Sometime I Cry, and that's OK

I know we're to be joyful once we've accepted Jesus as our Savior. And I'm blessed with so much that I have every reason to be happy. But sometimes small things pile up into one big emotional mess, and the only thing that relieves it is to cry. I have to remind myself that even the Bible says there's a time to laugh and a time to cry. I just cried, had my 1-person pity party, and now I'm ready for a smile.

Seen on Pinterest - Not sure of it's original source

My Husband Rocks! #10

My husband and I don't have much in common when it comes to hobbies. We often bypass each other during the day when he goes to do his thing and I do mine. He likes sports, and I like art. That's the biggest difference, and it goes on from there. So we compromise by reading together...usually something marriage related.

My man recently came home with the book Love & Respect by Emerson Eggerichs. The love she most desires; the respect he desperately needs. I'll be the first to admit the book has some slow and repetitive parts. Some areas I would rather skim over than read word for word, and some of the ideas I don't agree with. But a lot of what Emerson writes is beginning to make sense. I've stopped multiple times while we're reading and said "Huh. Really? Is that true?!" I guess I've always assumed men feel love the same way women do, but it's certainly not the case. If you have a husband, fiancee, or serious boyfriend, ask him if he would rather be told "I love you" or "I respect you." My husband said the latter.

I'm working to change how I talk to my husband so he really knows I respect him, and I've noticed a bit of a change in him. He knows my shoulder has been hurting lately, and I often make faces or rub it when he's around hoping he'll take the hint and massage it. I didn't give away any hints yesterday, but my rockin' husband said "I'll be done with this in about 20 minutes. Want me to massage your shoulders after that?" Oh yeah, I do! He said it so sweetly too, not sounding as if it were a chore. *sigh*

VBS 2012: Paul & the Underground Church

The curriculum for Paul & the Underground Church was published by Group in 2009, but after reading about it I knew it would be perfect for where our kids and youth were spiritually. Tracking it down was a different story. A Google search led me to a few churches who had used this curriculum, and a few emails helped me find 1 church who still had it (and knew where to find it). They were gracious enough to let us borrow it - free of charge!

When compared to the other 3 years I've directed, this year had the best and largest group of workers but the smallest amount of kids. I partially blame the weather for the lack of kids...it poured! Thanks to the workers and the set-up of the curriculum, it turned out to be the best VBS I've directed so far.

We started in the Sanctuary with Extollo (Praise and Worship), a few rules, and collections of canned goods. We normally do penny wars to raise money for VBS, but I really have been feeling lately that we need to reach out to the community instead of staying wrapped up in ourselves. I wanted VBS to somehow help others, and a canned food drive helped do that. We pitted boys against girls, using 2 of our outspoken youth workers as the bait. The winning side (girls!) got to slam a pie into the face of the other.

From there we broke off into family groups. I've always separated them by ages, but Group recommended separating them into family groups with varying ages in them. I was skeptical at first, but it made sense. The older ones can help the younger ones, siblings aren't split up unless they want to be, and friends with an age difference can stick together. It worked out wonderfully! I said last year that having 13 & 14 year-olds volunteer didn't work well, so we included them among the family groups. Volunteers had to be 15 and up.

The rotation included the lesson, games, and the Marketplace. The lesson was split between Paul (under house arrest and chained to a Roman guard) and the Underground Church (hidden in a cave to avoid being caught). Breaking up the lesson helped the kids not to get bored by staying in 1 place for too long. The cave was just a room at the end of a hallway, but they made it small and cave-like with a tent, black fabric, and orange lights in the "fire."

The games were led by 2 Roman guards. I feel a little guilty admitting that I don't know what games they did, but the kids always came away happy, no one was injured, and they seemed fine the couple of times I peeked my head in to check on them.

