youth

• Home
• R.I.O.T. Page
• Forum
• Calendar
• Games
• media

Furst Things Furst  

Pocket Full of Sunshine

So what songs get stuck in your head? You know, those tunes and jingles nicknamed 'earworms' that blare through the speakers in your skull? You mentally chase them around like a greased pig, but you just can't hold on long enough to chuck them into annoying tune hell where they belong.

For example:

• The Barney theme song? (Barney is a dinosaur from our imagination. HA! Made you listen.)
• Then there are the classics - like Chili's Baby Back Ribs jingle ( I want my baby back baby back )
• Who Let the Dogs Out
• We Will Rock You
• Whoomp, There It Is
•  - and - If you've ever been to Disneyland, and you unsuspectingly wander into small world territory, It's a Small World After All will NEVER leave your head.

But I think there is a new earworm candidate that is *burning* up the charts like a pocketful of sunshine. Well, in fact, it is A Pocket Full of Sunshine - so click HERE and see if this launches an earworm in your head. See? The earworm is here - I got a pocket, got a pocketful of sunshine, I got a love, and I know that it's all mine. Oh, oh oh oh. But there's an interesting element to Natasha Bedingfield's popular tune that seems to connect with a ton of folks. Most of us have been yelled at - maybe not all by big bald office bosses, but we've had people in our lives who felt it necessary to SCREECH AT US LIKE THIS WHEN THEY AREN'T HAPPY!!! Oh, and fighting parents? Yep and yep. Or maybe just enough frustration to make us want to jump into our childhood drawings into a sweet hip hop break dance party.

Take me away, a secret place.  A sweet escape, take me away.  Take me away to better days.  Take me away, a hiding place. Did you know that God is actually called a 'hiding place'? It's from Psalm 32:7: For you are my hiding place; you protect me from trouble. You surround me with songs of victory. This is a chorus from a song written thousands of years ago by a man named David. He penned these words soon after he had made some of the biggest mistakes of his life. Not minor goof ups, but major mess ups in the form of adultery, murder, and deception. His guilt was so heavy that he described it as 'floodwaters' that threatened to drown him. So he turned to God - and he found not only forgiveness - but also a shelter, a hiding place, and a strong tower.

What about you? Where are you searching to find your hiding place? Some look for it in busyness. Almost as if texting while surfing while listening will drown out the guilt and pain from the circumstances around you. That might be a temporary shelter, but you know as well as I do that the voices of regret and an aching soul just patiently wait until you're lying on your bed without all the diversions. Others look for a hiding place in a relationship, and while friendships bring amazing elements to our lives, they can't truly protect you the way the living and eternal God of the universe can. In fact, God is called a "Rock" dozens of times in the Bible - and by comparison there is no other true hiding place and shelter: No one is holy like the Lord !  There is no one besides you;  there is no Rock like our God. (1 Samuel 2:2).

So maybe you're feeling exposed to life and circumstances you can't control. There's a storm on the horizon of your life, and you sense a desperate need to get somewhere safe. If you've trusted in Christ as your only hope of salvation, you have a secure place waiting for you in your relationship with
God. He's all powerful. He knows everything. He loves you more than anyone. He will never leave you or forsake you. In short, He's a hiding place who can give you a pocket full of Sonshine.

HEAD: WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT THIS TRUTH

God is a hiding place for His children, a place for safety and security.

HEART: WHAT YOU NEED TO FEEL ABOUT THIS TRUTH

Feeling insecure? Perhaps because you left the security of your heavenly Father. How amazing that at any time we can go home and find the protection we all need.

HANDS: WHAT YOU NEED TO DO ABOUT THIS TRUTH

Think through the places you sometimes go to when you feel like hiding, and why God is the only true shelter from life's difficulties.

Contact Pastor Dave:

pastordave@cbcministry.org  765-586-8890

• Share Your Faith

  How to Share Your Faith Using "Pocket Full of Sunshine"

Have you ever met a truly happy person? You know, one of those people that you can feel their spirit singing across the grocery store or hear their contagious laugh from across the room? I love when I do come across a cheerful spirit. You walk into their delightful presence and immediately you are welcomed with an audible greeting such as a chipper, "Hello!" When I heard Natasha Beddingfield's new hit Pocketful of Sunshine for the first time, I felt that she summed up that truly joyful spirit perfectly. Check out these lyrics: I got a pocket, got a pocket full of sunshine. I got a love and I know that it's all mine. Oh, oh, oh. Yet the reality is that it's actually very rare to randomly come across an individual who is truly happy from the inside out. When is the last time you met such a person, really? The last couple times I was at the store, I could barely get the clerk to look at me, let alone wrestle a smile out of them. Sometimes, it seems to be the same with Christians, as well. Chuck Swindoll describes it vividly, "People come to the Lord and put a lemon in their mouth." Part of Natasha Beddingfield's song seamlessly illustrates the joy that should flow out of our relationship with Jesus. There's a place that I go, but nobody knows, where the rivers flow, and I call it home. And there's no more lies, in the darkness, there's light. And nobody cries. There's only butterflies. "There's only butterflies." As a Christian do you experience butterflies on the inside? And our joy on the inside will permeate all that we do. Those around us who do not know the Lord need to not only hear about His joy but see it and feel it. That is the Holy Spirit at work.When we come from a deep place of hopelessness and then walk into the arms of Christ, the Holy Spirit is now alive in us!

The Bible repeatedly depicts joy as central to our life in Christ. Here are a few examples:

• Don't be dejected and sad, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.
  (Nehemiah 8:10 ).
• 
  Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again-rejoice! (Philippians 4:4 ).
• 
  We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and
  with his Son, Jesus Christ. We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy. (1 John 1:3-4 ).

We live in a world full of hurting people who are desperate to know God's joy and love in their lives. It's our job, as friends and sons and daughters of the Heavenly Father, to proclaim His joy. So, use Natasha Beddingfield's Pocketful of Sunshine to ignite some conversations with those around you. Here are a few open ended questions to get you started:

• Ask your friends if they believe in God.
•  What is their perception of Him?
• Do they see Him as all loving and joyful?
• Find out if your friends have ever been hurt by a Christian. If so, maybe ask them to forgive you/us for wrongfully portraying Christ and His love.
• 
  Tell them what the Bible has to say on the Truth of Christ's joy and love.
• 
  Share with them from your personal experience a time when you were weighed down by the world's sorrows and how Christ offers True joy for those who choose to trust and believe in Him.

• R.I.O.T. Gear

  Want to identify yourself as a true R.I.O.T. ? Click here to get T-shirts, hats, and other fun stuff. All profits go toward local outreach and missions.

• Forms and Info

Click to Download:

Release/Permission Form

(The forms are in PDF format and require Adobe Acrobat Reader -it's free. If you can't view the forms, click here to get the reader.)