I can vote.
I can go clubbin.
I can pick up a pack-o-cigs. I won't.

And I can go to big-people jail.

Bean also mentioned that I can now participate in pornography and gambling, informing me that I can lose my health, money, and morals all at the same time!

Yay for 18!


::b

...and love is what makes that journey worthwhile.


Is this real?


I feel like I'm in a dream...



...and I don't want to wake up.




The only problem is...



I'm afraid of getting hurt again.



Wish me luck.



::b

I can make anybody pretty.
I can make you believe any lie.
I can make you pick a fight with somebody twice your size.
I've been known to cause a few break-ups,
and I've been known to cause a few births.
I can make you new friends, or get you fired from work.

Who Am I?



::b

You won't read this.
You dont know.
But you have influenced me incredibly over the past year.
Tonight I, for the first time, began to write a new chapter in my life since then.

Tonight I cried the last time for you.
Tonight I thought back for the last time for you.
Tonight I remembered for the last time for you.
Tonight I will move on. For the first time in...

One year, three months, and six days.

Five Hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes and more.

Tonight I "give up".

I will never forget you.
I will always care about you.
I will always listen.

But it will never be the same.


I can take the rain on the roof of this empty house, that don't bother me.  I can take a few tears now and then and just let them out.  I'm not afraid to cry every once in a while.  Even though going on with you gone still upsets me, there are days every now and again I pretend I'm ok.  But that's not what gets me.


What hurts the most was being so close and having so much to say and watching you walk away, and never knowing what could have been and not seeing that loving you--is what I was tryin' to do.


It's hard to deal with the pain of losing you everywhere I go...but I'm doin' it.  It's hard to force that smile when I see our old friends and I'm alone. Still harder--getting up, getting dressed, livin' with this regret.  But I know if I could do it over, I would trade...give away...all the words that I saved in my heart--that I left unspoken.

What hurts the most was being so close and having so much to say and
watching you walk away, and never knowing what could have been and not
seeing that loving you--is what I was trying to do.

Not seeing that loving you--that's what I was trying to do.


::b

...that it is better to have loved and lost than to have never loved at all, when it is impossible to know both?


::b

...what my worst fear is.


It's losing the love of my life.

Who, I don't know yet.

But i fear the heartbreak.

more than anything.


::b

What is your worst fear?




Love can be a many splendored thing

Can't deny the joy it brings

A dozen roses, diamond rings

Dreams for sale and fairy tales

It'll make you hear a symphony

And you just want the world to see

But like a drug that makes you blind,

It'll fool ya every time


The trouble with love is

It can tear you up inside

Make your heart believe a lie

It's stronger than your pride

The trouble with love is

It doesn't care how fast you fall

And you can't refuse the call

See, you got no say at all


Now I was once a fool, it's true

I played the game by all the rules

But now my world's a deeper blue

I'm sadder, but I'm wiser too

I swore I'd never love again

I swore my heart would never mend

Said love wasn't worth the pain

But then I hear it call my name


(The trouble with) The trouble with love is

It can tear you up inside

Make your heart believe a lie

It's stronger than your pride

The trouble with love is

It doesn't care how fast you fall

And you can't refuse the call

See, you got no say at all


Every time I turn around

I think I've got it all figured out

My heart keeps callin' and I keep on fallin'

Over and over again

This sad story always ends the same

Me standin' in the pourin' rain

It seems no matter what I do

It tears my heart in two


(The trouble with love is) The trouble with love, yeah

(It can tear you up inside) It can tear you up inside

(Make your heart believe a lie) Make your heart believe a lie

It's stronger than your pride


(The trouble with love is)

It's in your heart

It's in your soul (doesn't care how fast you fall)

You won't get no control

(and you can't refuse the call)

See, you got no say at all


(The trouble with love is) Oh, yeah

(It can tear you up inside)

(Make your heart believe a lie)

::b

She still does it for me. 

It doesn't make sense to me.

We aren't even close anymore.

Yet, when I talked to her tonight,
she made everything feel alright.

I haven't felt that peace from a girl...

Since the last time I felt this from her.

I thought I had moved on.

All I can say:


She simply does it for me.

She is so beautiful.

And while I am in Alaska,

She will keep me warm.


Some day, when I'm awfully low,

When the world is cold,

I will feel a glow just thinking of you...

And the way you look tonight.


::b

Jazzfest tonight.
Alaska in the morning.

::b

There are new GNC details that we just received: This is of the UTMOST IMPORTANCE.



If you do not walk from one of the two locations with the big groups,
YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED ON THE LAWN OF THE CHURCH TO SLEEP FOR THE
NIGHT. You must walk with one of the two groups walking to the church.
The two locations are as follows:


1) From Target on Columbia Avenue at 8pm.

2) From the Factory on Franklin Road at 11pm.


Please choose one of those locations (preferably Target). You will be
given a wristband once you arrive at these locations at the designated
time and that will be your ticket onto the lawn of the church for all
of the night activities. Please spread the word, as this is a new
development. I know this is somewhat of an inconvenience for some, but
we will have to make the best out of it. Thanks for understanding!!!!


-GNC FRANKIN

COPY INTO A WORD DOCUMENT, PRINT IT, SIGN IT AND BRING IT WITH YOU TO THE GNC.

Liability release waiver

I
hereby state that _________________________ (please print minors name
here) has my permission as their legal parent/guardian to be a
participant in the Global Night Commute on April 29th, in the city of
________________________. I will not hold Invisible Children Inc.
liable for any and all injuries known and unknown, both to person and
property which have resulted in the participation in the Global Night
Commute. By signing this I am also stating that I fully understand and
accept all risks inherent to sleeping in a downtown area, and am giving
my consent for the above minor to spend the night in the designated
location of the above downtown area.


