There were not many options this week for comment of the week. You guys are slacking a bit on the comments, but I am giving the COW award this week to someone who has recently been a faithful commenter. She gave us some feedback on the AGOW and I appreciated that. So Hannah Jackson, congratulations! Thanks for commenting! Here it is...
hannah j. said...
That was really really HARD!!! LOL
Good morning! Today, I thought I'd just share with you a verse that has changed the way I think about my faith.
"Then [Jesus] said to them all: 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.'" Luke 9:23
The decision to truly follow Christ is more than just saying you believe He is the son of God - that's just the starting point! After you decide you "believe" in Jesus, you begin the journey of denying yourself and taking up your cross daily. But what does that mean? Among other things, I think denying yourself means saying no to your selfishness, anger, materialism, and laziness. You want what God wants more than what you want. And you decide that His plan for your life is better than anything you could plan for yourself. And what about taking up your cross? A cross is burden and if you are supposed to pick up a figurative cross everyday, that's pretty serious. I could talk about it forever, but I think that in part it means that being a follower of Christ is about humility and service, not power and privilege.
Sounds kind of tough, right? Let me encourage you by saying that with this sacrifice, there is also incredible joy and peace that you will never find anywhere else. The hope that comes with knowing God's love and being able to trust Him far outweighs the sacrifice. And knowing that you have lived for something greater than yourself is a really wonderful thing. I pray that everyday you and I will be denying ourselves and picking up our crosses more and more.
So last week was Good Friday and we talked about the fact that Good Friday is remembering the day Jesus died on the cross to take on our sins and save us. The fact of the matter is that we should remember Christ's death every day of our lives because of what it means for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 explains it well. "God made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." The other holiday that we should celebrate all year long is Easter or Resurrection Sunday. The fact that Christ rose from the dead proves to us that everything Jesus said was true. We should celebrate every day that Jesus is alive and we are alive in Christ because He is alive. It's great news. So its a week after Easter...lets not let the glory and wonder of Jesus Christ's death and resurrection pass by us. Jesus saved us through his death and He is alive today. It's another Good Friday!
See you next week Friday at Edge!
And after a few weeks off, here's the latest SOW!
Devin
7th grade
Chipotle because the food’s really good.
What is your favorite subject in school? Why?
Lunch because I get to eat.
Shooter
Switchfoot
Youtube.com because it’s funny
Hanging out
Chilling at home
snowboarding
The addicting game of the week this week is called SHAPE SHOOTER. The goal is to shoot shapes but be careful, they come at you pretty fast. The best part about this game is the techno music that really pumps you up as you play. Have fun! If you are on your spring break, you can play all day.
This week's comment of the week goes to Jenna Coffy (no relation to Pastor Joe Coffey--different spelling). Jenna was here on Good Friday and had some good feedback from the night. Jenna, I am glad that you were impacted by the ONE campaign! By the way, if you weren't at Edge on Friday, be sure not to miss the next one in order to get your official one campaign wrist band. Congrats Jenna!
Here it is...
Jenna Coffy said...
Edge last night was really cool. I really understood what it means to be a family and what steps to take in order to be a family such as patience and allowing others faults. As long as we all know Christ then "We are family"
The two just don't seem to go together very well. I always picture Easter as a time when it starts getting warmer out. I guess that is not the case this year. Instead, the ground is covered with snow and its cold. Oh well, that really doesn't change the wonder of what Easter is all about. I am not talking about Easter Bunnies and Easter Eggs (those are fun), but this holiday is really about Jesus. Jesus' death paid the penalty for our sins. He took our sin and died the death that we should of died to save us. However, if Christ just died and never rose again, we would not be talking about him today. The best part about Jesus is that he conquered death and He lives today. We serve a God who lives today and that is what we are celebrating...He's ALIVE! So make sure that is the focus of you Easter this year and every year. More importantly, make sure that is the focus of every day of your life, not just Easter. Have a great Easter...and remember, no edge tomorrow morning. Go to the main service to celebrate with your families!
