream
And come into a world where no one believes
People bringing hurt into other’s lives
Kind of like they did in Old Testament times

People on the street looking for a home
But everyone they ask just says no.
Why can’t we all just get along
And make my dream come true?

I don’t want to wake up from this dream
Because it’s a dream of a world where nothing is mean,
It’s a dream of a world that without fear
Because it’s a dream of a world when Jesus is here.

Minesweeper

Have you ever played minesweeper? If you haven’t, or you’ve tired but failed to understand how to play, it’s basically a math and thinking game. You click a square, and its either a bomb, a blank, or it reveals a number. The number tells you how many bombs and directly touching that space from any angle. If you judge correctly, you lose. You can work on something for several minutes, then have all your work taken away from you in less than a second.

Well life’s kinda like minesweeper. You can work your entire life for something, then have it totally blown out of the water in the briefest moment. Life can change instantly, and without warning. And once we’ve hit a mine in our life, we can look and see what we should have done, where we should have stepped. But then, it does not matter. Once you make a choice, you cannot change it.

The great thing about minesweeper is you can try again. You just click the little smiley at the top of the screen and poof! You’ve got a new game and another chance. And not only that, you’ve learned to be more careful. Once more, life is like that too. Or better put, life with Christ is like that. You get a second chance. God’s is like that smiley at the top of the screen. When you choose him, you get a fresh start.

The only difference is that when you hit a mine in life, God doesn't turn into the dead smiley face with X’s for eyes.

—Chelsea Argo, SHS Freshman

Buy an Angel a Route 44 Ocean Water

So, me and Ryan are sitting here in my office musing about what to write for Resplendent. The old Ophelia thingy-ma-roo from yesterday comes up (we are writing this two days before it happens) and Ryan says,

“I think it funny (not in ha-ha sense but in a hmmm sense) that the first time this conference on teenagers being mean and hateful to each other comes west o’ the Mississippi, it comes to Shawnee, America.”

So I ask Ryan, or “Jonas” as he is known by his Shawnee compatriots, “After having lived here for a while, what is the best thing and the worst thing about living in Shawnee?” He says,

“The best thing about living in Shawnee is Sonic, specifically the Ocean Water Route 44 (who drinks this much liquid?)." But when pressed for a serious answer by his youth pastor, he adds, “knowning people here my entire life, even having grown up in Virginia.” Being connected to people we care about is powerful. Oh and he likes the Statue of Liberty in Woodland Park.

The worst thing? “How hard it is for new people to connect at the high school.”

Yeah, boy, don’t we all know it.

I moved to Bartlesville my senior year of high school and had a great year. Made a ton of new friends and developed life-long relationships that changed me spiritually forever. You know how that happened? Kids at church were intentional about helping me connect. To them, to other kids, to the town. The book of Hebrews says, "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by so doing some people have entertained angels without knowing it." (13.2)

I say you and I should take that ever so seriously. —Timothious and Jonas

Extreme Youth Ministry

I get this stuff in the mail all the time!  Extreme this, extreme that!  Extreme Bible study, extreme worship, extreme discipleship.  Ack!  Somebody help me.

I suppose what is going on here is a the idea that we need to try and catch your attention--you teenagers.  TV has completely hyped you up, right?  Now you won't pay attention to anything unless someone is eating a goat sphincter dipped in raspberry sauce or falling to the ground while riding a bicycle across a high wire in a bikini!

I hereby pledge to resist this trend and claim that our youth group is hereby to be known as Subduded Youth Ministry.  Notice there are no exclamation points.  This means we will be chillin' and hanging out.  Considering who God is...while we are chillin...thinking about ways that we can minister to the world...while we are chillin... and be ministers to Shawnee...while we are chilin.'

In other words, don't be shallow.  Don't fall prey to the need for tricked-out stimulation in order to receive the truth of God.  What you end up getting may not be God's truth at all, or may be so disguised you miss it.

Hear the words of Jesus, God in the flesh.

You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, butothers are not.  To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge.  But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them.  That is why I use parables when I teach.  --Matthew 13