Specifically for Soul Care groups meeting on April 2nd but everyone should read it...

If you are checking this thanks!
There is an additional prayer request for tonight and this weekend.

Tonight (April 2), the devotional for the kid's today at practice and the parent's on Saturday is from John 3:16.
Pastor Shane will be sharing with the parents on Saturday!

Here is the team devotional for this week...
› Virtue: You are part of God’s Big Story!
› Scripture Verse: For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16 (NIV)
Bottom Line: God loves you and gave us Jesus to trust and follow.
We’ve had a GREAT season! It’s been so much fun watching each of you become better players and better friends with each other! We’ve learned a lot about basketball…but we’ve also
learned a lot about ourselves and about others.

Think about the things that we’ve learned during our huddle time this year. Do you remember the three virtues we’ve discussed?
What were they?

First we learned about Honesty. Honesty is choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. We learned that many times when we tell a lie, we try to cover it up by telling another one and another one. However, if we stick with telling the truth the first time, we can build trust between ourselves and others. More importantly, when we are truthful, God delights in us and helps us build strong relationships with friends and family.

Then we learned about Patience. Patience is waiting until later for you want now. Sometimes
it’s hard to have patience when we want something now. However, God says that if we
trust him and wait, there is so much he can teach us. Also, when we are impatient and
decide not to wait, we can forget what is true and what God wants in our lives. Another great
lesson we learned about patience is that it can protect the relationships we have with others,
such as our friends or siblings.

We also learned about Kindness. Kindness is showing other they are valuable by how you treat them. Our verse about kindness is also known as the “golden rule.” We should always try to treat others that way that we want to be treated. To take that one step further, we  should treat others the way that Jesus would treat them. Why is this important? Because we learned that everyone is important to God, and that even though it’s hard, we should treat them the way he would treat them.

Listen to this week’s verse, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” John 3:16 (NIV)
We have all made mistakes. The Bible tells us that because of sin, we are separated from God.
But because God loves us so much, he provides a way back to him. Our verse teaches us that this way is through his son, Jesus. He sent his only Son, Jesus, to live a perfect life on earth and then pay the price for all of our sins on the cross. And because of that act of forgiveness, we can be with God forever.

I’ve got something else to tell you. Did you know that you are part of God’s BIG STORY?
That’s right…he has a BIG STORY and each one of you are in it! You will learn more about that  BIG STORY at the awards celebration. It’s gonna be great! Let’s pray to God and thank him for all
he’s done for us.