Nov 6

Isaiah 7:13-16
13 Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well?
14 All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).
15 By the time this child is old enough to choose what is right and reject what is wrong, he will be eating yogurt and honey.
16 For before the child is that old, the lands of the two kings you fear so much will both be deserted.

How old are you? Is that "old enough"? "Old enough to what?" you may ask. Ah, that's the question. Say you want to drive a car. The law in most places says sixteen is "old enough," though your parents may disagree! Say you want to vote. "Old enough" to vote is eighteen. Say you want to collect Social Security. Sorry, you gotta wait until you're really ancient, like in your sixties. So, when are you "old enough to know better"? If your mom and dad are like most parents, they've used that phrase about a gazillion times. But like most parents, your mom and dad have probably never explained just how old "old enough to know better" really is. Five? Ten? Sixteen? Somewhere in between? Well, even the youngest child understands that some things are right and some things are wrong. Because we're created in the image of God, some of this knowledge is instinctive. That's why a two-year-old will scream, "No fair!" when another child tries to take a toy away from him or her. As children grow older, of course, they begin adding to that basic knowledge of right and wrong. But the point is, you don't have to have gray hair-or even an eighth-grade education-to know right from wrong. Most of that is pretty basic stuff. Oh, some choices and decisions can be complicated, like that lifeboat thing. You know the situation: You're one of eight people in a lifeboat in shark-infested waters; the boat will only safely hold seven people; one of you has to go. Do you all die or should you sacrifice one person for the sake of the other seven? That kind of thing. But when was the last time you were in a crowded lifeboat in shark-infested waters? Most people go through their lives without once being in a crowded lifeboat in shark-infested waters. So let's not waste too much time worrying about it, all right? For most of us, most questions of right and wrong are pretty basic and straightforward. The question usually isn't, "Is this right or wrong?" That's usually fairly obvious. The question most often is, "Am I going to do right?" In other words, if you're "old enough to know better" (and if you're reading this book, trust me, you are), you're old enough to do right. That's what really matters.

REFLECT: Most choices between right and wrong that you face in life are pretty basic and pretty obvious. But do you have any sincere questions about some action you don't know is right or wrong? If you do, talk it over as soon as possible with your parents, pastor, or some other trusted Christian adult.

PRAY: "Lord, help me be alert today to the choices I need to make. Help me remember that I'm old enough to make right choices."

ugh i jammed my finger in gym today so its all swollen and bruised...not a pretty sight, and i have a cold on top of that...rough day for me!
anyways, i thought that todays devotion is really important. one thing that does frusterate me the most is when someone that is 3 years older than me give or take a year says "oh you are still young and so enjoy life" and then says stuff like "oh you are old enough to take that responsibilty" or something along those lines. seriously? age shouldnt matter when you try to become friends with someone! for me, i have friends that are in gr 12 and i even eat lunch with them! we are all the same beings that God has created and cherished, so no one should be treated superior to another because of age. treat each other the same because i have seen and experience many people saying that i am still young and that i should enjoy life, making them seem like old grandmas and grandpas to make them seem cool and better about theirselves, then completely turning it around and saying that i am old enough to understand how to take responsibilty for something. it doesnt feel nice and we should all be ready to praise the Lord despite age differences. i have seen my brother who is 2 years younger than my have stronger faith as opposed to a gr 12 even, so treat all like equals and remember that you are all children of Christ and God's wonderful creation. afterall, God loves us all the same.

Went to Roy Thompson hall as a field trip for music today.......I bumped into Jake....

I agree with Christine's point. Although older people have had more experience, that doesn't mean ones that are younger should be treated differently. Many people do forget what younger People have to contribute to groups. The older ones are set as an example and help others when necessary. Also the other way around, younger ones should also not depend on others too much because they're not much different from everyone else. But all should be treated basically the same for there is a certain role that we all play to help keep things going.

