What are your words saying?

I love our church and I love our Ekidz program. My girls come home each week excited to tell me about their Bible story and what they learned for the day. This weekend they were super excited to tell me about their Bible verse.

May these words of my mouth…be pleasing to you O Lord.” Psalm 19:14

We had the most amazing conversation about how our words can either build people up or hurt them and how Jesus loves when we are kind to others. We talked about examples of how we can say pleasing words. Their examples: "Tell my friends at school that I like playing with them." "Tell my sister we can share the toy." "Say kind words but also do kind things for people, like open a door for them."

I love opening up these discussions with my 5 year olds and hearing what their little minds come up with. We have even had several moments this week where the girls started getting mad at one another and saying somewhat mean things, but all I had to say was "may these words of my mouth..." and they corrected themselves.

I think I sometimes fear that kids will be mean because my children may look different or go to the doctor way more, but I have girls that truly want the words from their mouth to be pleasing to the Lord. And I think that when we act that way it opens the door for those around us to act with kindness. Of course we are all human, 5 years olds and 50 year olds will say unkind things but what do you do when you remember that Jesus is listening to all the words that you say?

I love that the Bible is for everyone! This verse is just as much for me as it is for my 5 year olds. What things are coming out of my mouth? Am I building others up? Am I voicing things out of love? What have I said that could be hurtful that I need to apologize for? What things am I saying that I don't truly understand and instead need to show restraint and keep my words in? Am I showing the fruits of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control) in the way I speak?

How much better could our day go if we start by saying "May these words of my mouth be pleasing to you Jesus"?

Crash the Chatterbox

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I love being part of Elevation Church. The people are amazing, we serve with so many wonderful outreach partners, our worship experiences are incredible and we are truly blessed to get to hear an awesome message every week from Pastor Steven Furtick.

If you didn't get to hear the first week of the Crash the Chatterbox series you have to listen to it soon. You can go to watch it here.

In the sermon, Pastor Steven talks about how the "chatterbox" is the lies that surround you (from others and in your own head) and if you listen to them can keep you from the person God has designed you to be.

I began thinking about how moms deal with our "chatterbox" so often. How many of you have heard something like this in your mind...

"A good mom would never yell at her kids like I just did"
"My kids would be better off with someone else"
"I am not equipped or prepared to handle this"

The chatterbox can bring so many more thoughts into your mind that discourages you and pushes you to give up. But we have hope in Jesus. Jesus has defeated the enemy. He has power over the chatterbox and when you walk in the confidence of being a child of God you can overcome the chatterbox.

One of my favorite parts of the sermon was realizing "we can't stop or control what the chatterbox says to us but we can learn to block it out." Pastor showed the example of wearing headphones that can drown out the outside noise but we can also plug it into the living word and hear the voice of our Father.

This week when you want to think you aren't good enough, you can't handle it, you don't have what it takes...remember that you are fearfully and wonderfully made (Psalm 139:14). And use this verse to change your inner thoughts from negative ones to ones that are uplifting!

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. (Philippians 4:8)

To get Pastor Steven's new book and more info about it go to crashthechatterbox.com

10 Reasons to buy Only King Forever by Elevation Worship

It is release day!!! I am so proud of Elevation Worship and their new album Only King Forever! Our church has been singing these songs for several months and every single one of the songs on the album is seriously amazing!! My personal favorites are Last Word (see the last post) and The Love of Jesus because they mean so much to my family walking through Sydney's cystic fibrosis.

You can get it on iTunes right now and it is only $9.99. Here is the link to download and you will truly be blessed. /elevat.io/n/okfitunes 

If you are on the fence if you should buy it then here are 10 reasons you should:

