Shari's Blog

A Christmas without Snow

2009-12-19T21:42:00.003-05:00

Of course I KNOW the real reason for Christmas. And I'm so thankful that God sent his Son to live on earth and ultimately take the punishment for my sins. But I guess I'm just a nostalgic at heart.

When Hannah was younger she use to think that snow meant Christmas. I still think that snow means Christmas. Sure, there were many years that we didn't have snow at Christmas whether we were in Colorado or Vermont, but there was always hope. And it was always cold. When "I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas" came on the radio, it was true. You could dream and hope for a white Christmas. Living in Southwest Florida pretty much puts the kabosh on any hope of snow.

I spent the day Christmas shopping today...6 days before Christmas (I'm a little behind this year). I did it in my flip flops, capri pants, and short sleeves. Passed several garage sales on my way into town. (Yeah, people were actually shopping at garage sales in the middle of December.) Summer hasn't ended, how can it possibly be Christmastime.

So this year, the best we can hope for is weather under 80, and maybe a little less humidity. Perhaps we'll drive out to the Gulf and walk on the beach. Maybe we can pretend that the sand is snow.

A 7 y/o's life plans

2009-11-08T15:09:00.002-05:00

This was Hannah's conversation with Micah and me the other day. As with many conversations with Hannah, it came out of the blue...wasn't anything we had been talking about!

Hannah: "When I grow up I'm going to marry a guy so he can make all the money and do everything."

Micah: "Well, you can't marry me."

Hannah: "I know that! Maybe I'll marry Daddy."

Micah: "You can't marry him either. He'll be retired by then."

Baby vs. Violin

2009-11-08T14:56:00.002-05:00

So, who do you think can be louder a baby crying or a 10 year old boy screeching, I mean playing, the violin?

First the details: I work with Micah as he practices everyday. Somedays we get in practice while Sarah is sleeping, but most of the time she hangs out with me while Micah plays. A lot of our practicing is done along with a CD. One last minor detail: Sarah cries (that's putting it mildly) a lot.

Let the competition begin: Friday we sit down to practice and Sarah hasn't been happy. After a couple warm up pieces we get ready to work on a new song and Sarah is in a full blown screaming fit. Sarah's screaming; the CD is playing; I'm telling Micah which notes he's suppose to be playing; and finally Micah puts down his violin and in exasperation says "Mommy, I can't hear anything over Sarah!"

Baby wins! The prize is a trip to her crib so we can sort of hear ourselves think. The amazing part is Sarah quieted right down, and laid there contentedly for quite a while.

God's Plans

2009-09-29T13:30:00.002-04:00

Ever wondered why God's plans are not the same as our plans? Or better yet, ever KNOW that God has His perfect plan for your life, but still try to make your own plans? Seems like that's what I'm always doing.

This past Sunday at Summit Church, Naples, one of the pastors, Orlando Cabrera, talked about not dwelling on where you were right now, but looking at God's greater plan. Then at the Starting Point class I attended Sun. evening we read Psalm 139 about how God created us perfectly and with a perfect plan. It's such an awesome chapter, and it sounds so good... So why is it so hard to remember when push comes to shove...

For Example:

I hate that we are living in Florida. I want to cry when I walk out my door on the 2nd to last day of Sept. and it's over 90. I want to cry every time I see a picture from last fall, of our family hiking in the mountains. For that matter I want to cry everytime I see a picture of mountains... I've even taken to thinking about people back in Michigan, and how Sarah will never get to know their love...and I don't even WANT to move back to MI. I plan on how we are going to move in about 2 years, down to almost, but not quite making a countdown the month calendar. And the list goes on.

But then I remember that God has a perfect plan for my life and that my family. That God brought us to this place for some reason. I know that I need to focus on God and not where I am living. On God's plan and not what I have or don't have.

And so I try to remember that when I'm hating Florida or missing fall. Can't say that I'm very good at taking it to heart yet. But hopefully as I keep telling myself and reminding myself, and letting God control things, it will become easier.

In the meantime, I think I'll still put in a special request that His plan lead us back to Colorado in the not too distant future :)

"Nomad" dwellings

2009-06-24T13:20:00.004-04:00

This summer, because of the direction I am heading with the kids school in the fall, we are doing a quick review of the Ancent Times (5000 BC - AD 400) of History. We started on Monday and the first lesson was about the Nomads, who eventually started to settle in the Fertile Cresent, around the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers. The kids learned that as they started to live in one place these people made houses out of whatever materials they had on hand. So, the kids' project for the day was to use whatever materials they could find to build a hut for their littlest pet shop animals that they always play with. They both came up with very unique and different houses using bark, shells, stones, and things they could find around the camper. This activity went over so well, that they've spent all their free time since then building "huts".

Last night when Brian came home I told him what they had been doing. He said "so they've been playing that they're in the Fertile Cresant?" I told him that I didn't think so, that they were just having fun building houses. Which Micah overheard and instantly corrected me! He explained that they were building houses in the Fertile Cresant, and even showed us where the Tigris river was and where the Euphrates river was!

And now their house are homes to lizards, toads, and lizard eggs, along with all the little play animals :)

2 Chronicles 20

2009-05-22T09:30:00.004-04:00

The other passage of scripture I've been holding onto this week came from the message at the church I went to last week, The Fisherman's Home Church (fun website name: imhooked.net) In short, this chapter is about Isreal's king, Jehoshaphat, receives news that there are armies coming to attack him. He seeks God's guidance and help, and God fights for him. By the time Jehoshaphat's army reaches the invading army, all the dudes from the invading armies have killed eachother and God gives the plunder to Jeohshaphat, which takes them 3 days to collect.
The points made in the message, that I have been taking to heart this week were this:
1) Seek the Lord through prayer and fasting. God will answer you when you seek him. When you need help with something in your life, don't try to do it on your own, go to God. (I've been going to God with this house, and with what the heck I'm doing in Florida.)
2)Declare the Magnitude of God. Jesus teaches us in the Lord's prayer to start our conversations with God by declaring his glory and holiness. This is often easy to forget, at least for me, when we're so focused on our problems.
3)Resolve to stay the course! God doesn't promise it will be easy, or that things will happen instanteously, as I so often wish it would. We have to keep focused on God and what he wants us to do, not looking at back.
4) Worship with all your heart! When we worship God it brings his presence. Mighty things have happened when people start to worship God. Paul and Silas worshipped God in prison and an earthquake set them free. The walls of Jericho fell down when the people made a great noise to God. When we worship God and give everything to him, He goes to war for us. He does the work and gives the victory.
5)Have Faith. Verse 20 says "Have faith in the Lord your God and you will be upheld." Two little words, that are so easy and yet so hard to do. But when we let God have control and we have faith in him, he will give us so much plunder that we won't know what to do with it all.

So, in our house search, and in my life in general, I"m trying to follow these things, to let God be in control, and to not worry, because I know He will fight my battles.
And that's easier said than done....

Jeremiah 29:11

2009-05-21T09:48:00.002-04:00

There are two passages of scripture that I have been claiming and thinking about this past week. The first is Jeremiah 29:11. This one I've actually been holding onto for the last several weeks. It is, "For I know the plans I have for you," says the Lord. "They are plans for good and not for disastor, to give you a future and a hope." In the last 8 months I have often wondered what God's plans were, especially since about February. The only thing that has kept me sane sometimes in the last month has been remembering this verse. Knowing that whatever God's plans are, they are for good, and not for disaster (which is what they tend to seem like from my vantage point at times).
Earlier this week I read the whole chapter (Jer. 29) to get a better context of what whas happening. Then I REALLY started to feel connected to this verse. The Isrealites were in exile and God was promising them that he would free them from exile and bring them home. I can definitely say that I feel like I'm in exile! While I'm not sure where our "home" will be in the next 5 years, I have renewed my faith that God will lead us and put us where he wants us, and that he will give us a home, not just a house, but an area someday that we can call home again. (And I suppose that could even be Florida, but at this point in time, it's not at the top of MY list.)
I also discovered in reading this chapter that the verses following 11 are very significant as well. In Verses 12 - 14 God promises that those who seek Him will find him. That He'll listen to our prayers. He will restore our fortunes and bring us home. These are the verses that I have been praying over and claiming this last week.
And it's amazing. God is working to give us a great house. His plans, His timing, not mine. And while all the details and a signed contract are still in the process, God is giving us a hope and a future.
Later, (maybe tomorrow) I'll write about the other portion of scripture that has impacted me this week.

Gypsie Life Continues

2009-05-17T10:19:00.002-04:00

Since the end of April the kids and I haven't spent much more than 2 weeks on one place at one time. We have been in Kansas (at Brian's parents), at our friends' house in Orlando for 1.5 weeks, at the RV park for about 2 weeks, then to my brother's in South Carolina for 9 days counting driving time, and now we've been back at the RV for a little over a week. This is our longest stretch. The kids and I will be here for almost a whole four weeks before we fly to Vermont to visit my parents for 2 weeks. (Only 2 1/2 weeks left and I'm counting the days). Maybe, just maybe, when we come back we'll be getting into a house a couple of weeks after that. Since we haven't been in our own place for over 8 months now, I can hardly wait.

Hill Obstructs View

2009-04-30T13:30:00.002-04:00

On Tuesday I drove from Florida to Greenville South Carolina. Following Google's directions I went cross country through Florida at one point. I saw the most hilarious sign... It said something like: Caution: Hill obstructs View. So what? Florida has so few hills that they have to warn people about it? Coming from driving in the Colorado Rockies every week for the last 6 months, I had a good laugh at the sign.

And it is a very sad commentary on the landscape in Florida.

House Hunting

2009-04-24T22:29:00.002-04:00

House hunting has become much more of a chore than we ever expected it to be around here. When we first looked at houses there were a lot at a really good price. Fortunately we got hooked up with a really good realtor, who let us know that most of those were in an area that we really didn't want to live in. However the first time we went looking at houses with him, when we were here for the interview, we found one that we liked pretty well. It was a bit smaller than we had hoped for but had an awesome yard. We couldn't make an offer at the time because we still had to wait for the official offer from Brian's job to get financing.
When we finally got moved down here that house was gone, but we had 5 more to look at. Two of those were GREAT and within a day we had pre-approval for a loan and were ready to make an offer. We decided which house would be our first choice and our realtor called about it. We had looked at houses on Saturday. THAT house had already had an accepted offer on it on Friday.
So we decided to go for choice number 2. As our realtor looked into that house he found out that it was a bidding process. This was Monday. We went ahead and filled out the paper work to put in our "bid" on Monday. The bidding wouldn't close until Wed. night. Tuesday we had to go into the Realtor's office to sign or initial literally over 20 more pages of contract junk. He said he'd never seen such a thing. And then we waited. Thursday afternoon we found out the bank selling the house hadn't accepted any of the bids and we would need to rebid, higher. Which we did. At that point the almost impossibility of getting that house seemed to gain a glimmer of hope. Maybe we could get it after all. Well, tonight, Friday, we found out that we were not the winning bid. Guess that wasn't the house God had planned for us.
So it's back to waiting. Waiting to see what else comes on the market, waiting to see how long we "get" to live in our borrowed camper. Waiting to see what plans God has for this period of waiting.
I should have known none of this would be easy. Apparently we haven't learned our "waiting" lesson yet...

Living in an RV Park

2009-04-23T12:33:00.002-04:00

Is an interesting experience to say the least. Most everyone is very friendly, and actually the majority of the residence are packing up and heading home. The "snowbirds" are picking tomatoes, cleaning closets, and loading their cars...these are the conversations I overhear.
The first morning that I took Jinx for a walk I discovered where all the guys hang out fist thing in the morning...the Horseshoe pit. But even that has been quiet the last few days.
Yesterday while we were at the pool (the best part of living here) we say a screened gazebo type house driving down the road on a bucket loader. Apparently our next door neighbor is now the proud owner of it...where ever it came from. His name is Less and seems to have quite a crowd around his table everyday. Usually a bunch of women in the morning and a bunch of old guys with beers in the afternoon. But even crowd seems to have dwindled in the last few days.
Our most interesting and friendly neighbors are in back of us. Foster and Edna. Foster brings me yesterday's paper every morning, and on occassion both of them have brought the kids little treats.
All in all it's not a bad place to live, under the palm trees. But being a stay at home AND homeschooling mom in a 26 ft (30 when it's cool enough to have the pop out tent bed part down) trailer with no promising end in sight with 2 kids and a dog, is definitely NOT my ideal living conditions. Today we are going to "clean" up the camper. Why do I have a feeling it's going to take longer than cleaning our house in MI???

