Mimu's Message.com from July 27, 2003: I can’t believe I’m doing this. Look, these kids aren’t even doing it! Hey! You guys are supposed to be young and full of energy! Me, I’ve had a heck of a week and I’m TIRED! Oh great, now their parents are going to think that they had NO fun all week and I’m just a nutcase who really enjoys songs with hand motions. Even this little girl is staring at me… I really should not feel stupid for a three year old. At least my mom still loves me… and feels stupid too, two rows back and dancing like an idiot like I am. Oh my gosh now I’m yelling at Wet Willy… sheesh, he and I both know where his note is. This is so dumb… “I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness…” -Paul, in 2 Cor. 11:1a I definitely performed with shining foolishness this week, at our church’s Vacation Bible School. I sang silly songs. I did the hand motions to the silly songs. I went down a huge inflatable slide. I allowed people to get me really wet, be it with foam splash bombs, spray bottles, or just a big old bucket of water. I did some rather foolish things. But I’m in good company… Noah built a very large boat on dry land. (Genesis 6:13-22) Moses talked to shrubbery. (Exodus 3) Gideon, with thirty-two thousand men at his command, took only three hundred to attack a huge army. (Judges 7) Hosea married a prostitute. (Now THERE’S a good relationship.) (Hosea 1:2-3) David danced in the street. (His wife hated him for it, too.) (2 Samuel 6:16) Everybody thought the Disciples were drunk after they received the Holy Spirit because of the way they were praising God. (Acts 2:1-13) If you know anything about those stories, you know that all those men had good reason for what they did. Many of them were just following direct orders from God. Others were just reacting to what God was doing. However, all the stories turn out for the best. So did mine. 71 kids accepted Christ this week. I’d like to hope that maybe something I did helped with that; that my foolishness wasn’t in vain. And if it was… Fine. I LIKED doing the hand motions! Lauren D. // 8:27 PM ______________________ from July 20, 2003: I know you’ve heard it a million times. For high school students, there practically is no present… what you’re doing now has the sole purpose of… PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE! Yes, that’s right. You must get good grades and join lots of clubs at school and do community service so that you can go to a good college and then get a good job and make something of yourself. All this is called… PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE! And you should do it! Because it’s good! Alright, fine. It is a really bright idea to make sure that you are laying a path for the rest of your life academically and professionally. But do you ever plan for your spiritual future? Nowadays, you may be doing pretty well with your faith. You may read your Bible frequently, pray often, have a good amount of fellowship with other believers, and in general be living your life in an effort to glorify God. If this is the case with you, awesome. Even if you aren’t always successful, if you are trying to maintain an effective relationship with God you are on the right track. But what happens later? When you get older and move away, or even when you start your own family, will you still be living for God? It is easy to say “Well, sure,” but unless you make a commitment to it, your faith could slip away. I’ve seen it happen; it’s really very sad. So take a tip from David, when he writes in Psalm 63:4, “I will praise [God] as long as I live.” When I see you in twenty years, I want to hear how your faith is continuing to grow and how you are teaching it to your kids (assuming you have any). I hope I will be able to say the same. Lauren D. // 8:01 PM ______________________ from July 13, 2003: If you’ve ever been to a movie, or even if you haven’t, you are most likely familiar with the Motion Picture Association of America Rating System. That’s the letters and numbers that give you a suggestion as to whether the content of the movie is appropriate for certain ages. Such as: PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. But God has his own rating system. In Phillipians 4:8 he commands us to be careful with our thoughts. They should therefore be rated: T: True. Founded in God’s word. N: Noble. In a class above the rest. R: Right. Not wrong? P: Pure. Clean and free of trash that you wouldn’t want Jesus to see. L: Lovely. Beautiful, nice. A: Admirable. Full of worth. E: Excellent. Most righteous, dude! Er…I mean… really good? P-W: Praiseworthy. Worthy of recognition or glory. Pretty simple, huh? Just keep them in mind. You might be surprised how it can revolutionize your thinking. Lauren D. // 7:59 PM ______________________ from July 6, 2003: You gotta look out for number one, “Number one” meaning yourself of course. I mean, if you don’t have yourself, what do you have? How can you worry about other stuff until things are going well for you? Heh, good one. “Number one” SHOULD be God. Your purpose on the earth is not to look out for yourself and make sure you can get all you can before you die. Your purpose is to serve God (see Mimu’s Message from February 9. Don’t have it anymore? Check the website! http://mimusmsg.blogspot.com). Paul is one of the greatest examples I know of living with God first. He writes to his fellow disciple and protégé Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:8b-9: “This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.” Not only is Paul willing to be in jail for his efforts to serve God by sharing the gospel, but he is able to rejoice that the gospel is not in jail with him. He knows that God’s word is too powerful to be held in, and he is happy that others continue to share it outside the prison walls. Think about that, he in rotting away in captivity but he is just full of joy because God’s word cannot be defeated. Is that your attitude? Who is REALLY number one? Lauren D. // 7:56 PM ______________________
