Just a reminder that we are not going to Crosswalk this Wednesday night. However, we will have a cookout for the teens here at LRC. Hamburgers, fries and drinks will be served from 6:00-6:40 PM here. Refuge will begin promptly at 6:45 PM and end right at 8:00 PM. The youth room and gym will remain open until 8:30 PM.

I’m working on a lesson for our Faith Decisions class that will meet this Sunday. I’d really appeciate your responses to the following question.

How would you respond to someone who says, “The church isn’t relevant to my life?”

For most of the school year, RAMP groups have been studying the same topics. In the fall, all RAMP groups studied the book of James. January-March, all RAMP groups studied Song of Solomon.

For the months of April and May, each RAMP leader will choose the topic of study for RAMP times as well as where they will meet. Most RAMP groups will continue to meet at the building, but please check with your teen’s RAMP leader. Please encourage your teen to be a part of RAMP groups. Our RAMP leaders work hard to build mentoring relationships with our teens. The last RAMP group time of the summer will be Sunday, May 18.

Tonight, we are concluding a series at Refuge based on questions students have submitted. Specifically, we will address questions about our Bible. Questions we are going to answer include:

Could the Bible really be a human invention or is it based on God’s revelation to humankind?
How can we be sure that the Bible we read now is what was originally written?
How can the Bible be trustworthy if it’s filled with contradictions?
Why do we have the books that we do in our Bibles?
Why were other Christian writings excluded from the Bible?

The purpose of this class is to inform our students and deepen their appreciation for God’s Word. My prayer is that this is just one more thing that draws our teens one step further in their spiritual journey as they understand the miracle of the Bible.

Song of Solomon
Session 4
Keeping your dating relationships healthy
Key Thought
“In a dating relationship, your vineyard should come alive. If you’ve ever seen the opposite happen, where two people get together and they wither spiritually and emotionally, that is not how it is supposed to be.”

In our session last night we discussed Song of Solomon 2:8-3:5. Using the text, 4 key points were made:
1. A spiritually and emotionally healthy dating relationship should bring vitalityand life to each person in the relationship.
2. There are things that can be introduced into a relationship that will wreck that relationship.
3. Dating couples must be deliberate in safeguarding the dating relationship to help it grow and be healthy spiritually and emotionally.
4. Passion and desire are God-given and perfectly normal, but self-control must be exercised.

Some Questions to discuss with your teen:
1. What are the evidences of a healthy dating relationship?
2. What can you do when dating to cultivate those healthy characteristics?
3. What are some dating pitfalls you experienced and how did they impact your life?
4. What can you do to exercise self-control in the area of physical desire in your dating relationship?