Life of a Gypsie

2009-04-23T08:31:00.002-04:00

I'm not entirely sure where I live anymore... It's been a crazy year, well more like a crazy 9 months...can't even say it's been a whole year. Last summer Brian and I started to put in process a dream we've had to live in Colorado. That was in June/July. 9 months later we have are living in Florida. In Brief:

Brian got a job at the Rocky Mountain News in Denver and started in the beginning of Sept.
I finished my job in Michigan the beginning of October, along with packing the house, homeschooling the kids, and getting ready for a marathon.
Kids and I moved to Colorado, with a brief side trip to Chicago to run the Marathon in the middle of October.
In November we decided to have a 3rd child and got pregnant.
At the end of November Brian found out the Rocky was up for sale and the reality was it would probably close.
At the end of February the Rocky closed and Brian had not found a job, even though he'd looked since December
Only job that had been offered was at the Naples Daily News in Florida
In March we figured God must want us in Naples and began that process.
That process to WAY longer than we had hoped. But Brian finally started work in Florida on April 13.

And that is where we are...I think. Except that I didn't mention we are now looking for a house in the Naples area and while we are doing that we are living in our friends 26 - 30 ft. camping trailer at an RV park...but those experiences will take up their own posts :)

The reason I don't blog

2008-11-14T17:31:00.002-05:00

is that actually I do blog. In my head. Almost every day. And that is the reason I don't blog. Because if I don't blog what I've already thought about blogging then I get too far behind and can't blog because I haven't blogged all my thought blogs and can't start a new blog with all the other thought blogs unfinished.
So there!

The end of the craziness

2008-11-14T17:15:00.002-05:00

I'd like to say I've been so traumatized by the marathon that I can only now write about it...but that would only be to cover up what a horrible blogger I am :)
We did run (some of) and finished the Chicago Marathon in October. Managed to come in 29,500 and some odd (can you tell I wasn't to crazy about memorizing my place) out of 31,000 some odd finishers. Brian and I were together almost all of the time and crossed the finish line together. It got really hot towards the end...but perhaps that's because our time stretched out to 6 hours and 15 minutes..oh boy. We ran the first 14 miles, walked the next, ran about another mile, and mostly walked the rest. My left leg, knee, and hip kept cramping up whenever I'd try to run very much. We did make a good show and ran the last 1/4 mile :)
The WORST part was crossing the finish line and then having to walk yet ANOTHER mile to get to the meeting place, and then walk almost 2 miles back to the place we stayed. Yeah, I know, it was good for us to keep going....
So it's over. I'd hoped to do a little better...coming in 29 thousand and some doesn't do much for the ego :) But we did finish! Can't say we'll do it again.
Next summer we're contemplating hiking a fourteener (mountain that is over 14,000 feet high) and maybe hiking some of the continental divide trail.

Calling all Movers!

2008-10-02T21:04:00.003-04:00

I am having a moving party on Saturday from 9am - 2pm. Everything (almost) is packed and ready to be loaded into our relo-cubes which will be arriving tomorrow (Friday). So bring your muscles and help me move my house into a couple little boxes! Don't feel strong? There's always cleaning and touch up painting to do! Pizza is on me (for lunch - not breakfast!)
My address is 7690 Butler Ct. - Check out google maps or mapquest for directions. Or give me a call 270-0538.
If we don't get done on Saturday (cause I have to quit early for a Kid Crossing/Fusion volunteer kick off) we'll finish up Sunday afternoon, so check in with me Sunday AM if you couldn't make it Saturday.
See ya soon!

My Last Official Sunday is 10/5

2008-10-02T20:56:00.003-04:00

I'm pretty sure most everyone has heard by now, but I am moving to Colorado. My last Sunday and last official day of employment at Crossroads is this Sunday 10/5. If you're around this week take the trek to the Kid Crossing end and say "Hi" and "Goodbye". I hear there's gonna be cake!
Brian's been in Denver since Labor Day. So the kids and I are definitely ready to join him. We will head out either Tuesday or Wednesday and drive to Kansas (where my in-laws live). Just me, 2 kids, one dog, 4 cats and 14 hours...how exciting! We will spend a few days in KS (Topeka), and I will make a small side trip to Chicago to run the marathon leaving the kids with the grandparents. We will head to Denver the following Tues. or Wed.
Hopefully I'll have more time to blog after the move, so will try to keep you updated for as long as you care to follow!

10K Kelly Carter Scholarship Run

2008-07-19T11:43:00.003-04:00

Well, I survived my first official run. I think I like running by myself better than with a bunch of people. (not that I was with a bunch of people for long) That should make the Chicago Marathon interesting :)
It was hot and humid, but thankfully the sun wasn't out. My goal was not to be the last person to finish, and I made it - just barely. I think I was 3rd to last. However I did get a silver medal for my age group... Spiffy, huh? yeah, until you realize there was no bronze medal given out, hence there were only 2 people in my age group... :) Oh well. Not even sure what my time was. 64: something. Not bad for me.
Certainly makes one rethink a marathon though... What WAS I thinking?

7 miles of hills

2008-06-23T15:57:00.002-04:00

This past Saturday (my birthday) was our first 7 mile run. Remember this is as far as I've ever run... I let Brian pick our route, 'cause he wanted to do something "different". Well, we did something DIFFERENT all right. We took a "lovely" route through the Irish Hills, of which I think we found a few of the biggest hills in SE Michigan. On top of that, Map My Run, told us a road went through when it was actually a dead end. Ended up only adding .5 miles, but it seemed like an extra 2 miles at least! All I've got to say, is I'm sure glad Chicago is flat!

Guess which one

2008-06-23T15:43:00.007-04:00

So, last weekend 6/13 & 6/14, my director team and I (and our spouses) went to Liquid Leadership in Holland, MI. We had two hotel experiences. Can you guess which place we stayed?

Liquid part 1

2008-06-13T22:19:00.003-04:00

Liquid has been awesome so far! We had a great afternoon and evening, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I was going to give a brief update on the notes...but left my notes in the car and I'm the kind of person who's chained to my written notes - not my memory!
BUT... Leadership is liquid. We have to continually fill ourselves up so we can pour it out. And we have to pour on those we lead in the way they will best get it, not in the way that's best for us. Craig talked about 6.5 types of people that you lead and how you can (or can't) pour into each type.
Lots of other stuff that I have in my notes but not in my brain at 10:30pm and some great things to think about AND a very interesting non-conference experience. But I'll write about that in the next day or two when I have my picture documentation up to date. It's quite hilarious :)

Liquid Leadership

2008-06-13T08:49:00.002-04:00

I'm off to the Liquid Leadership Conference with my directors and our spouses. It's done by Craig Jutila and his team at empoweringkids.net. I'm am very excited and looking forward to this time (today and tomorrow) to soak in some more fuel for myself and my team! I'll try to post some thoughts and ideas later today if our hotel has internet. (or maybe the church will). Anyway...It's off to Holland (Michigan) we go!

Practice #7

2008-06-11T12:32:00.000-04:00

June 8

P.R.A.C.T.I.C.E. Definition: A custom or habit of doing something.

Coaching leaders to realize and fulfill their shape and potential

Hebrews 10:24
Let us think about each other and help each other to show love and do good deeds.

Quote:
“A good leader takes people where they want to go and ought to be, but a great leader takes people where they don't want to go but ought to be.” unknown

How is your serving experience? Are you excited about the opportunities God will give you each week? Do you anticipate coming in on Sundays (or whatever the day of the week is that you serve)? Are you energized at the end of it?
As a Kid Crossing volunteer we want you to fulfill your shape and potential. When we say shape, we're basically talking about the way God wired you. Your Spiritual gifts, your heart, your abilities, your past experiences, and your experience. We believe that when you put all of those things together in your serving role, you'll be energized and empowered. And you'll be serving just where God wants you!
I once had a volunteer who wasn't sure that they would do very good working with kids. This individual wasn't sure what they could do to make a difference. So we talked and tried out a couple of things. We pushed the boundaries of her comfort zone a little bit. And you know what? This individual became a great Kid Crossing volunteer. She impacted many kids lives. Once we found the serving opportunity that fit her shape there was no stopping her.
My question for you this week, and as we go into this summer is are you using your full shape and potential? Are you excited and energized? If so, you are in a great spot! Keep serving God and changing lives! If not, talk with me or another KC Director. Let us help you find just the right spot to serve. When you are serving God by using your shape and fulfilling your potential, the eternal impact you will make will no no bounds!

Question for this week:
Am I using my shape and potential to change lives at Crossroads?
If I am, who can I lead to join me in changing kids lives? If not, who can I talk to so that I can use my shape and potential to change kids lives?

Vacation

2008-06-06T16:48:00.003-04:00

My family and I spent the past week in Cape May, NJ, for a family wedding, and Hershey, PA, just for fun! Cape May was a beautiful town, and I could get use to living on the Ocean... We didn't spend near enough time there. But we did get to see and visit a slew of my relatives, which is always fun.
Then we headed to Hershey, PA for a couple of days, with my brother and nephew (3 1/2) and my parents. Hershey Park is one of our all time favorite amusement parks. I went there as a kid and we've continued the tradition every few years. With schools not officially out yet, it was a great time to go. We rode the "big" rides - the major roller coasters - early in the AM and then again in the evening, after the school groups had left. Micah, our 9 year old rode all 11 this year and could hardly be bothered with anything else! Even Hannah, 6, got the coaster bug, and the last half hour we were there she and I rode 2 coasters 4 times.
It was a great start to the summer, and now Hannah and Micah are enjoying Grandparent "camp" in Vermont for the rest of June!

Running on the beach

2008-06-06T16:39:00.003-04:00

has got to be my all time favorite run so far! Brian and I ran on the beach at Cape May, NJ, around 7:30 am Saturday. The morning was cool, the tide was out, and the sky was blue. What a gorgeous morning. We ran about 4 miles, mostly down by the water where the sand was packed. The beach was mostly empty except for a few fisherman (fishing for Sharks, one told me - and we saw the proof up on the beach) and a few walkers.
Oh yeah, did I mention we ran barefoot! ? Those who know me know this is my preferred foot attire... around the house, around the yard, around the office... It was awesome! I felt better after that run than I had for a couple of weeks.

Practice #6

2008-06-06T16:36:00.001-04:00

June 1

P.R.A.C.T.I.C.E. Definition: A custom or habit of doing something.

Investing in others through open and honest relationships

Pilippians 2:4
Do not be interested only in your own life, but be interested in the lives of others.

Quote:
“One thing for sure, if you see a turtle on top of a fence post you know he had help getting there.” unknown

One of our values in Kid Crossing is building relationships. We can't go through life on our own. Crossroads is not a small church where everyone knows everything about everyone else. Relationships very rarely just happen on their own. We have to intentionally build relationships for both kids and adults. We have to invest time and effort into building relationships.
One way to get connected and invest in others is through your serving team and in your small group. Do you know the other people you serve with? Do they know you? We always have places to be and things to do, but take a few minutes each week to chat with those you serve. Get to know them. It will make a difference in your serving experience and maybe even in your life. If you are not in a small group, find one or start one. Maybe you'll even want to start one with the people you serve with. Being part of a serving team or a small group means you'll have people around you to help you celebrate the good times and get through the tough times. If you'd like help getting hooked up in a small group talk to Melonie, Shari, or Lee and we'd be happy to help you find a place to plug in.
Investing in kids is one of the main reasons you are here! Investing through relationships means a lot more than just hanging out with them on Sunday morning. Connect with them through the week. Find out what's going on in their lives. Pray for them. Share celebrations and disappointments with them. We actually have plans to help you begin to intentionally build relationships with your kids, beginning with our K-5 small group shepherds. We're really excited about this, and you'll be hearing more about it in the upcoming weeks. We think it will make a huge difference for some of you, and the ability you will have to connect with your kids!
For some of you investing in others comes naturally, for others it will mean extra effort. But in the end, it will be more than worth it!

Question for this week:
Who am I investing in and building open, honest relationships with?
How can I invest in the lives of the kids I serve this summer, other than during small group time on Sunday Mornings?

Practice #5

2008-06-06T16:34:00.001-04:00

May 25

Note: Going to Reston and then getting ready to leave for Vacation, really messed up my brain. Trying to catch up again!

P.R.A.C.T.I.C.E. Definition: A custom or habit of doing something.

Trusting God for the impossible, the unknown, and the unseen

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust the Lord with all your heart, and don't depend on your own understanding. Remember the Lord in all you do, and he will give you success.

