I had placed my order, paid, and was standing to the side of the register waiting for my order to be completed. Behind me was a teenage guy around 16 or so. He had on a big winter coat, his back pack, and iPod, and came up to place his order. As he went to pay for his food, he hunted in his wallet, his backpack, his pockets, for money. He realized that he had lost all the cash he had. He mentioned he was travelling back home via Bus/train etc etc.

Understand me when I say, this story is not at all to be focused on me, but rather an analogy that really made me consider how I act towards Christ.

Without really thinking, I put down a $20 bill on the counter and felt God clearly saying to me, “help this kid out”. So I did. I didn’t know the kid, nor will I probably ever see him again, but God’s been teaching me to be obedient when He asks me to do something, so I did it. I decided to pay the debt this kid couldn’t pay. His reaction kind of shocked me. He didn’t really say thank you, or acknowledge me, or express any genuine gratitude for this random gesture. He just sort of took it, and enjoyed his lunch. As I headed to my seat, I simply just said “God bless ya dude, safe travels”. He didn’t even turn his head.

Again, this story is not about me, or “how nice I am”…please don’t get that. The thing that really struck me, is how this is totally an image of our relationship to Christ. While we live in our lives of sin and destruction, God comes along, sends His Son, to pay a debt we can’t pay. He doesn’t leave us hanging standing there attempting to find a way to pay for something we don’t have the ability to pay for, He comes along, puts His Son in place, and says, “Debt forgiven.”

But how do we react? Do we truly express our gratitude? Do we come before God with thankful hearts? Do we turn from the sin that put us in debt in the first place? Do we live a life that would please our “debt payer”?

Often we dont. We often just take the gesture (forgiveness), and go about our business. Not so much as turning our heads, or winking an eye.

May this be a challenge, to not only acknowledge Christ, our forgiver of the debt we couldn’t pay, but also a challenge to turn from what leads to our sin.

That’s why we need your help.

As part of the strategic planning process we’re conducting a church wide ministry assessment and that’s why we’re asking you to click on the link below to take the REVEAL Spiritual Life Survey, which asks questions about your spiritual life and the role C4 plays in it. This survey is a unique research effort that involves hundreds of churches around the country.

Since the survey touches on a wide range of thought-provoking issues, you should anticipate needing 30 – 35 minutes to complete it.

Let me assure you:

This survey is completely anonymous. An expert third-party research organization will aggregate your input with responses from thousands of other people, so your survey will not be viewed individually.
You will not be solicited for any products or services as a result of taking this survey.
Your email address will not be distributed to another party.
We’ll close the survey on Monday June 21 so be sure to complete it soon.

Thanks in advance for your time and contribution to this very important work.

Just so you all know, you are ALL invited to check out this show following C4 Awakening next week (June 20th) in the Fellowship Hall, featuring TonightTonight!

CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE

See you there! (From Josh)

Sometimes in the busyness and craziness of life, we overload ourselves, carry burdens that we shouldn’t, and can become a little discouraged. We’ve all been there. I know speaking for myself, its been an overwhelming couple weeks at the church. It can often leave you feeling a little burnt out, and dried up.

However, amidst this, I’ve been reminded that God is so present during hardships. He’s present during the high’s and lows, our successes and failures, our confidence and our insecurities. Though we as humans can fail one another, His love never fails.

My friend Drew Riach came and lead our service in worship on Sunday night, and lead us in this song called “Your Love Never Fails”. It was just what I needed to hear. That though there’s pain in the night, joy comes with the morning. And that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him.

I pray that this song would encourage you too.

We have two AMAZING Sundays coming up, back-to-back!

Sunday May 16th, we will have the Glorious Unseen back with us, leading worship at the 9:09 and 11:11 AM services! Check them out online at http://www.myspace.com/thegloriousunseen

The following week, we will have two awesome artists with us at C4Awakening. Esterlyn (Boise, ID), and Amanda Falk (Winnepeg, MB) will both be joining us. This night is TOTALLY FREE, so invite your friends out to be a part of this.
Check Out Esterlyn
Check Out Amanda Falk

Could you all take a few minutes and help us with this short short survey. It will help us big time with future Nine O Five events.

Click Here to take the survey

Thanks! Josh

http://www.flickr.com/photos/43852535@N05/sets/72157623860770106/

We had such an amazing night Sunday night at C4 Awakening. God was majorly present, and we were encouraged and brought up to speed on some of the happenings at C4 as a whole church family.

I have some thoughts on Jon’s message that I want to share later on in the week, but for now, if you were not there, you REALLY need to check out the message. I can’t stress enough how important this is to check out and be updated on. So, its REALLY simple to check it out. Just click on the link below:

http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/carruthers-creek-community/id82969606

Also, out of this message a prayer night will be beginning Wednesday night’s at C4, where we as a church family will be welcome to come pray for God to move. All are invited to be a part of this, whether a long winded prayer person, a person of few words, the shy, the energetic, the close-talkers…haha! .. EVERYONE!

The meeting will take place Wednesday Nights from 7:00pm to 8:00pm in the main auditorium. Hope to see you there!

Click Here to check out the facebook event page !

Check out our friend Ian’s story!