The Update

The suggest Bible chapters for today are:

OT- Joshua 1
NT - 1 Corinthians 2
Bonus: Psalm 23

Good luck NSL!

So we've started a new a new series on Sundays called "TXT" that's all about the Bible. And part of the series is a challenge to every NSL person to read their Bible every day for 40 days.
You are welcome to read whatever you like, but the challenge includes reading at least 1 chapter from the Old Testament and 1 Chapter from the New Testament each day.
If you think you might need some extra help to remember, we've set up a couple different places for you to get reminders.

1. TXT Messages - the series is called "txt" after all. Follow the post "TXT Subscription for the 40 Day Challenge" for more details.
   
2. The Update - we will post each daily reading here at The Update every day for the next 40 days. You can subscribe in two ways.
   
1. RSS - Grab the feed and enjoy it in your reader of choice. Not familiar with RSS? Check out this post [click here].
2. E-mail - subscribe to The Update by putting your e-mail in the box on the right hand side.
   

Back in the day when neon nylon was in, Goonies was a new release, and I was a young(er) lad, there were these things called Mixtapes. If you had some songs you wanted a friend to hear, you couldn't just tell them to look it up online... there was no online. (Creepy, huh?)
And we didn't burn CDs either, that was way too expensive. Instead we would record the CDs on to a tape (see picture below) and give it to them. Thus the Mixtape was born.
I found a neat website that let's you live the glory days of yesteryear, and decided to make a mix of the things you could find on the NSL Jukebox, enjoy!

I like to reward those who are faithful in reading the Update from day to day and week to week. So from time to time I'll be posting a "Reader Rewards" post with instructions. For instance, the first person to e-mail the correct answer to the following question will get a $5 Starbucks gift card!

What did "RIP" stand for in the 3-part weekend posts about Easter?

E-mail the answer to luke.trouten@northwoodcc.org and if you're the first, you get the card!

Update: Congratulations to Spencer VanWalbeek for being the first to send the correct answer, he just scored some free caffeine.

There's over 100 pictures of Spring Blitz at our online gallery [click here] now! From sessions to the waterpark to our trip over the bridge, they're all there.
I'd still love to add your pictures to the mix, so if you have some shots from the weekend please either e-mail them to me or bring me a disk at one of the weekly events.
There's all kinds of fun pictures (over 1,000 now) at the online gallery so take some time to relive some of the fun memories.

Have questions about the Bible? Like where did it come from? Or who wrote it? Or what are some tips for reading it? It's time to tackle those questions in our new Sunday Morning Series, "TXT."

TXT is a 6 week series that will explore the history, reliability, significance, and readability of the Bible. The goal is to learn more about how the Bible works, how to read it, and what it holds for us in our daily life. You can see the weekly schedule in the upcoming events portion of the NSL website [click here].

During this series we'll ask you to take the 40 day challenge. The goal is to read the Bible every day for 40 days. You'll hear more about this later.

This is a really neat thing to talk about, the Bible is the center of everything we do as Christians, and understanding it helps us understand a lot about what God is saying to us. It's like a note from God that says "Dear You, here is everything you need to know." How cool is that?

If you have any Bible related questions that you'd like covered head over to the NSL Forums and post them in the weekly events category. We'll try and squeeze them in. We start on Sunday, March 30th. See you there!

He is Risen!
For those of you who were at church this morning, you would have seen the video of John's account of Jesus' return to life. In the video, Jesus appears to Mary but his face is blocked by some plants. She thinks he's the gardener, I think he's a dork.
There he is, freshly returned from, you know, dying... and he still has the presence of mind to hide his face and mess with Mary a bit.

He asks her, "Woman, why are you crying?" As though he doesn't know. He's playful and clever, he shows a sense of humor. This is the first thing Jesus does (as far as we know) after coming back to life... after beating death.

That has to tell you something about the nature of God. That Jesus beats death, proves himself the Messiah, and forgives all the sins of every man who has ever lived, and the first thing he says is, "Hey Mary, what's wrong?"

