February 23, 2010

Volume 1, Issue 1
CYAK Student News Letter

2010 Camp
Schedule: Psalm 139
June 2-7:
Devotion by: Isaac Wood (Alaska
Leadership Camp Christian College)
O LORD, you have searched me and you
June7-14: Senior know me.
High Camp You know when I sit and when I rise; you
perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern
June 14-21: Junior my going out and my lying down; you are
High Camp familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on
my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—
June 21-26 behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such
Trailblazers Camp knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your
June 26-July 1: presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my
Pathfinders Camp bed in the
depths, you are
there. If I rise
on the wings of
the dawn, if I
settle on the
far side of the
sea, even there
your hand will
guide me, your
right hand will
hold me fast. If
I say, "Surely
the darkness
will hide me
and the light
become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to
you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to
you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in
my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and
wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full
well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the
secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the
earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained
for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.
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How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast is the
sum of them! Were I to count them they would outnumber the
grains of sand. When I awake, I am still with you. If only you
would slay the wicked, O God! Away from me, you bloodthirsty
men! They speak of you with evil intent; your adversaries misuse
your name. Do I not hate those who hate you, O LORD, and
abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred
for them; I count them my enemies. Search me, O God, and
know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if
there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way
everlasting.
This Psalm shows and tells how God knows a lot about us. He
knows EVERYTHING! FROM EVERY MOMENT, EVERY THOUGHT,
EVERY EMOTION, BASICALLY EVERYTHING! He knows us more than
ourselves or even our old self does. It also mentions how crazy He is for
“Those who wanted us. (v.17-18) I see this verse can be used as an illustration to Car
to know more or Manufacturers. If I had a Dodge and something goes wrong, do I take it to
understand-they Ford or Toyota? No, why? Because they didn't make it. Dodge knows it
would talk to Jesus best. Same thing with us, when something is wrong with us we must go to
and Jesus would God and present it to Him. In it He will reveal Himself and glorify Himself.
explain it to them.” Also how God is so crazy about us, He wants a relationship with us so
much. How deep, wide, far, high, and great is His love and grace.
As you study the Gospels you can see Jesus was all about
relationship. When He would speak in parables some people would go off
and pretend that they understood it, and it would keep them curious
because they didn’t understand what the points of the parables were.
Those who wanted to know more or understand-they would talk to Jesus
and Jesus would explain it to them. He would do that especially with His
disciples. Also God seen we were far from Him because we sinned, but He
sent Christ to die for us. Not just to save us but to draw us closer and
closer to Him with His Love, Power, Justice, Humbleness, Compassion,
Courage, Humility, and AWESOMENESS! As my name (Isaac) means
God's laughter, I see How God loves humor and how He is not really
drawn to the sin of people. What amazes me about God is that He is not a
perfectionist (But is perfect in His own way), because He loves the sinner
but hates the sin. God knows us best and wants us to put ALL of our
TRUST in HIM! So, where do you need to trust Him? In the financial area,
relationship area, family life, social life, Spiritual realm? His Word says the
Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Also, Jesus drew people to Himself in
many ways. As I studied the gospel of Mark, I have seen when people
asked for healing, He asked people to do what they can't. Like the man
with the withered hand. He told them to stretch out his hand. How can one
stretch out his hand when it's withered? Jesus revealed his power in
healing. Think how much of Him in his power you can know when you got
a relationship with Him, and having your faith in every area of your life. So,
He knows you more than you can imagine, are you willing to trust Him with
ALL YOUR LIFE?
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..::Verse to Ponder::..
Encouragement
By: Erica Stone (CYAK
Staff)
I went on a walk today before
Isaiah 26:3 I started on what I wanted to write, and
I asked God what He would want me to
“You will keep him write. What came to mind were these
