Don't Miss the James gang!

Remember, tonight at 8 PM is game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals. If you are allowed to stay up and watch it, that would be sweet. I have a good feeing about our Cavs. Do you know I watched Lebron play a game when he was a freshman in high school? He was really good even then, and that was only about 6-7 years ago and now he has led his team to the Eastern Conference Finals. Lebron James is a superstar making billions of dollars and did you know he is building a 35,000 square foot house in Bath that has a casino, barbershop, bowling alley, and a two story walk in closet. Who needs a two story walk in closet? Anyway, the bummer part of about having that much money and all the fame and popularity is that Lebron may not recognize his need for Jesus Christ. He is probably filling his life with so much that Christ isn't a priority, but Christ will have to be a priority to everyone eventually whether they like it or not. The Word of God says that "Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is Lord." That doesn't mean that everyone will be saved, but it means that eventually everyone will bow to down and worship Jesus Christ. That gives us Christians confidence and should also give us urgency to share our faith.

Have fun watching the game, and make Christ the first priority in your life. No matter how famous you get or how much money you make or how big your house, nothing compares to the salvation you have in Christ!

Cavalier Chaos

All I have to say is GO CAVS! I think they have a really good chance to win this series and go to the NBA finals! If you are reading this and you are a Cavs fan, show your love on the blog. Also, tell us your guess on what will happen next. Will the Cavs win the next 2 or will it go to 7 games? Let's Go Cavs! Let's Go Cavs! Let's Go Cavs! Chant with me... Let's Go Cavs!

CiCi's Pizza Night!

Has anyone ever been to CiCi's Pizza before? It's a great all-you-can-eat pizza, salad, pasta, and dessert buffet. Tomorrow night (Wednesday, May 30th) from 5-8 PM, if you eat there, you will help us raise money for our Leadertreks mission trip to Kentucky. We will recieve 10 % of the net proceeds from that night. So all you have to do is gather up your family and come out to eat at CiCi's pizza. It's not expensive either so it's a cheap night with your family. It's located in Streetsboro on 303 in the shopping center next to the new Target. So come and tell others about it. The more people that come, the more money we make for our trip. Eating pizza is a small price to pay for helping us reach out to others on this mission trip.

COW

Happy Memorial Day everyone!

I hope everyone had a great day off! The Comment of the week goes to an 8th grader, Mr. Andy Perkins for his great advice for Jillian Stouffer and all the bored drivers and passengers out there. Thanks for the valuable information, Andy!

Here it is...

andy perkins said...
try to find a license plate from every state it is hard but i have done it a few times
Sun May 27, 09:58:00 PM

you must have been on a really long road trip to get every state? are we talking Hawaii and Alaska too? Congrats!

Food for Thought

I just spent four hours alone in the car driving back from Cincinnati. This much time alone in the car can be extremely boring. To tame my boredom, I sometimes like to scan the radio as I pass through new towns, looking for the station broadcasting "Delilah: Love Someone Tonight." I don't actually like listening to Delilah, but she can provide some laughs and it keeps me awake. Of course, that only works in the evenings. Other times, I just eat to keep entertained. Do you have any good car game recommendations?

I was thinking about time spent alone, like my time in the car, with nothing to do but think. I find at times like those I can either let good thoughts or bad thoughts creep into my mind. For example, I can spend the time praying for someone I love or I can let myself worry. I can count my blessings or dwell on the things I've done wrong. I think that God wants to use those alone times to grow in us, but Satan would love us to spend that time believing lies.

Try filtering your thoughts to find what is from God and what is not. And how do you know what is from God? By knowing what the Bible says! Once you know what God has said in the Bible, you can know what truth is versus what can cause you to have unhealthy thoughts. When I consistently filter my thoughts in that way, it changes my whole day!

Sunday Morning Preview

For the last 2 Sundays, we have had a guest speaker, David Nees, and he did a great job talking about prayer. This week, I am back. Hey stop booing.

Think about 2 Timothy 2:15...that will be our key verse for tomorrow.

Here it is...candy for anyone that memorizes it for me by tomorrow morning.

"Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth."

The question is are you approved by God and what does it take to be approved by God as a workman? Answers will be given tomorrow morning.

Summer Edge

Remember, we do not meet on Friday nights during the summer and we also do not have small groups. But I wanted to remind you of what we do have during the summer for Edge.

1. We have Edge every Sunday morning. We will have a couple different guests coming in to lead Edge on Sunday mornings throughout the summer.

