113 Events Calendar

December 6 - Joint event with Cheese
Dec 13th - SG
December 15 - SF911 Community Service [contact: Alex Cheung]
December 20 - NO SG
December 21 - 113 Christmas Party
December 25 (Christmas Day) - SF911 Community Service [contact: Charmaine Wong]
December 27 - NO SG
January 3 - NO SG
Jan 10 - SG starts again!!

113 Retreat @ Bodega Bay

The world can be a cold and dark place... but that doesn't mean you have to feel your way through the blinding darkness by yourself. It doesn't mean that we live in a world of shadows. It doesn't mean we're all trying to feel our way to the light. But it does mean there's still sunshine when it rains and that our smiles can be heard. It means we're all connected. In Him.

From 10,000 to 10 rpms

It's really true this whole idea of how we rev our engines up and consantly keep them there because that's how we meet the needs of our daily demands. A thought that occurs to me, in all of that "meeting of demands" mentality how little time we have to recharge. Most people I know don't sleep enough, or they always seem to have ever growing shadows that hang out under their eyes and yet some how for most there doesn't seem to be enough time in a day. I don't know that I could handle more hours because chances are pretty good that I'd spend them doing other things that tax me and cause me to feel even more tired, and then I'd still get maybe 6 hours of sleep, which is scary considering that instead of 1/4th of a day of rest I might get say .... 1/6th or 1/8th depending on how long of a day you'd consider ideal.

I have to say that, our little session of about a half hour of journaling really caused me to slow down and to really reflect, and it seemed both peaceful and restful even though it was simply 30 minutes (1/48th or 0.0208 or 2.08% of a day). Amidst our dizzying pace of life, perhaps what we need more of is still moments by calm waters and not simply more hours to make ourselves more dizzy and generally nauseous.

Consider 10 minutes of slow down time; reflect and see what that does for you for a week or two, and let me know the difference it's made.

GRX SF Retreat

GRX SF is having a retreat in Occidental, CA on July 20 through July 22. You can register online at http://www.grxsf.org/the411/retreat/registration.php.

JUNE EVENTS

• It's official. We're having a social event with Cheese at Dave & Buster's in Milpitas on June 8th. We're meeting at 8:45pm. Carpool rides will be discussed tonight at SG.
• Bad Movie Night will be held on June 15 at 113 HQ (Dave, Dave, and Henry's). We'll meet at 8:00pm. Snacks and refreshments will be provided. Featured Movie that night is Lady in the Water.
• Social event tonight in lieu of regular SG. We'll be eating dinner at Taxi's (down the street from 113 HQ) and then afterwards, we'll head back to 113 HQ for games and ice cream sundaes!

See you there!

Game Night!

Pictures from Game Night are posted here!

http://picasaweb.google.com/113editor/GameNight

More events and photos to come... =)

Shouldn't every Sunday be Resurrection Day?

Easter has just passed. It means many things to many different people. What is the meaning of Easter to you?

Please comment if you'd like to share.

Hoodie Design WINNER

WINNER

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Mason - 4
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Quote of the night:
"My name is Gina. For those of you who just met me... I'm sorry."

Faith

I have always had a hard time answering the question, “Why do you go to church?” to my friends. It can be a difficult question to answer because there is so much beyond the surface of it. In order for me to answer that question I had to ask myself and God this question. It took years of questioning and discovery until God made me realize that it was my faith in Him that had kept me going all these years.

It’s important to know God’s word as a basis on to how to live our lives, but it’s also important to have a growing a relationship with Him. There are many who don’t realize that it’s our experience with God that reaffirms our faith in Him. It is our personal experience with God that solidifies the relationship.

We cannot “prove” God’s existence through physical means and scientific explanations. God lives through our lives and his blessings are proof of his existence. Faith in God is knowing that our prayers will be answered without question and sometimes no answer is God’s answer.

113 GRX Shirts! [Vote on shirt-types now!]

Hey everyone!