I am a big fan of March Madness. For those of you who don't know much about it, March Madness is the big NCAA basketball tournament. It's a great time of the year when you watch every team try to make it to the final four. I think it's funny that every single team in the tournament thinks they have a shot of making it to the final four, but only 4 teams actually make it. It seems like every year, there is at least one team that they call a Cinderella team. The reason they call them that is because they aren't that good of a team in the tournament but they start beating teams that are better than them. I love Cinderella teams because they are not expected to win, but they do. It's all because of their perseverance and persistence to overcome adversity. I always love the underdog. I think Jesus was the underdog when he was being beaten and crucified. All the soldiers who beat him and the people who mocked him thought that he had no chance of doing anything good. Little did they know that his plan all along was to endure a brutal death in order to pay the penalty of the sins of the world. He was not an underdog for long, because he rose again from the dead to prove that he was who he said he was. Jesus now has complete victory over sin and death. He won and now we have the same Victory if we know him. We are also like the underdog. There was no chance of us being saved because of our sin until Jesus came along and took the sin for us. I love the underdog
This Friday is Good Friday. It's not called that because it is just a really extraordinary Friday. It's called that because it is remembering Jesus death on the cross to pay the penalty for the sins of the world. Also, on Friday is Edge from 7-9 PM!! Those of you who are in town, make sure you come! It will be a great time! I am looking forward to hanging out with all of you, worshipping with you, playing games with you, and continuing our series call ONE: A Campaign to Make Family a Reality.
See you Friday and bring some friends to join you!
Have a great spring break for those of you on spring break and as for the rest of you, I bet you are looking forward to next week!
Happy St. Patrick's Day, everyone! The St. Patrick's day comment of the week goes to a recently solid commenter whose name is Peter Mougey. Peter gave some great insight on my dancing generation post, and also reminded all of us that last Friday was pi day. Peter even wrote out the first part of pi...very impressive! So everyone wish Peter congratulations and give him a high five when you see him. Here it is...
Peter Mougey said...
Well even when we're at edge we make a fool of ourselfs by singing, dancing or having a compeition, but it pleases god.
And it's pi day tomorrow!!!
3.14159265358979323846 and so on for ever.
Happy Spring Break! For some of you, that greeting is a week early, but for others of you, it's right on time!
In my humble opinion, Spring Break is one of the best ideas ever created. Here we are, feeling as if winter should be over, but constantly reminded by the bitter winds and ever-present snow that it is, indeed, not over.
So, we have Spring Break, a time when we can pretend that spring is actually here and go somewhere warm. Or, even if we don't go anywhere, we can pretend that school is not in session and operate on a summer schedule for a week. It's a time to rest from the harsh realities of an Ohio winter.
Sometimes in life we go through times that seem harsh and dark and cold and last much longer than we expect, like winter can feel. Have you ever suffered like that? Maybe someone you love died, or a good friend betrayed you, or your family is having troubles. The truth is, we will all face times of struggle. But God can give us rest during those times and bring refreshment to your soul.
Look at the words of Jesus, meant for you and me:
"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." Matthew 11:28-30 (A yoke is a piece of wood that connects a pair of oxen so that together they can pull a heavy load.)
When life is hard, Jesus doesn't ask you to go it alone. He can give you peace in the promises that He cares for you, has a plan for you, and will one day end earthly suffering. Ask Him today to show you what it means to take His yoke upon you and find rest for your soul.
If that snow storm didn't come and get us last Friday, the edge band was going to play a brand new song called "Dancing Generation." It was going to be great, but of course, Edge was canceled. So about dancing. Dancing, believe it or not, is a form of worship, as long as it pleases God. As a matter of fact, it's found in the Bible. 2 Samuel 6 talks about David dancing around like crazy because of His love for God. It says, "David danced before the Lord with all his might..." David's wife, Michal thought it was ridiculous that he was dancing like a mad man so she got upset at David. This is David's response to Michal..."I will become even more undignified than this, and I will be humiliated in my own eyes." You see David did not care about being proper and dignified. He could not hold in his love for God. Sometimes, our love for Jesus Christ makes us want to move. Sometimes it makes us want to sit quietly and meditate. But when you can't hold the love of Christ in, it's ok to become undignified for the sake of praising Jesus Christ. After all, Christ became undignified by dying on the cross in our place to save us.
By the way, I was at tha porch on Tuesday night (high school ministry). I visit every once in a while to see old Edge folks, and somehow, I got pulled into the dance off they were having that night. It was a blast and I pretty much made a fool of myself, but so did David so that's ok.
Holy Cow folks, Wait 'til you get a load of this week's AGOW!!
gravity is your best friend, and worst enemy in SPIN THE BLACK CIRCLE!
This game is simple, but tough! Simply use the left and right arrows to rotate the maze and let gravity guide the ball to the portal.
Enjoy!
This week's COW goes to a first time COW winner for a very interesting and insightful comment about her day snowed in the house. Not necessarily what I would do on my day off, but then again, I am not Katrina! Also, props to Katrina for getting out there and shoveling the snow! Way to go, Katrina for winning the comment of the week. Here it is...
