Here's a hint at my next home improvement project:
Exodus 20:3-17
and
Deuteronomy 6:9
in something that looks like this.
I'll let you know how it turns out.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Monday, May 18, 2009
long time friends
This picture was taken a long time ago: November 24, 2001, to be exact.
El and Kel were 4 years old at the time. Both our families were at Dollywood for Thanksgiving. El didn't even spend the day in the park with us. She wanted to ride stuff with her buddy.
They are in the 6th grade now. They don't hang out together very much any more. (Guys and girls that age don't have too many interests in common.) But they are still friends.
The reason for this post is that Kel was in Birmingham last week. Some pretty serious medical stuff is happening with him and he's not done yet. Please keep him in your prayers. He is a great kid that I have known all his life. I think God has great things planned for him and I want to see exactly what that is.
El and Kel were 4 years old at the time. Both our families were at Dollywood for Thanksgiving. El didn't even spend the day in the park with us. She wanted to ride stuff with her buddy. They are in the 6th grade now. They don't hang out together very much any more. (Guys and girls that age don't have too many interests in common.) But they are still friends.
The reason for this post is that Kel was in Birmingham last week. Some pretty serious medical stuff is happening with him and he's not done yet. Please keep him in your prayers. He is a great kid that I have known all his life. I think God has great things planned for him and I want to see exactly what that is.
Thursday, May 7, 2009
I'm Thinking Orange
Last week I attended the Orange 2009 conference in Atlanta. To say that it was a mind-life-heart changing experience is an understatement.
The essence of the Orange concept is that 2 influences working together are stronger than those 2 influences individually. The color orange is used to grab your attention: think traffic cones and safety vests. It's made by combining red and yellow, which are both bright colors, but not quite as arresting as Orange. In the context of the Orange Conference, the Red represents the family, the heart, being connected by a blood relationship. The Yellow represents the church, which is symbolized in Revelation by the golden lamp stands. The family has an influence on your child and the church has an influence on your child. If those 2 influences work together, arm in arm, they are so much stronger than they would be alone. If the church volunteers (Sunday School teachers, choir leaders) understand that they are not solely responsible for the spiritual growth of that child, that the parents will teach in the home the values that are presented at church, that volunteer will not feel overwhelmed. If the parent understands that someone else loves their children, wants the best for them, wants to see them flourish and mature, that parent has a partner to lean on. We want the same things: why not become a team?
That's what mentoring at our local elementary school is all about. The school wants children to become the best students they can be. A group of volunteers who are all members of my church wants those same things. We go every week to talk to and play games with those 6th graders. I say we talk, but most times we just listen. We show them that they are valuable. And I think that they understand that the school thinks they are valuable, too. That's 2 influences working together.
This Sunday afternoon, the youth band from our church is going to practice with the... what do I call the group I'm a part of?...certainly not the OLD band...I guess we're just the adult band! We will work on music for the service that evening and then I'm hoping we can work on some music that is fresh for all of us. The students may not feel confident enough to play in the service that night, but my hope and prayer is that someday soon they will. Our adult congregation needs to see that these young people are church leaders, not just "youth" leaders.
We are all on the same team here. Let's cheer for each other, come alongside each other, hold each other up. Let's think Orange.
The essence of the Orange concept is that 2 influences working together are stronger than those 2 influences individually. The color orange is used to grab your attention: think traffic cones and safety vests. It's made by combining red and yellow, which are both bright colors, but not quite as arresting as Orange. In the context of the Orange Conference, the Red represents the family, the heart, being connected by a blood relationship. The Yellow represents the church, which is symbolized in Revelation by the golden lamp stands. The family has an influence on your child and the church has an influence on your child. If those 2 influences work together, arm in arm, they are so much stronger than they would be alone. If the church volunteers (Sunday School teachers, choir leaders) understand that they are not solely responsible for the spiritual growth of that child, that the parents will teach in the home the values that are presented at church, that volunteer will not feel overwhelmed. If the parent understands that someone else loves their children, wants the best for them, wants to see them flourish and mature, that parent has a partner to lean on. We want the same things: why not become a team?
