Jaggers

I got to see several church members of all ages get involved in different ways. I got to see members work together. I got to see members who didn't even know each other at 6pm Saturday night walk away life long friends Wednesday night.  I got to hear stories of family and friends of the cast and crew who gave their lives to Christ. I got to see people from other churches selflessly give their time and effort for a common cause..to promote Jesus!  I got to see the joy on the faces of young people as they participated in serving the Lord. I got to see what is possible when a church humbles itself and uses their different, personal gifts for one cause.

Let me close with the words of one of my favorite football coaches of all time Vince Lombardi.."I believe any man's (or woman"s)finest hour-his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear- is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause out and lies exhausted on the field of battle--VICTORIOUS." I saw that at 11pm Wednesday night in the sanctuary at North Glencoe. A group of God's soldiers exhausted but victorious! It truly was a beautiful moment that brought tears to my eyes. To all who helped in anyway, all I can say is THANK YOU. Praise God! Praise God! It's is truly my joy to serve with you. I love you all. Zac (totally exhausted)

   GOD PROVIDES!!!!

        When I was asked to help with Collision my first thought was NO WAY ! I have a lot of different things going on in my life and I don't need something else to add to the chaos. I decided to wait and pray about it (I have been trying to trust God more and really listen to Him). The more I prayed the more it became clear that I should try this.

           A physics 2 test, a biology 2 test, lab report, 2 online tests, and a paper due, not to mention other responsibilities (working in Birmingham) all had to be done the week of the House of the Unforgiven. Oh my mom, my grandmother, my sister, and my niece were all coming to stay with us as well!   AHHHHHH can we say total melt down? I knew since I had made a commitment to God that I was just going to have to trust in Him... BIG TIME! 

           Well Monday rolled around and BAM my physic's test that I always dread. I didn't have much time to study because I was doing the House the night before. God was definitely holding my hand while I took the test because I made a 94  (never made an A on a physics test!)! My Biology test was pushed back and my online test was the easiest thing I have ever done in my whole life (usually really hard!). My paper only had to be 1 page typed and my lab report was moved back a week too! Ok you never get this lucky in college! To wrap it up here... I put my faith in God and committed to spread the world of Jesus, in return He blessed me. My hectic week was enjoyable and the wonderful outcome of Collision made me realize that I do need to trust God more!!! I have heard so many positive things from people that came to see the House of the Unforgiven!  It warms my heart to see how everything came together and salvations were made!

Ever wonder why some stores play really slow music while others play really fast music and even others don't play any music at all?  Newsflash!!!  Music has a huge impact on our mood, attitude, and the decisions we make.  Music sets the tone for what is to come.  Thats basically what our goal is during worship.  To set the tone for Zack's message.  This is why we usually end our worship set with a slower more worshipful song.  More soothing music gets in a mood that is more willing and open to what God has to say thru Zack.  That is the ultimate goal, for God to minister to us each and ever time we walk thru the door.

**My Challenge to Everyone**

The songs we sing aren't meaningless chants that we just sing every week. When you sing these songs don't just sing them because everyone else is. Don't sing, dance, or jump around to draw attention to yourself.  Sing them because Jesus gave everything for you and you want to give just a little back to him in return.  I promise if  you come to worship with a humble, giving attitude and expect God to show up and move, that you won't be disappointed.   God made a promise to us that anything we give to him will be given back to us ten fold.  Pour out your heart to him and he will fill you up.

I graduated high school what seems to me to be a great many years ago. In reality, however, it was not nearly so long ago. I went back to the school once, years after I had graduated, after all those I knew had graduated as well. I felt very old. When I lived there with my friends each day had its own time. Yet as I look back on those times I see but a brief memory of the people who have not passed away but have simply passed by and gone on. When I went back, it was not the school or even the students inside that had changed. The halls were the same. The teachers were the same. The students had the same hopes and dreams and concerns as we used to. They noticed no one missing. They didn't remember times that they could not live or hold again. They didn't reflect on choices, good and bad, that could not be made again. It was I who had lived those things and it was I who had said goodbye to those souls so many years before. I knew then that it must be that I had changed. And so it was that I passed by the place that I had lived for a brief moment and went away in the melancholy of wisdom gained.

Joy Davidman Gresham, upon nearing the end of her battle with cancer told her husband, C.S. Lewis, when he refused to discuss her nearing death, that the joy they felt in being together was a part of the grief to come and that the grief to come was a part of the present joy. We love our friends and our family with the knowledge that they, or we, may not be here in the future.

I share these memories and ghosts with you so that you to may see in yourselves the injustice of holding in memory alone the people and times that should live with us forever. The reason it hurts to say goodbye, to people and to the times we shared with them, is because we should not have to. We were never designed or intended to say goodbye. It's simply unnatural.

