I Call You Friends

The March edition of the Chaplain's Corner by Pastor Dave, SCYL Chaplain

Jesus calls us all his friends (John 15:14-15). When we choose our friends, we need to keep in mind our best friend Jesus. We need to love others—even those who are not among our friendship circle; even those who are not cool. But at the same time, we need to be careful in choosing friends. We want our friends to be good for us. We want friends who are going to strengthen our best qualities.

I know a teen here in Canada who has recently started hanging around with another teen who is good at science and math. Now he has started studying math and chemistry with his new friend, as well as playing video games. Finding this new friend has raised his math scores and chemistry scores. Since he plans to go to college, his new friend is a good influence.

There are many difficulties that a teen can experience today. There are gangs, drugs, unsafe sex practices, and many other negative behaviors to watch out for. Remember who your best friend is—Jesus. And try to pick your earthly friends with Jesus in mind.

Acting Up

Photo: Nina and Holly practicing their acting by pretending to dis Ian at Fryeburg youth group last month.




What a joy it was to go and see our League President Nina in her high school production of the musical Anything Goes. Nina played a lead character named Hope. Fryeburg youth group members Alex (CBS co-editor) Liz and Ian went too and we met Rachel (east officer) at the show. CBS co-editor Holly was on the set construction crew and she worked on lighting during the show. Nina did a wonderful job portraying Hope and she sang several songs including a scene where she soloed under the spotlight way up at the top of a ship. It was great to meet with Nina and Holly after the show and get a chance to chat with them and some of their friends. Ian, Alex, Liz and I all went out to dinner with youth leader Lee, her husband Dan, my wife Shelley and my daughters, Ava and Zsa Zsa. What a fun afternoon and evening.

SCYL Clear Blue Sky Co-Editor #2

[Alex is his name. Comedy is clearly his game. ~ ed.]

Where do I start, well I was born in an old worn out shack off the coast of Montana and then abandoned in the middle of the woods to be raised by a pack of wolves. At the age of 10 I discovered a cure for cancer, but it was soon brought to my attention that you cannot win an Emmy for curing cancer, so I stopped all research which sent me into a spiraling state of depression. This soon led me to wonder the earth. I ended up joining the bear wrestling circuit at age 11 in the barren wastelands of Alaska. When I grew to the age of 16 I formed a rock band and toured the world. After a few years one of our back-up dancers was murdered and I decided to call it quits, which again sent me falling into spiraling depression. Now I’m at the age of 18 and have been accepted to Harvard, Princeton, Yale, Cornell, Julliard, and MIT. But I turned them all down so I could raise my family of five.

SCYL Clear Blue Sky Co-Editor

Hello, my name is Holly. This is my first year being an SCYL officer. I am coeditor of the Clear Blue Sky with Alex. My first retreat was the Memorial Day retreat in 2006. I am exactly five feet and three inches tall. My favorite colors are purple and green; which are the colors I recently splatter painted my room. My favorite activities are sailing, skiing, soccer, and swimming. I also enjoy flying kites and having crazy dance parties with my friends. I love brightly colored clothes and big sunglasses. My favorite subjects are math, science, and art. At high school I am a crew member in the drama club and I am learning how to do the lighting. We recently built a three story boat for the play Anything Goes. I love the rain. My favorite kind of party contains friends, cookie dough/ brownie batter, movies, and little sleep. My ideal sixteenth birthday party, however, would basically be the movie Sleepover but would also have a hot air balloon. I want to travel everywhere but on the top of my list are France, Greece, and Scandinavia. I take a hip hop class. In the future I want to learn to jive, tango, belly dance, tap dance, and swing dance. My favorite food is my dad's homemade dumplings. My favorite movie genres are romantic comedies, musicals, and Disney classics but I'll watch almost anything. I am really excited to be an officer and I am planning on making many great Clear Blue Sky issues this year!

Convention 09 Scholarships

Convention 2009 is going to be amazing this year. It is in Seattle at the University of Washington overlooking the Cascade Mountains. If you've never gone to Convention before, this might be the time. Such a beautiful setting and from all that I have heard it looks like it is going to fantastic. Although Convention is still a few months away, if you are traveling from the east like me, it is not too early to begin making plans. Airfares are pretty reasonable right now and they will likely go up as the date approaches. Convention is not cheap. Registration and R&B for 5 nights in a double will cost you $417.50 this year. This on top of your travel expenses. But we do want to see as many teens attend as possible and we'll willing to help. Limited financial assistance for teens is available. Deadline for requesting assistance is May 1, 2009. However, you must ask for assistance to receive assistance! Please comment to this blog post or email Kurt Fekete if you would like to apply for scholarship money. Please don't assume that I know that you want to go this year. The church wants to help you get there, but we don't have unlimited funds. Please contact me if you have any questions or need more information.

SCYL West Officer

Cody is well, not normal; but that's ok because he loves who he is and did you really think he would change for you? Honestly. He is obsessed with music and that's probably the only constant in his life. He plays bass. He thinks "its pretty cool I guess". He likes to think that he is good. He likes to think that he is funny too, and he has been told he is good at making people feel good. He is good at confusing people. Apparently, because he did not know this, but he has a voice that makes people tired and puts them to sleep on the phone late at night. He is kinda worried this is because he is boring but he has been assured that this is not the case. He likes acting and being in plays. He can't sleep on Sunday nights. He really likes Frisbee and computers and video games but he's bad at most sports and more of a nerdy geeks school kid. He's gone on flings from writing FL Studio music to gaming to animating to making games to World of Warcraft and well here is where he is now. His ultimate dream is to play bass for The White Stripes. He hates conclusions so his bio will now end abruptly like this.

SCYL East Officer

Hello :D i'm Rachel, for my entire life i have lived in the state of Maine. I am into my second year in high school. When I am not working on my massive amounts of homework, I enjoy swimming, snowboarding, hanging out with my friends, watching movies, sleeping and eating. That’s pretty much everything I do, it doesn't sound like much but I am always overwhelmingly busy, and it keeps me from getting bored. I'm probably the pickiest eater you will ever meet, which angers some but I don't think of it as much of an issue. And that is pretty much all I can say about myself but if you wanna hear more, I have a tendency to be around at most retreats and Fryeburg summer camp so feel free to come say hi if you wanna!