I popped “The Divine Conspiracy” open today looking for some meat for my Sunday message, and I happened upon this underlined sentence in chapter 7:

“Most families would be healthier and happier if their members treated one another with the respect they would give to a perfect stranger.”

As usual, Dallas’ words have derailed everything I was TRYING to think about before I opened the book.

Isn’t it true that we sometimes use our love and familiarity with a person as an excuse to treat them with less love and respect than we would a complete stranger?! I know this is true for me, even though I don’t necessarily do it intentionally. Sometimes I say things to my wife and other family members that are flat out rude… when I would never say that sort of thing to someone I don’t know.

Just something for us to chew on as people with families, and primarily for you guys, as your relationship with your children is the most important one they will ever have!

dare you to move from Ryan Guard on Vimeo.

Tonight we talked about the difference between being free in Christ and experiencing freedom in Christ. Paul says that “it is for freedom that Christ has set us free“, which sounds redundant, but the verse is talking about two different things. We can be free, but not experiencing the freedom that Paul was talking about.

I redefined the word freedom for your kids. To them, freedom is something they want so that they can do whatever they want (stay out late, date, use the computer each and every waking moment, etc…). But the freedom that Christ has provided means that we can do what we should do. We are free to choose what’s right, and we have the Spirit of God making it all possible.

We spent most of the night digging into the story of Lazarus in John 11. This freedom comes from a God who is able to do the impossible no matter how messy our situation is. We come alive the moment we hear the voice of God, and we leave our tombs to begin the unraveling of our old life.

We’re making a HUGE effort to get kids to plug into LifeGroups on Sunday mornings. There are no Lone Rangers in the Kingdom of God! Each and every one of us needs a handful of people that can help us to experience all that God has for us in these days.

Bottom line: your kids were tuned in big time… they seem HUNGRY!!! I thought it was a fantastic night.

It was a great night. I don’t have a whole lot of time to share a huge summary though… I’m waking up at the crack of dawn to fly to South Carolina for a wedding with Lindsay. SO, here’s a short one:

Melissa talked about what it looks like to experience and understand pain and suffering as a Christian. We assumed that the students in the room either have experienced pain, currently were experiencing it, or will experience significant pain at some point in their near future. It’s just inevitable, whether you’re a Christian or not. The hope we have as Christians is that we can tap into a power source that will help us to navigate those tough times.

We showed this amazing video, and then spent a good 30 minutes singing and reflecting about the message.

Every once in a while I will try to offer you some tips and techniques on how to raise healthy children. I don’t have any children, so I basically use whatever I find online. Here’s some good advice:

We had a fantastic time with everyone last night! Things started off with a bang when we pinned the moms vs. the dads in a game of Motormouth! If you missed it, you missed out… We did 10 rounds, and the score was tied up when all was said and done. We thought about doing a tie-breaker, but I’m all for equality. Kudos to John Norton for the memorable closing song. I wonder who his inspiration was?

Thanks to Kristy Fox from Young Life for encouraging all of our parents. We are looking forward to partnering more and more with her in the future here at Calvary!

If you missed the meeting, you basically missed five things:

1. John Norton becoming my hero.
2. Kristy Fox sharing her heart.
3. We went through the calendar (which is available right at the top of this page).
4. Josh Simpson’s decoration expertise. Did you see how the candles matched the wall decor?
5. We introduced the new Student Ministries admin, Erin O’Brien. You’ll get to know her soon, since the “administrative assistant” in this department does pretty much everything.

OK, it’s really a “Parent Meeting“, but doesn’t that sound like a lot more fun?

This Sunday, 7:00-8:30, room C200.

Oh, and by the way, it’s going to be A PARTY! There will be dessert AND some top-notch entertainment.

Just got home from our first Wednesday night of the school year. There was a good crowd on hand with plenty of energy!! We kicked off a 3 (or 4) week series titled “What If?”, in which we’ll do a lot of dreaming about the vision/direction of the youth group for this year. Tonight I unraveled about 25 “what ifs” for the students to consider, from “What if I was absolutely confident that God was always with me?” to “What if you were able to overcome the addictions and destructive habits that are weighing you down?”

I described the metamorphosis of the Monarch Butterfly to illustrate the change that only a new life in Christ can bring. I explained how the beautiful wings of a monarch butterfly are actually formed by the crystallized waste (fecal matter) of the caterpillar while in the cocoon. Spiritual parallel: God is able to take the worst situations/characteristics/pasts/etc… and use them to transform us into something new and glorious!

We looked at Eph 3:20 and Col 1:27, which are both about Christ and his Spirit doing only what they can do.

We also started a “pretty team”, which is responsible for setting up and decorating Samsvich Chapel before everyone gets there. We need some students with an eye for prettyness, so encourage your child to come join us if they have one!

-Ryan