Something cool about the book of Isaiah

I cannot express how much I love our church!  The people.  The teaching.  The different ministries.  The worship.  I've grown and learned so much in our experience here.  

We're working through Isaiah right now, and on Sunday Pastor Rob explained how the book of Isaiah can be likened to a miniature bible.  The book of Isaiah has 66 chapters, like the bible has 66 books.  The book of Isaiah can be broken into two sections, much like the bible is broken into two sections- the Old and New Testaments.  There are 39 books in the Old Testament and 27 books in the New Testament.  Interestingly, the change of sections of the book of Isaiah happens after the first 39 chapters.  The first 39 chapters are dealing with, for the most part, judgement and condemnation of sin, just like the first 39 books of the bible which leave the world condemned.  Then, the last 27 chapters of Isaiah present pardon, deliverance and redemption from captivity in Babylon.  So too, the NT is all about pardon, redemption, and deliverance from captivity.  The second half of Isaiah begins with a voice crying out in the wilderness... sound familiar?  Much like John the Baptist is said to be a voice crying out in the wilderness, as described in the first four gospels in the NT.  Then, Isaiah ends talking about a new heaven and a new earth, just like the very last book of the bible- Revelation.  Rob explained that the second half of the book of Isaiah can be broken into three 9 chapter divisions- the greatness of God, the graciousness of the Son, and the future glorious work of the Kingdom that will be established on earth, with a special emphasis on the work of the Spirit.  Hello!?  NT!!  Lastly, he pointed out that at the heart of those last 27 chapters of Isaiah is Isaiah 53.  (If you haven't read it, READ it!  I know most of us have at least part of it memorized.)  It's the NT!  Father, Son & Holy Spirit.  More specifically, it speaks of the sacrifice of the Son who was wounded for our transgressions.  He was bruised for our iniquities.  The chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed.

I just think that is SO COOL!  I love learning things like that!

Pure Rebellion: Second Night

After the amazing response the first night, we knew Jonny had to take more kids the second night.  This was a little crazy because we were supposed to go to a wedding that day, which meant I went alone, at night, all the way up to Mt. Angle, with all four boys!  But that's another story for another time.  :)  Now, for those of you who didn't go to the event, I want to say that this was not a preachy, churchy-like purity event.  It was very modern/relevant and very engaging.  The gospel was presented, along with testimonials, a doctor's perspective of "safe sex", hip-hop dancing, dramas, and music.  It was AWESOME and so, so powerful!  

Here's our email to our House Church from the second night:

Hey guys!  Just wanted to send one more update from the second night.  Jonny & two other YL leaders took 15 more kids last night.  This group was a little more shy, but two girls went up at the end. More were moved, but too shy to go up front.  One boy kept repeating over and over how powerful it was and how he wished the whole school could hear it.  Another boy who came is from a hard home life- his dad was just arrested before Christmas and charged as a sex offender.  It was in the paper and the whole community knows about it, so he's been having a real rough time.  Jonny said he was in tears during the program and again as they walked to the car.  He's really shy, so pray he can find a good role model to feel comfortable with getting close to.

Here's a couple FB statuses: 
From a junior boy:  "My life has been opened up and filled with Jesus Christ."
From a sophomore boy:  "When everyone is smoking and drinking it's no longer rebellious, If you want to be a true rebel, follow Jesus.  It's the only rebellion left."

There were students who commented on these posts saying they wished they had come.  

Between the two nights, there were a little over 30 kids from the Turner area.  We're excited to see how this can impact the culture at Cascade!

~Jonny & Jess

Pure Rebellion: First Night

Here is an email I sent out to our house church (home fellowship group) after the first night.  We haven't even been a part of our house church this year (I think we went twice) because our life has been so crazy, but I am so thankful that they were praying for us and the students all week.  

