Daily Devotion

2 Timothy 3:14-17

You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.

When dark times come, stand on the foundation of Scripture and what you have seen of its impact in those who have helped you grow spiritually!

Timothy had been warned: dark times are coming. Now Paul explains how to best come through them. God is saying these same things to you. Don't interpret life by your feelings in those hard experiences. Cling to what you know of God. Trust Him. Remember those who have impacted you deeply for God and how trusting Him and His principles have worked out in their lives and follow their example.

Soak yourself in the Scriptures. God will speak to you through them and help you understand His ways. The Bible will show you how you can live in a way that allows God to work in and through you.

Author Kay Arthur says, "I believe the greater the pressure, the greater your need for time alone with Him."

Wisdom is.....?

Wisdom has always seemed so illusive to me. Like some mysterious woman that I’ll never understand it was always reserved in my mind for old men with gray hair or robed chinese guys with long wispy goatees, but not some middle aged dad who has little gray hair and who’s goatee screams “youth pastor” not “wisdom”. Yet over the last couple years, I’ve learned a lot about wisdom (and still learning)… so here’s some thoughts.

Wisdom is not just for old people.

Wisdom is given to those who ask.

Wisdom is more of a choice than some mystical spirit that comes over you.

Wisdom requires looking further than the NOW.

Wisdom is listening to a pastor who has a full head of hair. OK, so I made that one up:)

Daily Devotion

2 Timothy 3:10-12

Now you followed my teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, perseverance, persecutions, and sufferings, such as happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium and at Lystra; what persecutions I endured, and out of them all the Lord rescued me! Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.

God will take care of you, even in the dark times!

Do you desire to live godly in Christ Jesus? Then you "will be persecuted." Paul's own experience showed the truth of this. He walked so close to the Lord and was overflowing with faith. And yet he said that his "teaching, conduct, purpose, faith, patience, love, and perseverance" (that is, his Christ-likeness) were accompanied by "persecutions and sufferings."

Does godliness excuse you from the difficulties of life? No! It may even bring challenges that you wouldn't have had otherwise! But in this passage, the Lord reminds us why it's still good to pursue the godly life—"out of them all the Lord rescued me!"

Here's the vast difference between a godly person and a worldly person. A worldly person just tries to "make it through" dark times. But a godly person trusts and finds God at work in and through all things.

Corrie Ten Boom, who suffered so much for God, once said, "Perhaps only when human effort had done its best and failed, would God's power alone be free to work."

Daily Devotion

2 Timothy 3:1-5

But realize this, that in the last days difficult times will come. For men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self-control, brutal, haters of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. Avoid such men as these.

Don't expect that loving God means you will face an easy life!

"Difficult times will come." It's a fact of life, isn't it? There are good times and bad times in everybody's life. We are fallen beings living in fallen bodies in a fallen world, surrounded by other fallen people. And according to this passage, that is only going to get worse as we move towards the "last days."

God allows us to experience the fallenness of life, just like everyone else. It is in our spiritual response to the difficulties of life that God is most glorified.

What is God saying to you through this passage today? If you are experiencing dark times, don't think it is unusual or that God has abandoned you. God wants you to know that until you go to be with Him, you will have the stress of life in a fallen world. The difference is that God walks through that experience with you, transforming both you and those you touch.

Daily Devotion

John 7:16-17

So Jesus answered them and said, "My teaching is not Mine, but His who sent Me. If anyone is willing to do His will, he will know of the teaching, whether it is of God or whether I speak from Myself."

Am I willing to obey God, no matter what?

God speaks to those who are ready to obey His will for them!

Would you ask someone to do something for you if you already knew that their answer would be "no!"? Of course not. So why do we expect God to speak into our lives when we have no intention of obeying Him, unless He says exactly what we want Him to say?

Jesus asked people one time, "Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord!' and do not do what that I say?"(Luke 6:46)

Today, God's speaking to you. If you want to begin recognising Him speaking to you, you must first come to the place where you say to Him, "Lord, even before you tell me what it is you want in my life, or what you want me to remove from my life, I want to say to you ‘Yes Lord'. I don't need to hear your will first, so that then I can decide whether or not to do it—I have already decided! I trust you and your will for me and my answer is ‘Yes Lord'."

