Words of Wisdom from English...

I guess I am going to start out by mentioning a few that really helped me get through last summer. The first one is from Matthew 11:28 "Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." This was awesome come July 4th, and your so busy, and your so tired, but when I took the time to do some quiet time rather it be just a couple of verses, or a couple of chapters, or a whole book, it really showed. Some days i really had to dig down deep because i was tired, but once I gave it to God, he really shone threw me, and really helped to make it through some of those long days. The second one that i really loved comes from Colossians 3:12-15 "God has chosen you and made you His holy people. He loves you. So you should always clothe yourselves with mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. Bear with each other, and forgive each other. If someone does wrong to you, forgive that person because the Lord forgave you. Even more than all this, clothe yourselves in love. Love is what holds you all together in perfect unity. Let the peace that Christ gives you control your thinking, because you were all called together in one body to have peace. Always be thankful." This verse is amazing for so many reasons! First off we have to lean on each other, living extremely close to a lot of people can be so difficult, but you have to lean on each other, and love each other! And if you make a mistake saying sorry, and forgiving each other is so important! God is going to be doing some amazing things this summer, but if were all caught up in drama, and being mad at someone, then God may not be able to do all he is capable of doing, because we were too busy, worried about less important things. You have to forgive each other, and love each other! I think that if God forgives us, then we should definitely be able to forgive each other. Second of all we have to love these campers. Not all these campers know what it's like to be loved, or payed attention to, God calls us to love, its not always easy, but amazing things happen when you do love. We show God when we love, and God will use us this summer in ways we didn't think were possible. This summer is going to be crazy busy, but a lot of fun! It truly is important to stay in the word and keep digging deeper!

~English

The Game Plan

I really like that movie! I'm not talking about the movie though, I'm talking about making a game plan to help us succeed this summer & in life!

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

~Proverbs 15:22

So I had an idea one time that I thought was going to be the best thing since sliced bread!!! I had it all in my head, and I knew that it was going to be successful, but the problem was that it stopped in my head. I never made plans to see it through, and I never wrote it down. Word of wisdom for the summer: "WRITE IT DOWN!" Carry around something to write on: notebook, sticky notes, calendar, etc... Oh, and don't forget something to write with: pencil, pen, crayon, colored pencil, lipstick (ok...I'm getting carried away), etc... We must have a plan, then we must know the plan, then we must act on the plan. Bottom line...PLAN TO PLAN!!! What's your plan for the summer? What's your plan to grow spiritually? What's your plan to grow in relationships? Write it down, then half way through the summer get those plans back out, and see how God has provided the tools to make those plans become reality. The scripture says, plans fail because of lack of counsel. In other words, a failing plan is one with no direction. Have an idea of what you're trying to achieve, then get direction for it. First from God, then from others you trust (i.e. your pastor, youth pastor, parents, family, teacher, friend, Summershine AD & AAD's, etc.). I think we just added another P to our motto for the summer! PRAY...PLAN...PREPARE...PEAK!

Words of Wisdom from Holli...

First off I want to say that I am super excited about what God has in store for me and for the rest of the staff this summer.

I was reading the other day in my Bible and I came across Romans 12:9-16.

12:9 Love must be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good. 12:10 Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another. 12:11 Do not lag in zeal, be enthusiastic in spirit, serve the Lord. 12:12 Rejoice in hope, endure in suffering, persist in prayer. 12:13 Contribute to the needs of the saints, pursue hospitality. 12:14 Bless those who persecute you, bless and do not curse. 12:15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 12:16 Live in harmony with one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly.Do not be conceited.

I believe these verses are really something to live by. It is my goal this summer to build my relationships on these verses.

Im looking forward to meeting you and the rest of the staff soon.

~Holli

Handling Conflict

Hebrews 12:14-15 says, "Pursue peace with all people, and holiness, without which no one will see the Lord: looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled..."

So...over the weekend I experienced a very uncomfortable situation. I won't go into detail, but let's just say that there was a potential conflict on the rise. How did I respond??? Well, like everyone else would, I got upset, but instead of allowing my anger and frustrations to come out of my mouth, I simply offered a peaceful response. A response that would not hinder me from ministering to them again. Ever heard the expression, "Think before you speak?" I don't like that expression sometimes...LOL...but it's very true. I'm reminded of what Jessica told the kids a week ago during church at Clemmons UMC about words being like toothpaste. As we look at this scripture, we see very wise words to the church. "Pursue peace!" It goes on to say with all people...not just some! We never know if we will have the opportunity to minister to someone down the road, but if we "stick our foot in our mouth" well then we have just lost the opportunity to minister to that person ever again. I know it's hard to not tell someone exactly what we want to say, but it must be done, not only for the good of that person, but for the good of you. We don't want to live our lives in regret over an emotional response. As we prepare for the summer, please be aware that conflicts WILL ARISE...It's inevitable. It's how we handle those conflicts that define our character. Will you pursue peace...or settle with being miserable all summer? I assure you that if conflict is not resolved, whether it be with your roomates, or with another staff member, then that will not only be weird for you and them, but will mess up the whole summer for you. GOD HAS TOO MANY GOOD PLANS FOR YOU THIS SUMMER...SO DON'T BE HINDERED BY CONFLICT AND BITTERNESS!!!

~Jason

Words of Wisdom by William...

My favorite scripture is Matthew 10:28 - "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell." I think this is AWESOME! This scripture tells us that we need to have courage in the face of Adversity and never worry about how big the challenge is. As long as we have Christ directing our life, we will gain the Victory in the Eternity Fighting Championship.