Hi Dear House Church Friends,
Wow. Wow. Wow.  After our week of kidney stones, children with fevers, ear infections & freakish rashes, out of town company, and overall STRESS, God did a great work in the group of students we brought to Pure Rebellion.  Our turn out wasn't the 30 students we anticipated, but God knew who needed to be there.  The enemy seemed to be against getting us there all week- even on the way there we were running late in the pouring rain and were stopped by an unmoving train.  We re-routed and finally made it and the Lord met us!  We had guys and girls in tears over the final skit of Jesus taking our suffering upon his shoulders. And our entire row went up to bow down & surrender to Jesus at the end!  When it ended the whole group circled in prayer.  As we walked to the car, the kids were saying things like, "AWESOME!"  "Thank you for bringing us!"  "That was so good!"  "I want to come to your church!"  and one boy wiped his eyes and said about the skit, "I haven't cried like that in seven years!  I loved that skit. At the end when Jesus jumped in and took it for her, I was like YEAH!!  They should record that skit; I want to see it again!" The car rides home were more of the same things... excitement over the event and repeating/sharing the things that they thought were cool.  There were girls who really liked hearing from the married couple about when a guy is willing to wait, that is REAL love.  When we all got back to Turner, Jonny and the other two leaders stayed late at the club building talking and praying with the kids.  The things that stood out were the topic of a kiddy-pool christian and rebelling against our culture to live pure lives.   

One really cool story:  There was a sophomore boy who moved away after last year and has been (we think) living alone in Cottage Grove.  He came from a terrible home and is now an emancipated minor because of abuse from his parents.  He randomly came up to visit one of the other sophomore boys and ended up coming along.  At the end of the program, when they gave the first invitation to follow Jesus, he bolted from his seat with a look of urgency and went up front and bowed down.  The boy sitting next to him put his hands on his face and burst into tears.  Jonny went up front to sit with the boy and through the next two invitations to follow Jesus and live a pure life, they all came up.  Jonny encouraged them to pray and lay it all down before the Lord, and that He would be faithful to start a redemptive work in their lives.  At the end of the night they gave that boy a bible, and its looking like a christian family in Turner may be opening up their home for him to come live with them.  PRAISE THE LORD! 

There were so many more that we wanted to come, so Jonny is going to try to bring more tonight.  We'll see what kind of response he gets. 

Phew, talk about goose bumps!  Love you guys & thank you for praying.  Keep praying that these kids could be set apart at Cascade High School and be a witness to their unsaved friends!  

~Jonny & Jess

Our week leading up to Pure Rebellion

We've been planning for a month or so to take a bunch of kids from Cascade to this Purity event at our church, but we did not plan on the attack that came leading up to the weekend.  The first thing that happened (Sunday night) was my kidney stone drama.  Monday was a holiday, so Jonny already had the day off, but he did not go to Young Life that night, and missed the opportunity to be reminding/inviting kids to come.  Then he took Tuesday off because I was still sore... which meant another day to not being able to talk to kids about coming.  Wednesday was good.. That night, at Campaigners, Jonny was able to teach about baptism and one girl was baptized!  I stayed home in case the pain returned.  Praise the Lord it didn't, but Eli and Noah both woke up crying about 10pm.  Eli had an ear ache and Noah had a fever.  That night was not a good night for sleep.  Ahh!  Thursday rolled in with exhaustion and stress.  Eli woke up with a strange rash all around his mouth, and we had out-of-town company coming Friday.  I didn't know what was going on with Eli and I had a very messy house to clean!  Noah was fine, but Eli's ear pain was off and on.  Thursday night, both at the end of ourselves, Jonny and I were less than patient with each other.  Friday morning brought hope with a phone call from church saying that they were praying for us.  I was so encouraged and my spirit was lifted.  After a mess up involving timing of someone to watch Eli (Ugh!  I'm so dumb!  And I'm not a big fan of leaving our kids, especially all of them, for someone to watch, so I had them split between three different people.)  We finally were walking into the church building ready for Pure Rebellion....

... stay tuned... 

Zeke's first day at church

We went to church over the weekend- Zeke's first time and our first time in a month! The best part about going to church after missing so many times is that worship is so much more sweet! I was so thirsty for worship. It was wonderful to be back with our church family praising the Lord. :)  Here are a few of the songs we sang: 

Sunday School & Fall crafts

We are doing things a little different this year in Children's Ministry.  One big thing is that we have a cool curriculum to follow- Gospel Light.  So far its been awesome!  Everything is all laid out for us, not to mention we even have a couple ladies going into church in the middle of the week to do all the lesson and craft/activity prep work.  Basically, I look over what I'm going to teach then just show up and teach it!  SO SO easy!  Its also lots of fun too!  I love the 4's & 5's  :)

Since the lessons are not left open to my own (limited) creativity this year, I get to save that tiny spark of creativity I have for doing crafts with the boys.  Here are a few things we've done
for fall:

We did some leaf tracing/coloring.

