SnoRodeo 2008 Video

Here it is... the SnoRodeo 2008 video. Click on the Youtube link to watch it in high quality! It had to be broken into two parts in order to fit on youtube.
Part 1

Part 2

SnoRodeo 2008 Pictures!!!

Check them out in all their GLORY here:

What is Christmas Really about?

Numbers 34: Canaan's Boundaries

The word “boundaries” often has negative connotations because no one thinks they like boundaries. People like to be free and independent and have the option to do things their way.

Boundaries are so important to our culture that there are books upon books on emotional boundaries, personal boundaries, professional boundaries, dating boundaries, societal boundaries, social boundaries, etc. Even though we don’t feel like we need them, God knows we do.

I probably wasn’t easy for the Israelites to stay within their boundaries – and we will see what happens in the next few chapters, but God knew they needed to know how far the land was theirs.

Have you every felt like God put a boundary in your life? Maybe it was easy to honor, but sometimes it is hard to obey when there are limits put on us. Tell me about it!

PLEASE NOTE – I am not encouraging you to read any of the books pictured – they are just there to show how even our culture understands we need boundaries, even though we many not always want them.

Nexus Review: Numbers Series #4 -- Complainers vs Creators

The Israelites were out of control. God blessed and blessed and saved and provided and listened and gave second chances and third and God even was patient, but none of it broke through their world view problem. They were fixated on the negative and unable to see their own role in making the world they way they wanted. They refused to own their mistakes and the consequences of them.

So much of their unhappiness was brought on themselves... Their bad choices brought them pain, and they blamed God. The whined and complained and pitied themselves above all others, yet when we look at the blessings in their life it is hard to be jealous. They are the ones who God dwelt visibly among, who God fought tangibly for, who God did mighty miracles in front of. Most of us would give an kidney to witness just one such mighty act of God, and they had seen so many, but they didn’t care.

Makes you wonder. Would we have been any different in their position. Would we be able to see the blessings or would we fixate on our wants, desires, and our need for constant comfort. It is easy to answer the question actually. Hold the mirror to your life right now... do you spend more time complaining, or thanking; wishing for more for yourself or creating blessings for others.

Sometimes no matter how much we have, we always want more, and more... and more... and even more than that.... We will even make our selves sick to get it.

-The Israelites were insatiable... they would complain no matter what...

...While the Israelites whined and complained, they selfishly squandered the most amazing opportunity God had ever given a nation: The opportunity to create a new and wonderful life for themselves, and their children!

They were already God’s “Favorites” but they couldn't see how blessed they were, so they through it all away.

We face the same choice: Complain or Create?
-What about you? It is easy to answer the question actually. Hold the mirror to your life right now... do you spend more time complaining, or thanking; wishing for more for yourself or creating blessings for others.

If you haven't read Numbers 16, you should!!! What would you need to do to become a creator instead of a complainer?

Numbers.4 2

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Numbers 33: Your Journey

Do you ever wonder why your crazy Mosaic youth leaders are always challenging you guys to be creative? You know...we are always creating fun ways for you to express yourself (shameful plug for the post card...send us some! We love getting them!!!)

Sometimes we even suggest journaling. What a great way to document history.

History you ask?

Im sure most of you are thinking to yourself..."now what is so important about MY life - that I should #1 consider it 'history', and #2 spend MORE of my time documenting it?"

Well, let me tell you.

Have you ever felt that God was not working in your life? We all have those moments. When you document what goes on in the day to day (either by journaling or blogging) you have the opportunity to look back and actually 'see' how God was working in your life. Sometimes we miss those tiny details along the way...but just like a puzzle - when you put one piece together with another...it hardly looks like the finished product. It takes time to build enough of the puzzle before you actually see the full picture.

So, pull out a pen and paper (do you feel creative today?) Heck, it doesn't even have to be a pen (how about crayons, colored pencils, cray-pa's, chalk, idk...get creative) and start documenting your life. Make sure to let us know how we can help you on your journey. After all, the Israelites did it in chapter 33 of Numbers. (now go read about where they have been)

Numbers 32: Like Samwise?

I love the Lord of the Rings books and movies.  (Yes, I admit it: I'm a geek.)  One of my absolute favorite things about the story is this amazing character named Sam.  After Jesus, he's pretty much the best friend in the whole world.  He risks everything, including his life, and goes into Mordor (basically the scariest place ever) to help his friend Frodo.  This passage from Philippians (along with Galatians 6:2) could almost be his motto:

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves.  Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. --Philippians 2:3-4

In Numbers 32, Moses reams the tribes of Gad and Reuben for not doing just that.  Just as the nation of Israel is about to go into the promised land and go to war against the people who are living there, they go to Moses and ask not to be taken across the Jordan River.  They say that they want to say right where they are, because the land is good for their livestock.  Moses reminds them that if they don't go with the rest of the people to war in the promised land, they'll make God angry with the whole nation and then He might abandon them in the wilderness, and the whole nation will be destroyed.

Most of us probably won't be required to go to war alongside our friends.  And we for sure won't need to go to Mordor with them.  But we all need to think about how our actions are going to impact those around us.  And we need to consider their needs before our own. 