Alright, that is all!
~Audrey~

Birthday on friday
yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

13 Then Isaiah said, “Listen well, you royal family of David! Isn’t it enough to exhaust human patience? Must you exhaust the patience of my God as well?

when i first read, this stuck out to me. We as humans make others angry intentionally or un intentioanlly. Considering this, we make God angry by doing our stupid mistakes towards God.We may do things that God does not approve of and it may hurt him. We do things all the time that hurt others, laughing atem, teasing, etc... we may not realize it but we are hurting there feelings. Soo at the same time, we may be getting further and further away from God without noticing it and hurting him emotionally and we dont even know it!

Soo what do we know about what is good and bad? how can we judge others with just what weve seen. We dont know what is going on in their hearts and we cannot see that. Only God can and that is why He should be the only one to judge and not us. We should bluntly call someone stupid because of what they do and how they act. We dont know what kind of perrson he is in the inside or what he has been going through. So we should always not bluntly come to conclusions.

gnite =)

Hi!

The story reminded me of 1 Timothy 4:12.
"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity."

Also going with a similar message to Christine and Audrey.
Age shouldn't dictate superiority or maturity level.
I know like 10 year olds that act more mature than I do
Being older does mean more responsibility and for some reason younger people think doing "big kid" things are so cool.
Which is why those who are older should be positive influences and know how to choose right decisions so that the younger people will follow.
But that doesn't mean younger people cannot positively influence older people!

so i lost my wallet on the bus, yay me

well this devo was pretty cool because it made me think of when Jesus took told the crowd he was teaching that even children are a part of God's kingdom.

13-16The people brought children to Jesus, hoping he might touch them. The disciples shooed them off. But Jesus was irate and let them know it: "Don't push these children away. Don't ever get between them and me. These children are at the very center of life in the kingdom. Mark this: Unless you accept God's kingdom in the simplicity of a child, you'll never get in." Then, gathering the children up in his arms, he laid his hands of blessing on them. (mark 10 13-16)

This passage doesn't have much to do with the devo today, but I guess it ties in a bit. We should be acting as mature individuals by making correct choices, but at the same time, I think there needs to be a part of us that retains the innocence we had as a child. Jesus even says that God's kingdom is easier to digest with a heart as simple as a childs'. So like always, maintain a healthy conscience but also the innocence of a child.

I think this message could be translated to a meaning in which that we really don't know what's going on until we're in the kingdom of God. "When the time comes when they are old enough to reject wrong from right, they will be tasting milk and honey" sounds something that could be interpreted in a way that we have always had some lacking traits that need growth. I think those kinds of bible messages are the ones that tell us that we really should work together to bring forth God's Kingdom. As part of the lowest of the lowest base of Christians, we should be working extra hard so that we can lead the congregation into worship, praise, and being in touch with the Holy Spirit. That being said, we really should bring others up before ourselves.

I can't exactly remember the verse BUT
There's one that goes "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young"
And I love it. I think some people thought it was really weird for me starting to lead at gr 10.
And it was a little weird. And there were MANY things I could've improved on, but I think just got by.
Other people will think certain things about you depending on your appearance, age and whatnot.
But God knows how you work on the inside, it doesn't matter what one appears to be.

So, this devo was based on whether or not we will be able to judge right and wrong when we need to most.
But what about in cases where it isn't obvious?
Example, robin hood. Stole from the rich, to give to the poor. Right or wrong?
In times when such problems arise, turn to God.
Ask him for guidance.

To be honest, I don't ask God for help nearly as much as I wish I did but when I do, he knows it's important to me.
But I'm definitely working on it.

And relating to the issue of age and it's relevance to judging right and wrong,
we oftentimes think that age = better judgement, relative to the judgement of someone younger
and that can be true in a way because in the case that you have to deal with a harder issue to judge, experience might be the best resource you have.

Okay, I'm going off on a tangent and I have no idea if this relates to the devo, in your minds, but yes. Ok. LOL

We all knwo that making simple decisions between right and wrong are easy... but when it comes to the difficult decisions where you dont know the right or the wrong decision, its hard.
We take for granted all that we have... in hard situations where we are unable to make a decision regardless of being right or wrong, we barely give God a chance to help us.
God may help us right away, He may take his time. He can take a whole year if He wants to. Its all about us trusting in God and knowing that God will help us make the right decisions in the end and heklp us get through any hardships we are going through.