Trying Something New...

Well... I've been thinking about these videos... and I decided that if it were up to me, I'd rather scan a written blog than watch a video for 5 to 10 min... So... I'm going to try to post a typed summary every monday and thursday, a maybe a video when it will be interesting.


Haven... Start Reflecting!!!
Last night was pretty neat. We went around the circle and reflected on how we began to attend Haven and what Haven is to us.

It was so interesting to hear how everyone found Haven. Most were drug to church by their parents, some discovered Haven through friends, and apparently Carl is eternal... before Haven he was... God brought us all here with so many unique stories...

But the consensus was that Haven is... well... a haven. It is a safe place for us to escape the world and find peace... it is a second family. It is a place where we are loved and accepted. We can recharge in order to charge out into the world once again...

My point for the evening was this: Even though we have so many different stories bringing us to Haven, WE are Haven. Though our stories are different, here WE are. At one point, WE weren't a group... WE couldn't say "WE" about us... but now... WE are a "WE." We are Haven. Haven is not our upstairs area. Haven is not just a church group. Haven is a group of people that God brought together...

And Haven is so important to us... it is our safe place to meet with God and with each other.

DON'T BE SELFISH!!!

Take Haven with you!!! Don't leave it at church. Don't build up metaphorical walls around Haven at church and keep that safety, peace, acceptance, and life with Christ to yourselves!!! Go and be God's Haven for His lost children... for the hurting, the poor, the angry, the weak...

God has given us a vision. He is speaking to us. He is calling us to join Him in His work of loving people... of Redeeming people. Will we join Him? Or will we only follow Him with our words... will we hoard our safe place to ourselves??? Will we follow Jesus only when it feels good and is comfortable???

I'm asking Haven to be Haven outside of the walls of the Church. I'm asking Haven to prioritize God and His people above school events. I'm asking us all to be what we claim to be... Christians... followers of Christ... the very image of God. How will you reflect God for Haven today?

Love is not a balance...

God hurt me yesterday. He showed me just a little how my love is weak... How my love is so often empty... How what I call love... is not love at all... it is selfishness disquised within duty.

I realized that I feel guilty a lot because I see love as a balance - you know... like the balance in Montey Python's Search for the Holy Grail where they see if the "witch" weighs the same as a duck... That's how I saw love.

Sometimes I thought the goal was to have the scale balanced in relationships... sometimes I felt like I should always have my side tipped a bit heavier full of lovely actions... either way, my goal produced guilt, awkwardness, and emptiness... it did not reflect true love.

You see... God demonstrates His own love for us in that while we were still sinners... still in our sin... still dirty... still making ourselves enemies of Yahweh... Christ died for us. There is no scale for that love.

If we have a scale to measure our love against others, then our love is blackened by self. Every action is measured up against the actions of others. We are consumed with self. We are consumed with outward things. God looks into our hearts, and he desires us to do the same. We love the leper not because the leper is lovely... just as God loves us.

We are going to be discussing love the next few wednesday evenings. I pray that our ideas and goals of love will be uprooted by God, and that He will plant a new and fresh seed of love in our hearts. That we would carry His kind of love to the world... That we would leave empty religion and actions behind... and be marked by love... just as the Holy Trinity is love... that each of us would be marked by love, and so as Christ's body here and now... we would be love to a suffering world.

In Christ's Love,

Nick

Zephyr Vids!!!

Camp Zephyr Video

I'll have it up on YouTube in better quality soon...
For now, check it out on our website.