That's what mentoring at our local elementary school is all about. The school wants children to become the best students they can be. A group of volunteers who are all members of my church wants those same things. We go every week to talk to and play games with those 6th graders. I say we talk, but most times we just listen. We show them that they are valuable. And I think that they understand that the school thinks they are valuable, too. That's 2 influences working together.
This Sunday afternoon, the youth band from our church is going to practice with the... what do I call the group I'm a part of?...certainly not the OLD band...I guess we're just the adult band! We will work on music for the service that evening and then I'm hoping we can work on some music that is fresh for all of us. The students may not feel confident enough to play in the service that night, but my hope and prayer is that someday soon they will. Our adult congregation needs to see that these young people are church leaders, not just "youth" leaders.
We are all on the same team here. Let's cheer for each other, come alongside each other, hold each other up. Let's think Orange.
Tuesday, May 5, 2009
Life at Large
I took some pictures today and downloaded a bunch that I'd taken recently.
This is Mrs. Mac's office. She's our new secretary. This is what happens at churches in the summer. When stuff is happening, you need stuff. This particular stuff is VBS T-shirts. Mark's office looked worse than this a few weeks ago. But he and M-2 packed it all up in Rubbermaid tubs and stashed it somewhere.
The following creation was put together on the spur of the moment this afternoon. M-2 was going to redo the bulletin board, so Mark decided to give her a head start. He took all the old stuff off, and pinned up 2 funny pictures he had printed out. Well, the rest of us on the hall couldn't resist the invitation to make a contribution. The guitar stand was put up by our maintenance guru. Bro. Sparky added the Kleenix. The colored tissue paper I found in my desk and the origami elephant was left over from mentoring.
Here's a close-up of the mouse and the elephant. Under the mouse it says "The helmet doesn't help if it cuts your head off."
Here's the buffalo that joined us for dinner Thursday night. We'll call him Ted.
Saturday, Mr. H and I went to New Orleans to see a friend. When we got back, El had new furniture on the fort. She and her buddy Al had built, painted, and decorated a bench.
Here's a close-up of El's end of the bench.
Today while I was fixing dinner, I looked out the kitchen window and saw them toting a table across the yard. They are so proud that they can sit on the bench and the table is tall enough. They told me they measured. I told them that was pretty smart. Al told me her dad told them what to do. I told them it was pretty smart to listen to someone who knew what to do!
This is Mrs. Mac's office. She's our new secretary. This is what happens at churches in the summer. When stuff is happening, you need stuff. This particular stuff is VBS T-shirts. Mark's office looked worse than this a few weeks ago. But he and M-2 packed it all up in Rubbermaid tubs and stashed it somewhere.
The following creation was put together on the spur of the moment this afternoon. M-2 was going to redo the bulletin board, so Mark decided to give her a head start. He took all the old stuff off, and pinned up 2 funny pictures he had printed out. Well, the rest of us on the hall couldn't resist the invitation to make a contribution. The guitar stand was put up by our maintenance guru. Bro. Sparky added the Kleenix. The colored tissue paper I found in my desk and the origami elephant was left over from mentoring.
Here's a close-up of the mouse and the elephant. Under the mouse it says "The helmet doesn't help if it cuts your head off."
Here's the buffalo that joined us for dinner Thursday night. We'll call him Ted.
Saturday, Mr. H and I went to New Orleans to see a friend. When we got back, El had new furniture on the fort. She and her buddy Al had built, painted, and decorated a bench.
Here's a close-up of El's end of the bench.
Today while I was fixing dinner, I looked out the kitchen window and saw them toting a table across the yard. They are so proud that they can sit on the bench and the table is tall enough. They told me they measured. I told them that was pretty smart. Al told me her dad told them what to do. I told them it was pretty smart to listen to someone who knew what to do!
