A Jimmie Rustled Is A Jimmie Saved

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Recently a meme phrase was brought to my attention. I usually know these things, but this one slipped by. Do you want to know the phrase? I'll give it to you in it true meme form... a picture:

It derives from a 1950s phrase that means something has upset you

Well, that phrase has been going around in the circles where I hang. We joke and laugh about it all the time. It was in good fun until...

Highlighting Camp: Games

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This is the first in a series of post where I'm going to break down each section of camp and explain why we do what we do.

GAMES:
Here is how camp works. We rush around like raging mad lunatics trying to get everything settled. We eat dinner, go over all the rules, and then send all the students outside to spray paint their flags. The designs range from awesome to, "And what is that?"

7 Wholesome Family Netflix Streaming Movies You Can't Miss

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I love Netflix Instant Stream. In our home we've decided to forgo cable and just use Netflix. Pro tip: It's huge savings. We only pay $8 a month and get all the TV and movies we can handle. Doing without cable actually saves us enough money that we can support God's work with our tithe.

Anyway, this isn't a comercial for Netflix Streaming... because, like with everything, there is good and bad. Today I want to give you 7 wholesome Netflix movies. I encourage you to sit down with the fam, pop a bag of corn, sip a root beer, and enjoy (most of them).

7 Reason Camp Is The Best Thing Since Sandwich Sliced Pickles

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Some people ask me if camp is a waste of time. Every summer since 2005 Oceanside Church has taken its youth group to camp. We always create memories that many of these students will keep for the rest of their lives. Camp, It's kind of a big deal. Let me tell you why.

1. Students' Lives are Revitalized: This is the part that parents look forward to the most. I actually have parents who force their kids to go to camp. They know their student will be different when they return. The tricky part is making that revitalization last longer than three weeks (But parents will take what they can get). Every year there are some that are changed forever.

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!" And Other Things Heard on Summer Road Trips

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Yep, that's about right...

"SHUT UP YOU IDIOT!" was a phrase uttered from the back seat by one of us cousins on our annual summer four hour trip to the mountains. Inevitably we'd be at each others throats (and I don't mean figuratively). I can remember my grandmother probably wanting to kill us when she would peer into the rear view mirror with an almost plastic smile and say, "Unh, uh. I only want to hear edifying words." I didn't know what edifying words were, but what I lacked in knowledge I made up for in contextual understanding. Those glaring eyes and that plastic smile meant that if we didn't stop trying to kill each other it was only a matter of time before she would save us the trouble and take one of us out as an example to the rest.

How To Be The Best Failure You Can Be

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This week has been full of bombs. I don't mean the kind that explode. I'm talking about Facebook and Battleship.

All over the web I'm seeing articles on what a disaster the Facebook IPO was. It lost something like 30% of it's value over the last few days. That's kind of a big deal. I mean, seriously, Mark Zuckerberg is only richer than the entire Gross Domestic Product of Jamaica. Poor lil' guy.

Also this week Paramount and Hasbro put a bet down on Battleship. Yeah, the movie based after the, wait for it, board game. The first time I heard about Battleship I knew it was going to be a stinker. Even the awesome shnoz of Liam Neeson couldn't save it.

Did Facebook set out to tumble downward in its first few days on the NASDAQ? No, of course not. Did Paramount and all those involved with Battleship set out to make a terrible movie? Maybe... Just kidding, of course they didn't! In both cases the goal was success.

Many times in life we have great dreams and big visions. You think it's the best idea and can't figure out why no one has thought of it before. Maybe you had a dream to be an entrepreneur and your business tanked. Or your dream was to be to be a brain surgeon, but you flunked out of med school. Those kind of failures are not only disheartening, they can also shake our faith in God.

Here are a few words of encouragement for you today. Just because you fail it doesn't mean that you aren't made for greatness. Some of the greatest people in history were serial failures.

• Lincoln
• Gates
• Isaac Newton
• Henry Ford
• Jobs
• Edison
• Beethoven

And that's just a few of them. They became great because they never gave up.

