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Thursday 15th of May 2008

Verse of the day

Ecclesiastes 11:5
“As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.”

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What hope does Christianity offer you?
So here we are. The end of the league. You have all probably heard of the phrase "all good things must come to an end". While this phrase seems true in a lot of situations, there are a couple of exceptions. We hope that you have had a great time playing basketball, but if this league was all about that, we would be the same as any other league.

The good things that come from this league, such as the people you have met and love to play ball with, can still continue through our "Tuesday night fellowship with basketball added" starting at 7:30pm. For those of you who do not know what I am talking about, we open up our gym for you to come and play basketball and also have a time of sharing and learning about who God is and how he is relevant to your life.

The other more important good thing to take away from this league is the hope that God gives us. He promises something huge! He offers us an abundant life in this lifetime and eternal life after this life that never ends. It's a good thing, that NEVER ENDS! As Christians we believe in this great promise of life everlasting. Christianity offers a full life to those who will accept Jesus: “I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” -John 10:10b

Final Recap
The final recap is in.

Stats
The stats are in.

How God helps us deal with loss, sorrow and grief.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.” (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

Loss, sorrow and grief, as unwanted as they are in our lives, they are apart of it. It is only a matter of when. Sounds grim doesn't it? But there is hope for a life that may seem hopeless at times. Jesus gives us hope through His promise of eternal life for those who believe in Him (more information found in John 3:16). Furthermore, believers also have hope in God’s promise that in heaven “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:4)

"Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart. The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away; may the name of the LORD be praised." (Job 1:21)
This is the response of a man who lost everything- his wife, kids, property, wealth, etc. Yes, he would grieve and express great sorrow. Still, he was able to be thankful and hopeful in his moment of loss because of his faith in God and his understanding that all things/people/etc. that are given to us are from God. Let’s not be naïve and be in denial about inevitable loss/sorrow/grief that lies ahead in this life for all of us- Christian or non-Christian. But the difference is that in God we have hope in times of loss. It is our hope, that you would find hope and comfort in Christ as we have.

Stats
Stats for last week's game are in. Thanks for your patience.

Final Standings and Schedule
NOTE: There has been a delay in stat processing for last week's game. They will be posted up as soon as they are available.

The schedule for this coming Tuesday is:
7:00 Black vs. Green for consolation
8:00 White vs. Blue
9:00 Red vs. Yellow


Here's the final standings of the Friendship
Basketball League.

1. White
2. Red
3. Yellow
4. Blue
5. Black
6. Green


How God can help you with your fears
God specifically tells us not to worry, because he will provide --- not our wants, but our needs.

Bible Verses

- Matthew 6:25-26 "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?”

- Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

Through prayer, fear is not taken away. For in many cases fear can be a good thing in that it keeps us alert and thinking. But though prayer, knowing that God is in control, unlocks the kind of fear that may bind and hinder you.

Recap Week 4
Check out the newly posted recap of week 4.

Stats and Standings
Stats and Standings sections have been updated. Check em out!

How does God help you deal with depression and loneliness?
By now, we should have all experienced some sort of let down which may have caused you to feel unhappy, depressed or lonely. The fact is, in life, not everything goes our way. What do you do when you go through tough times? Who do you turn to? Will they always be there for you?

Bible Verses

- Matthew 11:28-30 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

- Romans 8:37-39 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

God has promised he'll never leave you. In Christ he has committed himself to you forever. You may not always have the comfort of a human presence, but you have the assurance of God's presence always. God is faithful to us. Even in deep depression, He is with us, loving us and working things for our good. Allow God to comfort you in your loneliness.

Recaps
The week 2 recaps came in today by none other than, Bill Wongton.

A Note
On our stats sheets we have your name pre-printed with your t-shirt number. If you have switched your league t-shirt with someone, please let the stats people know before each game so they do not get caught off guard.

Stats
Stats are out!

Why does God allow suffering?
Hopefully you guys had a good time of sharing this past week.

Main Points:
- Sufferings come from other people or yourself, but not by God, for God does not want his people to suffer.
- People change through sufferings.

