Hey Mariners MV!

As of today, we are four days away from taking almost 300 high school students to Williams, AZ for an incredible week of summer camp! Hallelujah! If you have ever been to summer camp or if you have students who have gone, you’ve been able to experience or witness the awesome amount of transformation that takes place over those five days.

I know from my own story – I was raised in a Christian family, going to church every week, and attending a Christian school, but it was at my church’s summer camp going into my freshman year of high school where I got to truly experience Jesus’ transformational power in my life. I remember coming home after that week and being so overwhelmed with my freedom in Him, that I got on my knees and prayed a prayer of recommitting my life to His Kingdom and making my faith my own. It was shortly after that, that I decided to be baptized. Although my life was far from perfect after that point, it continues to be an important milestone in my story that impacts me today.

Whether you have a student joining us next week, or you are simply an excited member of our church family who wants to be a part of God’s work in these 300 students’ lives, I want to invite you to again join us in praying for HUGE things to happen next week.

Here are some specific things you can pray for:
-For students to hear what God is saying to them individually.
-For students to take what they hear/experience and to continue to be transformed by Jesus even after coming home.
-For leaders to feel refreshed/rested, and to have a supernatural sense of energy and ability to keep up with students.
-For healthy friendships to be developed that will continue beyond camp.
-That memories will be made, fun will be had, and that it will all point students to Jesus.
-Also, pray through John 17:20-24, specifically highlighting the students who will be at camp

We are excited and expectant of the great things that are about to take place. We can’t wait to come back and share stories with you; thank you for joining us in prayer. It is so great getting to do ministry together as a church family!

Shalom,
Jordan Maslyn
High School Pastor, Mariners MV

Join us for a time of rest, reflection and worship in a quiet setting. Through a guided experience, you will have space to listen to God’s voice and prepare yourself for the coming calendar year.

Find out more and register.

September 19-21
Prince of Peace Abbey, Oceanside
$170, includes all accommodations and six meals

Sing to God a brand-new song.
He’s made a world of wonders! – PSALM 98:1 [MSG]

This week, my family and I made our annual pilgrimage to Texas to visit Amanda’s family.

A visit to Texas in the summer means I learn to endure humidity. While the outside temperature would read: 93º, the “feels like” temperature, according to the local news, would be no less than 114º.

In Texas, I swat bugs of all sizes – some so large they threaten to carry away young children, others so small they’re referred to as “no-see-ums” (biting insects so tiny that they can’t be seen). Consequently, any little skin prickle or blade of grass that brushes against me, I have learned to attack with an angry paranoia.

Each year, I discover new ways “y’all” can be effectively utilized. I am reminded of oft-forgotten phrase of younger Texans: “Man, that’s awesome!” If anything is worthy of admiration or awe, it receives this highest accolade, as in: “See ‘at truck? The four-by-four with the gun rack? Man, that’s awesome!”

I eat from two major food groups: barbecue (that’s a type of food, not a tool used to prepare food) and not-barbecue. I am presently still paying the price for indulging in the former.

Texas is also a chance to change the scenery (not just the humidity). It gives my kids something new to talk about. This year, my father-in-law and I installed a zip line over the backyard pool.Man, that’s awesome!Last night, at dinner, I asked my kids about their favorite memory of being in Texas. Across the board, in completely unanimity, the answer was: the zip line.I can’t tell you how much joy that gave me. In all honesty, I did install the zip line in hopes that it would also sustain my weight. It didn’t. Not at all. After leaving the platform, with dreams of skimming over the water in a display of that he’s-still-got-it-athleticism, the wire sagged pitifully, and my legs flopped unceremoniously into the pool amid a torrent of laughter from my kids. Nevertheless, watching them enjoy what I worked to create made my trip.

I think the Bible paints a similar picture of God observing us – enjoying what has been thoroughly planned and meticulously designed. It gives God glory when we enjoy what He has created. We get to house-sit in God’s house. Every once in a while, and in spite of all the complaining about what I feel like I deserve (or don’t), perhaps I might take a page out of the young Texan’s handbook and say in simple gratitude to God, in view of the world He made: “Man, that’s awesome.”

I’m looking forward to being back at MV this Sunday. We’ll touch on a subject with which everyone, regardless of their familiarity with Jesus, can connect. Bring people you’ve been thinking about and praying for.

See you Sunday,

Jeff

If you like meeting people, having fun, learning more about God, zip lines and water slides, you don’t want to miss this! Open to all high school students. Fore more info and to register click here.

August 4 – 8, Lost Canyon Summer Camp in Arizona.

