Lonely, Abandoned, A Loser?

Down and out. Many times in life there can be doubt and fears about how your life is going? Everyone has times when we feel our friends may have left us. Friends find themselves busy with current or new activities. Often unfortunately friends sometimes find other friends and that hurts. Maybe others have succeeded and you feel jealous. Do you feel stuck in a rut? Not going anywhere? Alone, abandoned, a loser?

You are not alone. You are not a loser.

You are not alone by any means. Everyone feels this way at one time or another. Your friends, parents, teachers, doctors, lawyers, Sometimes it doesn't last long like when your friends are busy off at camp or vacation and return in a week or two. At other times your loneliness may seem to last forever.

Moses wandered the desert and was driven away from family and friends. King David was hunted and hid in a cave. Job (that's a guy's name) felt abandoned by his friends and even God! Paul was imprisoned on an island and cut off from everyone he knew and loved. No, you're not alone in your loneliness may of us feel lonely too.

God says:
"If you love me, you will obey what I command. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counselor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth."
-John 14:15-17a

God never leaves you. God's Spirit is with you along with God's Spirit within friends and family. If you're lonely - tell someone. Do you feel abandoned? Tell someone who'll listen. Tell it to God, tell it to someone else and guess what? You're no longer alone and none of God's children are losers.

Is School Out Yet!?!

It's that time of year again - SCHOOL'S ALMOST OUT! Right now (if you're in school) you can't wait for the torture to end. "When is school going to be done?"

Of course, summer break will be here, and then what? Are you prepared for summer or will it be a huge waste? Summer can be very busy, very boring, very exciting and even very dangerous if we are not prepared. So there are two big possibilities: you have a busy summer planned, or nothing planned. Each has its problems.

Let's say you have a full summer of activities like church camps, sports camps, trips, vacations, tryouts for this and that, competitions, baseball games, etc. etc. etc. Is this bad to be busy? Nope, being active keeps us from getting into trouble and keeps us focused. But focused on what? God wants us to prepare our hearts: to worship, to serve others, to grow in faith (by reading the Bible or giving), to spend time with other Christians, and to tell our friends about God. Are you planning time this summer to come to church? Are you planning to take a break from God this summer or will you find time to help someone during June, July or August?

Whether you have a lot to do this summer or nothing planned, PLAN NOW! Make a list (it can be short) of things you know God wants you to do over the next few months. Maybe it looks like this:
- Remind my family to come to church (maybe pick a different service each weekend)
- Get a book from the public library, church library or Christian book store that is inspirational and may help you know God a little more (or heck just read a book of the Bible)
- Pick one person or project you can do to help someone else - like mow the elderly neighbor's yard for free, or volunteer to help at church in VBS or summer ministry
- Pray and pray often
- Find ways to talk about God with others when you are busy in your summer activities. For example, at your baseball games and practices, invite anyone who would like to - to pray beforehand.

Your list may look very different. The point is to plan NOW before summer takes ahold of you. Pray about it for a week or two and ask God to help you prepare the summer as a way to honor God.

Don't forget - God created summer and everything else. Show God how much you appreciate it!

Extreme Football - Help Habitat for Humanity

Thrivent Night at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum

FUN - PRIZES - GAMES - BAND - GIVE A WAYS AT HALF TIME
June 10, 2006 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets = $12.

$5 of every ticket goes towards our St. John's and Thrivent Habitat
house.

You MUST purchase from the church for our Lutheran Build Habitat
home to get credit!!

To buy your tickets:
1. At the St. John's church office between 9 AM and 4 PM Daily. 2. Before church services on Sunday -- look for the Habitat table

This is a great opportunity to have an evening of fun PLUS support a
worthy cause.

Also at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum before the game, tour the
Thrivent Builds Mobile, a 67 foot, 18 wheel semi that turns into a
portable affordable housing museum. Here's a chance for you and
your children, your small group at church, or your Sunday School
class to learn more about the issue of poverty housing, and how you
can help.
The Thrivent Builds Mobile will be available for tour from 4:00 p.m.
until 7:30 p.m. The Bloomington Extreme game starts at 7:05 p.m.

For more information, call the Social Action Ministry Team's Habitat
coordinator Ruthanne Aves at 309-242-4014.

http://bloomingtonextreme.com/
http://www.thriventbuilds.com/

Help Out Little Kids

What are you doing July 31-August 4?

Would you like to do something fun, exciting, and helps others? I encourage you (whether you're going into 6-8th grades or even an adult) to sign up to help with our church's Vacation Bible School program. Monday-Friday, kids, youth and adults gather for a lot of fun activities to learn more about God. This year's theme is FIESTA (hey it means PARTY!) so you know it's gonna be awesome.

