Happy Monday to you all!!!  I hope you had a wonderful weekend, I feel like I haven’t seen some of you in a while!

Reminder- next Sunday is our Halloween party at the Braswell’s house from 5:00 to 7:30 pm.  We will eat dinner, have a costume contest, bob for apples, games, and a haunted hayride!  Come out in your costume and be prepared for fun!

Enjoy the newsletter, share your thoughts!

1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

WISE AND STUBBORN HONOR

It was 7:53 p.m., and we were locked out of the house. But “The A-Team” was going to start in seven minutes!

For my brothers and me, Tuesday night was big church night. I had junior high Bible study, and my brothers had church scouts (or something like that). After church we’d catch a ride home with a family friend and then race into the house to watch our all-time favorite TV show.

For my parents, Tuesday night was free time. I’m not sure what they did while we were gone. But on this particular night, they weren’t home when we got there. A note taped to the front door read–

Mark,
We’ll be back late. Be sure to feed Jonathan’s rabbit while you wait.
Love,
Mom and Dad

I was infuriated! Didn’t they know that Mr. T and “The A-Team” were starting soon? How could they leave us out in the cold while they pranced around town like childless married people?

I ripped the note off the door and sat down in the yard. Josh, Jeremy, and Jonathan joined me. All my dad seemed to care about was that we feed Jonathan’s rabbit–which Jonathan had done before we left!

I was very upset at my parents. My brothers were mad, too. Josh and Jeremy had homework to do; Jonathan was just mad because we were.

Now it was 8:30 p.m., and “The A-Team”, the coolest show on earth, was half over.

I picked up a baseball bat and started whacking a tree. How could my parents be so rude? Josh and Jeremy were looking all around the house for an open door or window. Everything was locked tight.

Finally, at 9:30 p.m., my parents pulled into the drive. Four angry Matlock boys rushed out to jump them. As the four of us expressed our displeasure in no uncertain terms, my dad asked me if I’d fed the rabbit. I told him no, and then I reminded him that Jonathan had fed it before we went to church.

My dad walked us over to the rabbit food. There, taped to the bag, was the key to the house.

“What did you want me to do, Mark?” my father asked in a Mike Brady-like tone. “Did you want me to leave a note that said the key was taped to the rabbit food so anyone who read the note could find it?”

If I’d honored my dad, my evening would have been much happier. Instead, I was a fool worthy of Mr. T’s pity. (See, that’s a joke for people who’ve seen “The A-Team”. Mr. T was always saying, “I pity the fool!” I’m not really sure why, now that I think about it. I just knew he was cool.)

Instead of honoring my dad by following his instructions, I jumped to the conclusion that he just didn’t get it. He didn’t understand that the rabbit had already been fed. So I’d decided his instruction was worthless. But if I’d stopped to remember that Dad usually did a good job of providing for us and giving us worthwhile direction, I would have honored him by honoring his note. And that literally would have been the key to my A-Team happiness.

We saw in the last chapter that the fifth of the top Ten Commandments was the “first with a promise.” Here it is from Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Since Paul repeats it in Ephesians 6:1-3 and Solomon emphasizes it in Proverbs, we still hold on to the idea that honoring our parents leads to longer, wiser living.

That makes sense, doesn’t it? I’m not saying parents are always right. In fact, sometimes they can be selfish, too strict, or too lenient. So what? What other two people in the universe have made it their jobs to love you, take care of you, and invest their lives in you for your own good? That’s what parents do.

Since they’ve been doing it for so long, we sometimes take their investment for granted. It’s human nature for us to ignore the things they do right and with good motives 80 percent of the time (or more!) and to be on the lookout for anything they might screw up instead. To continue to honor your mom and dad (even when you don’t understand where they’re coming from) takes wisdom and a stubborn refusal to give in to the temptation to dishonor them.