God did not create us to die. We chose to die. In the beginning, God placed the entire breath of humanity in the Garden of Eden in two people, Adam and Eve. In that paradise God gave us a choice: Life or Death. He placed two trees in the Garden: the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. God forbade them to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, "The LORD God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it. And the LORD God commanded the man, 'You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.'" – Genesis 2:15-17. At this point in our history death did not exist. We chose to disobey God and the result was the entry of sin, evil, and death into the world. The Bible says that, "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." – Romans 6:23 And "Therefore, just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all men, because all sinned" – Romans 5:12 "

For if, by the trespass [sin] of the one man [Adam], death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God's abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ."– Romans 5:17 Sin and its consequence, death, were never God's plan. It is offensive to God that we die.

God desires that we live together with Him forever. In choosing death we cut ourselves off from God's intent and had to leave paradise and, with it, the hope of eternity. "After He drove the man out, He placed on the east side of the Garden of Eden cherubim [an angel] and a flaming sword flashing back and forth to guard the way to the tree of life." – Genesis 3:24

The reason we suffer under the bounds of time is because we should live in eternity. We are eternal creatures and we will, one day, live beyond the realm of time in either Heaven or Hell. But on this earth we suffer because of the limitations of time. When we say goodbye we know that it may be for the last time. When we leave a place we know that we may never see it again. When we participate in an event we know that it must come to an end. None of these restrictions apply in eternity. If we lived forever there would be no goodbyes because we would all certainly meet again, after all we would have forever and forever again to do so. If an event lasted forever what difference would that make since we would still have all of eternity to do everything else. Eternity is not a place where time goes on forever it is place where time does not exist.

I know this is a hard concept to follow but your own thoughts and deeply felt emotions testify to the truth of it. Our deepest sorrows come from loss and regret. We worry about the possibility of them. Those sorrows could exist if we lived forever. This is not a pipe dream or hypothetical "What–If". It's real. "He [God] has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end." – Ecclesiastes 3:11 When it hurts to say goodbye and your heart screams at the injustice of it, your very soul testifies that we should live forever. We had a chance to live forever but we failed. We would never have to say goodbye were it not for sin.

Sin, in simple terms, is the bad and evil that we do that separates us from God. The guaranteed result of sin is death. And death is pain and loss. This is not God's desire. It's God's desire to give us the eternal life with Him. It is what we would have but we chose evil. Jesus said, "The thief [the Devil] comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full." – John 10:10

There is hope. God has given us the Way to live with Him forever despite our failure. This is not to say that He ignored the cost of our evil choice. He paid it Himself through Jesus Christ. Maybe you don't believe in Jesus. Maybe you have never heard the name. You do, however, know the longing within you to "Stay", the longing for one more moment or one more day. You know the pain of saying goodbye. You know the deeply felt injustice of loss. It is a loss that God never wanted us to suffer. But our choice to sin left us in great, insurmountable debt against God. Jesus paid our debt by dying in our place. Since sin requires death, "For the wages of sin is death," God paid the price that we could not, "but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." – Romans 6:23

And because of His love for us He wants to rescue us."You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us." – Romans 5:6-8

God commands all people everywhere to repent. Eternity is real. You will live forever. The pain we fill at loss and regret and the longings we hold for friends, family, and times passed by bear witness that eternity exists. The choice is yours whether your eternity will be in Heaven or Hell. Through repentance and reconciliation God offers us the promise of true Life. Life as it was meant to be: Eternal Life.

"I [Jesus] have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." – John 16:33

May Grace and Peace Himself be with you Always.

— Alex

1 Corinthians 13:1-3

"If I speak in tongues or angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding noise. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I posses to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing."

This is pretty much stating loud and clear Life - Love = NOTHING. If we could just learn to let go of the things that have happened, the people who have hurt us, the losses in life. Learn to get past them and move on. Only then can we love. We must first love God. Then ourselves, then learn to truly love each other.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no records of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."

We've got to learn to forgive and forget those who have done us wrong. Move past it, get over it. It doesn't matter does it? If you're holding a grudge against someone, you're holding on to thoughts and moments of happiness you're wasting, on something that could be gone in seconds.

And how hard is it to just love someone. I mean genuinely love someone. It doesn't take much. Why do people judge someone so quickly on how they look, act, dress, talk ... these are things on the surface. They don't matter. You could be missing out on a great person.

Everyone* needs to be loved. There is someone out there hurting from things I can't understand or imagine. But don't turn your back on them. If we would learn to just love each other, just care about people, then suicide rates would go down, drug abuse would go down, people wouldn't need addiction to get away from the world of hate.

This is all stuff I've kept in me for a while. But this is something I'm very passionate about. We have to get rid of the hate, and get rid of the anger. It's so easy to love someone. When you hate, you're just building up anger, get rid of it. You don't need it.

Bottom line, love is the key to happiness. If you have love, you'll have a reason to smile everyday. Eventually you'll look at everything just a bit different and a bit better than before and soon the idea will catch on.

I love you!