I got this in an email!  woo

Friends Don't Let Friends Jump

OK boys and girls - time to use your imagination .

You are the leader of a village called Ecapsym that is located on a high plain that overlooks the ocean. Your people are generally happy and content with life, except for once in a while this stranger named Lucy Fer shows up and convinces people that their lives are missing something. This stranger is very wise - (wise as a serpent in fact), and invariably she is able to convince people that the emptiness they sometimes feel inside can be solved by doing something on the outside. What is that something? Jumping off the cliff that's just outside the village.

That's right, it seems like insanity, but somehow she's able to persuade people that soaring into thin air is a good thing. And at least a couple times a month, you are wakened by panicked family members alerting you to yet another cliff jumper that bought the lie.

Now, the cliff is not that high, so nobody gets killed. But they almost always break an arm, a leg, or receive some kind of injury that is definitely going to leave a mark.

So now you decide to do something about it, but what? You can't ever seem to predict when and where Lucy Fer is going to show up, so you need to explore other strategies.

You meet with the village elders, and they come up with two possible plans: build a hospital at the bottom of the cliff, or a rescue station at the top. You only have the materials and finances for one of those, so you need to make a choice. At first the hospital at the bottom sounds good, because there would be help right there when people hit bottom. But the more you think about it, the rescue station at the top is really the best plan, because it would help stop folks from jumping in the first place. You could invite people in to let them know that Lucy Fer's plan is disaster, then they could join the rescue team and help you with the work of the rescue station.

Your plan works. Now nearly everyone in your myspace, sorry - I mean Ecapsym is meeting regularly at the Rescue Station and bringing new friends all the time. The only people that are jumping anymore are the ones who didn't know the Station was there, or stopped going because they got too busy or thought the Rescue Station was full of hypocrites.

Next time you think about your church or youth group, ask yourself if you see it as a hospital at the bottom of life's cliffs, or a Rescue Station at the top. See, the hospital people meet together and wait for folks to come in and get help for their hurts. They definitely serve a great purpose, but it's also definitely not the best strategy.nor is it what God designed the church to be either. Check this out -

Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. (Acts 2:46-47)

This is a description of the original church meetings from over 2000 years ago. They got together in plain view of the public and partied like it was A.D. 99. The other people saw the sincerely great stuff going on and joined in. What was the result?

"The Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved."

Saved...as in rescued. Not from the cliffs of Ecapsym, but from the gates of Hell. Without the Rescue Station, Lucifer (i.e. the devil) is able to talk loads of people into taking the insane leap into sex, drugs, and any other number of rock hard consequences that rolls their lives into depression.

Guess what? You are needed at your local Rescue Station. If you're not regularly involved because you are too busy or you think it's full of hypocrites, you've been duped by Lucy Fer. If you are regularly involved but not inviting new people to church/youth group, don't keep the Rescue Station to yourself, because friends don't let friends jump off cliffs!

Head: What you need to know about this truth

One of the main purposes of church/youth group is to be a rescue station for the unsaved. One of the main purposes of our involvement in church/youth group is to bring our unsaved friends to hear the gospel and be saved.

Heart: What you need to feel about this truth

Do you truly feel that some of your friends might be headed for a cliff? What I mean is, without Christ, many teens find it easy to start down a self-destructive path that never ends well. If you do feel that about your friends, then you won't feel nervous about inviting them out to youth group and/or sharing the gospel.

Hands: What you need to do about this truth

Think for a moment about your youth group. Is it a good rescue station? Is the gospel presented regularly? Do other people help visitors feel welcome? If not, get together with your youth leader and talk about this Soul Fuel. If it is a good rescue station, invite a friend or two out this week!