Quote:
“Act as though it were impossible to fail.” Winston Churchill

I'm reading a book called “In a Pit with a Lion on a Snow Day” by Mark Batterson. It's based on the acts of a dude named Benaiah, in 2 Samuel 23:20-21. Basically he kileed to of Moabs mightiest warriors, fought and killed a lion in a pit, on a snowy day, and killed an Egyptian warrior when the warrior had a spear and Benaiah only had a club. Benaiah goes on to become the captain of David's army. A pretty impressive story. But the point the author is making is that we have to trust God enough to face the impossible, the unknown, and the unseen. Because those experiences just might prepare us for something bigger and better that God has in mind. Benaiah acted like it was impossible to fail and he succeeded
Thankfully I don't think any of us are going to run into angry warriors, or lions in a pit, on a snow day. But we do face challenges. You face challenges at home, at work, and in serving at Crossroads. The question is will you run away from the challenges, or will you trust God completely, for the impossible, the unknown, and the unseen?
Proverbs 3:5-6 has been my favorite Bible verse for many years. It's so easy to start relying on ourselves, on what we know, and what we can control. But it also then becomes so easy to avoid our challenges and opportunities. The only way we can truly act as though it's impossible to fail is by completely trusting God. The only way we'll win our battles with lions, in pits, on snow days, is by letting God lead and guide us. Because if I went on my own understanding, I wouldn't be getting anywhere near that pit or the lion!

Question for this week:
Am I trusting God and letting Him lead my life?
What are my lions that I need to conquer and with God's help act as though it's impossible to fail?

Running this AM

2008-05-22T07:07:00.002-04:00

was a very interesting experience. I pretty much ran from our motel, around the perimeter of downtown Reston, and back. Only about 3 miles total. It's AMAZING to me how many people live within and around that 3 miles. Apartments upon apartments, upon condos, upon townhouses.... and I barely wound around any of the side streets that are filled with housing.
One could live around here and never need to own a car. It's pretty incredible. I think it would be fun to live in a city...at least for a little while.
It's a beautiful morning. I even found a running "super highway"... at the end of my run, so didn't follow it very far. But there were quite a few people going up and down it.
I'm finally looking forward to today. I'm ready to learn how to continue to grow as a leader.

In Reston, VA

2008-05-21T21:46:00.002-04:00

We made it to Reston, VA. There is some beautiful country between MI and here. We spent all day in a van, and it's nice to be out of it! Tonight we walked around downtown Reston. A very cool place. Having lived in the country, basically all of my life, I'm always fascinated with cities. It was cold and rainy when we got here, but it actually turned out pretty nice. We discovered we can just walk from our hotel to the Hyatt, downtown, where the Whiteboard Conference will be. It should be a good day tomorrow.

Stress - I think I need a vacation!

2008-05-21T21:40:00.003-04:00

This is the best Stress test I've seen! I received this in an email:

STRESS
I am not sure exactly how this works, but this is amazingly accurate.

The picture below has 2 identical dolphins in it. It was used in a
case study on stress levels at the Mayo Clinic and later at
Fletcher Medical Center in Burlington.

Look at both dolphins jumping out of the water. The dolphins are identical. A closely monitored, scientific study revealed that, in spite of the fact that the dolphins are identical, a person under stress will find many differences between the two dolphins.

The more differences a person finds, the more stress that person is experiencing..

Look at the photograph and if you find more than one or two differences you may need to take a vacation.

Heading to the Whiteboard Conference

2008-05-20T22:09:00.003-04:00

I am getting ready to head to the Whiteboard Conference in Reston, VA, with some of the other C3 staff in the AM. It's going to be a flying trip. Down, back, plus conference in less than 48 hours.
The conference itself could be very interesting. Eight church leaders each get 1/2 hour to talk about a leadership principle. I'll let you know what I think. You can check it out here.

Training - Week 9

2008-05-16T13:12:00.002-04:00

In case you can't believe it, I'm still training for the Chicago Marathon! (it's now only 5 months away) I'm in week 9 of the training program. The furtherest I've run at one time so far is 5 miles, which is a long way from 26.2 miles, but a lot further than I've ever run before. And I'm running so far...no walking. I'm not going to be breaking any speed records, though! Next week will be my last runs in the two mile range. From there on it only goes up. When June hits the mileage starts to pick up faster... Stay tuned :)

Be a Kool Aide this Summer

2008-05-16T13:08:00.003-04:00

Be a Kool Aide
in Kid Crossing

No experience necessary
Lend a helping hand

Sundays this Summer: June, July, August
1 time, once a month, or every week
0-2 year olds, 3 years – PreK, and Kindergarten – Grade 5
Change lives, have fun, make a difference in Crossroads families, serve God
Students AND adults (not just parents)

Sign up for a date and time at the Kool Aide Stands at Crossroads
located in the Grand Lobby, across from the 0-2 area, and at the elementary entrance

Practice #4 - May 18

2008-05-16T13:04:00.001-04:00

May 18, 2008

V.I.P.
(Vision. Information. Prayer.)

P.R.A.C.T.I.C.E. Definition: A custom or habit of doing something.

Creating an exciting, fun learning environment with excellence

Mark 2:22
No one ever pours new wine into old leather bags. Otherwise, the new wine will break the bags, and the win will be ruined along with the bags. But new wine should be put into new leather bags.

Quote:
“If you want to succeed, you should strike out on new paths rather than travel the worn paths of accepted success.” John D. Rockefeller Jr.

Create an exciting, fun learning environment:
Kids want fun and excitement, but you know what? So do adults! We're really the same. Have you ever sat through a boring meeting, lecture, or presentation? How much did you learn? If you're like me you zoned out, planned the rest of your day, or thought about something that was much more interesting. Now think about something you did that was fun and exciting? Where was your attention? In your planner or email? Or was it focused on what was happening?
We have got to create exciting and fun learning environments for our kids. What we have to teach these kids is so incredibly important that we don't want to make it dull and boring. We are impacting their futures and their eternities! If you are having fun and feeling excited about your serving experience, than keep up the great work. If you're not, talk to us, let's work together to better create a fun and exciting environment OR help you find a different place that is fun and exciting for you. Because it begins with you. If you are having fun, the kids will too!

With Excellence:
My greatest desire for each of you in your volunteer roles is that you fulfill your role with excellence. Excellence means doing the best you can do. It does not mean perfection. None of us are perfect, so that's out of the question. But God deserves our best. Our kids deserve our best. Let's give them our best! Whether you're setting up, presenting the lesson, working with a small group, or doing potty breaks, do it with Excellence and watch how lives are changed!

Question for this week:
Are you creating an exciting, fun learning environment with EXCELLENCE? If not, what do we need to change?

Practice #3 - May 11

2008-05-16T13:03:00.001-04:00

May 11, 2008

V.I.P.
(Vision. Information. Prayer.)

P.R.A.C.T.I.C.E. Definition: A custom or habit of doing something.

Affirming, honoring, and valuing others through authentic leadership.

1 Thessalonians 5:11
Therefore encourage one another, and build up one another, just as you also are doing

I bet it was amazing to be one of the twelve disciples. Talk about authentic leadership! Jesus was the BEST at affirming, honoring and valuing His team. He praised them and He coached them. He even had to reprimand them on occasion. The disciples respected Him and loved Him because of the leader he was.
My mom also makes me think of authentic leadership. I don't think there has ever been anyone as affirming, honoring, and valuing to me as my mom. Mom's are like that. Mom's are great leaders.
In Kid Crossing, the Director Team and I value our volunteers more than we can ever express. There is no way we could begin to change and impact kids' and families' lives without you guys. It is our goal to affirm and value you. We will do our best to provide you with authentic leadership; to let you know when you're doing something well, and to coach you in ways you can do your job even better.
You are also leaders. Many of you directly lead groups of kids. Just like the Bible verse today says, you need to encourage and build up the kids you influence. Let them know you value them. Affirm them on Sundays, but also throughout the week. Maybe it's a phone call, an email, or a note in the mail. Kids love to get stuff like that.
Make it your goal this week to affirm, value, and honor each person you come in contact with this week. Whether it's your child, or the cashier at Meijer, show them authentic leadership. You will be leading, even if it's only to get the cashier to smile !

Question for this week:
How will you affirm, value and honor the kids you interact with, or the people who look to you as a leader?

Quote:
“Definition of an arch: Two weaknesses leaning against each other to make a strength” - Leonardo Divinci

Practice #2 - May 4

2008-05-16T13:01:00.001-04:00

May 4, 2008

V.I.P.
(Vision. Information. Prayer.)

P.R.A.C.T.I.C.E. Definition: A custom or habit of doing something.

Risking failure through innovation and reinvention of programs.

Joshua 1:9
I have commanded you, 'Be strong and courageous! Don't tremble or be terrified, because the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.'

Thomas Edison, great inventor, set out to create an electric light. The first one he made didn't work. Neither did the second or the tenth, or the 100th or even the 1000th. But Edison didn't give up. He was willing to risk failure because he knew that eventually he would find the right combination of materials that would succeed, and that when he did succeed it would be a HUGE success. Each time his light bulb didn't work, he didn't look at it as a failure, he looked as it as a learning process. He now knew what wouldn't work! Each time he was one step closer to success. Finally, somewhere around the 10,000th time, he succeeded. And can you imagine how much greater his victory and his excitement then, than if it had worked the 2nd or 3rd time?
Edison wasn't afraid to risk failure and to reinvent and rework what he was doing until he got it right! He was just making light. How much more should we be willing to risk failure and keep working and reinventing when what we're working on, kids and families lives, their eternities are at stake?
The way we do things at Kid Crossing and at Crossroads rarely stays the same for very long. The reason is that we want to find the very best way to change lives for eternity. As we bring this school year to a close, and look towards the summer and next school year, we will be reinventing some aspects of what we do. Every time we do that we risk failure, but every time we fail, we can look at it as one step closer to achieving the ultimate success! Risking failure isn't easy. I HATE to fail! But the victory of success when we finally succeed makes taking that risk totally worth it!

Question for this week:
What are you willing to Risk failing at in order to make what you're doing better:
At church?
At home?
At work?

Quote:
“Far better is it to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much because they live in that gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.” - Theodore Roosevelt

Practice #1 - April 27

2008-05-16T12:59:00.002-04:00

April 27, 2008

V.I.P.
(Vision. Information. Prayer.)

P.R.A.C.T.I.C.E. Definition: A custom or habit of doing something.

Protecting children with an uncompromising safety process.

Matthew 18:6
If one of these little children believes in me and someone causes that child to sin, then it will be very bad for that person. It would be better for him to have a large stone tied around his neck and be drowned in the sea.

In Kid Crossing we want kids to learn about Jesus, we want them to become Forever Friends with Him, and we want them to grow in their relationship with Him. But we want this all to happen while they are safe. Safety is a key concern for families. Safety covers a huge area in Kid Crossing. From check out, to bathrooms, to who's in your area, our policies are mainly developed around keeping both you and our kids safe.
I recently met with a children's ministry director from another church. One Sunday, not too long ago, she had one girl who passed out cold in the hallway. While people were around trying to help this girl, someone else came up and told this Director that a 2 year old had just had a seizure. After a lot of running, parents were called, 911 was called, and everything turned out OK in the end. But that conversation put things like two bathroom “accidents” in one area, into perspective for me. And helped to remind me that we've got some great systems in place to keep our kids safe and to help us when we have emergencies. We have a safety team and we have radios.
But that's just one way we keep our kids safe. We do it through background checks on volunteers, by checking out every child, no matter who they belong to, by asking strangers in our areas if we can help them, and by not giving out any information about a child to anyone. Obviously, God wants us to keep our kids safe. As we look at the Bible verse today, we see Jesus uses some pretty strong language about those who don't keep kids safe. Our systems and our kids safety is only as good as what we make it and how we work together to follow our policies. Thanks for the great job you doing caring for our kids and keeping them safe! Keep it up!

Question for this week:
Am I doing all I can in my volunteer role to Protect kids with uncompromising safety?

Quote:
“In God we trust, all others must be screened.”

V.I.P. time

2008-05-16T12:51:00.002-04:00

We, the Kid Crossing directors, finally decided on a name for our Sunday morning gathering time. Actually we're using a name I learned from Promiseland at Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago. We're calling it V.I.P. time. One, because our volunteers ARE very important people. And two, because we giving Vision (V), Information (I), and Prayer (P) during that time.

Three weeks ago we started looking at volunteer P.R.A.C.T.I.C.E.s. These are included in the Kid Crossing volunteer handbook. I got these from Craig Jutila, and Saddelback's Children's Ministry. I will post them here as we add to them each week. The actual practice, Bible verse, and quote come from material from Saddleback. The random thoughts on each section are mine.

Off the blog wagon

2008-05-16T12:47:00.002-04:00

I fell off the blog wagon yet again :) So, if you're one of the two people who have mentioned it in the last two months, the following posts should make up for it :) There's always lots of stuff going on in Kid Crossing and in my life! Maybe that's why I keep forgetting to blog. Oh well... Here's yet another try.

