Making Goals

In keeping with my goal to write on a weekly basis, here is my first blog of September.

I would say I'm dreamer & definitely a planner.  One of my dreams is to write a book one day.  This has been a dream of mine for quite a few years now.  Having said that, if I'm not currently writing, how will the thoughts muddled up inside of me ever make their way onto paper?  And so, my goal to write on a weekly basis has become part of plan in achieving my dream of writing a book.

My husband & I have always been planners & dreamers.  In fact, when we first got married we had some dreams that we wished to achieve before growing our family.  In less then six months all our set dreams had become reality & suddenly we needed to dream more & bigger.  Here we are four years & a half years later, still dreaming.

I'm realizing that as I get older time really does seem to go by faster, or perhaps it's true that, "time flies when you're having fun."  Suddenly it's September & I find myself with only a few more precious months left in 2012.  Although I'm a planner & set goals for myself, to say that I'm good at setting deadlines is another story.  That being said for the time being my goal is to write once a week until the end of the year.  Maybe this is a big goal.  This fall seems to be bringing all sorts of changes & challenges with it.  Hopefully with everything going on around me I'm not setting myself up for failure, rather stretching myself & my capacity.

Psalm 37:4 states:
Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

I believe this to be truth, and so as I plan & dream, I know that ultimately the One who gave the dream will be the One to ultimately make it come to pass.  In the meantime I'll be taking delight in Him & doing what I've been enabled to do.

meddling

I just finished reading Church+Home by Mark Holmen. He presents some excellent & challenging thoughts on Faith@Home, whichwould make sense seeing how he's the founder of the Faith@Home movement. This is his third book I've read, & all though they all seem to portray the same basic information, I'm still a huge fan.

One of the ideas that Mark presents is "meddling grandparents." He challenges & encourages grandparents to get involved in their children & grandchildren's faith walk, whether through writing letters/texts/email, making phone calls, & prayer. I love this...probably mostly because I have my own story of how my life has been effected by "meddling."

My great grandma Belsher was an incredible woman of faith. Although we did meet before she passed away, I can't say that I remember as I was still very young. Her legacy, however, lives on, not only in my life but in the lives of nearly all of my Belsher relatives. Great grandma prayed for each one of us every single day. I realize that many grandparents do this, but something to keep in mind is that she had 16 children who lives to adulthood! Praying for everyone in her family was no small feat. Once every three years the Belsher family gathers for a family reunion & it is tradition that on the Sunday of our reunion we have a church service. This was of course birthed & continues all because of great grandma.

I think the greatest way my great grandma has included my faith walk however, is a bit more specific to me. I was a bit of a "miracle baby" as I wasn't my parents first pregnancy. When my great grandma came to visit me as an infant she took me in her arms and said, "All children are a blessing from God, but this is a blessed child." Although I don't remember these words of life being spoken over me, my parents do. I'm fairly confident that now 20-something years later that those words have in fact made a huge impact in my life.

So, to all parents/grandparents/great grandparents out there, who are thinking it's too little too late to have any sort of impact on your children/grandchildren/great grandchildren's faith walk, I would like to encourage you to meddle. Send little notes of encouragement. Make regular phone calls. But most of all pray. You never know what seeds you've planted!

the story

I JUST purchased a new children's story book by Michelle Anthony called The Big God Story.

"It's not just any story. It is a true story, full of mysterious people and secret plans and last-second escapes. It's God's Big Story, and every part tell us about His promise to love us. But let's not get ahead of ourselves. Let's start at the very beginning, when God made the world..."

This beautiful introduction is followed by pages sharing about some of the people God used and some of the wonderful things He's done. It ends like this...

"You've just read the Big God Story, but it's not The End! You can be part of the Big God Story too and tell others about God's great promise."

So incredibly profound - and it's a children's book!

A girlfriend of mine is currently dealing with a loss in her life. Although her heart is hurting, with much wisdom she has been able to say, "We shall see how the story unfolds." I admire her ability to see this season as part of a greater story.

I sometimes find it difficult to see past my current situation, as I'm sure people all throughout history have as well. The thing is, in the grand scheme of things often my current situation isn't a "big" or as "bad" as I make it out to me. That's not to say that things I (or anyone else!) am dealing with are unimportant or insignificant, rather the seasons I go through are just apart of the Big God Story.

I've been told, and have said myself many times that, "our lives are not our own." And how true this is, but in a much bigger context then I have ever said or meant it. Although there are people in my life who are quite important, there's someONE even more important to whom my life fully belongs (or at least should fully belong - being the stubborn, selfish person I am there are many times when I find I'm reluctant to fully give myself.)

The Big God Story is bigger then the words that can be read in The Word, and it's bigger then what God is doing on the earth at the moment. The Big God Story is one that I will likely never fully know or understand in my lifetime, yet I have the distinct honor and privilege to be apart of it. And so, in the words of my beautiful, world changing friend, "We shall see how the story unfolds," not only in my life, but in the lives of the remarkable people around me.

