True Love

I recently recieved an email that contained the following:

What Love means to a 4-8 year old . . . Slow down for three minutes to read this. It is so worth it. Touching words from the mouth of babes. A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, "What does love mean?" The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

"When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love."
> Rebecca- age 8

"When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth."
> Billy - age 4

"Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other."
> Karl - age 5

"Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs."
> Chrissy - age 6

"Love is what makes you smile when you're tired."
> Terri - age 4

"Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK."
> Danny - age 7

"Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss".
> Emily - age 8

"Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen."
> Bobby - age 7

"If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate,"
> Nikka - age 6

"Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday."
> Noelle - age 7

"Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well."
> Tommy - age 6

"During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared
anymore."
> Cindy - age 8

"My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night."
> Clare - age 6

"Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken."
> Elaine-age 5

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Robert Redford."
> Chris - age 7

"Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day."
> Mary Ann - age 4

"I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones."
> Lauren - age 4

"When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you." (what an image)
> Karen - age 7

"Love is when Mommy sees Daddy on the toilet and she doesn't think it's gross."
> Mark - age 6

"You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget."
> Jessica - age 8

And the final one -- Author and lecturer Leo Buscaglia once talked about a contest he was asked to judge. The purpose of the contest was to find the most caring child. The winner was a four year old child whose next door neighbor was an elderly gentleman who had recently lost his wife. Upon seeing the man cry, the little boy went into the old gentleman's yard, climbed onto his lap, and just sat there. When his Mother asked what he had said to the neighbor, the little boy said, "Nothing, I just helped him cry".

A glimps into love felt in innocence. Do you remember innocence? A time before we actually believed the lies?

"I make all things new." - Jesus

Name

We have a couple of college COM Groups that are using the "Nooma" video series. Here is an excerpt from the latest one entitled "Name":

ServLife

Hey, if you haven't checked out the missions table in a while you might not know that The Vista is planting new churches locally and globally. We have partnered with ServLife International in supporting a training center to equip indigenous church planters to take Christ to various people groups in Nepal. I will hopefully be traveling to Nepal this year to see this first hand. I thought you might enjoy this video about the mission of ServLife:

Vista On The Move/New COM Groups

Okay...I'm back. Sorry I haven't blogged in a while. Things have been hectic with getting all the new COM Groups up and running and planning the move of our church's Sunday meeting place. As for COM Groups, they should all be up and running this week or next. Check with your COM Group leader an update on that. You can find the COM Group information on our website:
http://www.thevistacommunity.com/bell/com_groups.htm

Let me just throw out one more reminder to those who attend The Vista. WE WILL BE MOVING TO CTCS ON FEB 3RD. I'm not yelling...just capitalizing for emphasis. We'd hate for you to forget and show up at Sparta that Sunday. You may be thinking "Why are we moving?" There are several reasons really. One is that BISD is not willing to give us extra time on Sundays. Since we were anticipating the need for a 3rd service, this was problematic. At CTCS we will have a larger meeting area that will seat 400, so we will not need to add another service in the short term. When we do, CTCS is willing to let us have extra time on Sundays. Another reason is that we are unable to use classrooms for Vista Kids at our current location. We have made due with hallway space, the teacher workroom, and the library. At CTCS we will be able to use classrooms which will help tremendously. Still another reason is that our rent at Sparta has increased significantly since we began meeting there in January '06. CTCS will be charging us less rent and we will be able to keep our trailers on the property. We currently park them at a storage facility that charges for that service. All in all we feel that CTCS will be great transitional location as we prepare for our permanent location in West Temple off of FM 2305. Please continue to pray for The Vista staff and leadership as we oversee these changes in the life of our church. May we always seek Christ alone.