Lane Palmer serves as a writer for Dare 2 Share Ministries International (D2S) in Arvada, Colorado, a ministry committed to energizing and equipping teenagers to know, live, share and own their faith in Jesus. For more information about D2S, please visit www.dare2share.org.

Turkey Day approaches, and I don’t know about you…but I am planning on overstuffing my face with loads of the other other white meat, mashed potatoes, and delicious stuffing that is made of things I probably don’t want to look into closely. And yes…the gravy. Actually for me I believe all the food I pile on the plate like football players on a fumble is just an excuse for the boatload of yummy-licious brown substance that can and will be devoured. Sometimes I think my family should just load up the back of a dump truck with my food so I can just open my mouth and get it all at once. Then, after the Thanksgiving meal comes the post-feast nap. With the amount of turkey I’m putting away, I should wake up just a few days before Christmas. Only in America would we invent a holiday amazing enough to include mass consumption, football, friends, family, and a few days off of school and work – right? But in all the turkey glaze and pumpkin pie haze, don’t miss the biggest thing of all. Thanksgiving, as it turns out, is about giving thanks. You get it, right? Thanks-giving = giving-thanks. And the interesting part is that we didn’t invent the idea of being thankful and blown away by the amazing blessings we all enjoy. Sure we invented the official day, but nearly 2000 years ago a Christ follower named Paul penned this command which is straight from the mouth of God: Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus (1 Thessalonians 5:18). OK so, most of us give thanks now and then – especially when things are going well. But can you imagine being thankful in every circumstance? Think about it – the ability to have gratitude on the inside no matter what is going on with your outside circumstances. That is what Paul says is ‘God’s will’ for your life. You might be thinking – ‘well, Paul could do that because his life was going well at the time.’ The thing is – here is what Paul tells us about his circumstances: Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not (2 Corinthians 11:24-26) In other words, Paul’s life was about as bad as you can image, yet every day he was thankful because of something that couldn’t be taken away from him. And if you’re a follower of Christ, it can’t be taken away from you either. The free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ gives you eternal life and a relationship with the God who loves you and died for you. So no matter what happens to you, there is an amazing truth that even in the darkest times can light your way and allow you to be thankful. God’s love will never be taken away from you – which is something we should never stop being thankful for. Let this promise soak into your soul: And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow-not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below-indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:38-39). The early American settlers held the first thanksgiving because their lives had been saved from what seemed like certain destruction – and they were thankful. Believers in Jesus Christ should see every day as thanksgiving, because we have been saved from what truly was going to be our eternal destruction. Happy Thanksgiving my brothers and sisters! Head: Believers in Jesus Christ can be thankful each and every day because of the gift of salvation we have received. Heart: Feel incredibly thankful no matter what the circumstances. Hands: During your time off, make a list of things and people in your life that make you thankful. You may be surprised how big the list can get!

   Last year many people asked Kym to make them pies, cakes & holiday treats. So, this year she is venturing out and making these available to all of yall! If you live far away where it would not be possible to “mail” you food… she has her own Cookbook for sale if you would like to purchase one of those (Would be a great stocking stuffer) they are on sale now for only $20.00

 If interested in purchasing a cookbook or one of the Items below click on the link to pay through PayPal. After you have done so please send me an e-mail at grovesjc@hotmail.com  to let me know what you purchased. (WordPress does not allow us to add a “Buy now” button it has to be a “Donate” button)

 Here are a list of Recipes and the prices.

