Sorry, here's the Adopt-A-Student link

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=tgdpyPDbWlJPUeRjelcmkg_3d_3d

Welcome Back...you Hooligans!

Hey everyone. I just wanted to give a cordial welcome back to everyone who is returning back to Atlanta for another round of college. And to my local students, it's always a pleasure...glad you're still around.

We're kicking off our Adopt-A-Student program, officially, this fall and if you're interested, would love for you to sign up. Just click on the link below and we'll contact you when we find ya a parent.

We'll have a launch dinner sometime in September where you'll meet your parent and there ya go.

We're praying for you guys as you start a new semester. Please make God a priority and be intentional with your relationship with Him. And remember, if you need anything, we're here to help.

Mark Miller

Topic Two: Immigration

In our brief discussion on Sunday, we only began to scratch the service of this hot topic. There is so much to be explored. Below are a few thoughts from both sides of the spectrum (a little disclaimer: these are not my words):

High-Tolerance Arguments:

Ÿ The Cheap Labor Factor: Illegal immigrants are beneficial to the economy because they take on the necessary menial jobs that many Americans are unwilling to accept, especially high-labor agricultural jobs. "There are people doing jobs Americans will not do. Many people who have come into our country are helping our economy grow. That's just a fact of life." - President George W. Bush

Ÿ The Consumer Factor: Illegals also help the economy by purchasing American goods and services.

Ÿ The Taxes Factor: Illegals pay taxes too - about $4,200 federal taxes on average per illegal household per year. Over 40% of this goes to Social Security and Medicare.

Ÿ The Melting-Pot Factor: Illegals are inspired by the American dream, just like many of the ancestors of today's American citizens. It is heartless to deny foreigners the ability to come to America and make better lives for themselves.

Low-Tolerance Arguments:

Ÿ The Criminal Factor: Illegal immigrants are a great danger to America. They are all lawbreakers by virtue of entering America illegally, and when they arrive, a significant number continue to break laws; they steal, rape, murder, form and join gangs, sell drugs, and engage in illegal weapons trade. In 2002, illegals cost the federal prison and court systems $1.6 billion. That doesn't include costs incurred by individual states. The state of Arizona spends $80 million each year incarcerating illegals. "In Los Angeles, 95 percent of all outstanding warrants for homicide (which total 1,200 to 1,500) target illegal aliens. Up to two-thirds of all fugitive felony warrants (17,000) are for illegal aliens." - City Journal's Heather Mac Donald

Ÿ The Social Services Factor: Illegals are not American citizens, and yet they sap social services and cost hospitals billions of dollars in unpaid-for health care. In 2002 illegals cost the federal government $2.5 billion in Medicaid, $1.9 billion in food assistance programs, and $2.2 billion in treatment for the uninsured. States near the border suffer the biggest burden. For instance, illegal immigrants' health care costs Arizona alone about $400 million each year. California takes an even bigger hit.

Ÿ The Disease Factor: Not only are illegal aliens bankrupting hospitals on the U.S. border, they are bringing diseases into the country, including drug-resistant-tuberculosis, leprosy, hepatitis A, and Chagas Disease, an organ-attacking parasite imported from South America.

Ÿ The Education Factor: The children of illegal aliens cost federal and state government billions each year. These students cost more to teach than other children because many speak only Spanish or other foreign languages, and school systems have to deal with their cultural and language gaps while trying to teach them reading and long division. Immigrants cause overcrowded classes and suck funding that could be going toward helping American kids. California spends $8 billion per year trying to educate the children of illegal immigrants.

Ÿ The Terrorism Factor: We can only guess how many of America's enemies are in the U.S. illegally. Stopping up our porous borders is vital for our nation's security.

Ÿ The “Illegal” Factor: Granting amnesty to millions of illegal immigrants would be a travesty. It would demonstrate that illegal activity can encourage the American government to change its policies, and it would be a slap in the face to those immigrants who have worked hard to become American citizens by the established legal route.