A real love involves free will, which is a freedom to choose who to love. A true love must be willing. So here is the conflict: God loves you and gives you free will to do whatever you feel like, including good things or bad things, but at the same time God is sad when he sees you suffering when you abuse your free will to live wrongly. God can save you right away from the suffering because He is omnipotent, but in a bigger picture he takes his protection shield off from you temporarily so that you can change through the suffering when you face and realize life is fragile, uncertain and meaningless without a right purpose. Knowing God gives you the true purpose of life and the best quality of life. God's loving hand will lay upon you while you are suffering as long as you seek him, knock his door, pray to him, and he will give you the absolute answer for what life really is, for he is the way, he is the truth, he is the life.

Standings
Check out how other teams are doing in the league with the updated standings page.

Stats are out.
Head over to the stats page for game number 2.

Recaps
Another exciting entry in the recaps section is awaiting.

Standings
The standings page has been posted.

Stats
Hey all the first 2008 Cornerstone Friendship League (CFL) stats are out! I've noticed myself that there might have been a missed assist or an uncounted rebound etc... but the stats are final. Believe me, it is harder than it looks to keep track of everything, especially when there are like 3 turnovers in a row or when people catch their own rebounds a couple dozen times before their teammate catches it another dozen. You will find the stats section in the nav bar to the left.

Why should I become a Christian? The worst hypocrites are at church.
Hopefully you guys had a good first meeting with your team and were able to have a good time sharing about this weeks topic. I know that it is easy after a game to just zone out and let things fly over your head because you missed that free throw or that you should have passed the ball but shot it and missed. This is why I am going to summarize the main points of each weeks topic on the site.

Verses:
John 14:6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
Psalm 18:30 “As for God, his way is perfect; the word of the LORD is flawless. He is a shield for all who take refuge in him.”

Main Points:
- It is important that Christians be good representatives of Christ, however Christianity does not stand or fall because of the way Christians act. The foundation of Christianity is Jesus and Jesus is not a hypocrite.
- To call oneself a Christian, the person has realized that he or she is a sinner and needs Jesus's forgiveness.
- There are many different people in the world. In the same light, there are also many different Christians. There are people who claim Christianity is true but have inconsistent lives. There are also people who claim Christianity is true and have their life as proof. Perhaps your past experiences with other Christians have not been so great. But do not let that stop you from seeking the truth.

We hope that these topics that we discuss will help you to understand more about Jesus and what He has to offer. I encourage you to ask yourself this question, why do I not believe in Jesus? You know who your captains are and we are open to talking about this or any other question you may have anytime.

Pre-season recap
The recaps section is now available with the first recap of the season posted.

$
This is a friendly reminder, that if you have not paid the league fee yet, please pay by this Tuesday night. The captains cannot play you if you have not paid by this Tuesday.

Schedule and Roster
The schedule link has been added so please check the schedule for your game times. Furthermore, the Roster has been updated.

Reminder for after/pre game fellowship times
We will have the schedule for the game times up shortly.

If you have a 7:00pm game, you will meet with your team afterwards at 8:00pm.
If you have a 8:00pm game, you will meet with your team afterwards at 9:00pm.
If your game is at 9:00pm, you will meet with your team before the game at 8:30pm.

More Details on Tuesday
Try your best to be on time on Tuesday. We are meeting at 7:00pm at the Cambridge cafeteria (directions to the cafeteria are in the post below). We will be having dinner, the league t-shirts will be handed out and we will have team scrimmages in the gym afterwards. If you were not at the gym this past Tuesday, please let your captains know if you can or cannot make it this coming Tuesday so we won't have all this food and no one to eat it. To contact your captains, look at the contacts section of this website for their email addys.

League begins Tuesday Jan 29th 7:00pm
Please meet in the Cambridge cafeteria at 7:00pm. To get to the cafeteria, make a right as soon as you enter the door into the long hall way. The roster has been posted.

No basketball for the next 2 weeks.
Merry Christmas everyone! There will be no basketball on Tuesdays for the next 2 weeks. Basketball will resume on Tuesdays on 01/08/08. Sign up for our friendship league. The deadline for the form and the money is 01/15/08. More details are on the form which can be downloaded above. If you can make it to Tuesday night basketball, you can make it to this league since it is taking place of our normal activities on Tuesday nights.