Christmas Party!

Hey guys!

Today we had our Christmas party. Thanks for everyone who brought food to share! It went really well. We also took a group picture (possible that it may be in the yearbook).Check out the pictures on the TLC facebook group! :)

After we got our food and ate, we read Luke 2 and enacted the Christmas story. If you want to read it, it's here http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%202&version=NIV1984

It's amazing how God sent Jesus humbly to us as a child. As Christmas time comes around again, we want you to really think about the real meaning of Christmas. That sounded really cliche, but just spend half an hour really thinking about what it means to you and the world. People waited for the Messiah, Jesus, for hundreds of years and he finally came as a baby. He came so humbly. Let's praise him for it!

Just think about it.

Have a fantastic week! Only one week to go 'till break. Merry Christmas & Happy New year! See you guys next year. By the way, we will not be having TLC next week.

Congratulations to the winners of the baking competition!

Jered, Hannah, and Olushola!

Philippians 3

So today we talked about purpose. I started off by asking everyone what they wanted to be. Most people answered with a career or just "I don't know". We then talked about what purpose is. Purpose is a direction that we want our life to go. It is not attainable; it is meant to give us something to strive for. We then looked into the bible, specifically Philippians 3, to see what it had to say. Paul talks about his previous life and how he put his confidence in the "flesh", his status and achievements. He gives his brief testimony to tell us what not to do. He then encourages us to place our value in knowing Christ and pursuing a relationship with Him. Knowing Christ is of so much value to Paul that everything else was worthless. His old life focused on himself; gaining God's favor by following the law. However, he realized that he has to get righteousness not in the law but through faith in God. Only then can we be right before God. His purpose changed from gaining God's favor in his own efforts to knowing Christ. Paul reminds us that he has not yet attained the prize of full knowledge of Christ but that he presses on to reach it. He further encourages us to not set our minds on earthly things but reminds us that our citizenship is in heaven. I hope that I was able to get you all thinking about what your purpose is and what you want to do with the rest of your life. Hopefully we all will realize that knowing God is the only purpose worth striving after, the only direction that can lead us to God, and the only thing that has value.

Operation Christmas Child

Thank you to guys who brought boxes and presents today! We really need to thank God for providing us with so much today. There were a lot of boxes, toys, and stuffed animals from Ms. Wagner. As we talked about it two weeks ago, today was a day give back the love we receive from God. God gave us so much - John 3:16 says "For God so loved the world he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life" and this was our small way of giving back. :) It was really fun, but this is just one way to love others! Continue to love others.

announcements:

1. The Walk for the Homeless is still this Saturday November 19th -contact Grace if you're interested
2. T-shirt money will be due the next time we meet! November 30th.
3. So there is no TLC next week because of Thanksgiving break. :) Have a good Thanksgiving!

Giving God the Best

Today in TLC, we had a short discussion on how David insisted on paying the full price for the land. He could have gotten the land for free since he was the King, but he wanted to give God his best. We also want to give our very best in whatever we do --whether it's schoolwork, sports, playing an instrument, loving others, etc. Why? Because Jesus gave us his very best; so, he deserves our best! Whatever you do, do your best to glorify God. :)

Colossians 3:23 says"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men."

We watched a video on Operation Christmas Child -

If you want to, you can make a card for the children who will receive the boxes. Bring them in on November 16th!

We also had a lot of announcements today!

If you want to keep track of what's happening this month, here it is:

November 9th- We'll be having Danny's dad as a guest speaker! If you have any questions about anything, please email them to truthlovecharacter@gmail.com. It doesn't have to be related to anything we have been doing in TLC.

November 16th- Operation Christmas Child!! The list of what to pack is at: http://www.samaritanspurse.org/index.php/OCC/Pack_A_Shoe_Box/

November 19th- Walk for the Homeless in D.C. If you're interested in knowing more about it, you can email/chat/message Grace at star9412@gmail.com or on facebook.

Have a good week. God loves you. (:

If you have any questions or want to just talk, feel free to talk to any of the leaders!

*update: t-shirt money will be due NOVEMBER 30th.

(Sorry for all the previous wrong dates.)

You will not have to bring $2 for shipping for the Operation Christmas Child boxes. However if everyone could bring something, that would be great!

"I Am Second"

Hey guys!

We decided to start this blog up again, so you'll see a big jump from 2009 to 2011.

Today, we watched two videos --

(here are the links if you want to watch them again)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaKoE2lm7XY&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fXOrKT7SUoY

After we watched them, we broke up into five different groups and focused on what it meant to be "second." Discussion may have varied from group to group, but in general, they were about humbling ourselves to give God glory. Although Jason Castro and Josh Hamilton are different in so many ways, they have one thing in common. They live to glorify God. So this week, we want to encourage you to live to glorify God. You'll never get disappointed when you live for God and no matter what you may be going through, remember that God will be with you! :)

announcements:

- t-shirts: They will be $7. You can start bringing in money next week and Chris will be collecting them.

As we decided last week, the t-shirts will be black. Instead of designing a shirt online, we're going to make our own t-shirts. The date for that is TBD.

- If you have anything you want us to pray about or any questions, email us at truthlovecharacter@gmail.com or any of the leaders.

Have a good week!