My awesome Breakout kids!

My how time flies!! Only a couple months before school is over and the summer fun begins! The weather this weekend will be a great reminder of that!!

Sunday is the last night of the Breakout year! Our graduation celebration and party will end the 2nd incredibly successful year of this AWESOME program! For those of you who don't know - Breakout is a small group study geared towards 3rd – 5th grade children. This year, we are introducing Kids Quest - a very similar program geared for children in Pre-K through 2nd grade. I have been amazed at how much these kids have grown over the past two years. Their ability to find things in the Bible, quote scripture and understand how all of that fits into their life is amazing. But what truly amazes me is the confidence and security that they've found in themselves and in the Word of God.

I can't tell you how heartwarming it is to see how committed these children - and their parents are - to teaching them about Jesus. It's not just that they know Psalm 119:105 by heart (do you??) it's that they know what it means - and why it is important to their life.

Why am I telling you all of this? Two reasons -first - if you have school-age kids in your life - bring them out this Sunday night in the Old Fellowship Hall (between 5:15 and 7pm) and check out the program. We are Baptist, so there will be snacks! If you can't make it - give me a call or e-mail. These programs are an incredible way to offer your child spiritual growth - and have an awesome time doing it! If you're interested in helping in this ministry - thank you ... just let me know!

Now, for the rest of you that don’t have school age children – please pray for us. Pray for these kids – they are our future. One day, they will be leading this church . . . this town . . . maybe even this country. We need to make sure that they have the background, knowledge, and faith to make a positive difference for the future – and for God. I look around at kids these days and hear the stories on the news. The violence, the total lack of respect, the drugs, the children having children – it is very scary to look at what is going on in society and know that is the battlefield our children are walking into. But these kids aren’t like that – they have a chance to make a difference – we just need to give them the strength and confidence to do it.

There is a song that says ‘we’re not so different – we’re all looking for a savior’. We’re all looking for something bigger than us – stronger than us – to wipe away our tears and our pain. It says that some look for their savior in a bottle, some in the arms of a stranger, some in a pill – I found my savior at the foot of the cross. Look at most of the kids in the news – or kids that you might know that stay in trouble – they don’t know where to find their savior – and they are searching for Him in all the wrong places.

These kids know where to find their savior. They know where they are safe and they know that they are loved. Now, I’m not saying that they won’t stray, or make mistakes – but they won’t be looking for it to save them. The Bible says that if we train up a child in the way that he should go, when he is older, he won’t depart from it. They may go off on a wrong path – but they know that it isn’t going to save them – and they’ll come back to the One that will.

But I don’t think it’s good enough for our kids – WGBC kids – to know this. We average 60-odd kids at the 9 and 11 service – not counting Sunday School. Is it enough for these 60-odd kids to know where the Savior is? What would happen if - before these kids left the children’s department – before they went to youth – they each told just ONE person that they could find their savior in Jesus. That would not only bring 120-odd kids closer to God – but it will get 120 kids off the street and out of trouble. And if those kids told their parents – and they told friends, and their friends told their kids and….

That’s how we change the world – one child at a time!

Have you ever had one of those days (or weeks) where nothing seems to go right? I've had one of those weeks ... rushing, trying to get everything done that everyone needs - and getting more frustrated by the hour! I think the more I had to deal with people ... the more I liked my dog!!

So, as I sat down to write this morning - with all of these frustrations running around in my mind - it is really hard to focus on being positive and loving! I went back through some of my ramblings from last year. I do that quite often - and it's good for me. I can see just how far I've come - how things have changed in my life over time - and how no matter how much things change, they are still the same! I came upon this entry, and I really needed to hear it again - and thought you might, too!

Last year, I made a commitment to Morgan that Thursday night is 'her night'. It's our time. We've done pretty good this past year at holding to that ... at least in theory. For example, we had 'our time' last night - in hours, but not where it really counts. We went out, ran into cranky people, got frustrated, decided to do something else - wasn't what we thought - and ended up at home - both of us frustrated and miserable. This time was becoming another thing to rush through - rather than a break from the rush!

I needed that reminder that although it was very necessary to schedule that time slot for Morgan - it's not just about the hands on the clock - it's about the fingerprints on her heart.

. . . . . . . . . .

So… I stumbled upon a verse the other day, quite by accident actually. It was one of those times that I think God just threw it in front of me like a big red stop sign – maybe one step short of the 2 x 4 that He was about to hit me over the head with! Here’s the verse… “and all our busy rushing ends in nothing” Psalm 39:6

Wow – that’s pretty harsh, don’t you think! I have to hurry up and get to work, I’ve got deadlines to meet – then I get home at 6:00 and have to fix dinner, clean up the messes that got made that day (when no one was even home all day), take care of mom, get Morgan ready for bed, spend time with her for goodness sake – I’ve just got so much to do – if I don’t rush, how will I ever get things done, right!?!?! WRONG – not according to David – he says that all that rushing ends in nothing!