Spiritual Parenting

Call me crazy, but currently some of my favorite books are parenting books. Although I don't have any children of my own, I do have 30-ish children in my life on a regular basis that I have the incredible honor and privilege of influencing.

Recently I read an incredible book called Spiritual Parenting by Michelle Anthony. Truly a must read!

Unfortunately I think often times parents rate their parenting skills according to their children's behavior. The truth is, parenting is about much more then just behavior. I truly believe behavior is secondary to hearts that love God. When hearts are devoted to God, behavior will begin to fall in line with that.

The same is true for all people though, not just children. How often are we concerned with behavior, rather then looking at hearts? There has to be a direct link from the way we talk and act to what is within our hearts.

The great thing about reading Spiritual Parenting is that it only challenged the way I do children's ministry, but also challenged my personal life because it's really not about behavior, mine or anyone elses, it all has to do with the heart.

The B-I-B-L-E

Here's your first hint that I'm a children's pastor:

I LOVE MY KIDS BIBLES!!!

I have The Adventure Bible for Young Readers, and the Hands on Bible. Both are simply amazing, not only because the language in them is simple and easy to understand, but also because of the great notes.

Now, obviously these Bibles are written for those still in elementary, but the extra content in them is so good that it speaks to a 20-something. All I can say is how amazing that there are such incredible resources available to help children (and adults) grow in their walk with God.

Just a little shout out to Christian publishers AND Christian bookstores. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Hope Lives

I've just started 'Hope Lives: A Journey of Restoration' (by Amber Van Schooneveld). I'm really looking forward to the five week journey I have just embarked upon.

But really, more then being excited about MY journey, I'm excited about the journey I'll be taking others on. Along with purchasing the book, I've purchased 'Hope Lives: Children's Ministry Kit'.

Take your children on a five-week journey - one that gives them God's perspective on poverty and equips them to respond with heartfelt compassion. Hope Lives empowers your children to understand and impact their world...to share home with the hopeless. Children experience five adventures straight from the Bible and then apply what they discover through prayer, service, and commitment.

This curriculum isn't about guilting children into helping those in need, rather giving them a Biblical look of what Jesus calls us to do as Christians to do. I think its easy for us to say 'Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress...' (James 1:27), but how easy is it for us to actually live this out? It's easy to sign a check to give yourself that 'warm, fuzzy feeling' knowing that you're helping someone, but is it really a sacrifice?

In Matthew 19:16-24, Jesus tells the rich young man to sell EVERYTHING and give it to the poor! Hello, he was rich! You want him to sell his iPhone, his new 2000 sq. foot home, his wife's Coach purse...
I have a long ways to go...
As I'm sure nearly all of us living in first world nations do.

I'm actually really looking forward to this journey. Not only for what I think it will do in me by changing my thinking, but also for what it will do in the children that I have the privilege to teach and lead.

Check out other 'Hope Lives' resources here: group.com/hopelives

he's speaking my language

No I’m not talking about my husband Matt (although he does speak my language and does quite an incredible job of it!). I’m talking about Dr. Wess Stafford, the President & CEO of Compassion International.

I’ve just finished reading ‘Too Small to Ignore: Why Children Are the Next Big Thing’.
“The leader of Compassion International shares his inspiring boyhood adventures growing up in an African village and challenges us all to change the world – ONE CHILD AT A TIME. Why are children easy to ignore in the busy mainstream of human life? They rarely cry out if overlooked-or worse, traumatized or abused. Yet it is vial for the future of humanity that we make children a priority in every area of life. That’s the battle cry of Dr. Wess Stafford who heads up Compassion Internationl, the highly regarded international ministry to children. In this moving manifesto, he speaks for those who cannot speak for themselves. With inspiring true stories, Stafford delivers compelling argument for championing children worldwide. Children are victimized by war, pornography, and prostitution, as well as by lack of funding, feeding, education, and protecting. Yet in a few short years, the world’s challenges will be theirs to manage. Now is the time to act on their behalf and invest in children because they are Too Small to Ignore.”

If you don’t have a heart or concern for children, reading this book will surely change your point of view. It’s not really a secret that I’m passionate about kids worldwide. Reading this book totally reiterated my heart for children and re-fueled my passion for the children of the world.

This book definitely come highly recommended by moi, although I’d like to slightly alter the title to ready ‘Why Children Are a Big Thing.’ We keep talking about how children are the future church…I’d like to challenge that thinking by saying that children play a crucial role in the church TODAY! But if your mind is in fact in the place where you are thinking that children are the future, please put some actions behind your thoughts (or possibly words as well) and treat them with dignity, respect, nurture and love, for if they are indeed our future we better better be taking incredibly good care of them...and not just OUR children, but the children of the world. The destiny of this planet rests in their hands...