Parent/Guardian signature ____________________________________

Date _______________________

Tomorrow night at Diversion, we are going to show THE MEXICO VIDEO.  The one and only.  Cause I just finished it.  mmmmmm yummy.

::b

"Invisible Children" Screening

Tonight, Sunday, April 22

Belle Aire Baptist
Youth Area

6 PM


Please come if you are interested or want to see the film. Or if you
aren't sure what it is or whatever reason. I hope to see you there!!!



Ben

For all of you who are planning on going to the INVISIBLE CHILDREN GLOBAL NIGHT COMMUTE, you have to sign up online, AND confirm in the email they will send you! Don't forget to do this!!! 

Sign Up online at www.invisiblechildren.com


::b

Matt Goodman and I had Chinese tonight...and this was my fortune:

"Confucius say: Lovers in triangle not on square." 

...what does this mean?!


::b

AMERICANS ARE CLOSING THEIR EYES TO OPEN THE WORLDS TO AN UNSEEN WAR.
BY LYING DOWN, WE ARE JOINING THE INVISIBLE CHILDREN IN NORTHERN
UGANDA, AND DEMANDING THAT OUR GOVERNMENT PUT AN END TO THE LONGEST
RUNNING WAR IN AFRICA, AND ONE OF THE WORST CRISES IN THE WORLD TODAY.NORTHERN
UGANDA IS CALLED THE WORST HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN THE WORLD TODAY
BECAUSE OF THE LACK OF ATTENTION 1.7 MILLION PEOPLE FORCIBLY DISPLACED
AN ESTIMATED 20- 50,000 CHILDREN ABDUCTED TO FIGHT AS SOLDIERS TENS OF
THOUSANDS OF CHILDREN COMMUTING NIGHTLY 130 PEOPLE DIE PER DAY IN
NORTHERN UGANDA DUE TO VIOLENCE

ON
APRIL 29TH IN OVER 130 CITIES ACROSS THE COUNTRY, THOUSANDS ARE LYING
DOWN TO DEMAND THAT OUR GOVERNMENT TAKE A STAND AND PUT AN END TO THE
NEED FOR NIGHT COMMUTING, CHILD ABDUCTION, AND WAR IN NORTHERN UGANDA.Learn more at InvisibleChildren.com. Save the children. End the War. Do your part and repost this bulletin to spread the word.

He. Is. Risen!




Easter means my God is still alive!

An acquaintance of mine recently posed this statement, which got me to thinking...

"So you can be a complete jerk to people and still get to heaven as long
as you've "accepted Jesus" but a person who has lived and loved and
cared forever and never been exposed to Jesus is doomed? Sounds
backwards..."

to this question, I responded as such, which I think makes for a good Biblically-based answer, if any of you were wondering or curious about the same topic.

Ephesians 2: 8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works,
so that no one can boast."

This is simply stating that you are
saved by the grace of God only, nothing that we ourselves do can give
us salvation. Jesus further established that we cannot do anything to
gain salvation in John 14:6: "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the
truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." Only
through Jesus can we gain salvation

The Bible does not leave us with that only though, it also states the two greatest commandments of the new law in Matthew...

Matthew
22: 34-40: "Hearing that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, the
Pharisees got together. One of them, an expert in the law, tested him
with this question: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the
Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and
with all your soul and with all your mind.'This is the first and
greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as
yourself.'All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

The
second being to love your neighbor as yourself. This is also repeated
by Paul to the Galatians in Galatians 5:14. Lamen's terms: be a good
person to all people. The Bible does discuss thoroughly the importance
of maintaining a Christian (definition: belonging to Christ) witness.
This part of the relationship with Christ is often forgotten by those
who play the "convenient Christian" role, in which they conveniently
forget to act as a Christian should, according to the Bible, and this
leads to a large misunderstanding of the responsibilities of being a
Christian.

In Galatians 6:10a it says this: "Therefore, as we
have opportunity, let us do good to all people." The verse goes on to
say more specifically to do good to other believers, but the statement
clearly notes to do good to ALL people, which is a responsibility of
Christians.

Hypocrits also ruin the responsibilities and causes
misunderstandings of what the responsibilities of a born-again
Christian are.

In addition, Jesus stated in John 14:23-24a that
those who love Him will obey His teachings. "Jesus replied, "If anyone
loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we
will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me
will not obey my teaching."

So, to answer your question in more
detail, you can only be saved by faith, but that is not the extent of
God's plan for Christians, nor the responsibilities of a Christian.


::b

In Christ alone my hope is found

He is my light,
my strength, my song.
 

This Cornerstone, this solid ground
 

Firm through the fiercest drought and storm


What heights of love,

what depths of peace


When fears are stilled, when strivings cease


My Comforter, my All in All.

Here in the love of Christ I stand.




In Christ alone, who took on flesh


Fullness of God in helpless babe


This gift of love and righteousness


Scorned by the ones He came to save


‘Til on that cross as Jesus died


The wrath of God was satisfied


For every sin on Him was laid


Here in the death of Christ I live.


There in the ground His body lay


Light of the world by darkness slain
 

Then bursting forth in glorious Day
 

Up from the grave He rose again


And as He stands in victory


Sin’s curse has lost its grip on me


For I am His and He is mine


Bought with the precious blood of Christ



No guilt in life, no fear in death


This is the power of Christ in me


From life’s first cry to final breath


Jesus commands my destiny


No power of hell, no scheme of man


Can ever pluck me from His hand


‘til He returns or calls me home


Here in the power of Christ I’ll stand


GOD IS AMAZING!!!


::b