Terra had her baby !!

Hey everyone, Terra Dilks had her baby boy early Wednesday morning, Feb. 25, at 1:30 AM. He weighs 6 lbs 12 oz.
His name is Cody. If you want to, shoot Terra a message on myspace, she would probably love to hear from you.

CH 11 - Confession

We are not used to the chapters being so long (we are wusses) in this book, but this chapter was well worth the length. Check out these questions and be sure to think about how vulnerable confession makes us fell but what peace it brings as well.

1. Why does it seem so hard to tell people who Jesus really is and to talk about our relationship with God?

2. Should we as Christ followers apologize to the world
about certain things? How do you think this will change people’s perception of who Jesus is?

3. Read Acts 17. How does Paul share the message of Jesus? Can we realistically model this in our world today?

CH 9 - Belief

Well this seems to be the latest favorite chapter for us. We had a great discussion on Monday about it. What seems to be the case, in a vast amount of the population, is that people are very quick to jump on "Cause Bandwagons". Why do we do this? What is it about causes that make us want to join them? Does what the cause truly stand for reflect the attraction it produces? In other words, does the passion we see in the cause actually fit the belief of that cause?
Check out these questions we went over Monday...

1. Name some culturally typical, popular, or trendy, beliefs or causes that people have even though they may not know what the cause is really about.

2. Why do you think everyone wants to believe in a cause?

3. Why do people tend to believe someone who appears to be a passionate person?

4. Share your thoughts on our current political situation(s), (presidential/governmental) and how it relates to our discussion.

CH. 9 - New starts at ancient faith

I really think this is a good chapter for everyone who is pursuing a Christ centered life because we are all are susceptible to getting to a place similar to what Don described as the lack of "green lumpy places". As you read through these discussion questions have this question in the back of your mind, "Am I living a life that is meeting the expectations of the human perspective or am I following God to what I believe is his next step for me?"

1. Have you ever tried to be someone you are not? Tell about it.
2. If comfortable, give a brief summary of your church involvement.
3. Tell of a time when you had a connection with God. How did it feel? Did it compel you to do anything?
4. Do you find yourself getting to the same place in life that Don talked about being in, when he was a church college leader? A place where you know the right things to do and say, a place where you’re comfortable but not complete? How should we respond to these feelings?
5. What things do you think God is trying to rescue you from? Are letting him?

Blue Like Jazz CH. 8

Have you ever had questions concerning the existence of God? Do you feel sometimes as though he is not real? Have you ever desired God to be physically present with you? Have you felt like your prayers just hit the ceiling?I believe that, periodically, every human goes through times of questioning and times where we are challenged to grow in our focus of and faith in God. Someone brought up a good point last night about communication with God. They said that it is hard to communicate with a God that you are not in relationship with. In Exodus it talks about the people's 'need' for a different god. They expressed the need for a God that was tangible. Their solution was to create a god out of gold (a golden cow) because they could see it, it was physically present, and they were able to own it. Do we take this approach? Do we want a god that we can manage?...that we can predict and are able to physically 'touch'? Would this make it easier to believe? This is where faith comes in. Check this verse out: Hebrews 11:1-3. I challenge you to allow your faith to grow as you trust that God is who he says he is. As you continue to focus your life on him, you will discover more and more who he is.

Here are the questions that we discussed during The Stuart Initiative on Monday night:

1. What things have made you question the existence of God? If that time is over, what strengthened your faith?

2. Do you ever feel that God is not who we think he is?

3. How does evangelical Christian culture in America attempt to recreate God to make him fit our own desires? (EX: God wants us to be rich)

4. Why did the Israelites want a different God? (Exodus 32)