The Church has Left the Building

Yesterday we had the priviledge of participating in the church-wide "Taking it to the Street" community service day.  Each small group was able to chose a service project to do sometime yesterday.  The services were abbrevated so that we could get out into the community and get busy.

Our group chose to take breakfast to the Ronald McDonald House.  I don't know that any of us really had an idea of what it would really be like, but I think it far exceeded all of our expectations!  We all left wanting to come back and help at RMH!

Working hard...or hardly working!

The sweet boys ready to help serve.

We were able to get a tour of the facility and there are 2 McSuites - I love it! (I pretty much still call chicken nuggets Mcnuggets - ha.)

Look, there we are!

The spread - delish!

Thank you, Ronald McDonald House, for letting us bring breakfast yesterday.  I hope you were blessed as much as we were!

St. Patty's Day

I love how our dinners have a theme and this week did not let us down - we celebrated St. Patrick's Day.  We had a wonderful spread of the most tender pork tenderloin, a super yummy potato casserole, green bean salad (to go with the "green" theme) and mint chocolate chip ice cream for dessert.

We are still working our way through our L.O.V.E. book.  This week we talked a little more about what exactly each of us are.  There are 2 main questions that were asked - 1) Are you project or people oriented and 2) Are you fast paced or slow paced?

Once you answer these basic questions you can catch a glimpse of your personality style.  Can't wait to hear about the rest of the group and finish reading the book!

L.O.V.E.

We are taking a break from the sermon series and doing our own independent study - "L.O.V.E. - Putting Your Lovestyles to Work for You" by Drs. Les and Leslie Parrott.

Tonight we went over the first chapter and it was a good introduction to what is to come!  Brad and I took the online assessment test and found out that what we thought our lovestyle was and is different from what the assessment test said we were (I hope that makes sense).  I thought that was really interesting and I can't wait to dig deeper!

Christmas Fun

So, I am way late on this but I wanted to share some pictures from our Christmas party!  We missed everyone that couldn't make it!  I hope Michael had a great time playing his first-ever Dirty Santa!

Restart Your Career

We are in the middle of the series "Restart Your Life" and this past Sunday's message about restarting your career.  It is refreshing to hear these real life applications of the Bible!  I thought I would take the outline and bring out a few key points.

1) Change is more invitable than ever, so expect to make multiple career changes over time.

Example - Joseph (Gensis 37: 3 - 4, 28)

Changing jobs is not a declaration of failure; your willingness to change can be how you embrace what has next.

Ecclesiastes 3:1 - There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven (makes me think of the movie "Footloose")

2) Your self-worth should come from who you are and not from what you do.

Genesis 39:4, 20 & 22

Colssians 3:23 - Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

3) Employers want people with current skills and insights so be a life-long learner and embrace technology.

Genesis 41:39 - 40

Proverbs 19:8 - Those who love learning will succeed.

I think COTES has really embraced this and God is blessing.  Who knows what else God has instore for the church as we move through 2011.  It is so neat to see the Thomasville campus officially start and see the Gautier, MS campus find a building.  I never would have dreamed a church could form through an internet feed of the pastor being projected through - so awesome!  I thought it was neat to hear Pastor Mark talk about the Church on the Eastern Shore really being the church BEYOND the Eastern Shore.

2/1 Info./Update

I don't know how much I have shared, but one of our group members is serving our country in Afghanistan now.  I feel really funny sharing about this stuff because I don't want to cause any harm to him or his family.  After talking with Elizabeth, she said it was ok to share different things she sends because she has already "screened" them.  I guess I am just funny about this stuff since I work for the federal government - all those times I took the Anti-terriorism training has paid off!

First, I would like to share a few prayer requests from Elizabeth -

* Please pray for the family of Corporal Chad Wade.  Cpl Wade was with 2/1 in Afghanistan and gave the ultimate sacrafice.  His wife, Katie, as well as all his loved ones need prayers as they face this very difficult time.  Please lift them up in your daily prayers.

*Lt. Glavey lost both legs, but we THANK and PRAISE GOD for the life we still have.  Lt. Glavey is now back in San Diego recovering at the Naval hospital and progressing very well.

Thank you all for all the prayers and please continue to pray for Jeremy and the others safety as we go through this deployment. Daily prayers are the most important thing any of us can do for Jeremy and all those who serve. Also, I know some of you have seen about 3/5 in Afghanistan and some of you weren't sure if that is Jeremy's unit. Now you know he is in 2/1, not 3/5, but 3/5 needs all your prayers as well. They have had many many losses and injuries and all those families as well as the marines still there need your prayers. 3/5 is also a Marine infantry battallion in  Afghanistan in the same area as 2/1. Thank you all again for continued prayers for Jeremy and all the Marines and all those serving.

She also shared this article with us - http://www.stripes.com/news/marines-fear-toy-guns-could-bring-real-problems-in-afghanistan-1.127969

After reading this article it really makes you think about what it is like to be a solider in a war zone.  How do you decide what to do about the toy guns?  Do you buy them to get them off the market and risk more coming in?  Do you let anyone buy them and then risk encountering them at a later time?

Thank you for your prayers!  I know all of the 2/1 soliders and their families appreciate it!

Praying for the Impossible

One of the highlights of my week is getting together with small group!  I just enjoy talking, catching up with everyone and talking about our Lord!  We did not have Michael's handy dandy question/scripture sheets and I normally use that as a base for the blog post.  I think Michael had just out done himself the week before by priniting it in color - ha!

I think Melissa summed up our lesson pretty well - pray for the impossible to happen; nothing is too big for our God and our scripture was Genesis 15:1 - 6.

As we talked about Abraham and Sarah, one question came to mind - if God has a plan for us, why do pray?  Why do we ask for God to do certain things when we already know He has our future planned?  Any thoughts from anybody?  I think it would be interesting to do a study on prayer and God's will in our lives.

Okie doke - on to a short work week!