JR HIgh Hume Lake

Two weeks ago was my first hume lake trip w/ Ampd Youth Group. Winter camp was amazing, God moved in the kids hearts and was a great way to start 2010 off. 2010 is going to be a packed year for Ampd Youth Ministries, and Hume Lake was just the begining.
This weekend we are going up with the JR high youth which should be fun. I'm know the kids are expecting a great time but after being there two weeks ago, I'm going there with a different perspective. I know they will have a great time, I'm expecting GOD to show up in their lives and impact them for a lifetime!!!! Stay tuned for I will post some reviews of the two weekends and lots of videos.

Join with me as we pray for God to impact this next generation!!

MALAYSIA — Churches Firebombed

MALAYSIA — Churches Firebombed

   Seven churches have been attacked in Malaysia following a court decision that allows Christians to use "Allah" in their prayers and publications when referring to God, according to The Associated Press (AP).

   On Sunday, Jan. 10, three churches were firebombed. "On Sunday, a Molotov cocktail was hurled at the All Saints Church in Taiping town in central Perak state early in the morning before it opened," state police chief Zulkifli Abdullah told AP. "Police found burn marks on the wall but there was no damage to the building," he added. Despite the attacks, thousands of Christians attended services and prayed for unity and an end to the attacks.The attacks on churches began on Jan. 8 and 9, when four churches were hit with firebombs. "No one was hurt and all suffered little damage, except the Metro Tabernacle Church," AP said. "Parishioners there moved services after fire gutted the first floor."

   The attacks followed a Dec. 31 High Court decision overturning a government ban prohibiting non-Muslims from using the word "Allah" in prayers and literature. The court had ruled on a petition by Malaysia's Roman Catholic Church, whose main publication, the Herald, uses the word "Allah" in its Malay-language edition. The government has appealed the verdict.
  Pray for believers. Pray that they will show grace and love toward the attackers and that their testimonies will draw non-believers into fellowship with Christ.

Daily Devotion

James 1:2-4

Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance. And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

What is the outcome in my life?

God's voice doesn't always come to us the way we want it; sometimes He teaches us our greatest lessons through the most difficult experiences of our lives!

Satan wants you to live for today, to pursue instant gratification, to escape from trials. God wants you to live for eternity, to pursue godliness, and to grow to spiritual maturity through trials.

What's the outcome of your living for today? It means your spiritual life remains shallow, and you'll miss some of the greatest spiritual growth that God offers (Phil 3:10-12). It means that you'll only focus on the parts of Scripture that promise God's blessing through prosperity and health. It means that your faith will be in danger of collapse when God brings you into times of trial, because trials won't fit into your view of God.

What's the outcome of living for eternity? It means that you'll see the spiritual blessing that lies behind trials (2 Cor. 4:17). And you'll look for how God wants to grow you through those hard times (Psalm 119:71). Instead of your faith being weakened by pain, it will grow as you meet God there!

Daily Devotion

Galatians 1:10

For am I now seeking the favor of men, or of God? Or am I striving to please men? If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.

Am I trying to please men, or myself, or God?

The starting place for learning to recognize God's voice in your life is an absolute commitment to living a God-focused life, rather than a self-focused or man-focused life!

It is so easy to come to the conclusion that something must be God's will for me because I really want it to be God's will for me, or because I feel that other people really want me choose that way and so I must. And of course, God's will for you may be the very thing that would also be most enjoyable to you or others.

But if you really want to learn to recognize God's voice in your life, you must first come to the decision that your life is for God, not for you and not for meeting anyone else's expectations—that anytime there is a conflict between what God wants for you and what you want for you, it is already decided that you will choose for God.

God wants you to know that when you are committed to pleasing Him above all else, then He will begin to reveal to you what would please Him in your life.

Daily Devotion

Psalm 37:5-7

Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it. He will bring forth your righteousness as the light and your judgment as the noonday. Rest in the LORD and wait patiently for Him…

You can overcome temptation in your life by trusting God!

The Bible tells us that whatever is not from faith is sin (Rom 14:23), and it's true that most sin finds its root in a failure to trust God. When Satan tempted Eve, she chose to trust Satan's words and her own judgment more than God.

Almost any sin in your life can be expressed in the words, "God, I cannot get what I need to fulfil me in life from you. I need to get it from this other thing.".Satan caused Eve to be dissatisfied with God's way of life, to think she needed more in order to be fulfilled. What a deception!

