Chinese Buffet

Chinese Buffet night tomorrow. Bring $20.00 and a completed driver form. EVERYONE must have a new driver form filled out for this school year so if you are coming you must have one. If you need the form let me know and I will e-mail it to you.

Why Pray Out Loud?

"So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, 'Father, I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.' " (John 11:41-42)

Why do we pray out loud? After all, it makes some of us really uncomfortable to pray in front of each other. And it makes others of us really bored to listen to each other pray. Why do it? Isn't God famous for knowing our thoughts, and aren't we famous for believing that He hears our thoughts?

I think Jesus reveals one of the benefits of praying out loud in front of each other in today's verses. He says clearly that His vocalized prayer of thanks was for the benefit of those listening. He wanted to leave no room for doubt that the giant miracle they were about to witness came from the God of the universe -- that He was God's Son.

In a similar way, when I ask God for help with something right out loud in front of you, you're much more likely to give God the credit when that good thing happens. Vocalizing our prayers and thanksgiving in front of each other is another way to remind each other how huge and powerful our God really is.

Think: Are you hesitant to pray in front of other people? Do you know why? What can you do to start to overcome that timidity?

Pray: Thank God that He doesn't need you to pray out loud in order to hear your prayers, and ask Him to help you to become comfortable talking to Him in front of others sometimes for their benefit and His glory.

No Inertia Tonight =(

Inertia is cancelled tonight. We were supposed to go to the Impact concert but we didn't have enough people sign up. So we will see you all next week for Pumpkin Night AKA Kevin Sangs B-day. Don't forget to BYOP. Bring Your Own Pumpkin.

Free Running

-Nick

Hey guys,

Who wants to stage a coup with me?

-Nick

Video Game Girl

Guitar Hero

Calendar

Hey guys,
I know we sent out a calendar in the mail but I just wanted to post some dates up here just in case. If you didn't get a newsletter let us know and we will send one right out to you.

July

10th- Ice Age 3

14th- Beach Day

23rd- Splish Splash

24th- Playground Games

28th- Beach Day

August

5th- Six Flags

7th- Outdoor Games

11th- Beach Day

17th- Skatepark

21st- Dodgeball

25th- Beach Day

Ice Age 3

Hey guys,
We are going to see Ice Age 3 on friday. The cost is $10. The showing is at 7:15 so we are meeting at 6:30 at the church.
-Inertia Youth Team

Website Maintenance

Hey Guys,

Our website is undergoing some much needed maintenance so for now you will be directed here to our blog. We hope to have our full site up and running again soon. Any questions let us know.

-Inertia Youth Team

Peace: What's Your Part?

"LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance." (Psalm 16:5-6)

Your pop culture philosophy teacher for this week is Mr. J.J. Abrams. If you have attended any of his classes -- the "Star Trek" movie, the season finale of "Lost," even a recent episode of "Fringe" -- you may have noticed that he wants you to think really hard about time travel.

More specifically, he wants you to wrestle with the age old debates about whether our paths are predetermined or whether we might be able to change our destiny. It's a fun bone to chew on, but it's also one that leaves us asking some difficult personal questions.

If could go back and change my past, would I? Is my "present reality" good enough? What is good? Should I accept things as they are or make every effort in my power to change my reality? If I had unlimited free will and unlimited power to change everything, would I make it better -- or far worse? And, finally, what does any of this have to do with Psalm 16?

Only this: David said to the one true God: "You are the only source of good things in my life. I will choose to be content with whatever you give me today -- to enjoy it, even -- and to look forward to all the good things you'll give me forever."

Whatever the answer to all those sticky questions, David focused in this psalm on tuning his heart to God's goodness -- and left the past, present, and future up to his powerful, loving, trustworthy Father.

Cat's Are Fun

Go and Do

"Keep on loving each other as brothers." (Hebrews 13:1)

Some people measure Christianity as a collection of "don't" statements. Even some Christians seem to think that a relationship with God is mostly about what we do NOT do. By that logic, the best Christian would be the one who never does anything at all.

But the writer of Hebrews, after making the case for faith in Jesus as the only way to receive God's grace, ends his long letter with a command cluster of DO statements. His point is that our faith should compel us to take action -- to DO something and not just sit there.

This week, we'll look at 7 things Jesus followers can go and do -- because we are Jesus followers. The first is familiar: Keep loving other Christians like brothers. We are family. Real family, God's family, loves with the forgiving, patient, understanding, grace-giving, helping hand, showing up, not letting go love of Jesus.

Let's go and do that today.

Mic Check

Microphone check.... one.... two....

testing.... one.... two....

is this thing on?