Do the Gratitude Dance

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Scripture for the week:

You are precious to me, and so I will rebuild your nation. Once again you will dance for joy and play your tambourines....Jeremiah 31:4 (CEV)

Dear Friend,
We don't know who these guys are (see video below) but they made us dance this morning! We have been having some long talks about gratitude and the power behind it. Every time gratitude is present things happen in you and around you. Think about Jesus giving thanks and then raising Lazarus from the dead. Does anything look difficult, dark, lifeless, or even dead in your life today? Give thanks to God. Thank Him for what He has given you in the past, the breath you are breathing and the hope He wants to give you concerning your future. Don't let what's missing in your life keep you from seeing what has been given, is given and has the potential to come. God loves you... celebrate that love... put on some gratitude instead of attitude!!! Have gratitude today and everyday... maybe you might even want to do the dance and just see what happens...
Click here to view the Gratitude Dance video.

Praise Him with tambourines and dancing! (Psalm 150:4 NIV)

Doing the dance,

Upcoming Events

3/27-3/28 Cross+Culture Lock-in
3/29 40 Days of Love Celebration Sunday and Chili Cook-Off
9:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.
4/3 Deadline to register for Acting Classes
4/10 Good Friday Services 12 noon
4/11 6th Annual Community Eggstravaganza 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
4/12 Easter Sunday Services 9:00 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.
4/14 Financial Peace University classes begin

40 Days of Love: Is Sex Love?

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Scripture for the week:

Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
1 Corinthians 13:7 (NASB)

Dear Friend,

Sex? Love? What is it? Do we get it at all?

We just finished watching the short film ImNotBuyingIt, produced by Granger Community Church. The staggering statistics they report indicate that Americans are virtually clueless when it comes to matters of sex and love. Check these stats out: 96% of adult males and 94% of adult females in the US have had premarital sex. Hollywood currently releases 11,000 adult movies per year. 1 of 3 visitors to adult websites are women. 44% of US workers with an internet connection admitted to accessing an X-rated website at work. 47% of families said pornography is a problem in their home. The US has the highest rates of STD's in the industrialized world. 40% of young girls in the US will get pregnant before the age of 20. USA Today says that 56% of US residents say it is important to live with each other before getting married. Cohabiting couples have twice the breakup rate of married couples in the US. 40% bring kids into these often shaky live-in relationships. Roughly 60% of all marriages end in divorce.

Do you think broken, diseased, sexuality is the pursuit of love? Have the sexual habits of this culture helped us or stolen from us? While looking for love, people have settled for lust, fantasy and perversity. Are human beings so love starved that they will settle for sex without life long loving commitment? God help us! And guess what He wants to help! The Bible has so much to say about the habits of the heart in a love relationship. There really are ways to have relationships that are off the charts, fulfilling, and God-directed. Sex is not a dirty word. The brokenness of human beings has defiled the original intent of the Creator of sex. God himself has clearly provided the direction we need when it comes to sex and love. The habits of love found in 1st Corinthians 13 in the original language is where we find the road map of habits to real love.

Love bears all things. Loving relationships don't violate your body or person-hood. Real lovers make a habit of protecting your soul, health and your tomorrows. The original language describes love covering and giving a roof over your head. Real love doesn't expose you to danger, it gives you shelter.

Love believes all things. Love is defined here to have faith in someone and to entrust another's spiritual well-being to Christ. This love is not lust and can always be trusted. Loving relationships are secure because Christ is the Center and Director.

Love always hopes. The Greek word used here describes a loving habit that means to expect and confide. This love is exclusive and private. It is the part of a loving relationship that is safe, allowing you to be your true self but expecting and encouraging you to grow and become all that you were created to be.

Love always perseveres. The habit of perseverance is a lost art in this culture. Perseverance is defined here as "staying under (behind)", i.e. remaining; figuratively, to undergo, i.e. bear (trials), have fortitude, persevere. Loving relationships live through the tough stuff and go the distance. Loving relationships are committed and surround you in all your days and look toward a blessed future together and...are willing to replace every harmful habit with a loving one.

Whether you are married or single, these habits from scripture will give you the love you long for. Don't settle for a less than best relationship or give in to being stuck in the statistics. Give in to God's ways and experience real love.

