Sunday Highlights

Aren't kids in church just the best? :-)

This morning Mark and I taught the 1st through 4th graders, and boy are they ever cute!  First off, aaaall the little kiddies are together to sing and do worship together.  At the end of the singing the leader goes to pray.  Automatically, four year old sweatered handsome gets on his knees and bows his face to the ground. :-)  Man, don't you wish we were that quickly drawn to bow before our incredible God, our Creator?  :-)  Not only so cute, but so challenging.

Then, Mark and I go on to teach our kiddies about courage and standing up for what's right.  We're going through several different Bible stories where people did the hard thing and stood up for what's right.  In the first two stories God did incredible things and saved the people when they did was right.  In the third story, Mark starts off and says, "Now this one's kind of a sad one..."  He goes on to tell how Stephen in Acts was preaching about Jesus and the leaders accused him of saying things he didn't actually say.  When he stood up for what was right, he actually died.  The awesome part about it is that the word about Jesus spread to Asia, Europe and Africa because of Stephen's death.  Automatically adorable, blond haired, toothless smile starts clapping and says, "YAY!!  That's a happy story!!  People heard about Jesus!"  Oh, that we would have that mindset too.

Aren't kids just the best? :-)

Hungering for God

The last months have largely been full of rough patches, concerning my relationship with God.  Prayer has been full of “HELP!” and upset, “Why?!” or “I don’t get it!”  Scripture reading and reflecting has been minimal, for the sole reason that I couldn’t focus and felt incredibly discouraged.  I could read the words, but I just couldn’t connect.  It seemed God wasn’t speaking to me as He before. 

Recently Mark and I stepped into the Youth Ministry at our church.  I have been challenged and blessed.  It was the major kick in the butt I needed.  In our last weeks we have been challenged to have daily Scripture reading and prayer, which seems like a “Duh!!”  But nonetheless, it was totally what I needed.  Since I couldn’t focus, didn’t know where to read and felt I couldn’t hear God, I knew something needed to change.  So I grabbed a gift from the internship Mark and I had done in Bend, Oregon.  The Solo Bible.  It gives a brief passage to read (with expanded passages if you so desire), then reflection questions, prayer ideas, and reflections on how to live it out.  THAT WAS WHAT I NEEDED!  I have been in the Word and cannot stop reading!  I have been reflecting and listening, and you should see how my desires are starting to change and how my passions are starting to re-ignite!  The mornings where I was bored, or had a tv show on the schedule, have now changed to be mornings where I can’t get enough of the Word, where I can’t get enough studying and want to spend my day singing at the piano, preparing lessons, and listening to the Father.  These days are glorious. 

The more I faithfully continued to seek God, the more He showed up.  The more I faithfully seek Him, the more I desire Him.  The more I desire Him, the more my heart is changed, my soul is content.  I am so thankful.  And I encourage you, keep seeking!  Keep pursuing despite the “HELP!” prayers, and the seemingly pointless times of Scripture reading.  KEEP PURSUING!  There is more to come!

Praying with you…

Crazy for Yoga!!

I have been convicted much about this recently...

Have you ever heard of hot yoga?  Because this incredible young woman I work with is TOTALLY in to it (which I hear it's quite addicting... so it makes sense).  :-)  She lives and eats and breathes this stuff.  She has taken 'extreme' measures to eat healthy, she can't help but talk about it, and the one that really blew me away, she switched work shifts just so she could attend another yoga class!  Wow!  Dedication, perseverence, incredible!  At the beginning of the year she took on a new challenge... the 365 day challenge... where you attend 365 hot yoga classes in one year!  Wowzers.

You can probably guess where I'm going with this :-)  I can't help but think, what if we as followers of Christ were that dedicated, that committed, that wholly consumed with being His follower?  So consumed that we would switch a work shift so we could spend time with Him, or serve Him.  So consumed that we would set a challenge to spend 365 days spending time with Him, reading Scripture...  Should we not be so engrossed?  So captivated by His love and grace and glory?  I can't help but think that we as individuals would be transformed.  And thus, the world see transformation.

So this question remains... what are you ABSOLUTELY CRAZY FOR???

Lessons from Elf

Everybody loves this guy. Christmas classic, everyone loves it.  Now I didn't mean to, but I was watching this movie the other night and thinking Buddy and his friends could teach us Christ-followers a few good lessons. :)

First off, the elves spend every waking moment centered around making toys and gearing up for ONE day of the year!  ALL their time, ONE day of the year!  Don't you think as followers of Christ we have something to learn from them?  Shouldn't every single moment of OUR lives be focused on ONE thing?  Every single moment focused on Christ, building His Kingdom, and one grand day He will return?! So maybe we're not toy-making, but we're disciple-making, and we're Kingdom building.  All our time, our efforts, our energy focused on one thing... Christ.


Secondly, have you ever noticed those three elf rules?  They're great!  And I think we have something to learn from them too!


The 3 Elf Rules
1. Treat everyday like Christmas
2. There's room for everyone on the Nice list
3. The best way to spread Christmas cheer is singing loud for all to hear


Rule 1 we kind of already looked at... treating everyday as though it the day Christ is coming back.  In other words, making the most of our time here on earth, living life to the fullest, and living FULLY for Christ!
Rule 2... There's room for everyone in the Kingdom of God.  When did we ever become the judge of who we thought we should share Christ with, or who would be acceptable in heaven?  "ALL who call on His Name will be saved" (Rom. 10:13).  There's room for EVERYONE, the sickest, the grossest, the meanest, the nicest, the EVERYONE!  And I'm sure our Father would love to see everyone's name written on that Book of Life list!
Rule 3... The best way to spread (the word about Christ) is proclaiming loud for all to hear!  Okay, so maybe I stretched it a little.  But really, I sure need to be better at this one.  (Don't get me wrong I'm not talking about street proclaimers, who turn people off, but just proclaiming Him.) Psalm 96:2 says, "Sing to the Lord, Praise His name, PROCLAIM His salvation day after day."  The best way to spread the word about Christ, is singing/rejoicing/sharing/talking/being loud about Him, for all to hear!

There you have it, lessons from Elf. :)  I am challenged, and pray I will continue to learn from these, and be drawn closer to the heart of the Father, and be more of the follower He wants me to be.  Merry Christmas to you all!