my day off

Re-using things is a big deal these days I guess... There has never been much in my life that only gets used one time although the American mindset has always been a 'throw away' mindset overall.

Today I went to the church while Greg helped hang the steel stars that the artists created last Christmas at Crossroads. We used them on the stage last year, this year out in our foyer area, the area we loving refer to as 'Town Square'! After decorating the church I headed home to tweak the decorations we hurriedly got out while the kids were home at Thanksgiving.

We have used these same decorations year after year, rarely buying anything new. So all it really took was a few new batteries, some cleaning and we were good to go.

Just as I clean and work on my home this time of year, especially as we draw near to the new year, it's a time of examining areas of my life that have grown stale or bitter or used up. This takes serious thought and prayer and obedience - or it is just a waste of time.

Today as I watched my day off quickly pass away - I turn my thoughts toward the things of the Lord and consider where He wants me to go this year, what He wants me to tweak or get rid of completely.

weekend report

We began a new series called JOY today. A three part series that will take us up to our Christmas series which begins on the 18th and 19th. So good!

our setlist:

opening instrumental by Jessica Pounds -such an amazing performance!

announcements by Deering Dyer

More Than Amazing: Brewster
Glorified: we combined an acoustic beginning to rock (Newlife)
Blessed Be Your Name: Redman
Happy Day: Jesus Culture
Message: Joy Pt. 1 - Pastor Tim Armstrong
Ending Worship: Enough - Tomlin

To watch our services go to www.crossroadswired.com

To see what other ministries used in worship this weekend go to www.theworshipcommunity.com

another holiday come 'n gone

We had a blast the past couple of days, and now it's back home for everyone - or off on new tours - or back to work preparing for Christmas at Crossroads!

Funny how all our lives take us different directions - down different roads but always lead us back home at least for a little while.

Things we did:

ATE
ATE
ATE
took naps on the floor as demonstrated in the picture
ATE
Made hard-tack candy in grandpas garage and
ATE IT
ATE

Loved every minute of the last few days and look forward to new visits in just a few short weeks!

Christmas is here

Christmas came to the Biddle's today.

Decorations were going up at the same time turkey was baking and rolls were rising.

Of Course we continued the tradition we began when the kids were born - giving them one new ornament each year when we decorate the tree. We even had some extras this year.




Our son-in-law Aaron was confused about 'hanging' the stockings that Jocelyn just bought for them instead of wearing them!

With windows of time becoming less and less with our kids we decided to decorate when everyone was here at the same time. So I guess I can relax in my Christmas-ness and prepare to celebrate for the next month beginning tomorrow!

I was wondering when all of you do your decorating?

what I learned today

Today I learned that I had missed my kids way more than I realized.

I cried when they walked through the door. Four months ago today they got married - SO hard to believe it has been that long!

As I write this we are all sitting in a dark living room watching something that I'm not paying attention to as I cuddle up by the fire...God has blessed me more than any woman could be blessed.

I adore the holidays - celebrating thanks this Thursday for our amazing country and our families and then our Savior's birth. I am so excited!

Due to the shortness of their stay we will be doing all of the tree decorating and traditions associated with that tomorrow. So good.

Because all of our kids will be leaving again soon - I cherish this fireside moment. Something so simple becomes extremely significant when you realize the importance of the moments WHILE you are in the middle of them! It took distance to produce that kind of attention in me.

my day off

Lots of plans for the day and then - a slight delay, ok, a HUGE delay!

We were just ready to leave home to meet my mother-in-law for breakfast and we got a call. She hit a curb and came to rest in the front lawn of Berean Baptist Church! So we took off to help her.

I am fairly sure that the tire pointing outward is not a good sign. Totaled? Possibly, we are still waiting to hear.

It is just another example of how fragile life can be. Thankfully she wasn't hurt at all and we will just have to wait and see if the car can be repaired. And oh yeah, we finally had breakfast - at 2:00 p.m.!

My day off was not as I planned, and could contribute to stress heading into the Thanksgiving preparations that I didn't get to begin..but..still so much to be thankful for!

weekend report

Loved, loved, loved the opening instrumental! And Loved, Loved, Loved just as much the parody that we created to support the Pastor's teaching on being single! You can watch it here CLICK !

