The GPS Analogy

Anyone who was in FCA last Friday knows the talk was about SEX but I wasn't sure that would make the greatest blog title!

Housekeeping First:

Lovinggood on the Lawn is May 6, 2011. There will be a meeting on Monday, March 7, 2011 at 8:30 a.m. in the Lovinggood Attendance/Guidance Conference Room for all volunteers. We are collecting canned soda donations for the event. As many as are donated will be how many are available for the event itself, so please donate! 6th graders - Sprite; 7th graders - Coke; 8th graders - Diet Coke.

Applications for FCA Leadership for the 2011/2012 school year are due by 9:15 a.m. Friday, February 18, 2011.

Talk it Up - fliers will be distributed every week with talking points for discussion throughout the day/week. Let's get talking.

How did you all like Mrs. Norris' talk on Friday? I thought it was fantastic.

When you become a Christian, God uploads his GPS map into you. The Holy Spirit becomes your navigation system while the Bible is your road map. He has a PLAN for your life and will provide you everything you need to follow it. There is not a situation you will face that can't be resolved by reading His Word. Reading the Bible brings you wisdom teaches you discernment.

God also gave you a brain to use and free will. When you choose to exercise your free will in a manner that is contrary to God's path, the Holy Spirit will be shouting "recalculating!" at you to help redirect you back to the chosen path. Meanwhile the devil is out to kill you, steal from you, and destroy you. Sounds like a battle is going on and it truly is. Satan will work very hard to pull you from God's path/plans for your life. Sex is one way people are tricked.

What you share with another person when you have sex is something that is intended for marriage and to be shared with only one person. Once you have that connection with another person, it doesn't end even if the relationship ends. That connection is permanent and bringing connections with others into a marriage can have devastating effects on a marriage.

You put yourself in a position to succeed or fail. The Holy Spirit gives you plenty of cues along the way to keep you on the right path, but ultimately you are the one who makes the choice and either reaps the benefit or pays the cost. Even at this age, you need to take responsibility for your actions and how they affect you and others (the way you dress, talk, act). Help yourself and others succeed! It is so important.

The Faith to Wait Pledge was offered to each of you who would like to commit to keeping sex as something you do only in marriage. It is a commitment only you can make.

Daniel Reyes, February 4th's FCA - Stay True and He will too

I have to say right off that I wasn't in attendance on February 4th. And I am sad I missed it because not only is Daniel Reyes the parent of two Lovinggood students and an excellent speaker, he is ALSO an AGGIE FAN! Not often do I meet Aggies in Georgia. The Longhorns seem to be EVERYWHERE in this fantastic nation of ours and certainly in Georgia, but the Aggies.......well, a little harder to come by. Maybe the maroon fades into the scenery while the burnt orange of Texas sort of stands out so you can't really miss them. To Mr. Reyes, Gig 'em! To the rest of you, I hope you enjoyed his time with you and I am sorry I missed it.

So, with a little help from an 8th grader, I am going to recap the morning for the rest of you who missed it.

Do you ever get sidetracked? Not just from God - from anything? Things come at you all day everyday and they can be a distraction. Facebook....that's a good one. I am glad he brought it up! Facebook isn't a bad thing in and of itself, but as with anything else, if you allow it to distract you from that which you need to do or who you intend to be, it can be a bad thing.

We all need to put our faith in God and stay true to who He calls us to be without being distracted by others, by thoughts, by actions, or desires that are contrary to who God wants us to be. If you will keep Jesus as the object of your perfection and keep your eyes on Him, He will remain as the priority in your life. He will bring you joy. If you don't know God, can you really feel joy?

Being faithful doesn't always come easily. As with other things in your life (studying, working out, practicing an instrument, playing a sport), you need to put forth effort in order to do well at it. If you aren't putting effort into being faithful to God, gradually or rather suddenly things CAN fall apart. When this happens, remember, He will never let you go. He is always there for you and He loves you exactly as you are. Fix your eyes and focus on Him and things will be alright!

Have a great week. See you all on Friday.......

Intercessory Prayer Day at FCA

Was today the first day they played the song, I've got the Power and everyone knew it was time to begin? Have I missed that every single week up until now?

Intercessory prayer day is one of my favorite FCA days. Today was especially moving and it seemed to fly by. It wasn't long enough together after so much time apart. Don't you wish we could add like a half hour more to FCA meetings? Sing the whole song.......sing some more songs.......I do love the extra singing and today's song choices had me a bit misty-eyed. Glad I was sitting in the back!

Thank you ALL for being so patient during the very brief technical difficulties. Mrs. Wilhoite was right though; the video WAS definitely worth it!

I am going to try to recap the actual prayer topics for you, but first, the usual housekeeping. There is a 1 mile, 5k, 10k race at Burnt Hickory Baptist Church on February 5, 2011 at 8:00 a.m. The event is called Run for the Son and benefits their student ministry international trip. I am a runner and love running for a good cause, SO here is the link to the church and the one to active.com where you can register. If the links don't work, please copy the url into your browser. Hope to see you all there.

http://www.burnthickory.com/
http://www.active.com/running/powder-springs-ga/run-for-the-son-5k-and-10k-2011

Now, please bear with me as I try to hit the prayer topics! Ultimately, the goal is to take our prayer focus off of ourselves and put it on others.

