That quick 21/2 minutes of focused time with a six year old, led to him and his sister choreographing motions for the song Automatic by Stellar Kart, which we are using in December as one of our new songs for Kids Worship.

Do you know how you’re inspiring the kids in your care?  Do you realize the huge impact you’re making on the kids who enter your KidMin every single weekend?  Don’t underestimate the influence you and your team are having.  My buddy William, is  a quiet, thoughtful kid who the Holy Spirit is already working in and through for the Kingdom of God!

Here are some questions to consider:

• Are you being intentional with every element of the time you have with kids on the weekend in your programming?
• What are the outside influences that are competing for the kids in your culture/community?  Ramp-up your worship, make it loud, make it fun, make it amazing so that even the older “too-cool for school” boys can’t help but be up on their feet!
• Have you created an environment/relationship with the kids in your ministry that encourages kids to be ministers too?!  Are you creating passion in kids to share Christ even in lower elementary?
• Do the kids in your ministry see YOUR passion for God and your relationship with Christ?  Is your love for your Savior so deep that it splashes on everyone around you?

You never know the impact you’re making on the kids that are in your ministry, whether it’s through worship, teaching, doing an activity, repeating a Bible verse or hugging them in the hallways~ you are inspiring them one way or another!

The smell of fresh -baked cookies, fresh laundry, the warm scent of a rose in the afternoon sun, pot roast in winter and the clean, crispness in your nostrils as you hug a child after playing outside… these are some of my favorite smells.  Smells that, just thinking about them put a smile on my face and can quickly take me back in time to precious memories.

I’ve never considered the way I smell to God~ I certainly have given Him many occasions to cover his nose, turn his head or roll his eyes at the offending odor that has drifted from my bad choices and sinful nature.  The very thought that because of Christ in me, I give off an “exquisite fragrance” to people around me and a sweet scent rising to God (those aren’t my words, that’s straight out of the MSG Bible).

It got me thinking… do I consistently give off the exquisite fragrance of Christ to everyone I lock eyes with?  Sometimes it’s hard~ but never-the-less, in Christ we are an aroma to Him and to other~

• in the car
• at the grocery store
• in the hallway at church
• in the parking lot
• at home
• doing laundry
• changing the oil
• backing up the trailer
• pouring into volunteers
• distracted

Get the idea?

In the last four years we have grown by about 650%, which not only affects the space issue, but also capacity and sustainability for staff members and volunteers.  Here are some thoughts about capacity and sustainability I’ve learned over the last year:

1. The bigger an organization gets, the larger the scope of care and responsibility gets.  You will find yourself working more and more hours to simply sustain the minimum duties.  Work smart, stay focused during working hours, “chunk” your time for efficiency (focus for 2-3 hours at a time, then take a short break to re-focus and refuel), recruit more high-capacity volunteers, delegate and finally champion for specialized staff hires.
2. Keep and honor clearly defined boundaries for your quiet time, family time and personal time.  Nehemiah traveled approximately four months to get to Jerusalem to fulfill the call on his life to re-build the wall surrounding his precious city, but as excited as he was to get there, assess the need and get working, the Bible says after getting there he, “stayed there three days…” (Neh. 2:11), then he went out and started to work.  He understood the need for rest, rejuvenation and refueling.  Part of this “rest” cycle for us MUST include times of stillness with our Father.  We can’t lead if we’re not being led.
3. Listen to the wise counsel of those over you in leadership.  1 Thessalonians 5:12 hits it square in the face:  ”An now, friends, we ask you to honor those leaders who work so hard for you, who have been given the responsibility of urging and guiding you along in your obedience.” MSG.  Sometimes decisions will be made for your good that you initially might not understand or necessarily agree with, but trust and respect the godly leaders God has placed in your life and welcome the change as a growth experience meant to refine you to be who God original created you to be.

Change isn’t easy~ nobody really enjoys change, but here’s what God has revealed to me recently; He loves me so much and with such passion He’s not willing to allow me to be stuck.  Change when welcomed, will refine, smooth, cleanse and keep us out of the rut of mediocrity.  Man, I love the way He loves me!