This is our fall tree- the "leaves" are clumps of play-dough.

This is a harvest wreath Noah and I made.

And these are our pumpkin faces!  The boys painted the plates and helped me (because we used a hot glue gun) glue the shapes on.

Sunday School

We just finished up our last Sunday in the four & five year old classroom for the year!  Our last five Sundays to teach have been fun, but like a long list of other things (i.e. house chores, cooking dinner, following our daily schedule, rotating toys, doing "school" with the boys, blogging, blah blah blah) I haven't been giving it 100% due to my pregnancy fatigue and nasea.  Even though I didn't think of super cool craft ideas, class went well and the kids were happy with what we did do.  Here are pictures of the crafts from our last four lessons:

First, I don't have a picture from our lesson on Elijah & the widow.  We didn't do one; instead we went outside and collected sticks like the widow was doing to prepare for her last meal.  When we came inside, we found a big loaf of bread!  We talked about how God provides for us and we are so blessed to have snacks at church.  We also prayed for faith like Elijah.

 The week we taught on Solomon, I didn't do a whole lot of preparation.  After reading the story and watching a cartoon clip of the story we did a simple coloring sheet.  I love how the kids are so happy to do anything you make sound exciting!  We prayed for God to give us wisdom like Solomon.  We talked about how living in a humble home with little money and knowing Jesus is better than a big fancy home but not knowing Jesus.  Wisdom is more valuable than rubies and diamonds.













This next craft was for the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego.  This was an exciting story because of what happened to the three men for their faith in God.  The kids were silent for the entire story, as well as the video clip.  For the craft they glued flames to the paper, along with the three men, and the fourth man, Jesus, that protected them.  Their faith was so great that even when their life was threatened in a terrible way, they stood strong for the Lord.  I pray that none of these little kiddos have to face such terrible persecution in their lives, but whatever trials they may have to walk through that God would give them strength and faith to stand for Truth for His glory.

This craft is looking pretty shabby- it was left in the van and acquired a few dirty foot prints.  The story for this coloring sheet, if you haven't guessed already, is of boy kind Josiah!  I love sharing stories of the men our boys are named after.  I prayed over the kids that God would give them each a heart that is sensitive to the Spirit.  That they would have a deep love and devotion to God's Word just like Josiah.  I prayed that they would not only have a desire to regularly read God's word but to live out God's word.








Lastly, we have Jonah & the whale!  This was another great one because all of the kids knew it.  We talked about making good choices and how it usually doesn't end up "well with you" when you disobey.  Then we rejoiced over God's mercy and grace and how God will always forgive a sorry heart- I explained what having a contrite heart means.  For the craft each kid glued blue tissue paper squares to their whale cutout.

Its been a fun year!  I think one of my favorite times in the classroom is the prayer/praise time right after our worship.  I love to hear their cute little requests for Jesus to heal a sisters owie or a mommy's tummy ache, or for a grieving family that lost a pet fish.  Then there's the sweet praises for a new toy or a new sibling or a visit with cousins.  There are always a few kids (sometimes my Eli) who are thankful for Jesus.  It must put a smile on His face.  Absolutely precious!

Sunday School

Two weeks ago we had 29 kids and taught on Samuel being called by God.  The kids thought it was a pretty funny story- how Samuel kept going and waking up Eli in the middle of the night asking why he was calling him.  Once they figure out that it was actually GOD calling Samuel, we learned that Samuel needed to respond with an obedient answer, "Yes, Lord, I am listening."  I told the kids that God still speaks to us today.  He can speak to us in many different ways- through His word, through dreams, through His Spirit convicting us or reminding us of something, and also through people... like maybe OUR PARENTS!  And its very good to respond to your parents with an obedient, respectful heart and behavior.  :)  They ate it up!  It was a great review for Ephes. 6:1

For the project they painted this picture and glued Popsicle sticks on it to make a bed for Samuel.  I don't know why Eli loved black- his artwork is usually so bright and colorful!

Today we had a smaller class- 22 kids.  We taught on David & Goliath.  This one was lots of fun to teach.  We talked about how God doesn't look at outward appearances or accomplishments but at the heart.  He used Jesse's smallest and youngest son, David, to defeat Goliath.  We decided maybe that way God received the glory instead of David.  The best part was this line:  (it gives me chill bumps!)

