WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?
Teens, each month check out this section for thoughts to ponder. Please let us know what you think. We want to know what questions you have.

TEEN TALK
This is where our teens get to share there thoughts, their poetry, their short stories. Christian teens have so much to share with us. Please take a moment to stop by and see what they have to say.

SCRIPTURE
This is where our teens can read from the Holy Bible and meditate on the lessons found within.

GAMES
Puzzle
How many words can you find. 

WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?

LENT

We are in the midst of the season of Lent.  It’s a time of fasting and praying and renewal and revival.  It’s time to give up things and to add thing that bring us closer to Jesus.  Several people will fast. Some people will do without hobbies and events and games and activities. 

Let’s look at Jesus and what He did to prepare himself for His years of ministry.  Before He began to minister, Jesus was taken into the wilderness.  Now Jesus had just been baptized by John the Baptist and He was filled with the Holy Spirit.  And the Holy Spirit led Him into the wilderness for forty and days and forty nights.  While there, Jesus didn’t eat anything.  The devil tempted Jesus during that forty day period.  Satan told Jesus to turn stone into bread.  Satan offered Jesus a kingdom.  Satan told Jesus to throw Himself off a mountain so that His Father could send angels to save Him from the fall.  Each time Jesus refused to be deterred by the devil.  Each time Jesus stood up for Christ.

Jesus was able to stand fast, not only because He was the Son of God, but because He had prepared Himself for being tempted.  What did Jesus do?  Jesus first fasted and ate nothing.  Second Jesus was led into the wilderness by the Holy Spirit.  And, Third Jesus remembered the teachings of His Father and He used them to ward off the devil.  Jesus gave up something and He added something all so that God might be glorified and that He might withstand the temptation of the devil.

As youth, you can add something to your spiritual life.  Each morning of lent, read a chapter of your Bible.  Each afternoon pray for someone other than yourself.  Find a Church activity to join.  How about taking time during this lent season to write something for “Teen Time.”  Find something to cause you to spend more time reflecting on who God is in your life as well as dedicating more of your time to doing the His work.

They say it only takes about 21 days to make something a habit.  Lent last forty days.  You may feel wonderful, if after forty days of your added time with Christ, you’ve formed a lifetime habit.

TEEN TALK  

FAT TUESDAY

          Tuesday, March 4, 2003, Hughes Memorial United Methodist Church in North East Washington, DC celebrated Fat Tuesday.  I attended with my mother, sister, brother, one of my uncles, one of my aunts and one of my cousins. 

          I had never been to one and I didn’t know what the meaning of Fat Tuesday was.   At school, I learned about Mardi Gras and how it’s celebrated in New Orleans and how it’s even a holiday down there.  However, I never fully understood it. 

          Now, I have learned more about it.  It is a time of celebration, and it is a time to fellowship with other Christians.  Oh, yes, Fat Tuesday is also called Shrove Tuesday, or Mardi Gras.  It leads up to the time of Lent.  The way I understand it is on Fat Tuesday you come out and fellowship and eat and eat and eat and fellowship.  So, we ate pancakes and more pancakes and sausage and bacon.  We had fruit and milk and orange juice and more pancakes.  It was great.

          Then on Wednesday night, March the 5 my family came to the Ash Wednesday service at East Washington Heights.  This was a service to help get us ready for lent.  This was the Ash Wednesday service and after we sang and heard the scripture and prayed and heard a message from Rev. Haggary, we formed a line and came to the front of the church.  The ministers put ashes on our foreheads and we prayed again and sang. 

          So, after we ate on Fat Tuesday, we prayed and prepared for lent on Ash Wednesday and for the next 40 days we should be giving up something that keeps us from Christ and adding something to our lives that takes us closer to Christ.

     T     hat’s what I have learned this week.  I learned something this week, and I really did enjoy those pancakes!

Written by Lauren C. Wiggins

SCRIPTURE

LUKE 4:1-13

The Temptation of Jesus

¹Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, ²where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.   ³The devil said to him, "If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread."   ⁴Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone.'"
⁵The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all the kingdoms of the world. ⁶And he said to him, "I will give you all their authority and splendor, for it has been given to me, and I can give it to anyone I want to. ⁷So if you worship me, it will all be yours."   ⁸Jesus answered, "It is written: 'Worship the Lord your God and serve him only."
⁹The devil led him to Jerusalem and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. "If you are the Son of God," he said, "throw yourself down from here. ¹⁰For it is written:  " 'He will command his angels concerning you
to guard you carefully; ¹¹they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.’“  ¹²Jesus answered, "It says: 'Do not put the Lord your God to the test.‘”  ¹³When the devil had finished all this tempting, he left him until an opportune time.