We love it when we get mail from you guys... (both POSTCARDS... and email). Last week one of you sent us a really cool email, and we wanted to share it..

Here is a cool email from a student. This is Ryan’s Response when I asked him to email me his top 5 things he is thankful for:

Hey JNG! I got your email, and here are some things I'm thankful for!

1. My family. They will stand by me and help me if I'm in trouble, and just to give me a laugh, even if we do fight once in a while.

2. Food. Over the past couple years, my eyes have been opened to the real world. Not the one that we live in, that almost gives everything to us, I mean the one where several people die of starvation every day. It makes me love having all the food that I do.

3. Home. Once again, there are people, even in this country that don't have warm, cozy homes like I do. I can't believe how blessed I am to have these things.

4. School. I hate to say it, but I realize that school is actually good for me. I don't like getting up early or the homework, but I am learning, growing, and getting pretty good grades. Then again, I really don't like homework...

5. Computers. Without them, you wouldn't get this e-mail, there would be no blogs, no facebook, no computer programming... The important thing is to not let them get in the way of God.

Have a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving, like I get to look forward to (I'm thankful for that, too!). Be safe, eat lotsa turkey, and have fun!

Numbers 31: war

Check out Numbers 31:27

After the war the Israelites divided up all the things that they had aquired after conquring the towns. the ones that gave an appropriate amount to God were given more.

this is a great thought as we prepare for Christmas. Often times we just think about what we want (i want legos, and a few other toys). We often forget that we should be thinking of what God wants for us this season.

Think about how God would want you to honor him with the things that he has blessed you with this season.

Numbers 30: If you say it, mean it.

In Numbers 30, we learn lots of cool stuff about being honest people.

THe Bible is actually really clear about what honest living is...

2 When a man makes a vow to the LORD or takes an oath to obligate himself by a pledge, he must not break his word but must do everything he said.

Honest living is doing what you say you will do.

Thats it. If you say you will clean your room, then you do it. If you promise to keep a secret, then you keep the secret. If you tell someone that you are their friend, then you treat them like a friend all the time.

Honest living is learning to make your life obey your promises, and learning to promise things you will really do.

Numbers 29: Happy New Years!

Chapter 29 of Numbers is describing the Feasts and religious duties that were to occur around the time of the Jewish New Year.

Their Ancient calender marked this date as the first of the year, thus it was a great time for a party. As you read the text we are talking about almost an entire month or special feasts, parties, and special religious services. There are even many days were the people are commanded to party...

Numbers 29:35 "On the eighth day of the festival, proclaim another holy day. You must do no ordinary work on that day.

Why all these festivities?

Simple... God knows we need it. God knows that humans need something to look forward to. He knows we need breaks from the weekly rhythms of work and sleep and eat. He knows that if we do not get these breaks, we start to get discouraged and our bodies break down. We even get depressed sometimes.

When was the last time you actually partied with God and just enjoyed some time celebrating with your Friends?

I am not talking about watching movies, TV, texting, IMing, and all of the other quick and regular means of "relaxing" that dont really help us relax...

I mean actually taking a break from the regular rhythm and just letting your mind, body, soul, mouth, eyes, etc really rest from the over stressed and over stimulated lives that we live.

God knows we need this rest... do you?

Numbers 28: A Fragrant Offering…

So, I know what you are thinking (after reading Chapter 28)…
In order to please God I need to:
- find a perfect lamb (one without defect)
- mix the grain offering with the oil
- burn it in order to show God that I love him/to be saved from my sin

Obviously, this isn’t exactly how we show God we love him now because Jesus came to be the ultimate Perfect Lamb and offers us salvation if we simply ask for it. After we ask for forgiveness, we are able to offer things to God that prevent us from being in communion with God.

What kinds of things do you offer to God in your daily life to show Him that you love him and are grateful for your salvation? Have you surrendered a relationship that wasn’t good – because it wasn’t honoring to God? Did you stop a behavior because you knew it wasn’t pleasing to the Lord?

Spend a bit of time reflecting on what you could offer to God in your life.

Numbers 27: Petitioning God

In Numbers 27 the daughters of a man named Zelophead (who died in the wilderness) came to Moses to petition the land their father owned.

Since Zelophead had no sons, The custom was that the land would be passed to Zelophead's brothers...without a brother to inherit the land these daughters were essentially homeless (or without inheritance).

When Moses went to God for the daughters of Zelophead, God found that these women were right in their statements and gave them posession of their fathers land.

I love how this story illustrates that God gives proper Judgement and cares intimately about the affairs - not only of nations, but of small families.

He will never leave or forsake us.

Send us your postcards!

We want you to be part of an AMAZING project that we are making to tell the world how AWESOME you are. All you have to do, is mail us a postcard that tells us something cool about you. You are more than just a NUMBER, or another face in the crowd. You are a one of a kind expression
of God’s creativity and we want to know more about you.
So...tell us...it can be a secret, fear, accomplishment, passion, love, hope, dream, mistake, regret, like, dislike, or favorite something (number, feature, letter, word, food, person, game, show, movie, etc.).