As you read the above "factors" I challenge you to consider (at the risk of sounding like a cheap t-shirt...) The Jesus Factor. No matter where you stand on Immigration, is The Jesus Factor the most important factor in your decision making process. Does Jesus' love for humanity trump the economic burden illegal immigrants cause? We live in a world governed by rules - and I am not suggesting that these rules be ignored - but I am asking that we look at our own "set of rules" as Christians. Regardless if you are a citizen of the United States of America, China, Mexico or Tajikistan you are a citizen of God's kingdom. Logistically, our country can not open our borders to everyone - but we can acknowledge that as citizens of God's kingdom we are responsible for treating each other respectfully and sharing the love and grace God has given each of us. Now the hard part - how does that relate to your political stance...

Topic One - Abortion

Things to think about for class on Sunday…

1. Why is this an issue that so many people are passionate about?
2. What are the pros and cons of abortion being legal? Illegal? Restricted?
3. Without making abortion illegal, what can be done to reduce abortion rates?
4. What do you think about the use of Psalm 139 as a “pro-life verse”?
5. Are there other scriptures that impact your view on Abortion?
6. Is the bible clear on the abortion issue?
7. How do your views on Abortion relate to your views on other types of contraception?
8. Why do you think there are more abortions in lower income families?
9. Is Abortion a moral issue or a social issue?

Some Stats about Abortion in the United States

Number of abortions per year: 1.37 Million (1996)
Number of abortions per day: Approximately 3,700

Who's having abortions (age)?
52% of women obtaining abortions in the U.S. are younger than 25: Women aged 20-24 obtain 32% of all abortions; Teenagers obtain 20% and girls under 15 account for 1.2%.

Who's having abortions (race)?
While white women obtain 60% of all abortions, their abortion rate is well below that of minority women. Black women are more than 3 times as likely as white women to have an abortion, and Hispanic women are roughly 2 times as likely.

Who's having abortions (marital status)?
64.4% of all abortions are performed on never-married women; Married women account for 18.4% of all abortions and divorced women obtain 9.4%.

Who's having abortions (religion)?
Women identifying themselves as Protestants obtain 37.4% of all abortions in the U.S.; Catholic women account for 31.3%, Jewish women account for 1.3%, and women with no religious affiliation obtain 23.7% of all abortions. 18% of all abortions are performed on women who identify themselves as "Born-again/Evangelical".

Who's having abortions (income)?
Women with family incomes less than $15,000 obtain 28.7% of all abortions; Women with family incomes between $15,000 and $29,999 obtain 19.5%; Women with family incomes between $30,000 and $59,999 obtain 38.0%; Women with family incomes over $60,000 obtain 13.8%.

Why women have abortions
1% of all abortions occur because of rape or incest; 6% of abortions occur because of potential health problems regarding either the mother or child, and 93% of all abortions occur for social reasons (i.e. the child is unwanted or inconvenient).

At what gestational ages are abortions performed:
52% of all abortions occur before the 9th week of pregnancy, 25% happen between the 9th & 10th week, 12% happen between the 11th and 12th week, 6% happen between the 13th & 15th week, 4% happen between the 16th & 20th week, and 1% of all abortions (16,450/yr.) happen after the 20th week of pregnancy.

Likelihood of abortion:
An estimated 43% of all women will have at least 1 abortion by the time they are 45 years old. 47% of all abortions are performed on women who have had at least one previous abortion.

Abortion coverage:
48% of all abortion facilities provide services after the 12th week of pregnancy. 9 in 10 managed care plans routinely cover abortion or provide limited coverage. About 14% of all abortions in the United States are paid for with public funds, virtually all of which are state funds. 16 states (CA, CT, HI, ED, IL, MA , MD, MD, MN, MT, NJ, NM, NY, OR, VT, WA and WV) pay for abortions for some poor women.

© Copyright 1997, The Alan Guttmacher Institute. (www.agi-usa.org)

Who should you vote for?

Check out this site: http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/candidate-match-game.htm

It is a fun way to see how you measure up against each candidate on the major issues.

MARGINS: sexual morality

Okay so this is the last posting for this margins stuff. It’s about time right? I know I know. Okay, so after this, we’ll move into more “thought of the week stuff” which should evoke more responses versus having 800 pages of notes to read. But so you can have the notes from what we talked about in class on Sunday, here you go. I’ll try to keep it as short as possible.