Shining Like a Lamp Forever
This morning I am reading in the 21st chapter of 2 Chronicles. It starts out with King Jehoshaphat (one of the good ones) dying and lists his 7 sons, the eldest of which he had appointed to be the next king. The first thing the new King Jehoram did was to murder his 6 brothers. And that was just the beginning of horrible things.
But in the midst of all this horror is verse 7 which stopped me short: But the Lord did not want to destroy David's dynasty, for He had made a covenant with David and promised that his descendants would continue to rule, shining like a lamp forever.
It made me think, what happened? Where did things go wrong? Am I raising my girls to shine like a lamp forever? Am I doing what it takes for this vision of God's to be fulfilled? God has such BIG plans for us and yet so often, we let Him down. I want my descendants to shine like a lamp forever, being a light in the darkness. That is what God wants from us: simply to reflect the Light that He is.
But in the midst of all this horror is verse 7 which stopped me short: But the Lord did not want to destroy David's dynasty, for He had made a covenant with David and promised that his descendants would continue to rule, shining like a lamp forever.
It made me think, what happened? Where did things go wrong? Am I raising my girls to shine like a lamp forever? Am I doing what it takes for this vision of God's to be fulfilled? God has such BIG plans for us and yet so often, we let Him down. I want my descendants to shine like a lamp forever, being a light in the darkness. That is what God wants from us: simply to reflect the Light that He is.
Sunday, May 3, 2009
Home Sweet Home
As if being away from my girls for 3 days while at Orange in Atlanta wasn't enough, Mr. H and I went to New Orleans yesterday. We do have some really nice sounding (and looking, but with speakers, that's not the point) and I got to spend the day with my beloved. But the eldest is home and I had only spoken a few words to her.
So last night was family time. She wanted to play Phase 10. Em hates Phase 10, but we bullied her into it. El was not interested and we learned the last time we played Risk: family rule #7--Do NOT force El to play a game she doesn't want to play (she won't have fun and neither will you!) She'll stay in here with us, entertaining us while we play, it'll be fine. So we played Phase 10 and El entertained us with Wii air guitar while we played and listened to (as Em called it) that awful 70's music (Tubular Bells, Pink Floyd, and Van Halen) I do believe El likes Van Halen now that she has played guitar with them!
Em and the eldest decided at some point during the game that each hand needed a different accent. They started with British, then Australian, but the Swedish turned into something else and the ended up playing the rest of the game speaking Ubbi Dubbi. It was quite entertaining!!
And .....Em, who hates Phase 10 ended up winning! It was a great night all around.
So last night was family time. She wanted to play Phase 10. Em hates Phase 10, but we bullied her into it. El was not interested and we learned the last time we played Risk: family rule #7--Do NOT force El to play a game she doesn't want to play (she won't have fun and neither will you!) She'll stay in here with us, entertaining us while we play, it'll be fine. So we played Phase 10 and El entertained us with Wii air guitar while we played and listened to (as Em called it) that awful 70's music (Tubular Bells, Pink Floyd, and Van Halen) I do believe El likes Van Halen now that she has played guitar with them!
Em and the eldest decided at some point during the game that each hand needed a different accent. They started with British, then Australian, but the Swedish turned into something else and the ended up playing the rest of the game speaking Ubbi Dubbi. It was quite entertaining!!
And .....Em, who hates Phase 10 ended up winning! It was a great night all around.
Friday, May 1, 2009
Dinner with the Buffalo
This has been an incredible 2 days so far, and I have no doubt that today will be just the same.
Agricola Baptist Church might not be the same!
And we ate at a restaurant last night with a HUGE buffalo staring down from the head of our table!
added note: I did include a picture of the buffalo toward the bottom of a later post.
Agricola Baptist Church might not be the same!
And we ate at a restaurant last night with a HUGE buffalo staring down from the head of our table!
added note: I did include a picture of the buffalo toward the bottom of a later post.
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