Our setlist:

Instrumental: Hey Soul Sister - Train

Announcements: Pastor Tim

I Stand Amazed - Hayes

We Will Sing - Draper

Everybody Praise the Lord - Brewster

Oh Lord, You're Beautiful - Jesus Culture

(a small chunk of...) Redeemer - Kutless

VIDEO: starring Jimmie McCready

Message: Rethink Marriage Pt. 4

Exit Song: Hey Soul Sister

to watch our services go to www.crossroadswired.com

to see what other ministries used in their worship services to to www.theworshipcommunity.com

just days left

My Aunt was given news this week that she possibly has only a few weeks left. She has been fighting cancer for over a year.

I lay in bed last night trying to imagine how that must feel.

To have someone look you in the eyes and tell you that....

I wrote before about trying to live each day as if it were my last, but that is nearly impossible when you assume you will continue living.

night of worship

You heard me go on and on a few weeks ago about our Night of Worship and some of you who missed the concert asked me if it would be possible to get a DVD but instead... you can now watch on line!

Hope you enjoy it - it was SUCH a great night!

Click Here

laughter in the office

My dearest friends are those who make me laugh the hardest! I LOVE to laugh!

Today I heard laughter many times, this is GOOD!

Our Technical Coordinator, Steve Browning had me rolling when he showed us this weekend's parody he shot. SO funny! In fact, even during the final work on Christmas which contained the MANY details of programming today we laughed a great deal! So much fun when it is not tense with important decisions and hard things to work on!

Then as I walked through the office I heard various staff members enjoying one-anothers company. This is sweet fellowship indeed.

We have gone through different seasons with our staff, just as any business does, some seasons of struggle, some seasons of sweet fellowship. And, that is the season we find ourselves in right now.

I am serving with people that have a common vision and purpose. People that understand the pressure of ministry but feel called to be there. People that I dearly love!

I think maybe some of our work and laughter today may have caused God to smile just a little!

watching alien

Oh my goodness - the variety that our technology provides. We rarely watch anything in its entirety and tonight has been no exception.

We began with a little Fox news, moved to basketball, on to Forest Gump and ended on Alien.

I feel sometimes that such an endless variety of technology online, cell phones and any number of other conveniences make it very difficult to concentrate and finish a task or to fully experience anything.

Whoa - Sygourney Weaver just called the Alien out and is attacking him/her with that big machine she climbs inside. Whoops they fell in the pit together...oh no the outer space door opened and is sucking them all out! Gotta go!

my favorite people

I think I am going to start a weekly posting of 4 of my favorite people! Sometimes family, sometimes friends and sometimes people I consider heroic in their everyday lives! FUN!!

Here is this week's posting - family trip to Chipotle - my parents first time!

I love these 4 people so much - our son Eric and his girlfriend of 3 years Alyssa, and my parents Russ and Jan !

My life is MUCH fuller and blessed because of them!

my mission

I don't know what God will say when he examines my response to the charge to go into the uttermost parts of the world...I understand that as a church our tithe goes to reach this responsibility, and I understand that it is not just talking about going as a missionary overseas.

But, if God examines attitudes and He does, then how does he feel about mine?

I have often been critical of the old model of missions where the only way it was considered missions was to physically go overseas or at least directly pour all available funds into something far away.

Going is good, I am planning to go to Cambodia next spring - and giving so that orphans and widows are cared for is good, but even better than that may be when they are taught to provide for themselves and taught how to stay healthy both physically and of course spiritually. When you see this begin to happen I believe that we may be much closer to the charge the Lord gave. Equipping. Sometimes it doesn't help much just to go and meet a current need and leave again. Lasting change and ongoing involvement helps more! I worked at the Welfare Department (old name) before going into full time ministry, and I can tell you giving without training accomplishes no change.

We have an opportunity over the next couple of weeks at Crossroads to help build a permanent orphanage in Cambodia for our Crossroads Orphans simply by buying candles. We will be selling candles for $22.00 each. These are the highest quality candles I have ever seen! PLEASE consider buying these for Christmas exchange gifts OR as a business if you usually give gifts to your employees or business partners! $11.00 from each candle goes directly into the orphanage fund!

