Entering the Holy of Holies

Hebrews 10:19-22 therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.

Some people think that the New Testament portrays God as a much more reachable and down to earth God than the God of the Old testament. I Love how this verse uses Old Testament examples to remind us that God is just as powerful now as he was in the Old Testament, and yet God allows us to pray and commune with him. This passage is so awesome.

…we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place… the Holy of Holies was a place reserved only for priests; and only after they had been ceremonially cleaned. This awesome passage says that we can enter the Holy of Holy’s. All the ceremonial washing, all the set apart line of priesthood, all the special things that the priests would do has been replaced by one thing: Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus Christ we are able to enter into the Holly of holies: the throne room of God.

In the holy of Hollies is the Ark of the Covenant. The same ark that Uzzah reached out to steady, and was struck down by God. How amazing is it that we have access through Christ to this powerful God? I know you all know how awesome of a gift it is to pray to God, but I just love how this passage reminds me of just how amazing that gift is.

Christian comedian Rich Praytor, pledge of allegiance

Christian comedian Rich Praytor

Comic

Tuesday

Leader: ok kids, time to be quite

Kid: everybody be quite

Leader: kid, be quite

Kid: I am being quite

Leader: sssshhhh

Kid: I can be quite. See I’m quite. Aren’t I doing a good job?


[yes this scenario really happens]



I have to laugh at these kids other wise I’d start crying.

Monday, July 23

Today we had 29 kids so it was about the size of our last club, but it seamed a lot smaller because we had a lot larger facility. Today it rained, but the rest of the week it should be nice.

Two of the kids on our group had a very hard time with obeying. We would tell them to do something and they would just refuse to do it. Thank goodness they aren’t rowdy kids, but their disobedience is really bad. Now at club we have rewards for kids that behave and we told these two kids that they wouldn’t get the rewards if they didn’t shape up, but that didn’t work as an encouragement at all [and yes we didn’t give them the rewards]. Tomorrow we’ll have to try taking away such things as game time, snack time, and craft time. One of the hard things with one of the families that one of these kids comes from is that his parents are professing Christians, but they don’t walk with the Lord and they totally allow the kids to disobey at home. This same kid [Ben] prayed a sinner’s prayer last year at camp, and he knows all the fundamentals of the gospel, but for him to see his Christ-professing parents not walking with the Lord at home, he’s getting mixed messages. Please pray for Ben. [and for good weather.]

Thursday and Friday

Both days went fairly well. We had to play games inside though. Let me say that I have learned my lesson and never again will I give kids sponge swords while they’re inside.

I hate Wal-Mart haters

#1 Target isn’t that great

For all those who think Target is so much better than Wal-Mart - it isn’t. It’s all in what you pay for. Wal-Mart may have lower quality items, but they’re also less expensive. Target stores may be slightly cooler, but not all the time. I’ve seen nice Wal-Mart’s and I’ve seen trashy Target stores. As far as clothing goes, Wal-Mart so beets Target. The clothing at Wal-Mart is ten times better than that found at Target.


#2 Local businesses are not going to come to an end

There will always be people like my aunt who would rather die than walk into a Wal-Mart. True, local businesses are hurt buy nationwide chains, but think about it – say your local photo-shop looses money because Wal-Mart has a photo section. Well you may be loosing money, but you’re also saving money by shopping for your groceries at the Wal-Mart grocery centre. Now this doesn’t work in all cases, but just get my point that the economy is not going to come to an end when Wal-Mart moves into your town.


#3 politicians are so dumb [well obviously]

Politicians will do seemingly anything to stop Wal-Mart. In the county where I live, both the cities and the county have decided not to allow Wal-Mart to build here. So what is Wal-Mart planning on doing? Building on the reservation. Now our county will still have a Wal-Mart, but we won’t have the taxes from it. In addition to all this, we will have to pay to upgrade all the county roads out to the reservation. All of this is so stupid. Just let Wal-Mart build in town.