So we talked about margins, as it relates to sex. And we always start out with the obvious which is good to set a common ground, and we said that everyone has limits morally, especially as it relates to sex.

Everyone has limits.
Some of us have self-imposed limits based on how we were raised.
Some of us have spiritually imposed limits.
Then we have legal limits.

But even if you or someone you know wasn’t raised with moral limits or you don’t believe in God’s Word, everyone has an internal limit meter when it comes to morality. But the question that we have to ask ourselves is this: “Will we adopt the limits that our culture encourages and pushes us to, or will we accept and choose to live our lives by the limits that our Heavenly Father LEADS us too?”

And everytime we’ve looked at this with our money and our schedules and our lives, God is always asking us to back up from the edge because HE wants us to live our lives with Margin and He will lead us there when we trust Him and welcome Him in to that area of our lives. And this is especially true with Morality, as we’ll discuss today.

Here’s the thing that we need to make clear before we go on. If EVERYONE agrees that there are limits morally, then the next questions we want answered are: WHERE ARE THE LIMITS MORALLY AND WHERE SHOULD THE LIMIT BE AND WHAT’S THE BEST CASE SCENARIO IN TERMS OF WHERE WE LIMIT OURSELVES MORALLY OR SEXUALLY?”

Now the thing that makes this topic so confusing is our culture is constantly sending us 2 messages. Every single day you get two messages from the TV and radio and movies and magazines and culture.

1^st MESSAGE is: Go as far as you possibly can go. Have as many experiences as can. Look at anything you can look at, get your hands on anything you can touch… BUT, the other message from culture says:

2^nd MESSAGE is: If you cross a certain line, you’re going to get your hand slapped.

So on one hand, culture baits us to the very edge, but at the same time, if we cross certain lines, the culture chastises us. Then to make matters worse, the way that we’re wired is that we want to know where the limit is or where the line is, and so we have this struggle of living our lives on this line or right over it. UGH, it’s so hard right?

It’s just our temptation as humans. Wherever our line is, our tendency is to live right at the line and stay there. Here’s the problem though. In terms of the speed limit, if you go over the speed limit 10 or 15 mph, there are no huge consequences. In terms of your curfew, if you come in a few minutes late, there are no huge consequences. If you go over your calories in your diet, there are no huge consequences, if you go over your line item in your budget, there’s no huge consequence…

But you CROSS CERTAIN LINES MORALLY AND YOU PAY THE REST OF YOUR LIFE IN SOME CASES. You cross the line morally, and you grow up without a dad in your home. You cross certain lines morally and you lose your self-esteem. You cross certain lines morally and you lose your boss and your self-respect.

So God says to us and a lot of it is common sense, “I don’t want you to live your life that way. I want you to live your life with Margin, with flexibility, where if you mess up, it’s not the end of the world, it’s just something that will go away in a week or so. Where if you make a mistake, your consequences are a couple hours of guilt, not an entire lifetime of shame, because when you live on the line, there is no room for error.” And when you live your life with no margin, one choice could leave a scar for a lifetime and regrets for a lifetime because of one little mistake, because you lived your life on the line. You can lose what you value most because you lived your life on the line.

And if you’re a God follower. If you have a relationship with Christ, then it would make sense, that somebody who loves you is gonna call you back from the line to live a life with moral margin. So Paul, speaking under the influence of the Holy Spirit says what we would expect him to say. I Corinthians 6:18. Flee from Sexual Immorality. That word for Flee is an extreme word.

It’s not flirt with… it’s not see how close you can get without sinning. It’s not see how close you can get to the line. It’s as soon as you see the temptation coming, as soon as you see anything that would drag you over the line, as soon as you see anything that hints of sexually immorality, the Bible says, you run from it, you FLEE from it. WHY? Because God knows what you know. If you don’t have any room for error, if you don’t have any margin in the area of morality, the consequences are devastating.

And God says, Flee, Run, Sprint, Do whatever you can to get away from that stuff. BE extreme in your attempt to get moral margin. Yeah, people might laugh, but in order to live your life with moral margin, then you’ve got to back yourself off from the line. You’ve got to start fleeing from sexual sin.