David said to Goliath, “You are coming to fight me with a sword. But I'm coming against you in the name of the LORD who rules over all.” 

We shouted, "I come in the name of the LORD" a few times just to recognize who's battle it was!  :)  For the craft, they had a coloring sheet and glued five pom-poms (for stones) on it.  This time Eli was very into the color red.  I don't think he was thinking blood, though! After snack I had two games planned.  One was a bouncy ball toss.  The kids had five chances to have as good of aim as David did by shooting the bouncy balls into a bucket.  For the other game, I brought a large tin mixing bowl from home full of dry beans and glossy fish tank stones.  Blind-folded, the kiddos tried to pick five stones out of the bowl of beans.  They loved it! 

Praise God for using our weaknesses for His glory!  When we are weak, He is strong!!!  Have a wonderful week! 

Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away!

Eight years ago today Jonny proposed to me on the beautiful shore of Pismo Beach, California.  I didn't realize it was today until I was sitting in church, listening to the next book Rob started teaching- Song of Solomon!!

I was wondering what the teaching would be like, seeing how the book is such a romantic love song/story about courtship, marriage, physical attraction, and intimacy.  But so far SO GOOD!  Like so many other Old Testament books, it sheds light onto a greater love story- that being Christ's love for us, the church!

When Jonny comes home from Portland tonight, I think I'll tell  him he's the apple tree in my orchard!  How romantic!!!   Don't get it?  Read the second chapter of Song of Solomon. :)

Sunday School

Two weeks ago we taught on Joshua and the battle of Jericho.  Neighbor Nona and I had been collecting toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls for months to use as a craft for this lesson.  We made binoculars from the toilet paper rolls and the kids decorated them with markers and stickers.  They also decorated the paper towel rolls and used them as trumpets.  I took the kids out of the classroom to "spy out the land of Cannan".  They were SO CUTE!  We army crawled, ran, and tip-toed down the Children's Ministry hall way peering into classroom windows looking for the promise land.  We went outside too and still couldn't find it!  Then finally, we made it back to the classroom and found a town called Jericho surrounded by a HUGE wall.  (Jonny set up a wall of our big blocks from home- with a trip rope underneath.)  We marched around the city walls seven times and then shouted "THE LORD HAS GIVEN US THIS CITY!".  We blew our trumpets, "Doo-ta-da-loo!" And the walls came tumbling down!  It was lots of fun.  Here is a picture of Eli with his spy gear. 

Today we learned about Samson.  (Jonny has been out of town for several weekends doing Driver Education training, and I SO missed having his help today!)  I stayed up VERY late last night preparing the Samson craft- I figured 20 would be enough.  We ended up with 27 kids! 27!!!  It was crazy busy!  I had lots of things planned, though, so it all worked out.  The kids did a Samson water painting and made paper plate Samson faces.  Another fun day with the four & five year olds!  All 27 of them!!

Sunday School

Here are pictures of projects from our lessons in Sunday school from the last three times we taught:

Eli's project for the burning bush.  He only wanted three pieces of tissue paper on his.  :)

These are some of the flannel pieces I made for teaching the 10 plauges of Egypt with the flannel board.  And Eli's project with foam bug stickers on the people. 

These are our quail projects for teaching on the quail and manna.  My example is on the top, Eli's is on the bottom left, and Noah's is on the bottom right.  (He stayed in class with us today.)  My sweet neighbor, Nona, stayed up until 10pm with me last night preparing for this project.

Here is 2/3 of our class projects!

On another note, our newest niece, Ivy Mae, was born this morning!!!  Don't you love her name!?  Congratulations Donnie & Amy, big brother Reid & big sisters Ruby, Lily & Claire!

Week of prayer & fasting!

So the week of prayer & fasting at our church starts on Sunday.  Noah's already on his knees in prayer.  No, he's actually sleeping, but his pose reminded me being on your knees before the Lord- laying everything bare before Him.  Pouring out our heart to Him.  Daily.  But there is something unique about taking a week to deny the physical to seek the spiritual.  I love that we do this at the beginning of the new year.  Every day can be a fresh, clean start in God's economy, but it just feels so healthy to start the new year off setting a big chuck of time & distractions aside to talk to the Lord & praise Him more than I otherwise would.  Everyone's fast can look different, and, really, its just between that person & the Lord.  I just want to send out a little invite if anyone wants to join us for however long works for you.  There are people all over Corvallis, Oregon, across the country & even in Brazil participating.  Could you fast from watching your favorite show for a day or week to spend time in prayer, in His word, or in praise?  Perhaps you could do a food fast for a day?  Whatever the Lord leads you to do, He will bless.  It could be a time of personal revival or refining.  I decided to make a list of specific things I want to pray for.  One day will be my family, another day will be a family friend who is not doing well, another day will be for my church leadership, another day might be for my personal weaknesses, sin & struggles, etc.  