1. Amazing songs...great quality. Sometimes that a little harder to find in christian music.
2. Our worship team is truly amazing. If you sat down with any worship leader, singer, musician you would love them.
3. So many resources. If you are in a church and want to sing these songs, Elevation Worship has made it so easy to get chord charts, lyrics, video tutorials for each song. Check it out here: http://elevationworship.com
4. These songs are written from our journey as a church. We see what the people of our church are going through and these songs reflect them. If you need songs that speak to the situations you are going through what better album than this?
5. The songs are life-giving, energetic, encouraging, hopeful. Your spirit needs to have more songs like these.
6. Song lyrics stick with you. Would you rather have the lyrics to Miley Cyrus's latest song in your head or songs about Jesus? 
7. You get 14 tracks. That is $0.71 per track. You can't even buy a bottle of water that cheap.
8. If you are going through any illness or hardship then you need this CD. This songs are the words I didn't know how to express with all that we have walked through with prematurity, cerebral palsy and cystic fibrosis. I truly get chills each time I hear this CD because of how powerful these words are.
9. If you hold off buying 2 Starbucks drinks you have your Only King Forever album paid for. You can do it :)
10. Finally, because your whole entire family will want to listen to this. I play this CD while I cook, get ready, drive for errands and then I look at my 5 year olds and see them singing along. That's when you know that you have placed something amazing into your children. When we worship we focus on Jesus, not on our circumstances. There is hope, there is peace, there is life.

I am so proud of our team and truly believe you will love this CD. Go get it now: elevat.io/n/okfitunes 

Last Word

I am so excited for this weekend. We just opened our newest Elevation campus in the Lake Norman area! And to top it off the new Elevation Worship album is being released to our church. If you don't attend Elevation you can get it on the 14th :) The sermon was absolutely amazing so you don't want to miss tomorrow!

Every song on the album is seriously so good! I don't cry and I get teary-eyed every time I listen to the album. One of my friends texted me the other day and said, "Ever since I got the new album, I just drive around in my car crying. These songs are my favorite." So with all that being said make sure you get one!

But I wanted to share with you guys one of the reasons this album means so much to our family. Wade started writing the Last Word with our daughter Sydney in his mind. We had been given the diagnosis of cystic fibrosis several months before. She had spent her first 4 months with an ostomy bag, taking enzymes before eating, and her lungs being checked all the time. We were going back in the hospital for her ostomy reversal and kept thinking about how Jesus has the power over her body instead of a condition. We would get discouraged but we heard Pastor Steven's message in the hospital and knew Jesus was in control. I remember Wade sitting in the hospital room humming the melody to this and beginning the chorus of "you have the last word, it is finished." It is so awesome to see how it transformed and became such a powerful song and one that our church sings with so much passion.

Worship music has power. One song can lift your spirits because you sing truth about our Savior. The enemy wants you to think your situation is hopeless, that there is no reason to believe in something better. But Jesus has told us he has all power and his spirit is with us. I love the bridge to the song:

Your word stands through the ages
Your voice shatters the darkness
In you we are more than conquerors
You speak and strongholds surrender
Your name overcomes the enemy
In you we are more than conquerors

Your situation may not go away. We still deal with Sydney's cystic fibrosis. But when we trust in the Lord and when we focus on Him instead of our circumstances you will be able to walk through it. You will be able to see hope in the situation and overcome!

Here are the videos to the story behind the Last Word and the Live Version.

Pray for Sydney

I thought I had finished using this blog, but it seemed to be the best way to let everyone know how you can stand in faith with us and pray for Sydney and how to update you on her journey.

To get you up to speed, Sydney was born Nov. 6th at 41 weeks. She seemed completely normal for the first 12 or so hours but then started spitting up blood. The doctors sent her down to the NICU and x-rays showed that Sydney had air in her abdomen. She had emergency intestinal surgery and they discovered her sigmoid colon had ruptured because her meconium was very thick and backed up. The surgeons had to give her a colostomy bag and we were unsure of what caused all this to happen. 

However, this week tests came back and Sydney has been diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis. It is a very serious condition and to find out more about it you can go to cff.org.  When we imagined adding a third to our family we hoped for a healthy full-term newborn with no complications. To have this diagnosis has been difficult for us but we know that there is a purpose in this situation. We have hope in our God who has been so good to us and who performed miracle after miracle in the lives of our twins. We are blessed by an incredible team of doctors and nurses, and are very encouraged by the medical advancements we are learning about for treatment of CF. Ultimately we know that the doctors do not have the last word, and trust that Sydney's future is in the hands of Jesus. So we are going to believe for another miracle, and would ask that you all join us in prayer. Here are the things we are specifically praying for:

• There are mild and severe cases of CF and it is impossible to tell now what hers looks like. We are praying that she will have a very mild case with no symptoms and that she will have a very long life. Specifically pray that her lungs would be strong and healthy and that her pancreas would function normally.