Well what does that look like? How do you do that? Well the biggest thing is to:

1. Predecide how far you’re going to go sexually.

You have limits, the question is, will they be the limits that your culture pushes you to or the limits that your heavenly father leads you to. You need to predecide how far you’re going to go, and these limits need to be so far back from sex, that if you happen to cross the line that you set for yourself, then there should be very little consequences. And you can’t just decide to not have sex before your married, because that will lead you to the brink of moral disaster because there’s a whole bunch of things between, “hey, what’s your name, and sex.” And you need to decide how far you’re going to go so someone else’s lack of limits doesn’t push you past your personal limits.

Here’s my challenge if you think I’m sounding like your parents. Go find someone who you want to be like someday and ask them what they think, and you’ll not find anyone who said they wish they had lower limits.

The question that comes up a lot is “How far can we go?” And here’s the answer:

2. You should go as far as you want the person you marry to go with the person they dated right before they married you.

In other words, the person that you marry, how far do you want them to go sexually with the person they dated before they met you, and that’s your limit, that’s how far you should go.

Well, you might say, “I don’t want them doing anything before they meet me.” Exactly!! And to set your standard any different makes you a hypocrite, it just does.

The moral of the story is this: God is going to lead you to a place of Moral Margin and Moral Margin is going to require that you make some extreme decisions and take serious measures BUT you will NEVER regret extreme measures. The question is, “Will you stop flirting and start fleeing from sexual temptation?”

Thanks Andy Stanley for this material. This came from his “Take It to the Limit” series.

How's the Finances?

How is everyone doing with their finances?
Tell us if this information is helpful?

Financial Margin-

Getting more money or reducing your lifestyle...which one is it? I mean, if I just had more money, than all my financial problems would be done away with. Here's the truth about that myth, the problem isn't that we don't have enough money, the problem is that our lifestyle keeps us marginless. We let our lifestyle determine our spending.

So you're like, whatever, more money would still help...but it won't. Because if you make $30,000 now, and you're living at a $30,000 income, then if you were to make $40,000, our tendency is to let our increase of income, increase our lifestyle, so now you've got a $40,000 lifestyle.

The trick is to live below our means. In the book The Millionaire Next Door, the #1 denominator among those who were wealthy, was that they lived well below their means. If they can do it, then so can you, but it's going to require some self-control and discipline.

I know the shoes look nice, but you've already got 800 pairs in your closet.
I know the new Halo 3 game is coming out soon, but you're still having a blast with the last one...use some self control and build up some financial margin so when something does happen...which it always does, then you'll have some wiggle room in your finances.

God is so adamant about this because money has such a grip on people and in Malachi 3:7 He tells the Israelites to test Him in the area of their finances. He says that if they fund His kingdom first, then He will bless them beyond imagination.

The reason it's so hard to trust God with our finances is because we're scared. It's fear. Do we really trust that if I give a percentage of my income to God first, then I'll have enough to pay for my schooling and books and dates and whatever other responsibilities I have. Again, there's the rub, to quote Shakespeare.

But if we give to God first, then that giving will break the greed or control or lack of trust issue that we have with God in the first place. Then we'll have to live with less means because our first fruits went to the Lord...which they should. He's the one who gave us everything to begin with.

But I'll tell ya this, if you want to be the average 22 year old and graduate with $37, 368 in debt, then keep doing what you're doing. It sounds pretty fun to be 60 years old and still paying for college, but whatever, that's your choice.

God says, there's a better way, an easier way, not initially, but over the long haul. He says "Fund my kingdom first, since it's going to be around for eternity and get the greatest return on your investment." That will help you live your life with financial margin, so you're not all stressed out and having problems in your relationships because of money issues.

Jesus Christ talks about the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 and basically says that if you aren't faithful with a few things, you won't be faithful with a lot of things. In other words, why would God give you more money and responsibilities if you aren't doing a good job with what you make now? No good father would reward his childs poor behavior. No, you reward what you want repeated. You reward good behavior, wise investments, smart decisions. God says, you invest in my kingdom, my stuff first, because my kingdom will reign forever. And when you do that, He will reward your wise investment.

