When I Was a Child...

Imagine it. You are sitting with your friends at the cafeteria. One friend pulls out a big juicy cheeseburger with everything on it. Your next friend unwraps a piece of supreme pizza with anchovies. Then you, not to be outdone, reach into your lunch bag and pull out... a small jar of whirled peas and a baby bottle full of milk. Not cool. Suddenly, your face turns red, and run out of the cafeteria screaming, "I want my woobie!"

Not very mature. I could be wrong, but I don't think that's going to win you any popularity points. I know, it may seem ridiculous, but I think that a great deal of the time, that's exactly what Christians do. We stay content with being an infant Christian. The writer of Hebrews says in the fifth chapter,
"But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." On Sunday night we discussed the process of Christian maturity. Let's all make an effort to grow up in Christ Jesus!

Don't forget to be at church for the Souper Bowl of Caring and that night come to the Williams House for a Super Bowl Party. Wear your favorite team colors and bring some really smelly-breath food. See you Sunday.

Are You Prepared?

RUPREPAREDRUPREPAREDRUPREPARED
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Last night at X-treme Disciples, we discussed 1 Peter 1:13-16. If you haven’t noticed, this contains the verses that are the theme on our T-shirts and our blog site. Prepare Your Mind For Action. What does it mean to prepare your minds for action? In the Apostle Peter’s time this was a common phrase. ‘Prepare for…action’ meant tucking your long cloak into your belt and get ready to do some work. Look around you. Are there places that action is needed? I think that if you open your eyes and truly look to the people around you, you will see that there is a lot of work to do. As followers of Christ, we should be ready to do the work that he has instructed us to do. I believe that means that we have to know what God is calling us to do. Listening for his voice, studying the scripture, and meeting with other Christ followers, are some ways that we can prepare our minds for action. Let’s be self-controlled, setting our hope fully on God’s grace, and strive to be Holy, like he is Holy.

Don’t forget to sign up for the Student Life Tour. I think this will be a really great weekend!

Also, join us for our announcement for the Souper Bowl of Caring on Sunday. Joel is working on a funny song. I have a feeling it will be great. I look forward to seeing you all on Sunday.

Paul

Some News

Here are some things we have coming up!

Souper Bowl of Caring
Each year the youth group participates in the Souper Bowl of Caring. The money raised on this date is used to help fight against hunger and poverty. These donations can be sent to whatever charity the group decides. On February 1, 2009, the youth will be collecting donations for at church with large soup bowls and we want them to be active participants. The Souper Bowl of Caring believes that youth are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but can also be the leaders of today. We are asking the Xtreme Disciples to be in the service on this date and be ready to collect the donations. The year before last we earned $886 for the Houston Food Bank and last year we earned $1,320 for CCSC. Let's see if we can continue to help in this great cause.

Super Bowl Party
Also, plan on the Xtreme Disciples watching the Super Bowl together. For right now, let's plan on having the party at the Williams house in Pearland. (The cable guy is supposed to come on February 2...but maybe our prayers will be answered.) If not we still can hook up the rabbit ears one last time. More information will come on this.


Student Life Tour
The Student Life Tour is a weekend retreat that is happening at Champions Forest Church on February 20-21. The cost of this retreat is $44.00 (if we get the money in by Feburary 6.) Last year we had four students attend this conference and each of them had a great time. We will be staying Friday night in a hotel. The weekend is filled with great drama, exciting music, and compelling speakers. It is an event that I think can have a strong impact and I hope all of our youth will consider participating.