1.  The Discipline of Reticement is one of the spiritual disciplines I pray most for and get body-slammed most often because of.  I read an article a few years ago in a christian magazine about this discipline, which I can’t seem to find and to my surprise the word “reticement” isn’t even in the dictionary.  But the article named it as the discipline of keeping thine mouth shut.  ”Even a fool is thought wise if he keeps silent, and discerning if he holds his tongue.” Prov 17:28

2.  When you’re obedient sometimes you have the joy and opportunity to see the blessing!  Today my husband had the privilege of baptizing four of our small group members!  God has truly assembled an incredible group of people who gather every week in our home for a meal, study, prayer and a tapestry of emotions.  Today was the topping on the cake!  ”Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved…” Mark 16:16

3.  Conversations stretch us, grow us, deflate us, ignite us and give us hope, challenge us and hopefully always make us rely on His Spirit living within us.  ”…the Holy Spirit will teach you at that time what you should say.”  Luke 12:12

4.  At the end of the day, I’m just a sinner saved by grace and adopted by God through the blood of Jesus Christ undeserving of this amazing, crazy love, grace, forgiveness and mercy.  ”Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance:  Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the worst.” 1 Timothy 1:15

Good-night week 37, day 262~

They must have been talking about their hopeful trip to visit us at Christmas time in the car, when from the back seat V (as we call him), declared with great excitement and in grand form, “when I see Grammy at the airport, this is what I’m going to say, ‘GRAMMMMMMY,  GRAMMMMMY!!!!!’  There is no need to tell you that my heart just about burst and my face couldn’t stop smiling after hearing the retelling of this car saga.

Seating on my back patio this afternoon, enjoying a little quiet time after a great, busy, bustling weekend of Children’s Ministry, I remembered that story and once again a smile emerged onto my face and in my heart and I simply can’t wait to see V and his little sis in a couple of months.  I wondered just then about how my heavenly Father feels when I greet Him?!

Do you wonder about these things?  Or do we simply take the relationship we have (or could have) with the Maker of the universe,

the Creator of all things,

the Life-Giver~

All-powerful Sustainer… for granted?

Do you seek Him out, greet Him with child-like excitement, fall into His arms, put your head against His chest and listen to His heartbeat?  Or are we too busy to stop and spend some time with Him?  Am I excited, or does it feel like a chore, something I need to check off my list?  Do I slow down long enough to….. you fill in the blank.

The Bible says that God delights in those who love and trust Him.  He delights in us!  Ephesians 1:4 says, “…he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.”  2 Thessalonians 2:13 says, “from the beginning God chose you”.

He can’t wait to spend time with us, He loves us and chose us!  Every morning I want to run to Him and scream at the top of my lungs, “Papaaaaaaa”!

It’s like an internal tension, not bad, just there.  The fact that I’m distracted by some un-named source in and of itself is enough to keep me curious about what “it” is and what “it” is trying to tell me or teach me or show me.

Of course the “it” is not an “it” at all, but a person, The Holy Spirit.  That sweet Counselor, Friend, Helper and Confidant.  The Counselor that gives me the right words to say, encourages and strengthens me, bears witness to my adoption as a daughter of the King and who has set me free from my own bondage which I cannot rid myself of own my own.

Whatever it is that He is trying to get my attention about, I know that His timing is perfect.  He tells me that “this vision-message is a witness pointing to what is to come.  It aches for the coming – it can hardly wait!  And it doesn’t lie.  If it seems slow in coming, wait.  It’s on it’s way.  And it’s right on time!”  Habakkuk 2:3 MSG.

Tension, maybe~ distraction, yes

But at peace waiting with curiosity, peace and expectation.  hmmmm….

Last Sunday was no exception, as I made my rounds I heard the familiar sound of little ones expressing their displeasure toward their parents for leaving them in the arms of people they don’t really know, with other unsuspecting infants, albeit in a colorful, safe, happy and loving environment.

One little guy in particular caught my attention; Dustin (not his real name).  He was inconsolable in his displeasure, the face that no respectable grandmother could ignore.  As I entered the room and made my way toward the poor little guy, he lifted his arms toward me (continued to break my heart even deeper) and I swooped him up to cuddle and console him.

