[ Unashamed: The Monthly Newsletter ]
Job 32:7-9 I thought, 'Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.' But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding. It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right.
Job 32:7-9 I thought, 'Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.' But it is the spirit in a man, the breath of the Almighty, that gives him understanding. It is not only the old who are wise, not only the aged who understand what is right.
[ Lets stop pretending we're surprised (but we really are) ]
Hey, hey, everyone! Your friendly guild Captain and crew here, having made it to another month, and having somehow put together another newsletter for you guys. Hope you enjoy this one, or something. 3nodding
This month, we picked a verse about wisdom, since September is when most people are heading back to school- middle school, high school, college. Hopefully, if everyone is paying attention in their classes and doing their homework responsibly, they are gaining some wisdom and knowledge. The verse from Job seemed to fit the theme we were going for better than some of the verses have in the past. We all know that, despite education level and how well you pay attention in class, and whether or not you do your homework, all wisdom comes from God. He is the Creator of all knowledge and from Him only comes true wisdom. We also thought that what this verse is saying is also very pertinent to members of this guild, since most everyone is younger than 25. It's so often said that with age comes wisdom, but as this verse points out, it's not age that brings wisdom, but God Himself that grants it. Solomon was still fairly young when he asked for wisdom from God, and God gave it to him. So whether you are still a young teenager, a young adult, or all growed up, wisdom has nothing to do with our own efforts, and everything to do with what God grants us.
Now, I don't want to steal anyone's thunder. freelance lover has volunteered to supplement our verse from Job with one from 1 Timothy that reinforces this idea that even if we are young, we still have the opportunity to make a huge impact for God's glory. So I'll get on with an update on what's going on in the guild.
[ Thanks, guys! ]
All the spring cleaning has been completed!! I don't know if anyone is as shocked and appalled by this as I am, but to be honest, I never thought I'd run out of work with this guild and all of the spring cleaning. But, we somehow managed to rearrange all of the subforums, get rid of old threads and inactive members, implement a new directory, and so, so much more. I just wanna thank everyone for being patient and cooperative as we went through the process of cleaning house, especially my hard-working crew, who faithfully stuck to the responsibilities and duties I was continually throwing at them.
So now that it's all over, I'm kind of not sure what to do with myself. I'm attempting to keep myself busy with the newsletter every month, but I had to have the crew talk me out of rearranging the main page. confused Maybe once school starts I won't be so obnoxious about doing stuff in the guild. I just have nothing better to do with my summer. sweatdrop
So yes. No other progress updates. Everything is done, finished, and all that's left is maintaining it. 3nodding
[ Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome ... ]
Please welcome ryuu_chan as our new Vice Captain! It's been a looooong time since we've had one, and we have been in dire need of one. Especially now that my semester has started and I will be seen around here less and less. So be nice, listen to him when I'm not here, behave yourselves, because he will be keeping a list of all the bad kids that need to have their recess privileges revoked upon my return. Okay? Okay.
[ But we still need ... ]
Despite the fact that we now have a new Vice Captain, we are still looking for new crew members. So if you're interested, be on your best behavior and maybe we'll take notice of you. Or! If you think you'd make a good addition to our crew, you may apply. If you meet the following criteria, then it's likely the crew and I will accept your application. In case you forgot what we're looking for, here's a refresher: you must be a Christian; you must have been a member of Unashamed for at least two months; you must be ACTIVE!; you will be subject to a background check (as in, we'll be checking out your posts in this guild and on the rest of Gaia to be sure that you'll represent the guild respectfully and accurately, we'll be checking to see what, if any, other guilds you are a member of, and we'll read your profile). If you're okay with these terms and think you'd make a good crew member, send a PM to Fushigi na Butterfly and let me know.
So that's what's going on these days. And now, without further ado ...
