If the birth of Jesus means anything at all to you, it must mean everything. For it is both a beginning and an end, a time of darkness as well as a time of inexpressible light. It is a time certainly of joy as well as a certain sadness as we look down uopon that little newborn face, straining to see the glimmer of God. It is a time of relief at finally seeing the Promise of God become a person. It is a time of tension also as we look ahead in the life of the little one with a kind of historical omnipresence: because, of course we know how it all will end. The loneliness and poverty of the stable reminds us the loneliness of another polace, outside a city on a hill. The rough cradle-trough seems almost as cruel a place as a cross. And the infant cries we hear coming from the stable seem no less desparate than th efinal cry, and no less forsaken.
But the light that shone from the stable can now shine in our hearts. And that is an occasion for joy. The poverty he took upon himself has made all who believe in him infinitely rich. The darkness is slowly being swallowed up in the light. the despair, in the hope that he alone can give. And the grief of the world will someday dissolve in a shout of joy that will come from these same infant's lips.

Taken from The Life
Michael Card
William L. Lane

<< << << SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT >> >> >> >>

GOD ENABLES YOU TO LIVE VICTORIOUSLY

You get impatient with your own life, trying to master a habit or control a sin -- and in your frustration begin to wonder where the power of God is. God is using today's difficulties to strengthen you for tomorrow. He is equipping you. The god who makes things grow will help you bear fruit.

Dwell on the fact that God lives within you. Think about the pwer that gives you life. the realization that God is dwelling in you may change the place you want ot go and the things you want to do today.

Do what is right this week, whatever it is, whatever it is, whatever comes down the path, whatever problems and dilemmas you face -- just do what is right. Maybe no one else is doing what is right, but you do what's right. You be honest. You take a stand. You be true. After all, regardless of what you do, God does what is right: He saves you with His grace.

Taken from Walking With the Savior

I'm sure that you'll like these thoughts:

  • From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. He turned around, looked at him and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears ame out of the woods and mauled forty two of the youths. (II Kings 2: 23-24)
  • If at first you don't succeed, destroy all evidence that you ever tried.
  • A conclusion is the place where you got tired of thinking
  • Experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
  • For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
  • He who hesitates is probably right.
  • Never do card tricks for the group you play poker with
  • No one is listening until you make a mistake
  • Success always occurs in private, and failure in full view.
  • The colder the X-ray table, the more of your body is required on it.
  • The hardness of the butter is proportioned to the softnessof the bread.
  • The severity of the itch is proportional to the reach.
  • Two wrongs are only the beginning.

HAVE YOU HEARD?

THE CHANGE HAS HAPPENED. THE MIDDLE SCHOOLERS (6TH - 8TH GRADES) HAVE MOVED FORM WEDNESDAY NIGHTS TO SUNDAY NIGHTS FROM 6:00 - 7:30 P.M. COME CHECK IT OUT. SEE YOU THERE!!!!

Good job on the Operation Christmas Child. We put out 15 shoe boxes.

December Birthdays
  • 8th - Jackie Herman
  • 25th Stephanie Powell
  • 30th - Nicole Wutzke
  • 30th - Jace McGrath
If I forgot your B-day, I'm sorry ... please forgive me)

If you have been asleep for the past few months you might have been wondering what was going on in the world of the Pendleton Student Ministries. Allow me to get you up to speed. We are having a Christmas party ( Dec. 14th) for the High School and we are having a Christmas party ( Dec. 15th) for the Middle School. The Winter Retreat is Jan. 25th -27th. We will be going to WildHorse Ranch ... and NO !!!! we will not be skiing this year. Cost? Only $100. Call for more info. The game continues ... If you remember, it goes something like this.. If you find any mistakes within my section of the newsletter and you are the first to report it to me you win a free lunch. You have to be in the 6th - 12th grades to participate (Good job Jessa and Bryce)

Something to Ponder . . .

"A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a great moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic -- on the level with a man who says he's a poached egg -- or else he would be the devil of hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was and is God; or else a madman or something worse. . . let us not come (to Him) with any patronizing nonsense about his being a great human teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to."

(An observation from C.S. Lewis from Mere Christianity

The force of that striking statement compels us to make a decision. Jesus is the wisdom of God incarnate. He did not come to earth to make a reputation for himself as a great teacher. He came to save the world from the effects of sin. We must either confess that he is Lord or acknowledge that he was a madman. Jesus was an incisive moral teacher, but he was not simply a moralist. He was the most perspective interpreter of Scripture, although he was not a formally educated biblical scholar. The source of this teaching and its inherent authority point in another direction. He is Lord. Any confession which falls short of that is a lie, a half truth, which obsures thge character and force of Jesus' teaching. Jesus' teaching is characterized by directness and simplicity on the one hand, and by indirectness and parabolic complexity on the other. His teaching, like his life, reflects the ultimate paradox of his own person.

Taken from The Life
Michael Card and William L. Lane

See ya later!

1

Hosted by www.Geocities.ws