Red Flags

We started out with everyone having a red flag and a green flag. While wearing blackened out glasses to keep from being influenced by others, we listened to several situations and determined if they were "ok" - green flags or "something's not quite right" - red flags. These situations were all between boyfriend/girlfriend in a typical situation and sometimes not so typical situation. The red and green flags were counted for each situation and then we discussed them. This activity was not intended to take up the whole time but it kind of did. We did get to do a lot of talking about how that little twinge in the gut is a "red flag" trying to go up and we shouldn't just ignore it. This next Wednesday we will be discussing these "red flags" a little further and why we need to listen to them and how we can prepare ourselves to handle them appropriately when they do come up. Like the Boy Scouts, we need to "Be Prepared". Have a great week!

Submission!!!!

This Sunday for Engage we started things off by playing a game. We each wrote something we were afraid of on a piece of paper and tossed it into the middle of the table. Then each of us selected a paper at random and related how that can be scary for us too--without knowing who's paper we had. Our fears included everything from fear of failure to fear of not having any real friends.

For Inform: In my own experience, submission comes only through trust. Fear is not necessarily removed, trust just allows us to get past our fears and let go. (Not that we turn our brains off, as Nathan mentioned in the list of all the things submission is not.) We talked about how it's hard to submit to our parents when we feel like they don't understand us. This is where trust comes in too. Because our husbands will understand in some ways less than our parents. But we are first responsible to God, who knows what we need more than we do.

For Application we said that we need to start practicing being respectful to teachers, parents, anyone in authority; regardless of whether we agree. I talked about how I didn't agree with my parents that going to a dance with my friends was morally wrong. But my parents did; which would make it morally wrong for me to go. So just because we may not think something is wrong, if our parents tell us we can't do it, we are not submitting to them or to God if we do it anyway. (Unless of course, they are telling us we can't obey God).

Ladies, I will be praying for you that we will continue to practice this skill with patience.

'Love ya'll
Virginia

SICKNESS

There will be no youth group on Wednesday, February 17, 2010, due to illness. All activities at church have been cancelled. Prayer meeting will be at Mary Kuieck's home.
We will be discussing "Red Flags" on Wednesday, February 24. Think about what ones are obvious and some that are more subtle.

Valentines Day Discussion

Well, this week we didn't really keep to the standard inform, engage, apply method. But this is a list of everything we covered:
1. We talked about the importance of dating Christians, and how to read what boys say to you. For example, "What your parent's don't know won't hurt them"--how do you know he won't say this about you someday? Or if a boy says to you, "trust your parent's judgment", is he strong or is he weak and why is this an important trait later in life?
2. We discussed how much we should sacrifice for a boyfriend and the dangers from giving too much of yourself--losing your identity, poor grades, losing friends, losing parent's trust....
3. We talked about why people stop loving each other and move on and how to practice being respectful even when it isn't easy with our parents.
4. We ended with Nathan's questions from the sermon: will the person I'm interested continue to choose me if I am just me and not who he thinks I am? Am I becoming the kind of person that will continue to choose the future 'him'?
Hope you all have a great week! I loved our discussion and your insights! Awesome job participating and making sure everyone gets a chance to talk. See you next Sunday.
-Virginia

Submission is an act of strength

We reviewed acts of submission from the Bible. David when he crept into Saul's camp while he was sleeping had the opportunity to kill Saul and eliminate the continual threat on his life but submitted to God's authority since God placed Saul as king. It would be God who would remove Saul, not David. That took strength. When Daniel refused to bow to the pagan gods which could have gotten him killed, he was submitting to God's authority over him and not man. That took strength. Ultimately, when Christ willingly went to the cross in submission to the Father, at tremendous cost to himself. That took strength.
Submission is a sign of strength and not weakness. You must trust, truly trust, the one you are in submission to before you can submit without hesitation.
God never fails us and we can put our trust in Him without holding back. In doing so, we will find the peace for which so many people are seeking.

Marriage???

For Engage: We talked about the characteristics we find attractive in the opposite sex--not having to do with appearance.

For Application: We looked at Ps. 146: 6-9 This passage tells a lot of God's attributes, and since God is the ultimate person to have a relationship with, we talked about how we should cultivate the same attributes in ourselves. (watching out for "aliens", speaking for people who don't have a voice...) And by becoming more like this ourselves, not only would we get to know God better, but we said that we'd be apt to find someone like this in the future.

For Inform: We discussed ways that we've seen our parents make the wife being submissive and the husband be the head work. We talked about what ways it wouldn't work--like when things get abusive.
The one part of the sermon that we struggled with for a moment is why God holds men responsible for their wife's sin.

All in all, I feel like they had a pretty good understanding of the sermon, but some of them still felt like being submissive is demeaning--which I think is typical for their age. I remember in high school we respected the tough girls more. And bowing the head doesn't look tough to the untrained eye. So we will continue to work through this.

(I posted this for Virginia...)

So, how long is eternity?

Eternity is a very tough concept to get your mind around. What does it really mean? What do we know right now that has no beginning and no end (other than God)? Can you think of anything? A circle? The gold band or punched out piece of paper may not have a beginning or an end but the ring and paper aren't going to last forever. This makes this even harder. We were created to be eternal beings. Our decisions we make on earth determine where we will spend eternity. Do you know where you will spend eternity? We can help you be sure if you want to talk. We are all here to listen! Love you guys!