Men's Breakfast: Every third Monday of the month, men gather for a great breakfast and a short challenge at Hacienda Del Lago. Be there Monday, May 17! It'll be a great way to start the week.

Annual Golf Tournament: Don't miss this annual event hosted by Vail Christian Church. It's a four-man scramble golf tournament with a shot-gun start at 8am. Prizes will be awarded.

Get your four-man team together, mark your calendars, and come ready to win!

Contact Scott Cliburn at scliburn@hotmail.com for details or register you and your team at: vailchristian.com/golf

If you'd like more information about our network of community groups, contact Dave Spier.

"Shift" is the Sunday where every child and student moves up to the next grade level in Sunday School. We will also be celebrating our graduates in the worship gathering. Mark your calendars and be ready for "the Shift"!

Trailhead - June 27th @ 11am

A trailhead is the beginning of a journey. The Trailhead Class is the beginning of your journey here with Vail Christian Church. This is a chance for you to learn all about what Vail Christian Church has to offer, and where can get connected.

Contact Connection Pastor Tim Sheaffer for details!

Strength In Submission
by Meghan James

Submission is a tough word to stomach -- in our culture that prizes self-promotion and
being in charge, the idea of putting someone
else’s desires before our own isn’t palatable. After all, no one really wants to be a servant, right? We want to be the people who have others to serve us! In fact, I suspect that sometimes we hear the word submission and interpret it to mean weakness. Submission is far from weakness, though -- truly being able to put others first requires a strength great enough to overcome ourselves.

Submission is a clear command for Christ followers. The Apostle Paul explains that Christ’s example of submission and love has set the standard for what our actions toward others should be. In Philippians 2 he describes Christ’s love, saying,

“Though he existed in the form of God, he did not regard equality with God as something to be grasped, but emptied himself by taking on the form of a slave, by looking like other men, and by sharing in human nature. He humbled himself, by becoming obedient to the point of death -- even death on a cross!”

Paul wants us to understand that because Christ gave everything for us, we should be willing to give up everything for our fellow believers. Christ’s sacrifice was the ultimate expression of love -- how can we call ourselves followers of Christ if we are not following his example in this?

I don’t want you to hear me saying that submission is easy, because it’s definitely not. It’s difficult to put others before yourself on a consistent basis -- and it’s easy to make excuses for why we shouldn’t have to do so. This idea of complete submission to others has been very challenging for me in my life. I have difficulty consistently putting others before myself -- especially when it comes to people that are difficult. At first, I considered this to be something of a character flaw -- nothing more than a little selfishness that I needed to grow out of. But Paul’s words in Ephesians tell a different story -- he suggests that we struggle to submit our will to others because we still struggle to fully submit to Christ. Ephesians 5:21 reads, “submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.” All submission comes out of a correct relationship with Christ. If we are struggling to submit our will and serve others, it is likely that we do not have a full appreciation and reverence for Christ’s servanthood.

Most of us probably think that we understand the implications of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross -- but are we living like we do? Have we committed our lives to Christ in the fullest sense? Are we willing to surrender our will to him entirely? Are we living examples of his love for others? These are the things that we are called to be as followers of Christ -- we are called to love and to submit ourselves for the benefit of others. This is not a calling of weakness; it demands a commitment to Christ that is so strong that it spills out and colors everything we do.