Use your failures as learning experiments. Never make the same mistake twice. Move on, do better, and grow. The truth is, as long as you're on God's side you're never a failure.

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? Romans 8:31

We may lose battles. We may fail here and there, but if we're on God's side He is at ours. Ultimately will win the war.

A person’s steps are directed by the Lord, and the Lord delights in his way. When he falls, he will not be thrown down headfirst because the Lord holds on to his hand. Psalm 37:23-24

The best place to be is in God's will. If you're there and your dream is failing remember that life is full of growing moments. This is one of them and God is preparing you for something awesome. As long as you're following God you're not a failure. Don't give up!

Are you a Fan of Jesus?

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In small group we've been going through a study called Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. He asks the question, "Are you a fan or a follower of Christ?" Fans of Christ are cool with Jesus. They might even really like Jesus, but they are not fully devoted to following him. Kyle encourages us to be followers of Christ rather than fans.

I don't know if you know this about me, but I like NASCAR. I know, it's super redneck, but I can't help it. Racing is awesome. Anyway, I'm a Jeff Gordon fan and this past weekend I stood in the stands cheered for him. When he wrecked I wasn't happy, but I didn't rip my garments off my chest and scream to the heavens then proceed to wear a burlap sack and cover my head in ashes. I was upset, but I wasn't in deep mourning because Jeff came in last place.

Third Lap Salute 

BUT... there are other NASCAR fans followers.

7 Ways to Train Your Kids

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7) Train them to carefully select friends. 

The one who walks with the wise will become wise, but a companion of fools will suffer harm. Proverbs 13:20

6) Train them to be generous.

A generous person will be enriched, and the one who gives a drink of water will receive water. Proverbs 11: 25

5) Train them to be responsible. 

Go to the ant, you slacker! Observe its ways and become wise. Without leader, administrator, or ruler, it prepares its provisions in summer; it gathers its food during harvest. Proverbs 6:6-8

4) Train them to guard their minds. 

Guard your heart above all else, for it is the source of life. Proverbs 4:23

Parents Priority Step 2: Lead Our Families

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Just having a little fun!

A Parent's priority is to gradually transfer a child's dependence away from them until it rests solely on God. -Craig Groeschel

Ok... How do we transfer dependance? I'm going to give us two steps out of Deuteronomy 6.

1. Love Our God
2. Lead Our Families

These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbol on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:6-9

Basically, God is saying, "In everything you do and everywhere you go I'm supposed to be in your life." God-like talk isn’t just a Sunday morning thing. It's an all the time thing. Our children have to see our Christian walk as something we are, not something we do. And if we're not the ones taking the lead on living out Christ... they usually won't. Why? Because, parents, you are the leaders of your family.

Parent's Priority Step 1: Love God

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Um... Not exactly what I'm talking about, but still hilarious.

A Parent's priority is to gradually transfer a child's dependence away from them until it rests solely on God. -Craig Groeschel

How do we properly make that transfer? Step 1...

Love Our God With All We Have

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. Deuteronomy 6:5

If there is one thing I can pick up from that verse, it's that God wants every part of our lives. The word, all is used 3 times! God doesn't want a small piece of our life. He wants it all. Our children will recognize if God is a thing that we do rather than a way we live our lives. We can't expect them to live devoted to God if we're not first setting the example.

I heard a message by Craig Groeschel, the Pastor of LifeChurch.tv, where he stated that it is dangerous to give our children a little bit of Christ. He argues that if God is only a part of your family identity then you're essentially immunizing your children to God's power.

Though Immunizations bring up bad memories of almost passing out as a seventeen year old at the health clinic, they also serve as a sobering illustration of what a little bit of God in our families can do. Immunizations work because the doctor gives you a little bit of the virus. Your immune system kicks in and learns how to destroy the virus, then you become immune.

Christian living isn't just a Sunday morning thing. It has to be an all day, all the time effort. If we want our children to become immune to the Gospel and immune to the radical power of Christ, give them a little bit of Jesus. Our lack of commitment to Christ sends a message to our kids that God or church is a, "Thing" we do.