from July 27, 2003: I can’t believe I’m doing this. Look, these kids aren’t even doing it! Hey! You guys are supposed to be young and full of energy! Me, I’ve had a heck of a week and I’m TIRED! Oh great, now their parents are going to think that they had NO fun all week and I’m just a nutcase who really enjoys songs with hand motions. Even this little girl is staring at me… I really should not feel stupid for a three year old. At least my mom still loves me… and feels stupid too, two rows back and dancing like an idiot like I am. Oh my gosh now I’m yelling at Wet Willy… sheesh, he and I both know where his note is. This is so dumb… “I hope you will put up with a little of my foolishness…” -Paul, in 2 Cor. 11:1a I definitely performed with shining foolishness this week, at our church’s Vacation Bible School. I sang silly songs. I did the hand motions to the silly songs. I went down a huge inflatable slide. I allowed people to get me really wet, be it with foam splash bombs, spray bottles, or just a big old bucket of water. I did some rather foolish things. But I’m in good company… Noah built a very large boat on dry land. (Genesis 6:13-22) Moses talked to shrubbery. (Exodus 3) Gideon, with thirty-two thousand men at his command, took only three hundred to attack a huge army. (Judges 7) Hosea married a prostitute. (Now THERE’S a good relationship.) (Hosea 1:2-3) David danced in the street. (His wife hated him for it, too.) (2 Samuel 6:16) Everybody thought the Disciples were drunk after they received the Holy Spirit because of the way they were praising God. (Acts 2:1-13) If you know anything about those stories, you know that all those men had good reason for what they did. Many of them were just following direct orders from God. Others were just reacting to what God was doing. However, all the stories turn out for the best. So did mine. 71 kids accepted Christ this week. I’d like to hope that maybe something I did helped with that; that my foolishness wasn’t in vain. And if it was… Fine. I LIKED doing the hand motions! Lauren D. // 8:27 PM
from July 20, 2003: I know you’ve heard it a million times. For high school students, there practically is no present… what you’re doing now has the sole purpose of… PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE! Yes, that’s right. You must get good grades and join lots of clubs at school and do community service so that you can go to a good college and then get a good job and make something of yourself. All this is called… PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE! And you should do it! Because it’s good! Alright, fine. It is a really bright idea to make sure that you are laying a path for the rest of your life academically and professionally. But do you ever plan for your spiritual future? Nowadays, you may be doing pretty well with your faith. You may read your Bible frequently, pray often, have a good amount of fellowship with other believers, and in general be living your life in an effort to glorify God. If this is the case with you, awesome. Even if you aren’t always successful, if you are trying to maintain an effective relationship with God you are on the right track. But what happens later? When you get older and move away, or even when you start your own family, will you still be living for God? It is easy to say “Well, sure,” but unless you make a commitment to it, your faith could slip away. I’ve seen it happen; it’s really very sad. So take a tip from David, when he writes in Psalm 63:4, “I will praise [God] as long as I live.” When I see you in twenty years, I want to hear how your faith is continuing to grow and how you are teaching it to your kids (assuming you have any). I hope I will be able to say the same. Lauren D. // 8:01 PM
from July 13, 2003: If you’ve ever been to a movie, or even if you haven’t, you are most likely familiar with the Motion Picture Association of America Rating System. That’s the letters and numbers that give you a suggestion as to whether the content of the movie is appropriate for certain ages. Such as: PG-13: Parents Strongly Cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13. But God has his own rating system. In Phillipians 4:8 he commands us to be careful with our thoughts. They should therefore be rated: T: True. Founded in God’s word. N: Noble. In a class above the rest. R: Right. Not wrong? P: Pure. Clean and free of trash that you wouldn’t want Jesus to see. L: Lovely. Beautiful, nice. A: Admirable. Full of worth. E: Excellent. Most righteous, dude! Er…I mean… really good? P-W: Praiseworthy. Worthy of recognition or glory. Pretty simple, huh? Just keep them in mind. You might be surprised how it can revolutionize your thinking. Lauren D. // 7:59 PM
from July 6, 2003: You gotta look out for number one, “Number one” meaning yourself of course. I mean, if you don’t have yourself, what do you have? How can you worry about other stuff until things are going well for you? Heh, good one. “Number one” SHOULD be God. Your purpose on the earth is not to look out for yourself and make sure you can get all you can before you die. Your purpose is to serve God (see Mimu’s Message from February 9. Don’t have it anymore? Check the website! http://mimusmsg.blogspot.com). Paul is one of the greatest examples I know of living with God first. He writes to his fellow disciple and protégé Timothy in 2 Timothy 2:8b-9: “This is my gospel, for which I am suffering even to the point of being chained like a criminal. But God’s word is not chained.” Not only is Paul willing to be in jail for his efforts to serve God by sharing the gospel, but he is able to rejoice that the gospel is not in jail with him. He knows that God’s word is too powerful to be held in, and he is happy that others continue to share it outside the prison walls. Think about that, he in rotting away in captivity but he is just full of joy because God’s word cannot be defeated. Is that your attitude? Who is REALLY number one? Lauren D. // 7:56 PM