in perfect peace, words, “A Beautiful Vessel.” As I prayed about so many things that were
whose mind is on my heart while I was on my walk, my mind started to think about all
stayed on you, the things that the Lord has brought me through. It amazed me to think
because he trusts about how BIG and AMAZING our God is, and how much bigger he is
in you.” than our problems and
circumstances we’ve ever
faced in our life. As I kept
Are you trusting walking and praying, I was
God with your life? looking at how big the
With the way mountains are, and it made me
things seem to be think about how much bigger
going? With your our God is to even create
hurts? With your something huge like that. It
all? reminded me that nothing is
impossible with Him, and it also
Think about this
reminded me that there is
verse. Do you nothing too hard for our God-
want that perfect even while things look
peace? Trust Him. impossible for us to go through,
and we feel like giving up. A
Beautiful Vessel… What comes
to your mind when you think
about those words? I can tell
you what came to mine while I
was on that walk. I started praying and asking God what it meant to be a
“beautiful vessel” and He started to take me through my life to show me
what He wanted me to see. And I am going to share it with you as best
as I can. So, I’m going to give you a glimpse of what it was like for me
when I gave my life to live for God, and the things He’s seen me
through. This goes along with the verses that Isaac wrote in his
devotional, and I thank God for bringing these things to mind that God
even knows me better than anyone else does, and even better than I
know myself. Isn’t that amazing? Isn’t that wonderful? Enough to love
you with an everlasting love! Ok, I need to get to the point of the things
that came to me about a beautiful vessel. Others may come to think
about it in a perfect sense, having it’s beauty without any blemish
(without any sin). But as much as I want to picture it that way, I cant
because nothing can compare to what the True vessel (Jesus) has done
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for us. (John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his
one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
THINKABLE perish but have eternal life.) He loves us that much! I
QUOTES became a Christian when I was sixteen years old, and one
reason why I chose to become a Christian was because I
wanted to be happy all the time. I was tired of sadness. I
was tired of the way I’ve lived, tired about memories that
“Our Lord's affected me during my childhood, and tired of trying to fill
determined purpose something inside that never seemed to fill up. It was like I
and design was to was trying to fill up a water bucket with a big hole on the
overcome the devil, bottom of it. I pictured that being a Christian would be
not by the exercise easier. I pictured that I wouldn’t go through very hard times.
of His power, but by I’ve pictured a life without very hard problems, but guess
means of His own
what? My thoughts took me farther than I knew.
self-abasement." --
Jerome As you know, we are not perfect people even if we want to
be. We still mess up, but that does not give us an excuse to
sin against God. I’ve messed up along the way in my
Christian walk too, I’ve stumbled. I fell away. I cried. I
doubted. I got depressed. I got mad. I got frustrated. I was
“He is no fool who hurt, and wondered why God allowed me to go through what
gives what he cannot
I went through. There were times where I just didn’t want to
keep to gain what he
cannot lose.” –Jim live because life seemed too hard to go through at the
Elliot moment, and there were times where I would honestly tell
God that I was mad at Him, even for the deaths of dear
loved ones. Suicides, tragedy, cancer, in a period of 2 years
I’ve lost about 8 people in my life to these.
What I’ve learned throughout my walk and relationship with
“Brokenness is a fruit
the Lord is more than I can ever try to explain on paper,
of submitting. And
submission is a fruit more than I can ever express! Through those hard times, the
of being broken.” –K. Lord showed me that trials are blessings undercover. He
P. Yohannan showed me that I will not be as perfect as I want to be, but
that He sees me as perfect through the washing of the blood
of Jesus Christ since I have Him in my heart and life. And
that, each day He is training me to be the woman He wants
“When your me to be, and that He is continually changing my life.
memories are more Being a Christian isn’t easy. It isn’t like a pie with a
exciting than your cherry on top, and it’s definitely not the way unbelievers
dreams, you have think it is. Our problems are as real as theirs, and their
begun to die.” –Paul problems are as real as ours. So we, as His children are a
Seger Biblical
beautiful vessel no matter what we are facing, or what we
Ministries
may come to in life… We are His beautiful vessel.

If you have a quote you would like

included in the next edition of CYAK
Student Newsletter, please e-mail Erica at
ericastone@cyak.org.

For more information about the ministry go to www.cyak.org