May my words be wise not foolish!

May 24-
I was reading in proverbs yesterday. Proverbs 18
The insight I received.
vs.
2 Fools have no interest in understanding; they only want to air their own opinions.
4 Wise words are like deep waters; wisdom flows from the wise like a bubbling brook.
6 Fools’ words get them into constant quarrels; they are asking for a beating.
7 The mouths of fools are their ruin; they trap themselves with their lips.
8 Rumors are dainty morsels that sink deep into one’s heart.
12 Haughtiness goes before destruction; humility precedes honor.
13 Spouting off before listening to the facts is both shameful and foolish.
14 The human spirit can endure a sick body but who can bear a crushed spirit?
15 Intelligent people are always ready to learn. Their ears are open for knowledge.
17 The first to speak in court sounds right—until the cross-examination begins.
19 An offended friend is harder to win back than a fortified city. Arguments separate friends like a gate locked with bars.
20 Wise words satisfy like a good meal; the right words bring satisfaction.
21 The tongue can bring death or life; those who love to talk will reap the consequences.
24 There are “friends” who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother.
Much of what I gleaned from this was the power of my words. I pray I become wise in my speach and not a puddle of trash.
My Words bring life or death, as do each one of our words. This is sucha convicting and helpful reminder. Be wise with your word. Build up don't tear down.

Weather:)- It has been very warm here in the 80's!
My sister is having a baby, soon i will tell you all what it is. She is not due until October. We are very excited to have another little baby in the mix. That will be 14 neices and nephews for me. They range from 23 to 2 years with a little one due in October. Im a Great Aunt already my neice who is 23 has a 2 year old. I say i have the title I deserve:) LOL!
I really enjoy my family eventhough they are nuts most of the time.
Idol update(5th Qtr Idol that is): we are down to 5 and this week we will get down to the bottom 2, for the finale next week. Some of the kids are predicting the winner.
(American Idol sidenote I will buy a cd with blake but probably just listen to jordan on the radio. She is a good singer, Good for her. Im glad she won. I did not really watch this week only the last few minutes and saw she won. I love Melinda Doolittle.)

messy marvins

Yesterday I saw an add for a new magazine. Organize, I only wish I was like this magazine. I am such a mess. I entered to win a free subscription from here. I love those shows on tv like "Clean House". My home usually does not get like those places, "foolishness" as the host always says. I often do feel like man this place is a mess. I have come to realize people are not embarrassed by their clutter as I am. I hate for anyone to see my clutter.:) I make myself have people over just so I can get over feeling like, "I wish I could do something with this place." I strive to have home decore. This is definately an area I am not so good at. :) I went to a single guy's house and his home is more homey and decorated than mine. I desire to do it but i just run out of creative juices before I get anywhere. It is very sad:(. Actually I laughed about my hodgepodge decore often, it is like a garage sale threw up. I would tell you about it then you would laugh at my silliness too. I want to do it but if I were honest I'd have to say it is not that important to me. I would have made the decore a bit more homey and my style, whatever that really is, if it were important. But I do not spend much time there anyway because i am very busy. It is a great place to sleep and watch tv. ;)
Here is Gabrielle my 7 year old neice showing off her "stuff". She and Sydney have the same birthday, July 23rd. Sydney was born on her 2nd birthday, she's in the background.

prayer of the righteous are powerful and effective

Prayer is one of the best free gifts we receive. There is no cost but a lot of reward. Make sure you pray, and pray believing that God will answer.
May today be all that you need it to be. May the peace of God and the freshness of the Holy Spirit rest in your thoughts, rule in your dreams tonight and conquer all your fears. May God manifest himself today in ways that you have never experienced. May your joys be fulfilled, your dreams be closer and your prayers be answered. I pray that faith enters a new height for you; I pray that your territory is enlarged and I pray that you step into your destiny within the ministry. I pray for peace, health, happiness and true and undying love for God.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"
I found this prayer in an email I was sent and thought thats the kind of prayer I want to pray for my friends daily.

Is my Chritianity Catchey???

You know it is funny how we will pass on forward about this or that and even about God but we struggle to speak about Christ in our everyday lives. I know this is true in my life and in the lives of many people I know.

I do not suggest we become obnoxious jerks and pretty much make anyone who does not have a personal relationship with Jesus to feel like a huge LOSER. Let love them and speak to them about our relationship with Christ.

5th Qtr Idol is now underway. We have 11 contestants left, actually we started with that many and have not had the heart to get rid of any yet. so this week we are getting rid of 6 to get down to 5. I figured that would be easier for those who get cute to get cut with a friend. :)

My little Niece Sydney spent the night on Saturday, she's 5. This is her self portrait. That was fun. we got home pretty late. we did not have time to do much except take a bath and watch part of a movie before it was time for bed. She asks a LOT OF QUESTIONS. So finally i told her Syd we have to go to sleep. she is sooo cute. she called me today too. she is a fun kid. Saturday I was the good aunt and went to 2 baseball games for my nephews as well. One won the other lost, but it was fun. I enjoy summer stuff like that.

Spiderman rides again :/ ?