[ A word from our Crew ]
I love the way God works. Seriously, He’s awesome because he’ll just lead you to the message you need to hear. So two weeks ago I’m preparing for devotional with my fifth through ninth graders at the summer camp I worked at, but I had no idea what exactly I wanted to tell them. I wanted something relevant to them, that they could apply to their lives. After aimlessly searching through the Bible for about half an hour, God led me to 1 Timothy 4:12.
Quote:
Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.
I knew as soon as I read this that this was a message that needed to be shared, and not just with my kids at camp, but with everyone. It seems to me that many times the potential of youth and young people in the church is often never fully tapped into. The good they can do is often underestimated, just because they are young. They are too ignorant, too flakey, or simply too uncommitted to really make a difference in the church body.
Now, given the general demographic of Gaia, I’m going to assume most of us consider ourselves young, but even if we don’t the message is the same. We should never let anyone but God set out limits for us. People will look down on you because you’re young. They’ll look down on you because you’re a girl, because you’re black, because you’re Catholic, because you smell funny. People will always be looking down on you, but when we fall into their notion of what we’re capable of, rather than God’s, the evil in the world wins. We are called to be God’s people and do his work even if we are young.
So how do we do this? 1 Timothy 4:12 conveniently tells us how to do this as well. We are to set an example. This is important. It means you have to live your life as a Christian, and the world should be able to tell. I once heard a pastor say that most of us lived a life of practical atheism- that is, we live as the rest of the world, but believe the Christian faith. However, we can see that Paul commands us to live God pleasing lives in all aspects of our lives- speech, life, love, faith, and purity. We need to be the shining city on hill to those around us. We can give our time, our energy, our money, our prayers, our energy- really, any of the amazing gifts God has blessed us with, and we all have them. It’s a matter of finding them, and learning how to use them to please God.
My final word is this- spend some time talking with God and figure out what your gifts are and what opportunities God is presenting to you to serve Him and serve others. No matter how young you are, God wants to use you we just need to open up to him doing that.
[ Prayer requests ]
These are all the prayer requests that have come in during August. If you'd like to make comments and offer support, feel free to post in the individual prayer request threads inside the Prayer Request subforum.
Paranormal Zombiiie
My best friend in the entire world just broke up with her boyfriend.
He is somewhat in love with her sister and he told her. D: And she got mad and didn't talk to him. So he left and came to my place. So he is staying with me and going to talk to his girlfriend in the morning. He doen't like her like he loves his girlfriend. D: He was just being an idiot.
So I play that they fix this. D:
I also pray that he gets a job because if they don't fix it he will be staying with me till he gets the money to get his own appartment.
mikeyh11
Hey...
My dad, he broke his back a while back (17 years ago) and he ain't doing so good. He lives with this one girl who isn't the nicest thing in the world, and she... They live un-happily together about 2 hours away from me, and I hardly see him. his back hurts him constantly, we just put his dog to sleep, (Our dog actually, about 2 years ago), he doesn't have much money, and he isn't happy. I hope--i KNOW god can help him out. I just really want to get the message to him, you know? So please keep posting on this.
For every post that you put on this topic-thingy-mo-bobber, I will beilive that you agree with me, and that you think my dad should get help from god as well.
So, come on, please, pray with me. neutral neutral neutral
Fushigi na Butterfly
My friend called me today to tell me that her dad attacked her. She has a fractured foot and other scrapes and bruises. I don't know the details, because she was understandably too upset to really go into them. But please, she needs so much prayer right now. I'm begging you, just keep her and her family in your prayers.
Meloreiel
We have gone together with my boyfriend 11 months and we have had great relationship. But next monday without reason he started feeling uneasy. Now we are on a break and I don't know what's going on. This unwareness is killing me. Can you pray for us.
