An Intro

Hello Exit 31 readers!

This is Dani Lanza- member of the Exit 31 youth group- blogging.

Since Jimmy Whittmer and Austin Detwiler left the Exit 31 youth to attend college, I have volunteered to keep up with this blog. I love to blog, so doing this is a treat! I was wondering if anyone had any ideas for me. What would you like to see on this blog? What changes would you like to be put into effect? What topics would you like for me to cover on here? Since this is a fresh start, I would love to recieve your feedback and I will definitely take everything you say into account.

Also, take time to view the other followers' blogs and go and explore new ones- it's nice to get more insight on different things by different people. I would also like to encourage everyone to try to get involved with the Exit 31 youth group; whether it's helping out with the band, setting up, or volunteering once a month.

I would like to take a minute to promote a Non-profit organization known as To Write Love On Her Arms. You may have already heard or read about this organization, but in case you haven't....

To Write Love On Her Arms (www.twloha.com) is an organization to raise awareness and get help for people suffering from; Depression, thoughts/attempts of Suicide, Addiction, and cutting/self harm. To learn more about this organization, visit the given link. If this is a topic you feel passionately about, visit the website for more details on how you can get involved; such as donating, joining the TWLOHA street team, or creating your own organization.

Remember, LOVE is the movement.

I would like to encourage all of you- and I will be doing this as well- to reach out and demonstrate love; even when it is hard to do so. Love is more-so an action than a feeling, and if you attended the SubZERO winter retreat recently, you would have learned more indepthly about this.

If you have any biblical questions or need help with something, talk to Michael Harder who is the Youth Pastor at Branch Creek Community Church. As much as I would love to offer my insight on whatever you need, and I would love to do so, Michael is the most legit person to go to for help. I am not a credited source of help.

Again, remember that LOVE is the MOVEMENT.

Peace.

1 Corinthians 13: 1-4
If I speak in human or angelic tongues, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not love, I gain nothing.

New Stuff

Here's the scoop. I just made a wikispaces (if you know what that is) for X31. Go check it out. It'll allow me to post the teaching slides from every week on there so you guys can check them out if you want. I'll get deeper with it than that, but that's our starting point. The URL is almost exactly the same as this, just substitute the blogpost for wikispaces: www.exit31hs.wikispaces.com
Go check it out now, let me know what you think.

Next, I'm hoping to start doing more with this as well. I'd like to blog more than once a week on more than just Midweek. I also want to get it to be more discussive and thought-provoking than its current lame state. So start checking back more, or just ask me if it's running full time so you don't have to waste your time checking everyday before I get it going.

See below for my blog on last night...

Midweek — 2/4/09

We started our next series this evening on Ephesians.

You can go here if you want to see the teaching slides for the lesson, now!

There are times when we feel as though we've strayed too far from God. If you have known him and fallen away, or even if you have never had a relationship with him, you may feel as though you are too far for him to accept you first or to take you back. Mike shared an analogy for this with us from a story in a book by Max Lucado. In a desperate attempt to find her runaway daughter, a mother posts pictures of herself with a note on the back all over a nearby city. After all hope seems lost the daughter fatefully sees one of the photos and removing it from the wall, notices the note: "Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn't matter. Please come home." Just as the mother felt, so does God. It reads in Ephesians 1:4 that "God chose you." It's vital for us to remember this. We screwed up. Bad. And we're going to again. And again. And God is going to post his picture all around us, reminding it's ok. He just wants us back.

Paul tells us that God "has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ." The greatest blessing of all is the opportunity to know and have a relationship with our heavenly father. We belong to him, and even as we screw up, he still wants us back. As we enter into a relationship with Christ, he redeems and forgives us. He takes us from being guilty and makes us holy, set apart for something special. He lavishes us with grace (even if it seems like he never does). In verse 5 Paul tells us that we were adopted into God's family. We had tons of people on the retreat sharing about how they had few friends or closed themselves off from others. In Christ, we all belong because he welcomes us and includes us. And lastly, we are told in verse 13 that we are sealed with a promise: in Jesus' day that word referred to ownership. Thus, we are owned and protected by God.


———
Remember the Hawk Nelson concert is CANCELED. You'll look like an idiot if you show up :)
On 2/26 you can meet us at Spring Mountain lodge for a YG ski night.
Rhythm of the Night is a few months away — stay tuned for details.
Check the new wikispaces out!

HS Midweek — 2/04/2009

Hey guys!
Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Everything has been pretty hectic around Subzero and I wanted to blog about it but never got around to it. And having X31 canceled last week I didn't write anything.

I'll post about tonight either tomorrow or Friday and try to start posting more often with some discussion questions or my thoughts on some things...

Austin

HS Midweek 1/7/09

This evening went really well. We hoped to wrap up the tough questions series but given the mood of things, Mike cut it in half to give us more small group time. We wrapped together a few questions all related to "Knowing God."

1. What is the best way you know to stay connected with God?

Elijah said "Hearing form God and keeping connected takes diligence and engagement on your part. God pursues us all the time, but we have to pursue him as well.

In Genesis we can read of God's fellowship and as he made us in his image, the need for fellowship that was placed within us. We abandoned that fellowship with him at the fall and were left to seek fellowship with him and others.

We can restore fellowship a couple of ways...

- Remember, you are created for a connection with God, but sin breaks this

- To restore this connection you must surrender at the cross. This restores the relationship, however it takes work to keep it strong.

To do this, spend time with God, spend time with others seeking God, obey and follow in his footsteps.

2. How do you think a person goes about finding what God desires them to do with their lives?

Above is about knowing God. Knowing God and knowing what God desires are both extremely intertwined.

As you spend time with God you will come to understand the image you bear and how he has designed you more and more. God guides us, but just enough to keep us on track. Mike shared how he uses that small light to navigate his way through the auditorium in the dark and how it shines about a step ahead, just like Psalm 119:105 reads: "Your word is a lamp to feet and a light for my path."

Also, just experiment and listen. Try something out and see how you feel and others respond. And don't forget God definitely calls you to a life of serving - don't doubt your importance in kingdom.

That's it for this time! I kept it short and sweet so read up and maybe talk about it!

Merry Christmas!

Hey guys,

Just a few things. . .

First of all, get your Subzero stuff in! It's due on Sunday the 28th — that's this Sunday, less than a week!

Also, have a great Christmas everyone! (And for our undecided readers, Happy Hannukah!) If you have a break, make good use of it and have a great time, if not, enjoy what you do have off and make the best of school!

Don't forget, we don't have X31 on Christmas Eve, the 24th, or New Year's Eve, the 31st.

Our Romania meeting went well on Sunday. If you want to know about it and missed the meeting, be sure to talk to Mike or someone who was there!

Lastly, we're still having the Shack Discussion Room second service on Sundays in 113! Come out even if you haven't read it!

 — Austin

P.S. Hand in your Subzero paperwork! (We'll have to cancel reservations if we don't get enough sign-ups early enough, so we can't save a spot for your forever!)

Blogs

I'm glad to see that a few of you guys are making blogs and actually keeping up with them, too. I like mine and I think it's pretty cool. It's nice to read them all and everything, too, so I would encourage those who don't have one to make one; not necessarily for the sake of the X31 blog but to strengthen us as a youth group and family. As virtual as our generation is and as little connected we are personally, it would be pretty rad if we were more closely connected via blogs and the virtual world. So, give it a shot — just write about how cool I am, that wouldn't be too difficult.