**

Taken from “Wisdom On … Getting Along with Parents” by Mark Matlock, copyright 2008 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=432

 2. SURF REPORT

~ Last weekend kicked off the PlanetWisdom Tour. Find out how you can be an unlikely hero:
http://planetwisdom.com/tour/

~ PlanetWisdom Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2238787215

 3. FORGETTABLE FACT

Food can only be tasted if it is mixed with saliva.

 4. POTENT QUOTABLES

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
~ Christopher Reeve

“What’s another word for thesaurus?”
~ Steven Wright

 5. UH, THAT’S FUNNY?

Q: What do you get when you drop a pumpkin?

A: Squash

1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

WISE AND STUBBORN HONOR

It was 7:53 p.m., and we were locked out of the house. But “The A-Team” was going to start in seven minutes!

For my brothers and me, Tuesday night was big church night. I had junior high Bible study, and my brothers had church scouts (or something like that). After church we’d catch a ride home with a family friend and then race into the house to watch our all-time favorite TV show.

For my parents, Tuesday night was free time. I’m not sure what they did while we were gone. But on this particular night, they weren’t home when we got there. A note taped to the front door read–

Mark,
We’ll be back late. Be sure to feed Jonathan’s rabbit while you wait.
Love,
Mom and Dad

I was infuriated! Didn’t they know that Mr. T and “The A-Team” were starting soon? How could they leave us out in the cold while they pranced around town like childless married people?

I ripped the note off the door and sat down in the yard. Josh, Jeremy, and Jonathan joined me. All my dad seemed to care about was that we feed Jonathan’s rabbit–which Jonathan had done before we left!

I was very upset at my parents. My brothers were mad, too. Josh and Jeremy had homework to do; Jonathan was just mad because we were.

Now it was 8:30 p.m., and “The A-Team”, the coolest show on earth, was half over.

I picked up a baseball bat and started whacking a tree. How could my parents be so rude? Josh and Jeremy were looking all around the house for an open door or window. Everything was locked tight.

Finally, at 9:30 p.m., my parents pulled into the drive. Four angry Matlock boys rushed out to jump them. As the four of us expressed our displeasure in no uncertain terms, my dad asked me if I’d fed the rabbit. I told him no, and then I reminded him that Jonathan had fed it before we went to church.

My dad walked us over to the rabbit food. There, taped to the bag, was the key to the house.

“What did you want me to do, Mark?” my father asked in a Mike Brady-like tone. “Did you want me to leave a note that said the key was taped to the rabbit food so anyone who read the note could find it?”

If I’d honored my dad, my evening would have been much happier. Instead, I was a fool worthy of Mr. T’s pity. (See, that’s a joke for people who’ve seen “The A-Team”. Mr. T was always saying, “I pity the fool!” I’m not really sure why, now that I think about it. I just knew he was cool.)

Instead of honoring my dad by following his instructions, I jumped to the conclusion that he just didn’t get it. He didn’t understand that the rabbit had already been fed. So I’d decided his instruction was worthless. But if I’d stopped to remember that Dad usually did a good job of providing for us and giving us worthwhile direction, I would have honored him by honoring his note. And that literally would have been the key to my A-Team happiness.

We saw in the last chapter that the fifth of the top Ten Commandments was the “first with a promise.” Here it is from Exodus 20:12: “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Since Paul repeats it in Ephesians 6:1-3 and Solomon emphasizes it in Proverbs, we still hold on to the idea that honoring our parents leads to longer, wiser living.

That makes sense, doesn’t it? I’m not saying parents are always right. In fact, sometimes they can be selfish, too strict, or too lenient. So what? What other two people in the universe have made it their jobs to love you, take care of you, and invest their lives in you for your own good? That’s what parents do.

Since they’ve been doing it for so long, we sometimes take their investment for granted. It’s human nature for us to ignore the things they do right and with good motives 80 percent of the time (or more!) and to be on the lookout for anything they might screw up instead. To continue to honor your mom and dad (even when you don’t understand where they’re coming from) takes wisdom and a stubborn refusal to give in to the temptation to dishonor them.