My heart Christ's home

Today on the way to our club Mrs. Finkbonner had all the missionaries read My Heart Christ’s Home by Robert Boyd Munger. I would greatly recommend it to anyone interested in a VERY short, but good book. In his book, Mr. Munger paints a picture of a house in our heart. This house in our heart has many rooms. In the Library of the house of your heart, is there any books, magazines, c.d.’s pictures ect. that Christ would not approve of? In the dining room, are there any desires that are maybe not necessarily sinful in themselves but cause you to stumble when you put these things in front of your relationship with Christ? How about the Living room? Are there any friendships that are not God honoring? Do you sit down and have your quite time with God every day? Every day, all the time, Jesus is waiting in the living room of your heart, ready to sit down and talk with you. Now we move to the work room. Are you using your skills to serve the Lord? Are there activities you do in the rec. room that you wouldn’t take Jesus too? Any bad parties or social events you attend? The bedroom. Do you have any improper relationships? How about the strong box? Do you keep the deed to your heart there or have you singed it over to Christ?


This is just a paraphrase of Mr. Monger’s great book. It deals so plainly with giving complete control of everything in your heart to God. Again, I would really recommend you buy this great little book. Is your heart Christ’s home?

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

Today went pretty smooth. It rained all day so we had to do both game times inside, but game time actually went pretty well.

Tuesday, July 17

Today it rained. That made game time very interesting. The first game time we did some inside games. It was chaotic, but we survived it. The second game time we were able to play outside and that went much better. The rest of this week it’s supposed to rain so please ask god that 1 it wouldn’t rain or 2 I would have wisdom on what inside games we can play.

Monday, July 16

Today went very well. Last year at this church they only had 9 kids show up the first day and their peak day was in the low 20’s. This year we had 14 pre-registered kids but praise god he brought in 30. After having close to 90 last week, 30 seams like a relief, but like our director told us, we need to not get sloppy. Too negative things that happen with a small group.

1 Leaders start relying on themselves instead of God.

2 Leaders start talking amongst themselves and start ignoring the kids.

Please pray that neither of these things will happen.

Isn’t it so sad, though, that when God doesn’t give us an impossible seaming task, we tend to stop relying on him? We need to rely on God al the time. Not only in hard times, but also in good times.

Tonight we had another softball game. It was so much fun. We lost big time. However I thought our team played really well. We didn’t really make all that many errors, the other team just knew how to place the ball. I made my first non-single hit of the season. I actually got to third base. My family told me that I had an awful swing and I’m sure I did but I’m just glad to hit something besides a single. Though of course my other up to bad I struck out, but we will try not to dwell on that.

Prayer requests

1 Strength

Next week I have a club way out in Sumas. I will have to wake up very early. Please pray that God will give me strength.

Thursdays and Fridays are usually my hardest days; it’s getting late in the week which means I’m getting more tired and the kids start acting up more.



2 Health

Because I’m in charge of game time I have to do a lot of yelling. My throat is getting soar so please pray that it makes it through the summer.



3 Kids

Please pray for these kids. Many of them come from very rough homes. Please pray that these children would be receptive to the gospel.

Carrie Underwood - I'll Stand By You

Friday, July 13

I can summarize Friday in one word – Tired. It has been a long week. We were expecting 30-60 kids and instead we got 90. Praise the Lord that 90 kids heard about Christ [many had no idea what a Christian was before this week]. Having that many kids did provide a few problems though. The biggest one was that we didn’t have enough crafts. We came up with some other crafts, but the leaders had no idea what they were doing because they were learning how to do the craft along with the kids. Anyway this has been a fun week but I am very much enjoying my weekend.

Friday evening we went to a Mariners game. It was a blast; all except for the drive down that is. We got stuck in bad traffic and when traffic suddenly stopped the traffic behind us didn’t. To make matters scarier that vehicle that hit us was a motorcycle. We were in the left lane and he couldn’t stop so he tried to go onto the left shoulder but he hit the back left corner of our van first. I was sitting in the back seat and saw the guy coming and so when I heard the thump I thought “oh man there’s a dead guy splattered to the back of the van.” Luckily only the guys mirror hit our van and the guy, our car, and most of his bike was ok. However it was a very scary ordeal. Well the Mariners lost 6-3 but it was a fun game and there were a lot of people from church there.

