Surpassing Greatness

Have you ever been blown away by your kids? Yeah, me too.

In fact, it happens on a fairly regular basis. Frequently my kids do or say something that just amazes me with their maturity.

Today I had one of those moments. After our small group, my oldest (age 10) pulled me aside and asked me to pray for him. I said I'd be happy to and then asked what specifically I could be praying for.

Here was his response: "I just feel like as I get older I'm doing more unrighteous things. I don't think I always use my time wisely and I don't like that I really only worship God on Sundays. I should do that all week long."

WOWZERS!! Where did this kid come from??? I fought back a huge grin of pride as I seriously told him that I would be praying for him and offered to do so right then and there. I gave my own heart a stern talking to as I listened to him pray, realizing that I have much to learn from this intelligent, spiritually sensitive boy.

Josh and I have always prayed that our children would surpass us. Not just in what they accomplish, but in who they are in Christ. But our faith is so small that we never imagined it happening by 10 years of age! God is indeed good.

Square Two - Almost starting over

I had been waiting for this day for a full year - at least. And it didn't turn out to be at all what I had hoped for.

Last fall Josh and I began seriously thinking of and planning for our 3 month long sabbatical that will take place this coming summer. We spent countless hours praying, talking, researching and making plans.

We found out about a program that offers grants for pastors going on sabbatical. We eagerly and painstakingly filled out the application. That application forced us to map out our three months TO THE DAY - and included us settling our route of travel, our expenses and the church's needs and expenses caused by our absence.

It was a whole lot of work. But we submitted the application back in late May confident that we had done the best we could and had a fair chance of being awarded a grant.

This week we received word. We did not get the grant.

{sigh}

So now we are back to square two. I can't say square one, because we've decided on what Josh will study during our sabbatical and we have some ideas. But our dream of traveling the west in an RV for three months, visiting churches and seminaries and seeing many national parks with the kids has come to an end.

Am I disappointed? You betcha. Frustrated at the thought of starting over? Definitely. Angry with God? No. I want to be. My heart cries out at my lack of understanding in this.

And then I'm reminded. I'm reminded of the fact that God has never failed our family. That even when things look extremely difficult, He provides with abundant blessing. So much blessing, in fact, that we look back fondly on our times of hardship.

I'm reminded of our job search a few years ago. How when we felt at our lowest and our dreams were shattered, He was just gearing up to give out the greatest surprise!

So right now, even though I hurt, a large part of me says, "Okay God. Show me what you're gonna do. Because I bet it's something even better than what I can imagine."

I'll keep you posted on what happens. Without a doubt it'll be worth writing about.

Savoring the music

I began teaching music to our homeschool group this fall. And surprisingly, I like it!

I'm not surprised by enjoying the music aspect. Rather the teaching 50 kids for two hours aspect.

I think I had forgotten my love of teaching music. It's what I trained to do. And when I decided to study to be a music teacher it was because I wanted to instill a love of and appreciation for music in kids.

Wednesday I taught this group for the second time. And it was so fun to see kids get excited about what they were learning. It was enriching to encourage children in their musical pursuits and to start dreams in others. Several parents are now telling me that their kids want to start instruments. Yay!

Unfortunately, music is one of the first things cut in public schools when the budget shrinks. In homeschools, music can be non-existent if the parents don't pursue it with their children.

So, although I began the fall dreading my task, I've come to embrace it. Nothing feels better than instilling a love that you have into a young life and watching it grow. Bring on the next class!

A Step Back

I'm letting go. And it's a really good thing.

I've been involved with our church nursery since Josh and I arrived here four and a half years ago. It has been a great privilege and joy serving alongside so many other men and women to bless the children and young families in our church.

And it's been quite a ride! In the summer of 2007, we set out to completely redo the nursery. We knocked down a wall to enlarge it. We had a custom changing table made. We spent hours painting and desiging. The church family purchased new toys off of a baby registry. We created a policy manual and began training volunteers. We put stringent safety measures in place. We added a few new roles.

And now, the nursery runs well. It's a fun place for little ones. It's a bright, inviting and playful area. And it's well stocked with delightful volunteers.

Except for me. I was not delighting in the nursery anymore. It had become a drudgery to me. Which was a very important warning. Whenever ministry becomes a "have to" instead of a "get to" you need to take a step back and evaluate. As I did so, I realized that I had served in the way God had called me to and that I now needed to let someone else step forward. Someone who had the vision to take it to the next level and to lead it through the next few years.

We've searched for quite some time and we finally found our new leader. I have officially served in the nursery for the last time, I have done my last nursery schedule and I've trained my last batch of volunteers.

Now it's time for me to focus on other areas. All of my children now sit in worship with me. I need to focus on teaching them to worship especially since Josh can't sit with us. As our church continues to grow rapidly, it's necessary for me to be in the sanctuary meeting visitors and helping Josh's ministry.

Will I ever serve in a nursery again? Very likely. I love children. I enjoyed the nursery. And when my children are old enough, I'll be happy to serve other young families by watching their children as others have done for me. But for this season, I'm done. It's with a sigh of contentment that I move forward, knowing it's the right thing to do.

Atheist Song

I'm no atheist, but this is pretty funny. Enjoy.

The Atheist Song - First hymnal for Atheists