**

Taken from “Wisdom On … Getting Along with Parents” by Mark Matlock, copyright 2008 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=432

2. SURF REPORT

~ Last weekend kicked off the PlanetWisdom Tour. Find out how you can be an unlikely hero:
http://planetwisdom.com/tour/

~ PlanetWisdom Facebook Group:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2238787215

3. FORGETTABLE FACT

Food can only be tasted if it is mixed with saliva.

4. POTENT QUOTABLES

“A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.”
~ Christopher Reeve

“What’s another word for thesaurus?”
~ Steven Wright

5. UH, THAT’S FUNNY?

Q: What do you get when you drop a pumpkin?

A: Squash

Peace,

erin

Hello parents!  I hope everyone has had a good beginning of the week, and am praying for a good end of the week as well.

A few updates before getting to your newsletter:

Saturday, October 18th is St. Paul’s Cleanup Day!  From 8 am until 12 pm, members of the congregation will be here working on cleaning up our campus.  I would love some help from the youth, let me know if you can make it!

This Sunday, October 19th EYC will be holding a bake sale between the 9:00 and 11:00 services to raise money for Church World Services CROP Hunger Walk.  Please bring some goodies to sell and let me know if you can help man the table.  For our outreach project in October we will walk the CROP Hunger Walk as well.  Please meet at 2:45 at Bledsoe-Miller Park, prepared to walk, or run, the 5K.  Let me know if you can help with this, I would love to have a few adults to walk with us.

So now, without further ado, is your parent newsletter… enjoy!

1. TOOLS FOR PARENTING TEENS

GROWING UP, PRETEEN
Welcome to the world of paradox!

If you have a preteen or a young teen living in your home, you gain a whole new appreciation for the concept of paradox. These wonderful kids completely embody every meaning of the word. In so many areas, they seem to be both one thing, as well as the polar opposite! (This can be quite maddening, and paradoxically, quite exciting!) It’s all about transition, baby.

Here’s a list of a few you might notice:
Young teens can be incredibly trusting, but will only listen to someone who’s honest and transparent. Young teens (and especially preteens) don’t have the jaded skepticism of their older teen brothers and sisters. They are very willing to trust – a wonderful characteristic that shouldn’t be missed. This time of life is, in many ways, a last-stop refueling station into the long desert drive of adolescence. Take this opportunity to build on that trust, to show that your word is good.

At the same time, they are beginning to develop a more adult sense of the baloney-detection. If you want to be an example to your young teen, if you want to continue in a role of impacting their lives, it’s essential that you do so through a commitment to honesty and vulnerability. This can be pretty tough, even threatening. When you’re wrong, it’s crucial that you admit it. If they sniff out insincerity or hypocrisy in your or your words, you’ll quickly lose your place of leadership in their lives.

They’ll catch less than you’d think, yet they’re savvier than you’d expect. This is a tricky one, but so true! Because the life of a young teen is all about change (physical, intellectual, spiritual, emotional, psychological), they have a huge tendency to “in-one-ear-out-the-other” behavior. You’ve certainly experienced this! You explained to your daughter why a certain behavior is a bad choice, and two weeks later, she seems to have no memory of that discussion. Often that’s because she really doesn’t have a memory of that discussion!

But at the same time, young teens are developing a very savvy ability to see through charades, to understand when they’re being marketed to, and to be aware of consequences. Often what happens with kids this age is that they are savvy enough to understand a situation, but not enough to apply it to their lives.

They want to be treated like adults, but have the opportunity to act like children. This has enormous implications. They’re caught in an in-between world. They know where they want to go: they know they want to be treated like adults, to have more freedoms, to make more decisions on their own, to not be treated as if they were 4th graders. It’s important to talk to young teens with an adult voice, and to begin the move to a come-alongside perspective.

But at the same time, they are still very much children, and need the opportunity to act that out, without pressure to grow up too soon. A girl may move out of her childhood music choices, but still love to play with Barbie dolls. Allow her to live in that place. A boy may desire to sit at the adult table at family gatherings, but still keep a childhood stuffed animal on his bed. Don’t rush them into adulthood, but don’t treat them like little kids anymore either.

