Beginnings: Ski Trip 2010

This year the youth of Mt. Auburn will once again brave the slopes of Perfect North, located in Lawrenceburg Indiana. The cost is $70, includes lift ticket, ski or snowboard rental and T-shirt. The weekend begins promptly at 7:00pm here at Mt. Auburn on Friday February 12th and concludes on Saturday evening with our return.

We will be leaving Mt Auburn around 8:00am on Saturday morning to enjoy one day of skiing at Perfect North. Dinner, Breakfast, and lunch will also be provided and we should return around 7:30 pm on Saturday.

Everyone under the age of 18 will need to fill out the waiver for Perfect North at the following website:

http://www.perfectnorth.com/waivers.php

Everyone under the age of 18 will also need to fill out the waiver & permission slip for Mt Auburn at the following website:
or
If you are a parent who would like to chaperon this event, you will need to go over the child protection policy and return to Marsha Armenoff

http://www.mtauburnumc.org/ministries/youth/index/php

This is always a wonderful weekend. If you have any questions, please give me a call!

Go Tell it on the Mountain

I haven't done any shopping yet for Christmas. Am I a procrastinator... maybe. Actually, I know I am procrastinating, because the stores have been screaming Holiday Savings and stocked with bargain Christmas paraphernalia since before Halloween. Now, I don't mean to sound like a Scrooge, but in the last several years the Holidays have made me cringe a little bit. Without a clear reason as to why, I have become increasingly hardened to this time of year. Not really Christmas mind you, but what the "Christmas Season" has sadly become for me. I thought that once we brought Mia home and put up the tree, and began a daily dose of Christmas songs that I would finally get over it, that the Christmas spirit would finally sink in and I would be just itching to get out and find that perfect gift for my little angel. But I'm not.

Maybe she's too young. Maybe when she can actually speak and begin to understand the concept of Christmas, my feelings will change. But as it stands right now, I look at all the bright colored toys strewn all over my living room, the puzzles, the music-makers, the boxes of new and hand-me-down clothes... Then I look in our spare bedroom which has now become a catch-all for the jumperoo, the wind-up swing, and the other objects she has already outgrown and I think what else can we possibly get her?

Where does the magic of Christmas really come from? Is it in the gifts? Is it trapped in our memories of childhood? Does it come from Jesus? Does Santa bring it? Does it exist in the faces of our children as we count down the days til the big night? I remember the magic of Christmas as a child. It was good and I long for it again. Back then (for me) it was about being a child. It was about the possibility of Santa Claus, it was about Christmas trees and snow, being out of school, and cookies.

What is it about now? Where does the magic come from now that I'm... old?

It's no big secret, in fact most people will tell you, Christmas is about Christ, and I want to believe that! I really want to believe that Christmas is the time of year when I celebrate the truth that God came down to Earth, reconciled us to Himself, and now I have peace in my heart and eternal life to look forward to! But do I? Do I celebrate THAT, or do I simply kick back by a roaring fire, count my blessings and then proceed to pamper myself and eat too much?

Do I even tell ONE person who might not have the gift of Christ the real reason for this season? Do I even try to share the gift of Jesus... with anyone?

There is NOTHING more important or valuable than the gift of salvation. Especially at Christmas, nothing I could ever give anyone even comes close to the gift Jesus offers them. I wonder if I offered the gift of Jesus this Holiday season, would I feel the magic return? Would I feel the excitement of watching the face of someone whose life just changed? Would I smile and feel the warmth of a regenerated heart because I introduced the gift-giver to someone who needed him?

This is the gift that I am commissioned to share with the world. How magical is this gift, how wonderful! The truth of this gift is worth telling... It's wonderful truth should echo from the rooftops!

"Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion, for great is the Holy One of Israel among you." Isaiah 12:6

Remembering the Future

On Friday November 13th, my Father passed away. He died at home and I was with him; I watched him go. It's so odd that it even happened. Even now as I write these words it still seems surreal. It doesn't feel right, in fact it feels all wrong. It wasn't supposed to be like this; he was only 65. There should have been something we could do, but it just happened so fast. Well, no actually it was slow, but it seemed fast. One minute he was there, the next he wasn't. It's so weird that he should not be here. He was my Dad, he was supposed to be here. He was supposed to be papaw to my children, to Mia. He wanted to be papaw. But it's over, it's done with and I know she won't remember him and that makes me sad. Regardless, she needs to know! She needs to know about the man who was my father... But she won't get it, she won't understand, not really. The world has changed and now everything is different.

Now what?

I once read somewhere that, "Nothing hurts worse than remembering the future, especially a future we can never have."

I had ideas and dreams for my family, how life would be, things we would do. I pictured Christmas mornings at my parents house with my Dad singing some obscure song I have never heard before in the kitchen while cooking up one of his famous big country breakfasts that included everything from biscuits and sausage gravy to fried chicken and spam... You see, my Dad used to sing... and he used to cook.

But I know that Christmas won't happen... ever.

Last night in youth group we talked about things that get your attention. We looked up Matthew 4:18-20, where Matthew describes the calling of Peter and Andrew.

"As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him."

This passage of Scripture has always bothered me because I never really understood why they got up and left. How could they just leave? The Bible tells us that there was nothing special about Jesus' appearance that would have drawn them to him, so why did they leave, what got there attention? Didn't they have their own ideas? Didn't they have hopes, dreams, and responsibilities? Why would they abandon their own ideas of life and hang their future on "Come Follow me"?

I wonder... would I have left? Would you? What would it take to get my attention; what would it take to get yours? Would I surrender my future to Christ with a simple "Come follow me"? Or would it take something infinitely more life-altering to wake me up and get me moving?

I know in my head and truly believe in my heart that everything, EVERYTHING Jesus does (or allows to happen) is inevitably an act of love, designed for my own good to bring me into a deeper relationship with Him to enable me to carry out His purposes... Because He loves me. How do I reconcile that with my Dad dying?

My future has changed, my Father is in Heaven, Jesus has gotten my attention...

I'm Listening.
It's time to get moving.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him and are called according to his purposes" - Romans 8:28