"Our city is in desperate need of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  Souls are oppressed by sin. Families are broken by divorce and suicide. Lives are smashed by addiction. People are “under the influence” of the god of this world, Satan. Some have been swayed by the dope of materialism, greed and ego. Others have been duped by the instant gratification of sin, iniquity and idolatry. We are a city under bondage. The prison cell is locked and barred. But the time has come to break the chains, to cry out to God for revival and to watch the “Son” rise on our dreary city and flood our souls with the warm light of Hope."  -- Calvary Corvallis

Here's a link to some more info on fasting.  (If you've never done a food fast before or have special medical conditions, consult your doctor first!)

Remember, the whole point of this is prayer.  We live in a spiritual world & we need to be protected with His armor.

^"Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.  Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one.  And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints—"  - Ephesians 6:10-18

Sunday School

We were the teachers in Eli's classroom again today.  We've been sick for two weeks, and served the week before that, so its been a long time since we've actually been in the church service. (I'm so thankful for technology and being able to listen to the messages online.)  Next week we will be out of town, so we are really looking forward to the Sunday after that!  I miss worship!  I sure hope the boys aren't sick again...

Anyway, back to today- we had 18-20 kids, and only four of them were girls.  Yeah!  I guess we're the right fit for that class because we know boys... we know busy boys, and let me tell you- there are a lot of busy and active little four & five year old boys at Calvary Corvallis!  Even though I was exhausted afterward, it was good for me to see that our boys are normal.  I guess Eli and Noah didn't received an extra dose of energy from inside my womb... its in the genes- they're BOYS!  I wouldn't say its the same for every single child, but for the most part it amazes me how different boys and girls are.  Sheesh!  During worship one of the little girls covered her ears and was about to cry when Jonny asked the kids to sing B-I-B-L-E real loud.  Poor thing.  Then there was a girl with four older brothers who was singing as loud as all the boys- go figure...

Anyway, it was a fun time, and we are still really enjoying it.  Here is a picture of the craft we made today.  Its a star ornament.  We read about Jesus being born and the wise me following a star to get to him.  I don't have any pictures from when we taught three weeks ago.  We read about God providing a wife for Isaac.  We did a coloring craft and played pin the tale on the camel.  =)

thankful

I'm thankful that we get to learn, grow, and have fun serving in the four & five year old classroom at church.  Today was our 'day off', but here is Eli's project from last week when we read about Noah's ark.  We did a little circle time activity first.  Neighbor Nona let me borrow this magnetic Noah's ark puzzle she had.  (We call her Mary Poppins sometimes because she always seems to have anything we need in her garage!)  We had just enough magnet animal pieces to hand out to each kid.  Then when I called their animal, they got to come up and put it on the magnet Noah's ark.  They loved it!  Then for the story, we pushed two tables together for a make-believe ark and had all the kids squeeze together on top.  (I mentioned how it may have been pretty confined on the ark with all those animals!)  When I got to the part where it RAINED and RAINED and RAINED, Jonny misted the kids with our squirt bottle.  (I thought that would be a nice touch.)  Then we did a game where we pretended to be falling asleep on the ark, but then the sheep started making noise!  BAA  BAA  BAA. Okay, sheep are quiet and we're almost to sleep... oh, no the owls are hooting!  HOO-HOO HOO-HOO.  And so on and so on.  It was lots of fun and we're so thankful to have the chance to play with all these cute kids!

thankful

I am thankful for Rob Verdeyen- our pastor.  God has given him an amazing story and gift of teaching.  Jonny and I missed last week's teaching because we were in Eli's classroom, but we listened to it online last night and it had me smiling, gave me goosebumps and brought me to tears.  If you'd like to get a sense of our pastor's personality, testimony, humility and love for the Lord THIS is the message to listen to.  We are between books right now, but for this month he's taking a break and sharing "stones of remembrance" about Calvary Corvallis' history.  This last week started with snip-its of Rob's testimony.  I didn't want it to end, and most of the stories he shared I've heard before.  Good stuff. 