Sticking with the habits,

Parental Advisory: For CCM attenders, this week we will be discussing portions of this eletter. Please come and invite your friends to the 10:45 service. Crossroads is committed to helping families find God in this confused culture. Our services in the Main Auditorium will sometimes address strong issues not appropriate for young children. Our C.R. AdventureKiDs (nursery-6th grade) will minister to childlike needs. We strongly recommend utilizing our children's ministry.
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40 Days of Love

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Scripture for the week:

Love keeps no record of wrongs. 1 Corinthians 13:5

Dear Friend,

How is your record keeping? Do you remember wrongs that have been done to you? What is this scripture saying? Do you have to forget everything? Forgive everything?

Someone once said, "As long as you don't forgive, who and whatever it is will occupy rent-free space in your mind." Every human being has been hurt, offended and even betrayed. Some issues are small but others are deep and take time to heal. Yet, for the great and small situations in life the most powerful life force in every situation is forgiveness. Tragically, our family has experienced some of life's greatest and most difficult betrayals and yet has found forgiveness to be much more empowering than record keeping!

Forgiveness will clean up the clutter you've been tripping over. So many times we can't figure out why life isn't flowing more smoothly. We wonder "Why am I so tired, so depleted at the end of the day? Why don't I have more joy?" Truth be told, nothing sucks the goodness out of life more than harboring harsh thoughts about someone... including hostile and unforgiving thoughts toward yourself. The enemy of your soul would love nothing more than for you to live under the oppression of record keeping. It is the great misery-maker!

Conversely, there is nothing like forgiveness that reflects being like Jesus. It is what brought Him to earth, fueled His mission and made His final decision to give His life for you. It is the way to mental wholeness, emotional stability, freedom and unspeakable JOY!

Pray today:
God, I don't know how to forgive but please soften my heart to see the way you forgive me. Open my eyes to mercy and grace. I choose to forgive and learn to forgive. I choose love as the highest goal of my life. I receive your love and forgiveness and pray that I become an instrument of that power. In Jesus' name.

In closing, we leave you with the timeless words of Mother Teresa: "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."

Keeping no record,


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Day 19 of 40 Days of Love "You're So Vain"

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Scripture for the week:

Love is not self seeking. 1 Corinthians 13:5

Dear Friend,

I'll never forget the first time I (Clare) sat through 9 innings of a baseball game. Scott was pitching about 110 mph (that's the way I saw it). I was in love, so nine innings wasn't too long. The years have gone on and 2 baseball playing sons later, I estimate having sat through about 1.8 trillion innings (or maybe that's the bailout number). Anyway, it's been a lot of innings. I came from a family interested in music, art and theater, not baseball. I had some shifting to do in a marriage to a competitive, live life fully -- in the body -- athletic type.

I (Scott) was a bit surprised when Clare wanted to go to an Art museum ... on our HONEYMOON! She couldn't wait to see the Henry Moore reclining figures. Henry who? And why would I want to see HIM reclining? Even today Clare is getting psyched to go to the Salvador Dali museum on the last day of our vacation. Isn't Orlando Magic playing somewhere? Only kidding. Josiah and I had a day at the parks doing coasters and Clare... she took dramamine, screamed, shook and rode them with us!

The truth is our marriage was the collision of two histories. It will be 30 years this October that we met and started colliding. One thing we have discovered about relationships that go the distance (friendships, family relationships and marriage) is that they are not self seeking. It's amazing what can happen in relationships that start to seek the other's highest joy... you begin to find joy in the other's world.

Sometimes we give in to another's world with the hope that it will pay off for us. That kind of giving is still self seeking. It may be the place we start a relationship, but it will never satisfy and create longevity. When both giving and receiving are done from a place of gratitude... love and joy are found! It is as much fun to give as it is to receive.

How much of your giving to another is based on what you might receive? When we start giving from a place of detachment, not expecting something in return, we have begun to experience 1st Corinthians 13 love that is not self seeking. If your motivations to give to a friend, spouse or even God still have receiving as the motivating force, don't stop giving but be aware that there is still some work to do in your loving. We can't stop giving, waiting until our motivations are pure... keep it up... add gratitude to your giving and watch self seeking fade.

Think about it:
What have you given recently? To whom did you give it?
What is most difficult for you to give? What is easiest for you to give?
Take time to look at what motivates your giving. Turn from that and turn toward gratitude.
Give into someone's life this week.

Seeking to love,