Our house is BUZZING tonight...the anticipation of a new school year...Chloe moving up to 6th grade...J in 3rd and LUKE ENTERING KINDERGARTEN!! Plus I am starting tomorrow!
A LOT of energy tonight...boys that had trouble falling asleep...Chloe is bouncing around...it is sooo cute and fun!! And Sadie is baby-talking like crazy...I think she is excited too...(I wonder what she will think tomorrow when she goes from having 6 of us to just her and mom!!)
The first days of school have so much anticipation...so much hope...kids and teachers are full of dreams for the year--I have been prayer walking the hallways and praying for my students, teacher, admin and staff at our school. EXCITING!!
ALRIGHT...back to getting a few last minute things done!!
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
From the mouth of kids and other thoughts...
Tucking the boys in tonight I told them how much I have enjoyed being around more this summer...how grateful I am to Grace Community Church Goshen's leadership for paying me through the summer so I could be with my family...and have time to reflect and restore. We always pray before bed and Luke prayed this tonight...
"God...'at (at means "that" to Luke...)help us to move on from Grace Community Church so 'at we can really like our new church..."
Whoa...the prayer of a 5 year old! He really touched me with that prayer...my kids LOVED Grace...they were more than just "the pastor's kids" there...they enjoyed their friends...enjoyed the people...their teachers...and what AMAZING perspective for Luke...He loved Grace, but he already sees the importance of moving on! I believe that God will honor my little man's prayer...God will lead us to just the right church and he will have us fall deeply in love with the church!
Other things...
Today was the end of my summer...I have meetings tomorrow at Jackson...more on Wednesday and then students on Thursday. It is strange to think that after 7 years I will be back teaching full time...been part time for a lot of that, but this is different. A bit strange feeling...I am looking forward to the adventure of the school year...seeing what opportunities there are.
Feeling grateful tonight...grateful to be a child of God...grateful for my family...grateful for my friends...for how blessed my life is and has been...
"God...'at (at means "that" to Luke...)help us to move on from Grace Community Church so 'at we can really like our new church..."
Whoa...the prayer of a 5 year old! He really touched me with that prayer...my kids LOVED Grace...they were more than just "the pastor's kids" there...they enjoyed their friends...enjoyed the people...their teachers...and what AMAZING perspective for Luke...He loved Grace, but he already sees the importance of moving on! I believe that God will honor my little man's prayer...God will lead us to just the right church and he will have us fall deeply in love with the church!
Other things...
Today was the end of my summer...I have meetings tomorrow at Jackson...more on Wednesday and then students on Thursday. It is strange to think that after 7 years I will be back teaching full time...been part time for a lot of that, but this is different. A bit strange feeling...I am looking forward to the adventure of the school year...seeing what opportunities there are.
Feeling grateful tonight...grateful to be a child of God...grateful for my family...grateful for my friends...for how blessed my life is and has been...
Saturday, August 20, 2011
"What If..."
School is about to start and "What if..." is a question that students LOVE to ask...last night Kels, Chloe and I watched "Soul Surfer" If you haven't seen it...it is a MUST SEE! Powerful true story...and just as good as the movie was the documentary of the actual person...
What if...is a question that has wondered through my head a few times in the past months...I learned A LONG TIME AGO to shut out that question...at least when it is coming in a negative way...Between that movie and my class reunion last weekend...I have thought about some what ifs...
-What if I hadn't blown out my knee my junior year...that changed the direction of my life...at the time it was DEVASTATING...now I see a clear detour in my life...a detour that led me to Grace College to study music...a detour that led me to my AMAZING wife and 4 kids...a detour that gave me the opportunity to fall in love with a city I hadn't heard of and see many lives changed for eternity...Sure college soccer would have been great...but I wouldn't trade the last 20+ years for that!
