Monday @ The Movies - Evan Almighty

When I told him what movie I was off to see this evening, my father kindly began to read the review of Evan Almighty to me. After a few moments, I stopped him. I’ve never really liked reviews, because whether or not you like to admit it, what the reviewer tells you to think often sticks with you and somehow invades your own thoughts and opinions until you can’t tell whose thoughts exactly you are thinking. So I didn’t really want a reviewer’s opinion. I’d seen the preview; I knew I’d enjoy the movie. Unfortunately by the time I stopped him, my dad had already read the part that said that the movie, unlike its predecessor, was more of a retelling of a bible story than a God-inspired moral comedy.

And of course that is what I ended up telling a friend of mine who asked how the movie was. Go figure.

I liked Bruce Almighty a lot. I liked this movie, too. In fact, I think I liked it more. Interestingly, the modernized version of an ancient bible story (Noah’s Ark) actually seemed easier to relate to than the completely original Bruce Almighty (which, if you haven’t seen it, is about a guy who gets to play God). Perhaps it was easier for me to relate to Steve Carell’s character than Jim Carrey’s obnoxious, over-the-top egotist. Carell plays “Evan,” a new politician who, like most upper-middle-class Americans, wants a nice house, a big name, a family that gets along, and an image that everybody loves. And he wants to change the world.

It’s pretty easy to get caught up in all of the American Dream nonsense nowadays. High society is really appealing. We want to live in a clean world, with clear-cut rules, where everything is picture perfect and goes our way, and we can be happy all the time because nothing bad is happening. We all want to be the family in a Pottery Barn catalog.

But of course, bad stuff is happening, often times it seems far away, but sometimes it’s happening right under our nose- sometimes we’re living on top of it. The true test of our character and our faith is how much of that American dream we will sacrifice to change the world- to fight all the bad stuff. And how much of what God wants for us would we compromise to get the American Dream.

Evan has to face that dilemma in the movie, and I sympathized with him every miserable step of the way. And I also simply loved the God that Morgan Freeman so excellently portrayed: a loving, approachable friend and father. I always felt a bit sad when he vanished.

Of course, on top of all this serious stuff, the movie made me laugh so much I couldn’t help but leave smiling.

One thing I took with me from the movie was Morgan Freeman’s (God’s) suggestion of how to change the world. After he makes Evan go through the entire endeavor of building an ark (what we call social suicide), he tells Evan that the true way to change the world is by doing one Act of Random Kindness at a time. A.R.K.

I liked that.

- Juliet Buesing, Graduated Senior, Plant High School

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On Monday during youth group, several kids and I went to Westshore mall to see a movie called “Evan Almighty.” After everyone bought their snacks and took a seat, the theatre lights dimmed and the movie began.

Throughout the whole movie, little bits of humor were cleverly displayed. This movie made me think of The Almighty as I never had before. Before I watched this film, I had always thought of God as very solemn and gentle. “Evan Almighty” really brings out God’s playful side, for example, by showing him doing “The Dance” with Evan. At the same time, though, this movie was very meaningful, and emphasized on the true importance of family in our lives.

In my opinion, a lot of people left “Evan Almighty” feeling joyous and confident that they can do anything. (Maybe even a little more inspired to learn the art of carpentry!) In the end, “Evan Almighty” turned out to be a really great movie with very happy ending, and I’m very glad that I went to see it!

Haley Stone, 6th Grade

Youth Group June 24th

Coming from a day at grandmas, I was pooped, but as soon as I walked through the doors of youth, I felt revived- ready for anything. Once signing in/name tagging, socializing with friends over the snack bar food (just a candy bar for me tonight) and announcements, we found out that we were going to be painting! Oh yeah!!!

Our painting mission- which we chose to accept was to get into groups of 2 or 3, and paint one panel of nine. The nine panels in total made up the "one" symbol from the One campaign. We had free reign to paint (which every group seemed to take full advantage of), 'cept for painting black in a certain area, the outline of the circle around "one" and the actual letters of "one". I was surprised to see all the talent the group had. Lady bugs, flowers, Cross's, scriptural verses, campaign slogans, and fluorescent colors made "one" very piece of modern art (hehe couldn't resist o.O)

After everyone had cleaned up, we gathered round for worship down stairs, with rock star Juliet leading. I read tonight's prayer, which was pretty fun, and tonight was Eric's turn to preach. After you got over the just-to-cute, coo-ing noise baby Cade (Dave's son for those who don't know) was making in the background, concentrating on Eric's message was simple. We are learning about some of the social justice programs, and how they are affecting the AIDS/HIV problem in Africa, raising so much money for the $140 yearly treatments. Breaking up into discussion groups, Sr. High talked about ways we could raise both awareness and money to the issues of poverty, sickness and how to help.