2. Edge Summer Hang Out Nights--once a month--June 20, July 18th, and August 8th, each on a Wednesday from 7-8:30 PM. We will hang out together, eat, play games, and have a great time together. Those of you who are in town should join us!

Remember, 8th graders do not officially move up until August.

I look forward to this summer and being on trips with you guys like Father-Son, Leadertreks, and Doe River Gorge. Also, for you ladies, don't forget about the Mother-Daughter event.

Lastly, if you ever get bored during the summer which I know a lot of you do, do not hesistate to give me a call and if I am in town, I will hang out with you.

How many days of school do you have left until summer? Count down time.

Tired...

There is a certain point in the afternoon on most days where I get really tired. It is actually right now as a right this. It is usually after lunch. I just want to lay down and sleep for a little while. Do any of you ever feel like that? Do you know in many hispanic countries, they have what is called siesta where everyone goes home from work after lunch and rests for like an hour or 2. What a great concept! I want that. The crazy part is that when my mom used to make me take naps when I was little, I didn't want to, but now that I don't have time to take naps, I really want them. I think I just require a lot of rest, a lot of sleep. Why do you think God made us with the need to sleep each night? I mean every night, we are supposed to sleep at least 8 hours. There has even been research done with rats that has proved if they do not sleep for long enough, they will die. God made us dependant on sleep and I am grateful for that. Sleep is one of the best gifts God has given to us. So when it is time to go to bed, be happy, it's good for you to sleep. Happy sleeping.

AGOW!

Your Addicting Game this week is....

"Trolley Racer"!

Aren't the British funny? they call shopping carts "trolleys"!
they also call college "uni"....

Enjoy!

COW

Congrats to Johnsey Erdmann on the comment of the week! I love when students take on the challenges given to them. Johnsey was open about it and I respect that. Here it is...

johnsey said...
GREAT POST :-)I took your challenge; I started the book of John last night.I really want to grow in my faith because I realized after last night that I wasn't coming to church for GOD.FIRST COMMENT :0
Sat May 19, 09:28:00 AM

You can pick up your prize on Sunday morning since we no longer have Friday Night Edge!

BATTLE OF THE GRADES CHAMPION!

Congrats to the 7th graders who maintained their lead going into the final edge and are now the 2007 BOG champions! Nice work! If you are a 7th grader and have not signed the battle of the grades trophy, please let me know. The BOG trophy will be displayed in my office for anyone that wants to look at it. Sweet Victory!

Good morning, Sunshine!

Good morning! I just woke up, so I feel it's a little dangerous for me to be posting something right now. I'm really not a morning person. Plus, I'm so out of it, I've already made like 20 typos. When I was in high school, I was such a different person in the mornings that I would say horribly mean things to my family that I would never say normally. Then I realized that it doesn't matter how tired I am, it's no excuse to be cruel.

Oh, and can I just say that, ironically, my dad just walked in the room and created one of my classic morning pet peeves. My dad is really nice in the morning. He's just so happy and....inquisitive. He cheerfully asks me as many questions as he can think of. It's like nails against a chalk board because I hate talking in the mornings. It takes me about an hour to be able to talk. The funny thing is, I've told him countless times I hate talking in the morning, but he still gets upset when I give him short answers. It really is funny. I usually am able to laugh about it by ten o'clock. I love my dad, though. It would be much better to be like him than me.

There are certain things about each of us that will make doing the right thing a little harder. In this case, it is really hard for me to be nice to people when I first wake up. But it's no excuse! What circumstance keeps you from doing the right thing?

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us with perseverance the race marked out for us." Hebrews 12:1-2

By the way, are you a morning bird or a night owl? Let's take a poll.

Thanks 8th graders!

I would like to say thanks again to the 8th grade students! We are really gonna miss you at edge, but you will be having a great time at tha porch. It was so good to see all the 8th graders show up last night. I hope you guys had a great time at the porch. I would like here how it went?

For the rest of you, you are the leaders now for edge. I am excited to see the ways that God will use you and change you and mold you this summer and next year.

Don't forget the challenge to read the Word of God over the summer and pray consisently. If you take this on, I guaruntee that you will see a difference in your life.

Thanks to everyone for making Edge this year such a great year! You, the students, make it happen. Without you, there is no edge! But, praise God, because without Him, no of us be here at all.

Don't Forget...

Edge this Friday! There are a lot of other things going on this Friday... with HMS dance, field trips, and band concerts, but those of you who can make it, please do. If you are an 8th grader, YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!

