So I have been on a rampage of cleaning while Esther has been gone for a little bit. So now I am tired and smell like cleaning supplies! Gross.

Anyways this will be short update because I have some a friend and his wife coming to stay with us this weekend.

Just a little reminder that before next class tomorrow please read John 2. We are going to be talking about Jesus life and start seeing how He lived His amazing life and what His story is all about. So read John 2 and be familiar with what is going on because I want to have a discussion about it tomorrow.

Well have a great Saturday I will see you tomorrow!

P.A.

Its FRIDAY! Whoop whoop.

So I hope today is going to be awesome for ya, I know today I have a pretty full day meeting with some other youth pastors at lunch and then hanging with Jamin and Amy tonight, and then tomorrow my college friend and his wife come to town to stay with us for a night and watch the super bowl with us! I am pumped.

This Sunday in Next class we are going to start looking at the life of Jesus, since we just finished our story, we are now moving on to His story. So I am encouraging you guys to read John chapter 2 for this Sunday, and then also bring your Bible to next class so we can all take a look at what is written and that amazing stuff!

So this Sunday bring a Bible and maybe something to write with if something sticks out to ya!

I can't wait to see ya Sunday!

P.A.

For the Parents

Alright so this is important info.

On February 25th we are going to be having a purity ceremony. During this ceremony we will be having a time for parents to pray for their teen and give them a purity ring, bracelet, necklace, ect...Anything you would want to give them to represent a pledge to sexually purity until marriage would be great. Please take time and think about what to give them and maybe ask them if they would be willing to wear something or recieve something. I believe that it might spark some good conversation if asked at the right time.

Now if your son and or daughter already have a ring, necklace, bracelet, ect... This will be a great time for you to pray another blessing, maybe have a time of confession, a time of just recommitting them to Christ in this realm. I believe that this portion of the night will be the most important part. So for the next month will you please be in prayer for this night. Prayer that your son or daughter hear you heart and love for them at this time, and also be praying that you will have wisdom on what to say to them as we give you an opportunity to talk openly about sexuality with your teens and then pray with them.

Please be in prayer for this month for our youth ministry, we have been praying for this month for a while and want our students to be challenged to live differently then their generation. I believe that God has called our students at crystal valley to start setting a new standard of living in the sexual realm and I believe that us as leaders, and parents need to model that for our teens. So please be prayer with us this month!

I want you to know this going into this loved filled month of February!

Have an amazing night tonight!

P.A.

Road Trip!

Well today everyone I will be heading out to a couple camps to look at if we want to go somewhere this summer to camp or next winter for a winter retreat. We are just looking into things nothing is set in stone or anything. We are just exploring some options since our group is growing and seeing what we can do to tailor our events to more of our needs. I think its going to be awesome

So Last night was really fun I am glad that we got to talk about goals and setting them. I really hope that you guys shared your goals with your small group leader and start putting them into practice today! We will be praying for all of you guys this next year to accomplish your goals.

This coming month is our purity series I promise you it will be like no other purity series ever! We have got some amazing things planned. One thing that we are planning is on February 18th, we are going to be having a parents discussion on purity. We have a lot of parents who are getting into the hyper-dating stage with their teens and we want to be able to have resources, and discussion for all parents. Then the next week we will have our purity series on the 25th. I am excited so parents please come to that night all the students will be out and in their own talks that night. So it will just be adults in the discussion. The discussion will start 7:30 and end at 8:30.

More information to come!

See you later.

P.A.

Tonight will be the night that I will fall for for my goals over again!

So tonight is our last night of our goal series, and we are going to be talking about how can we set our goals and attain them.

This is important though, we need everyone tonight is bring a pen and something that you can take notes with. Like a journal, or notebook, because we are going to go over very specific things you can do to make sure your goals are reached.

Tonight we are going to have a great time Jessica Baylis had a great game idea! Also we are going to be playing a game where the who goal is to not break something! I love when we can find games that go right a long with our message :)

Tonight will be the first night I believe that we are recording the message and hopefully be able to put it up on the blogspot tomorrow for all those who miss tonight to hear and make their own goals!

I hope you guys have a great day!

Last thing......Who ordered the snow because I am sick and tired of this stupid snow!

That is all!

See you tonight 6:30 - 8:30!

P.A.

Tuesday night means American Idol night!

So everyone I am proud to say that last night I went to my first Notre Dame basketball game. It was pretty cool, I went with my father-in-law and we had a great time! It was a close game the whole way through but Marquette won in the end. One thing I was impressed with was the student section because they had so many cheers that were complex, not just regular we are ND cheers but dancing ones, arm moving ones, guy and girl part cheers, they were intense! It was pretty cool.

So it got me thinking if God watched our life with the angels like a basketball game. Like they all get together and they are cheering us on to make right decisions and stuff and when we blow it or make a bad decision they are all booing and upset, but when we make a right decision or seek after God, they go nuts and do cool chants for us. The angels are all standing on the bleachers yelling at us and encouraging us to do better.

But the most interesting part was afterwords when we were walking out everyone was talking about how disappointed they were from losing and they were talking about specific players that they probably will never meet or talk to but they were calling them like horrible, or I cant believe that did that. But I was thinking that our God never leaves the gym of our lives. He is always right there cheering us on, wanting us to do the best we can. Our God never leaves and says I cant believe them, they are horrible, or I dont know why I come anymore! Our God just loves us and wants us to do the best we can do! Yes of course God is disappointed with us when we make a mistake but He never ever leaves us! He never walks out on us and says well we tried!

God wants us to our best, but the thing that we have to do is look up to Him and say "God what do you want me to do today for you!" That could change our whole perspective on how we live our life for God!

I hope to see you tomorrow night when we get to write out our goals! Please be praying about your goals!

P.A.