If I Live Right

If I Live Right

 
Dear Champions,
 
The short excerpt is by Tim Keller, and the Scripture is Matthew 5:45   God causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
 
Over the years I have seen people getting completely destroyed by the troubles in their lives, and here is why.  There is a premise underneath our lives that is so deep that we do not even realize it is there.  And the premise is this:  If I live right, my life should go right.   So if your life goes wrong, you either say something is wrong with me and I hate myself because I must be a failure, or you say I hate God because He is not treating me as I deserve.  This premise that if I live right that my life should go right is going to lead you into self-hatred or God-hatred, and your life will be poisoned.  Something has to destroy the premise, and there is only one thing that will.  Jesus Christ was a perfect man and an absolutely great person.  He was a Man anointed with the Spirit, and He was perfectly loving, godly and good.  He went into the wilderness where He was tested and tried; but He was absolutely obedient, and He did it for us because He was living the life we should have lived. 
 
Years later this perfectly loving, godly and good Man ended up on the cross.  He lived right, yet His life on Earth did not end right.  He says, My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?  That is the only time in His entire life when He does not call God Father – the only time -- why?  Because on the cross, He was losing His Sonship and His relationship with His Father because He was getting the punishment that we deserved.  Jesus loses the Sonship so that we can have it and so that we can become sons and daughters of God.
 
Champions, have a great week!-David Vining

Let Your Yes Be Yes

Let Your Yes Be Yes

 Dear Champions,

This past Sunday was Valentine s Day, so I wanted to share a few thoughts.

Last week one of my students told his girl friend that he loved her.  My 7th graders know exactly how I think about that. I expect a guy and a girl that are going out or dating that tell each other that they love each other to get engaged and get married. 

Love is a decision and a commitment, and it is not a feeling. No couple will always feel in love with each other because we all get aggravated with each other from time to time. For a married person to tell his spouse that he does not love her anymore is an incorrect statement when you know what the word love really means in relationships. If love is a decision and a commitment, then you cannot fall out of love.

Do I really expect my 7th grade guy to get a ring and marry his girlfriend?  Of course not. But what I hope is that he will stop misusing the word love.  Matthew 5:37 says Simply let your Yes be Yes, and your No, No; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.

In other words, mean what you say and say what you mean.  Let your word be true. Say that you love your dating partner only when you have made a decision to be committed to that person for the rest of your life.  You cannot fall out of love when you know what the word love really means.

Champions, have a great week!-David Vining
 

Have a Great Day!

Have a Great Day!

 
Dear Champions,
 
Psalm 118:24  This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.
 
On Friday, January 29, 2010, Jim Daddy Miller, senior director of Camp Greystone, went home to heaven.  Attitude is the key, winners we will be was part of the Breakfast Club song that we sang every morning before he inspired us all with words or wisdom and with corny and sometimes funny jokes.  Never have I met a man that was as positive and as encouraging as this man.  He believed and taught us all that everyday was a great day and that we should make the most of it.  He made it a point to leave every person that he met feel better about him or herself after he interacted with them.
 
Once I was interacting with some students here in Chattanooga, TN, and a woman that I had never met before walked by and told me that I reminded her of a friend of hers from North Carolina named Jim Miller from Camp Greystone.  What a complement!  It was at that moment that I realized the incredible impact that he had on me and on others.  Because of his life, so many of us have been changed, blessed and impacted.  His life of enthusiasm, love and positive attitude left a mark on all of our lives. 
 
I miss my friend Jim Miller, and I am so blessed that I got to know him and become his friend.  May God help us to honor his life by helping us to make everyday a great day and to try and leave people better off after they have been around us.  And in the same way, may our light shine before men, that they may see our good deeds and praise our Father in heaven.  (Matthew 5:16)
 
Thank you Jim Daddy for letting your light shine before me so that we could see your good deeds and praise our Father in heaven.
 
Champions, have a great day, a great week, and may you feel terrific!-David Vining