Now most likely, He's going to deal with the outgo, before He deals with the income. You need to first learn how to live off of less before you look to make more.

So let me show you a couple of easy steps to take to help you get a clearer picture of where you're at financially. And the first thing I want you to do is figure out your:

1. ANNUAL AVAILABLE INCOME:

Here's how to do that. Take your annual income before taxes, and then subtract the total of all your debt payments (car payments, loans, credit card payments, dorm room furniture payments, taxes, any other monetary obligations that you're responsible for) and you will end up with a magic number called your AVAILABLE INCOME, then just set that number aside.

Example:
Annul Income- $30,000
Minus all my mandatory obligations-
(Taxes- $1200)
(Car payment annually- $2400)
(Credit Card Debt- $1400)
(School Loans- $5000)
Total = $10,000

Annual Income: $30, 000
- Mandatory Obligations: $10, 000
$20,000 – Annual Available Income

2. SET MARGIN GOALS:

The second thing you do is to set some financial goals. Here’s the challenging part. You’re going to think, in light of what I make ANNUALLY, not your Available Income, the number you just came up with, but your ANNUAL INCOME ($30,000), what %, not dollars, would I like to save? IN other words, what % of my income would I like to contribute to my own future and what % of my income would I like to give away to God’s kingdom. Just come up with a percentage.

Some of you were raised to give 10%, then put down 10%. Some of you are like, I can’t do 10%, then put down a number that you would like to give, remember these are just goals that you’re setting for yourself. We’re not talking about reality, we’re just talking about goals.

You set a goal of a percentage of what you want to give away and a percentage of what you want to save. And now you come up with a dollar amount. Take that percentage from your ANNUAL INCOME of what you want to save and give away.

Example:
Annul Income- $30,000

Giving 10 % - $30, 000 x .10 = $3000
Saving 10 % - $30, 000 x .10 = $3000
$6000

Annual Available Income - $20,000
- $6000
$14,000 Consumable Income

NOW, take that previous ANNUAL AVAILABLE INCOME and subtract your Giving % and your Savings % and you’ll come up with a number that is your CONSUMABLE INCOME and it’s going to make you pass out. It’s going to be this small number.

You’ll look at that number and say, there is no way I can live off of this amount of money, but here’s what you’ve done…you’ve taken your annual income and all the things that you’re committed to, taxes, and debt, and the goals that you want to get to…and you’ve subtracted it from your AVAILABLE INCOME and you’re left with this tiny number and the next step is:

3. DETERMINE YOUR MONTHLY CONSUMABLE INCOME:

Take your consumable income and divide it by 12 and you’ll get an enough smaller number of how much you have to live off each month.

Example:
Consumable Income - $14,000 / 12 months = $1166 Monthly Consumable Income

And you’re really going to flip out because you’re going to look at that number and say, “There is no way I can live off that amount of money.” But here’s what you’ve done. Now you have a picture of where you need to get to financially in order to have margin in your finances.

Now you’ve got some goals, and you’re not going to get there in a night or in a month, but now you know where you need to be and you can start backing yourself into a situation to build financial margin in your life.

4. DEVELOP A PLAN:

The fourth step then is to come up with a plan. Now that you have a clear goal, then you have to figure how to get from that place where you have little or no margin, to that place where you do have margin.

• Track where your money is going- use software like Quicken to help track where you money is going.

• Give something now (%)

• Save something now (%)

• Develop a debt retirement plan

• Develop a lifestyle reduction plan/budget
  

If you follow that 4 step guide, then you’ll at least know how much you’re spending and how much you should spend to develop margin. It works. Spend some time this week to knock it out and work on your finances, so you won’t be the average 22 year old with $37, 368 in debt.

I hope this was helpful. Let me know your thoughts on how this is helpful or whatever.

TIME Margins

What up everybody...I've never done this before so I don't know the proper syntax and tone to take in a blog, but I figured I would just jump in.

We've been talking about Margins in our Sunday morning class. I've adapted this series from one that Andy Stanley did a few years back. And basically, we've talked about how we have to live our lives with breathing room or else we'll become all stressed out, and selfish and burn bridges with our relationships. We will inevitably sabotage the things we need most in life...relationships with others and our relationship with God. Simply put, margin is the space between your current performance and your limit...your falling off point.