Pursuing fulfilment outside of God's will for us is like drinking salt water. Feels good going down, but you end up thirstier than before!

God is saying to you today that He designed you in such a way that you will only find what you need in Him. You can trust Him that if you walk with Him each day, living your life to please Him, then He will give you inner satisfaction that you will never find in anything else.

Daily Devotion

Psalm 119:9-11

How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Your word. With all my heart I have sought You; Do not let me wander from Your commandments. Your word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You.

You can overcome temptation by focusing your life on God's Word!

Read those verses again slowly, taking in each thought. If you have your Bible handy, I encourage you to underline this passage. It would be a great one to memorize. It contains one of the most important principles of your Christian life.

DL Moody put it this way. He said, "Either sin will keep you from this Book, or this Book will keep you from sin!" Which is it in your life?

You see, if temptation is attempting to get your focus off God and His Word and onto the thing you are being tempted about, then the best way to overcome temptation is to bring your focus back to God and His Word.

If you do not build your life each day around God's Word, then you are inviting Satan and this secular world and your own sin-nature to move your focus off God and to change your perspective on life and to make the things of this world more important to you than spiritual things.

Ask God now: help me treasure your word in my heart.

How to really lose a guy in 10 days!!!

You’ve seen the movie (c’mon don’t lie…we know you did), but you can’t remember a thing about it.

Have no fear, here’s the real list on how to lose a guy in 10 days.

HOW TO LOSE A GUY IN 10 DAYS

Day 1 – Cry all day for no reason. If the crying doesn’t get him, the fact that there’s no reason for it will.

Day 2 – Take a Dump in his guitar, or whatever else he holds near and dear to his heart. This can work with a home entertainment system, a sports car, or a Macbook Pro. (And don’t go that whole “girls don’t poop” routine because we know y’all can drop bombs with the best of them. There, I said it.)

Day 3 – Mimic him like a 6-year old. It’s unbearably annoying when your kids do this for 5 seconds, imagine the torture of listening to an adult do it for an entire day. “imagine the torture of listening to an adult do it for an entire day.”

Day 4 – Tell him how attractive his friends are. And if you’re really feeling it, blow up a picture of his best friend and hang it like a poster on your side of the bedroom. This will really boost his confidence.

Day 5 – Wear his rival team’s gear. If Lily walked around the house in a Green Bay Packers uniform all day, my brain would explode in a confused mess by lunchtime. (be careful with this one…if there were any hardballs lying around the house, I might subconsciously fire a fastball under her chin to send her a message without even realizing it.)

Day 6 – Get the Kate haircut. Kate plus 8 can rock the reverse mullet. You can’t.

Day 7 – Tell him he’s wicked gross. Don’t elaborate or get specific, just tell him he’s gross. From birth until 5th grade this was the highest compliment a girl could give a guy. From 6th grade on, it’s the biggest insult.

Day 8 – Adopt 12 cats. It gives me the chills just typing it. I’d rather have ants, termites or rabid wolverines in my house than cats.

Day 9 – Go on a Home Shopping Network spending spree. Watch 12 straight hours of HSN and order multiple items of every other product. Preface every purchase with comments like,  “We TOTALLY need that solar powered shiatsu armpit massager” and “I have ALWAYS dreamed of owning seven Esteban classical guitars!”

Day 10 – Don’t Believe in Him. When Lily affirms me (in word or action), it makes me feel like I can run through a brick wall while writing the next great American novel and juggling 10 flaming porcupines. Nothing deflates a guy quicker than feeling like he’s got no support system, so tell him he ain’t got you babe.

Daily Devotion

Genesis 3:4-6

The serpent said to the woman, "You surely will not die! "For God knows that in the day you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable to make one wise, she took from its fruit and ate; and she gave also to her husband with her, and he ate.

Temptation makes you dissatisfied with God's plan for you!

What Satan said was not completely a lie (see v. 22). So what was wrong with it? What was the temptation? He was encouraging Eve to want more than God had given her—to want what was not right.

He did this by stirring up pride in her—"you will be like God", and by appealing to her physical desires—"good for food…a delight to the eyes."

Pride—the desire to be popular, to be liked, not to be thought weird—has led so many people to compromise their spiritual convictions. And physical desire—sexual opportunities, overeating, laziness—distracts us from God and makes it easy to desire and even justify what God doesn't allow in our lives.