We love our church

We are so blessed to be part of Calvary Corvallis! We love the worship, the teaching and the people!!! Josiah's story made the Calvary Connection- check it out! (scroll down to the bottom.)

Why I love our church

First off, I love God the most and He gets all the glory for our awesome church. He is One we want to follow and worship... that said...

Jonny and I have been going to Calvary for just over seven years now. We started going our freshmen year of college and I actually did not like it much. I wasn't used to such a long service... Rob's known for being... umm... maybe 'long-winded' is the word. He usually teaches for 45-60 minutes and that was too long for me. Now I can't get enough! Not that its about the length of the teaching- its all about the content. I love learning and studying God's word! Once I began to tune in to the services, I started learning so much! Jonny and I both learned more from one year here than we have spending our whole lives in church. God is definitely doing an amazing work here in Corvallis. I have also never been surrounded by such a large group of incredible, godly people. It's wonderful! I am often left speechless at how blessed we are to know all these people. Just today I went to a baby shower and was left in awe of the 40ish women from our church that were also there. Women hard after God- so cool! If we ever leave this area, saying goodbye to our church will be so, so difficult. We are so blessed to be part of the work God is doing here. Okay, so here is why I love, love, love our church.

• Thorough, in-depth teaching
• Daily prayer meetings
• The people!!!
• Awesome worship
• Women's study!
• Home group
• Youth groups for middle & high school
• Dedicated children's ministry servants
• Retreats
• Summer BBQ's (time to fellowship)
• Humble leadership that follow the Lord's leading

Happy Valentine's Day!

church stuff

Last year during the church's corporate fast, Ryan, our worship leader, wrote a song. Following the suggestions of many friends at church, he entered the song in a worship song writing contest. The song made it in the top three finalists for the northwest. Now its being played on the radio for the next couple weeks while people vote. Ryan is such a gifted song writer; he's written many of the songs we sing at church. Anyway, go here and look for Ryan Smith's song Fire of God and vote!

Oh, and I wanted to share one more message on corporate fasting. I've kinda always thought fasting was something people were supposed to do in private- not telling anyone about it, so it was cool to hear (again) that its an issue of the heart. There are so many examples of corporate fasts in the bible. My good friend, Grace's, husband Adam taught last Sunday. misc493

It's that time again

The first week of February has become The Week of Prayer and Fasting at our church. We did it for the first time last year, and it looks like we're heading into it again. Actually, today is the first day. I meant to post this last week, since I am going to be taking a break from blogging this week.

If you want to hear some good messages on the topic of fasting you can listen to Rob if you visit this page . Rory also taught on prayer and fasting, as their church in Prineville will also be doing it this week. Both are great teachers of the Word.

Okay, signing off until next week...

I love our church

You are all probably thinking, "Goodness! This girl has a lot to say this month." Well, yeah, I guess I do. :)

Two weeks ago Rob challenged us, as a body, to read through the New Testament together by September. In our bulletins were bookmarks labeled with all the New Testament books and according chapters as an easy way to be reminded and keep track. Reading three chapters a day, five days a week will get us through the whole thing by September.

Isn't that cool!? This is not the first time Rob has challenged us to make a commitment to something where we are in the Word, being washed by it. Over the years, he's also encouraged us to memorize various different passages of scripture we've studied as a church. I love that! We are taught the Word and challenged to make it a real part in our lives. I love that studying and reading God's Word doesn't have to be just a sit-&-watch sort of thing. It's a blessing to be in the Word. We don't have to- we get to. If we read it, expecting to get something out of it, the Lord is faithful to meet us and teach us.

Okay, lastly, I have to share this 10 min. video. This was done around Christmas time. It's so powerful! It's so awesome to see/hear people's testimonies. It gives such glory to God to see how He takes us out of the darkness and into His marvelous light! I cried through the whole thing. I think part of why I cried is because I know almost every person who shared. (I think I counted four whom I didn't know.) I know these people now- as believers. It's so incredible to see where they were before knowing Him.

I want to mention, first though, that it is very unusual for our church to do anything other than a verse-by-verse study through the Word on a Sunday morning. Our church is not at all a production/entertainment sort of ministry. There are special occasions, though, that we do something different. And this video is one of those times....