I’ll try to post a real post sometime here.

Thursday, July 12

Thursday went good except for a very bad craft. When we had tried doing this craft in the past using glue sticks it hadn’t worked very well. So we tried using hot glue. Wow. It took FOREVORE. We got done with the first group [there are four] past the time we should have moved on to the next activity. Also, while we waited, we had had the other three groups play a game, but a breeze came up and blew all their [opened but not finished] crafts away. Our schedule for the rest of the day was very interesting. I am not a very flexible or spontaneous person so working in CEF this summer has been a stretch for me.

Wednesday, July 11

In western Washington 75 degrees is hot. So when it reached the 90’s on Wednesday we were very uncomfortable. Thankfully we kept everyone hydrated and no one had problems. That said, driving home I had to work up the courage to keep my hands on the steering wheel.

Tuesday July 10, 2007

Today was very hot. Please pray as we try to keep these kids hydrated throughout this week. It’s supposed to be in the 90’s. For Washington that’s super hot.

Please also pray for me as I’m leading games. I don’t know if it’s just imposible to please this many kids or if I’m having a realy hard time finding good games. If you have any suggestions for fun group games to play with kids please post your ideas.

Monday July 9

Today was our first day at this new church. When we have the kids first come in we have them fill out a little sheet that has some getting to know you stuff. There were so many kids that said they were not Christians. One girl in my group didn’t even know what a bible was. Please pray for these kids. A lot of them come from realy bad families. These families are not just unchurched but also many of them are single parent families. Many have parents that are drug atics. These kids are so hurting and in need of Jesus.


We have a TON of kids [82] and a tiny church; Thankfully we are able to go outside for a lot of the day.

Please pray for a kid that I talked to today at day camp. I believe his name was Dylan. I shared the plan of salvation and led him in a sinners prayer but he didn’t seam to sure. When I asked if he wanted Jesus to take his sins away he said I guess; he wasn’t very committal. I had asked Dylan when I first started talking with him if he had ever accepted Christ as his savior and he said no. But I later my instructor told me that he had also prayed last year. Please ask God to make himself real to Dylan and to help him see his need for a savior and to be assured that Jesus truly can take his sins away.

CEF Letter

This summer God has provided the opportunity for me to work with children through week-long day-camps which are a ministry of C.E.F. [Child Evangelism Fellowship]. I first heard about C.E.F. approximately two and a half years ago when some of the youth from our church talked about the work they had done through five-day clubs that summer. Then last summer I went to a training camp to train to work in several five-day clubs. This summer I will be working in six day-camps. Unlike five-day clubs, the day camps last all day and are in churches. Most of the day-camps will be in Whatcom County, but one will be in Rockport [Skagit County].


From April 9-13 I worked with about nine other youth at a training day-camp which was like a rehearsal only we had actual children present. At the training camp, we got to see what we would be doing this summer but in a simpler format. During the day-camps children will hear Bible stories, eat snacks, complete crafts, learn to witness to other children [while hearing the basics of the gospel themselves], listen to Adventures in Odyssey [our theme this year], and play lots of games. At the camps, I will be in charge of helping a group of children complete these activities and I will also have the opportunity to occasionally teach the Bible story and memory verse.


Even though it’s not always easy, I really enjoy working with children. Christ told us that a child’s trusting spirit is an example of what our faith should look like. Because children are more open to the gospel, children’s ministry is one of the most effective ministry fields. I believe that the teen-age years of my life are a great opportunity to serve the Lord because I have fewer responsibilities to tie me down.


I would greatly appreciate your prayers this summer. Some things that I would cherish your prayers in are


1 Stamina to work the whole summer
2 Patience towards the kids and other workers
3 Guidance for situations that arise
4 Submissiveness to the Lord and to my leaders


Please also pray that God would teach me to completely rely on him.