Thank you all for a great surprise birthday party on Wednesday night! It was pretty awesome to get off the elevator and see that whole mob of people waiting to surprise me… even if they were all looking the wrong way and took a few seconds to realize I was there! As you can see the youth group and a number of chaperones are at Winterfest this weekend over in Gatlinburg, so please say a prayer for our safety and for God to do some awesome things in our lives though this event.

In class this Wednesday we looked at the crucifixion of Jesus and talked about how some people look for any reason possible not to believe in Jesus. One of the myths that we were busting was the idea that Jesus didn’t really die on the cross. We looked at what a group of medical doctors from the Mayo Clinic wrote about what would have been happening to Jesus physiologically as he endured the flogging, the nailing and hanging on the cross… and even the stab wound made by the Roman guard to make sure Jesus was dead. In the upcoming weeks we are going to be taking a look at some of the myths people believe and have tried to propagate about the resurrection because I believe it is important for us to know what to expect when these “educated” people come at us with their “wisdom”… but I have also been thinking about how we as Christians sometimes do that same thing with God.

We of course say that we believe, but if you are honest with yourself there have been times where you thought of something or heard an argument that made you question. When this has happened to me, my first reaction is to go over the argument again and then search the scripture to see what it has to say. The awesome thing is that God is big enough and strong enough to handle our questions. People have been trying to pick apart God and his word for generations. What we have to make sure to do is look at our question in light of the scripture, what God has revealed about himself, and without our own personal bias attached. I have had conversations on subjects (like Jesus sitting in judgment on mankind) that have gone really smooth and seemingly straight forward in some instances yet tragically horrible other times. It is amazing some of the arguments a person will make against scripture and how they are ready just to throw up their hands and walk away from the God of the scriptures… until you realize their motives. All too often people attach faces to their arguments and so they cannot agree to accept a scripture or a teaching of Jesus because of what it means for the loved one in their life, or even more difficult, the loved one that has passed. My prayer for all of this week is that we will look at scripture devoid of our own baggage and that we are able to see what God IS saying to us… and then use that as motivation to go change the world by the power of his mighty hand. May his kingdom come and his will be done, on Earth as it is in Heaven.

Striving alongside you for the prize,

Jay Cline