• Pray for her to stay healthy and free from sickness. This first year is extremely important for her long term health.

• Pray that God will get much glory through her story and her  life.

• Sydney has been in the hospital now for over 2 weeks so we are ready for her to be home. Pray that she can make progress with her bottle feedings so we can leave the hospital.

• She will have her intestine reattachment surgery sometime in early 2013, so pray that it goes smoothly.

• We still have weekly therapies for Liana and Adleigh had a heart procedure scheduled for 2013, so pray that God will continue to heal them and help us manage all of the different treatments.

We have been extremely encouraged by our Elevation Church family and feel so supported during this time. The scripture we have been praying over Sydney everyday has been Psalm 103:1-5.

Praise the Lord, my soul;
    all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
² Praise the Lord, my soul,
    and forget not all his benefits—
³ who forgives all your sins
    and heals all your diseases,
⁴ who redeems your life from the pit
    and crowns you with love and compassion,
⁵ who satisfies your desires with good things
    so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.

Thank you for believing with us!

BABY DEDICATION (babies in our case)

I know that Adleigh and Liana are gifts from God to us, but dedicating them last Saturday showed family, friends, and fellow parents that we want to honor God with how we raise our girls. I don't think I realize sometimes how serious our jobs are as parents. We need to be daily teach our children about their Savior. More than anyone on the planet our children will look to us for answers and maybe more importantly will always observe how we practice our faith.

Our Lord is to be lifted high and His glory to be told to all. Our children need to know of how marvelous our creator is and how he loves them in a personal way. Thank you to everyone who has prayed for our girls and can now see them so healthy and perfect. God has done so many miracles in their life!

Here are some pictures of that special day.

4 years and Mother's Day

May 7th (this past Thursday) was Wade's and my 4 year anniversary. We ended up celebrating Friday night with an action packed night. We started at The Gallery Restaurant and had the restaurant almost completely to ourselves since we ate at 5:30. They even did this dessert platter for us that said Happy Anniversary on it. We saw Star Trek after that and finally to finish off the evening we saw Public Radio play at the Visulite Theater. They did a fantastic job!

Wade got me this gorgeous necklace for our anniversary/mother's day of two hearts to symbolize both girls. It is gorgeous! And I got a beautiful bouquet of flowers.

Then this Sunday Holly preached at church for Mother's Day. She did an awesome job! I ended up bringing the girls to our church during the 11:30 service for just a few minutes and some of the band members and a few other people got to see them. The most said statement was "they are actually real!" I guess I have done too good of a job of sheltering them. One of our amazing Elevation photographers caught a few pictures of us with the girls. I am with Liana and Wade is with Adleigh.

My mind is crazy jumbled

Thank you everyone who started praying for Adleigh because we went to the pediatrician and she called to see if we could move her HIDA scan up and they said they would do her two tests back to back instead of having her wait for so long. She will still probably go 6 hours without anything to eat but that is better than 8! Please pray that these scans show that everything is normal and that she is just having issues with jaundice from being on the TPN for so long. Our ultrasound is at 10 and the HIDA scan is right after that.

The girls had a good exam at the pediatrician. They are gaining weight. Adleigh weighed 7 lbs 8 ozs and Liana weighed 7 lbs 1 oz. This is the closest in size they have been. Liana is trying to catch up with her sister.

Has anyone ever had a baby that immediately starts crying once they realize they are in their crib? We try and put Liana in her crib and she usually only lasts for 10 to 15 minutes and then screams. I am having a little more luck with one of our swings. Maybe it has to do with the motion because even if you are holding her she will sometimes cry until you stand up and bounce her.

Also, Wade and a whole lot of people from Elevation went to Catalyst (a conference in Altanta, GA) and our pastor got to speak there today. I heard he was absolutely amazing and I really wish I could have heard him! God has done mind blowing things through our church and I am so excited that Pastor Steven got an opportunity to share that with so many people. I miss all of you guys at the conference!