The Marketplace was my favorite part. We held it in the gym and decorated it with a couple of large canopies draped in brown fabric. Here, the kids had dinner and made crafts. The craft booths were where the youth volunteers were used the most, and they all dressed in togas. One of the purposes of the Marketplace was to give the kids a chance to witness to others. I told the booth workers (following Group's recommendations) to ask the kids about their beliefs, keeping in mind that Christians were persecuted. I planned for 4 craft booths everyday, thinking at least 1 or 2 of them could be used the next day (with a 3-day VBS). I admit it...I was wrong. With so few kids, they flew through those crafts. No one had to wait their turn for anything, and I was left scrambling for more booth ideas by the last day. A couple of Group's booths just weren't feasible for us like the Animal Sacrifice booth (I couldn't bring animals into the gym) or the Carpenter's booth that made wooden tops (I couldn't buy the supplies from Group since it was an old curriculum). Here were our booths, some from Group and some from us:

*Wreathmaking - paper leaves and flowers stapled to ribbon and worn as a headband
*Pottery - pinch pots made from air-dry clay. I had leftover clay and the kids seemed to enjoy it, so we did pottery twice.
*Archery - with a couple of the cheap archery sets from Dollar General.
*Sword fighting - Pool noodles. The idea was to learn some about blocking and sparring, but they had a blast just smacking each other. Made me a little nervous about injuries, but thankfully no one was hurt. I think it only worked because we did have such a small group.
*Bracelets - used ribbons and pull tabs. This was a last-minute idea from one of the youth workers.
*Scribe - Calligraphy pen and a scribe tool so they could practice with either one. I included the Greek alphabet and a few examples of Greek words if they wanted to write those.
*Architecture - Toothpicks and tootsie rolls, with a prize for whoever built the tallest structure and the one that could support the most weight.
*Some kind of brooch - I forget what it was called, but the craft was based on a decorated brooch that Romans wore. It was a simple craft with safety pins and beads.
*Guard recruitment - push-ups, sit-ups, weight training. Do you have what it takes to be a guard?
*Mosaics - They glued construction paper pieces to form a mosaic.
*I'm forgetting one, but I'm also posting almost 2 months late, so I guess I'm bound to forget something.

I didn't advertise quite as much this year either, so that will be one thing to do differently next year. Other than that, I learned I love Group's set-up of this series and hope to be doing the next in the series for 2013.

Raising Leaders

We took a group of 19 to Spiritual Boot Camp over the weekend. It was an expensive trip for our small church (over $1000) but well worth it, as we feel like it's investing in the futures of these 19 people as well as the future of our church. This group consisted of the leaders of our youth group...adults and teens who make up our core. We got to choose 3 class sessions to attend, and I went to Instructing Leaders to Lead, Sunday School Curriculum, and Finding Your Ministry. The classes were great, the worship was amazing, and the church was HUGE. Here are some highlights of what I learned:

1. Have an exit strategy for volunteers! Teachers, leaders, etc. should not feel guilted into staying in their positions. New volunteers should not be afraid to accept a position because of the fear of being stuck there for life.

2. A leader is simply one who has followers and influences others. When identifying leaders, keep in mind that it's not always the loudest or boldest. If there is a leader in your youth group who is a bad influence (leading others to do bad things), get to know and encourage them. Direct them towards being a good influence.

3. When teaching, 1 point clearly communicated is better than 3 foggy or rushed points. With multiple points, people get confused and are more likely to forget what you said.

4. People who are in visible positions must be held to a high standard. Worship leaders, teachers, etc. are representations of the church and its standards; as the body of Christ, the church represents God's standards. If the music minister is getting drunk on the weekends or teens in the youth praise band are living together as a couple, they will be seen as hypocrites by others. This hurts their testimony as well as the effectiveness of the church.

5. Teach about the Tabernacle! During the worship part of the day, the speaker told us about the Tabernacle...the different areas of it and what was required in each area. Then we encountered a bit of it ourselves. Over 100 of us stood in line waiting to enter the "Tabernacle." (So it was a gym/youth service area, but we got the symbolism of it.) Just the entrance was a curtain where we were to thank God, maybe for something He's done for us, how He's provided, or just who He is. Then was the altar to place a sacrifice, and offering buckets were on top for us to give money. During the initial part with the speaker, he stressed why there was a sacrifice at the tabernacle and that it was giving our best to God. After that was a thing of water to "cleanse" ourselves by wetting our hands and asking God for forgiveness for any sins we had committed.
Through another curtain was the Holy Place. Here we took communion and prayed for what we needed and for various people (our Pastor, Youth Pastor, etc.). The idea was to get everything off our minds before we continued through the Tabernacle. Through the last curtain was the representation of the Holy of Holies. Here we also prayed, but it was mostly for allowing us to simply be in God's presence. "Be still and know that I am God." Psalm 46:10

That's it for now, but there were plenty of other bullet points and discussions that I would like to bring up eventually. In the meantime, have a great week!

