Bethel Youth and Family

For the week of October 20, 2008

Contents
Something for Your Heart
Surf Report
Forgettable Fact
Potent Quotables
Uh, That’s Funny?
===========Chris Drager=========== 
 

 Jr & Sr Youth Movie Nite

  
Join your friends from the JUNIOR and SENIOR Youth  Group at 8:00pm on Friday, October 24 to watch “EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed”    Bring  a FRIEND, snacks and a 2 liter of soda to share.  Make arrangements to be picked up at 10:30pm       

“EXPELLED: No Intelligence Allowed. (pg13)  Ben Stein’s heroic and, at times, shocking journey confronting the world’s top scientists, educators and philosophers, regarding the persecution of the many (you) by an elite few.   Ben travels the world on his quest, to learns an awe-inspiring truth that bewilders him, angers him and then spurs him to action   Ben realizes he has been “Expelled”, and that educators and scientists are being ridiculed, denied tenure and even fired for the “crime” of merely believing there might be evidence of “Intelligent Design” (GOD) in nature, and perhaps life is not the result of accidental, random chance.    

Jr and Sr Youth Event
Trick or Trunk Booth
Friday, October 31 
6:00 – 7:30 pm 
 

YOU can help run our Tricks and Treats room from 6:00 – 7:30 pm. In the YOUTH ROOM.  Bring a bag of candy to hand out to younger kids, help with coloring pages, putt putt golf and our pumpkin bean bag game!  Dress up in a tasteful, non-threatening, non-frightening costume!
 
Sign up on the Youth and Family Ministries board or talk to Chris for more information.   

ARRIVE AT 5:30pm IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO HELP FINISH WITH ROOM DECORATIONS!

YOUTH WEBSITE

If you haven’t checked out the youth website yet, follow the link to check it out.  We are open to suggestions for the site and looking for your feedback.  Is anyone interested in being able to post messages, pictures, surveys, contests or create a Youth BLOG?  It’s all open for opportunity.  Let Chris Drager or John Zilligen know about your ideas or interests for the site!  http://zilligen.com/bethelyouthandfamily/index.php?&MMN_position=4:4   (He he he…You’re already here)

=================================

1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART WISE AND STUBBORN HONOR It was 7:53 p.m., and we were locked out of the house. But “The A-Team” was going to start in seven minutes! For my brothers and me, Tuesday night was big church night. I had junior high Bible study, and my brothers had church scouts (or something like that). After church we’d catch a ride home with a family friend and then race into the house to watch our all-time favorite TV show. For my parents, Tuesday night was free time. I’m not sure what they did while we were gone. But on this particular night, they weren’t home when we got there. A note taped to the front door read– Mark, We’ll be back late. Be sure to feed Jonathan’s rabbit while you wait. Love, Mom and Dad

I was infuriated! Didn’t they know that Mr. T and “The A-Team” were starting soon? How could they leave us out in the cold while they pranced around town like childless married people? I ripped the note off the door and sat down in the yard. Josh, Jeremy, and Jonathan joined me. All my dad seemed to care about was that we feed Jonathan’s rabbit–which Jonathan had done before we left!

I was very upset at my parents. My brothers were mad, too. Josh and Jeremy had homework to do; Jonathan was just mad because we were.
Now it was 8:30 p.m., and “The A-Team”, the coolest show on earth, was half over. I picked up a baseball bat and started whacking a tree. How could my parents be so rude? Josh and Jeremy were looking all around the house for an open door or window. Everything was locked tight.

Finally, at 9:30 p.m., my parents pulled into the drive. Four angry Matlock boys rushed out to jump them. As the four of us expressed our displeasure in no uncertain terms, my dad asked me if I’d fed the rabbit. I told him no, and then I reminded him that Jonathan had fed it before we went to church. My dad walked us over to the rabbit food. There, taped to the bag, was the key to the house.

“What did you want me to do, Mark?” my father asked in a Mike Brady-like tone. “Did you want me to leave a note that said the key was taped to the rabbit food so anyone who read the note could find it?”

If I’d honored my dad, my evening would have been much happier. Instead, I was a fool worthy of Mr. T’s pity. (See, that’s a joke for people who’ve seen “The A-Team”. Mr. T was always saying, “I pity the fool!” I’m not really sure why, now that I think about it. I just knew he was cool.)

Instead of honoring my dad by following his instructions, I jumped to the conclusion that he just didn’t get it. He didn’t understand that the rabbit had already been fed. So I’d decided his instruction was worthless. But if I’d stopped to remember that Dad usually did a good job of providing for us and giving us worthwhile direction, I would have honored him by honoring his note. And that literally would have been the key to my A-Team happiness.

We saw in the last chapter that the fifth of the top Ten Commandments was the “first with a promise.” Here it is from Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Since Paul repeats it in Ephesians 6:1-3 and Solomon emphasizes it in Proverbs, we still hold on to the idea that honoring our parents leads to longer, wiser living. That makes sense, doesn’t it? I’m not saying parents are always right. In fact, sometimes they can be selfish, too strict, or too lenient. So what? What other two people in the universe have made it their jobs to love you, take care of you, and invest their lives in you for your own good?

That’s what parents do.

Since they’ve been doing it for so long, we sometimes take their investment for granted. It’s human nature for us to ignore the things they do right and with good motives 90 percent of the time (or more!) and to be on the lookout for anything they might screw up instead. To continue to honor your mom and dad (even when you don’t understand where they’re coming from) takes wisdom and a stubborn refusal to give in to the temptation to dishonor them.
**
Taken from “Wisdom On … Getting Along with Parents” by Mark Matlock, copyright 2008 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission.

 
2. SURF REPORT
~ Last weekend kicked off the PlanetWisdom Tour. Find out how you can be an unlikely hero:
http://planetwisdom.com/tour/

~ PlanetWisdom Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2238787215

3. FORGETTABLE FACT
Food can only be tasted if it is mixed with saliva.
 
4. POTENT QUOTABLES
“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
~ Christopher Reeve

“What’s another word for thesaurus?”
~ Steven Wright
 
5. UH, THAT’S FUNNY?
Q: What do you get when you drop a pumpkin?
A: Squash

—————

Chris Drager, DCE
Youth and Family Minister
I MODEL AND PERPETUATE DISCIPLESHIP FAITH from generation to generation by succeeding with my family and empowering others.
847-244-9647

“The world will be impacted by the efficacious children of parents with the vision to foster faith, nurture Christ-like character and disciple children not through programs, activities and events, but by coming together as a household of faith at their church and in their own living room. Self-efficacy through Christ. (Eph 4:13) is nurtured and supported in a family environment in which parents pray for and with their children, differences are appreciated; mistakes are tolerated and lovingly corrected; communication is open, honest and kind; where rules are firm yet flexible and democracy and compassion are learned through experience.” 

 ——————————————————————