It may be long, but it's really a good read.  And it'll either help you or someone you may know.  It's an excerpt from a book by the pastor of www.lifechurch.tv

The “I Can Change Him” Lie

If I’ve seen this once, I’ve seen it a thousand times.  Please don’t be number 1,001.  A sweet, beautiful, talented, Christ-following girl meets a not-so-great, all-the-lights-are-red guy and thinks to herself, he might not be great now, but I can change him.

It’s time for a holy rebellion.  Rebel against that lie!  You can’t change anyone – especially him!

You might recognize the following scenario.

Sweet girl meets Jerk guy.  Everyone but Sweet girl knows Jerk guy is, well, a jerk.  For some reason her friends can’t understand, Sweet girl thinks Jerk guy is great – or at least will be great when she’s through with him.

Don’t get me wrong, Jerk guy has some decent qualities.  Every now and then, Jerk guy does something kind of sweet.  But everyone who knows him agrees he’s mostly a jerk.

Letter from my friend in Arkansas about American Idol winner Kris Allen

I couldn't tell you exactly the first moment I remember Kris Allen leading worship, but what comes to mind is a flooding of memories.  You see when I was in college I would go weekly to this Christian ministry called Chi Alpha and it would bring in what felt like over 100 students each Monday night and we'd gather before the Lord in a room upstairs in the student center of University of Central Arkansas.  This is where Kris truly blossomed for the Lord and used his gifting that God gave him to draw students closer to our heavenly Father through song and acoustic guitar.  I, too, was involved in the ministry and served there in a different capacity and though I wasn't a dear friend of Kris Allen, I was touched by his art.  He and I knew of each other and would say "hi" in passing and though my friends and I didn't know then that he would win American Idol a few years later, we  still knew he had talent and believed in him.

It seems that everyone is worrying about the big financial crisis that is bound to hit Philippine shores some time this year.  If you're new to the youth, you probably don't think it matters that much, which is fine.  But you are bound to enter converstions about this on a more regular basis, so I want you to think about this now - Does the financial crisis that is currently plaguing the world matter to Christians?  Well, that depends.  It depends on where money is in your life.

Let's be very straight forward here.  If I gave you the option of either getting more money or experiencing more of God this year, which would make you happier?  Most will answer God.  Good.  Now let's put a denomination to it.  Let's say I told you you can only choose one: P10,000,000 or experiencing God more?  Which would you choose?

Have you ever heard of a game called De Blob? It’s a free download game that involves a cute puffy gelatin blob that rolls around a city. If he bumps into a green person, he turns green. If he bumps into a blue person, he turns blue. Once he has a color, every building he bumps into turns that color too. Although we may not know it, this is how we live. God has given us the ability to influence everyone we bump into and be influenced by everyone we bump into. We can get influenced or influence others for good or for evil. Someone once said that every time you meet someone, every conversation either pushes that person closer to God or pushes them away from God. Do we take responsibility for our actions this way?