St. Paul Lutheran Church

Castle Rock,  Washington

 

A community of faith that worships, grows, and serves.

       

"We are one body in Christ, united in baptism, renewed through

worship and prayer, and sent by God to serve"

 

 

Youth Ministry Calendar

May 2012

 

Sunday                                                                                              

Monday                                                     

Tuesday       1                                              

Wednesday

2 7:30 PM Youth Group                                                             

Thursday

3

Friday

4                                                             

Saturday

5

6 

7 Community Shepherds Program Volunteers Meeting @ 7pm

8

9 

7:30 PM Youth Group

10                                                                 

11                                                                                  

12                                                                

13 

 

10:10 AM E40 

 

12:15 PM YPC

14

15

16 

17

18

19

20

21

22

23 

7:30 PM

 Youth Group

24

25 

26 

27

28 

 29

 

30  

 7:30 PM Youth Group

31



 





 
 





Change

19 “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.”20 At once they left their nets and followed him. -Matthew 4:19-20

If you were walking down the sidewalk and were about to fall, how would you land? Would you throw your hands out to catch yourself? You may not be ready and the fall may be hard. Or would you expect someone to catch you on your way down or maybe soften your fall somehow? When I think about myself falling I don’t depend on any human being there to catch me. My hands and legs are outstretched ready to catch myself. If I were expecting someone else to catch me I would likely end up cracking my skull open, breaking a bone, or some other harmful injury. In our lives we always seem to find ourselves falling at some point and I am not referring to tripping on a sidewalk. We often run into hard times or we make a poor decision that sends us on a downward spiral. Even in these situations it is hard to trust that anyone will be there to cushion the fall or to flat out catch you. Because of our human nature it can be hard to trust other humans in these situations. We want to get out of the mess we created on our own, but unless you can fly it is hard to stop yourself from falling. Fortunately, we have been given the greatest gift you could ever ask for. We have someone there always willing to catch us when we fall. He won’t necessarily eradicate what we’ve done, but He is willing to get us through it, but only if we trust in Him. God works in this way, His arms are wide open waiting for you to come and embrace Him. Once you embrace Him, His arms surround you like a warm cotton blanket on a winter day. We can walk right by Him or stand inside His arms and not be embraced. We have to take Him in our arms first. The thief on the cross knew he was falling and falling fast. He saw his fate and when he finally noticed the arms of God being wide open, he jumped at the chance to embrace him. The thief was then blessed with the gift of eternal life. We all fall in our lifetime. It isn’t those who get back up that succeed, but its those who are caught on the way down. Trust in God and give him your embrace.
-Lucas Myers, Youth Director

 

 

CHANGE! That has to be the least liked word in any language. Change is something we all wish we could control. We wish we could only have change when we are ready or maybe never have it at all. About the time you get comfortable in a current setting things change. I was recently watching Sesame Street with my son and the focus of the day was dealing with change. A young monster was having to move to a new house and school. He was scared and nervous to leave everything he knew behind. He didn’t want this change, but a monster came and sang a song and everything was better. If only life were like Sesame Street. If only a song could make us comfortable with change. That episode sparked a thought on the idea of change. I came to the conclusion that people are not afraid of change, they are afraid of the new things that come with change. In fact, most people get excited about change, but they are nervous about the newness that will come with change. Change can sound great on paper, but when the newness comes to life it can be scary for all of us. We have all had little to extreme change in our lives. The first 20 years of my life consisted of your normal life changes, but in the last 3 years I have had to deal with a lot of change. I have bought a house, married, and had a son. The newness of all the change was scary, but the newness was also exciting and amazing. With change comes new things, but new is necessary. We have to be willing to change in our lives. If we are not willing to change than we can’t call ourselves Christians. When we decide to give our hearts to God and accept Jesus Christ as our Savior we have to go through the biggest change in our lives. We have to be willing to leave our entire life behind us and follow Jesus Christ. I am sure the disciples were nervous when they picked up their lives and followed Jesus, but they knew that the change was necessary. We are called to leave our old lives behind and live a new life with Jesus. The hardest part about being a Christian is the word new. We struggle to leave it all behind and allow ourselves to be reborn, changed, or transformed in Christ. Instead of fear we should welcome change with open arms knowing that there is only new and exciting things ahead!

-Lucas Myers, Youth Director

I-5 Rest Stop Fundraiser

 

In June we will be providing coffee and cookies at the south bound I-5 rest stop. This is a great fundraiser and some of these funds will be used for youth programs and student scholarships. We will be in need of volunteers as well as cookies and coffee. Dates: 6/9-10 & 23-24

30 Hour Famine 


BUNKO!
Do you want to come enjoy the fellowship of others and have a chance at winning great prizes? Then come to  the annual Bunko night. Everyone is invited and feel free to bring friends. Date: 3/24/12 & Time: 6pm
The youth will be fasting for approximately 30 hours in order to raise funds for world hunger and to better understand the impact of hunger/starvation on the human body. In the weeks before the famine the youth will be collecting donations. $360 takes care of one child for a whole year! Date: 6/1-2