Wii is fun but I get much too frustrated trying to play boxing. Now the old Punch Out! that was a frigintastic game.

I can't believe you would say such a thing. I'm gonna make sure everyone knows your true feeling about women. (hows that for not taking it seriously)

you could move here. I'm not sure if we are having church Sunday. We have been snowed in for days and getting more snow tonight/tomorrow.

You forgot the awkward entertainment. Some really bad Christian comedian that keeps bringing up sex and marriage.

On a side note, why do our singles ministries insist on "fixing" single people by putting them into relationships?

no one can forget those, but that is a whole other post.

This list is a kind of direction of escalation. That is, the ice breakers will gradually become warm-ups and ice breakers can be asked during the early warm-up requests but as warm-ups start transitioning into "feel the burn" then ice breakers wouldn't be appropriate.

It is possible to jump the line, but it might make everyone else in line grumpy because they feel stupid asking their request so if you want to start off with a "shut it down" prayer request then go ahead but after pray for you there is gonna be this weird awkward time where everyone else is waiting for someone else to throw out an ice breaker or another huge need because their needs pale next to yours.

Prayer request fall into several categories and it is important to know when to throw yours out there based on the category yours falls into.

-Ice Breaker-
These are the simple prayer requests that usually are removed about 3 degrees or more. They are important but don't deeply affect the person or the group so it is safe to open with this.
"A coworker told me about a sick family member, could we pray for them?"

-Warm up-
Things are starting to get more personal. It could be a relatively minor personal prayer request or something more significant affecting an immediate friend or family member
"I have a big test tomorrow, please pray that I am able to study well and get rest tonight"
"My sister was in a car accident, she is fine but the car is trashed and really needs a new car to get to work."

-Feel the burn-
Things are starting the heat up. Someone broke the ice and several warm up prayer requests have been fired off. You are feeling like you can share some of the bigger things in your life. This is the time to share some medium to big stuff in your life or things from another persons life that are really big and affect you.
"My wife and I have been fighting a lot. I don't think we are going to divorce or anything but we really need God to come into our marriage again."

-And that, my friends, is how you shut things down-
You have wanted to share this from the beginning but it is huge. This might be a sin that has taken over your life or a major crisis of faith, or someone very sick or dying that you are close to. You finally build up the courage and it all explodes out of you in a mess of tears. Half way through hands are already on your shoulders as people start praying before you are even done. No prayer requests will follow this since everyone else will transition into praying for what other requests are remembered. What was the name of Ted's coworkers third cousin again?

Now that you know the order of these prayer requests you can now know when you need to get your request out there. They are all important, but they just fit so much better within the category of similar requests.

Our prayers are still with you Helen.

On the 20th, hmmm I think 9:00-10:00 AM EST

Between P90X and the book deal Jon was starting to get a bit full of himself so some loving friends decided to hold an "intervention" before he started wearing completely unnecessary scarfs and v-necks that show off his navel.