We wrapped up and went upstairs to play games, after playing with hair and watching the popular Guitar hero, I had to leave. I can't wait till next week, because it's messy night!!! I'm breaking out my old cloths and wondering what we might be doing!!

This was Libby, class of '10, Senior High, reporting on tonight's activities! Have fun and be safe! Hope to see you next week!

Over and Out - O:-)

Libby McCormick, 10th Grade

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Sunday night had an overwhelming affect on me. I realized that while I am going to bed well fed, others all over the world are not. After watching a music video showing poverty and suffering and listening to sobering facts about poverty during the lesson, I came to this conclusion -- we cannot just sit and talk about poverty. We have to do something about it.

Our lesson on Sunday was focused on the organization ONE, which is rallying support to stomp out poverty. People who join One make a pledge – one person, one voice, one vote at a time – to make a better, safer world for all. Our activity for the night was painting a canvas with the word "ONE" outlined on it. We were given separate sections of canvas, and we painted parts of the word "ONE" in black. On the rest of the canvas, we were permitted to paint anything we wanted. People painted oceans, flowers, clouds, and a lot more. Later, all the pieces of canvas will be attached and hung in the Magnolia Building.

During worship, Juliet B. led us in song on her guitar. The lesson during worship included some eye-opening facts about poverty, including the fact that 2/3 of the world's population is underfed, and that over 1 billion people don't have access to clean water. We learned that God hates sin, and we discussed how sin is based on selfishness.

After the lesson, the mid-high and the senior highs separated for discussions. The mid-highs were asked what surprised us the most about poverty and what we thought God hated. People had lots of interesting and thoughtful ideas.

The night was really fun and it motivated me to join ONE in its pledge. Thank you Dave, Damaris, Courtney, Rob, and Catherine for such a great night!!

- Emily Harwell, 6th Grade

Anyone interested in learning more about the ONE campaign can visit www.one.org

Atlanta Mission Trip - The Ride Home

Hello there! This is Meg! We are currently in the cars on our way back to you all. Yesterday, as you all probably know, was our day off and the beginning of the trip home. We had to wake up even earlier yesterday than the rest of the week, 6 o’clock. We then proceeded to finish packing, clean the church, and eat breakfast. After saying our goodbyes and taking lots of pictures, our group went to Centennial Park to wait for our time slot at the Coke museum.

We had been told that there were several surprises waiting for us throughout the day. Then, as we were waiting, Andrew Burger and his family came walking up! They were on their way to Tennessee and had plotted with Catherine to surprise us with a visit. After finding this first surprise we went into the museum to wait to go through. Then, as we waited, Lewis Starkey, Victor Jones, Brian Skyrms, Cole Miles, and their friend Ben walked in for a visit as well! Then we went through the museum anticipating tasting the various sodas from around the world. Just a word of advice: if you ever go there DO NOT taste the one called “Beverly,” trust me. But after all of that we went to The Varsity for lunch, where Lewis, Victor, Brian, Cole, and Ben left us. After that, the group plus Andrew’s family went to Stone Mountain for the afternoon. We rode a suspended cable car to the top where we took pictures, ate snow cones, and played a game of mafia.

Then we rode the car back down and said our goodbyes to Andrew and began the drive home. We drove a couple hours until we arrived at Camp Tygart where we were pleased to find air-conditioned cabins and new showers. We then had a short meeting where we opened letters from you all and discussed the trip as a whole. We had a fitful sleep (until 8!) and woke up much more refreshed. This morning we went the Cracker Barrel for lunch and now we are back in the car headed for home.

All in all, I have had an amazing time on this trip and am so grateful for the many opportunities presented to me by this church. On this trip, I have formed and strengthened friendships and have even learned a little bit about myself. I thank you all for your prayers and can’t wait to see some of you in a few hours! To my family: I love you so much, thank you for having faith in my abilities and I can’t wait to see you in four weeks!

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Okay well this is Jessica again and we are on are way back home. We have reached Florida and we went to breakfast this morning at cracker barellal. The car ride back home is a little bit more exciting because we get to see yall back home and we finally found stuff to do in the car. We have all decided to skip lunch and just drive strait to the church so we well probably arrive around 2:30 or something but then we got to clean out the car so we cant home till like 3 but I don’t mind! I’m kind of mad that now the trip is over and we have to go back home (not saying that’s a bad thing were excited remember) but, the trip was really good I was I the group Sidney and you probably already heard what I did so I’m not going to repeat everything but, yes it was really good and even thought we didn’t have any air condition we still lived and I was pretty excited cause on the 2 or 3 day when we got air condition it was right over my bed so that was pretty exciting! So yeah I guess well just see you guys later! Bye-bye!

