52 IS UPON US!

HOOTY HOOO!!!

Sorry if you're not a Sigma from summer 2011... but if you are...

I hope you're pumped because it's time for 52!  SEE YOU ALL OUT HERE TONIGHT!

Office Tuba

Just for a little taste of what this summer might be like, we thought you guys might like to see what we're up to!!!

Well, we have recently acquired a TUBA, and thought we'd go ahead and give you the first installment of "THE OFFICE TUBA!"  Here ya go:

Coffee Mugs

Many of you know my wife, Kelly and I, but if you don’t I have a wife and her name is Kelly. Here she is:

That's her with Noah playing in the snow...Man! She is beautiful!

Anyway, we have an ongoing debate in our household over the proper container with which to carry coffee into a car. Kelly prefers to use a member from her extensive coffee mug collection:

I think this is ridiculous. We have cups SPECIFICALLY MADE FOR THE CAR!

This isn’t just  matter of opinion, the fact is that several of our poor mugs have been chipped, broken, or totally busted, because they are just not made for the rigors of a car. Not to mention all the times hot coffee has been spilled all over the place. In my eyes, there’s no argument that a coffee mug is not made for a car trip. Still can't convince Kelly though...

The truth is we are made for a specific purpose, too. I can’t give you specific reason why (just like I cant tell you why Kelly insists on brining mugs in the car) but all too often we try to fill our lives with things other than what we are made for. Be careful or sports, friends, ideas, people, etc. can start to become what you fill yourself with instead of God, who you are fearfully and wonderfully made for.

52 is ALMOST HERE!

For you Sigmas, it's not too late to sign up if you haven't yet!!!

If you were a Sigma last summer and want to come to Sigma 52 just go here:

Sigma52

Let me know if you have any issues!

On Mission

One of the most elementary and fundamental things to being a Christian is being the hands and feet of Jesus while he’s not physically here with us; being on mission. I’ve got the blessing of knowing several people and families who have given their lives to serve other people. Here are a few (some of you might even know them) with some info. on their stories:

Lance andTiffany Ferguson

WillSmethers

AliciaRessmann

We talk a lot about being on mission in the Sky Ranch Leadership Track, especially you Sigmas as it’s one of your core values. What does your mission field look like? How are you on mission right now?

Love?

The two greatest commandments: 1. LOVE God. 2. LOVE people.

 ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”-Matthew 22:36-40

The two greatest commandments have one common word. LOVE. 

Well, what does that mean, to love? What is love? 

⁴ Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵ It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶ Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 


-1 Corinthians 13:4-7

In his book Crazy Love, Francis Chan challenges our character with a this famous passage in the bible. 

Go back and read 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 again. This time, read it like this. Every time that the passage says the word Love, replace it with your name. 

Example: Brian is patient, Brian is kind. Brian Does not envy, Brian does not boast..... 

Gaaaaaa, when I read it like that I just feel like a liar. Don't you? When the bible tells us to LOVE people, It doest say "be nice." Its a call to love, just as we have been loved. 

"we love because he first loved us." -1 John 4:19

http://crazylovebook.com/

Comfort Zones and Solid Truth

Yayy so happy this blog got re-started! I love writing about stuff that God has shown me or others, and I actually have my own blog that I haven't been very consistent with..but I love this, and that it's for all the leadership groups now!
I just wanted to tell you guys about a couple things God has shown me even in the past few days.Really random stuff, but stuff that I love.
Today in English, of all classes, we were talking about a book that we had to read over the summer, and how it has a lot of hidden meanings, or allegory's, which I'm sure a lot of ya'll have studied in english. But we started getting on to the topic of religious allegory's, and if there were any in the book we were reading. The cool thing was that all of the symbols we found that had to do with religion had to do with one religion-Christianity. Yeah, the book was probably written by a Christian author, but the kids in my class, even some that may not be believers, were able to point out stuff from the Christian faith! That just filled me with so much joy, and it was like God was reminding me how solid his word of truth is.
Something else God's been doing...My school is weird, so that we only have four classes a day, and those classes stay the same for a whole semester, then we switch out our core classes in January. We just switched classes, and even though I'm a sophomore, and I've been through the mid year switch before, this week has probably been one of the most UNcomfortable weeks of my life. I had grown to really like my classes last semester, and I knew the people, and, ultimately my friends who weren't believers, I was able to get to know them better and how and when the right time would be to bring up my faith. Then I come in this week, with all new people and new challenges in all my classes. I don't know these people, let alone if they're believers or not. And on top of it, I was sick this week, and I've been at school all this week until around 10 doing dress rehearsals for our school's musical that opens tomorrow. Yesterday at school, I was probably in one of the worst moods I have ever been in this schoolyear. I didn't WANT to love people, let alone be around them, and I missed being comfortable in my old classes, around people I knew. And why in the WORLD was God letting me get SICK on this week of all the weeks he could choose?
Even just throughout today God has reminded me that, oh guess what, this life is NOT about me. Because of my sin, I shouldn't even be allowed to live-and now I'm asking for the God who died for me to accomodate me? I feel like this week God has truly taken me out of my comfort zone, not only to challenge me to be bolder, and to love different people, but also to remind me that He's GOD and I'm not.
I love how He works!!!
Guys, super super pumped for this summer! Session 6 quest and session 4 sigma! Let me know when you're going!!!(:

NOAH'S JUMPSUIT

Kelly, Noah, and I were recently in Colorado and got to borrow a toasty warm jumpsuit to protect Noah from the snow and ice. If any of you have ever seen A Christmas Story

you’ll feel Noah’s pain for not being able to move a single appendage. His face expresses his feeling pretty well here:

While Noah may have been ticked at first, the jumpsuit definitely did it’s job at keeping him "toasty warm" and this is him 10 minutes later:

Once we got done laughing, Kelly and I couldn’t help noticing how much this interaction reminds us of how we treat God sometimes. We scream, and kick, and cry thinking nothing could be worse for us than what we are going through at the moment. In reality, only God can see what’s truly good for us. What’s annoying in one moment, might keep you warm from the snow later!

National Championship

Don’t know if you were cheering for Alabama or LSU, but I’m just glad the SEC won…and that it’s basketball season…go Wildcats! Either way all these bowls games flying around and Tim Tebow in the headlines all the time for being an outspoken Christian (I love Tebow, by the way) got me thinking about Philippians 4:13 .

Athletes often misquote this verse thinking it means got gives them the power to defeat any enemy, rival, or whatever. But I don’t think that’s what it means. Check it out by following the link above and let me know if you agree.

Peace Out,

Malcolm

Sky Ranch Leadership Blog...WASSUP?!

Just a reminder to everyone, if you are reading this then hopefully you already know; but this blog has become about and for Sky Ranch Leadership Camps. If you have been a part of any, then that means we want you to be a voice in this community.

Let me know if I haven’t added you to be able to post and we will fix that ASAP. Facebook me or email me at MalcolmP@skyranch.org.

GET TO IT!