~William

Blessed are the pacemakers...

Wait...did I spell that right??? OK...OK...The actual verse is "Blessed are the peacemakers" (Matthew 5:9), but I want to talk about pacemakers! No, i'm not talking about the medical pacemakers that stimulate the heartbeat, instead I'm talking about setting the PACE for a race. What race????? "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us." ~Hebrews 12:1 We must become pace setters, and not followers. As we prepare for the summer, we need to be prepared to come into Cherokee running, and we need to be the ones setting the pace for our Christian walk, and not letting others set it for us. There are many influences in our lives that try to determine how we will run our individual spiritual races. The scripture says that we are surrounded by witnesses...what's that mean??? It means people are watching YOU...and whether or not you are living "the life" for Christ will determine if they continue to watch and listen to you. So as we prepare...let's prepare to become pacemakers...and not be made by the pace of the world.

Stand...Walk...Run

Psalm 1:1 says this: "Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers." You notice a trend here...a slow fading to nothing! Of course, this blog is influenced from the Casting Crowns song, "Slow Fade." In this scripture the man goes from walking...to standing...to sitting. The person who was getting somewhere, now is staying dormant in their seat of "do nothing." Is this an acceptable lifestyle??? Of course not!!! We must not be satisfied with living off of past successes. We can't say, "God sure did great things last year, but I don't think He will move like that again this year." No, we can't live off of last summer, but we must "press on!" (Philippians 3:14) We have to look forward to what God is going to do this summer! He is the same today as He was then, so not only will He bless you this year like He did last, but He will do GREATER things...Beyond what we can even imagine! (Ephesians 3:20) So just like it's a slow fade going from walking to sitting, it's also a gradual process to go from sitting to walking. So now, let's pray and prepare, and watch God transition us from sitting...to standing...to walking...TO RUNNING!!! When we do that, then watch GOD show up & show off!

Tik Tok

So the countdown begins! The clock is ticking, and we have 4 short weeks before this summer takes off. Are you ready? I know...I know...We say, "Of course I'm ready...we just had an awesome weekend at orientation!" You couldn't be more correct about that. Orientation was so AWESOME. But will it carry you over? Hmmmmmmm.?.?!??! All too often we become excited about something to happen just to figure out that we are all emotions & no substance. It's like this...If you are camping, and during the night time it is cold, you want to find a way to stay warm. What better way than a campfire...right??? So you go gather wood for that fire in the morning, and at lunch build an awesome fire for that night. You go out for the day, and come back that night EXPECTING to be warm...but you find the fire has went out, then have to go find more wood in the dark. See that's the way it is for us. We can't just live off of the GREAT time we had at orientation. We must continue to build ourselves up in Christ! What will happen is that if we don't stay prayed up and into God's word, then when we get to Cherokee in a few weeks, we will have to be re-energized! Proverbs 26:20 says "...Without wood a fire goes out..." We must keep wood on the fire, otherwise we will have to go gather more wood in the DARK. It was easy to get the wood we needed in Clemmons this past weekend, because there was a lot of Godly light shining...but when we get to Cherokee, that spark will be much more of a challenge when we are not in that church setting of 60-70 other SummerShiners who are fired up! Even though you will have your AD's and fellow staffers to help you, still you must be ready to be the one who carries the contagious Christian attitude for yourself...then let it shine in a dark (secular) world!

Words can't express...

Awesome weekend at SummerShine Orientation!!! What else is there to say??? You guys are awesome, and we are so excited to work with you this summer! How to summarize the weekend??? Lord, TAKE MY LIFE AND LET IT BE YOURS!!!

Preparing for Orientation

Orientation Weekend is this weekend. We are looking forward to meeting people we will be working with this summer! As you prepare for an exciting summer, remember that you are stepping out by faith, and into God's provision for, not only our lives, but the lives of those we will be impacting this summer! I'm reminded of the scripture, "...So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal..." 2 Corinthians 4:18. We don't know exactly what's going to happen this summer, but we do know one thing...GOD WILL DO GREAT THINGS!!! So, let's not necessarily worry about the things we can't control, instead let's put our trust in THE ONE who has CONTROL! Only He knows both the seen & the unseen...AND HE HAS GREAT PLANS FOR YOU & FOR US THIS SUMMER! Jeremiah 29:11

The Real "D" Word

No, I'm not going to use profanity! What is the real "D" word? DILIGENCE!!! Proverbs 21:5 says, "The plans of the diligent lead surely to plenty, But those of everyone who is hasty, surely to poverty. " Note that they both have plans! It's just that one of them acts too quickly on theirs and the other one uses Godly wisdom to successfully complete each task with excellence! How many times do we want to rush things? How many times are we with great intentions, just to later find out that we acted too hastily & went through the wrong process. As with any "good idea" we have there is first the preparation (plans), then the process (see it through), finally the payoff (seeing the plan succeed). All too often we want to skip the process, but we must let our plans be God driven & Christ centered, then be patient and let God work out the details. My father always told me that "There is never a big, URGENT, decision in this life that you don't have time to pray about!" I mean the praying will come one way or another. Either we pray and get God's direction before we act, or we pray after we have messed everything up for God to pick up the pieces. The Bible tells us that God "is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him." Hebrews 11:6 Remember: Every great idea has to be directed...Every direction has to go through a process...Every process has to be Christ centered! When we do this, then the payoff is automatic!!!

God Bless!
~Jason