Tuesday, May 26, 2015

looking toward tomorrow

Although we all know that none of us have been promised tomorrow - still we must prepare and be ready for whatever the Lord will allow us to participate in.

And there has rarely been a day that I've been more grateful to have behind me.

Tomorrow night will be a great night as we celebrate with all the people that volunteer at Crossroads.  Our volunteers 'are' the church and there are great, great things to come!

I hope if you're one of our amazing volunteers you will be joining us as we take steps toward new goals and new celebrations!




Saturday, May 23, 2015

finally there

Today is a personal celebration of FINALLY being in my #1 favorite spot in the world...my deck.
my view past my computer screen

I'm watching twirling seeds fall from gorgeous green trees and birds visiting our bird feeders as I hear the 'flap' of the American flag overhead...I breath deeply here and I learn.  Deep breaths have been missing lately - it's been nearly 5 full weeks now that I haven't worked a full 'on-site' week and it's taken a month to get everyone fairly healthy again.

I woke up today preparing to accompany my hubby to help another staff member complete a relocation of a Crossroads attendee that found herself in trouble.  We discussed as we drove how difficult it is sometimes to tell the difference between truly helping someone and being taken advantage of.  It's difficult to know the difference sometimes and even more difficult to discern whether our responsibilities are to just blindly help and serve without trying to figure everything out - or to insure the need is real.  This was a necessary 'saving', and it was good to watch a fellow staff member give this person another chance.

I wasn't sure how long it would take, and although I desperately needed to spend some time at home today, I marveled at how God can use all of us to accomplish and provide what He needs others to discover and know.

This serve opportunity took no time at all to complete and soon I found myself finishing the last load of laundry and now I'm here, in my favorite spot again.  Resting in the Savior and basking in His creation fills my heart again, and I couldn't be more grateful to finally be here again!


Tuesday, May 19, 2015

old and new

I was reading a John Piper book this afternoon and in it he talked about the infleunce C.S. Lewis had on his life.  This one paragraph gripped me unexpectedly.

“He has made me wary of chronological snobbery. That is, he showed me that newness is no virtue and oldness is no vice. Truth and beauty and goodness are not determined by when they exist. ”

Sadly I have been guilty of chronological snobbery.  Even in ministry.

I have assumed at times as long as I could come up with something new it was good, it was what everyone else needed and was better than old.  Man was that dumb!

It's so exciting to try new things-  that it can become easy to be driven by constant striving and discovery, when the best thing may already be obvious...waiting for re-discovery.

Watching my kids connect with the old traditions of the church and seeing their desire to know the depth the fathers of our faith knew and practiced, it reminded me that old is new again, and again and again...

Today's reading was a great reminder that I need to look back as well as ahead.  God is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow!  So thankful!! 



Sunday, May 17, 2015

weekend report

I swear I have never seen half of the people that were at Crossroads this weekend.  I try to stand in Town Square so I can meet as many people as possible but man, the Lord is filling the place- very exciting!







I found this room in the back full of students preparing for their Summer Mission Trip...we are so blessed!
Our Setlist:
Announcements:  Stephanie McAuley - The Coffee House
Nothing Ever (Could Separate Us)
Lay Me Down
We Believe
In Christ Alone
My Heart is Yours
Message: Unstoppable Walk - Wendell Anderson

To watch our services go to crossroadswired.com

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

Thursday, May 14, 2015

looking back

After visiting my parents yesterday, I decided to drive around Ashland for a while and see if I could remember where all the things were located that were part of my childhood.


Bad pic as I was driving of the house I grew up in on Rt. 250
Gerwigs White Barn is the grocery store that was the nearest grocery story to us growing up
A & W Rootbeer stand was the highlight of childhood

This shop used to be a restaurant, Ron and my first date
This house used to be a silk flower shop, way back when you couldn't buy a very big selection of silk flowers I made all the flowers for our wedding.



I headed first out past the house I remember from when I was really small.  It's hilarious what you remember from being a kid.  Here are the memories that are most vivid to me.  When I was a kid it seemed so much larger and further from the road then it really is!
  • I remember being super sick with Old Fashioned Measles, laying in my parents bed and the whole room spinning - high fever.
  • My sister and I would always lay on the floor upstairs when my parents had guests and drop bobby pins down through the floor register - we thought we were pretty funny.
  • I remember swinging a pillow around in the living room and of course loosing my balance and falling into a table
  • We used to get milk delivered and the Milk Truck ran over our Collie and killed him.
  • My dad decided to demonstrate why we shouldn't use firecrackers, put them in a can and lit them while we all watched from a safe distance on the porch.  They proceeded to blow-up and the metal can sliced him wide open.  We are scared for life but never touched firecrackers.
  • I remember playing on the swing set and helping in the garden (at least I thought I was helping)
Groceries
  • My mom dropped my sister and I off to pick strawberries when we were pretty young, I think we got paid 25 cents per quart.
  • Things were crowded, overlapping and dingy inside, but we didn't have to drive far so we didn't care
  • We knew the family that owned it - so it was fun to go there
A & W Rootbeer stand
  • We NEVER went out to eat, so it was a real treat
  • It was located across from the only Drive-In Movie theater, so we'd stop and get coneys and root beer and take it to the drive-in.  The traumatic part was my dad took 1 bite out of every coney before passing them out.  I still haven't recovered from that!
The small business
  • This was were Ron and I had our first date - following a football game we picked up some food from it when it used to be a restaurant or sub-place.
The blue house
  • Back in 'the day' there weren't very many places that sold silk flowers except the Florists, and this house sold silk flower kits to make.
  • I made all the bouquets, and flower decorations used at our wedding.
 It was good to drive around and remember, to appreciate how hard our parents worked.  The town has changed a whole lot, but to me it will always hold many fond memories of public swimming pools, and summer soft ball games - simple pleasures like sipping root beer and making new friends.

And now I find myself back in Ashland just a day later, up in the hospital with a momma who is really sick.

How quickly things change ...  

Tuesday, May 12, 2015

what I learned today

I started my day off praying and meditating specifically asking the Lord to reveal how He wants me to use my life for Him today. 


As I ended that prayer I knew all He is asking today is for me to walk with Him in obedience - if I truly do that I can be used for exactly what He intends.

I was reading a John Piper story this morning about how he grew up watching his father evangelize.  And out of all the horrible stories of young people losing their lives, tales of people coming to know the Lord on their sickbeds and on and on - the one story that broke his heart as a young man the most was this one.  This old gentleman had been prayed for - for decades, and in his final years came to know the Lord.  This is what he remembered the gentleman saying to his father... I've wasted it - my entire life, wasted..."  Here's the quote from John's book.

“In those early years God awakened in me a fear and a passion not to waste my life. The thought of coming to my old age and saying through tears, “I’ve wasted it! I’ve wasted it!” was a fearful and horrible thought to me”

I assume many of you are like me, and perhaps because we're Americans it's difficult for us to believe that simple obedience and a pure life may be perhaps all God is asking us in order for us to be in his will.  We see so many glamorous things on TV and all around us that look so important and perfect that it becomes the 'normal' or the goal in our minds.   I believe it's satan's most perfect deceit - taking our contentment and confidence away and convincing us we are inaffective or not good enough.  Lies!   We were CREATED by the creator of the universe - how can we forget that?  Please believe it with me!

I just wanted to encourage you all today, no matter how UN-glamorous your day seems - if you are living for Him - it's exactly where He wants to use you today.  Pay attention and keep your minds pure before Him and watch the opportunities that He brings!

Here we go!