Shikamaru Chidori
Hello my fellow Christian brothers and sisters. I come to you with a prayer request. I have a friend that I met at camp not oo long ago, and she's in emotional pain right now. I asked her to share her testimony, and she did. It turns out that she's been dumped by three different boyfrinds, raped by one of them many times over, and her family members aren't exactly what you call friendly. I've been doing my best to pray for her, but I would love the help and support from you guys. Please help me and pray for her. I can't tell you her name or who her avi is because I promised her that I'd keep those private. I thank you bro's and sisters. Good night, and God bless.
Love, YBIC (your brother in Christ), Nick G. a.k.a. Shikamaru Chidori.
freelance lover
This is long, sorry guys! I got a phone call last night from Darius, an old friend from high school, last night who I haven't talked to in over a year. In high school he considered himself spiritual but labeled himself agnostic.
We talked for about an hour and he told me he had become a Christian several months ago (praise that!). He seems to be on a good path in his spiritual journey- he's very close friends with the pastor of his church who seems to be acting as a spiritual mentor with him. He sounded like he had a real passion for scripture and the truth he had discovered which was awesome.
He called to talk to me about a couple of concerns. Darius is gay and has been dating the same guy, Austin, for at least three years, probably close to four now. Darius told me when he was figuring out his sexual identity in the seventh grade he basically ended up just saying "screw it, I'm gay" and never really stopped to think if he may actually be bisexual. He's begining to question his sexual identity again and he's also concerned with his boyfriend, who is not a Christian. Darius also knows that is he broke up with Austin is would literally send Austin to a mental institution. Darius has talked with an older man at his church who is openly gay who had a Christian partner for a long time and also had a failed marriage with a woman prior to that. In general, I think he just needs guidance and I pray that God would show him what exactly it is he needs to do, be it stay with Austin or break up with him.
Also, he's trying to get more plugged in in the Christian community and he's not sure how to go about doing that. Like I said, he's pretty good friends with the pastor of his church. I just also pray that he will find an support group that accepts and loves him that he can be in community and fellowship with.
To me, this is huge sinc he didn't really like a whole lot of Christians in high school (he told me I was one of the few he did) so that fact that he's come to accept Christ is exciting and proves to me God really can do anything Thanks for the prayers guys.
mistymorning14
I have been homeschooled for all my life except 4th and 5th grade. Even then I was in a school with only 50 kids. Today I am heading off to a highschool with over 500 kids. Please pray that this time God will give me the courage to stand up for my beliefs and that I will find good friends.
Thanks
Misty
ryuu_chan
It seems that everyone in my life is having severe money troubles right now. I know most of us are fairly strapped for cash since the American economy started falling, but as I, my sister and her new husband are all out of work (and them with a baby on the way), I don't know if we'll all be able to stay where we've been staying. My mother's having trouble making payments on important things, as is a love interest of mine. My former church has put my old pastor out of work by writing to the bishop behind his back, making him unable to preach at ANY church, so he is out of work permanently unless he can find the funds to go back to school for something else (or maybe we can get a case going for him), he and his pregnant wife and their daughter no longer have any health benefits at all. I'd appreciate a little prayer about the situtations here that are making us all rip out our hair. Thank you.
[ Praise reports ]
We also like to praise God for what He's done in our lives, giving Him glory for the immense blessings He's given us. We didn't get any new praise reports in the past month, though we all know that God is working daily in our lives. In the absence of anyone else's praise, let me just take this moment to lead us all in a small prayer of praise:
Father, we thank You each day that You are who You are, and that, even through the deep valleys You continue to lead and guide and love us. We know that, even when we feel abandoned, You have not really left us- it's us who have pulled away. We thank You that, even after we pull away, You still allow us to come back to You. Father God, we thank You for all of this and so, so much more. Amen!
[ September's Birthdays ]
This month, Unashamed wishes a happy and blessed birthday to:
omnimodus
- Fruit of the Spirit -
notadream
Fushigi na Butterfly
grounder91
Henge Keeper
Musical_Master
Pastor Danielle
piercing_golden_eyes
Bazisan
Hope it's a great one, guys!
