Happy New Year's!!

Dinner!

She's not short....she's fun size!

Sparklers

Amoeba

Karate Circle

Breaking the Mints for Peppermint Bark

Kirsten Taking Her Anger Out on the Bark

Gift Exchange

The Gag This Year? Big Boxes, Small Gifts!

With All Their Presents

Watching Farm Tales

Happy Birthday Cole & Michaela!

"Poor kitty!"

Musical Clothes...and some good sports!

Flavored Popcorn Contest

The Winner!

ZG Wall Decorations

4 a.m. - finally!

Sleeping Beauty?

"It's not really time to get up, is it?!"

Breakfast

Ok, well sort of. This was the prelude...or as Kirsten so smartly named it...New Year's Adam (because it's the day before New Year's Eve and Adam came before Eve). We were so excited to have the kids over tonight...all 12 of them. And after laying down some ground rules (hey, there were twelve of them against 2 of us), we let the fun commence!

While waiting for dinner, we played Amoeba and Karate Circle, two youth group favorites.

After a cookout of burgers on the grill and all the toppings, we followed the amazingly brave and pyro-talented Mr. Jason down to the dead end where he put on quite a display of fireworks genius for us. Of course we also had the usual sparklers and poppers for the kids to have fun with too.

Back inside, the girls had expressed an interest in baking and so we made chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies, fudge, peppermint bark, Rolo pretzels, and Rice Krispy treats. We separated all of the goodies onto plates for everyone to have some to take home to their families the next day.

Some of the snacks I baked in advance for a little fun. I made blueberry, cherry, lime, taco, and pizza flavored popcorn (not all mixed together - yuck). We didn't tell the kids the flavors, but had a little contest to see who could guess the most correctly. And believe it or not, though some of the flavors sounded a little strange, they were all pretty good...maybe not the lime so much though!

We also played a game of musical clothes. This was way too much fun. We put some boy and girl clothes in a bag the kids could not see through. The bag got passed around the circle of kids like hot potato. When the music stopped, whoever was holding the bag had to reach in without looking, take out a garment, and then put it on! Hilarious!!

We had cake for dessert while the kids sang to Michaela and Cole for their birthdays and then we all exchanged our Christmas gifts. In addition to the kids exchanging their gifts, John got the boys dog tag necklaces with Zero Gravity's verse on them (Phil. 4:13) and I made each of the girls a scarf.

We played a game of "Poor Kitty" then. That's where the kids circle around one person blindfolded. We spin the blindfolded kid and then let them stop where they will. Whoever is in front of them disguises their voice the best they can while they say, "poor kitty" and the blindfolded person has to guess who it is. If they guess correctly, they try again. If they are fooled, the person who fooled them gets to go next.

You can't have a New Year's party without watching the ball drop either. So we watched last year's and counted down the last ten seconds and popped bottles of confetti open to ring in 2012. Hey, it was good practice for the real thing on the actual New Year's Eve.

During the night, we also worked on a ZG wall project. The kids decorated 3 yards of black material with their handprints and names using glow-in-the-dark paint and markers. Look for it on our wall soon!

It can't be all fun and games. We had to sneak a lesson in there somehow. We watched a World Vision video and then introduced the kids to Djibril from the country of Mauritania. He is six-years-old and his birthday is the day Zero Gravity held its very first meeting! Zero Gravity will be sponsoring Djibril as the kids bring $3 the fourth Wednesday of each month and we spend time those nights writing him letters and getting to know him and his family better. The kids were sent home with a flyer about Djibril and more information about the sponsorship for parents to look over.

We also watched a homemade video called Farm Tales made by the incredibly talented and imaginative team of Tessa and Simone. It was quite entertaining!

Any down time (very little) was spent with the girls dancing or playing Wii and the boys upstairs on the PlayStation or GameCube or playing Farkle. We also had some movie options for them once they were ready to just chill. Don't worry parents, one of the rules was no girls upstairs...period. It was the boys only zone since there were only four of them and we knew they'd need a place to escape the giggling girly girls every now and then. They even slept up there while the girls occupied the living room downstairs.

Breakfast the next morning was bacon and a full pancake bar with flavored syrups and different toppings to choose from, including whipped cream, chocolate chips, and sprinkles.