-What if...what if I hadn't stepped out and spoken up and wanted to plant a church? What if I would have sat on the sidelines...truth?? I would have missed out on meeting some amazing people...missed out on watching people walk into the arms of Jesus for the first time...met people that have shaped my life forever...people that I dearly love...
-What if...I had been more strict with myself and not had a heart attack...(ooooo...this is a big one!) the answer I keep telling myself is the same one from the movie last night: "God works all things out for the good of those that love him." And I'm holding on to that to be honest...I could go on and on about how this has changed me...and changed me for the good (and it really has!)...but truthfully...I have to get back to you in 10 yrs or so and give you God's big picture on that one...from my earthly standpoint...I believe that if I had not had that heart attack I would still be the pastor of Grace Community Church South Bend...but clearly God had other plans...and I plan to find it out!
-What if...what if...instead of looking for God...looking to fall more in love with HIM...we keep feeling sorry for ourselves? What if...WHAT IF...we keep looking so hard for that next opportunity that we miss HIM...that we miss the opportunity to fall in love with JESUS...this is where I'm at tonight...
What if...can be a good question if it is used right...that movie last night moved me...challenged me..."What if..."
"God...move EVERYONE who reads this post to fall more deeply in love with you...to stop worrying about the 'What ifs' and to focus on you...oh...you really do love us...for all of our questions...our struggles...our victories...thanks. In Jesus Name..."
What if...is a question that has wondered through my head a few times in the past months...I learned A LONG TIME AGO to shut out that question...at least when it is coming in a negative way...Between that movie and my class reunion last weekend...I have thought about some what ifs...
-What if I hadn't blown out my knee my junior year...that changed the direction of my life...at the time it was DEVASTATING...now I see a clear detour in my life...a detour that led me to Grace College to study music...a detour that led me to my AMAZING wife and 4 kids...a detour that gave me the opportunity to fall in love with a city I hadn't heard of and see many lives changed for eternity...Sure college soccer would have been great...but I wouldn't trade the last 20+ years for that!
-What if...what if I hadn't stepped out and spoken up and wanted to plant a church? What if I would have sat on the sidelines...truth?? I would have missed out on meeting some amazing people...missed out on watching people walk into the arms of Jesus for the first time...met people that have shaped my life forever...people that I dearly love...
-What if...I had been more strict with myself and not had a heart attack...(ooooo...this is a big one!) the answer I keep telling myself is the same one from the movie last night: "God works all things out for the good of those that love him." And I'm holding on to that to be honest...I could go on and on about how this has changed me...and changed me for the good (and it really has!)...but truthfully...I have to get back to you in 10 yrs or so and give you God's big picture on that one...from my earthly standpoint...I believe that if I had not had that heart attack I would still be the pastor of Grace Community Church South Bend...but clearly God had other plans...and I plan to find it out!
-What if...what if...instead of looking for God...looking to fall more in love with HIM...we keep feeling sorry for ourselves? What if...WHAT IF...we keep looking so hard for that next opportunity that we miss HIM...that we miss the opportunity to fall in love with JESUS...this is where I'm at tonight...
What if...can be a good question if it is used right...that movie last night moved me...challenged me..."What if..."
"God...move EVERYONE who reads this post to fall more deeply in love with you...to stop worrying about the 'What ifs' and to focus on you...oh...you really do love us...for all of our questions...our struggles...our victories...thanks. In Jesus Name..."
Wednesday, August 17, 2011
"Doing Great!"
I remember hearing a story about a pastor of a large church who was attending a conference and eating with some other pastors...they had gone around the table and asked how each one was doing...they all spoke of how GREAT everything was going in their personal lives and their ministries...when it got around to this pastor he said that it was time for him to go...because "we really don't need each other anyway since everything is so perfect."
See that pastor knew some of what was happening in the other pastor's lives...he knew that one of them had a marriage that was in trouble...another pastor's ministry was falling apart...yet they all had to much pride to admit what was happening and ask for help...so that pastor removed himself from the conversation...