We will have great prizes once again, and I will be getting rid of all of t-shirts and prizes because it is the end of the year. Also, we are showing the edge year in review video. Don't miss this night!

Don't forget...the BOG champ will be declared at this edge and you will receive points for your team if you...

1. Bring someone who has never been to edge before, your grade will recieve 3,000 points

2. Dress in grade spirit...for example, wear a shirt with the big number 8 on it or whatever you can do to best represent your grade. For each person that does it, their grade recieves an additional 3,000 points.

Make sure that you tell the person who checks you if you have a new friend or if you have dressed in grade spirit...they will count your points.

On top of that, we will battle out one more time for the grades and then present the Battle of the Grades trophy to the top grade!

AGOW

This week's addicting game is called boomshine which is a chain reaction game...see how many bubbles you can break from chain reaction. I didn't think it was that great of a game until I started playing it and it became very addicting. have fun...let everyone know how far you got.

COW

The comment of the week goes to a first time commenter who seems to be very excited about commenting! It goes to Will Hess, a 7th grader from CVCA! Will, thanks for tearing yourself away from your homework in study hall to comment! To the rest of you, there were some great comments this time around. Thanks for all of your good feedback. Many of you deserve the comment of the week, but I like it when new people get on to comment so I am giving it to Will Hess this week. Here it is...

Will Hess said...
Hi everyone this is my first comment ever, its really exciting. Im at school right now 5th period study hall, well...... see you at edge.

<*> <*>

^

(_____)
Fri May 11, 11:51:00 AM

Nice work. Claim your prize at the last Edge this Friday!

Have a great day!

Todd

Love is all you need....

Today, I just really love Jesus. I wish that I felt the same amount of love for Him everyday like He does for me, but in my humanity I don't. Today, though, I'm remembering my first love and all the things that drew me to Christ.

I believe so much that Jesus is the answer for our lives. He is the One who tells you that you don't have to try for His love. He is the One who tells a Romanian street child that he is worth more than a life of violence and addiction. He is the One who tells a Thai slave that there is a hope for her future. Jesus promises that one day all of the suffering will end and His justice will reign. Jesus makes it so that a shunned woman who went to jail for murder can walk into a group of Christians and feel love. He forgives the worst thing you will ever do and will use you for good things in spite of it. I know it sounds corny, but our Jesus is so beautiful. It is beautiful that He goes to the darkest places on earth and brings light. No one and nothing else can do these things.

Psalm 103:2
"Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits-
who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases,
who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion,
who satisfies your desires with good things so that
your youth is renewed like the eagle's."

Do you ever have days that your feel despair? On those days, remember these things and remember that despair does not come from God.

Let me know what you think - how does God encourage you?

p.s. This picture has nothing to do with the post, although I also love the baby very much!

Mowing

You guys know the big soccer field at the church? Yeah, I have been mowing the grass on it the past couple weeks. I just got done mowing it today. I really enjoy it because I get to mow it on one of hose big riders kind of like the one in the pic. My goal today was to try and get my lines as straight as I possibly could. You guys can check my work by looking at the soccer field next time you are at the church. The only problem was that the field was so bumpy that it was near impossible to mow straight lines. I wanted to be perfect in my mowing kind of like Jacobs field if you have ever seen those lines, but I couldn't do it. It reminds me of my own life and my relationship with Jesus Christ. So often, I think that if I just try really really hard, I can be good and be like God and be more perfect, but it's not true. That is why the whole gospel of Jesus Christ is so crazy because it's not about what we can do for Him, it is about what He has done for us. If it wasn't for Christ, we would not be capable of doing anything. I don't know about you, but I am so grateful for the grace that comes from Christ.

Battle of the Grades!

All right everyone, next week's Edge will be the last edge and the last night that any grade will recieve battle of the grades points. We would like to make things interesting for the last night so here are 2 BOG challenges...

1. for each friend you bring to edge on May 18th, you will recieve 3,000 points for your grade. When you sign in at edge, I want you to tell whoever is signing you in that you brought someone new and what grade you are in. MAKE SURE that this person has never been to edge before or it will not count.

2. we are also going to have a grade spirit competition. For each of you that comes in dressed in some way that represents your grade, you will also recieve 3,000 points for your grade. For instance, if you are in 7th grade, you could have a big 7 painted on your face, or if you are in 6th grade, you could have your hair in 6 pony tails. You get the point. Treat this just like the Edge Games except this is for battle of the grades.

On top of that, we will have a BOG competition that night. Lots of points will be given out that night and it is anyones competition.