Steps to sending your postcard:
1. Make a postcard. Feel free to make postcard from whatever you want, my favorite is cereal boxes, just make sure to obey the size guideline!!!
2. Put a message about your life on it! (it can be anonymous)
3. Place a stamp and address on the card and mail it!

Mosaic Middle School Ministry
777. S. Barker Road
Brookfield WI, 53045

Suggestions for cool postcards.
• Be Creative -- don’t feel bound to send a boring postcard, be as unique and innovative as you can in what it is made of and what it looks like.
• Be Honest -- We want to know about you!
• Be Appropriate -- We don’t want to read or look at vulgar stuff, and neither does anyone else. Find a way to express yourself that channels your message and feelings, but does so appropriately!
Post cards must be able to be mailed with either a postcard or regular stamp, and must fall within the appropriate size restrictions of the USPS.
If you want to send us a really big message, consider sending it on multiple post cards!

Click here to download a sample postcard form to get you started!!!

Numbers 26: A Lifetime with Yahweh

This chapter gives the second census of the people of Israel. The first was 40 years earlier way back in Numbers 1, and the total was 603,550 men "ready to go to war." In the second census the total was 601,730. What's kind of interesting about these two censuses is that there's only two guys out of the entire nation who were around to be counted for both: Joshua and Caleb. (Remember, in Numbers 13, they were the two spies who wanted to obey God and enter the land. The rest of the spies and all of the people wanted to disobey God, so they weren't able to enter the land.)

I want to be like Joshua and Caleb. They started serving God when they were young, and they continued to serve Him all their lives. What an amazing privilege!!! I was thinking the other day: I've known God nearly all my life, so if I live long enough, I'll get to serve Him for 80-90 years or more! A whole lifetime. Seriously. A lifetime here on Earth to get to know God better and make His will a reality and His name known. The only thing I can think of that might be cooler than that is the fact that most of you probably have even more time ahead of you to get to know God better and serve Him here on Earth!

How can you get to know Him better? How can you serve Him?

Nexus Review: Numbers Series #3 -- Rabble vs Humble

Pride is a celebrated american virtue, but it is not actually a virtue at all.

Pride sets itself up in opposition to humility, the true virtue.

Many people confuse pride and strength.

They talk of team pride, when really what they need is team strength. Strength is a resolve to do your best and try your hardest even in the face of great adversity. Strength and humility can go hand in hand, but there is no room in humility for human pride.

Human pride rises up in arrogance against any other that dares to challenge it. It sees itself as special, different, blessed, even better than all others.

It fights against submission to God, submission to an opponent, submission to compromise, or submission to any sort of authority.

Pride leads us to hunger for more height and fame, but it is ultimately a sign of weakness.

The proud are to weak to face a universe where they are not in control, where God exists and is in charge. Their pride rises from their own misplaced confidence in their ability, where as true strength rises from deep faith and resolved character.

Numbers 3 Rabblevshumble

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Numbers Bookmark Chapter 24-29

What a great week to read the book of numbers!
This week we have a lot to look forward to!
Here is your bookmark for this week!
Kristina :)

Numbers 25: Is killing my friends ok??

Next time you get in a fight at school, and your parents ground you say to them "well at least I didn't kill the other person".

At first glance we could understand from Numbers 25 that its ok to kill those that make fun of us or others that we don't like. But I think the point is more about verses 10-13. We should be ZEALOUS for God and his desires in our life. Zealous means excited, passionate, stoked, full of joy and happiness, as well as focused on a mission. (this is mark's definition... not websters) How are you living your life in a way that you are zealous for God... When we are zealous for him, He will see that and honor that in our lives.

Don't start killing people in your school (especially if your homeschooled) check out Exodus 20:13.

Numbers 24: Balaam's curse??? err...Blessing

So in Numbers 24 theres a couple really cool things that happen...

To start Balaam sees that God is pleased to bless Israel. Imagine seeing what Balaam saw here, he saw Israel camping tribe by tribe. I would imagine it might look something like this,
just a whole lot cooler because the tents would be arrayed facing the place where God's presence hung out with his people!

Then Balaam speaks words that God gives him, and he blesses Israel. No big deal right? Except for Balak isn't too happy because that is EXACTLY what he didn't want to have given to Israel...he wanted to have them cursed! Balak gets pretty mad at Balaam saying, "I called you to curse my enemies, and behold, you have blessed them these three times." Not exactly what Balak was hoping would happen!

Balaam's response is awesome...it also made me think. This is what Balaam says:

Numbers 24:12-13 "12 Balaam answered Balak, "Did I not tell the messengers you sent me, 13 'Even if Balak gave me his palace filled with silver and gold, I could not do anything of my own accord, good or bad, to go beyond the command of the LORD -and I must say only what the LORD says'?"

When I read this I wondered...what would I have done? Would I have given up a palace filled with silver and gold? Would I have settled for what the world was offering and not done what God asked of me? What would you do? Would you take the money...or obey God?

Numbers Bookmark Chapter 18-23

Hey Students!-
Sorry this bookmark is late!!!!
Here is your bookmark for chapters 18-23 :)
Kristina