Finally, our good friends the Freemans had their daughter Kayleigh move to progressive care. In the NICU world, going to progressive care is like a dream come true. You are finally told your child isn't in critical condition and you get to go to a pimped out little suite. So I know that Kayleigh's parents are super excited and now the only step left is going home! We are still praying hard for you guys and just know once Kayleigh gets out we are going to plan some play dates! God has given you a wonderful gift and you have shown so many people that God is your strength during the toughest of times. We love you!

A new series

The holidays were amazing and I just kicked back, relaxed, and enjoyed time with my husband and our families. I think the gift I was the most excited about was my new digital camera (thanks to Wade) that can fit into my purse so whenever the need arises to take a picture I will have my camera at all times.

I am going to upload a few pictures from the holidays, but first I wanted to share with you this incredible video trailer that our creative department came up with for our new series "Made." I believe this is the best trailer I have ever seen for a sermon series and I am so proud that it came from our guys. I am sure you will enjoy it too.

Bless Back Project Rages On

I went to church this Sunday and found out that Elevation had an article written about it in the Charlotte Observer. The Observer heard about our Bless Back Project and put the story on its front page. I am so excited that all over Charlotte random people are being blessed by Elevation Church attendees. I think people have gotten so excited about it they don't want to stop with what the church gave them. Instead they are reaching into their own pockets to figure out how they can serve and help others with the money that God has provided them in their own wallets and checking accounts.


And you Mt. Horeb peeps, I have been looking on the website to see what you have done with your money, even though you live in Columbia you aren't exempt from sharing your Bless Back story online! Can't wait to hear them.

A specific prayer

I know it is Tuesday, but God has been rocking my world the past two days because of the sermon this Sunday. I used to be all about journaling my prayers. I have two journals that are about halfway full that have prayers to God in them. At some point I stopped actually journaling, but without them I feel like I have no way to measure how God is answering my prayers. So after we moved I pulled out the journal and began to write down my prayers again. Every few days I try to go back through the week or so and see what I have been praying for.

Well I don't know how many of you heard Pastor Furtick's sermon, but one key point was about being specific with your prayer life. We tend to say, "Be with my parents," but God is already with them. How can you pray specifically for them? We also say, "God if it is your will we ask that you allow us to get this new job." It is like we are giving God an escape clause if he doesn't want to give us the job. If it isn't God's will he won't give you what you are asking for. We have to say what is on our heart and trust that God knows how to answer us. But ultimately both phrases are limiting our vision of God. How will we ever know how God is answering our prayers if we ask for something, but then give the "out phrase" or if we aren't specific enough to have any measure of an answer.

So as I looked through my journals I saw all of these "Be with...." and "God I only ask this if it is according to your will" and it was hard to measure the answers of my prayer life because I was never very specific. I figured if they were gray then I would be happy with whatever outcome happened. So I am now trying to make an effort to pray specific prayers. So when I flip through my journal after a few weeks or months I will see exactly how God answered my prayers. I will then become sensitive to what prayers aren't part of His plan for me and what prayers I wasn't ready to have the answers as yes. It is a journey that I believe is going to make me a stronger child of God.

So thankful

Wow...yesterday was incredible. We had our first Sunday at Butler High School and people showed up and I mean lots of people. Elevation Church had 162 people come to know Jesus as their Lord and Savior yesterday! I am in awe of how God is using our church to reach so many people. Now that we are in Butler I feel like we are so perfectly placed for new visitors. I mean it can't get any easier trying to tell your friends how to get to the school because it is right off 485. So after a awesome Sunday morning we had a night of prayer and worship at Butler that night. It is beautiful being surrounded by believers who are truly thankful for all that Christ has done in their lives. They are excited to sing to Him and snatch up any opportunity that they can clap, shout, or holler about the absolutely astounding things this church has seen and is going to see. I love it!

After such a great Sunday it is hard to go back to trying to search for jobs. I am trying to completely hand this over to God, but with each day of finding nothing to even apply to it gets very discouraging. I think I have been to more company and random business websites this past week then I have ever been to in my life. My internet history is like 3 pages long. But I will stay on the hunt and if you know of any companies or businesses that employs a graphic designer then I would love to hear from you!