(p.s. Paul please remember to pick me up at the right time make sure you find out what time you pick me up and just double check what ever time my mom says.)

Atlanta Mission Trip - Day 3

Fan for the un-air-conditioned room- $30.00

Water bottle so as not to get dehydrated and faint- $5.99

Cough drops, cold medicine, tissues, and breathe-right strips- $34.00

Deck of cards for playing endless games of “speed” to control boredom- $3.00

Snacks to keep us energized- $12.00

Spending a week with our friends serving the Lord- PRICELESS

LOVE,

Meg, Mary, and Adair

Atlanta Mission Trip Day 2

Hello! This is Adair reporting for the Atlanta mission team on Tuesday afternoon. We have all enjoyed our second day here serving in different areas. My team, “Sydney”, worked at a garden center this morning Caitlyn, Mr. Foss and I, the so-called “athletic team”, dug a total of five two-foot deep holes in the ground and proceeded to put posts into them. Thankfully, there was a nice breeze and a light sprinkle of rain so we weren’t as hot today. We enjoyed a nice lunch consisting of ham and turkey or peanut butter and jelly wraps, some chips, and a fruit cup on the way to our second location painting more of the house we started yesterday.

With the cooler weather, the painting wasn’t as tiring and tedious as the previous day. I spent the day on a ladder painting the crevasses created by the grout between the bricks. Most of the group then headed off to the showers while Catherine, Caitlyn, and I searched furiously for a Starbucks or other internet hot spot. We tried McDonald’s, but discovered some problems, and afterwards found it at our shower location.

Upon return to our host church, we departed for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. museum, which was quite interesting. We watched a movie and looked around at different exhibits. When we arrived back at the church, we prepared for Taco Tuesday! It was quite delicious, I have to say. Now we’re all just hanging out, playing cards, listening to someone play the guitar, others screaming the words to the songs he plays, and in a while we will be getting ready for Club. Meg is doing the devotional tonight for our church, after which we will all sleep happily in our new sort-of air conditioned room (we got a window unit today! Woot woot).

Yesterday evening we went to centennial park. We ate ice cream, which was yummy, and watched the kids play in the fountain. Meg and I went in for a while, but then she escaped while I was stuck inside for like 5 minutes. It felt longer, too… it was kinda funny, I have to say. I also beat Morgan three times in the card game of war. Hahah.

I’m getting over my cold now, thanks to the CVS down the street, and we’re getting used to the heat. Maybe. Meg just won the card game of “speed” against Morgan for about the 17^th time. Now we’re going to play Uno! Yay!

Pray for us on all of our missions! Thanks!

Adair Tigert

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This is Catherine, one of the counselors on the trip;

I’m literally writing this blog entry under my fleece blanket way after lights out because I just can’t sleep for the joy I’m feeling from this trip! These kids are FANTASTIC. Parents, congregants: be proud of our Youth. They have been a living example this week of Jesus in us. Dave Sippel remarked tonight at our church group meeting that he is amazed each time he takes a trip with our group how truly exemplary our kids are. And this week, they are showing this to the world as well…well at least this little piece of Atlanta anyway.

I watch them THINKING about the work they are doing for their fellow man here in Atlanta. The realizations and growth they are experiencing simply make me smile and fill with Joy! Our Youth are working with disadvantaged youth and children, the elderly and the underprivileged. They are meeting people very different, and amazingly not so different from themselves. They are learning about hunger, and becoming inspired by the opportunities to alleviate it. They are helping organizations who live and work here in Atlanta to ease suffering and hardship. And they are doing it with smiles on their faces, eagerness in their steps, and a love for God that is inspiring in itself.

And they’re having a lot of fun!

All is well, and I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve on this trip. It has been an eye opening experience. I always knew these were an amazing group of kids – and yet they still surprise me by their stellar behavior – but now I have the opportunity to watch them realize what a difference they can make in this world of ours! Quite something.

Praise the Lord and all God’s gifts! Especially the gift of our youth!

For the latest pics, please visit our facebook album by clicking here

Atlanta Mission Trip - Day 1

Hello this is Katie McCormick reporting from the field. We are currently in Atlanta aka Hotlanta, Ga. So far we have met the staff, they are some pretty cool people and they are super nice which is always good. We have also spent our first night in a room with about 15 girls and its pretty tight with no a.c.!!!! Can you believe it, well if it’s for the work of God then I guess we can handle it. We have also spent a lot of time chillin’ out with our friends and making new friends for instance I was cleaning the Kitchen last night after dinner (you can probably find pictures some where) and I met this really cool kid from Ohio his name is Ryan. I also met another Ryan and Ria they are from Ohio too.