Some are really young adults, while some are really children, and most are both. The reality is this: it’s not that the young teen living in your home is either a child or a young adult (with some magic line being crossed at some point); it’s that she’s both, at the same time. Young teens aren’t just in-between, they’re in an overlap zone – childhood remains, while they’ve already stepped into the young adult world.

Living with paradox isn’t easy! But it’s not only the reality of the young teen years, it’s somehow part of God’s wonderful design for this transition to healthy independence and adulthood. Have fun!

**

Mark Oestreicher is the president of Youth Specialties (www.YouthSpecialties.com), the leading provider of resources and training for Christian youth workers. Marko speaks to parents, teens and youth workers around the world, and writes books (mostly for youth ministry and young teens). He lives in San Diego with his wife, Jeannie, and his two kids, Liesl and Max.

**

2. LINKS TO LEARN FROM

Ford’s MyKey aims to help parents watch new drivers
http://www.freep.com/article/20081007/BUSINESS01/810070331/1002/BUSINESS

Cyberbullying Will Stop When Adults Level With Their Kids
http://mashable.com/2008/10/04/cyberbullying-adults-kids/

3. LEARN THEIR LINGO
…Some slang and texting lingo for you to speak (or at least understand)

- AITR – Adult in the Room

 4. A LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT…AND HUMOR

“We are the people our parents warned us about.”
~ Jimmy Buffett

Let me know if you are enjoying the newsletter!

Peace,

erin

Hello and Happy Tuesday!

As I have stated in previous posts, I enjoy keeping up with the youth ministry community, browsing the internet for interesting articles to share with you, games for us to play, and keeping up with things you are interested in.

The latest article I found to be very interesting.  I had heard of the book it mentions, but never pushed myself to learn more about it.  This article is about a book written by 19-year-old twins Alex and Brett Harris.  Do Hard Things: A Teenage Rebellion Against Low Expectations is a book written by teens for teens, challenging them to push beyond what they consider comfortable.

Alex and Brett Harris are challenging their generation to push beyond the low expectations that society has for teenagers; they want to show that just because you are a teenager it does not mean that you have to be self-absorbed, immature, and incapable of doing anything more than school, playing video games, and texting. They created a blog, The Rebelution, in August of 2005 as a place for them to develop their thoughts. The Bible verse shown on the homepage is 1 Timothy 4:12. “Let no one despise your youth, but set the believers an example in speech and conduct, in love, in faith, in purity.”   How does that verse speak to you?  Do you think that as a youth group we live out that verse?

Read the article, share your thoughts.  And, in case you are interested, I do have a copy of the book in my office.  If you want to borrow it, let me know.  I’m thinking this might make a great book study, especially for senior high… what do you think?

Peace,

erin

Hey everybody!  Below is your weekly student newsletter, but first… a few updates!

Last night’s concert was wonderful!  Nine youth attended and we had a great time.  It really was fun to have the chance to attend a Christian music concert, see all the people there, and even meet some of the band members.  (Yup, I met Jason Gray… he has twins!!!)  I will definitely keep my eye out for more great concerts like last night!  If you attended, post a comment sharing the best part of the concert with everyone.

Wednesday October 15th we continue with our Festival of Faith program.  See you there; dinner at 6:00, program at 6:30.

Saturday October 18th is St. Paul’s Cleanup Day!  I would love to see some of the youth come help with this event, especially some strong youth prepared to help carry things to the dumpster!  Let me know if you have any questions, I hope to see you there!

Sunday October 19th we are holding a bake sale to raise money for Church World Service’s CROP Hunger Walk.  Please bring goodies to sell and be prepared to help out at the table.  Then, that afternoon we will be walking (or running) the 5K CROP Hunger Walk.  Please meet at 2:45 at Bledsoe-Miller Park.  Also, if you know you are going to walk, please let me know so I can know who to expect.