The Crossroads Go Mission's team thanks you so much for caring for our orphans! May your family have a blessed Christmas!!

weekend report

Busy weekend is how I will describe this weekend for sure! The picture is my view from the sound booth looking back at 2 of our 4 cameras and Steve Browning our Tech Coordinator.

We are hosting a seminar Saturday through Tuesday that teaches us how to use the Bible software, Logos - which is the most amazing thing I have ever seen. We then went right into our Saturday night services which were great. And then - we kicked off our Adopt A Child Christmas project with a great beginning, adopting out a record number of kids on the first weekend of our project!

We set up a photo booth and invited our Veterans to get their pictures taken for the past two weekends. We then used the photos to create a pre-service countdown and ran the balance of the pictures combined with the old service pictures during our opening patriotic special music.

Our praise team was outstanding to set up our Pastor's amazing teaching on divorce!

Our setlist:

Patriotic opening Special with video/pictures
Announcements on Video: We used a couple in our church who are currently serving in the military to do announcements
Worship: Revelation Song
Worship: Holy Is The Lord
Praise: Everybody Praise the Lord
Interview with Logos trainer
Message: Rethink Marriage pt.3
Exit Song: Our God - Tomlin

To watch our services on Monday, go to www.crossroadswired.com.

To see what other ministries used in their worship services this weekend to to www.theworshipcommunity.com

logos learning

I felt so privileged to be part of the Logos training today at Crossroads. We were taught how to use new Logos software to study the Bible. I had NO idea anything like this even existed. I knew it is how Pastor Tim prepares, but, I just never imagined how user friendly it was - even I could use it immediately!

I cannot wait to use it right away as I finalize our Christmas Series next week! It helps you to study the Hebrew and Greek meanings of the text instead of the English - which doesn't keep the text in it's original context.

I have asked our pastor's countless times if what I'm writing is theologically correct because I never want to lead people astray with my opinions as opposed to the facts of God's Word! Now I don't have to ask anyone anything else! Well, at least not today!

learning new things

I am sure it's got something to do with my age, but lately I "have a hankering" (quote from Deering Dyer) to learn new things!

Tomorrow I get to take a leadership class instructing how to use the Logos program - which will be a resource that will help me to create my small group studies and make sure my writing and Biblical discussion is accurate! I cannot wait to begin using this program!

The next new thing I am considering is taking an art class of some kind. I have been interested for quite a while in cement work (not large items) more like cement bowls and pots - much more practical to get into than creating pottery on a wheel and firing it - even though that's probably my favorite artistic area.

But if I could do anything I wanted to, regardless of the time involved, it would be to write and publish a book. I probably would have to quit my job to ever make that happen - and that's not gonna happen...so...we'll just have to see. Meanwhile I'm going to see if there are just some local writing courses at the branch or on-line!

So...what are you learning? If money or time wasn't an issue what would you do?

the decorating pastor

SO...besides being the best teaching pastor in the world, Pastor Tim's hidden talent is decorating. We all think he should star in a new reality show about a Pastor who invades peoples offices and re-decorates everything around him!

If you give any indication that you are interested in changing an office around watch out!

I recently decided since getting a new laptop - to go desk-less and I love it. Tim was there shoving furniture around and making suggestions. I think I finally have it back together and I LOVE it!

He then returned to give his final examination on the scooter followed closely by his counterpart Deering! They finally left and peace returned to all!

a very important conclusion

I had the privilege yesterday of walking into an unexpected meeting. I had been ironing in my bedroom and didn't realize there was a meeting going on in my living room

It was The Gun Show - our sons band. They are an extremely hard metal Christian band - often misunderstood because of their unorthodox music. But a more determined group I have never known.

As I walked out, the meeting I interrupted was a prayer meeting. This prayer time went on for a very long time and the passion with which they talked to their heavenly Father was almost more than I could take...I of course honored their privacy and passed through the room quickly and drove away.