As always, we had a blast with your kids. Thank you for entrusting them to us. They are all amazing! We can't wait to get back to our regularly scheduled Wednesday night meetings next week!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

It was our 2nd annual Thanksgiving feast tonight and we celebrated with food, fellowship, and reflection on all of the blessings God has rained down on each of us. We also told each other how thankful we were to have one another in Zero Gravity. We taped a paper plate to each person's back and then took turns going around and writing one thing about that person we were thankful for on their plate. No one knew who wrote what, but each of us went home with a plate full of blessings.

We watched the PC kids get their mid-year awards then and also helped assemble 50 shoe boxes for Operation Christmas Child. It was a packed night, but a good one.

Grafted In

Acts 13:46-48

Romans 11:11-24

John 15:1-5

We watched a Youtube video on tree grafting tonight. It resulted in different varieties of apples being able to grow on the same tree, as cut branches from the varieties had been grafted into the main stem of the host tree.

After reading our passages, we then discussed how we as believers have been grafted into the family of God and how God's word is not just for a select few. We discussed the parts of our host tree...Jesus. We talked about His roots that go down deep into the rich soil of the word to soak up all of it's nutrients. We talked about the tree's strong trunk able to withstand winds and inclement weather (trials and tribulations). We talked about the tree's branches always reaching towards the warmth of the sun overhead and our need for our heavenly Father on a daily basis. We related all of this tree's parts to our need for the same sustenance and how, when we become Christians, we are grafted into this tree and added as a branch shooting off from the main host tree. We also talked about how, apart from Christ (the Vine), we cannot bear fruit...or do anything for that matter.

We also got back on track and worked on our accountability notebooks with our partners tonight.

Sautee Nacoochie Valley, Georgia

We were very excited about tonight's lesson, and as God would have it, Billy's message Sunday led right into this week's lesson AND a big announcement we had for the kids. Tonight, both youth groups stayed together.

To start things off, we read Acts 13:1-13 and then we did a little role playing. We picked a John Mark, a Saul/Paul, a Branabas, a BarJesus, and a Sergius Paulus. The rest of the kids played the part of the Antioch church.

The "church" laid hands on Paul and Barnabas and sent them out into their mission field with John Mark. Sergius Paulus sent for Paul and Barnabas because he wanted to hear more about their God and His ways. BarJesus performed signs and wonders and did whatever he could to dissuade Sergius from finding the truth of these missionaries. With that, Paul rebuked BarJesus and pronounced blindness on him for his treachery.

We talked then about how, when we pray, God moves. We talked about Paul and Barnabas traveling together as missionaries because we're not called to be lone rangers on the missions field. Paul and Barnabas were committed. And they represented the entire church of Antioch who, in spirit, went with them. Christ had them set on a course and they went. In the same way, He has each of us set on a course and we too must go.

That's when we announced to the kids that next summer, from July 22nd to the 28th, we are going on a missions trip to Sautee Nacoochie Valley, Georgia. We talked about the commitment this would be for those who wanted to go and how we couldn't let distractions and a passive attitude about our call to missions make us like John Mark who chose to leave the mission field and go back home after traveling a short time with Paul and Barnabas. We spoke of the importance of obedience to God in His call on each of our lives.

That all being said, we also discussed how that didn't mean all of the youth would be going on this trip. Some might not see themselves as ready spiritually or mentally. Some may even not feel called to go at this point or have parents who believe they are ready to go. And that's not disobedience if God's will sought through prayer leads them to that conclusion.

We talked then about the preparations for the trip, gave the kids their information packets, including a trip application and code of conduct. We asked them to begin praying right now about their role on this team, be it as a member, a prayer partner, a fundraiser, whatever. We warned them that many BarJesus types would try to dissuade them from going, would feed them untruths about the trip and our mission, and try to distract them from the call of God on their lives. We reminded them that the key to tuning out the enemy and hearing the voice of God could be found through prayer, journaling, quiet times with the Lord, spending time in the Word, and meditating on Scriptures of truth.

The kids seemed very excited about this upcoming opportunity, as well they should be. We won't be redundant in the details, as your kids likely came home with all of the information you need. If there are any further questions not addressed in those materials, please do not hesitate to call Tara or I or Wes Crenshaw.

Please join with us now in praying for this trip, the mission these kids will have once there, each child's role and what God will do in and through each of them on this trip, as well as for the people they will serve in Georgia and all of the details from now until then....fundraising, heart preparation, spiritual readiness. We are certain of one thing...God will be glorified in Sautee Nacoochie Valley, Georgia from July 22nd through the 28th next summer! Hallelujah!