Okay, here is your newsletter…

1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART

WHAT IS IDENTITY?

Identity, to make it short and sweet, is your understanding of who you are. It’s not what you can do, or what you look like, or even who someone else says you are. It’s who you really are; and, more specifically, it’s who you understand yourself to be.

The term ID is short for “identification.” Your parents probably have driver’s licenses, which are considered ID. You might carry a school ID or some other kind of ID card. That little card says stuff about you–stuff that is uniquely you. It usually includes a picture of you, as well as some other information.

But whatever information is listed on that ID isn’t your real identity.

We (Marko and Scott) remember when we were middle schoolers; we were just starting to think about who we were, what made us unique, how we were different from and the same as our parents, how we were different from and the same as our best friends. Those thoughts are the beginning work of figuring out your identity.

Today, we could say all these things about ourselves:

- I’m a dad

- I’m a son

- I’m a husband

- I’m a follower of Jesus

- I’m a youth worker

- I’m an author (Hey, you’re reading a book we wrote!)

- I’m a movie lover

But that’s just a start. What kind of dad am I, and what kind of dad do I want to be? Because there are lots of different ways to be a dad, right?

One of the reasons our culture started making space for the teenage years (remember, the teenage years weren’t even recognized in our culture as an age group until a little more than 100 years ago) was to allow people your age to figure out their identities. It’s a long and challenging process. And you’ll probably think of yourself in lots of different ways over the next several years–that’s okay.

Ask yourself: Who am I, really? Who do I want to become? And, most importantly, who did God make me to be?

**

Taken from “My Changes” by Mark Oestreicher and Scott Rubin, copyright 2008 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=421

 2. SURF REPORT

~ Teen Read Week — The Third Week of October
http://www.readwritethink.org/calendar/calendar_day.asp?id=121

~ Hero Copter Game
http://www.tweegee.com/Games/Play/69/hero_copter.aspx

 3. FORGETTABLE FACT

The average housefly weighs 10 to 15 millionths of a pound.

 4. POTENT QUOTABLES

“If you judge people, you have no time to love them.”
~ Mother Theresa

“Infinite patience brings immediate results.”
~ Wayne Dyer

 5. UH, THAT’S FUNNY?

Q: Which is correct? Yolks of eggs are white, or yolks of eggs is white?

A: Neither, because yolks of eggs are yellow!

So, did you learn anything about yourself?  Who you are, who you want to be?  I’m curious.  Let me know your thoughts on the newsletter.

You are all in  my prayers… peace,

erin

Dear youth,
When you filled out your registration forms this fall, you had the option of receiving the student and/or parent newsletters each week. After much thought, I have decided to post the content here each week. I will send out an e-mail letting parents and/or students know that the information has been posted and to visit the blog. This will help you to see everything that is going on the upcoming week, as well as give you a chance to visit the blog and see what other interesting things have been posted.
The student ‘e-mail’ will be posted each Monday; the parent ‘e-mail’ will be posted each Wednesday. I will put all important information for the week at the beginning of the post, then the content below that will be the newsletter from Youth Specialties. Each week there is a something for your heart (your spiritual life) with questions, links, quotes, and something funny!
So, without further ado… the student newsletter!

1. SOMETHING FOR YOUR HEART
COULD’VE…WOULD’VE…SHOULD’VE
Guided Meditation
You have so many thoughts and feelings rushing through your mind all at once. On one hand, you can’t wait to experience what’s ahead of you today. What are you about to do? It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, isn’t it? You’ve been looking forward to this your entire life, and you can’t believe you’ve been given this opportunity–it’s almost surreal. On the other hand, you’re scared to death because you’ve never attempted anything like this before.

The minutes click by and you’re closer and closer to actually going through with it. You sense a huge knot growing in your stomach. The fear is beginning to overwhelm you. Maybe you should back out. There’s sure to be another opportunity somewhere down the road, right?

