Helloween Hoedown

The Halloween Hoedown was a Hit! Although... me thinks the band does the "Monster Mash" a little too well. A frightening good night was had by all, and I think everyone could have danced until the cow went home. Well..., it ain't a "hoedown" unless there's some livestock!

It was a bit mooooving (sorry) how the devotion covered where we go if we do not repent and turn from our sin. It was actually quite weird how the timing worked out to place it right before Halloween as we covered Hades, and death due to sin. (God did that, I have no plan.)

As I was with Jolly-Rancher Jeff presenting the information from God's Word, in my best bovine camouflage I might add, and answering our questions about the price of sin; I realized some fascinating info that we then discussed at that moment on stage. Death and Hades get thrown into the lake of fire near the end of everything! Man-o-man... how bad must the lake of fire be if death and hell get put there? I didn't recognize this before the devotion, and was surprised that God chose to reveal this at that time, and then said to tell everyone while we were in the middle of our pretty serious "Fire-and-Brimstone" teaching.

Oh well..., that's why the shoes are off. When we read God's word to our group we are on "holy ground." We must trust Him always and treat our position as such. I trust Him to plan and time and tell more than I trust myself. His timing is often-times perfect..., always perfect!

Speaking of timing, I hope He danced with us while He was there...I'm sure He did. How could He not when the Band was so kickin'!?!? Other than seeing God smile at somethings we do, I'd love to see Him dance. I bet He moves like smoke and His band is probably kickin' too! That is one Hoedown I'm looking forward too.

The Truth About Our Jeopardy

Whew! Jeopardy is an exciting new and wild evening at Circle Of Friends (COF). We played "Sing-A-Song" Jeopardy with the Moooovers, Shakers, and Couch-Potaters jumping up out of their seats to play the game before we were done. Each team had to identify lyric-parts from our worship and fun songs in the game. Man-o-man, a BIG-TIME was had by all! Thankfully God splashed us with His grace during the game as the devotion was all about the truth of our hearts, which is never good.

Before going up to present our devotion, I was praying about how to tell our group what the Bible says about our hearts, they're deceitful, sick, we are not "good people." Only God knows what's there, and what we value is detestable to Him...OUCH! Knowing our group and with respect to the vast spectrum of comprehension in it God told me to just "...give it to 'em straight Jim, they can take it!" So whenever we were about to cover a question about our hearts, and compare it with the truth of the Bible God told me to ask the crowd, "Can you handle the truth?"

A beloved friend of the Lord once said that he didn't care how the truth came to him - from the hip - from another friend - from someone in jest - from the person driving the car next to him - as long as it was truth. God's Word is Truth, and every time I asked that question, all 300+ in our group shouted to the Lord, "WE CAN TAKE IT!" If you'd see our group you'd know they can. Everyone of us is a product of sin in some way-shape-or-form. That is the truth about our jeopardy. Thank God for the splash!

Stump The Chumps

Well...we had another night of "Stump The Chumps" (last week)where our volunteers answer questions from our group about the Bible. I wish our resident theologian (Art) was there with us. We did fairly and answered at least one question, with a lot of "we'll have to get back to y'all on that one." I like that though. We're all a little messy. We don't (or shouldn't even pretend to) know God, and all the wonderous things He has going on. Hence the activity name, "Stump the Chumps."

I was particularly tickled when Phil answered the question regarding "Is it O.K. to kiss my boyfriend?" that was sent in. I think he was confused because a boy read the question about a boyfriend being kissed. I don't think he realized maybe a girl wrote the question. Thank God He's there with us each week. I'm sure He smiles at some of the high-jinx going on. I'm glad to be a chump for Jesus! Who's chump are you?

Welcome to our Circle of Friends!

Welcome to Circle of Friends Ministry. We simply worship, pray and study the ONE TRUE GOD in three persons: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. We do this every Thursday evening from 7:00pm until 8:30pm, at Forest Hill Church, Charlotte, North Carolina, (from Labor Day until Memorial Day). Our ministry is devoted to God's perfectly made people with disabilities - which basically includes everyone. Our evening (usually) begins with musical worship, followed by a devotion, refreshments, then closes with a selection of more lively songs praising the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, through His Son, Jesus Christ. If you'd like to see pictures of our group go to http://www.flickr.com/ and search "thursdaycircleoffriends" - you can contact us at OofFriends@gmail.com - "...a friend loves at ALL times." That's in the Bible someplace...