Banana Bread (2 loaves to an order) -$8.00

Apple Butter (2 jars to an order) -$8.00

Pumpkin Coffee Cake with Brown Sugar Sauce -$8.00

Pumpkin Pie (2 pies to an order) -$10.00

Pumpkin Roll with Cream Cheese Filling -$9.00

Peanut Butter Balls (12 to an order) -$10.00

Oreo Balls (12 to an order) -$8.00

Pumpkin Whoppie Pies (6 to an order) -$10.00

Chocolate Chip Cookies (12 to an order) -$8.00

Oreo Cupcakes (12 to an order) -$8.00

Christmas Kiss Cookies (12 to an order) -$9.00

Pumpkin Dump Cake -$8.00

Pumpkin Bread (2 loaves to an order) -$8.00

Oreo Cheesecake Bites (24 bites to an order) -$10.00

Cinnamon Sugar Pecans (1 gallon bag full)-$15.00

Christmas Chocolate Covered Pretzels (1 gallon bag full) -$9.00

Cream Cheese Pound Cake -$8.00

Paradise Cake -$10.00

Peanut Butter Cookies (12 to an order) - $8.00

Layered Pumpkin Pie Toffee Cheesecake -$10.00

Eggnog Pound Cake -$8.00

Red Velvet Cheesecake - $12.00

Oreo Cookie Bark -$10.00

Cinnamon Sugar Bread (2 loaves to an order) -$8.00

Chocolate Covered Cream Puffs (12 to an order) -$10.00

Homemade Cordial Cherries (12 to an order) -$12.00

S’more Brownies (12 to an order) -$9.00

No Bake Cookies (12 to an order) -$8.00

Peanut Butter Snicker Cookies (12 to an order) -$8.00

Rice Krispies Snowmen (12 to an order) -$10.00

Lemon Loaf (2 loaves to an order) -$8.00

Hot Fudge Sundae Cake - $8.00

Wow…that must have taken him all day to think of and write! Oh well, it’s Got me thinking.

• I’m thankful for the Call of God on my life to be  preacher.
• I pray God will continue to use My family and I here in Utah
• Loving the fact that we are not in the “bible belt” just the “Mormon belt”
• I pray that I will continue to grow daily. To take things that people say and find the way I can learn and grow from it.
• If I focus on my abilities, I will always feel overwhelmed and inadequate…if I focus on WHO God is and WHAT He has done, I will feel confident and secure.
• If I focus on my past, I will live in defeat…if I focus on my potential in Christ, I will live in victory.
• If I focus on this life, I will have zero urgency to share the Gospel…if I focus on the fact that eternity is reality for every person on the planet, I will do all that I can to share the Gospel with those I claim that I love and care for.

Pastors and church leaders will ALWAYS have to deal with distractions…Keep your head up. You are making a diffrence!

I read this earlyer today…I think it goes well here!

It’s from Pastor Perry Noble’s blog www.perrynoble.com

October is pastors appreciation month and I wanted to take this opportunity today to say “THANK YOU” to every pastor.  Seriously, I don’t care what denomination you belong to, what the size of your church is or what your preferences are in regards to a worship style…

THANK YOU…for…

The times you have woke up at night and could not go back to sleep because you were so burdened for the people in your church…and so for the next several hours you prayed for those whom God has entrusted to your care and they were not even aware of it.

The times of intense spiritual warfare that you have endured.  You have experienced things that you don’t talk about a lot…but I know about the attacks on you and your family, the nightmares, the intense feelings of inadequacy…and yet you have persevered through them because you know that the ONE who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.

The conversations that you have had with people that no one will know about, the ones that took place behind the scenes, out of the eye of the public.  You took the time to talk to that one person and did it because you care and not because you felt like you would be rewarded for it.  It made a difference.

For the sacrifices that you have made that no one will ever know about.  You have sacrificed time, personal preferences, money, sleep and your own reputation…you have paid a price that most people will never see this side of eternity, and the Lord IS USING your faithfulness to make a difference.

For the times you wanted to quit but didn’t.  We’ve all wanted to quit (usually on Monday’s!)  But Jesus pressed into you and you pressed on because, at the end of the day, you are consumed with Jesus and HIS GOSPEL…and you could not even fathom doing anything else.

For the times you have wept over the condition of people in your church and over people far from God.  For allowing what breaks God’s heart to break yours.

For the days when you have dared to dream big and have refused to give up on the vision you know the Lord has placed inside of you.

For the times you have been criticized and slandered against by people who have never even met you and are clueless in regards to your heart for the Lord.  They have misquoted you, taken you out of context and tried to destroy you with their word twisting and hate filled inaccuracies.  And yet you have persevered, you have resisted the urge to fight with them, keeping your eyes on Jesus and refusing to come down off of the wall.

For ALL that you do!  Seriously…you matter!  YOU MATTER so much to God that He not only saved you but called you into ministry, He entrusted you with a gift, a calling and a message…and He is with you, He will NEVER leave you or forsake you.  You can trust Him and He didn’t call you to flame out or burn out but rather to IMPACT this world through the preaching of His Son Jesus Christ.

You may feel overworked, overwhelmed and under appreciated…but I am here to say as a fellow pastor…THANK YOU!  I don’t care if you have 15 people in your church or 150,000…what you do MATTERS!  THANK YOU…I consider it an honor to be on the same team with you and it is my prayer that all of us will keep our eyes on Jesus and press forward as we have been given a job to do!

I love you guys!  THANK YOU!  YOU MATTER!  Now let’s get out there and CHANGE THE WORLD!!!