But then you consider what all of your friends will think if you back out. Many of them have encouraged you to give this a shot, and you know you’ll be disappointed if you choose not to go through with it. But who’s making this decision, anyway? You are so conflicted you begin to feel sick. What decision are you going to make?

Finally the moment of truth arrives. Your heart is racing. Your hands are shaking. It feels like everyone is looking at you, waiting to see what you’re going to do. So what will it be? Are you going to step up and do it? Or are you going to back away and wait for another opportunity?

Scripture Guides Us
It seems as though fear keeps a lot of people from doing the things they genuinely want to do. What role does fear play in your life? Has there ever been a time when you backed out of something that you wanted to do and then you haven’t yet received another chance to do it? What does the Bible say about fear and how it should affect our lives?

Take a few minutes to “chew on” the following Scripture verses, allowing God’s Spirit to speak to you.

1 JOHN 4:18
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

LUKE 12:4-5
“I tell you, my friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body and after that can do no more. But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”

PSALM 23:4
Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.

Questions for Reflection
1. Think of a time in your life when you were afraid to do something, but you went ahead and did it anyway. What happened? How did you feel afterward?
2. Think of a time in your life when fear kept you from doing something. What happened? How did you feel afterward?
3. Have you ever had to live with the regret of not doing something you wished you had done? How did that make you feel? What would you do differently if you had it to do all over again?
4. Name the things you’re most afraid of. Why do you think you’re so afraid of these things? What may help you work through your fears?
5. What do you think the Bible means when it says, “Perfect love drives out fear”? What is perfect love? Why do you think it has this effect on fear?
6. What did Jesus have to say about fear in Luke 12:4-5? How do these verses make you feel?
7. David seems to be walking through some incredibly fear-filled times in Psalm 23. What does he do to help manage his fear? How could this same technique help you?
**
Taken from “Chew on This!” by Dave Ambrose, copyright 2007 Youth Specialties/Zondervan. Used by permission. Order the book here:
http://www.youthspecialties.com/shop/product_info.php?products_id=377

2. SURF REPORT
~ Check out the latest adventures of Bethany Hamilton, teen surfer and shark attack survivor.
http://www.bethanyhamilton.com/
~ Dr. Dare’s recipe for a Sixty-Legged Worm. Yep–60 legs!
http://planetwisdom.com/drdare/0024.php

3. FORGETTABLE FACT
Karaoke means “empty orchestra” in Japanese.

4. POTENT QUOTABLES
“If you can’t feed 100 people then feed just one.”
~ Mother Theresa
“AHHH. Donuts…What can’t they do?”
~ Homer Simpson

5. UH, THAT’S FUNNY?
What kind of cheese doesn’t belong to you?
Nacho Cheese!

So, what did you think?

Peace,
erin

Dear parents,
When your youth (or you!) filled out their registration forms this fall, they had the option of receiving the student and/or parent newsletters each week. After much thought, I have decided to post the content here each week. I will send out an e-mail letting parents and/or students know that the information has been posted and to visit the blog. This will help you and your youth to see everything that is going on the upcoming week.
The student ‘e-mail’ will be posted each Monday; the parent ‘e-mail’ will be posted each Wednesday. I will put all important information for the week at the beginning of the post, then the content below that will be the newsletter from Youth Specialties. Each week there is a topic, discussion questions, and more!
Here is the first one…please, let me know what you think!

1. TOOLS FOR PARENTING TEENS
This week’s excerpt is from the book “It’s Easy Being Green,” by Emma Sleeth, written when she was 15 for teens. In this excerpt parents will learn ways to partner with their teens in greening their home.

HOME, GREEN HOME

I started recycling at a very young age.

Behind our house in Freeport there was a little path through the woods. The path led right to a parking lot that was located between our school and a little general store. And in that parking lot, there was a huge recycling receptacle–the kind we New Englanders call a “Silver Bullet.” You know, it’s one of those big metal containers with windows for different types of recyclable material–and usually a bit of graffiti on the outside.

That Silver Bullet was a beautiful thing.

