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Jul. 20, 2009
VBS by the Numbers
Posted in Church God Faith
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Total Enrollment: 80 Students: 56 Teachers:24 Average Attendance: 60 Prospects: 25 children/youth + parents Bus Miles driven: 99 Meals served: 5 Hobos who liked our meals: 2 Gallons of punch served: 12 # of preschoolers enrolled: 12 # of teenagers enrolled: 13 # of teachers the teenagers made cry: 1 # of minutes it takes for 11 preschoolers to assemble what Lynn calls an easy craft: 40 #of teenagers Leslie put off the bus: 1 # of Children threatened with a weapon: 1 # of times the children used their didgeridoo as a weapon: I lost count High Attendance:44 # of Teachers who didn't show the night we had 44: 4 Offering for missions: $163.37 |
Mar. 5, 2009
The Flu
Posted in Church God Faith
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I was lying in my bed with third day hair and stinky teeth, alternating between high fever and chills. I had missed my son's 14th birthday and the only snow of the season. I had missed Reed's piano recital as well as church and all that that entails. Driving the bus, singing in the choir, teaching Sunday School with Jason. I couldn't meet a single obligation I had made. And it it occurred to me, this is the Leslie that God loves. I need to learn to love her too.  Subscribe in a reader
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Feb. 1, 2009
Cut out the Middle Man
Posted in Church God Faith
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Jason is reading Exodus to the kids; God is telling Moses what to say. Sydney: Why doesn't God just talk to Pharaoh? Subscribe in a reader
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Jan. 25, 2009
Ministry Stinks
Posted in Church God Faith
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And no, I am not really complaining. I am not using figurative language. What I mean is, real life stinks. Real ministry literally stinks. Dealing with humans, reaching out with the love of Christ stinks. It means hugging a kid who hasn't had a bath in weeks and probably hasn't had a hug in even longer. It means letting the homeless guy sleep on your couch when it is 22 outside, even though you know it will take a week and a bottle of Febreeze to get it back to normal. It means you don't get a nap on Sunday afternoon because you take the family to lunch whose mom just got saved. And then it's time for choir before you catch your breath. It means you gag when you tell the shepherds and wise men to take off the shoes for the Christmas play, because then you smell feet for the next hour or three. It means you are on the bus for 2 hours with teenage boys who love nothing better then to pass gas and then spend hours talking about it. Ministry really stinks. You know what stinks to God? Not unbathed kids, or homeless men or flatulent teenagers. Me. Self-righteous, hypocritical , pharisaical me. I am so aware of my own self-righteous stench because I am trying to love these people. Because it doesn't come naturally. Because I have to sometimes work really hard at it. And because I see my own inadequacies so clearly. I can't do this in my own strength. I fail miserable when I try.
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Dec. 26, 2008
After Christmas Blues Redux
Posted in Church God Faith
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(rerunning from last year with an update at the end) Do you feel a little letdown after Christmas? Not disappointed, exactly, just a little.. bereft of something? (bereft: Lacking something needed, wanted or expected.) I think maybe we ask too much of "Christmas." For one day a year, please let everything be perfect. Let our relatives be at peace; let our homes be filled with joy and free from discord; let our hearts be pure; let our lives be whatever they are not the rest of the year. Sadly, it doesn't work that way. The relatives are just as they are the other days of the year. Our homes are filled with the anxiety of expectations. Our hearts are filled with the realization that a day on the calendar cannot make us pure. Our lives are left unchanged. This season has been the saddest for me of any I can remember-- not on a personal level, but from a ministry standpoint. We have found ourselves surrounded by broken hearts, broken homes and broken lives. Abuse, suicide, drugs, infidelity, broken engagements, broken vows, broken people. A world full of hurting people. And yet... We grieve, but not as those who are without hope. For while one day on the calendar cannot magically transform our lives, the Baby in the manger can. Because of Him and His life, death and resurrection, we have the power to change. We have the same power available to us that raised Him from the dead. The same power that enabled Him to live a sinless life. The same power that healed the sick and and the lame and the blind and the deaf. The same power that conquered sin and death and the grave. He has given us everything we need for life and Godliness. We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord. He has the power to transform us, to make us something new and different and better. To make us like Him. And in despair I bowed my head Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
UPDATE 2008: This year has had it's own sadness. My friend lost twin babies 2 weeks before Christmas. My mom had to spend part of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the doctor getting IV antibiotics. I see poverty and neglect and pain and betrayal in the eyes of the children I work with at church. But I cling to the hope that the God who saw me drowning in my own pool of unrighteousness and filth sees the ones I love. I know Him as Healer and Lover and Redeemer and Savior and I pray that those around me will know Him too. I pray that if you are reading this because you did a Google search for After Christmas Blues, you will come to know Him as I do. Subscribe in a reader
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Dec. 22, 2008
Misfits, Hobos and Hooligans (Oh My!)