So what am I supposed to do?!?! There are things I just have to get done – I can’t let my family go hungry, I can’t lose my job because I miss a deadline – so how do I not rush?? A few lines down, David tells us “And so, Lord, where do I put my hope? My only hope is in you.” Only with the Lord helping us can we get everything done. It is amazing how we find time for the things we want to do. We say all the time that we are sooooo busy – I just couldn’t fit another thing in my day. Then, an old friend calls for lunch, and we find the time. We didn’t magically get another hour in the day for that lunch, we found it by making lunch with that friend more important than something else that didn’t really have to get done.

With everything going on in my crazy world right now, I’ve felt like I didn’t have enough time to breathe! Free time??? What’s that???? I realized recently that the most important part of my life was getting pushed aside because of all the rushing I was doing – Gotta get something done on the house, gotta take mom to therapy, gotta fix dinner, gotta do… - and at the end of the day, there was no time left to just spend with Morgan. No time to talk about what’s on her mind, what she’s been doing, or just show her that she really is important. I realized that I schedule things all day long – I’ve got appointments and meetings on my calendar – that barring an emergency, I’m going to keep. Morgan was getting what was leftover between those things – and that just wouldn’t do! So, here’s what I did. I scheduled her in! She is on my calendar every Thursday – and barring an emergency, that’s my time with her. We’ll go shopping, or out do dinner, or maybe just play a game at home or watch a movie together – but it is HER time. We’ve only been doing this about a month – but it’s amazing the difference it’s made – and how much we both look forward to our time together.

How did I find an entire evening when I couldn’t even find a half hour to catch my breath?? It’s not easy – it’s time management, prioritizing, and the hardest thing in the world for me – telling people ‘No, I can’t do that’! David reminds us this – ‘For I am your guest, Lord – a traveler passing through’. Psalm 39:12 If I’m only visiting, what mark is it that I want to leave? We work very hard at making a living – we should work equally as hard

to make a life.

Have a great weekend – and I’ll see ya next week!


T.G.I.F.
(Thank God I’m Forgiven)

Without Thursday, there is no Sunday

Happy Good Friday!

As I was coming into work this morning, I was thinking about what to write – on this Good Friday … as we begin Easter weekend. I had written a few notes of things that crossed my mind over the past couple of weeks (blessings to the one who created post-its!) and had them stuck on my computer. I wasn’t thinking, however, that I had brought my wonderful daughter to work with me for a few hours yesterday, and momentarily left her unattended in my office. In her boredom, she decided to clean my desk for me! Now, I know at least one person who is now laughing hysterically … Morgan lovingly cleaned her desk for her once!! Not surprisingly, I have no idea where my post-its are at the moment!

So, I thought I’d see what I wrote last year on Good Friday. Seems that it was a year ago that my mom found herself at MCV with respiratory failure and a heart attack. Wow – that was a year ago! Wow!

Earlier this week, I talked to one of my best friends from high school – one that I haven’t talked to in years and years. Memories of snowball fights, water balloons, driving my dad’s old blue truck … great memories from those awkward teenage years came back like they were yesterday.

I was recently going through some old pictures – and stumbled across a picture of me when I was about 6 years old – that even Morgan thought was a picture of her! But I remember that picture being taken – I remember what I was doing – running and playing in the yard … not a care in the world!

Funny thing is, all of the memories … from mom’s hospital visit, to high school, to elementary school … they were all great memories – things that looking back, made me smile. Those memories that floated to the surface were warm and positive and good.

Now … if I think about it … I can remember how scared I was when the doctor said they were going to intubate mom last year. If I really dig deep, I can recall the broken hearts, the insecurities, and the struggles in high school. I can even find, if I look hard enough, the fears of elementary school. But I have to consciously dig into my memory to find them. Just like cream rises to the top of the glass, the good memories are the ones that resurface when we recall them.

How does that tie into Easter?? What do you think about when we talk about Easter? Pretty dresses and bonnets, eggs, candy and picnics. We also think about Jesus’ resurrection, our salvation and are thankful as we celebrate with church services, family and friends. It is a wonderful celebration of what Jesus did for us! But dig a little deeper … consciously look harder … there was a reason that Jesus was able to be resurrected – because He died on the cross. We see the awesome benefit that we are able to enjoy – and that is what He wants us to do. But let’s not forget the other side of the resurrection. Let’s not forget that Jesus suffered and died because He loves us. Don’t forget that while Sunday is a day of celebration and rejoicing, it came at a very steep price – one that was paid for us.