Volunteer Thought for March 16

2008-03-21T12:23:00.001-04:00

March 16, 2008

Ephesians 3:20
“Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.”

More than we would ever dare to ask or hope
This is the BIG statement in this verse for me. Just imagine that God promises to do infinitely more than we could or even would ask or hope! That's amazing! As we learn in preschool, we know we can trust what the Bible says because the Bible is always true. So, we know that God can do more than we could ask or hope.
The question becomes, how much do you dare? Do you only dare to ask or hope for a little? Or do you dare to ask or hope for a lot? Because whichever it is, God will do more. So, do we limit what God will do for us by only asking and hoping for a little?
My challenge for us this week is to dare to ask and hope for something BIG! Then we can be amazed at how God uses His power in us to do infinitely more!

Questions to ponder this week
What will you dare to ask or hope for this week...
...personally?
...in Kid Crossing and Crossroads?

Pray
This week as you pray, dare to ask God for something BIG, and then ask Him to use His power in you to do infinitely more.
Dear God,
It's amazing that you are willing to let your mighty power work within us. Help us this week to use your power so that we can do more than we could ask or hope in our lives and the lives of those we impact. Amen.

Next week
Easter Services – Gathering times will be Saturday 3:40 pm and 5:10 pm and Sunday at 9:10 am and 10:40 am.

Policy of the week:
Identification and Uncompromising Safety
For safety purposes we do not permit people to wander around the children’s areas unattended. We depend on you to assist us in helping to make Kid Crossing a safe environment for all our children.
Each volunteer in KC is required to wear their identification tag to show they are authorized volunteers.
If someone enters your area and says they are a parent or are from another church and “just want to look around.” Please direct them to a check-in kiosk to get a visitor tag.
Do not allow anyone without proper ID in your area. If you have questions about someone entering your area, contact someone from the KC leadership team.

Here are some things going on this week to be aware of...
This Sunday (Today), March 16, at 3 p.m. will be the Egg Stuffing for the Egg Hunt. If you've never participated in one of these - YOU HAVE TO COME! It's lots of fun! Takes place in the Grand Lobby
The Cruisers will be having a meeting in the Carousel Room directly following the 3rd experience in the Carousel Room (should we get any questions about that).
Passion and Prayer will be next Wednesday, March 19, in the Auditorium. We still have tickets left over and this will be the last Sunday for them.
Flashlight Egg Hunt will be held on the grounds of LCS at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 21. We do encourage people to get to the Hunt at 7 p.m. for registration.
Easter worship experience times: No Kid Fusion Easter weekend
·Saturday, March 22, 4 & 5:30 p.m.
· Sunday, March 23, 9:30 & 11:00 a.m.
C.L.A.S.S. 101, 201 & 301 will be offered again on Sunday, April 20, from 3-7:30 p.m. Sign-up's for CLASS will begin on Sunday, March 30. Sign-up sheets are available at the What's Happening table in the Grand Lobby. Note: 401 will NOT be offered this go round.
Celebrate Recovery will be hosting an Open House on Wednesday, April 23 at 6:30 p.m. This will be for anyone who wants to check out what Celebrate Recovery is all about.
The next annual Blessing of the Bikes will take place on Saturday, May 10, from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. on the grounds of the CFC. More information is available at the What's Happening table in the Grand Lobby.
Women Who Worship will be offering another Extension Class called, He Speaks To Me, which will begin on Wednesday, May 14, 2008. Class will be from 6:30-8:30 p.m. for 6 weeks. Registration for this class will begin on Sunday, April 27. Once again, they will have the first table located in the Grand Lobby to promote this class. WHC volunteers will be handling registrations and money collection.
Kid Fusion Auditions will be Saturday evening, April 12. Know anyone who loves to have fun, love the spot light, or loves to be a part of changing families lives? Contact Shari Glass at 270-0538 or shari@ilovemychurch.org for more information. Auditions are open to anyone from 6th grade to 192!

Temporary Insanity, Peer Pressure, or Completely lost my Mind

2008-03-20T20:50:00.003-04:00

I won't be at Crossroads on October 12. I won't be in Adrian on October 12. I won't even be in Michigan on October 12.

I will be in Chicago on October 12...doing a....marathon.

Yep, I caved in to the marathon bug that's subtly going around Crossroads. I'm not entirely sure WHY I did. It was something I never had any desire to do. Actually I pretty much told Brian he was not very intelligent for considering it. And now I'm doing it too. However the key word here is "doing" not "running". I'll probably run some and walk some. I have started on Hal Higdon's Novice Supreme training, though. We'll see how it goes.

A Dad's Job

2008-03-20T20:39:00.003-04:00

This afternoon at my son's violin lesson, he and his teacher, Pastor Doug, were talking about how Mom didn't think burping (Micah's an expert) was appropriate. Micah pointed out that Dad didn't have a problem with burping and Pastor Doug told Micah that was a "mom's job", to teach kids to be appropriate. After agreeing that that was indeed a "mom's job" Micah's next observation was: "And cooking is a dad's job."
So there you have it. All you mom's out there...cooking is a dad's job!
And for those of you who might not know...my husband does do all the cooking around here. There are a few unique trade offs (he's very um...healthy...) But all in all, it's a pretty good deal!

We WILL hunt eggs!

2008-03-20T20:30:00.002-04:00

Tomorrow night, Friday, we have our Flashlight Easter Egg Hunt with 66,000 eggs. Tomorrow night, we have a winter storm watch with up to 7 inches of snow possible (at least that's the last I heard). We will still be hunting eggs if it's at all possible! We talked at staff meeting about how God will give us just the weather He wants to be able to touch just the people he wants. So if God wants us to hunt eggs in the snow, that's what we will do :)
This could be our first actual egg HUNT. (Usually it's more like an egg gathering.) So whether you're a volunteer, or a family who's coming to the hunt, dress warm, wear your snow pants and put gloves and hats on your kids and come on out. Whether there's green (o.k. brown) grass or white snow, there will be eggs!

3rd Grade Field Trip

2008-03-13T13:06:00.003-04:00

I have the "opportunity" to visit the Natural Science Museum in Ann Arbor tomorrow with my son, his 3rd grade class, and probably the other 5 3rd grade classes as well! It should be an exciting day. I'm least looking forward to an hour long school bus ride one way...
I received this "opportunity" by winning the lottery. The "which parent gets to go on a school field trip" lottery. Honestly, I only submitted my entry into this lottery to make my son happy. Being one of those people who never win, I figured my chances of actually experiencing this "opportunity" would be slim. Imagine my surprise to find out I had the winning ticket.
But really, it should be a fun day to hang out with my son and his friends....if only it weren't for diesel fumes, bumpy rides, and more kids than should be legal in a fairly small space... :)

April's Video Marathon

2008-03-13T12:21:00.002-04:00

Last night we spent almost 4 hours shooting video for all things Kid Crossing: PreK; K-5; Kd Fusion; and even squeezed in an Egg Hunt commercial. All that and we only set off the alarm at the place we shoot at once! A giant thanks to everyone who acted and shot the video: Jay & Pete (our tech gurus), Angela, Jessica, Raymond, & Wendy - who looks absolutely fabulous in yellow, Becca, Eric, and Becky. Because of the extra time you all took last night, kids and families lives will be changed! Thanks a TON!!!!

Volunteer Thought for March 9

2008-03-13T12:17:00.001-04:00

March 9, 2008

Ephesians 3:20
“Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.”

Infinitely More
“To infinity and beyond!” A common household phrase due to the blockbuster film Toy Story. But what does infinitely more really mean? It's a concept that we can barely begin to understand. One dictionary entry says Infinite is “Having no boundaries or limits. Immeasurably great or large; boundless.” Wow....!

Even Good ol' Buzz Lightyear couldn't even make it to infinity let alone beyond. Everything in our realm of existence is finite. A day, a book, a job, a really good cookie, even a life. So it's really hard for us to comprehend that God is infinite, never ending, immeasurably great. Then on top of that, to imagine that he can do infinitely more in us, can feel sort of impossible. (Even though we know nothing is impossible for God.)

Nevertheless, God promises to do infinitely more in us. That means he's going to do more than we can imagine. He's going to do something so big and so great in us that it can't be measured.

This week let's ask God to start his amazing, boundless work in us and through us, in our everyday lives and in our service to His kids.

Questions to ponder this week
What areas of your life do you need to stop controlling and let God's Power work within you?

How can you use God's power to impact and influence the lives of the kids and families you serve?

How can you make sure to let God's power work within you from the beginning (instead of trying to do it on your own first)?

Pray
Pray this week for God to use His power in you in all that you do and especially as you build into the lives of the kids you serve.
Dear God,
It's amazing that you are willing to let your mighty power work within us. Help us this week to use your power so that we can do more than we could ask or hope in our lives and the lives of those we impact. Amen.

Next week
Make sure you join us at 8:10 or 11:10 as we finish looking at Ephesians 3:20

Forget or lose this page? Find it on my blog each week: www.shariglass.com
Policy Reminder of the week:

Please wear your Kid Crossing Shirt!

It is VERY important that you wear your Kid Crossing Shirt while volunteering unless you are in costume as a specific character. ONE: It helps parents and kids easily identify who you are and for them to know who they can go to for questions. TWO: It is a safety precaution that identifies who you are. Now that we are not using lanyard, shirts are our only way to specifically identify who is a volunteer and who is not. THREE: It helps us to look good – we are all working together! (and there's a 4th one: you don't have to figure out what to wear in the morning!)

Upcoming Events:

Students will be attending Acquire The Fire at the Joe Louis Arena next weekend, March 7 & 8. All questions should be directed to the Student Table in the Grand Lobby.

Crossroads will be offering Passion and Prayer on Wednesday, March 19. Beginning at 6:30 p.m., we will be showing the movie, The Passion of the Christ. Following the movie, there will be a time for prayer together for the persons being invited to attend the Easter worship experiences the following weekend. Since seating in the auditorium is limited to 700, we will be giving out tickets for this event. Tickets will be available, beginning this Sunday, March 2, at our What's Happening Center.

Volunteer Expo will be set-up again this Sunday in the Grand Lobby.

Egg Hunt Egg Stuffing will take place on Sunday, March 16, at 3 p.m. at the CFC.

Flashlight Egg Hunt will be held on the grounds of LCS at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 21.

Our Easter worship experience times will be as follows: No Kid Fusion during this weekend.
Saturday, March 22, 4 & 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 23, 9:30 & 11:00 a.m.
C.L.A.S.S. 101, 201 & 301 will be offered again on Sunday, April 20, from 3-7:30 p.m.

The next Night of Praise will be held on Wednesday, April 23, at 6:30 p.m.

The next annual Blessing of the Bikes will take place on Saturday, May 10, from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. on the grounds of the CFC

Other things to keep in mind...

Sunday, March 9, Daylight Savings Time begins. It's early this year. Don't forget to SPRING your clocks forward one hour on Saturday night, March 8.

March 2 Volunteer thoughts and announcements

2008-03-07T10:47:00.000-05:00

March 2, 2008

Ephesians 3:20
“Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.”

By His mighty power at work within us
Two amazing things about this phrase:
1)God WANTS to give us His power. God's WILLING to give us His power. That alone seems amazing.
2)We NEED God's power. We will never accomplish more than we would dare to ask or hope without God's power. How many times have you tried to do something by yourself, on your own,and it just doesn't work? Then you remember to ask God's guidance and help and the pieces just fall into place. It happens to me more often than I'd like to admit.

The Challenge
The reality is we can't do anything without God's power. We need God to work His power in us each week as we teach our kids about Him and build relationships with them. We need His power as we invite our neighbors or acquaintances to come with us to church. We need His power in every aspect of our lives as we live to bring honor and glory to Him. This week, instead of using God's power after we've failed at whatever we're doing our way, let's remember to let God's power work in us from the beginning. The beginning of each day, each project that we work on, and each person that we have contact with. I can't wait to see the amazing results of God's power in you!

Questions to ponder this week
What areas of your life do you need to stop controlling and let God's Power work within you?

How can you use God's power to impact and influence the lives of the kids and families you serve?

How can you make sure to let God's power work within you from the beginning (instead of trying to do it on your own first)?

Pray
Pray this week for God to use His power in you in all that you do and especially as you build into the lives of the kids you serve.
Dear God,
It's amazing that you are willing to let your mighty power work within us. Help us this week to use your power so that we can do more than we could ask or hope in our lives and the lives of those we impact. Amen.

Share Examples this week
How is God's Power working in You this week? Let us know so we can celebrate with you
email me: shari@ilovemychurch.org
call me: 517-270-0538
stop me in the hall: somewhere between the cafeteria, the gym, the library, or the auditorium :)

Forget or lose this page? Find it on my blog each week: www.shariglass.com
Policy Reminder of the week:

Please wear your Kid Crossing Shirt!