Posted in Church God Faith
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"I've waited my whole life to belong to a church like this" A friend of mine (who is in her 60's) said this to me last week after our children's Christmas program. I know what she means. Our church is the most eclectic conglomeration of misfits, hobos, and hooligans, with a few fine upstanding Christians thrown in the mix for fun. It is hard to describe, but I will try. We have "regular" people, of course. And by that, I just mean people you would see at any Baptist church in the South. The blue hairs, the rednecks and the greybeards. Ok not many greybeards anymore, but we have a few middle aged women with chin hairs. (I've tried plucking but they keep coming back.) We also have an assortment of homeless who come at varying times. And they don't all get along. It is amusing to hear them talk about each other-- they each deny being like the others, whatever that means. We have a couple of special needs adults. One guy has short term memory loss and will shake your hand 3 times in a row because he doesn't remember that he already shook it. And we have the neighborhood kids who are boisterous and rowdy. Yea even raucous (thank you Mr. Roget.) And this is somehow the body of Christ. And I see it working. One couple hosts a Bible study in their home each week to study for Sunday School. The one-armed guy started coming, and last week he was baptized. The blue hairs bought Christmas gifts for the "hooligans." The special needs adults brought puzzles and coloring books for our homework helpers program for the kids. The list goes on as we discover how to function and minister and love as Christ loves us. Honestly I The preacher asked at Christmas two years ago, "Can you worship in a cattle stall?" I got the metaphor then, but now it seems less figurative. Can I worship with the misfits and hobos and hooligans? Isn't this what Christmas is about? Jesus came to us, and became one of us. He hung out with the misfits; He himself was a hobo; and I have my suspicions His disciples were rather boisterous at times. Hooligans maybe? But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners [all of us: misfits, hobos and hooligans], Christ died for us. Subscribe in a reader
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Nov. 19, 2008
Theology 101
Posted in Church God Faith
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Macy was playing with a flashlight today. Apparently she was shining it in her eyes, and Sydney told her if she did that she would go blind. I'm not sure what Macy said next, but I heard Sydney say (condescendingly) "Do you know what blind means? You can't see forever and ever and ever..." Undaunted, Macy calmly replied, "Have you ever heard of HEALING?" Subscribe in a reader
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Oct. 22, 2008
Children's Ministry: Why we do what we do
Posted in Church God Faith
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Tonight at church, I was reminded why we do what we do. Why we put up with 22 yelling kids who don't listen. Why we buy pizza and help with homework when it would be easier to stay home. Why we have Christmas plays and fall festivals. Why we let kids come to supper even when they have no money and make a big mess and make the little old ladies nervous. Why it really does matter when someone gives me $20 for pizza or goes to pick it up so we can help with homework, or defend sus and what we do to those who don't see the big picture. Tonight I found out that 3 of our little boys are being raised by a single dad because their mom walked out on them last Christmas. On Christmas Day. And 4 of the kids tonight were picked up with a police escort because their mom is going to a battered women's shelter tonight. Who knows what is going on in the homes of the rest of them-- maybe nothing so tragic. Maybe even worse. But I am weeping as I type because maybe I could have been a little nicer to N-- when he didn't listen, and maybe my voice could have been a little gentler. What if I never get another chance with them, and all they know about Jesus they learned from me. What if it wasn't enough? I can only pray that even if I don't get another chance, they will. Subscribe in a reader
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Sep. 29, 2008
My "Day of Rest"
Posted in Church God Faith
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Are your Sundays like this? 9:00 Jason left house to pick up one teenager; I received phone call that other kids need rides 9:15 Left the house to pick up neighborhood kids on church bus 9:30 Arrived at Church, only to be told R--- called and wanted a ride Practiced choir special 9:45 Left church to pick up R--- 9:50 Got a call from Jason; R-- got a ride and is on the way to church 9:55 Arrived at Church to teach Sunday School (15 minutes late), remembered I have a choir solo and nursery duty, so found someone to fill in the nursery 10:55 Worship Service 11:35 Sermon started-- tried to keep all 11 kids sitting in my vicinity quiet. Failed miserably. Wished for 8 arms like an octopus. 12:25 Drove bus kids home, decided I need to reevaluate my definition of the word worship 12:55 Arrived home, wondered what's for lunch. Decided on spaghetti 1:30 ate lunch, fed kids, sat down briefly 3:00 remembered we needed to borrow popcorn machine and get drinks for movie at church tonight. Called friend to borrow key to theater to get popcorn machine 3:15 left to get key, texted another friend to tell choir director we would be late. Warned her that I was on the verge of a breakdown so please tell choir director not to yell at me. Got key, popcorn machine, drinks, dropped off bowl of spaghetti for my mom. 4:30 Arrived at church, already 30 minutes late for choir. Set up popcorn machine, iced drinks, picked up miscellaneous stuff on floor from set construction in the room where the movie is to be shown. Felt gratitude that someone else was coming at 5:30 to vacuum and set up chairs. 5:00 went to choir an hour late. 5:40 Left early to drive bus to pick up kids, found out Jason had already left to pick them up. 6:00 Showed movie. After about the 40th time that the kids (all not just mine) got up and went out into hall to get popcorn or a drink or use the bathroom, I moved to sit on the floor and bar the door. 8:15 Cleaned up popcorn and drink cans from floor after movie. Loaded parts of the set that we built onto the bus for play practice tomorrow. Felt gratitude that someone else vacuumed and cleaned the popcorn machine. 8:30 Drove bus kids home. 9:00 Arrived home, fed kids supper. Collapsed in a sobbing, twitching heap. OK not really that last thing. Subscribe in a reader
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Sep. 19, 2008
I hope it was a malapropism and not a judgment
Posted in Church God Faith
This morning, Macy kept asking when we were going to do the motions. We must have brushed her off or said we didn't know at first. Finally she asked again and Jason figured out she meant "devotions." When are we going to do devotions?  I pray we aren't just going through the motions. Subscribe in a reader
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