TNT Update!

Hey guys and gals! Just a quick update before you start your weekend. Three things!

1. No TNT this week on Wednesday (11/26/08). Enjoy the Thanksgiving Holiday!
2. Our next meeting will be Wednesday, December 3^rd, at 6:30 p.m. We will be reviewing the first part of a video series entitled “The Truth Project.” I have no idea what this is about, either I spaced off when we talked about it, or they are keeping me in the dark…either is a distinct possibility. (But if you are curious, google it…and believe the hype!)
3. On Wednesday, December 10, we will be reviewing a NOOMA video, discussing how it applies to our lives and opening up the last 30 minutes for you all to give us some feedback. What do you like? What do you NOT like? What would you want to see changed?
4. I lied about only three things in this post. (And you fell for it!)
5. On Wednesday, December 17, we will be going caroling in the community. We did this a couple years ago and it was a big hit! Basically we just go around to different places, singing and passing out cookies. So on 12/17/08, please bring at least a dozen homemade cookies to pass out. And your beautiful voices.

Thanks everyone and again, have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! If you have ANY questions, please let me know. Again, we meet at Third Church in Room 101 at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday evenings. (By the coffee bar..) Everyone is welcome! Later!

James 5:1-12

Hi Everyone!
I really enjoyed our discussion the other night on James 5. If you weren't able to be there you should take a look at the text because wow, it's pretty powerful stuff. We discussed a lot on Wed night including a lot of the deeper meanings in the text. It's always amazing to me though how much we can learn from scripture alone. So here are a few things that I wrote down about the text and have been pondering throughout this week that were pretty clear to me simply from the text....

What we learn about hoarding wealth~
*Leads to misery, corrosion, fire
*Associated with dishonesty, selfishness (not paying the workmen), luxury, self-indulgence, getting fat (really that's in there!!), condemning and murdering innocent men.

What we learn about the Lord~
*His coming is near
*He is the judge
*He is full of compassion and mercy

Traits we want to have~
*Patience
*Perseverence
*Control of the tongue (No grumbling or swearing).

Isn't the book of James great?!? Next week we'll be finishing the 5th chapter and the following week you WILL NOT want to miss! We're going to do a wrap up of the book of James using "The Office" TV show...it'll be AWESOME!!

True, Kind and Necessary

One of the things going through my mind is this idea that Sheila brought up. When we have talked about "the tongue" and it's power in James 3, we talked about how do we know when to say something. There is so much power in this small thing. So, we talked about 3 things to let us know when we should say something.

1) Is it true? This is usually where we stop - yes, this is true, so I will say it.
2) Is it kind? Hmm.
3) Is it necessary. Boy I could save myself some grief and be much more quiet if I would get to number 3.

Maybe the political candidates should live by this. We would have a lot fewer commercials.