I've implemented a 113 GRX Poll for the type of shirt we would like. You can vote on the site! You can find the poll on the right side of the page (you may have to scroll down a bit).

Voting ends on Thursday, March 1, 7:00pm!

Results will be revealed during SG on Thursday! See you then!

113 GRX is a small group based in San Mateo and is a part of the Great Exchange Covenant Church (GRX) in San Francisco. For more information on attending a 113 GRX Small Group meeting, please contact Gary or Charmaine for details.

Discernment

Last Thursday we started an interesting side discussion about discernment and patience, where the two seem very similar. But in terms of faith, they go hand-in-hand together. Discernment is knowing what is from God and what isn't. It isn't knowing what God has in store for us, but in our daily walk it is knowing what God has placed in front of us. Patience is the actual act of waiting faithfully. We may be ready to take on God's Will today, but God may not want us to do it today. It could be days, weeks, months, and even years before God says we're ready. While we wait for God's plan to unfold, God will show us his Will one step at a time.

The most relevant example I could think of was Marriage. It's something many of us may (or refuse to) think about. Do we ask God who this person is going to be? Do we believe that we'll find this person on our own? God has a plan for each of us. We have no choice but to be patient with God, because he will unveil everything when he knows we are ready. We're on God's time, and it's difficult never fully knowing when the time is right according to God. When that time comes, you will know what God has planned for you all along. It's a matter of discerning what was God-sent, and what was not.

Comments, questions, and arguments are always welcome.

Have a great week! See you next Thursday!

For more information about the 113 small group @ GRX SF, please contact Gary or Charmaine.

113 GRX Blog now open for business

Greetings and salutations to everyone =).
It is my privilege and honor to welcome you to the 113 GRX blog site. I hope that this will become a place where we can post events, previous studies, pictures and other fun connected community things. For those of you who are not familiar with 113, we are a small group based in San Mateo out of the GRX church in San Francisco. We hope that this group will become what our name stands for, which is the 13th chapter of the book of 1 Corinthians (1 Corinthians 13 i.e. 113). It is a verse about what love is, and how love grows and matures, and how even though we are gifted with many things, if our hearts do not know love then they are but tokens and trinkets. This is a place were we can find community, study the Bible together, fellowship over food, and share in one another's lives. Come and check us out if you haven't yet, or if you're looking for community.

For details you can email me or my other co-facilitator Charmaine and we can provide you more information about our meeting times and such.

PNut (aka Gary)- yee.pnut@gmail.com
Charmaine - charmainejowong@gmail.com

Thoughts from last study:
What comes between you and God during the course of an average day?
What idols need to be cut down in order for us to set up an alter to God in our lives?

And now for current events updates:

• The current study is Gideon (Judges 6-8 with chapter 7 this week)
• The combined snow trip for the weekend of Feb 23-26 is currently full, but those who are signed up please pay up.
• There will be sports ministry on Sat, details to come
• If you have interest at all in helping out with service check out CAM they need helping hands
• Gary is doing worship
• Raymond is bringing food (please bring $5 to contribute)

GRX SF Homepage - this is the homepage for GRX-SF
GRX SF Forum - this is the forum for GRX, we exchange ideas, talk, and generally do random things here.

Sorry it's long, but if you made it this far then you're good.
Have a God blessed week people =)

PNut

The Joy of Hamburgers

We're 113. We're peachy... whatever that means.

This is the first post of the 113 GRX blog. Thanks for stopping by. =)

You may be wondering what we have slated for this one... the joy of hamburgers.

I asked Gary what I should write about and he said, "talk about the joy of hamburgers." What joy is there in hamburgers? The biggest joy does not stem from just the meat itself. It is the culmination of culinary goodness. It is the unappreciated art of hamburgers that makes them so great. We think of hamburgers as a chunk of meat between two slices of bread. To the untrained eye, this is true. The true hamburger artisan knows it's the fusion of the fine ingredients that complete the hamburger. This is the joy of hamburgers. That tasty goodness that fills our tummies.

Have a good week! We'll see you on Thursday!