It is VERY important that you wear your Kid Crossing Shirt while volunteering unless you are in costume as a specific character. ONE: It helps parents and kids easily identify who you are and for them to know who they can go to for questions. TWO: It is a safety precaution that identifies who you are. Now that we are not using lanyard, shirts are our only way to specifically identify who is a volunteer and who is not. THREE: It helps us to look good – we are all working together! (and there's a 4th one: you don't have to figure out what to wear in the morning!)

Upcoming Events:

Students will be attending Acquire The Fire at the Joe Louis Arena next weekend, March 7 & 8. All questions should be directed to the Student Table in the Grand Lobby.

Crossroads will be offering Passion and Prayer on Wednesday, March 19. Beginning at 6:30 p.m., we will be showing the movie, The Passion of the Christ. Following the movie, there will be a time for prayer together for the persons being invited to attend the Easter worship experiences the following weekend. Since seating in the auditorium is limited to 700, we will be giving out tickets for this event. Tickets will be available, beginning this Sunday, March 2, at our What's Happening Center.

Volunteer Expo will be set-up again this Sunday in the Grand Lobby.

Egg Hunt Egg Stuffing will take place on Sunday, March 16, at 3 p.m. at the CFC.

Flashlight Egg Hunt will be held on the grounds of LCS at 8 p.m. on Friday, March 21.

Our Easter worship experience times will be as follows: No Kid Fusion during this weekend.
Saturday, March 22, 4 & 5:30 p.m.
Sunday, March 23, 9:30 & 11:00 a.m.
C.L.A.S.S. 101, 201 & 301 will be offered again on Sunday, April 20, from 3-7:30 p.m.

The next annual Blessing of the Bikes will take place on Saturday, May 10, from 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. on the grounds of the CFC

Other things to keep in mind...

Sunday, March 9, Daylight Savings Time begins. It's early this year. Don't forget to SPRING your clocks forward one hour on Saturday night, March 8.

Skiing - not scrapping

2008-02-29T19:00:00.003-05:00

Today turned out to be a very snowy day and my scrapbooking trip got delayed for another day. However, my lovely friend Carrie, did mention she was going Cross Country skiing. It sounded like a great idea to me, so I got on my snow gear, grabbed my skis and headed out. Ended up skiing around quite a bit of our lake! Sometimes I was plowing through 8 - 12 inches of untouched snow, other times I found snowmobile tracks. All in all I was out for almost 2 hours and it was quite an adventure! There is skiing in Michigan after all...you just can't look for hills!

Happy Leap Day!

2008-02-28T21:14:00.004-05:00

Happy February 29th! Happy Birthday, Happy anniversary, and Happy whatever else to everyone who only officially get to celebrate this day once every four years!

My daughter's snack day at school is today, so in honor of Leap Day we made frog snacks, which I found on the internet...somewhere:

Bugs - M&Ms
Flies - raisins
Worms - Chinese Noodles (or you could use pretzel sticks)
Fish - Fish crackers

It's actually a pretty tasty combination

Quota?

2008-02-28T21:12:00.002-05:00

I might be an infrequent, sporadic blogger, but I think maybe I hit my quota for this month all in one night! Maybe it's a Good Thing I don't do this too often :)

Scrapbooking tomorrow

2008-02-28T21:08:00.002-05:00

I am going scrapbooking with my great friend Carrie E. tomorrow! Life is always an adventure when I hang around with Carrie. She's always able to give me a new perspective, and just a little bit of her energy through osmosis. And you know what... it doesn't really matter how many "pages" I get done. What does matter is that I get to hang out with a great friend and do life with her!

Volunteer Thought from 2/24

2008-02-28T21:03:00.002-05:00

February 24, 2008

Ephesians 3:20
“Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.”

Glory be to God!
The beginning of this verse puts everything we do into perspective for me. God put us here to honor and glorify Him. Not to say “Hey look, I'm so great, I'm so wonderful” But so that we can show the world who He is, so that we can be living examples of His love. We are coming to Crossroads to glorify God. We are leading our kids to bring glory to God. In turn we are teaching them how to bring glory to God. How cool is that?!

Jesus “with skin on”
We bring glory to God in Kid Crossing by becoming Jesus “with skin on” to our kids. Kids look up to people who are older than they are. They want to be just like you. Many of them come from broken homes or bad situations. You may be the only adult they associate with God. Our kids are going to learn who Jesus is, not by the information we teach them, but by the love we show them, by our actions, by how we treat them and others. Kids will watch every move you make. We are the ones who will make Jesus real...for the good or the bad. The question we have to ask ourselves every week, every day even, is “How am I being Jesus with skin on to the kids (and other adults) I'm interacting with? “

Share Examples this week
Let me know how you brought Glory to God this week, in Kid Crossing or any area of your life. OR let me know how you saw someone else bringing Glory to God and being Jesus with skin on. Then I'll pass your examples on to the rest of the team so we can celebrate!
email me: shari@ilovemychurch.org
call me: 517-270=538
stop me in the hall: somewhere between the cafeteria, the gym, the library, or the auditorium :)

Questions to ponder this week
Are you glorifying God in your life and your ministry? How?

How will our kids see “Jesus with skin on” in you this week? Next week?

Who can you invite to serve with you so that they can experience glorifying God by serving His kids?

Pray
Pray this week about how you can bring Glory to God by being Jesus with skin on to those you work with, live with, and serve.
Dear God,
Thank you for creating us to bring glory to You. Help us this week to look for and find ways that we can bring glory to You. Help us to be Jesus with skin on to our kids, and everyone we come in contact with. Amen.

Policy Reminder of the week:
Check Out – SAFETY FIRST!
Do NOT let any child leave your area without properly checking and matching the child's tag and parent's receipt. If either tag or receipt is missing there are missing receipt forms to fill out. If you are unsure what to do radio for a KC Director and one of us will come help you.
Take a little extra time. It's OK if a parent gets upset or has to stay 5 more minutes. Our kids' safety is worth it. Our safety system is only as good as we follow through with it.
No Exceptions!

Upcoming Events:
KC Inside Story: March 2 from 1:00 – 3:00
What is Kid Crossing all about?
Learn Policies and Procedures
Invite someone who you think wants to make a difference and come with them
Required for new volunteers and those who haven't come to one yet.
Lunch & Child care will be provided

Egg Stuffing: March 16 at 3pm
Egg Hunt: March 21 at 8pm

Crossroads Easter Experiences:
Saturday, March 22, 4pm and 5:30pm
Sunday, March 23, 9:30am and 11am

Sign up for the experiences that you will get to be a part of changing lives this Easter!

Volunteer Thought from 2/17

2008-02-28T20:59:00.003-05:00

Ephesians 3:20
“Now glory be to God! By His mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope.”

The “buried” verse
I discovered this verse at the end of last summer and used it to kick off our school year in Kid Crossing. Unfortunately in the hustle and bustle of “getting ministry done” as the year has gone by, this incredible verse got pushed to the back of my desk, and was piled upon, literally and figuratively by the other “stuff” on my desk. This week, after some time praying and refocusing, God reminded me of this verse, and I moved “everything” off my desk to find it.

More than I dared to ask or hope for
Thankfully God is bigger than me and my piles and I can see how God is doing more than I could dare to ask or hope for despite me. Here's an example: Shortly after we had our fall kick off, that most of you didn't know about soon enough to plan for, I really had no one else besides myself in the deepest level of Kid Crossing Leadership. I now have Melonie – Group Life Director, Lee - Communications Director, and Alicia – Operations Director. Way more than I dared to ask or even hope for.

Exploring the verse
I'd like to take the next few weeks to continue to explore this verse with you and look at the impact it can have in Kid Crossing and in our own lives. As you think about this verse in the coming weeks, I'd love to hear from you how God is using it in your life.

Questions to ponder this week
What is God doing in your life that is more than you could dare to ask or hope for?

What do you see God doing in your ministry that is more than you could dare to ask or hope for?

How can God use you to accomplish more than you could ask or hope for in the lives of your kids – the ones you interact with and serve each week in Kid Crossing?

Pray
Pray this week about how God can use you to accomplish infinitely more than you dare to ask or hope for.
Dear God,
Thank you for being there for us, even when we get busy with all our “stuff and piles”. Thank you for promising to do more than we could dare to ask or hope for. Help us to see the plans you have for us. Help us to be willing and obedient to be used by you in our lives, our ministry, our jobs, wherever we are, so that through your power we can accomplish infinitely more than we could ever consider without you. Amen.

Policy Reminder of the week:
Know your area's bathroom policy. If you don't know the specifics ask Shari, Melonie or Lee.
NO child should go to the bathroom alone and NO adult should take a child to the bathroom alone. Know where your closest bathrooms are located.
Bathroom breaks during Large Group time should ONLY be permitted if it is an emergency.

Upcoming Events:
Baptism: February 24
Volunteer Expo: February 24
KC Inside Story: March 2 from 1:00 – 3:00
Egg Stuffing: March 16 at 3pm
Egg Hunt: March 21 at 8pm

Crossroads Easter Experiences:
Saturday, March 22, 4pm and 5:30pm
Sunday, March 23, 9:30am and 11am

Successful Move!

2008-02-28T20:53:00.005-05:00

So, I just noticed I hadn't blogged since just before Kid Crossing's move to new spaces. Our move was a huge success! Everything went off without a hitch. Only our pre-K area needed a little tweaking, and even that has now settled into place. It's great having all of our kids areas in close proximity to each other! Better for our families, our volunteers, and Me! (However I did think my pedometer would register fewer steps since we were all in one general location - but that hasn't proven to be true yet.)
If I can get our resident computer genius (aka my husband) to show me how to put pictures on my blog I'll add a few picts of our new environments! Once again God knew what he was doing, even when we didn't!

Kid Crossing Weekly Volunteer thoughts

2008-02-28T20:51:00.000-05:00

One of the great benefits from moving all of our kids' environments closer together is that we now are able to meet with our volunteers for prayer prior to our Kids' worship experiences. While, it is still not without challenges, our gatherings at 8:10 and 11:10 have been getting larger. It's very exciting for me to be able to connect and pray with our volunteers.
Each week we have a volunteer thought and questions to ponder for the next week, along with updates, policy reminders, and any other important info. I'm going to start posting these on my blog (at least the ones that aren't copyrighted) each week. This way if you're a Kid Crossing volunteer and you prefer an electronic copy to a paper copy, or you forget your paper copy, or you don't make it to our gathering one week, you can still get the info here.
We'll see how it works :)

2 days and counting!

2008-01-25T10:42:00.000-05:00

We are counting down to our (Kid Crossing's) big move on Sunday. Actually most of it will happen on Sat. afternoon/evening. Quite a few wonderful volunteers will be working together Saturday to make these new spaces great for Sunday morning. It will be a new and exciting chapter for Crossroads and Kid Crossing. I'm really looking forward to having all of our kids' environments located in the same area! It's going to allow us to work together better than ever. Even if you don't have kids, you're going to want to check out our new environments this week.

Kid Crossing is On the Move!

2008-01-19T21:21:00.000-05:00

It's Official! Kid Crossing's kids' environments will be in NEW LOCATIONS beginning January 27, one week from Sunday. We are moving to new spaces due to the construction in the main entrance of the CFC, but we are very excited about the new possibilities this move brings. All of the kids areas will be closer together, spaces will allow for future expansion, and allow us to create better, safer environments for our kids.

So where are we going? Everyone will be in the Lenawee Christian School portion of the building:

Birth – 2 year olds will be in the school Library
3 year olds – Pre-K will be in the school Cafeteria (formerly home of K-5 large group/Kid Fusion)
Kindergarten - 5th grade will still be dropped off in the same hallway
Kindergarten - 5th grade Large group and Pick Up will occur in the school gym (elementary side)
Kid Fusion will be in the school gym (elementary side)

I'm sure there will be kinks that will need to be worked out in the first few weeks. Thanks for your patience as we work through this process and continue to help you help kids take their next steps toward Christ!

Kid Crossing on the Move

2008-01-11T09:45:00.000-05:00

Last week I said that Kid Crossing was getting back to normal. Well, "normal" is very short lived! In the next few weeks Kid Crossing Kid's worship environments will be moving to new locations. I will let you know all the details as soon as they are finalized. But expect all the kids' spaces to be located much closer together, and all in the school portion of the building. It's going to be very exciting!

