Did Jesus Bake Brownies?

Sometimes the small things in life make the biggest difference. Here are some ways to serve your community and be more like Jesus.

• Bring brownies to youth group. (Make sure this is OK with your youth leader beforehand.)
• Check out and participate in Operation Beautiful.
• Bake cookies for your neighbor.
• Wash your dad's car -- no fees, no hassles, just you, your sibs, water, soap, and fun.
• Send an encouraging text to someone.
• Support a charity. (TWLOHA, Compassion International, World Vision, etc.) Every dollar counts.
• Set the table.
• Load the dishwasher -- without being asked.
• Buy your mom some smell-good lotion. (Bath & Body Works is a favorite brand, but overpriced. The Dollar Store should have some sweet-scented frangrances for a buck.)
• Invite a few friends over for a Bible study around popcorn & M&Ms (or another fav snack).
• Guys: Open the car door for your girlfriend. Girls: Offer to split the bill.
• Find an inner quality that really stands out in someone you vaguely know but don't talk to much. Make a point of acknowledging that quality.

The Boy with Crutches

At Sky Ranch I learned an unexpected lesson. It wasn't in the Bible study but instead in the way someone treated me that got me thinking about how we treat other people.

There was this cute guy on crutches. He had some disease that affected his ankle and he couldn't run or jump. One thing that was really cool -- he never complained about not getting to run around with the guys in his cabin. He was always positive.
I was going to an optional bible study and wondering whether I should open the door for him. I decided against it -- maybe he would be offended, I didn't know. Instead, he set down one of his crutches and opened the door for me. Me, a girl who as far as he knew had cooties and was perfectly able to open the door myself.
I don't know why that made me so happy. Just that act of kindness and selflessness was so cool.
I realized I should be more like that. When something's wrong in my life, I focus on that instead of searching for other hurting people and helping them. I'm asking God to give me opportunities to help people instead of worrying about myself. I hope you'll do the same.

An AMAZING Experience

I'm at a loss for words for once in my life.The concert was AMAZING, there is no other word for it.It was so cool to see all those Christians worshipping together, singing along with Mark Hall from Casting Crowns!
All the peeps we sang with:Casting CrownsMichael EnglishpureNRGAvalonNatalie GrantDenver and the Mile High Orchestra
I mean, could you ask for anything more? Everyone did a great job, but I have to say Casting Crowns was just...WOW. I mean, the Holy Spirit was definetly there that night. I had never been a part of something like that. I got a dose of it when I went to the TobyMac concert, but the Jonas Brothers concert had absolutely no...what's the word?...hmmm...you know what I mean. We were all dying from the heat at the JB concert (seriously, some people were fainting), even though it was fun.
So, not only did they sing Christmas songs at this concert, but they also did some not-so-Christmassy praise songs that were beautiful. Casting Crowns did an amazing one called "Christmas Bells" based on a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. It was in a war time, and Henry just lost his wife and daughter, and he wrote this about despair and finding hope and peace in the Lord.
World Vision partnered with this concert lineup and my family is now sponsering a 7-year-old girl from China! This is so cool, let me tell you. We get to write letters to her and stuff and get a pic of her and a translator tells her (and us) what the letters say. Get this -- if YOU sponser a child through World Vision, here's what happens. World Vision goes to one needy village at a time in various countries and gets pictures and information about all the needy children there. Then they bring them to the USA. Now, here's what's cool. Nobody else is sponsering the child you'll be sponsering. That is the only picture of that girl or boy from World Vision -- YOU are their hope. Mark Hall (Casting Crowns lead singer) informed everyone in the audience that you can't preach the gospel to an empty stomach -- you need to fill it first, and then offer Jesus' love. That's what World Vision does. First we help them take care of the child, then, as we continue to care for them, World Vision tells them about God. It's so cool, I really hope you decide to sponser a child. Please talk with your parents about this!! I hope to have more info for you later.

Pet Peeves

I was thinking about pet peeves the other day. One of my pet peeves is when a book or textbook has an error or typo. My mom gets annoyed when people arrive late, or say they do something and then don't do it.

Sometimes people's pet peeves can sound absolutely crazy to us. Like, I absolutely love reptitive noise -- keyboard clicking, tapping, drumming, anything; most people can't stand it. I think they're crazy, but really, they aren't.

We're wired with little things that tick us off -- pen clicking, gum-smacking, screaming, people wearing white after Labor Day. Other people's peeves sound crazy to us (how on earth could that bug someone?), but we all have pet peeves. Our pet peeves don't sound crazy to us.

God instructs us to "love on another as we love ourselves". If we wouldn't want someone to get on our nerves, we shouldn't make a point of getting on theirs. We should be respectful to their wishes and honor them.