Someone has said, "The essence of temptation is the invitation to live independently of God." Feeling tempted? Get your focus back on God!\

Daily Devotion

God's Plan of Restoration in Your Life 

"He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light." Job 33:28

On the night of Jesus' arrest, Peter denied Jesus — three times! In spite of Peter's lack of loyalty, Jesus extended an invitation of mercy to him and said, "Come and dine."

There on the shores of the Sea of Galilee after His resurrection, Jesus came to Peter and prepared a table of restoration. Can you imagine what was going through Peter's mind? Guilt and gladness, fear and fascination, wonder and worship — a kaleidoscope of emotions! He could not believe that he was being invited to the table of the One he had deserted just days before. And not only was he being invited but restored!

The depth of Jesus' covenant love is not exhausted when we sin. There is forgiveness and restoration.

Read this account of restoration in John 21:4-19. Rejoice over God's plan of restoration in yourlife.

Daily Devotion

Genesis 2:16-17, 3:1

The LORD God commanded the man, saying, "From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die"…

Now the serpent was more crafty than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Indeed, has God said, ‘You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?"

Temptation challenges God's Word!

Temptation can come from Satan, or from the secular world around you, or from your own inner sinful nature. But no matter where temptation comes from, it always has one thing in common. It challenges God's Word.

Temptation attempts to take our focus off God and get it onto something else. For Eve, that something else was the delicious-looking fruit. For you it will be something else. And it'll be something different today than it was yesterday.

If you allow yourself to become fixated with that thing, your attention will be taken away from God and His Word. You'll find yourself walking down a path that leads away from God.

Today, when you notice something stealing the focus in your life away from God, whether it's a form of entertainment, an ungodly action or something else, God wants you to walk away from it and focus on Him.

Random thoughts from the Bathroom

With the new age of digital texting and computers, have we seen the last of the formal skill of writing in cursive? I remember spending years perfecting my own style of cursive. Whole chunks of time in school were devoted to perfecting your cursive handwriting. But in the age of iPhones and laptops, is it really practiced still? Should we still spend the educational time to train students in a dying art? Or train me because I couldn't write it if I tried... Will we see less and less of the written word and more of the digital word? Like it or not… it’s here.

Daily Devotion

2 Timothy 2:3, 10

Suffer hardship with me, as a good soldier of Christ Jesus…For this reason I endure all things for the sake of those who are chosen, so that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus and with it eternal glory.

Don't forget what the battle is about!

The battle is about what God is doing to draw more and more people to turn to Him for forgiveness and a new life empowered and directed by Him. That is what God has been working for in this world all along. It is the reason why He has not brought history to a conclusion yet. It is why He has left you on earth instead of taking you straight to heaven.

God wants you to know that He wants to use you today, and tomorrow, and the day after that, to help the people in your life move towards Christ. As you pray about your day today, focus your prayers, not on your wants, but on your relationships. Ask God to use you in those relationships to help those people take one small step closer to Him today.

Then look for God's answer as you spend time with people today. Look for any chance to have a spiritual conversation, to talk about what God means in your life, or how He has changed your life, or something you learned from Scripture this week.

Senior High Hume Lake

 

Ok so this is my first year going to Hume lake. I hear it is amazing, I mean you can go snowboarding, snow tubing, broom hockey, base jumping, there all kinds of food, staying up late w/ fiends, ride a machined bull, and so much more. But for me it's much more deeper then all of that. I'm going praying that God gets a hold of our young people at Ampd Youth Group. We have a great group of kids in this youth group. Now not all could make it and that's ok, but God really is weighing heavy on my heart this week for the kids b/c I believe it's because God is about to do some really awesome things in this Youth Group.  God wants us to be ready so we can be apart. Trust me I'm looking forward to getting crazy w/ the kids and doing all the fun stuff as well. I just KNOW and BELIEVE that God is going to radically shake our kids to the core and they will leave Hume on FIRE for Him and forever changed!
My Prayer List For Senior High Hume Lake
Everyone returns safe
Lives are Changed!
That the Kids will develop a heart for WORSHIP!
student leaders will be born!
Lasting Memories
and finally that I would be able to get some SLEEP!

So parents join me in praying for our youth this trip, and let's expect to see great things to be done!

Daily Devotion

God's Guidance System

In Matthew 6:22-24, Jesus tells us the impact when God has our whole heart,

"The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

While it may not seem like it, Jesus is talking about the heart.