“Come on, let’s go back to God…” – Hosea 6:1

There are few people in the world who have never heard of LeBron James. He’s a 4-time NBA most valuable player. From the time he entered high school, the experts were already touting him “King James.” And, now that he’s ripening with age (he’s old now – 29), there’s a lot to consider. After appearing in the NBA finals four times in a row and amassing a couple of championships, the king will return to his first NBA home in Cleveland.

LeBron’s first major contract announcement, declaring his decision to notoriously “take his talents to South Beach” (the home of the Miami Heat) garnered a massive amount of largely negative media attention. His latest announcement, however, came with a far more mixed reaction. As James released a statement about coming home to his native Ohio, the cynics decried his heartfelt emotion another “decision” media stunt. But, the fans in Cleveland, once burning James jerseys in effigy, have clearly embraced what they consider their own lost son’s homecoming.

We have a natural affinity for people who, regardless of their missteps, find their way back. We like the idea that there is a home – no matter where anyone might wind up. I recall that verse from the hymn, Come Thou Fount: “prone to wander, Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.” It seems that no matter how much we might pretend otherwise, we wander. And, yet, no matter how far we get, there will always be a seat at the table – a place for wanderers like us.

Where has your heart begun to wander? What do you do with those who have wandered (or are wandering) from you? What do we do with those people who aren’t yet aware that they’ve wandered at all? How do we tenderly invite people to return to a place they may not know they need?

See you Sunday,

Jeff

Get ready for a fun-filled camping adventure! Grab your gear and head out to O’Neil park for 2 nights of sleeping under the stars. Click here for more info and to register.

Friday, August 1, 5p – Sunday, August 3, 12p
O’Neil Park/Campground, $25

Just as you’ll never understand
the mystery of life forming in a pregnant woman,
So you’ll never understand
the mystery at work in all that God does.
– Ecclesiastes 11:5 [MSG]

When I was a kid I used to, for my own personal enjoyment, read encyclopedias.

The mere fact that I used to read encyclopedias raises a couple of question marks. First of those questions revolves around my age: I have a working memory of a time in which encyclopedias were not yet obsolete (I’m aging). Secondly, I was the kind of kid who willingly chose to read them. What kid does that!? This was in the days where video games were in their infancy and could actually become boring after a while – more boring than a lot of things. To me, they could actually become more boring than an encyclopedia.

I read about things I liked. I looked at pictures of planes and presidents. I learned about ants and aardvarks (not in that order). I perused the map of the Soviet Union and learned of the daily toil of the mythological Sisyphus. While boredom may have been an initial motivator for reading encyclopedias, it was the idea that things could be known and understood that most attracted me to the reading. I liked the idea (and still do) that whatever was not understood, could be. As a child, if I overheard an adult say something about the Carter administration or the Falkland Islands and my curiosity was piqued, I could go into the spare bedroom and get a brief summary from one of the neatly leather-bound World Book albums on the lowest shelf of the bookcase. I could know.

In junior high school, I realized this wasn’t something the cool kids were into. So, I hid my secret quest for bits of what most everyone regarded as trivia. But, I still hungered to know things. I still do. It was also in junior high school where I was introduced to Jesus. Predictably, I went to the “J” World Book Encyclopedia… Jaguars…Japan…Jesus. While I could learn a lot about His life and ministry, I couldn’t understand that He somehow knew me. I have read a lot about Jesus. I teach a lot about Jesus. But, unlike a brief synopsis on Pompeii or pteranodons, my search for understanding God isn’t satisfactorily complete after a reading or two. Would we really want it to be so?

Learning to follow Jesus is seemingly as much about the embracing, occasional agonizing-over, and joyful pondering, as it is about the solidness of the “indisputables” surrounding Jesus’ life. In talking with people who are wiser, have a longer story of life with Jesus, and who are often older than me, I am beginning to grasp the concept that we might benefit from learning not to bring an end to our wonder, but to energize it.

To this day, I’m occasionally haunted by the words from Ecclesiastes: “you’ll never understand the mystery at work in all that God does.”

…And at other, less frequent times, I’ll be provoked to awe.

This weekend, we’ll begin our series: EPIC. Throughout the summer, we’ll look at some of the most famous and notorious characters in the Bible. In most cases, they are one in the same. This will be a great opportunity to invite people looking for a place where wonder, mystery, and the phrase “I don’t know” are regarded as critical to active faith in Jesus.

See you Sunday,

Jeff

HSM is moving to Thursday nights! Join us for coffee and hang time from 5:30-7p and an encouraging message and small groups from 7-8:30p. For more info, contact Jordan.

Are you feeling alone, weary and distant from God as a result of life’s trials? Connect with other women and strengthen your faith through this 8 week journey from despair to hope. For more info contact Catherine or click here to register online.

Mondays through September 8, 6:30 – 8:30p
MCMV Upper Room, Free