Actions speak louder than words. Whether parents like it or not, kids see the priorities and values they set for the family and it makes a difference on how kids live their lives. All the hype over the past couple years about the student drop-out rate from church seems to be focused at the church, specifically the youth workers.

Almost every other week I see a new Chicken Little article about how the sky is falling and that youth ministry is failing miserably. However, the biblical structure of raising kids is through the parents, not church youth workers. Statistically, the kids who graduate from high school and stay in the church are not those who had a super-dynamic youth group. Rather, it’s those whose parents have intentionally passed on the faith. Of course, this assumes that parents have a living and vital faith that’s worth passing on.

As much as we hate to admit it, we have a lot of parents who are sold out to the world and give lip-service in church, so their kids see that and do the same. Teenagers reflect what they see in the church.

According to the Family Driven Faith audio series by Dr. Voddie Baucham Jr., 92% of families don’t have devotions together even once a year. He also says that the average Christian family has less than 30 minutes of spiritual discussion each week. Maybe the church should focus more on discipling parents who will in turn pass that on to their kids.

Here are a few questions that every Student Pastor and or Leader NEEDS to be asking parents*

1. What’s going on in your family and your kid’s life right now that would help me and the youth leaders know how to best work with your student?
We’re here to partner with parents, but no partnership works very well if the partners are off doing different things without communicating with each other. Ask parents about what they see going in in their kid’s lives that would be helpful information for you and any other appropriate youth leaders to know. What stories are both you and the parents hearing about school? What indicators of spiritual growth do you and the parents see coming from their life? Listen to parents share stories, but be sure you also share with them stories and insights you’ve picked up through their involvement in the ministry.

2. How can the youth ministry support you and your family better?
After you’ve heard a bit about what’s happening in that kid’s life at home, ask parents how they feel the youth ministry can best come alongside and continue to support them. That’s doesn’t mean you should bow to their every request — sometimes their expectations will be unrealistic. Use those times to gently share why you can’t or shouldn’t meet those expectations while giving an alternate suggestion that’s more appropriate.

3. How are YOU doing spiritually right now?
We all know that the spirituality of the parents is often reflected in their students, except their kids don’t try to hide it as much. That’s why the spiritual health of the students is often dependant on the spiritual health of their parents. Kids reflect what they see modeled for them. Ensure that parents are growing spiritually and that it’s overflowing into their family, their children, their teenagers, and their marriages.

This article is written by Tim Schmoyer

Tim is the founder of Life In Student Ministry and is dedicated to facilitating discussions among Christian youth workers about youth ministry. He is the author of the Youth Specialties/Zondervan book, “Life In Student Ministry: Practical Conversations on Thriving in Youth Ministry,” a national youth leader trainer, speaker, and a super-volunteer at his church.

5 Months old...18 pounds!

Kaden spotted “Thomas the Train”

Love this little dude.....

]]> http://jcgroves.com/2011/11/03/trip-to-the-doctors-office/feed/ 0 jcgroves15 297102_517382336284_179300070_30352503_1033294744_n 293629_517382256444_179300070_30352501_217741881_n 310608_517382351254_179300070_30352504_2105252355_n 310572_517382271414_179300070_30352502_784606485_n http://jcgroves.com/2011/11/03/october-31st-2011/ http://jcgroves.com/2011/11/03/october-31st-2011/#comments Thu, 03 Nov 2011 19:13:43 +0000 jcgroves15 http://jcgroves.com/?p=1024 ]]>

#1 – Procrastination!  (Remember, procrastination is assassination on the amazing future God has for you – James 1:22!)

#2 – You are allowing your past to identify you rather than Christ to identify you!  (See I Corinthians 6:9-11!)  You are not who you were…you are who you are in Christ (II Corinthians 5:17) and if you don’t let your past die then it won’t let you live.

#3 – You are more obsessed with what others think about you rather than what Christ thinks about you!  (See Colossians 3:2-3, Galatians 1:10)

#4 – You do not understand the fact that God’s Holy Spirit lives inside of you (Ephesians 1:13-14) and has gifted you and is calling you to do something greater than you could ever imagine (Ephesians 2:10, Ephesians 3:20)

#5 – You are afraid (see Isaiah 41:10) – and remember, no one who ever accomplished anything significant for Christ didn’t have to take a significant step of faith (Hebrews 11:6!)

#6 – You believe the lie from hell that says you are an accident when Scripture says that God custom designed you (Psalm 139:13-16) and that you were clearly created on purpose, with a purpose and for a purpose.

#7 – You are obsessed with things that have ZERO significance when it comes to eternity (I John 2:17).