A Saturday Mash of Thoughts

I am chilling at my house right now while Wade is setting up for the first Sunday of our campus being at Butler High School. We are so excited to see how God is going to use this strategically placed high school to bring more lives to Him. Wade and I were talking about what to expect for this Sunday for both campuses and we have some pretty high expectations. I believe God is going to definitely show up and more than likely shatter anything our little minds have come up with.
We are starting a new series this week called "Sun Stand Still" that I think is going to be really amazing. The band is going to play an original song that is specific to this series. So don't miss it!

In other news, this week most of our fall shows are having their season premieres. There is one show that I absolutely love called Bones. It airs Tuesday at 8 on Fox. There are a couple of reasons why I love this show. 1...It has David Boreanaz the guy who played Angel on "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Angel" and I liked both of those shows when I was a teenager. 2...David Boreanaz, called Booth on the show, is an FBI agent and for some reason in between high school and college I wanted to be an FBI agent. 3...The leading lady, called Bones on the show, is a forensic anthropologist. Now I never wanted to be that but I did want to be a forensic scientist in college which probably means that I would have looked at threads and hairs instead of bones. So as you can see I have a lot of random interests in the show and it makes me love it! Yes, I am a complete nerd and I am not ashamed. Make fun, throw your jeers, but I will embrace the dorkiness.

And finally, Monday someone is going to come install a backyard fence for us. You don't know how excited I am about this. Having to walk a beagle on a leash in your backyard multiple times a day is no fun. Scooter wants to smell everything in sight. He wants to go in everyone's yard in order to stay on the "trail" and he will wait forever to use the bathroom. Plus, being in our house all day makes him go kinda crazy and then he chews on random things which isn't good. So come Tuesday when that fence is finished I will be doing some kind of crazy dance maybe I'll even throw in some cartwheels or something. You never know what's up my sleeve.

Crazy God stuff

In one week Elevation went from 2400 something to 2812. Who does that? We do. That's some crazy God stuff right there. God is lighting up Charlotte right now!
This past Sunday happened to be the beginning of the 80's rock series. TV's were spray painted in neon colors playing 80's videos and the Super Mario's tune was the countdown song. Guitar Hero was available for people to play outside while waiting to get in. And the band played Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit...yes we know it was the 90s, but if you want to know why it was played then watch the sermon online or the listen to the podcast.

I feel so honored to be at a church that is so creative and out of the box. I like that people are so excited to go to the church that they never want to miss it. I love that fact that week after week people are surrendering their lives to Christ and then passionately pursuing their friends because they want them to know Jesus too. It is exciting.

I have a picture for all you Mt. Horeb peeps. Wade led worship last Sunday for the high school event called Pulse and a lady at the church named Lisa takes pictures of Elevation events and she captured one that I thought you all would love. You can check out other Elevation pics here.



I figured you would all love wide-open mouth Wade about to eat his mic. And hopefully it will bring a smile to your face. We miss you!

~pleach~

It's Sunday?

I don't think ever in my life have I been sitting at my house waiting to go to church. As I was growing up, I would wake up on Sundays to someone banging on my door saying, "Ferris you are going to be late to church if you don't get up." We all know teenagers are barely awake during their Sunday School time and it is a constant struggle to keep them engaged. I wonder why we didn't start church later?

Well today Wade woke up at 5 AM after both of us having a hard time of sleeping and got ready to go to church. He pulled out of our house at 5:37 AM and I couldn't believe how early it was! In Mt. Horeb days I thought getting up at 6:15 was early! Well anyway, thankfully I got to go back to sleep and woke up at 8:20 to Scooter scratching on his crate telling me he was ready to get up. So I got ready and I have just been sitting around waiting to go to the 11:30 service.

So right now I am praying for Wade who was getting ready for three services at 6 AM and who will finish things out when I am just then making it to church. Boy do I love Elevation!

Which eats grass

I was reading Psalm 106 today and got to this little part in the chapter:

19 At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal.
20 They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass.

I love how David threw in "which eats grass."