Kid Crossing back to "Normal"

2008-01-05T11:50:00.000-05:00

After 3 weeks of "unnormal" (snow, Christmas, and Kid Fusion main stage) Kid Crossing is back to normal this week...or at least as normal as we get :) Kids' worship experiences will occur at 8:30 and 11:30 and Kid Fusion is at 10 AM. 0-2 Kid Crossing will occur at all 3 experiences.
3 year olds - PreK kids will be learning that "I can love God like Jesus did," in January. And K-5 kids, along with Kid Fusion will be learning about the virtue of Orderliness. I don't know about you. But I'm looking forward to my kids learning this one!
And as a sneak peak...Kid Fusion will be anything but orderly this week. It will be a one time crazy event you won't want to miss!

Kid Fusion leads people to Christ

2008-01-05T11:37:00.000-05:00

Last Sunday Kid Fusion, Crossroad's Family Experience, took over main stage for all 3 experiences! As a weekend in between holiday's attendance was lower than normal, but Kid Fusion still Rocked! The cast and crew pulled off an awesome experience for everyone who was there. Better yet, 6 people indicated they made a commitment to Christ as a result of this service. This is the whole reason we exist! To help people take their next steps toward Christ. And despite lower attendance, 6 commitments to Christ is very much in line with, if not above, the average number of commitments each week.
That is something to Celebrate! Thanks so much to all the Kid Fusion volunteers AND Crossroads volunteers who had a part in helping these people take their next steps toward Christ! You guys are awesome!!!

More than 2

2008-01-03T14:05:00.000-05:00

people read my blog! Now I don't have to get this shirt :)
(the one on the right)

Snow, Glorious Snow!

2008-01-02T17:55:00.000-05:00

We've got snow. It's the best kind too. The kind you don't really know is coming. (no school so we don't watch the weather) We've probably got close to 12 inches around our house. We spent the morning outside! I got my exercise today shoveling the driveway. The Brian got out our x-country skis and we made a few loops around our area. The kids had fun sledding, running, and just playing in the snow. Really makes a person wish there was a real ski area nearby :) Only 3 1/2 more weeks until we go to VT though.
Tomorrow it's back into the swing of things. Ugghhhh that means mornings at 5;45... I'm working Thurs. and Friday for anyone who's interested :)

Happy New Year

2008-01-01T22:41:00.000-05:00

This entry is dedicated to Brian and Doug...the two people who will probably read this.

So, I don't really believe in New Year's resolutions, thus blogging certainly won't be one of them for me, but I thought maybe I'd give it a try again. See if I can do more than 2 or 3 before I get sidetracked again :)

The first day of 2008 is about at an end. My family, amazingly including my 6 year old daughter, saw the beginning of 2008 along with our friends from our small group. It was an eventful and very LOUD evening (someone gave us all, including kids, noise makers). It was nice to be together with friends and family.

We had two amazing weekends at Crossroads, with 4 Christmas experiences, which Kid Crossing and Kid Fusion played pretty large parts in, and then Kid Fusion taking over the main auditorium again last weekend! It was incredible to be a part of all the lives God changed this holiday season. And it was amazing to work with a whole bunch of dedicated volunteers who worked many hours to make it all happen.

With all of that going on my usual Christmas vacation time was broken up a bit more than normal. We did take the kids skiing at Alpine Valley last Thurs. They had a great time and will now already have their ski legs under them when we head to VT at the end of this month.
Today we went and saw The Water Horse Micah is now fascinated with the Legend of Loch Ness. It was almost as much fun watching his reactions to the movie as it was watching the movie. He was thoroughly into it, on the edge of his seat 1/2 the time, and hiding behind his napkin when the music got too intense :)

One more day of vacation before we head back to work and school and schedules. I'm getting spoiled with staying up late and getting up late. This is my kind of time frame!

My children are being currupted

2007-05-03T12:22:00.000-04:00

So, Tuesday was muffins with Mom at Hannah's preschool. We got to go in, get our hands painted for a craft and enjoy muffin, coffee (for me), and juice (Hannah). It was really a fun 30 minutes. But here's the thing:
Hannah and I were sitting on the floor enjoying our muffins and drinks. She asks "Mommy, did you bring your camera?" All of a sudden guilt hits. Wow, big preschool event, I make an attempt to scrapbook, and I didn't bring the camera. No, I tell her feeling really bad. SHE, points to her napkin spread out with muffin on one side, cup of juice in the middle, and muffin wrapper on the other side and says "That's too bad, this would make a good picture." She wasn't concerned that we weren't capturing the EVENT for memories, she wanted a picture of her FOOD arrangement.
For those of you who fail to see the humor in this story, take a minute and look at my husband's blogs, right here. Look for the pictures....Very sad....

Next Step in Getting Relevant

2007-05-03T12:12:00.000-04:00

I've taken another step in the getting Relevant! We've had a Netflix subscription, but basically Brian was picking out the movies he wanted to see, and sometimes a "family" movie. So this week we increased the number of movies we get at a time and I now have my own queue with things like Eragon, Jump In, and Ground Hog Day (yeah, I know that one's old, but someone keeps telling me I need to watch it :) ). The kids get their own queue too. If you know any "hot" kids movies coming out these days let me know and I'll add them to my list.

Getting Relevant with a Wii

2007-04-25T22:30:00.000-04:00

One of my big "take aways" from the weekend with Aaron is that I need to get way more relevant with what kids are in to. Aaron gave us a 10 question "quiz". Everyone else who was there got between 6 and 9 correct. I, on the other hand, failed miserably with only 3 correct!
So I'm now beginning on my quest to "get a clue".
First order of business: Get a Wii! Actually we already had one coming and received it on Monday. It's officially Micah's, but I'm getting my fair share of time in. So far I think the sports stuff it comes with is boring, but I'm enjoying Rayman Raving Rabbids! I guess I'll have to try TMNT in the next day or two.
Next week I'll write about the other ways Aaron suggested we get relevant and why it's even important.

Aaron Reynolds at Kid Crossing

2007-04-23T10:16:00.000-04:00

We had an awesome time this past weekend with Aaron Reynold's at Kid Crossing. Aaron came from the Chicago Area to spend some time with us in Workshops and Consulting. I think everyone who spent time with Aaron was challenged and encouraged.
Bottom line: There's a lot of good things happening in Kid Crossing (which includes Kid Fusion). We've got a lot of potential. And we've got a lot to learn yet. We need to work on our Intentionality (planning and creating - not the week or day before) and I need a leadership team. I can not effectively lead Kid Crossing on my own, as I am currently attempting to do.
Stay tuned for more info from Aaron's time with us in the coming days!

We have EGGS!

2007-03-28T15:30:00.000-04:00

66,000 eggs have just arrived (3:30pm Wed.). Sunday they will be stuffed. (3pm at the CFC - be there!) Friday (4/6) they will be swarmed by over 1500 kids and gone in less than 5 minutes. Watch out Crossroads....Here they come!

Amazing People

2007-02-28T21:24:00.000-05:00

I just had the privilege to spend the evening with an awesome and amazing group of people. These people pulled together, pretty much at the last minute, several of them not even with a clue of what they might be getting into and made a series of videos that will enhance our K-5 program for March. From Kid Fusion characters: Max and Kris Merkel, Starla and Rebecca Fick, Stephen Arsenault, Joe Emens, Robin Gruber, and Eric Doyle (who didn't actually get into the filming, but DID bring a guy who become Chef Eemerill) to Jeremay Piar, our K-5 Large Group Coordinator, to the tech crew: Jay Ely, Scott Champion, Pete Bishop, and Chuck Fick. Quadruple thanks to ALL of you for putting up with my last minute scripts, crazy ideas, and interesting smells (some of you missed the delectable soup delicacy we created). It was a fun evening!

Glorious snow!

2007-02-21T10:55:00.000-05:00

My family and I just spent the last week skiing in Vermont at SugarBush. We even skied through what Vermonters are now calling the Valentine's Blizzard. My parents got close to 3 feet at their house and some of the mountains were reporting 45 - 58 inches. It was AWESOME, beautiful, and breathtaking. Of course fresh powder is always great for skiing, but there just may be such a thing as too much powder :) And it made the drive home over a mountain pass very interesting...
After the snow storm Micah and Hannah had as much fun playing in the snow as they did skiing, and actually chose to do that over skiing a couple of times. Which was ok with us, because it let Brian and I do some more challenging terrain. The conditions were great and I was finally able to ski on the fabled Castle Rock Peak, which I had never attempted before. I also developed a liking for moguls, probably a bit to Brian's dismay. Still can't ski them very well, but I enjoyed the challenge!
All in all it was a great family get away. I love the snow and would have been happy to stay there until spring.

Service

2007-02-21T07:54:00.000-05:00

Our virtue in Kid Fusion for the month of February has been Service. Brian, Micah, Hannah, and I got to put that virtue into action last week after the big Vermont snowstorm. It was either a record or near a record for the most amount of snow VT's gotten in one storm. It was pretty cool. After we skied all day in the storm we headed back to my parent's house in my dad's 4 wheel drive truck. As we turned into their driveway we sent up a plume of snow. Amazingly we made it all the way back their 1/4 mile drive. But that's when the excitement began. My dad put his plow on the truck and promptly got stuck back in one of the snow banks. So we all got shovels out and shoveled, pushed, and pulled (with my mom's car) until we finally got him unstuck. That lasted for all of maybe 30 sec. and he was stuck again. Talk about service. We were able to demonstrate a lot of service by shoveling over...and over...and over again. Finally at about 9pm he got stuck again for about the 6th time and gave up. Thurs. morning dawned with a few more snowflakes, but beautiful. That is until we discovered that the entire passenger side of the truck was burried as high as the window from the back to the front. I was the lucky recipient of digging that side out. Amazingly after we dug him out on both sides and around the back he was able to back right up and a few hours later actually had the driveway completely plowed.
The kids helped practice service too when we dug a path through the back yard for my mom to get to her bird feeders. Then they helped to feed the birds and squirrels. The animals weren't too happy with us when we were back there shoveling. They were chirping up a storm. But later we could watch them through the window, enjoying the bounty we'd left for them.
Service in a snowstorm...that's my kind of service :)

People Power

2006-12-05T11:49:00.000-05:00

Doing life with a mobile church definitely makes some interesting moments...make that some interesting hours, both before and after Sunday experiences. It can be hard work, it can get in the way of "my" schedule, but NEVER once have I thought "It's not worth this". To be able to create exciting environments for kids (and adults) to learn about God and worship Him in is one of the coolest things around. Every Saturday night a team takes a boring school cafeteria and turns it into an exciting place for kids and their parents to come on Sunday morning. Then Sunday afternoon we get to carefully pack things away, to be ready for next week, and turn that great place back into a boring cafeteria :).
This transformation of space can take several hours, and often does. But this past Sunday we had some incredible help! Staging was taken down, tables were moved in, chairs put out, the trailer loaded up, all in under one hour and everyone seemed to have fun while they were doing it. It's amazing what a group of people can do when everyone pitches in and we all work together!
So, if you were one of my helpers this week, THANKS!!! You showed cooperation (last month's virtue) and compassion (this month's virtue), and made a really important task a lot of fun!
If you weren't able to stay and enjoy this opportunity last week, consider doing so this week. You might be pleasantly surprised by the impact you can have to change lives!

Cooperation

2006-11-02T20:59:00.000-05:00

This month in Kid Fusion and in our Kindergarten - 5th Grade kids worship experiences we will focus on the virtue of Cooperation: Working together to do more than you can do alone. Last Sunday I challenged the families to find a project to work together on, something they can each use their own individual talents (individuality: discovering what you are meant to be so you can make a difference) and work together to do something to make a difference. I can't wait to hear what Kid Fusion families did. This coming Sunday I'll be grabbing a few of them to share their stories of cooperation.
Kid Crossing Families will get a way to cooperate together to make a difference in other peoples lives beginning this Sunday as we kick off our "Make It Happen" campaign. We're giving all Kid Crossing families the opportunity to participate in a serving project. Each week in November we'll be collecting non-perishable food items, mittens and hats, and new, unwrapped toys. It's a great opportunity for us to cooperate together, and with the Salvation Army to help make a difference in the lives of other families.
See you this Sunday!

The One and Only

2006-10-04T09:53:00.000-04:00

This past week at Kid Fusion we talked about Individuality: Discovering who you are meant to be so you can make a difference. Parents, are you helping your kids discover who God made them to be this week? What are their unique gifts and talents? What ways could they be a part of God's big story and make a difference in the world?

Apples and pumpkins

2006-10-03T09:05:00.000-04:00

Sunday my family went and picked Apples and Pumkins yesterday at Kapnick's Apple Orchard, South of Tecumseh. What a beautiful day. Blue sky, puffy white clouds, warm sun, and a cool breeze! Micah and Hannah ate almost as many apples as they picked. There's nothing like a fresh from the tree apple. We took pictures, but since I had left our camera at the Family Centre we dug out Brian's old 35mm camera. It's fun to hear a real click, but the kids were disappointed they couldn't "see" the pictures. We also got 3 nice pumkins that are now sitting on our porch waiting to become jack-o-lanterns in a few weeks. It was a fun way to spend the afternoon and a great family activity.