I would like to review the scores:

1st Place: 7th Grade 107,000
2nd Place: 6th Grade 104,000
3rd Place: 8th Grade 93,000

There ya go...it's a tight race. THE CHAMPION WILL BE DECLARED THAT NIGHT!

Summer is coming!

The nice weather is finally here and summer is fast approaching which means school is coming to a close in about a month. How do you guys feel about that? What are you looking forward to the most about this summer? Would you rather be in school or off of school? For some of you, that is a no brainer, but I am curious to hear if any of you like school better than summer vacation?

What are you looking forward to the most about summer?

AGOW!

Well, we had so much fun with Bloons a coupla weeks ago, we decided to make the sequel

"More Bloons"

the Addicting Game O' the Week!

Enjoy!

COW

This week's Comment of the Week goes to one of our 8th graders who we will miss very much when he is gone. He decided to write a poem about the Late Night which was very well written. Congrats Kyle Ptacek on comment of the week. Your artistic ability is second to none!

Kyle Pataysac said...
I"m gonna rite a song bout the edge late night.. Ahem...

O, its that time o year again.

the time when there are prises to win

All the cotton candy you can eat

It will all be a treat

Eighth graders cant really come

So we'll sit home and chew some....gum.

Fri May 04, 06:36:00 AM

Claim your prize at the last edge on May 18th!

You were created!

This morning, we talked about Creation as opposed to Evolution. I am interested to know if there was anything new you learned this morning. I want to encourage you guys to keep asking questions. If Evolution is taught to you at school, remember it is not fact, but just a theory, and to me, it takes more faith to believe in Evolution than it does to believe that there is a God who created all of this.

Let us know your thoughts! Also, if you ever want to talk more in depth about this stuff, let me know. I would love to.

Last night I went to see Over the Rhine, a band I really like. They sounded soooo amazing and if I believed in reincarnation, I'd want to come back as the lead singer, Karin. What a voice.

Over the Rhine gets their name from a really poor neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. I was actually lost there once when I lived near there. It was scary.

Anyways, today I was working at Starbucks and this really beautiful woman and all these cool looking men came in. I kept doing double takes and then I realized....I was about to serve Over the Rhine their coffee! Yes!

I told them that I saw them in concert last night and then I started gushing about how great it was and, basically, I got pretty stupid. One of the band members asked if I was one of the people they talked to after the show and I said, "No, but I would have loved it." I cringe thinking back. Then, I started ignoring the other customers and the band was talking and everything went chaotic. So, I got even more flustered and inwardly told myself to "take deep breaths." I tried to get someone banana loaf, but my hands were shaky and I couldn't get the loaf apart. In the chaos I created, the drummer knocked over three CDs and went rushing out of the store. Sigh. I can't believe I was starstruck! I had no idea I could be so dorky.

That's my story. Even though I was embarrassed about my goofiness, it was fun to serve one of my fave bands their coffee. Who gets to do that?

I hope you're having a good day! Thanks for letting me tell my story. It was therapeutic.

Start Talking

I know we are closing out this school year with edge and starting to think about our summer trips, but it is never too early to start thinking about the 2007 Edge Late Night! It will happen on Saturday, August 25th right before school starts! Start talking to your friends about it even now...get the word around. The Late Night will be bigger and better than ever this year. The purpose of the Late Night is outreach, which means, we want to expose as many middle school students to edge and this church as we possibly can! Sorry 8th graders, you will be moved on into high school by this time so you can no longer be a part of the Late Night. Everyone else though, start talking, get the vibe out there about the Late Night. By the way, we will have another really good prize for the student who brings the most friends on this night. Last year it was an ipod nano, and it will only get better!

Small Group Outing Night

This Friday, there will be NO EDGE, but it has been officially declared small group outing night. This is a night where almost every small group will be doing something together as a group. If you are not in a small group, I am sorry. However, let me explain something. We have designed Edge to have two main elements, Friday night Edge and small group. Our goal is get every student involved in both, not one or the other, but both. Friday nights are awesome, but we think it is important for you to also have a small group to grow in. So if you are not involved in a small group, it is too late this year, but next fall, make sure you get plugged in to a small group! If you are currently in an Edge small group, what does a typical small group look like for you? What do you like about your small group? I want to know and so do all those who are not in small groups.

AGOW!

Hey there,

Today's AGOW is Stinky Bean Fling!

Grab the Ring and Fling that Bean!

Be sure to post your high scores for bragging rights!
(mine is 55938 ft, 375 mph)