This past Sunday Dr. David Olshine preached at Mt. Horeb. It was a great message and at one point in the sermon he preached against entitlement. He said something like this:

Olshine: God, I preach for you, go on mission trips for you, pray for others, help old ladies across the street, read my bible. You owe me something good down here!
God: Olshine, you don't want me to list what I've done for you.
Olshine: No, God give me the list.
God: Well, mountains, rivers, sand, birds, raccoons, white and red blood cells, your wife, your children, great artists, trees, Bill Gates, composers, good food, dogs,...
Olshine: Okay God. You don't owe me anything.

For some reason when I read that verse in Psalm, I thought about an Israelite worshiping that cow. What would their conversation be with the cow?
Israelite: Cow, you owe me. I have been a great Israelite and have been good to my wife and children, I have said good things to my neighbors, and I come worship you. What are you going to do for me?
Cow: chomp chomp chomp
Moses: Hey idiot...it's a cow. It eats grass and can't do anything for you. It can't even do anything for itself. How stupid can you be?

Sadly, there are many times when we choose something other than God and we need to hear someone say, "How stupid can you be? You are choosing something that doesn't matter at all over the all-powerful God who actually loves you!"

Let's take a second to think about what we are spending our time doing. Where are we when we should be worshiping God? Are we trading our Almighty God for something that "eats grass?"

The same story

Well, in about an hour some person I don't know will inspect our "potential" new home and let us know if it is worth putting an offer on the table. I am still trying to stay detached from the house so that if a bad report comes back then I won't be utterly disappointed.

I remember this one house Wade and I looked at while we were engaged that we fell in love with. It was cute and had this storage area outside that they converted into some apartment thing. It was awesome. We had an inspection done and what would you know the house had to be condemned. Whoops.

Last night was our last Ignite. I ran the media for our high school ministry for the last time. It was sad when I turned off the computer and powered everything down. I thought about how for 3 years almost every Sunday night I had sat up in my perch running the media while the kids worshipped and listened to the sermon. It was crazy to think about that stage in life ending. We did leave Ignite on a phenomenal note. The band sounded amazing and the kids were really worshipping. Wade had this awesome talk about being part of the big story of Jesus (Ephesians 1:15-23). And for Christians no matter where we go or what we do we will always be part of the same story of Jesus. I like being part of something extremely bigger than myself.

We still have 3 more weeks left at Mt. Horeb. I am so thankful for all the people God placed in our lives at Mt. Horeb. We are truly blessed. And I know that the friendships we have gained there will remain even with a move to Charlotte.

That's why, when I heard of the solid trust you have in the Master Jesus and your outpouring of love to all the followers of Jesus, I couldn't stop thanking God for you—every time I prayed, I'd think of you and give thanks. But I do more than thank. I ask—ask the God of our Master, Jesus Christ, the God of glory—to make you intelligent and discerning in knowing him personally, your eyes focused and clear, so that you can see exactly what it is he is calling you to do, grasp the immensity of this glorious way of life he has for his followers, oh, the utter extravagance of his work in us who trust him—endless energy, boundless strength!
All this energy issues from Christ: God raised him from death and set him on a throne in deep heaven, in charge of running the universe, everything from galaxies to governments, no name and no power exempt from his rule. And not just for the time being, but forever. He is in charge of it all, has the final word on everything. At the center of all this, Christ rules the church. The church, you see, is not peripheral to the world; the world is peripheral to the church. The church is Christ's body, in which he speaks and acts, by which he fills everything with his presence.

Ephesians 1:15-23

Weekend Recap

Wade and I are still in the process of finding our new Charlotte home. This Saturday was the second time we have looked at houses in the area and we were fairly successful. I think there are at least two houses that I could move into.

This weekend we decided to stay in Charlotte overnight so that we could visit both campuses of Elevation. We are both super excited about what God has in store for us there. Wade wrote down lots of notes about what his new job will consist of and I soaked in the excitement and passion of our new church.

But one of the things that has made me feel even more comfortable with the move are the people there. We have had the pleasure of having Larry Hubatka as our realtor and he also heads up the student ministry at Elevation. He has made us feel welcome and excited about our move to Charlotte. And after hearing a lot of amazing things about her, I was able to meet Kelly Hubatka (Larry's wife). We met at church and she was super friendly. And I already have this amazing respect for her with having 4 girls under 5. It is great to find people like this when you are new. There is always this fear that you will move to a new place and it will be really hard to find friends or have someone to talk to, but I feel like with the people we are meeting at Elevation that we are finding friends before we have even made the move to Charlotte.