As I drove my heart was warm and I thanked the Lord for my son. I came to a very important conclusion - these young men will reach a people group for the Lord that I would never have any access to. So I too prayed as I drove away - for their safety - for their faith to continue to grow and for no compromise, ever.

my day off

With the economic struggles we are currently experiencing, advertising is something that requires careful consideration.

On one hand if you do not advertise you cannot attract the customer and on the other hand you risk spending money that you may not recover.

Just today I received a really extreme piece of advertising. I sent for some coupons and what I got was a packaged game with pieces that contained different facts about pasta on each one. You are supposed to toss the pieces into the bowl and pick out one at a time. Now I hardly think anyone would be bored enough to sit around and play this little game - but I was completely interested in the work that went into this piece. It had to be assembled by hand then put into the neat little box it arrived in. This kind of assembly had to be very expensive.

Very creative, but worth it? I cannot even tell you what pasta company it came from even after studying it - so I am thinking it might not be a great investment! When it's all said and done it's all up to the product to sustain the advertising.

I would say this went just a tiny bit too far to advertise pasta!

weekend report

Tough weekend - but I feel God was honored and God was worshiped!

AND Christmas was officially launched today at Crossroads - the pictures show our amazing Go Missions team creating the 800 Adopt-A-Child gift tags that begin to go out next weekend!

This has been such a great opportunity for our congregation. We started partnering with a local established organization in our area that makes sure the identified neediest children in our area receive a bag full of gifts each year. And now just a few short years later we have the privilege of hosting them at Crossroads this year where we will distribute with their volunteers and ours - the entire 800 Adopt-A-Child gifts! So exciting! I LOVE the concept of not trying to dream up our own local mission events when opportunities already exist. This can bring the church alive in your community!

Our setlist:

Opening special -
Announcements: we used our Stewardship Pastor Wendell and his lovely wife Madeline for announcements since we are currently in a Marriage series.
Worship: I Exalt Thee - Jesus Culture
Worship: More Than Enough - Tomlin
Praise: Short portion of Our God - Tomlin
Praise: Free To Run
Message: Re-Think Marriage: Pt. 2 Sex - Pastor Tim Armstrong
Exit song: More Than Enough

You can watch our services on Monday at www.crossroadswired.com

To see what other ministries used in their worship services go to www.theworshipcommunity.com

when things go wrong

How do you handle things when they don't go as you planned?

I don't handle it well.

Tonight's service was a struggle from beginning to end. It was a night I felt was well planned - but the elements just didn't flow in a manner that made sense. Too much this too little that.

So following the services we reversed the order of things and worked on what we could to try to prepare well for Sunday. We will know in the morning if our work will take care of the problems that plagued us tonight. Meanwhile I'm praying for the God to be honored!

I don't have trouble admitting when I make wrong decisions or mistakes, but I get very frustrated by them. I forgive others well, but, not myself. Sometimes I wish my work wasn't so public and it didn't affect so many people.

I would love to hear about how each of you handle disappointments and how public your work is for others to see?

amazing night of worship

Seriously - one of the greatest nights we have had for quite some time! So blessed to worship with brothers and sisters in the Lord!

I planned to just slam this post with tons of glorious pictures that I so spectacularly took and much to my dismay found out that there was no media card in it!

So you just have to settle for me telling you it was fabulous! And I will post the link so that you can see what you missed by watching it on our website later this week.

For now I MUST sleep - I am completely exhausted and tomorrow we must prepare for the weekend services! God bless!

insecurity = pride

Have you ever considered feelings of insecurity to be another form of pride?

The more I think about it the more I agree with it.

I sadly have wasted time tied up in feelings of insecurity; scared to move ahead and positive someone else could do it better. This happens when I take my eyes off of Him and look at myself.

God has never called anyone to anything that they are not capable of doing. He wants us to walk confidently in our calling. We should invest time preparing well, but when we have done our best we should walk fully into our calling. Fully into our Father.

If I was totally focused on my Father would I ever have time to feel insecure…never!

Pride = arrogance in our own accomplishments

Insecurity = focus on ourselves and our perceived lack of ability or accomplishment

A believer free of pride and insecurity would attract the curiosity of the lost creating an opportunity to share their faith! So join me in walking with confidence in our heavenly Father and all that a life in Him offers!