Encouragement

Hey guys! I'll try to make this as brief as possible! :)

First off, congrats to everyone who participated in the Communicators For Christ masters conference! I don't know about you all, but I learned SO much during the past week. God truly blessed us by allowing CFC to conduct their masters conference right here in Austin!! :D

OK, so I really feel like God has laid something on my heart I need to share with you all. Here's the verse that God brought to my mind when I was thinking about the upcoming tournament.

"Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [us], and let us run with patience the race that is set before us," - Hebrews 12:1

I want to point out something. God could have said, "let us run quickly the race..." or he could have said "let us run impressively..." But he didn't. He said WITH PATIENCE Sometimes you can really get a lot of insight out of the Bible by looking at what God didn't say, but could have.

Every one's "race" is unique. For some, it is slower moving, rockier... and more dangerous. For others, it's easier. What I wanted to point out to everyone who is competing in something, or is facing a challenge that they don't believe they can handle, is that this is not a race against each other. You are to finish the race for God's glory. The people who run with patience, and finish the race, get the prize. that's it. simply do your best, finish the race, give it ALL you have, and give God the glory. :)

The DUTY is ours. the RESULTS are God's.

This is going to be difficult for a lot of people. Including me. Speech and debate tournaments are always difficult. But let's try to find the joy in finishing the race, and giving God the glory. Competition is a lot of fun, and (I'll admit) sometimes a lot more fun when you win. But at the end of the day, we are all just running our race. So I would just encourage y'all to have Faith. Trust that God will use you if you let Him. And give God the glory for everything that happens. And no matter what, don't give up. Don't give in. :)

Lay aside every weight. Run the race with endurance. :)

I just wanted to end this with a few quotes from some of my favorite songs. :D

The Voice of Truth tells me a different story. The Voice of Truth says DO NOT BE AFRAID. The Voice of Truth says this is for MY GLORY. I will choose to listen and believe the Voice of Truth.

Give me words to speak, don't let my spirit sleep. I can't think of ANYTHING WORTH SAYING but I know that I owe you MY LIFE. So Give me words to speak don't let my spirit sleep.

Do all (your best) for the Glory of Christ,

Ben Chambers

Day 2 at CFC....

ONe word to describe and sum up the entire day's events... awesome.

The classes where amazing!! I learned an awesome amount of stuff that totally applies not only to competitive debate, but also different life situations.

I was most impressed, not by the teacher's smooth speaking ability, but by their witness for Christ. They are not afraid to stand up in front of hundreds of people and openly confess their faith and love for Jesus Christ. I would truly love to have that ability. That is one of the main reasons i enjoy speech and debate sooo much.

But other than that, I enjoy hanging out with all my friends! They are so amazing and I truly don't know where I would be without them!! God has really blessed me with more friends than I ever could have hoped for and I truly enjoy hanging out with everybody at tournaments. :)

Well, I'm pleased to report that the annual whenever-any-speech-and-debate-dudes-get-together (Wasaddgt) football game was officially played today. it was a blast!! (as always)
And yes, my awesome team totally OWNED the other lesser talented team. lol. no offense guys... :P

But just in case the WASSADDGT game wasn't attended by all that where interested, there will be another opportunity as tomorrow we will actually be allowed to wear COMFORTABLE clothes. *Relaxed sigh* lol. anyways, ya, so if anyone is interested, it will be in the parking lot probably after lunch. :)

Well, anyways, i'm going to get rested up for another day of extreme madly awesome socialness. :) oh ya, and learning about effective communication in order to better influence our culture (yes, mrs. moon, i was listening) :)

G'night folks! :D

CFC... the first day...

Hello all, it is the end of day 1 of CFC: registration and pre-conference activities. :) I am sitting at my computer wondering why in the world i am still up this late as I will be leaving the house at 7 45 tomorrow morning to begin day 2.

Nevertheless, I am determined to blog my experiences. :)

The day was marked with funny skits, familiar faces, and a very fun/rather interesting/slightly confusing game.

It began with the talent show. Always interesting to see people dressed as hippies performing parodies of popular songs. :) But there where for sure some very talented people performing. I would not have liked to be one of the judges... the results of the auditions won't be posted until Tuesday.

Next to registration, then it's off for the gym for a round of a game that.... I totally forgot the name of. ;) I will now attempt to at least slightly explain this nameless game to you. :)

Basically, everyone is split into groups of 7-10 people. Each group represents a country. Each country earns a certain amount of money, and you can use that money to do anything from boosting the security of your nations... to hiring mercenaries to attack other countries... to buying factories to increase your income. The main goal of the game is to be the most successful country. It is INCREDIBLE how crazy the gym becomes when you have hundreds of people running around carrying colored paper clips (the currency) to different tables or to other teams to buy resources. It gets... INTENSE. Anyways, it was tons of fun!!

Then finally to the Sanctuary for worship and announcements.

Overall, it was a fun-filled, action-packed afternoon. :)

I can't wait until tomorrow!!! Hopefully I can get some pictures on here before too long. :)

Later Peeps! :D

Yield

Romans 6:23 "Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God."

That verse means a lot to me. Especially at this point in my life. For those of you who don't really know me, I am a very musical person. At the age of 12 I took piano lessons for about a year, then decided I wished to pursue violin instead. After playing in my church band for about a year and a half, I began to take a serious interest in guitar. Most everyone who has ever played a guitar before knows how versatile an instrument it is. With it you can play virtually any song ever written; classical, gospel, contemporary, rock, you name it. It was very easy as I was learning to get very carried away with the styles of music that where virtually at my fingertips. The principle of this verse helped me very much to keep my music in check.

"Neither yield ye your members as instruments unto sin:" Now granted, this verse isn't necessarily talking only about musical instruments, it's talking about members. My translation of members is "talents" or "abilities".

Here's a great definition of yield:

To give over possession of; surrender.

So for a more direct translation, the Apostle Paul was saying "do not use your talents as instruments for sin, but surrender your talents unto God, as those that have been saved."

Yielding is about surrendering.
Surrendering requires Faith that God will use you in a way far exceeding your expectations
Faith requires love for Jesus, and what He has done for you.

That's all for now folks! :)