When we were little, Clark and I used to race each other down the path. He always won. But I didn’t care most of the time, because whenever our destination was that Silver Bullet, I was the real winner.

Panting, we would wait until no one was around, then Clark would boost me up to the “paper” window. I was small enough to wriggle through the opening into the little room carpeted by newspapers, cardboard boxes, and magazines. We had to go at just the right time: If it had just been emptied, there wasn’t much in there and it was hard to climb back out; but if we went too late, not only was it hard to sift through all the contents but somebody might see me through the window. We also had to get there at the right time of day: Too early, and the sun wasn’t high enough to shine through the little windows to illuminate my searches; too late, and people might dump paper on me as they brought their recycling during lunch break or after work.

With my brother keeping lookout, I would scrounge around among all the recycled paper, looking for two things: 1) interesting magazines we could cut pictures out of or use for origami paper, and 2) cereal box tops–the kind your school can get five cents for if you rip them off and bring them into the school office.

The school receptionist must have thought the Sleeth family did nothing but eat Cocoa Puff s all day. Actually, we never ate them–Mom always went for the healthy, granola-ish cereals that didn’t have refundable box tops. But we managed to bring in many dollars worth of cardboard rectangles.

From our rather devious salvaging escapades as children, Clark and I learned a few things about recycling. We learned that cooperation is necessary for success: Yes, I did get stuck more than once when I tried to go in by myself. We also learned the truth of the old cliché: “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” And finally, we learned that recycling often translates into money.

Recycling remains one of the most important things you can do at home to help care for the environment. If your family doesn’t recycle, start now. At our house, we have four plastic tubs lined up in the pantry underneath the shelves: one for paper and cardboard, one for glass and plastic, one for steel cans, and one for aluminum cans. Some communities make recycling super-easy by offering curbside pick-up–you just set the recycling containers out with the trash cans. We need to take our materials to the recycling center, but we’ve found it’s really not much extra effort. Whenever we need to run errands in Littleton, we take the first three bins to the center there. Whenever the fourth one fills up, we take it into the can refund center in St. Johnsbury. Recycling all these materials means we rarely have more than a paper bag full of garbage on the curb on trash day. Plus, there’s the added bonus of being able to peruse the used book exchange at the recycling center whenever I go with Mom. One of my best Bible reference books came from the recycling center.

Composting comes right along with recycling. It makes so much sense. We have a pitcher that stays right by the sink to put food scraps in when we’re doing the dishes or cooking. When the pitcher is full–usually about once a day–one of us will dump the contents on the compost pile by the side of our property. We’ve tried more complicated things like worms and different additives that are supposed to speed up the composting process, but we’ve found that our simple piles work just fine. Every few years, we just begin a new pile and add the decomposing material in the other pile to our garden. And because we take out the compost so often and clean out the pitcher each time, we’ve never had a problem with the food scraps getting smelly or attracting bugs. There’s no lid, nothing added to the scraps to reduce odors–just quite a few apple cores and broccoli stalks that get taken out quite frequently.

There are so many things you can do around your own home to make it better for the environment. Some of the changes will require the cooperation of your family to maximize the impact, but you can start alone. Some of the changes may seem inconvenient at first, or too much like chores, but they can add so much to your life if you see them for what they really are: ways of honoring God and great opportunities to spend more time with your family working toward a common goal. Many of the changes will seem less onerous if you compare your lifestyle with those of teens living in areas of our world most severely affected by poverty and environmental problems. The worst “inconvenience” you encounter in trying to live a more earth-friendly life might seem like the height of luxury for teens in countries like Honduras or Haiti, who have to wonder if they have safe drinking water or clean air to breathe. And I’m willing to bet that a lot of the simple changes you can make around your house will also save money–money that you’d probably prefer to be giving to a charity or ministry rather than an electric company.
**
Emma Sleeth was fifteen years old when she wrote “It’s Easy Being Green”. As a junior in high school, she felt called to write about the biblical mandate to protect the environment–especially her generation’s responsibility. She is a leader of the evangelical movement to prevent climate change. She learned about and developed her passion for environmentalism from her father, a doctor who wrote Serve God, Save the Planet: a Christian Call to Action. Now seventeen, Emma has received a scholarship to attend Asbury College. She and her family live in Wilmore, Kentucky.

