It was a hard-fought contest, with a close margin: M&Ms edged out Skittles by only 114 votes. Airheads made an impressive comeback, but it was too little, too late.

I need to say that I’m a wee bit concerned about the total number of votes submitted. I put up the blogpoll about 10:30pm on Friday, so it’s been available a little less than a week. Assuming that most of you sleep about 8 hours, that means the poll has only been available for a little over 100 waking hours. There were 45,161 votes submitted. Given that we only have about 130 teens in our youth ministry, that averages to nearly 350 votes per teen. Or 7.5 votes per minute during waking hours!

Do y’all need something to do?

At any rate, this is kind of fun. Look for shorter, more rational five15 polls in the near future.

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Photo: Wikipedia.
No one knows exactly which creature is intended by the biblical designation “Leviathan,” but it could be the Giant Squid. Mariners and scientists have known for years that giant squids exist, but it is extremely rare that they are sighted. Mostly they show up in the stomachs of sperm whales, which eat giant squids.

Until recently, a live giant squid had never been captured on film. But FoxNews recently reported that a Japanese team of scientists caught a giant squid on film in October, 2004. They released the pictures two days ago. The aquatic beast thrashed so violently trying to get free that it actually tore its own 20-foot tentacle off. Talk about “the one that got away!” Incidentally, giant squids have the largest eyes of any known creature, more than one foot in diameter. (Source: Wikipedia)

Whether the giant squid is “Leviathan” of Biblical fame or not, this picture and others like it bring to mind these words from Psalm 104:

“O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom have you made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
Here is the sea, great and wide,
which teems with creatures innumerable,
living things both small and great.
There go the ships,
and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it.”

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I’ve been thinking lately about receiving correction. If you’re like me, being corrected for sin is not an unusual experience. Correction is rarely easy to receive since it is humbling and remaining sin resists humility and growth in godliness at every turn. But God sends us his grace when we humble ourselves to receive correction. And we need it! That’s why CJ in his recent “Guard” message quoted from Paul Tripp’s book Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands:

“Since each of us still has sin remaining in us, we will have pockets of spiritual blindness.” (53)

“Personal insight is the product of community.” (54)

Knowing that makes receiving correction somewhat easier. But what really helps is knowing that correction helps us see our sin, sin which is already forgiven in Christ. That’s why Puritan Richard Sibbes wrote:

“But if we have this for a foundation truth, that there is more mercy in Christ than sin in us there can be no danger in thorough dealing.”

The psalmist must have known this when he wrote Psalm 141:5:

“Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.”

Two questions from CJ’s message to apply. (If you don’t know what guarding is, listen to the message here. And don’t forget to review Encourage!)

1. Are you initiating guarding?
2. Are you inviting guarding (especially from your parents)?

If you read this post, I’m declaring you to be morally obligated to ask your parents if they think you are doing this. Hop to it.

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Due to the overwhelming popularity of the “Pick the Official Snack of five15 Poll,” I will be shutting down the poll early. The poll will close Friday afternoon and the Official Snack of five15 will be named.

Thanks for your enthusiastic participation. Look for more five15 Flash Polls in the future.

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Two meetings this weekend that you need to know about:

Ladies’ Meeting, Saturday, 9am-12pm
This is the first of three such meetings taking place this year, for all women ages 12 and up. Moms and teenage daughters, this means you! I can’t recommend these meeting highly enough. (Dads, can I appeal one more time that you do whatever it takes to make it possible for your wife and daughters to attend? Thanks!)

five15 Men’s Meeting, Saturday, 6:30pm
I’m sorry about the confusion on this one. It was printed incorrectly in the bulletin on Sunday. It is for ALL junior high and senior high guys and their dads. There will NOT be pizza & ping-pong, so we’ll be starting at 6:30pm. Come ready for some fun guy stuff. It’s not very often that we are able to be together just as men, so I’m really looking forward to this!

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“O God, Thou hast made us for Thyself, and our hearts are restless until they find their rest in Thee.” - Augustine.

Quoted by R.C. Sproul, The Holiness of God, p. 229.

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We were well-served Sunday morning by Mark’s message entitled, “Why Preaching?” This is the first of a four-part message series about Sundays called “Our Favorite Day: Why We Love Sundays.” We’ll also hear messages about serving, giving, and singing.

Mark’s second point on Sunday answered the question, “Why Preaching?” He provided a simple explanation:

• We are prone to wander.
• Preaching prevents wandering. Preaching is a fence; it is preventative.

Mark finished with some advice for how to maximize our benefit from preaching:

• First, think of preaching as a three-day event.
• Saturday, read the text that will be preached. (This Sunday will be 1 Peter 4:10-11)
• Saturday and Sunday, pray for the preacher, and pray for yourself. Remember that there is a greater burden on the listener to hear and apply than on the preacher to preach.
• Come early to the meeting so that you can begin preparing your soul in an unhurried way.
• Take notes during the message.
• Sunday afternoon, discuss the provided application quesitons with someone, especially your parents.
• Review your notes on Monday. Ask yourself: what is one thing I can do to apply this message?

Here’s a great thing about living in the age of common grace that we do: we don’t have to wait for Sunday to hear great preaching. You can listen to this sermon or any recent messages on the Sovereign Grace Church website. Enjoy!

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It seems like one of the joys of youth is the sense that so much of life lies ahead, yet untapped, waiting to be explored, experienced, and embraced. And, Lord willing, that will be true: you may enjoy a long and fruitful life.

But sometimes I worry that this sense of vast potential in the distant future may leave some teens assuming that what they do right now doesn’t matter that much. That they can live for themselves now and get serious about this Christianity business later. They wrongly assume that it doesn’t really count until you’re in college, or have a job, or move out, or are married, or whatever. Not so. C.T. Studd (1860-1931) was a missionary to China, India, and Africa. He has some thoughts that may help us think rightly:

“Only one life
‘Twill soon be past;
Only what’s done for Christ
Will last.”

“I had known about Jesus dying for me, but I had never understood that, if He had died for me, then I didn?t belong to myself. Redemption means buying back, so that if I belong to Him, either I had to be a thief, and keep what wasn’t mine, or else I had to give up everything to God. When I came to see that Jesus had died for me, it didn?t seem hard to give up all for Him”

Before you dismiss C.T. Studd as an over-zealous missionary, know that he is reflecting God’s instructions in Ephesians 5:15-16:

“Look carefully then how you walk, not as unwise but as wise, making the best use of the time, because the days are evil.”

Wisdom would be: ask you parents, “Am I walking as wise, making the best use of my time? Are there any areas you see in my life where I’m being unwise in how I live?”

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Some of you may have noticed that the Katrina pictures are gone. That’s because they weren’t actually pictures of Katrina.

I learned through the kind and gracious notification of two friends that those pictures are genuine pictures of fantastic meteorological phenomena, but Katrina they are not. One of the friends was able to point me to verification by the photographer himself.

Shame on me. I should have done more research to verify the validity of the pictures. The good news is that you get the chance to learn from my mistake. Stuff like this comes around often, and we should be wise in investigating the origins of lofty digital claims.

For my part, I promise to step up my vigilance about the stuff I bring to you. I’m sorry I let you down. Thanks for your understanding.

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five15 is not a democracy. It’s a benevolent dictatorship. But sometimes I like to put things to a vote. We’re starting the five15 Snack Bar soon, and I want to know: What would you like the Official Snack of five15 to be?

You’ll see our online voting booth in the bar on the right. Vote as many times as you like; the voting booth closes Sunday, October 9.

Vote early, vote often. What’s it going to be?

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