Kid Fusion 10/1/06

2006-10-02T13:22:00.000-04:00

On the Kid Fusion front we kicked off individuality without Eric, our Comic Host. He was home sick unfortunately, but Doug Winters, our Pastor of Next Steps, did an awesome job jumping in and filling Eric's spot. (even though I accidentally skipped over the section that had one of the funniest lines.) The rest of the cast and crew did a great job as always. Tyler, Vinny, and Gordo were full of energy and definitely were the stars of the show this week.
If you haven't been at Kid Fusion the last two weeks you won't know that we have fixed a few details. We now have more chairs in a better lay out. We have 3 fully staffed kiosks at the Elementary entrance for check in. And the temperature in the cafeteria has been much more comfortable. This week check out our improvements and share an experience with your family.

Individuality

2006-10-02T13:08:00.000-04:00

It's a new month and we kicked off a new virtue in Kid Fusion this week. Individuality: Discovering who you are meant to be so you can make a difference. I think this is going to be a great virtue for both kids and parents. It will help everyone to not only understand that they are special and unique, but also that God's given each one of them a special talent, a way they can be a part of His big Story. I can't wait to hear stories from families about how they are discovering their unique abilities!
We've got lots of opportunities in Kid Fusion and in all of Kid Crossing for people to use the talents God has given them. If you have a talent you'd like to use to help God tell His story to families and kids catch me via email, phone, or at Church. I'd love to help you find your place where you can be the One and Only______________ (you fill in the blank).

Thanks for your patience

2006-09-19T08:56:00.000-04:00

For all of you who attended Kid Fusion this past week, THANK YOU! Thanks for coming and for seeing the vision to bring your families together to take your next steps towards Christ. And especially Thank you for your patience as we met with a few unexpected obstacles. We apologize for the long lines at the kiosks and for the crowded environment. (But what AWESOME problems to have - I just can't stop smiling thinking about it!) This week we will have 4 kiosks at the elementary/Kid Fusion entrance prior to 10 AM, so check in should go much quicker. We will also be looking at how we can rearrange the way we set up in the cafeteria to create additional space and better sight lines.
If you have thoughts, comments, suggestions, and stories about how Kid Fusion is impacting your family please take a moment to talk with me. I'd love to chat with you.

Kid Fusion Off and Running!

2006-09-19T08:47:00.000-04:00

All I can say is WOW...again. This past Sunday was our first official Kid Fusion. And, as always, it was a God thing! Our regular space for Kid Fusion is the Lenawee Christian School cafeteria and we packed it out! Official count was 259 - kids and parents, grandparents, friends, etc. It was awesome! I knew Kid Fusion had the potential to attract a lot of families, but I didn't really know who would come this first week. Initially it didn't look like the room was going to fill up, but then I went out to the lobby and the check in line was out the door! What a problem to have. The energy was great, the feeling was much more intimate, than being on main stage, and once again God used those of us on stage and brought all the pieces together to help our families take their next steps towards Him.
Thanks God! and thanks Crossroads for having a vision and passion for families.

We Did It!!!!

2006-09-11T09:11:00.000-04:00

Wow!!! What a day yesterday was. Kid Fusion premeired on Crossroads' main stage and it was AWESOME! Everyone from the Worship Team to the people on stage, to the people who created the stage, to the people who did all the tech stuff ROCKED!!!
Families connected, people laughed and danced, and loved it! We got so many great comments. People were blown away. One couple told me it was the best thing they've ever experienced (and they're grandparents who's grandkids weren't even with them). One of my volunteers who's been doing stuff with kids at Crossroads since before I was around said "we've done some great stuff in the past, but this was the best yet." Pete, Crossroads' Tech Pastor, talked to some friends of his who were visiting from another church and they were very impressed. Several parents told me they couldn't wait for next week.
All I can say is Yeah God! It was only through His guidance and leading and power that Kid Fusion happened yesterday on such a high level and it will ONLY be through Him that it continues that way every week from here on out.

Absolutely Nothin'

2006-08-29T11:38:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, my 4 year old daughter, Hannah, and I were on our way home from church. Out of the blue she says, "Mommy, I learned absolutely nothing in church today." OK...so when your the director of Children's Ministry and your child says she learned nothing, that's cause for a moment of panic. So trying to save the moment I asked, "Did you learn about Jesus or God?" Typical 4 year old answers. "Nope, I learned absolutely nothing." I drive on in silence for about 20 seconds, my mind racing, trying to figure out what to do next, when all of a sudden I hear a little voice from the back seat singing "Nothin', nothin', absolutely nothin'" Then I remembered, that was a new song by Jana Alayra that our preschoolers had just learned that morning. (The song goes on to talk about nothing can separate us from God's love.) Phew, moment was saved.

Now it's a good laugh. But it also made me realize once again how great it will be to be able to have a shared worship experience with my kids. To be able to have learned the same thing along with them so that we can talk about it on the way home from church and for the rest of the week. Kid Fusion will definitely equip and enable our families to do that. So maybe the next time Hannah tells me (with a little smirk that I didn't quite catch until later) that she learned Absolutely Nothin', I can say, Yeah, isn't it great that God will love us no matter what!

2 weeks and counting

2006-08-28T10:06:00.000-04:00

We are now 2 weeks and counting until the Kid Fusion Debut (well, actually less than 2 weeks away). Who would have ever guessed that September 10 would arrive so quickly?! But it is and with it comes a variety of emotions...excitement, nervousness, anticipation, nervousness, eagerness, and did I mention nervousness? I truly believe a family worship experience is something that God wants to happen at Crossroads. And it is Him that will pull it all together, not me. It's so awesome to look at what He's done so far and the pieces He's put in place. A week ago I wasn't sure I had all the cast characters I needed and now I do. God even provided a way for one of the best storytellers I know, Carrie Evans, to participate on Sept. 10! There are many other ways He's given me the pieces to make this puzzle work: a great creative team, an awesome comic co-host, a dance choreographer and worship leader, a technical director..,the list could go on and on.

So, if you're in the area on Sunday Sept. 10, come check out Kid Fusion at 9 a.m. or 11 a.m. at the Christian Family Centre in Adrian. Bring your neighbors, bring your friends, but especially bring your family! Because Kid Fusion wants to fuel your family to take their next steps toward Christ.

Does it work?

2006-08-21T09:39:00.000-04:00

Does a family worship experience really work? Do kids and parents really use what they learned on Sunday all week long?

My personal answer is a resounding YES! A little over a year ago my family and I were visiting my brother in SC. The church that developed this family experience idea, North Point Community Church, is located in Atlanta, GA. Since we were so close we decided to head to Atlanta on Sunday and see for ourselves how this family experience worked. It was awesome!

The virtue for that month was Patience. We learned that patience is waiting until later for what you want now. We learned that over a year ago. I still remember it. My son who was just finishing Kindergarten at that time still remembers it. We are still talking about patience when the situation arises (and does it ever arise). But the coolest thing for me is that I shared that experience with my kids. I knew what they had learned (and really, learned along with them). Then Brian and I were able to use the same language to talk about patience with our kids. And from that one experience we are still learning and growing and using what we learned.

All that from one hour one Sunday. Imagine the impact when we get to have that experience every week! And I've got to add here, because Micah knows what Kid Fusion is, because he's experienced it, he can't wait for it to start. Every week he's asking me when he gets to go to that "Kid thing".

Why Family?

2006-08-21T09:25:00.000-04:00

So, why would Crossroaders want to come to a family worship experience in addition to attending kids and adult worship experiences?

According to research done by George Barna most parents want to be the spiritual leaders for their kids. Parents generally feel they are responsible for the kids moral and spiritual development. The problem is that most parents don't know what to do. They don't have the tools they need to be the spiritual leaders for their kids. A lot of parents believe if they bring their children to church once a week, the church will take care of the rest.
If you take out sick days and vacations, at church we only have about 40 hours a year to impact the life of a child. Parents, however have 3000 hours a year to impact the lives of their children. 40 hours or 3000 hours??? It's pretty obvious who has the greater potential for influence.

So it's our job at Crossroads to use our 40 hours to equip parents, to give them the tools they need to be the spiritual leaders for their families with their 3000 hours. That's why we are beginning Kid Fusion, a family worship experience. After attending Kid Fusion, parents and kids will be able to talk about what they learned TOGETHER all week long. Families will be able to work together to apply the virtue they are learning about to their every day life. Because of Kid Fusion families will be fueled to take their next steps toward Christ.

Kid Fusion comes to Crossroads

2006-08-16T21:44:00.000-04:00

Lights...camera....action! Combine high energy music, zany characters, and families and what do you get? Kid Fusion at Crossroads.

Kid Fusion is a family experience, where kids AND their parents come together each week to learn about character and faith. Kid Fusion is a next step in equipping parents to become the spiritual leaders for their kids. It gives parents and kids something they can talk about together all week long.

Kid Fusion will use music, drama, video, and storytelling to entertain and inspire families. Each month will be centered around a different virtue. Each week families will learn things they can apply at home, at school, at work, and in every day life.

Kid Fusion comes to Crossroads, as we kick off 3 worship experience times, beginning September17 during the 10 AM worship experience. It will be located in the LCS cafeteria (the same location the Kindergarten - 5th grade kids worship experiences occur).

Blogging again

2006-08-16T14:24:00.000-04:00

So here I am again...Blogging certainly hasn't become a habit of mine yet, but I shall once again attempt to form that habit. You'll know if I'm successful or not!

Hi Wendy, my one faithful reader (or rather faithful checker - nope, nothing new from Shari this month).

Maybe I'll even get Brian, the guy with a thumb full of stitches, to reference me, then maybe a few people will know I'm attempting this again :)

I do have some cool stuff to tell Crossroaders about so stay tuned!

65,000 Eggs!!!!

2006-04-12T21:16:00.000-04:00

We did it! We have officially stuffed over 65,000 eggs with candy, prizes, and stickers. Sunday afternoon we had a giant stuffing party. Around 250 people stuffed approximtately 53,000 eggs in about 2 1/2 hours. It was quite a sight to see. Some wonderful ladies and gentlemen from a local nursing home, Lenawee Medical Care Facility, stuffed 8,000 eggs for us. That put us at approx. 61,000 eggs (yes, we used the estimation method - we counted one barrell of eggs and used that as the standard number for all the barrells). So Monday I went to the Adrian Big Lots and bought approximately 330 dozen more eggs. It took 4 1/2 shopping carts and about 45 minutes to check out :) A great volunteer started on this batch on Tues. and then today the Jr. High student group desended on them. Those 4000 eggs were stuffed in about an hour! How amazing is that! (Thanks Kyle and John for letting the kids help!)
So, what are we going to do with 65,000 eggs? Did I mention there were also about 1800 flashlights? This will be Crossroads' 5th annual Flashlight Egg Hunt! An event free to the community! Registration begins at 7:30 pm this Sat. night (April 15) and the hunt begins at 8:30 pm. It will all be over by 8:35 pm!
The hunt will give families a fun activity. It will also plant a seed in the minds of people who might not think about going to a church otherwise. Then one Sunday they'll decide to check out Crossroads or another church and they'll get to learn about the great gift Jesus has for them. What could be more exciting than that?!

Christmas Eve Links

2005-12-21T12:40:00.000-05:00

On Christmas Eve Kid Crossing kids see clips from The Polar Express as they learn that "sometimes seeing is believing and sometimes the most real things in the world we can't see." The greatest gift of Christmas is all about choosing to believe, it's all about faith.
Check out this link for great family activities incorporating lessons from the Polar Express:
http://homeword.com/PolarExpress/
Do you have family Christmas Traditions? Check out this article to find traditions your family may enjoy. It's not too late.
20 Memorable Family Christmas Traditions
Check back regularly for more updates at the Crossroads website.
Have a Great Christmas! The best gift ever is the Gift of Jesus. BELIEVE

Partnering with Families

2005-12-21T10:53:00.000-05:00

We have recently changed our vision statement from Winning Kids to Christ and Growing them Spiritually to Partnering with Families to Win Kids to Jesus and Grow them Spiritually. Over the course of this last year the Kid Crossing leadership has begun to understand the necessity of partnering with families. We focused on that at our Main Stage production in June, I wrote about it in my blog, and we've talked about it at leadership meetings.
This partnership will not happen overnight. As much as I want it to happen NOW (those of you know know me well know this) it will be a process. Several events recently have shown me that while we are saying we want to partner with families we are still not looking at every activity we do through "Family" lenses. My goal for the next year will be to train Kid Crossing leaders and volunteers, myself included, to always ask "How will this affect the family," in all we do.
The KC leadership team is currently reading the book Transforming Children into Spiritual Champions by George Barna. This is an amazing book. Chapter 6 has really hit me in regards to Family Ministry. Barna is describing effective churches and says on page 99 " ...the resources used by the church in its ministry to young people are designed to prepare parents for greater effectiveness, to advance existing efforts by the parents, to serve as a catalyst for new developmental ventures attempted by the family and to enhance the quality of approaches and exercises used to mature children's faith."
Let that sink in for a little bit...

