Lent

So today Danny's dad talked about the season of lent. For those of you that don't know, lent is a time before Easter where you give up something to create more time to follow God. Rather than focus on the giving up part of lent, Mr. Warner talked about who Jesus is and how He saved us. Our sin creates a chasm between us and God which stops us from reaching God. Jesus died and more importantly rose from the dead to bridge the chasm between us and God. Without Jesus we never can reach God; He is the only way, the only truth, and the only life. After we cross that gap it may feel as if we still don't seem to be with God, but that's the point of lent. It brings us a little closer to God. Lent is not what saves us and brings us over the gap we have between us and God; only Jesus can bridge that gap. Lent is just a way to spend more time with God and give Him more of ourselves for Him. We encourage you all to prayerfully consider if you want to give up something for Lent. We also encourage you to think of ten people that are not Christian. Use the time during lent to pray for them, and even consider asking them to go to church on Easter. Think about it.

Testimonies

Last week we discussed the importance of sharing testimonies, and this week, we had the opportunity to practice what we learned! So today, most of us went around and shared our testimonies. It varied from life testimonies to something God did the other day. Nonetheless, they were all testimonies, and we want to thank all of you for sharing! They were encouraging to us, and hopefully to other people as well. God is definitely working through us and in us. Remember to keep sharing wherever you go, not just in TLC!

announcement:
Next week we'll be having a guest speaker.
See you there! 

If you have any  questions you want the speaker to answer, please send them to truthlovecharacter@gmail.com. That way we can get them to him beforehand and he can look into answers. (If there's a lot of questions, he may not get into all of them, but feel free to ask. We'll try to keep ones we don't get to until next time. Questions will be kept anonymous.)

Responsibility!

Today, we had our guest speaker- Preethi's pastor- who came and talked to us about, in short, the importance of responsibility. It's also worth noting that, by some divine coincidence, we happened to be locked out of our room on the only day in February we've ever had nice weather. So we had a great meeting outside.

Anyway, talking about responsiblity is pretty cliche. Of course, there's a reason behind that- it's easy to talk about, usually. But it's a very different thing entirely to be a fully-responsible person. So what does it mean to be responsible?
Most people agree responsiblity is taking the effort to carry out what they're entrusted with. Whether large or small, responsiblities are something we all encounter in every day life- homework, taking care of younger siblings, following laws, making the effort to live for God. Many people dream of a life without responsibility, and wish they could live their life with an "anything goes" attitude. But we all know this doesn't work. Why not? It leaves you feeling empty. When we have responsibilities, and fulfill them, there's accomplishment and satisfaction. Also, if no one had responsibility, society wouldn't function- if there were no standard to be held responsible to, we'd find ourselves in the midst of a violent dog-eats-dog world.
So responsibility is important, and it's everywhere. Whether you're someone who naturally shies away from it, like so many of us do, or who embraces it- it's important to learn how to handle responsibility. Especially as Christians, we all share a specific responsibility; that is, to live our lives in a way that glorifies God, and leads others to him. Sometimes, you might be the only Christian example that someone ever sees- and it's worth asking God to help you become a fitting representative.