Tonight a Columbia clan will head to the 8pm preview showing of Transformers. I had no idea that this cartoon/toy existed before all this movie hype. But I have embraced it whole hearted. I am ready to hear the line that Wade has quoted all week:

One shall stand, one shall fall.

Pay it Forward

I had one of those "Wow" moments last night.

It all started when Wendy and I got together with our small group girls, well the two that were able to come anyway. We went to TCBY and hung out and we had a great time catching up on what has happened over vacation time and boy drama. One of our girls had to work last night, but fortunately she worked across the street so we walked over so we could see her and gave her a belated birthday present.

By this time it was just Wendy, one small group girl Kathryn, and me. And we were hungry for real food. It just so happened that Kathryn works at The Mediterranean Cafe and they serve healthy options, so we decided to go there. She ran into a couple that she happens to waitress quite often and they looked so happy to see her. She told them she was with her small group and they asked about what church she went to, etc. During dinner I found out that Kathryn had won this prize at school for being a caring, thoughtful, Christ-like person. I was so proud of her. Around that time Kathryn's couple left and told us to keep doing small group because it is such a good thing. How sweet!

We finished eating and were just waiting on our check. We actually thought that the waitress had forgotten to give it to us. She came over after pouring us like 15 glasses of water and said that we could leave whenever because our check has been paid. We were puzzled and tried to get the waitress to tell us who did it. But we guessed that it was Kathryn's couple that she normally waits on.

Wow.

I think that is an amazing concept. Kathryn had made such a great impression on this man and woman that they wanted to reward her and her small group! How generous of them. It is like one of those pay it forward moments where now I want to do something nice for someone else without them knowing it.

What a great reminder to always be Christ-like. People develop an opinion of you and you want it to be a good one. But what is great is not only was Kathryn showing this great attitude at work where she gets paid for it, she was also showing that attitude at school too. I feel so blessed to have Kathryn in our small group!

It's not all about YOU

I used to think that I was such a positive person. To an extent I still am, but I think that I sometimes let small things creep under my skin.

The other day at church and I was trying to leave early so that I could visit my family which is 2 hours away. I was totally in my own world as I made my way down the hallway to find Wade so I could say bye. When I barely heard someone say, "Everyone looks mad today." I looked around to find out that the person was talking about me because apparently my own little world face looks very serious. I know that this was just a misunderstanding because I wasn't mad at all. As I walked outside to my car, I felt horrible about it. I kept making excuses in my mind that I didn't do anything wrong. But I kind of did.

I think I and probably a lot of other people have turned things to being all about ourselves. On Sundays, I need to be joyful that I am able to be around so many other believers and celebrate the fact that I get to sing with hundreds of others about my Savior. I need to be thankful that I get to hear a sermon that our pastor took hours to prepare. I want to be in awe that so many people volunteer every Sunday to teach the children, youth, adults in their Sunday School Classes. I don't need to be in my own little world thinking only about what is going on in my life.

But it goes farther than that. I have mentioned to Wade a lot recently that I feel like I am always going and always busy. But that fact is I have two jobs that are so amazing. I want to celebrate the fact that God has blessed Wade and I with jobs that have supported us and that are a true blessing to work there. And I want to be at my job and be a total blessing to all those around me. I never stopped to think that my reason for being at both of these places is for the people around me and not myself. So, I have started walking with my head high in the halls and try to make a point to smile at the people I pass. I don't want to be in my own little world that someone can mistake as me being mad.

I think it will be a challenge to not focus everything inward. When you are at church don't think about why someone didn't come say hello...why didn't you? Maybe they need your encouragement. Is it a church where they don't sing your style? Well look around you and know that the words and the attitude are what matters. Celebrate Christ through your heart...it is about God not you. When you are at work and someone doesn't use your idea don't sulk around thinking that they messed up instead be excited to help make someone's idea a reality.
I know this is a work in progress for me, but I truly want to embrace the people around me and start making it all about them.