Wednesday was the first night we helped with the High School group. It went really well. We ran the mixer at the beginning. We played Gorilla, Tarzan, Jane. It's basically Rock, Paper, Scissors. The kids seemed to really enjoy it. Phil was in charge of the lesson, and then we ran the game after the lesson... Creationary. (Creative Cat from Cranium). Afterwards, Amy and I talked about how inappropriate some of the kids myspace pages are, and how we might be able to call them on it. So, when we get a chance, we'll play a little mixer I like to call... "Whoza, whazit?" (The context of is basically, who's myspace page claims... example: who says they "don't love none of the ho's"?) We think it will be fun!

So, we've been wondering what's going on with our small group. Two weeks ago, no one was able to make it, last week only Peter was able to make it. Amy and I have been praying that God would reveal His plan for our small group, and He did! And He chose to speak through none other than Brian Siken! There appears to be a need for sponsors in the Wednesday night High School group through December (which coincidentally is how long we had planned on going with this current group.) It's great to see God answer prayers. So from here on out, come to church at 6:30pm and not our house. We'll be helping with High School!

Since we were having such a great time discussing the incomprehensible, we pondered this question: "What are some flaws with the thinking that creation can be explained by incorporating evolution?" ie. Some people will say that the six days are not literal days, but figurative, and as such can represent the billions of years necessary for evolution.

Some points that came up:

After each day of creation, God saw what He had made, and it was good. ie. there was not yet sin, and as we know "the wages of sin is death". Evolution, however requires death. The question then arose, is this death speaking of a spiritual death, because only humans can sin? And if so, would "death" in this sense, not apply to animals? But then why would God specifically list the fish, birds, animals, and eventually Adam and Eve as being "created"?

We then talked about why global warming is such a crisis for evolutionists. Essentially, if a person believes the world is several billion years old, with a relatively constant environment, and suddenly sees that environment change "drastically" over a decade or so, that would be cause for alarm. If however, you believe the world is only thousands of years old, with an environment that has already had drastic changes in it's short period of existence, then recent changes are not something to cause concern.
The question then arises, can man destroy the earth? The answer was a resounding NO. We can change it to a point that might make it uninhabitable, but we cannot destroy it. So you might ask yourself what is the true root of environmentalists concerns? Is it a concern for the environment, or is it a selfish concern for their own self-existence.

As Christians, we need to ask ourselves if we believe we can make the earth uninhabitable before God's timing, or is it God's plan for us to make it uninhabitable exactly according to his timing?

Lastly, we asked the age-old question "Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons?"

Last night we began our study on Genesis. We made it all the way through the first verse!

To start the evening off, we asked the question "What was God doing before He created the universe?"
This was a bit of a loaded question as we quickly discovered because a) there was no time until God created time, meaning there was no "before" as we understand it, and b) our pea-brains can't begin to comprehend God. Before God created the universe, there was nothing, but even nothing is something, and how does God create nothing...? We discussed the incomprehensible for quite some time.

Here's some quick notes on Genesis 1:1
"In the beginning..." - God creates time as we know it
"...God created..." - Only God can create something out of nothing. Man can only manipulate already existing materials.
"...the Heavens..." - Space, but without anything in it, no stars, planets or the sun, just a big empty void. He needed a blank canvas before he could start painting.
"...the Earth..." - A large mass. It's not yet land, or oceans, just a big mass ball.

In the first verse, He created 'space, mass and time'. I like how He does it, He's very organized and structured, like an engineer!

This is the Lodi Small Group Blog debut. We'll be bringing you updates on the goings-on of our small group as well as keeping you up to date on our discussions. This past week...

We had a small turnout, to the benefit to all those that were able to make it. We were treated to an off-the-cuff presentation by Sean about the intricacies of biker clubs. We were in total amazement to hear about the subculture that exists that we are totally unaware of. Here's some highlights:

1. Biker clubs are all about respect. Respect within the club, and among other clubs. If you're not in a club, they don't care about you.
2. When shaking hands, take off your gloves.
3. There are different types of biker clubs, with different levels of seriousness. One-patch clubs requiring the least commitment, up to three-patch clubs which require the most commitment.
4. Never touch a biker's patch. This is only allowed by fellow club members.

If you want to know more, you should have been here.

In other news, Amy and I sauntered through the Grape Festival on Friday. We just have one question... What was in the booth claiming the "strangest thing you would ever see"? (cost $1) I think it was some sort of mutated animal. Amy thought it was some sort of man-made sculpture, or piece of art. Did anyone actually put out the dollar to see what it really was???

We hope you can make it this Wednesday as we start the party with Genesis.

P.S. Dinner is served for $2 at the church between 5:30 -6:00 pm. (that's the cost of two people seeing the "strangest thing you would ever see"!)