As crazy as it might seem when we woke up this morning I was freezing!!! I don’t know how you can get cold in a room that does not have air conditioning in this middle of June but whatever. So we had breakfast and I found out that one of my best friends Jessica Judd was on my team I was very excited at that point. So after breakfast we had devotion and I went outside I was sitting across from a street, but I have to say that place seemed really beautiful to me.

So my crew and I found out that we would be going to a food bank in the morning and to work on a house in the afternoon. So we got to the food bank and found out that we wouldn’t be doing any work we were just going to learn about what they did and what there goals were as a community. Now for any teenager being inside just listening to someone speak about something you probably know about may seem good because you might not have to pay attention, but I gained a lot of knowledge from that place it was awesome.

The next place we went to was a persons house that needed to be painted so we got started as soon as possible and I am proud to say that we are half way done but I don’t think we will be done tomorrow.

Thanks for reading! ^_-

Hey everyone! This is Caitlyn and Morgan. We just finished eating a delicious dinner consisting of pasta, alfredo, chicken, broccoli, garlic bread, fruit, and salad. Today was a LONG day. It’s pretty hot where we are sleeping. However, they got an air conditioning unit in our room so it should be a little bit better tonight. =] Of course, we are the only two that didn’t bring an air mattress so we are sleeping on the ground, oh well, we’ll live!!!!!

We just got back from Centennial Park. We ate (ice cream!), played in the park, took lots of pictures, raced (Mary won!), and watched people play in the fountain. When we got back we got a little time to rest and a snack before “club” (a time of worship, a lesson for the day and a few fun activities and skits.) After club we went to small groups with our own individual youth groups. Now we are getting ready for bed and just found out that they are putting ANOTHER A.C. unit in our room =] =] yay! So we are super tired so we are going to get ready for bed. Good Night! Oh yeah… Cozart’s and McNeel’s, WE MISS YOU AND LOVE YOU!!!!

For more photos, click here

Okay to start out this is Jessica Judd and I get to type the first Blog that I’m writing on the way to Atlanta, so, yay me! So the car ride there is fun so far. Me and Taylor have been fighting over the front seat, gum, goldfish, and that she bite me. (But don’t worry we are still friends.) It’s about 1 now and were STILL in the car but, we are in Georgia! We stopped at Wendy’s for lunch and we ate food there and it was good! Okay and now Taylor wants to type so here we go.

Now this is Taylor, I must admit the car ride is really fun. Like Jessica said we fought over silly stuff and Jessica was whining over stupid things, LOL. I’m super dee doper excited about being in Atlanta and spending time with everyone. The only thing I’m bummed about is not being able to use my hairdryer and straitener. But I’ll get over it. Today is also father’s day and I said “hello” to my daddy cuz I didn’t get to see him today.

And yeah that was Taylor the getting annoying person next to me but, yeah what ever. Ummm we’re just getting ready to leave again from the rest stop for another like two hours of driving together in the Cars. We’re starting to get a little bit bored, but we’ll live and we’ve also noticed that Dave drives fast and that we keep losing him in front of us but we always catch up soon or later! And we finally found a way to entertain us by having Morgan read Taylor’s book out loud so yeah it’s about a girl who got dumped by some guy cause she lost her “lucky” shirt!! So yes now we’re having story time yay!! And I would like to give out a shout out to my mom: “I love u and Paul tell Tigger and holly I said hi!!<33”.

Jessica Judd (& Taylor Hastings)

Just a note to parents:

1. Dave doesn't drive fast, never went more than 4 miles above speed limit at all times!
2. Pictures coming soon. Stay tuned!

- The Blogmaster!

Welcome to Hyde Park Youth Ministry Blog

Welcome to our blog. The Youth Ministry of Hyde Park United Methodist Church celebrates the love of Christ, and is eager to be his hands and feet in the world. We will begin blogging by keeping you up to date on the first of two week long mission trips we are taking this summer. The first begins this Saturday, June 17th when we head to Atlanta with twelve students from 8th - 11th grade.

We head to Atlanta with a group Covenant we designed collaboratively which states:

We, the Atlanta youth mission team of HPUMC, commit to:

• Sharing what we already know about God’s love, and be open to learning more.
• Building positive relationships.
• Working together in a positive servant’s attitude.
• Seek, spread, and understand God’s will.

“We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us”. Phil. 4:13

We covet your prayers as we enter the mission field!