As we learned in our previous devotionals, if you give to God, and give for the right reasons, God has your heart.  Your heart belongs to Him.  When God has your heart, He can lead you; because that is how God leads, He leads through your heart.

That's really what this illustration is about.  That is what He means by, "The lamp of the body is the eye."

Think about the difference light makes when trying to walk on a narrow, craggy path.  When light comes into your eye, you can see your way.  Your eyes, when the light is able to come in, are a built-in guidance system, aren't they?

Well, you know what?  You have a guidance system God uses to lead you.  That guidance system is called your heart.  If God has your treasure, He has your heart.  But God can't lead you through your heart if He doesn't have your heart.

If God has your heart, then He can begin to lead you.  You can go anywhere He tells you to go.  And interestingly enough, the loyalty of our heart is expressed through our giving.  Giving and guidance tied together?  According to Jesus…definitely!

Daily Devotion

Ephesians 6:11-13

Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places. Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.

Prepare yourself for spiritual battle before it comes to you!

We have a powerful and clever spiritual enemy, but God has given us armor and weapons that will enable us to defeat his attacks in our lives.

Still, unless we use that armor and prepare for battle we will experience constant defeat in our spiritual lives. As Charles Spurgeon said, "We may sleep, but Satan does not."

The time to start praying and reading your Bible and going to Bible study is not when you are in a tough time and being tempted and attacked spiritually at every turn. For sure, run to God then; but God is speaking to you today through these verses and telling you that the key to victory is to be walking in close fellowship with Him BEFORE the attacks come.

How can you strengthen your spiritual life today?

Faith & Films

"The Blind Side" Shows Faith in Action                   

Release Date:  November 20, 2009 

Rating:  PG-13 (for one scene involving brief violence, drug and sexual references)
Genre:  Drama, Adaptation
Run Time:  126 min.
Director:  John Lee Hancock
Actors:  Sandra Bullock, Tim McGraw, Quinton Aaron, Jae Head, Lily Collins, Kathy Bates, Ray McKinnon

Sandra Bullock is having quite a year. After showing off her star power with the summer hi tThe Proposal, Bullock becomes a Southern dynamo Leigh Anne Tuohy in The Blind Side and, in the process, creates one of the year's more memorable characters. And she's no fictional creation.

This adaptation of a Michael Lewis book (The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game) tells the true story Michael Oher (Quinton Aaron), a gentle hulk of a boy who, through some string-pulling by concerned relatives, gains admission to the same Christian school the Tuohy children attend in Memphis. His IQ of 80 and grade point average of 0.6 present obvious challenges for his teachers and his unwillingness to do any homework is jeopardizing his future at the school.

His one hope, in the eyes of the school, is football—although Oher never has played the game. It's the school's football coach (Ray McKinnon) who, after one look at Oher, makes it his mission to develop Oher into a star athlete.

Oher's other, less self-interested hope is Tuohy, a smartly dressed mother of two who finds Oher, her daughter's classmate at the Christian school, walking the streets in need of a place to stay. She and her husband (Tim McGraw) invite him to sleep in their home, and once there, help to shape him into a well-rounded student with a bright future.

Tuohy also learns that while Oher's academic scores are low, his commitment to protection of those he cares about couldn't be higher. When the efforts of the school's football coach to groom Oher as a star football player meet middling results, it's Leigh Anne's appeal to Oher's protective streak that spark his inspired new level of play. He not only protects the quarterback but demolishes defenders standing between the team's running backs and the end zone.

What gets short shrift in this adaptation is the discussion of the science behind the rise of the left tackle to one of the most highly paid positions in professional football. The film condenses that analysis to a brief introductory sequence set to repeated replays of Joe Theismann's final play in the National Football League—an example of the perils of a quarterback being hit from the blind side. Rather than dwell on the strategies behind successful NFL teams, the film version of The Blind Side goes long on the human drama of a white Southern family raising a large black boy.

The social consequences of the Tuohys' decision are predictable. Leigh Anne's all-white social circle can't figure out a way to politely express their concerns (does Leigh Anne fear that her daughter might be sexually assaulted by Oher?) while the same daughter works up the courage to make a statement of solidarity with Michael by sitting next to him at school.