Here are ways you can help:
Activities Assistant
Nursery Assistant
Craft Assistant
Snack Leader
Service Project Assistant

Contact Mrs. Choban in the church office for more information or...
Email her at andrea@stjohnsbloomington.org
Fill out a yellow form (the back side is for volunteering) at the VBS display in the Parish Life Center

We need you!

Being Dumped On

I had a wonderful Mother's Day!

I visited my parents Saturday and Sunday and even had a fantastic dinner at White Fence Farm in Lemont, IL with my parents and my brother and sister-in-law. After a wonderful day of celebrating mom I took off for home and arrived back in Bloomington around 6pm. Imagine my shock and surprise when I found about 20 yards of tree debris outstide the front of my house! The pile was at least 8 feet high and covered the entire length of my parkway (that ingenious part of land from your sidewalk to the street). Where did this pile of wood come from? I quickly inventoried the trees from my yard. Nope! All trees present and 'counted for. I noticed my neighbors had the trunk of the cut tree in their front yard. Ah HA! It was theirs. Was it storm damage? But then why dump the bulk of their waste in my yard.

Was I angry? Let me ask you this. What if you arrived home to find that your parent or brother or sister had taken their trash and put it in front of your room. What if you found trash in front of your locker at school? Even if you knew at some point a janitor would come by with a broom - you'd still be hurt. So was I angry? Simply - yes. What do you do when someone does something against you? What does God want us to do? "Love your neighbor as yourself," Jesus says. Ok, so I'll wait and see what my "neighbor" says to me. Maybe they will apologize? Maybe they will make up for it. That was Sunday, today is Tuesday and still no word from my neighbors even after writing them a direct but nice note about being a little upset. "But what if they don't apologize? What if they never admit they were wrong?" This is where is gets tricky for us. God asks us to forgive, to have the courage to forgive those that do something against us.

Ephesians 4:31-32 tells us what happens when we don't forgive and what we should do instead.
"Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you."

If you (or if I) continue to be angry and upset you'll live a life of bitterness, rage and anger. If you dare to have the courage to forgive you're following God's plan (which so often seems alien to us) and following God's role model. We would rather be the victim. Sulking around being angry and plotting revenge. Revenge always makes things worse. I received lots of revenge ideas from friends ranging from the absurd funny to the downright awful. True forgiveness allows you to really deal with what's hurting you and sometimes even helps make things better between you and your: friend, parent, school bully, teacher, teammate, or yes even your neighbor.

So what am I going to do? I wrote a note expressing my feelings of disappointment. I told them honestly what they could do to make the situation better and now I leave it up to them. I cannot make them feel guilty. I cannot make them really do anything. Yes there are courts and lawyers and police, and so on and so on. If a lot of damage was done I may have considered it but being angry sometimes makes you think the situation is worse than it is. Sometimes there may not be anything you can do but just forgive them. I think we can all remember a time when this was true. I am pretty sure that the city will come by the end of the week to remove the "tree" and eventually no trace will be around. I can remain hurt day in and day out every time I see my neighbor or I can move on and forgive. God could be up in heaven angry and hurt at what His people are doing to Him and each other. Thankfully Jesus had the courage to love us and die for us and God instead loves us unconditionally.

Have the courage today to forgive someone today for something that you cannot change.

PS- The first picture is my front yard, the second is my neighbor's - YIKES!

-Rob

A Few "Quotes"

The New Testament is the best book the world had ever known or will know.
- Charles Dickens

We might think that God wanted simply obedience to a set of rules: whereas God really wants people of a particular sort.
- C. S. Lewis

I have been baptized! (Martin Luther's response to the Devil)
- Martin Luther

Forgiveness is the final form of love.
- Reinhold Niebuhr

Sharing Faith

"Return home and tell how much God has done for you." So the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him. -Luke 8:39

It's that time of year when most of our 8th graders get up in front of a worship service and share their faith. The "FaithShare" is a tough task for most adults let alone students who haven't had much experience getting up in front of others. However, the Spirit picks up where we fail. Have you ever wanted to talk to someone about God or being a Christian but were too afraid or scared you'd say the wrong thing? Like the man in the verse, be overjoyed at all that God provides and don't be afraid, run all over town telling everyone how much God has done for you. Now no one says that is easy. It's one thing to tell everyone that Jesus healed you it's another to get up in front of a bunch of people and personally talk about God. But why? Because we don't practice. We don't open up in our small groups, with our friends and family, our internet BLOGS, our text messages, our emails, even our prayers with God and on and on. The point is we have so many opportunities to share our faith in both spoken and unspoken ways. Look for the opportunities this spring and summer and get excited about what God is doing for you and for everyone!

Peace,
Rob