What a weekend busy, busy, busy. Life seems to just fly by here. My Friday began the weekend with 5th Qtr. 'Idol'. We had about 10 students i think tryout so they all made it.:) I shared the gospel and one new student prayed to receive Christ. Pray that seed would take root and grow. Saturday was 'Cinco De Mayo', we had a Mexican fiesta fundraiser to raise money for a group of adults and students going to help with hurricane Katrina relief in Mississippi, June 10-16. It was not the most provitable fundraiser but God is in control. We have one more a car wash the first weekend in June. Well I was reading some emails today and I came across one about Spiderman and his evil nemesis and thought yep that's all of us. I am not that good at making such great parallels but they are at www.dare2share.com/soulfuel , it was this weeks soul fuel. May we be led by the Holy Spirit and not our flesh.
He talks about how "spidey" wishes to be rid of this goo that falls from the sky. We have no goo falling from the sky just our sin nature attached to us daily. Thanks be to Jesus it no longer has power over us, I quoted some of it here but take time to read it all, it is good.

it says at one point..... "But make no mistake, this movie is more than a treat for the eyes. There are thoughtfully developed plot points that strongly parallel divinely developed spiritual truths...and that's where I come in!"
.........we don't need to worry about an outer space substance that attaches to our bodies, but we do need to be aware of a dangerous and deadly entity that is already fastened to our souls. It is called your sin nature: the inherited and ingrained part of you that rebels against God and pulls you towards self-destructive behavior...and make no mistake...it poses a greater threat than anything Marvel Comics could ever dream up. Here's the way the Bible describes the sickness of our soul:
The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? (Jeremiah 17:9)
The sinful nature wants to do evil, which is just the opposite of what the Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are the opposite of what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, so you are not free to carry out your good intentions. (Galatians 5:17 )
..............Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? (Romans 7:24)
Don't you feel the same? Like Spider-Man, we would love to defeat the monster inside us by our own efforts, but for the Christian, that is impossible. So impossible, in fact, that only God could make it possible.
And He did. Jesus' death and resurrection is the only cure for our sin nature. That's why Paul wrote these words right after his cry for help:
Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord . (Romans 8:25)
When you trusted Christ as your only hope of salvation, you were given a new power though the Holy Spirit to overcome the rebellious and destructive nature inside you.
The question is...will you? Will you wake up each day and ask God to give you the power to defeat your sin nature? Will you commit to avoiding the people and places where the venom of sin seems to saturate your life the most?
There is one scene in Spider-Man 3 I'll leave you with. At one point the black symbiote is trapped under a glass, but when freed it quickly slithers towards Pete r. Dr. Connors responds by saying, "It seems to want you..."
And so does your sin nature... the question is - what are you going to do about it?

Well as I have said i enjoy 'American Idol' so we at the 5th Quarter Café in Ashtbaula are doing our own version of idol.

5th Qtr. Cafe 'IDOL'

Singers and Dancers needed!!
TRYOUT- May 4
Do you sing in the shower? Then tryout!
Can you dance? Then come tryout
Tell all your friends.
Music, games, prizes.
Come join the fun, 8-11pm.
417 W. 46th
Ashtabula, OH 44004
Please provide your own performance music.

May 4th -5th Qtr. Idol tryouts
11th Top 15 perform
18th Top 10 perform
25th Top 5 Perform

June 1st Idol Finals- Winner announced
Top two performers receive a CD package, gift certificates, and other cool prizes.

Things that can take place of God in our lives bombard our culture. “Idols” are everywhere. We at 5th Qtr wanted to do something fun to get this point across. On Friday May 4th we will have tryouts for a “5th Quarter Café ‘Idol” competition. Students who enjoy singing, or dancing can come try out. We will pick the top 15 acts to continue for the next 4 weeks. Each week some of the nominees will be cut, just like over time we should cut idols out of our lives. As the weeks progress, leadership students, at the 5th Qtr., will share what the idols in their lives are and how they are allowing God to take the place of those things. We will crown “5th Qtr ‘Idol’ Winner” on June 1st. One of the leadership kid suggested that no one should win because then we have an idol outside of Jesus. I thought wow that's deep. Im not sure we should do that to some poor soul. :) Jesus will always be our #1 though.

I sure hope we get 15 kids to try out. I have sent information to a lot of the churches in the area. We are a pretty small little church and a pretty small youth ministry. I think it will be great if the community gets into as much as myself , volunteers, and the 4 leadership students are. Praying for God to be glorified even in the silliness.

April showers bring May flowers :)

You know my goal is to do this blogging thing every few days or once a week. well so far im not that good yet but i hope to get there.

The picture: this is my new car and my nieces and nephew being silly hanging out of it. "Good times" as sam my 13 yr old niece always says. :)

God totally blessed my socks off with this car. It is exactly what i wished i could have but thought i could never afford it. God gave it to me at t apirce that i could afford and it is not 15 years old which was the critera for all the other cars i have had.

My scripture forthis week is

Deuteronomy 10:12-16

12 “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. 13 And you must always obey the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good.
14 “Look, the highest heavens and the earth and everything in it all belong to the Lord your God. 15 Yet the Lord chose your ancestors as the objects of his love. And he chose you, their descendants, above all other nations, as is evident today. 16 Therefore, change your hearts[c] and stop being stubborn.

God does not require much of me, really. Considering all he has done for me. Just love, serve and obey him, I pray daily that i am that person. He really is a good God.

The beauty of summer is just around the corner and the drab, yuck winter is over. The weather here seems parallel to life around here at times. Winter bring hards times and times to trust GOd more. Then the spring and summer always renew my hope and bring me to a point of celebrating GOd's goodness.

I was reading this blog from a friend the other day and thought wow!! this is cool. It had a link to this youth ministry called matchbox minitries. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cg7pVWi6Vn4 I was inspired to remember why I do what I do but also think of ways the ministry I work with daily can be the light of Jesus Christ Right here in in my town. May God's ministry in Ashtabula be effective for the cause of Christ.