Although it feels wonderful to recall all of the positive memories from our lives, at some point, we need to look at the whole picture … look at the heartbreaks as well. If we don’t, we start to take them for granted – we forget the struggles and suffering that make us who we are. If we forget the struggles and suffering that Jesus endured for us, we take Him for granted. Without the suffering on Thursday, Sunday is only about the bonnets and the bunnies.

Celebrate Sunday … laugh and create awesome memories with your family and friends. Enjoy the egg hunts and picnics. Celebrate the resurection and the love that Jesus had for us. Be thankful for the salvation that we have because of this day. But take a moment aside, and remember the reason for the celebration. Remember just how much we have to be thankful for!

Do you believe you?

This past week in our Breakout class, we talked about honesty. We talked about how telling the truth is one of the Ten Commandments, it makes God happy, and we don’t get in as much trouble when we tell the truth.

Then we dug a little deeper. We talked about why we believe some people when they tell us something, and don’t believe other people. I got answers like “if they’ve ever lied to me before”, “their reputation”, and “if they are a teacher, or a parent, or a police man”. These are some pretty smart kids! I turned that thought around on them … and asked about the little ‘white lies’ that they tell. “Absolutely, I cleaned my room”, “of course I did all my homework”, and my personal favorite, “my arm is falling off!”. I asked them if someone did these things (because of course, none of these kids did) did they think that when something really did happen, would their parents believe them. They didn’t seem to think so.

As I sat at home the night after this lesson, thinking about some of the things that we talked about, I thought about another aspect of honesty that hits a little closer to home with some of us, than it does with our children. We try very hard to always be honest when we are dealing with other people. What about when we are dealing with ourselves? Are we always honest with ourselves?

Think about that a minute … it is amazing what little lies we can convince ourselves of – even when we know good and well that it isn’t true. For instance, I don’t like spiders. I can deal with any other critter or bug – but spiders will send me into hyperventilation! I know it’s silly, I know it’s irrational – but then, isn’t that the definition of a phobia?? I told myself that if there is a spider … especially one of those jumpy cricket spiders …is in the bathroom, and I shut the door, they can’t get out. And I believe me!! Why did I believe me? Because I needed to … I’d have never gotten to sleep if I didn’t believe it.

That example is pretty simplistic … no one is going to get hurt (unless you put a spider in front of me!) and everyone laughs and thinks I’m silly! But you can see how easy it is to convince yourself of things that aren’t really true – how easy it can be to not be honest with yourself.

What about other things that we tell ourselves? Many times we aren’t very honest with ourselves when our heart and our mind don’t agree – or when we don’t want to accept what is right in front of us. “I know he’d never break my heart.” (even though he never answers my calls), “I know she didn’t tell my secrets” (even if she’s the only one that knew), “I know my boss would never fire me” (even if I am 30 minutes late every day). Or what about those ‘justifications’. ‘Everybody goes a little over the speed limit.’; ‘Nobody is gonna know that I went fishing on this pond … behind the ‘no fishing sign’; ‘What difference does it make if I get to work 10 minutes late … no one is there anyway.’

We’ve all lied to ourselves – and believed ourselves. But God doesn’t believe them. Here’s where I’m going with it. When I asked the kids if they had told these little lies in the past, would their parents believe them the next time, they said ‘no’. So, I’ll ask you … if you’ve told yourself little lies in the past, are you going to believe yourself the next time? Huh???

Why do we do that? Why do we convince ourselves that things aren’t what they seem? Because we don’t want to believe that our judgment was off. If that boyfriend really was seeing someone else … then we feel the hurt and realize we made a mistake. If the best friend told our secret, we get angry and hurt and have to face the truth. If we don’t believe the lies we tell ourselves, then we have to do what we know is right. If we do that enough, what happens the next time we have to make a decision? We don’t trust ourself … because we’ve lied to ourself before. We lose faith in ourselves – in our ability to know (and do) what is right. And sometimes ‘right’ isn’t always obvious – particularly when there is a conflict between heart and mind. I want to believe the people that I care about – but sometimes my mind just knows better. If I can’t trust me – how can I truly believe in anyone else?

It is just as important to be honest with ourselves as it is to be honest with others. Being truthful to others will earn you respect, trust and a positive reputation. Being honest with yourself will give you inner peace, trust and faith that you can’t find outside of who you are.