2. LINKS TO LEARN FROM
Teenreads.com offers reviews and info on the latest and most popular books for teens.
http://www.teenreads.com/
Help teens stay safe as they begin driving
http://www.allstate.com/tools-and-resources/parent-action-plan.aspx

3. INSIDE YOUR TEEN’S WORLD
…Random things you may not have heard about…
Dating aggression is surprisingly common affecting 1 in 5 girls ages 14-18.
http://lifestyle.msn.com/your-life/bigger-picture/articlegh.aspx?cp-documentid=10825470

4. LEARN THEIR LINGO
…Some slang and texting lingo for you to speak (or at least understand)
- Screepy = A word made by the accidental combination of creepy and scary. It can be used in place of either word. “That is one screepy lookin’ guy.”
- Iced Out = wearing a lot of jewelry “Check out all that bling-bling, you’re iced out!”

5. A LITTLE ENCOURAGEMENT…AND HUMOR
“Always end the name of your child with a vowel, so that when you yell the name will carry.”
~ Bill Cosby

So, what did you think? I’m curious…

Peace,
erin

So, I was browsing the national Episcopal website and I found this very interesting article. “Worshiping online: Is it really church?” After reading the article I was very surprised to learn about the Second Life cathedral with 400 to 500 members, with the oppurtunity to worship online, attend Bible studies, and discussion groups. On one hand I thought it was a wonderful idea, reaching out to people who might not attend church otherwise; yet at the same time, is the internet really taking over our lives that much that we need to offer the oppurtunity to worship online? As I type that I think of the Facebook profile I recently created in order to stay in touch with the youth on a daily basis. We have a wonderful community, something that you can not recreate online, yet our ability to make that community stronger through the internet is a blessing.
So, my question to you is this- where do we draw the line? Is there even a line to draw? Maybe, maybe not. I believe that the only line we can draw on this issue has to be personal. We are unable to define this for every person. The largest drawback I see to this is the fact that people attending these online services do not have the ability to partake in the sacraments. How much does that take away from the experiene these ‘avatars’ are having compared to your experience on Sunday mornings?
Read the article, think about what it would be like to worship online, and share your thoughts.
I have to admit, I am very curious about the Second Life cathedral! I wonder how the worship services, Bible studies, and discussion groups work. Do people really feel like they have been to church?

Peace,
erin

At EYC last night many of you said you would go to next week’s concert, even though you had no idea who Big Daddy Weave was or what they sounded like. As promised, I have found a video on YouTube for you to watch. Let me know what you think!
Also performing at the concert are Rush of Fools and Jason Gray.
Here are some of their videos…

I am so excited about the concert Sunday! Let me know your thoughts on the bands…

peace,
erin

Yesterday’s move was wonderful!  We got so much done and had a good time doing it!  Yes, the new building is smaller, but that just means we will become much closer as a group!  Thanks to everyone who came out and helped us, we couldn’t have done it without you!

I promise to post pictures of the new building once I get it all finished.  It looks great and I can’t wait for EYC next Sunday!

Until then… if you are interested in attending the Big Daddy Weave concert on October 12 at First United Methodist Church located on Cobbs Drive, please let me know so I can order tickets. Also, if you are interested in participating in the CROP Hunger Walk, please let me know so I can give you your walk packet.

Have a great week and know that you are all in my prayers!

lots of prayers for everyone,
erin

So, as I was keeping myself up to date on all things youth ministry I found this.  It was on Marko’s blog (Mark Ostreicher is the president of Youth Specialties) and I wanted to share it with you since we read a book by local Christian artist David Crowder this summer. It is a terrifically funny video that I think you will enjoy!

Let me know what you think!

peace… erin