Sometimes I think we get way too caught up in trying to sound holy, trying to "be serious" about Christianity that we forget Christ's example. If there is one point in history that a man would be justified in saying, "Behold! The power of God hast been unleashed upon these lands, let us rejoice in the comeuppance of our Lord." this would be that time. But instead it's a simple, "Why are you crying?" A playful question, that perfectly set up a miraculous appearance.

There is no doubt in my mind that Jesus had a great twinkle in his eye when he asked this question of Mary, I am certain he had a innocently mischievous smile. He knew full well why she was crying, and he knew what that she was about to be amazed. In the midst of our greatest sorrows, or times when we don't feel like we understand what's happening in life (much like Mary didn't know where Jesus' body had gone) I think God asks us, "Hey, what's wrong?" Now I realize that what he's really saying, with that twinkle in his eye, is "Hey, watch this!"

Yesterday was Good Friday and tomorrow is Easter Sunday. In between is today, Holy Saturday. Saturday doesn't get the same attention as the other days this weekend. It's the day between the horrific crucifixion and the part where Jesus beats back death with a boo-ya stick. Tomorrow is a day of celebration and excitement. But it's not here yet.

I was thinking about what the first Holy Saturday must have been like. The 24 hours after Jesus had been killed. The disciples would have been meeting up with one another in secret. They had all scattered after Jesus' death for fear of being executed as well. So in dark alleys and private rooms they would be coming together to mourn.

The Pharisees who had Jesus executed were more than likely congratulating one another on a job well done and feeling confident that they had finally gotten rid of this pesky Jesus of Nazareth. Although the curtain in the temple, the giant one that separated the Holy Place had been torn in half from top to bottom, and I'm guessing they were weirded out by that.

The guards who had carried out Jesus' death sentence... they were probably wrestling with what they had witnessed. The darkening of the sun, the storm, the earthquake... and the deep sense that there was something amazing about the man they had seen die.

It's funny, because even though nobody was expecting him to be back tomorrow, and most thought he was dead for good... more people were probably thinking about Jesus the day after he died than the day before. News would be spreading about his death, and the people of Jerusalem would no doubt have noticed the sun missing.

The Bible doesn't tell us much about this day, but it has to have been one of the most intense days in all of history. I wonder if there was a sense that something was coming... like the gentle breeze that announces the coming storm. Even if they couldn't say what, could the disciples sense that something great was about to happen? Or were they so overcome with grief that they didn't feel anything else at all?

These are all wonderings that will probably never be answered... but when I think about what we remember on Good Friday, I can't imagine what it would have been to try and make it through today 2,000 years ago.

Hungry to help. Hungry to serve. Hungry to save.
You should be hungry.

You'll get that chance on April 25-26. It's the annual 30 Hour Famine overnight event. One of the most challenging and rewarding events we do at Northwood Student Life.

Our youth group will spend time both in Maple Grove and Minneapolis learning about world hunger and poverty. We'll also have a chance to experience both. It's hands-on learning, and it's an intense way to learn more about what it means to be poor or hungry.

We'll fight hunger with Feed My Starving Children and other service projects, and experience hunger by not eating for 30 hours, we'll also spend the night as if we were homeless. It's an immersive experience you won't want to miss.

Head on over to the official NSL 30 Hour Famine web page [click here] to check out more info and sign up. E-mail or call Luke with any questions.

With it being Easter weekend I figured it was only appropriate to upload the Third Day catalog to the NSL Jukebox. If you hadn't guessed, the band's name comes from Jesus rising from the dead on the third day. These souther rockers have been around since the mid 90's, and that's given them a chance to fine tune their sound.

One song in particular is great for this time of year. Off their self-title debut album (cover art to the right) is a song called Thief is the story of Jesus' crucifixion told from the perspective of one of the thieves perspectives. It's a really powerful song, and one of my favorites to listen to on Good Friday.

So head on over to the NSL Jukebox [click here] and listen to some of the best acoustic rock and great lyrics in Christian music.

Note: If you don't remember how to use the jukebox, read the earlier post here [click here].

Today is Good Friday. This is the day that we remember Jesus death by crucifixion. Here's one of the Biblical accounts:

It was now about the sixth hour, and darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour, for the sun stopped shining. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.

Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.” When he had said this, he breathed his last. The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, “Surely this was a righteous man.” When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away. - Luke 23:44-48

Today is the official first day of spring! The warmer weather is coming and the snow is starting to melt away. Woo-hoo!
For most of you today marked the beginning of Spring Break! The last big time off before summer arrives. Some of you are heading of on cruises and ski trips, or trips to Grandma and Grandpa's house for Easter. I hope you have a great time over the next week.
For those of you who will be around, keep your eyes out for a Hidden Hangout and some other spontaneous fun with Northwood Student Life!
(*for those who can't figure out the picture it's a spring with a break... get it? Spring... Break... ha!)

Our own Andrew Moore had a slide show of this weekend's trip to Spring Blitz finished within 24 hours of getting back. It's rockin' it out on YouTube right now, complete with music from Josiah Smith Band. A big thanks to Andy, enjoy the show.


Also, I need your pics from the weekend to put in our online gallery, please either e-mail them to me or bring me a disc this week. Thanks!

There's a new album on the NSL Jukebox. "Anybody Out There" by Burlap to Cashmere is a creative acoustic rock album with a subtle Latin influence and thoughtful melodic lyrics.

It's playful and fun at times, and provocative and insightful at others. Take some time to listen to some of the lyrics and see what you can dig out.

For the first month since we adopted Melanie, our Compassion child from Ecuador, we collected the full $32 needed to pay for her health care education and nourishment. Thanks to those of you who were generous in giving 2, 3, 5, and even 20 dollars!
Hopefully this will start the trend of making our goal each month. On behalf of Melanie, Gracias!

Hey Blitzers,

Here's the list of people who have are currently on the "in list" for Spring Blitz. If you plan on going and don't find your name below, let me know ASAP.

Anderson, Dan
Anderson, Jess
Benver, Olivia
Benver, Racquel
Clark, Kaycee
Clark, Katie
Doten, Cooper
Hanson, Amy
Hanson, Brian
Hirte, Matt
Knopik, Kyle
Knopik, Rachel
Koppendrayer, Blake
Kraemer, Joe
Moore, Andy
VanWalbeek, Sam
VanWalbeek, Spencer
Yahnke, Kayla

I love lucky charms. And not just because I bear a striking resemblance to the guy on the box. I love the way the marshmallows taste, the fun different types of shapes, and the neat colors the milk turns as the colored sugar dissolves.

One day, I was eating breakfast in the dining hall of my college. One of my classmates sat down across from me and on his tray were a heaping bowl of lucky charms, an empty bowl, and a 20oz. bottle of Mountain Dew.

I watched as he maticulously separated the marshmallow shapes out from the pieces of wheat cereal. He placed the marshmellow pieces in his empty bowl until he had a healthy helping of colorful sugar, and another bowl that more closely resembled Cheerios rather than Lucky Charms. Then, he poured the Mountain Dew on the ‘mallows, and proceeded to eat them as though there was nothing odd. When he was done, he threw away the wheat parts and left.

I’m impressed that he didn’t go into shock, and glad I wasn’t sitting by him in my next class. But that image of picking out the sugary stuff and washing it down with pure (delicious) caffeiene has always stuck with me.

A lot of people read the Bible the way my buddy ate his Lucky Charms. They pick out the sweet parts that are fun to eat. The feel good things like don’t steal, help the poor, God loves you, and other verses that are pretty easy to swalow. They are happy to eat the marshmallows of the Bible, but stay away from the parts that don’t taste as good. Things like don’t be arrogant or greedy, don’t gossip, stay pure, put others before yourself, and other verses that require us to actually change how we live.

You know those Nutrtional Facts panels on the sides of ceral boxes? The results are based on eating everything in the box, not just one part. The Bible works the same way, the whole thing is good, and meant to be taken as a whole. So we need to be sure that we don’t just pick the comfortable, tasty, sugary parts of being a Christian. We need to take everything the Bible says, even the parts that are hard to swallow, and make it a part of our life. Any other way, just isn’t healthy.