Weekend Part 1

For the past 2 days, I have spent time with 70 students and leaders from Grace Church on a retreat in the mountains of North Carolina. This retreat was different than almost any other retreat I have been a part of. In fact, all the staples you find on a typical retreat were noticeably absent this week: games, team competition, bonfires, s'mores and t-shirts.

No, this retreat had a single-focus; preparation for summer mission trips. This summer our student ministry will be sending out 3 different teams to 3 different locations.

1 - From June 7th-15th, a team of 14 will go to Managua, Nicaragua. This team will partner with a community church to do evangelism in schools, community outreach, sports events and lead multiple church services. Additionally, this team will lead a weekend retreat for youth leaders in Nicaragua. The goal of the retreat is to help equip the leaders with strategies for effectively ministering to their churches and communities.

2 - From June 20th-25th, a team of nearly 50 students and leaders will spend a week in Allendale, South Carolina. Allendale County is one of the poorest counties in South Carolina where that average household income is $19,000 annually. During this trip, our team will lead a day camp for the local Boys and Girls Club, do construction work on a local church, and participate in various events to connect with people in the community.

3 - From July 10th - 17th, a team of 30 students and leaders will travel to Eleuthera, Bahamas. Partnering with Mike and Shannen Fastzkie, our team will lead a a vacation bible school, a day camp for special needs students and help with local construction projects.

As diligent as our teams worked in preparation this weekend, I know they will continue to work just as hard from now until the time their trip is complete. I am excited to see how God will use all of this to shape our students, spread the gospel and bring glory to Himself.

IFankfulfor

When our kids were younger, Kelly and I tried to think of creative ways to introduce them to the Scriptures, church and what it means to have a relationship with God. In addition to modeling an open and honest prayer life, we gave them some clear structure when praying. We would guide them through a prayer that would answer the following questions:

1 - What is something you are thankful to God for?
2 - What is something you are sorry for?
3 - What do want to ask God for?

As you can imagine, the amount of random comments from this exercise produced enough laughter to make anyone's abdominal muscles scream. In order to make it even more engaging and interactive, we used a small cushy ball that we would pass back and forth. Whoever had the ball would answer a question and then would have the privilege of choosing who would go next by passing them the ball (yes, this was the coach coming out in me). Over time, the ball become known as the thankful ball. Because Harper was very young and not yet verbally "developed", she always ended up saying "IFankfulfor (I'm thankful for). The thankful ball became a staple in our house during the evenings.

Over the past few days I have been thinking about the thankful ball a lot. I am just getting over a 4 day long stomach bug. Not good! However, as bad as it has been, it has reminded me of how thankful I am for some of the simple things in life:

- Coffee! Oh how I missed you! (nope, I don't have issues)
- food with color (I'm so done with white bread, white rice and white crackers)
- the gym (I just function better with exercise)
- a healthy back (soreness, aches and pains take over after so many hours on the couch)
- food with taste (oh how I missed fruit, and vegetables, and meats and sauces, etc, etc)
- human contact (being quarantined and being kept at a distance from all people got old fast)

Although I'm not ready to reintroduce the cushy ball, I am much more aware of some of the great things in life, as simple as they may be. And really hoping I don't need another reminder anytime soon!

Chips N Dip

In honor of Cinco de Mayo, I thought I would share a few mexican food moments and memories.

Los Arcos - Lots of cheap combination #1's and Speedy Gonzales at the only mexican restaurant I think existed in Boone while I was in college. Why did ice cold coke taste so good with that food?

Fish Tacos - My friend Dave McIrath made delicious homemade fish tacos one year for my birthday! Totally scrumptious. Since then they have been one of my favorites.

Chuy's and Blue Goose - 2 of our favorite Dallas joints. Something about Mexican food in Dallas....so so good.

Calahan's 1st Beer - ok, ok, not really....but we do have a picture of him grasping a Shiner Bock at Chuy's as a 3 month old.

Homemade Salsa and Guac - Kelly does the guac, I do the salsa....yummy!!!

Pilo's - Some random border town mexican joint in south Texas. We ate their twice while on a mission trip. I remember that the flank steak fajitas were insane. Or maybe they just tasted so good because I was with 30 high school students in the middle of nowhere waiting for a hurricane to pass.

Back-2-Back - Eating at the The Blue Goose on consecutive days on a recent trip to Dallas. Special thanks to Mo and MK for making us get the Sopapillas. Unbelievable!

Tonight - Dinner at Corona's. The food wasn't that great but the experience was tremendous. Free necklaces, t-shirts and hats. Cinco de Mayo has instantly become a favorite holiday in our house.