So last week we threw ourselves at the mercy of our schedules and discussed ways we can build more margin with our time. And our discussion question was "what's the most urgent thing you have to get done right now in your schedule, and what is something you wish you could permanently take off your plate?" Being typical college students, you guys pretty much concluded that only a few things were urgent: Laundry and school work!

I mean you gotta have clean undies when you're working with your lab partner.

Anyways, then we talked about 3 basic facts regarding time:

1. Our Time Is Limited
2. All Of Our Time Is Going To Be Spent Doing Something
3. Somebody Is Going To Determine How That Time Will Be Spent

We said that when we're in control of our schedules instead of God, we have a tendency to let the URGENT things in life take precedence over the IMPORTANT things in life. We neglect time with our parents or friends and God. We don't exercise enough, or play enough, because of those blasted URGENT things.

So God comes to us and says, I got a solution for ya: You've done "meh" with your schedule. Let me have a go at it and I'll help you build margin into it, because I want a relationship with you and in order for that to happen, you've got to back up from the edge you're living on.

Job 14:5 says, "Our time on earth is brief; the number of our days is already decided by you. (CEV)

So here's the deal: If my time is limited on this planet, and all of my time is going to be spent doing something...cause I can't save it and I can't get it back once it's gone, and someone is going to determine how that time is spent, then wouldn't it make sense to go to the one who knows how much time I have left on earth and have Him help me with my schedule so I can make the most of it?

So how do we do that; let God help us build margin into our schedules?

CREATING MARGINS BEGINS BY:

1. Recognizing That Your Days Are Numbered By God:
Psalm 90:12 says, "Teach us to use wisely all the time we have." (CEV)
In other words, if you want wisdom about your schedule, it begins by realizing that your days are limited, and once you realize and buy into that truth, you'll begin to shift your priorities around to do what's most important in life.

2. Prioritizing Accordingly:
Ephesians 5:15-17 says, "Act like people with good sense and not like fools. These are evil times, so make every minute count. Don't be stupid. Instead, find out what the Lord wants you to do.' (CEV)

Ask this question the next time you're about to put something on your schedule: "What's the wise thing for me to do?" Not is it right or wrong, but is it wise? In light of my past, and what happened last time or what happened with them, in light of my present situation and financial issues and time restraints, in lights of my future hopes and dreams and goals...is it wise? This question will help you prioritize accordingly.

I also know that many of us think that if we completely surrender our schedules over to God, we won't be productive at all, that God will just have us sitting around the house reading our Bibles the whole time. NOT TRUE!! C'mon. God is a god of productivity and he wants you to be productive. In fact, if you surrender your schedule to Him, you'll probably become more productive and here's why: The capacity of your schedule is not determined by how much you can cram into it...PRIORITY DETERMINES CAPACITY. Don't miss this!!!

In other words, as you begin to prioritize correctly, realizing that you have limited time and energy, you'll begin to put the right things in your schedule first and eventually have more room and space.

3. Making Alone Time With God A Priority:
Matthew 6:33 says, "But more than anything else, put God's work first and do what he wants. Then the other things will be yours as well.” (CEV)

Let me put it this way...if God is going to be around for eternity, wouldn't it make sense to put your time and energy first into the thing/relationship that will be around forever and get the most return on your investment? When you do that, I PROMISE…GOD PROMISES, that you'll become more sensitized to what God wants or doesn't want in your schedule, and you'll become more self-controlled in saying no to things, and become more flexible when God begins to redirect your schedule because you gave him the first minutes of your day to Him. Again, at the very least, He deserves your time because He's the one who is giving it to you to begin with.

Will you commit to praying to God, to ask Him to help you surrender your schedule over to Him? Will you seek Him first and make alone time with Him a priority?

If you do, I promise God will bring your margin, maybe not at first, but eventually, in your schedules and you'll live with more peace and contentment.

JUST TRY IT OUT and see! I'd love to hear what you think about all this and how your experiment of putting God first in your schedule is working out. HOLLA back!!