How does the words "free movie night" sound to you? Well that is exactly what you can do! Bring your spouse and join other Journey couples for a night at the movies featuring the hit comedy "Hitch" with Will Smith. FREE movie, popcorn, candy, drinks.... PLUS free childcare by reservation. Here is the info:

Friday, January 22nd

6:30 pm

GLR campus

Childcare reservations: Joy @ jknoedl@sbcglobal.net

You can also sign-up on The Journeys facebook page.

Over the Labor Day weekend, my Blackberry got wet and the keypad completely stopped functioning...it was fried! To say this was very frustrating for me was an understatement, as my Blackberry is the primary medium that I use to communicate to people. Thus, I felt like I had almost been rendered powerless. It was the strangest feeling to not be able to call people when I was out and about and friends were also unable to reach me via text, email or phone. Since the stores that sell Blackberry's, I phone's, etc. were closed on Sunday and Monday for the holiday, this meant I would go almost 72 hours without a Blackberry.

At the end of the second day without my Blackberry, I noticed several things that seemed very different than normal: I felt more relaxed, I had more fun with my friends, I seemed to be more attentive to my friends and family, and my mind was generally much clearer. Now, as I reflect back on these couple of days, I believe God was trying to teach me something. And since I'm a slow learner, he needed a three day weekend to do it versus a normal weekend!

The primary lesson I believe He wanted me to learn was that on a daily basis I need to find time to "unplug". Sometimes during the hustle and bustle of our fast paced world I can hardly hear myself think much less hear from God. However, when I'm unplugged, I will be much more aware of God and the things that he is trying to teach me, I'm more attentive to what is going on with the people that mean the most to me, and I'm more at peace.

Of course, we have several examples in the Word of when Christ unplugged. The first one that came to mind was one of the most eventful days of Christ's life outside of his death, burial and resurrection. On this day, His friend John the Baptist was beheaded, He fed the five thousand with five loaves and two fishes and He walked on the water. But after feeding the five thousand and prior to walking on the water he got away and prayed. Matthew 14:23 - "After he had dismissed the crowd, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was alone there...". Just like Christ, there are times when we need to get away from the stress and pressure of this world to be alone and pray. However, we can only do this when we are completely unplugged. I hope you will try it and my prayer is that it will be as good for you as it was for me.

Written by Harry Bates

Continue to watch for new posts to our site. Sherlyn and I or one of our many leaders will periodically post new blogs for you to read...we hope they will be meaningful to you.

Hello everyone! We are very excited that we will be launching the registration campaign for this years marriage encounter. Here is some information on it, be sure to go to the Welcome Center to register this weekend, space is limited to the first 75 couples and it will fill fast!

October 16-18, 2009

The Embassy Suites

Hot Springs, AR

$250/couple

*Payment plans are available

For more info, see the representative at the Welcome

Center or contact Joy Knoedl at jknoedl@sbcglobal.net

Joy Knoedl

jknoedl@sbcglobal.et