The Tuohys' altruism could be perceived as self-congratulatory, but the film presents the very real possibility that Michael might pack up and leave the Tuohys' home at any moment in an effort to track down his birth mom. Nevertheless, it's clear throughout the film who has the most to lose from such a decision, and it's refreshing when one of the white characters, prompted to extol her positive impact on the life of this less privileged athlete, comments that she's not changing him—it's the other way around.

Director John Lee Hancock, whose earlier film The Rookie (2002) was one of the best family-friendly films of the decade, guides Bullock and Aaron to fine performances, while McGraw and Kathy Bates are enjoyable, if a bit underused.

The Tuohys' strong Christian faith is evidenced mainly by their actions, although it filters through some of the dialogue as the characters struggle over what the appropriate Christian response should be to their situation. The film's treatment of religion, while not as explicit as some Christian viewers might hope, is marred only by a misquoted Bible verse on a school sign—a jarring error in this otherwise warmhearted, true-life crowd-pleaser.

CAUTIONS:

• Language/Profanity:  Racial epithets; "Mother of God"; "kicking butt"; "don't get your panties in a wad"; "God bless me"; anatomical reference to a topless bar.
• Smoking/Drinking/Drugs:  A few scenes of drinking; drugs are shown; reference to a woman who's "on that crack pipe"; a man prefaces a phone message by saying he's had "five cold ones"; a drug dealer mentions that a certain woman usually "stops by for a taste"; Michael remembers how his mother wanted to keep him from seeing her do drugs.
• Sex/Nudity:  None. A discussion of football players who are "wide in the butt" set to shots of said players; a married couple kisses in bed, and the husband wants to go further; concerns expressed about a black boy possibly endangering the Tuohys' daughter; a woman slaps another man's backside; players ogle Leigh Anne from behind as she walks away; verbal reference to "mommy/daughter action"; Leigh Anne threatens to cut off Michael's penis if he impregnates a girl.
• Violence/Crime:  Hard-hitting football scenes, including replays of Joe Theismann's leg getting broken during a tackle by Lawrence Taylor; car crash; blood-stained clothes; handguns are fired during an altercation.
• Religion:  Matthew 19:26 is displayed on a school sign, but the word "impossible" appears as "possible"; discussion of what the Christian thing to do is in regard to Oher's future; Leigh Anne says grace before the family eats dinner; Le Anne wears a cross necklace; a woman says she wasn't spiritual enough to be hired, and that she has certain doubts; Leigh Anne says, "I suppose I have God to thank" for Michael's presence in her life.

Daily Devotion

And without faith it is impossible to please him…

--Hebrews 11:6

There's just something about the start of a new year that inspires us to improve our lives, isn't there? Well, if you're serious about change, here's what I recommend: Stop doing things in your own power and put your whole faith and trust in Jesus Christ!

Now you may say, "I'm not sure I can do that." But you can! Let me tell you a little story.

Some time ago, a group of missionaries were down in the Hebrides Islands translating the Scripture. And they were struggling to find the word that would truly communicate the genuine, biblical meaning of faith. They were having a hard time trying to explain what it meant to place your complete trust in Jesus.

The missionaries went on a long journey with some of the islanders who were carrying heavy equipment. And at the end of that hard trek the natives just collapsed against a large rock and finally rested.

One of the missionaries observing the men got an idea. He said, "Tell me the words that describe what you just did… how you stopped laboring and rested against that rock?" They told him, and those were the very words they used to translate the word faith!

Believe in Jesus this way in this new year! Stop toiling and rest against the Rock of Jesus Christ in 2010!

STOP DOING THINGS IN YOUR OWN POWER
AND PUT YOUR WHOLE FAITH AND TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST!

Daily Devotion

Psalm 1:6 
For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish.

Jeff got so discouraged sometimes. He worked so hard while his roommates messed around, but they always seemed to do every bit as well as he did. Whenever he let up even a little bit, his grades fell. It just didn't seem fair.

It's hard to look around and see so many undeserving people receive such wonderful rewards. We like to feel that justice is going to be done, but we hardly ever see it. Luckily, our trust is in the Lord and His promises. Those who receive all their blessings now have nothing more to come, while those who patiently wait upon God and His justice will find themselves face-to-face with an eternity of joy and peace. Nothing escapes the watchful eye of God. He sees the way of the righteous, and He will surely reward them.

Prayer:

Lord, help me to wait patiently for Your will to be done, and do not let me envy the blessings of others. Keep my yes fixed upon Your great love. Amen.