**Sky Ranch & Stuff**

Good Evening Friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year. Just to update you a little on what has been going on in The Yard over the last few weeks, we finished our Christmas series with a great night of worship and remembrance of Christ in the last night of the series "Rejoice." We had the awesome Sean Carter lead worship for us and he used one of his original songs that night called "Repeat"... the song he sung during my message. Then we had a couple weeks off for the break and then headed to Sky Ranch. Let's talk about that.

Friday Night - We started the night off right with no cell phones, no ipods and no chairs to sit in. That night we just talked about what the weekend would hold and then proceeded to play the amazing game "TREK". Big ups to Team #3 who pulled off the victory by collecting all 4 items the fastest. Way to go Team #3!!

Saturday Morning  - We started the morning off by studying Romans 12:1-2 and discussing that we because of God's mercy to us that we should offer our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God. As we discussed this more we started to understand that God asks us not to conform to the ways of the world but to be TRANSFORMED by the Renewing of our minds. That in order to have a life that is set apart and a life that is used to become the full expression of what God created us to be then we have to realize we start with a clean slate each day. That God does not hold grudges or an account of our sin, but rather lavishes Grace and Mercy upon us. 

Saturday Evening - We started the evening session by me telling a story about my past. As I shared more about my own struggle with feeling like a failure and never feeling like I am good enough to succeed we transitioned to a video. I have posted that video on our YouTube site so you can check it out.  This video was created to jog out minds and our hearts about our own lives. To force us to look inwardly and see what the giants that stand in front of us each day that keep us from pursuing God. We then spent the next few minutes creating our own Post Secret. After making our own cards I finished my story and gave conclusion to God's continued redemption in my own heart. The next 30 minutes would be amazing. You could literally see the freedom in the room. The pain, struggle, tears and relief was almost overwhelming. Praise God. 2 Corinthians 12:9, Ephesians 5:8-15

Sunday Morning - We started the morning with a funny game of pancake eating and then moved on to the message. HOPE IS NOT LOST!! God promises us that He will always be faithful. That redemption will come to those who seek Him and we can be assured that Hope is not lost. We have been given the gift of eternal life, we have the Hope of eternity, the Hope of freedom, the Hope of salvation. We ended by writing ourselves a letter telling ourselves what we wanted to be 6 months from now and will have our letters mailed back to us. 

Overall, it was an amazing trip and I am so proud of everyone who went. Thank you all who came and participated in the weekend with us. I hope you all had a great weekend and have fun as school tomorrow!!

I Love You!!!