Consecration - Ask the Lord to create a clean heart within you.

Ponder how you love God - we should be loving him with all of our heart, our soul, our strength, and our mind.

Keep God in your relationships - stay with your friends through the good and the bad.

Maintain healthy self confidence and allow God to hold you up.

Always act with respect for your family/siblings.

Spread the Word. We are all called to spread His word. Bring a friend to FCA and let them hear the Word there! You won't be sorry you did.

Next week is basketball player recognition....bring a basketball player with you and wear your jersey if you are on the team.

Have a great week, everyone and we will see you next week.

Please let's have FCA!!!

Oh, wow! Has it been forever since we all met? Would love to hear if you all HATED or LOVED the week off. Cabin fever anyone?

I, for one, was very happy to see you all back in school today and to see a weather forecast that does NOT include snow or ice between now and Friday when we all meet again.

The last time you all met (BEFORE SNOW JAM 2011), I was not there, so I am sadly unable to post an update on that meeting.

I hope everyone is fired up, ready to go, and will bring a friend this Friday!

See you all there!

Happy New Year!

Hey, hey, hey, it's FCA!

Happy New Year, everyone! The holidays are winding down and it is back to school we go......2011 promises to be a funtastic year with FCA bringing you more Friday morning fun, even better singing, familiar and new speakers, and the refreshing feeling of worship to start your day.

Bring a Friend to FCA! Let't pack the auditorium the rest of this school year!

Welcome back!

Affirmation Friday!

I can't believe we only have one more FCA day in 2010. What a great fall it has been. You all have been so much fun each week. Thsi past Friday was especially fun, wasn't it?

Before we recap, let's cover the housekeeping items.......

Lovinggood has adopted a family for Christmas. If each child who attends FCA would donate even $1.00, this family's Christmas would be outstanding. December 10th is our last FCA of the year and it is also the last day the Adopt a Family jar will be there. Please find it in your heart to make this family's Christmas extra special this year.

The Prayer Box is always available for your prayer requests. These are confidential and you will have a team of FCA leaders praying for you.

Speaking of a team of FCA leaders, I think the FCA Tech Team and all the Student Staff Members need a special recognition for all they have done so far this year and will continue to do in 2011! I love seeing them all abuzz on Friday mornings!

Ok, so how many of you left the room Friday morning feeling more upbeat than usual? The energy in the room was crazy good! Wesley Pals with Celebrate Life International and his message truly filled the room with positive energy.

Wesley had everyone write affirmations (compliments!) on stickers placed on the other students' backs. Writing these was part of the exercise while reading what people wrote about you was the other. The point of both parts is that by saying positive things about someone, you feel all the good things that you see in that person and for those reading what others had to say about you, you feel happy, warmed, humbled by what they see in you.

What we can take from this little experiment is when you think postive, you will feel positive and then positive actions WILL FOLLOW! By controling or fixing our thoughts on positive things (pure, lovely, right), we resist the negativity around us and create a more positive outlook on life. Philippians 4:4 directs us to think on positive (again, pure, lovely, of good report) things. This is how God wants us to live!

Be Chist-like in how you treat people. Think of ways to compliment/affirm people every day. The challenge Wesley put forward was to deposit and invest in twenty people by noon. If everyone of you make it a habit to invest/deposit affirmations and positive feelings into twenty people around you every day, lives will be changed! You will be a new person and you will instill a positive spirit in those around you.

Happy Cold Weather Week!

See you all on the 10th

When life gets tough.......

Wow! Another fantastic FCA meeting!

The singing was great. The game was a blast to watch. And the speaker was a gift.

Jim Michen, from McEachern Memorial United Methodist Church in Powder Springs, was so inspiring. In case you missed it, I will give you a little background on Jim.....you kind of have to know who he is to fully grasp the message he gave. Personally, I have never met him. I heard him speak for the first time on Friday, but he affected me and I hope his words touched some of you.

Mr. Michen played football earlier in his life and the coach told him that if got the ball, RUN. And if he was scared, RUN HARDER. He told us that when the time came, he was scared and he ran the other way! This happens in life. We are in a situation that we know we need to just push through, but what do we do? Not only do we run, we run the other way!

He also shared that we need to be focused on God's goals for us. Not our own. He set his goals, professionally and financially, and he saw them realized. He was proud of his accomplishments and that he achieved them on his own. 87 days later he was mugged and seriously injured. As a result of those injuries, all of his goals became undone. And after months, he realized that it was God who would have to get him through what he was facing. He could not do it alone. When life gets tough, God's strength is there for you.

He also talked of friends who were there for him. What does it take to be a truly great friend? We all know the Golden Rule: Treat others the way you would like to be treated. Kids often treat others like there is something wrong with them! Treat them like you want to be treated. And think of the gift of God's love and strength in your life. If you had a friend who had that gift and they never shared it with you, would you feel like they truly cared? So often we get caught up in the shallow aspects of life. Fashion, sports, activities - don't get me wrong! These are all great things, but the most important thing we can do for a friend is to share Christ with them.

And with that in mind, bring them to FCA!!!!! If you find it difficult to share Christ one on one with a friend, bring them to FCA and they will hear the message because of you!

Friday, November 19th is Pick up a Friend for FCA day! Bring someone with you that wouldn't otherwise be able to attend!

Have a great week.