Overcoming addiction is one of the most difficult challenges in life. Whether it’s an obsession with food, alcohol, pornography, or one of numerous of other flashpoints, addiction destroys in ways that are painful to see—and experience. Take a look at Overcoming Addictions - RBC, by Radio Bible Class, on overcoming addictions - when you just can't stop.

I had another huge "ah-haa" moment this week.  Michelle and I took the kids down to Oliver to join up with the Alive Gleaners team.  It was good for us to get out of the house and be with friends, as we cut peppers, sang songs around the campfire, and had fun.  No one had more fun than my daughter Mira, who loved life at the Gleaners!

What condition is our heart in? Do we open our heart to Him and treat Him with honor, even if it is embarrassing? Can non-Christians see from our actions that we love Jesus? Is our self-righteousness and judgment of others keeping them and ourselves from the grace we so desperately need? We need to check the state of our heart.  Read more of this blog by Scott Burke, Alive Life Group Leader. 

What influence do those you spend your time with have on you? Are they influencing you for good? Or are they pulling you away from God and that which is pleasing to Him?

Every time I have the privilege of announcing another "rose" on stage (representing a salvation that previous week), I am itching to share some of the amazing stories that take place in less visual avenues of the spiritual journey. Every week, we have the awesome opportunity of pointing people to Jesus.  This past year has been especially fruitful in that way, as is evidenced by emails, phone conversations, coffees, and brief passing comments in the hallway.  We have people with no church background finding their way to our gatherings, as well as others just out of jail, or recovering from addictions, or simply coming back after a long time away.  I talk with many who want their lives to matter for eternity, and are offering themselves to God to do just that.  I love doing what I have been freed up to do. . . (read more in this blog)

How often are you conscious of the people around you when you are worshipping God? Do you sometimes find that you are focussing more on the other people around you than you are on actually worshipping God? Are you able to worship God with abandon?

Fantasy lovers love allegory. And nobody's known more for creating allegorical fantasy than C.S. Lewis.

So it's to great anticipation that the second movie in The Chronicles of Narnia franchise (based on the fourth book in Lewis' series of seven) arrives in theaters. Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter are a year older than they were in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and they're longing to return to the world that once made them kings and queens.

They get their wish while sitting on a train platform waiting to go back to school for a new term. They're pulled into Narnia at the request of Susan's magical horn of need, blown by Prince Caspian. Little do they know that Cair Paravel lies in ruins and 1,300 years have passed since their last visit.

Read more about Prince Caspian online here:

Why you should not go to the "Sex in the Summer Seminar"?

If you say:

I have this 'love of God' thing down pretty well -- if I dare say so myself.

I think that the Old Testament is irrelevant for truly enlightened people today.

Old Hebrew poetry is really for old Hebrews.

I just don't want to speak of 'sex' with God in the room.

God and sex just don't mix.

My life just can't get any better than it is right now!

Sex education should be left in Public schools where it belongs!

Me? -- needing advice on romance and relationships? You're kidding right?

If any of these very worn, embarrassing phrases come out from your lips, you probably won't get a lot out of the sessions. But, if you really want to deepen your relationship with the living Triune God... If you really want to plunge more and more into the height and length and width and depth of the love of Christ... if you really want to experience more of the joy and wholeness that Christ purchased for you-- then this is the seminar for you! Come with high expectations of great transformation

Reading Break" is a curious name to call a week that most students use to do anything but.  But Rich is not like most students.  In fact, he looks forward to this week because it gives him more time to digest new learnings.  It's also a good catch-up week for him, and Rich has planted himself this morning at his favorite coffee shop, "DeBeans".  After ordering his morning "pick-me-up", he settles into a comfy chair with a book that has piqued his interest, a requirement for one of his philosophy classes.  Philosophy interests Rich, but he's not sure if that's the direction he ultimately wants to pursue.  A sophomore at the local university, he has yet to declare a major, wavering between sociology, psychology, and philosophy.  The book is entitled "Why Relativism Is Winning the Day", and it has caught Rich's interest. 

As he begins highlighting some of the remarks in the preface, the door to the coffee shop opens to reveal one of Rich's teammates on the university soccer team, Adam.  Adam is two years older than Rich and is completing his degree in philosophy, with a minor in religious studies.  Rich has always enjoyed Adam, respecting his character on and off the soccer field. 

Read Pastor Mike's paper responding to "Moral Relativism" Good For You but Not Good For Me.

 

We all have things in our lives where we need to learn to trust someone other than ourselves. One of these is for victory in the spiritual battle that we are all involved in. For the last few days I've been thinking a lot about the question of: Who do I trust for victory in that battle?