Hey! I'm guessing your day has been a lot like mine. And if that's true, it means you didn't go anywhere today and you were in your pajamas most of the time. In the beginning I loved it, but then I realized there's only so much reality TV that one person can watch and had to rethink my day.
I ended up doing a lot of cleaning around the house. At first, it was really satisfying to get things done, but then I started to get bitter that no one else was helping out. And that started to spoil my mood. (Obviously, this day has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster.) It's the worst when you start slipping into a rotten mood, so gave my attitude some consideration. And that's when I realized that I could do the same thing with a good or a bad heart and that would determine the value of my day. What a powerful thing our attitude is!
To make it really simple, if I clean the kitchen with the mindset that I want to serve my family and honor God with my time, the day is a success! If I clean the entire house, but have a bitter, angry mindset, I have failed and my work wasn't worth much.
Let's pray that we can have the same attitude that Jesus had, so that our lives will honor Him more and more!
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. I Corinthians 10:31
Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Colossians 3:1
Guys, I didn't want to do it, but the weather is pretty bad and it's not supposed to stop for a while. So, here is what you need to do tonight instead of come to Edge. Go outside dressed in all your winter apparel and have a blast, throw snow balls, build forts, build a snowman, and enjoy the snow! Also, if you want a little hint about what we were going to talk about in Edge tonight, read Ephesians 4:2-6. You will see that our One campaign is all over these verses...check it out. Also, if you want to get some good tips on how to have fun in the snow over the next couple days, watch the SNOW DAY VIDEO!
Have a great night! The next Edge will be on GOOD FRIDAY, MARCH 21st where we will wrap up our ONE series and you will get your official ONE campaign wrist bands. Don't miss it if you are in town!
Thursday is SOW day here at the edge blog...and here's your SOW for this week!
Megan
7th grade
What’s your favorite restaurant? Why? What do you order there?
I don’t have one.
Math because I’m good at it!.
Indians. Softball is my favorite sport to play.
Degrassi because it’s cool.
Don’t really have one.
Myspace.com
Everything!
I’m not sure.
Listening to music
Ok....not really anymore, but last week it seemed like every day was a snow day.
But as the snow melts away (and the mud and slush roll in) remember all those blissful days off of school with this video!
Snow Day
The comment of the week this week goes to Miss Johnsey Erdmann! Johnsey's comment was in response to my comment about the Edge band rocking my face off. I cracked up when I read it so therefore, it is worthy of comment of the week. Thanks for being a faithful commenter, Johnsey! Here it is...
Thursday, August 21
Meet at HCC: 8am
Arrive back at HCC: 9pm
Sign up here. Last day to register is Monday, August 11!
Transportation: School Bus
Cost (does not inlcude food):*
Students: $44
Adults: $47
*Pay online when you sign up or pay with a check. Checks can be made out to HCC and sent to HCC, 750 W. Streetsboro St., Hudson, OH 44236 Attn: Jillian.
Parents are welcome!
Safety Precautions:
Contact Jillian with any questions at jillian.stouffer@Hudsonchapel.org or 330-650-9533 ext.320. Thanks!
There is an old movie called "Wayne's World" based on a Saturday Night live skit. I really wouldn't recommend watching the movie because it is really pretty stupid. However, there is a part in the movie where the main characters, Wayne and Garth (Mike Myers and Dana Carvey), come into a confrontation with their favorite band (if I can remember), and they are so amazed that they are face to face with them, that they chant, "We're not worthy! We're not worthy!" and they bow down as if to worship these guys. I was reminded of this movie this morning when I was reading the Bible in 2 Samuel 7. God promises David that his name would be made great and his line would last forever. What a great promise! We know that the reason David's line will last forever is because Jesus Christ is actually born in the line of David. However, I love David's response to God's promise. Look at what he says:
"Then King David went in and sat before the LORD, and he said:
"Who am I, O Sovereign LORD, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?"
David was a great king of Israel and look at his humility. He realized that he was not worthy of what God made him and gave him.
The greatest thing is that none of us are worthy of what God has given us, but Jesus died for us to make us worthy. It's crazy, but God has made us worthy because of Christ. So, be humbled by all that we have in Christ, but be confident that we are now worthy in Christ. It's not from anything we have done, but from everything Christ has done for us.
Have a great weekend!
Good job, Kendall!!
Todd, for someone who got their face rocked off, your head is in fairly good condition =]
Thu Feb 28, 03:41:00 PM