As I did, I recognized the waif of a recognizable odor and then an excitable team members voice stating, “it’s coming out over his diaper”.  Well, suffice it to say, Dustin and I proceeded through the HazMat procedure (which wasn’t pleasant for either of us), but what happened next was pure gold…

As I picked him up after his poop-splosion had been duly eradicated, he laid his head on my shoulder and snuggled in as deep as he could.  As a Grammy thousands of miles away from her grandchildren, this was the best reward of all.

Proverbs 14:4 says, “Where there are no oxen, the manger is empty, but from the strength of an ox come abundant harvests.”  Margaret Feinberg mentions this Proverb in her book Organic God and I love how she breaks it down:  No ox= No poop = no profit OR Ox + Poop = Profit.  You see we all have to deal with poop to see the reward, last Sunday that reward came through a major Poop-splosion!  Thank you Father for poop!

• Creativity:  Make the sure the event is fun to walk into, thoughtful and inviting.  Make sure they know from the minute they walk in that you’re excited that they are there and that you appreciate them.  Everything from the tables, gifts, stage decorations and food should scream, “YOU ROCK!”.
• Fun:  These hard working volunteers need time have some fun.  Our Coaches events are usually two days, sometimes over night at a retreat center, sometimes in-town.  Either way, I love to do sometime fun and foolish the first night, something to allow them to get to know each other and let’s face it; laugh!  We’ve done zip-lines, ropes courses, and tonight; video scavenger hunt!  Not only are these fun activities, you’ll also learn a lot about the people on your team (not to mention a little about yourself too).
• Vision:  Never miss an opportunity to communicate the vision of your ministry.  Speak it often, say it in different ways, everybody on your team should know why they do what they do!
• Practical Tips:  What is it that you expect your leaders to do?  Train them, equip them and then release them to lead.
• Pray Over Them:  Pray a blessing over their work, pray a blessing over their teams, pray a blessing over the kids they’re leading and pray a blessing over them as individuals.
• Love Them Well:  The way you love your team is a direct reflection of the way they will love their teams.  Everything rolls down hill.

I’d love to hear what you do to train your leaders~

At first this southwest phenom sounded a bit tropical (which suited me fine), although that was before I had experienced walls of water careening down arroyos, flash floods that mysteriously evaporated by the next day and what it did to dormant, hidden little specs of vegetation we call: WEEDS.

As I was out pulling the new monsoon fed flora which had cropped-up in our front yard overnight this morning, it occurred to me, how fast weeds crop up in my life; agitation, pride, anger, gossip, lust, selfishness, laziness, malice, gluttony… okay you get the idea.  We’re all like this, admit it or not, we all struggle occasionally with weeds in our lives.  Left unattended, the little seeds lying under the surface of our human-ness can grow into weeds that will riddle our attitudes, behaviors, words and actions with poisonous, noxious, joy-robbing infection.

How do we maintain our “soil” with all of the “rain, wind, chaos, lightening and thunder” swirling all around us in our day-to-day lives?  Colossians 3:1-2 says, “…set you hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set you minds on things above, not on earthly things.”  Peter got to live this first hand when Jesus told him to walk out on the water toward Him in Matthew 14~ he stepped out of the boat and was actually walking on water, until what?!  The Bible says when he “saw the wind..” he started to sink.  He took his eyes off of Jesus, he listened to the chaos around him.

For a split second there were no weeds in Peter’s heart, no earthly things, no distractions~ only Jesus.  The weeds will come people, don’t get distracted by the rain, the wind or the lightening~ pull them out, remove the invasive little thorn before it poisons your entire heart.  Set you heart on things above~

That being said, there are some crazy things we do as human’s that crack me up.

1.  Carving you name into a toilet seat in a convenient store bathroom.

Now seriously, I’m not really thrilled to land upon said toilet seat to begin with, but I can’t imagine getting face-to-face with a toilet seat that hundreds, probably 1000′s of people have placed their behinds upon.

I would be lying if I said I’ve never carved my initials or name on a random bathroom stall wall or door, I even can see the temptation to do so (I was young, middle school brains, I’m convinced are not fully developed) for a young, rebellious, wanting to make your mark on the world in some weird kind of way, thing.  But a TOILET SEAT?!

In the words of the uber intelligent words of SNL;   REALLY???!!!!

Just sayin’