Viva La Mexico

Thine not Mine

I regularly go through phases where my prayer life is not what I want it to be. What do I want it to be? Honestly, I am not even sure I know. I do desire to have a continual growing dependence on God. One that causes me to always be thinking and communicating with Him. One where others needs are on the forefront of my mind and my own agenda fades away. But sometimes, even when that may be happening, I feel like all is not right.

Over the past few years, one tool I have found to be a regular help with my communion with God is a book entitled, The Valley of Vision. It is a collection of Puritan prayers. Reading these rich declarations of dependence has driven me to echo and own them for myself. They are filled with a robust appreciation for the greatness of Christ and the neediness of mankind. Below is the entry that gave the book it's title. I hope God uses it to stir your soul as well:

Lord, High and Holy, Meek and Lowly,

Though hast brought me to the valley of vision,
where I live in the depths but see you in the heights,
hemmed in by mountains of sin I behold the glory.

Let me learn by paradox
that the way down is the way up,
that to be low is to be high,
that the broken heart is the healed heart,
that the contrite spirit is the rejoicing spirit,
that the repenting soul is the victorious soul,
that to have nothing is to possess all,
that to bear the cross is to wear the crown,
that to give is to receive,
that the valley is the place of vision.

Lord, in the daytime stars can be seen in deepest wells,
and the deeper the wells the brighter thy star shines;

Let me find thy light in my darkness,
thy life in my death,
thy joy in my sorrow,
thy grace in my sin,
thy riches in my poverty,
thy glory in my valley.

Preaching to the Choir

A few weeks ago I was fulfilling my mr. mom duties of folding and putting away clothes. I was a bit surprised to see Calahan standing at my bedroom door as I had recently put him to bed (the rule is once in bed, you stay in bed). Before I could scold him and demand he return to his room, I noticed the curious look on his face and immediately knew something was up. With an outstretched hand he beckoned me to follow him. As we entered the hall, I could hear the voice of my daughter. As we drew closer to her bedroom door, the muffled tones turned to clear words filled with energy and passion. Quickly I realized what had caused Calahan's state of uncontrollable laughter. Before I proceed, you need a little more context.

As I was tucking Harper in that night, I told her that she could read in her bed for a while before going to sleep. In response, she asked if she could talk instead. Not really understanding what my creative, right-brained daughter meant, I simply said "sure Harper you can talk for a few minutes."

So....now back to the story. Here is what Calahan and I heard that night:

Harper - "Now, you need to understand that God wants you to be kind and compassionate to everyone. Do you know why? Because He made everyone and it makes him very mad when you are not nice to the people he made. And you know what else? You are disobedient and sinful. And God loved you so much that he sent Jesus to die on the cross for you to take the punishment for your disobedience."

Unable to control myself any longer I pushed open the door to find my daughter leaning over the edge of her bed with her finger extended towards her two American Girl Dolls. Yes, I am certain that Mia and Josephina got saved that night. If not, there is absolutely no hope for them. I'm not sure what is more haunting, the fact that my 6 year old theologian was preaching at inanimate objects or that she obviously takes in everything she hears me say. Regardless, I know I can never hear a gospel presentation again without that precious image coming to the forefront of my mind.

Stirred Up

Hebrews 10:24-25 And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.

7am - 10pm.....that is a typical Sunday for me. I usually have an hour or two at home but most of my day is spent at church. If I'm not careful, it can become nothing but work for me. In one sense, it is work. I am a pastor. That is my job, and I get paid for doing the responsibilities that require such long days. However, I don't want Sunday to be a job for me. I want it to always be a time where I can encourage and be encouraged by my time together with the church body.

The author of Hebrews says that we need to meet together to "encourage on another." Today I was encouraged by:
* hearing the Scriptures taught
* singing songs of adoration to Jesus
* celebrating Communion
* talking with others about how they are being used by God
* listening to high school students talk about their faith
* talking to my Son about what he learned at church
* watching the many different body parts function as one moving unit

I am thankful for those words as they are a constant reminder that no matter how exhausting Sundays may get, I know that my soul needs to be encouraged in many different ways, by many different people. And in that I have a role to play as well, whether I get paid for it or not.

Short-n-Sweet

The Short - I woke up with a stomach virus! My day has spent migrating between the bed, couch and bathroom. My diet has consisted of a steady dose of saltine crackers and watered down Gatorade. Mustering the energy to flip open the lap top and bang out a blog entry is a very tall feat.

The Sweet - Harper scored her first career soccer goal today! This is her first attempt at playing a sport (sorry, cheerleading doesn't count in my book) and I wasn't certain that a goal would come. However, she has steadily improved and seems to be loving the game. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it but having her tell me all about it was pretty special. I hope there are many more to come in the future.

Hard to believe that it's just day 3 of my challenge and I'm already experiencing a major road block. Oh well, here's to pushing through.

So, short-n-sweet.....there it is.