Joyful Living - 10/15/11

Psalm 34:8 Taste and see that the Lord is good!

I'll admit I'm taking this verse out of context because it really has nothing to do with food. But it fits so well in a food conversation, doesn't it?

I used to eat in a hurry, chewing my food just a couple of times with the next bite already poised at my mouth before I even swallowed. Sound familiar to anyone else? I didn't taste very many of my meals and found myself mindlessly munching on snacks throughout the day. (Ok, I still mindlessly munch when I'm bored.)

Food is vitally important to our survival. We HAVE to eat it to live. Our taste buds make us WANT to eat it. How many of us actually want to eat food that tastes gross, no matter how "healthy" it supposedly is? The Joyful Task for the day is to taste the food that is eaten...appreciate and enjoy the variety of flavors. Let eating be a small, simple pleasure rather than a mandatory task or a mindless activity.

Personally, I love the taste of a cold fruit smoothie. My husband left the house this morning just as I was beginning to wake up. He kissed my bye and said "there's a smoothie in the fridge for you." Breakfast was already made? That's one of the best things to wake up to.
Berry Banana Smoothie (my husband's favorite)
1 banana
1 apple
a large handful of frozen berries (any combination of blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries)
a vegetable that won't change the flavor, such as a handful of kale or a small squash
1 tsp coconut oil (optional - makes the smoothie more filling because of the fat)

Joyful Living - 10/14/11

I heard a man say earlier this year that the Bible forbids dancing. He wasn't just saying the bumping and grinding where it looks like a baby might be made on the dance floor. He was talking about ALL dancing. He went on to say that there are no godly people who danced in the Bible. Well, he must have read a different Bible than the one I have.

In Exodus 15:20-21, Miriam led the other women as they danced and played tambourines after crossing the Red Sea.

In 2 Samuel 6, David danced before the Ark of the Lord as an act of worship to God.

In Jeremiah 31:13, Jeremiah foretells of a time when people will celebrate and dance with joy because of the Lord.

And my personal favorite is Ecclesiastes 3:1,4: For everything there is a season...A time to grieve and a time to dance.

I'm tired of grieving over how much I can no longer do because of my poor health (I'm recovering from toxic mold exposure) and am ready to rejoice over how much I CAN do. This is my time to dance! The Joyful Task for the day is to dance like no one is watching. Dance with your child or alone in your bathroom. Blare some music or dance to the music in your head. Move for a few seconds or keep on dancing all day while you do the household chores. Twirl, jump, flail your arms, or just clap and stomp your foot. Enjoy it! Then come tell me about it. If you need some musical inspiration, I love Mercy Me's Move (video below)

Joyful Living 10/13/11 - Thankful Thursday

I am linking this post to Thankful Thursday, so it was pretty easy to decide what the Joyful Task would be. It's kind of a no-brainer, right? The Joyful Task for the day is to be thankful for something.

Since I haven't been rushing out the door for work lately (still looking for a job), I like to make a nice breakfast and eat it over a good book. I stood in the kitchen thinking this morning and thought...what do I want? There's eggs for an omelet or a fried egg sandwich. I could have oatmeal or a smoothie since there's plenty of fruit. How about toast, bacon, and grits? There's waffles in the freezer, and I think there's still some pancake mix left. So many choices, but what do I want?!

Wow. That was a lot of choices. I am thankful that I have access to so many food choices. I know people who live paycheck-to-paycheck and right before the next check comes, a little cereal and a can of beans may be all that's left in the cupboards. After seeing that firsthand, I came home and was thankful yet guilty that I had overflowing cupboards. How much of it ends up getting tossed out when it's stale or slimey? That answer would really make me feel guilty...only partly because I'm basically throwing my money away.

On Thursdays, the local food bank is open. I've been gathering some things over the last few weeks to take there, so the 2nd part of the Joyful Task is to give something away. Make someone else happy and joyful with it.

Speaking of food, how about a random (but awesomely creepy) pumpkin carving picture since it is October? This was carved by Ray Villafane, champion of the Food Network Challenge: Outrageous Pumpkin. You can see more of his designs at the Examiner.

This post is linked to Thankful Thursday at black tag diaries and Spiritually Unequal Marriage.