How often do you do this? This isn't about spilling every struggle to every person you know...but do you have people that can share your struggles...that you are willing to be honest with? If not...I encourage you to pray for that person to come into your life...OR maybe they are there and you are not willing to open up...DO IT! Be willing to be honest and share the struggles of your heart...that life just isn't as perfect as put it out to be...THEN you will find true encouragement to walk through this life!
See that pastor knew some of what was happening in the other pastor's lives...he knew that one of them had a marriage that was in trouble...another pastor's ministry was falling apart...yet they all had to much pride to admit what was happening and ask for help...so that pastor removed himself from the conversation...
How often do you do this? This isn't about spilling every struggle to every person you know...but do you have people that can share your struggles...that you are willing to be honest with? If not...I encourage you to pray for that person to come into your life...OR maybe they are there and you are not willing to open up...DO IT! Be willing to be honest and share the struggles of your heart...that life just isn't as perfect as put it out to be...THEN you will find true encouragement to walk through this life!
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
"Do you like your seat?..." Class Reunion!
We had our 20 year class reunion...it was good to see some of my classmates and hear what they have done over the past 20 years...during our dinner Saturday night...Julie Solomon (Cookro) who I had gone from Kindergarten through graduation with read some papers from 3rd grade. They were sooooo funny...they were short letters from each classmate...Mine...well...it wasn't the nicest...here it is...
"Dear Julie, Do you like your seat? I don't. Your Friend, Timothy"
AND THE DEAL WAS...we sat by each other!! Ouch!! Now you couldn't find a sweeter...kinder girl than Julie and I wrote that! We got a good laugh about it, but I imagine it wasn't toooooo funny at the time...
Reminded me how much our words can hurt others...Julie read mine letter through laughter Saturday night, but how often do we say things...simple things...that can shoot through someone's heart.
Let's be careful with our words...careful to say things that encourage other people...build them up. I'm lucky...I wrote that in 3rd grade and Julie is forgiving!! So that makes it funny now...BUT it is toooo easy to hurt others.
"Dear Julie, Do you like your seat? I don't. Your Friend, Timothy"
AND THE DEAL WAS...we sat by each other!! Ouch!! Now you couldn't find a sweeter...kinder girl than Julie and I wrote that! We got a good laugh about it, but I imagine it wasn't toooooo funny at the time...
Reminded me how much our words can hurt others...Julie read mine letter through laughter Saturday night, but how often do we say things...simple things...that can shoot through someone's heart.
Let's be careful with our words...careful to say things that encourage other people...build them up. I'm lucky...I wrote that in 3rd grade and Julie is forgiving!! So that makes it funny now...BUT it is toooo easy to hurt others.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Pain Creates Compassion
Pain...tragedy..."tough stuff"...disappointment...these things can destroy a person if you are not careful. BUT they can also do something else...the difficult stuff in life can create compassion. Those hard things do something inside of us...make us want to help other people...make us understand another person's struggles...
I was reflecting this morning on a story from some months back...a person was going through a very difficult situation and another person really came along-side of them and loved them. I wrote this in a journal entry at the time...
"Then it hit me...we just want no pain...but without pain there is no room for moments like this...what a teachable moment...to step up when someone else is hurting!"
We long to live without pain...but it is truly in those painful moments when we are softened to think of other people. It is in those moments that we become more compassionate to others.
Allow your pain to help other people...allow it to soften you and to push you towards helping people.
I was reflecting this morning on a story from some months back...a person was going through a very difficult situation and another person really came along-side of them and loved them. I wrote this in a journal entry at the time...
"Then it hit me...we just want no pain...but without pain there is no room for moments like this...what a teachable moment...to step up when someone else is hurting!"
We long to live without pain...but it is truly in those painful moments when we are softened to think of other people. It is in those moments that we become more compassionate to others.
Allow your pain to help other people...allow it to soften you and to push you towards helping people.
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