Christmas Eve at Kid Crossing

2005-12-14T14:02:00.000-05:00

I absolutely can not believe it! Christmas Eve is only 1 1/2 weeks away. This is a very exciting time for Kid Crossing. Not only is Christmas the biggest event of the year for kids, but as a church it's an even BIGGER event. It's a chance to share the real meaning of Christmas with kids and their families. This year Crossroads is having a Christmas Eve Service. Statistics tell us the Christmas Eve is now the most attended service of the year. That means we have the potential to connect a HUGE amount of kids with Christ. And that's what we're all about. Partnering with families to win kids to Jesus and grow them spiritually.
I am really excited about how our Kid Crossing Christmas Eve services are coming together. We've got some awesome cards that will go home with kids as invites to our service (see above) thanks to Pete Bishop, our all things tech guru. Also, thanks to Pete's creativity we are theming our evening for K-5 kids and probably 3 yr. - pre-k kids off of the movie The Polar Express. It's a movie that most kids will connect with instantly, either because they've already seen it or just because it has great kid appeal. It's going to be an incredible night in Kid Crossing!

Blogging again

2005-12-14T13:58:00.000-05:00

Yes, I know I've said this before and I'll probably say it again :) I'm going to try my hand at blogging once again. A few weeks ago Brian, my husband, told me it was time for my monthly blog... oh dear... Well, now I've made a place for it in my schedule on Mondays and Wednesdays. Only time will tell :)

Lowe's Guy

2005-10-20T12:12:00.000-04:00

I've met some very incredible people in the last few weeks. One was Heath, the plumbing manager at Lowe's in Adrian. Now, Lowe's has always been one of my favorite stores, first when we built our house, and now for all the cool things I can find for Kid Crossing props. Last Friday I walked into Lowe's attempting to invent free-standing sign stands that look similar to road signs. I was looking for umbrella stands (the kind you get for the big outside table umbrellas) to use as the base. The middle of October is apparently NOT the best time to find patio furniture type stuff, at least in Michigan. The guy I asked thought they might have one. When I told him I needed 14 he just gave me a funny look and shook his head. Back to the drawing board.... Earlier I had toyed with the idea of using pvc pipe somehow, so off to the plumbing department I went. I stood there looking at the various connectors for several minutes hoping to be divinely inspired or something when Heath (I looked at his name tag) came over and asked if he could help me. With a laugh, I said that I would be extremely happy if he could, but I honestly didn't have much faith in that possibility. I explained to him what I was trying to do and even drew a little picture in his notebook. He thought and looked for a few minutes and to make a long story a little shorter, came up with a completely new design that was pretty brilliant in my eyes! But that is not the end of the story. He counted out and loaded into my cart all the connectors and caps I would need and then we had to get the actual pipe. He had mentioned something about cutting down the pipe so it would fit in my car, so when he started pulling out the pieces I asked him if he could cut it for me. He kind of hesitated, then slowly said He could... (For each stand I needed six 6 inch pieces and one 4 ft piece.) And he did it! Not with some fancy power tool, either. He used hand clippers to cut each of those 1 inch thick pvc pipes into what seemed like a million pieces. And THEN...he took me around the store and helped me get the other hardware I needed to attach my signs to the poles. I left Lowe's that day very impressed and very excited! Again, I'll add pictures as soon as Brian and I are both home at night and he can help me figure it out (now that he's got our computer put back together.) and when Annette who's actually putting them together gets one completed.

We Flipped!!!!

2005-10-17T13:30:00.000-04:00

What an AWESOME God - Day yesterday was! I knew when I woke up before my alarm went off at 5:30AM that it was going to be a great day! All the Kid Crossing age groups flipped to new spaces throughout the CFC and now down into the Lenawee Christian School Cafeteria. Last week at the open house the areas looked really good. This week with kids and volunteers filling the spaces they looked GREAT! Sure, there were little glitches here and there, but over all it was a fabulous success! I can say is Thank you GOD! What a feeling to walk (and jog - there's a "short" distance to reach the K-5 kids in the cafeteria ) through the halls, see the smiling faces of the kids and to see the volunteers interacting with the kids with lots of love...I couldn't stop smiling myself.
On top of the Flip, Crossroads kicked off the "Best Question Ever" series, based on Andy Stanley's book by the same title. Advertising pays off, because we were packed! I haven't seen official numbers yet but I'm told we were around 1400 between both services (we've been averaging close to 1100 since Sept.). At the 11 AM service we had 87 kids and that doesn't count adults and junior high helpers in Kindergarten - 5th grade! Yeah God!
I hope to put up pictures, just as soon as I can figure out how (or get Brian to figure it out for me).
Another huge thanks to everyone who helped make this an incredible day: Kid Crossing Volunteers, Amplify Team, Set-up and Tear Down Team, Ushers and greeters, Alpha Omega, and all the others I don't even know about! Thanks guys! You made a difference in a lot of kids' lives for eternity today!

Flip Open House a Success!

2005-10-12T19:28:00.000-04:00

Our Flip Open House was AWESOME!!!! The bar was raised in every area, as far as appearance, and I think programming as well. I am so excited to see what it will be like next Sunday with kids worshiping and learning in that environment! There were so many people that worked together to pull this move off! Kid Crossing leaders, coordinators, and volunteers, the tech team, the set-up/tear-down guys...everyone was amazing! Thanks to EVERYONE who had a hand in this. Know that YOU have had a part in leading a kid to Christ and growing them spiritually. It doesn't get better than this!

"Servant Leader" and Pride

2005-08-16T12:30:00.000-04:00

I had the incredible opportunity to participate in Willow Creek's Leadership Summit via satellite this past week. It was an amazing experience that I would encourage anyone who ever gets the opportunity to attend. (more about this in my next post)

One of the speakers was Ken Blanchard, who along with Phil Hodges, wrote a book called "The Servant Leader." One of the first things they address is managing the demon of Pride. I found this line very thought provoking. "When the origin of an idea is more important than the idea itself, that's a matter of pride." How easy is it to base our self-worth, our ministry, anything, on whether or not someone liked/used MY idea or the way I planned something? But that's a matter of pride. We have to let pride go in order to effectively minister as a team. Most importantly we have to let God guide us as we seek His kingdom. We can only be servant leaders when we are serving God and serving others. In thinking about Pride, to me this means to not let our "toes get stepped on" when someone else has a different (or even better) idea than ours. It meas truly working together as a team within your ministry. Sometimes that might even mean that "plans" we have made will be changed to better serve God and the people we are ministering to. We need to be open to God and to others and not let our own Pride drag us down or get in the way of what God may be trying to do.

And that's easier said than done....

Two questions from "The Servant Leader" to contemplate:
-Are you thinking more of yourself than you should?
-Who is your primary audience in life - your God, yourself, or otheres?

Wednesday night Crosstraining and Kids

2005-08-11T01:50:00.000-04:00

On Wed. evenings Crossroads offers Crosstraining classes for adults. These are classes on marriage, kids, finances, Bible study, etc. At the same time Kid Crossing provides activities for kids. For the past few years this has been a struggle. Each year we think we have a program that will fit us and by the end of the year we are back to the drawing board. We met with a group of parents and volunteers tonight to pick their brains on what Wed. ought to look like. We got some good input. Especially valuable in that it confirmed a lot of what Amanda and I had already talked about. Some of our obstacles are that kids are tired after a day of school. Adults want to take the great adult classes. Classes run on a 6 week schedule, so kids come and go just like their parents, there for 6 weeks and then not there.
So...which road do we travel this year on Wednesdays? The general consensus: Kids want to have fun...parents want them to get some "meat". Kids won't sit still for 90 minutes on a week night....they need to move around....Both parents and kids would like to see some sort of ministry/service aspect for the older (gr. 4/5) kids.
And that is where we sit at T minus 30 days or so. Any great ideas? Let me know? Interested in joining us for the ride and having the incredible opportunity to impact a kid for Christ and grow them spiritually? Let me know that too!

The FLIP

2005-08-11T01:13:00.000-04:00

Get ready Crossroads - The Flip is coming to Kid Crossing. It's gonna be fun....It's gonna be exciting....it's going to change Kid Crossing! Mark your calendars for Oct. 16 and stay tuned for more info. It's gonna be GREAT!

Lessons from a 6 year old

2005-08-04T00:30:00.000-04:00

I decided that August would be the month my family started using the FamilyTimes Virtue packs for our family devotions. We're starting with Patience (waiting until later for what you want now) which my 6 year old son can already recite on demand after only three days, and I think my 3 year old daughter could do it to if she weren't so obstinate about not doing whatever it is you ask her to do....(but that's a whole different story).
There are activities to do in the morning, in the car, at meal time, and at bedtime. We've done a little of all of them so far, but most consistently the bed time cards.
Now, I'm a little ashamed to admit it, but the last two nights I have been tired, it's been past my kids' bedtime, and all I've really wanted to do is tuck them into bed and postpone the bedtime readings for another day. Micah's (the 6 year old) has been the driving force to keep us on track. Each night when the little voice in my head has said, you can skip this night, it's late, don't worry about it, Micah says "Mom, what are we going to read about tonight?" While that sneaky little voice says to just tell him we don't have time, another part of me says to listen to him. So I have, and it's been good. The Bible says that a little child shall lead them...and he's definitely leading me. Tomorrow night we're going to be gone until late. He already asked tonight what we would be doing tomorrow night. When I told him we really wouldn't have time and he'd be asleep before we got home tomorrow night he said why don't we just do it there? Why not, indeed. So now the Bible and bedtime card are sitting on the hallway table, waiting to be taken with us in the morning.
What are you doing for family devotions, or family time? I'd love to hear from you and share experiences and ideas!

God Loves Chocolate part 2

2005-08-03T22:15:00.000-04:00

Here's a short addition for those of you who just might have read my blog first and not seen the others about God and Brownies. Check out this one and this one! God is truly AWESOME! I can't say it enough. And it is very humbling to be used by Him, especially without even knowing it!

God Loves Chocolate

2005-08-02T19:55:00.000-04:00

I have proof! Just read this and see....
Wow, the power of a Blog! I made a friend through my blog, via Pete's blog, via who knows.... The point is I made a very valuable friend who gives me some awesome advice whenever I ask. Through a series of "God-things" her husband ended up here meeting with our Sr. leadership as a consultant for some "tech stuff" today. I had happened to mention to her the my husband, Brian, worked in Ann Arbor and she mentioned that she would love to have some Brownies from a deli called Zingerman's some time. She was even going to try to get her husband to drive up to Ann Arbor to get some. I was pretty sure he'd never have time, so I had Brian stop on his way home yesterday and pick up a pack. I just figured it would be a fun surprise! When I caught up with the guys today it was fun to see and hear his expression. But the best part was yet to come...
I just received an email from my friend and she told me, to make a long story short, that she had been feeling kind of lonely lately and that she had asked God to show her His love for her today. Then her husband called her about the brownies, and she knew it was God's way of showing her He loved her. (See God must love Chocolate - He uses Brownies to show His Love.)
Isn't it incredible that God can use us and the little things we do for such great things! It gives me goosebumps just thinking about it. God is truly GREAT!
Lesson learned: You never know when God is going to use you for His purpose. And sometimes the smallest random acts of kindness produce the biggest results. We always be on the look out for small ways we can show kindness to someone.
I imagine most of the time we don't even know He's used us. But what a cool feeling it is when you find out that He used some small thing you did for His Glory!

Back from Vacation

2005-08-01T16:23:00.000-04:00

My family and I just spent a GREAT week in Colorado, camping and hiking. We even went to our favorite "church away from church" - Grace Place in Berthoud, CO. It was definitely a relaxing time, just getting away from all the hussle and bussle of normal life - we couldn't even find many hot spots for my wi-fi Axim which was probably a good thing in disguise, so it kept us away from email and the internet. I always have a very hard time coming East after being in Colorado (where I spent 5 of my growing up years), but as much as I hated to say goodbye again, it really is good to be back into the hussle and bussle of Crossroads.
As we look toward gearing up for the fall, especially in Kid Crossing, there will be a lot of exciting things happening! Families will be coming back from vacations, the Crossroads family will again buldge at the seems, and we (Crossroaders) will get the opportunity to minister to more people, more kids and more families. I can hardly wait!