"Don't Worry, Be Happy"

Well of course we watched the classic Bobby McFerrin video! It fit! But in all seriousness, we also talked about fear, anxiety and worry and the fruitlessness of it. We had some serious Scripture drills and the kids took turns looking up and reading...

• Philippians 4:6-7
• Isaiah 26:3
• Psalm 37:4
• Matthew 10:30
• Hebrews 13:5
• Proverbs 3:5-6
• Matthew 6:25-34
• Psalm 55:22
• Matthew 11:28-30
• Psalm 23:4
• Psalm 46:1
• Psalm 121:1-2
• Matthew 14:22-31

We filled a glass half full of water then and asked the kids to describe it to us. We talked about the different views people can have about their lives, circumstances and futures and how important having the right perspective can be. Peter's perspective was one of fear and it caused him to sink. We discussed how, as Christians, our perspective need never be one of fear and anxiety and why that's so. We showed them with a pitcher of water and our original glass how, if we have a personal relationship with Christ, we should always view our glass as full and even overflowing.

We read some of the things on ZG's thankful board then and talked about how journaling reminders such as those can help us keep a healthy perspective. We gave each of the kids a spiral notebook journal of their own to take home then and begin journaling in. Tara read them some of the things in her journal to give them ideas and get them started down the right path. We encouraged the kids that journaling is a way to remember the Lord's involvement in their lives.

The Power of Prayer

Acts 12

We started off tonight by showing the kids a few YouTubes of escape artists/illusionists escaping precarious situations. There was the underwater handcuffed in a locked tank escape, the straightjacket escape made famous by the late Houdini, and illusionist Criss Angel's escape from an imploding building.

Then we read Acts 12 and discussed Peter's miraculous escape from prison. Peter wasn't an escape artist or illusionist, but he served a God who can do the seemingly impossible (Matt. 19:26, Mark 10:27, Luke 18:27). I told the kids then that I was still hungry because I hadn't had much dinner and to excuse me while I ate a small snack. I took out a banana. I pretended to have forgotten a knife then and claimed there were none clean in the kitchen. So I prayed for the banana to simply be sliced when I peeled it. To the kids' amazement, the banana was sliced inside the peel, even though the peel had never been removed! Cool trick I learned!

Then we spoke to the kids about the power of prayer and asked them why they should be amazed that we prayed for the banana to be sliced and it was. We prayed for it didn't we? We talked about the awesome God we serve and how capable He is of doing what to us seems impossible. He can heal people of cancer, stop tornadoes just short of a particular house, feed thousands of people with a few fish and loaves of bread, make blind people see and deaf people hear, and even raise people from the dead.

We gave an empty soda can to one of the kids then and asked them to demonstrate their strength by crushing it with only their hands. They did. Now air is invisible, but we wanted to show the kids that it can be just as powerful, if not more, than we can be. We told the kids that air could crush an empty soda can just as well, if not better than they could. To demonstrate this, we did a little science experiment. We boiled a few tablespoons of water on the stovetop until it was so hot, steam was coming out the top of it. Using tongs, we then took the can and inverted it into a bowl of ice water. Instantly, the can "popped" and the air pressure created a vacuum effect that crushed the can....entirely!

We asked the kids then if they can physically see God with their eyes. Of course they cannot, but like the air, that doesn't mean He is weak or not capable of doing the most awesome of things...like crushing a can, moving a mountain, raising someone who's been dead for four days, or breaking someone out of a maximum security prison.

We need to pray. We need to believe. We serve a God with whom ALL things are possible! It doesn't mean He'll always answer our prayers the way we want Him to, but that must never hinder our prayers in faith or keep us from praying in the first place. And that's a lesson we can all use to be reminded of!

Ephesians 3:20-21 - Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever! Amen.

Walking the Walk

Six ZG kids, 3 STOMP kids, and even 2 PC kids went into downtown Tampa yesterday morning to pass snack bags out to the city's homeless. Government protesters made the people we were there to serve a little difficult to find at first, but once we found a few, they were eager to share with us where their friends were so they could be blessed too. We gave them snack bags full of granola bars, cans of fruits and veggies, water, and Slim Jims. We even had hard boiled eggs, cartons of milk, OJ, and cookies to pass out. By the end of our outing, the majority of our bags were distributed, stomachs were full, and lives were blessed....on both sides of the equation.