Speed bump

Have you ever been driving really slow through a neighborhood when you were suddenly upon a speed bump? At that moment you must either give the car more gas or get out and push your car over the bump in the road. Sometimes in life we hit those speed bumps. We are on the right road but we just need a bit more gas or a little push to get over the trial, the tug in your heart, the addiction, the relationship mending or what ever hurtle you may be facing. 

Here in East Tennessee the January weather is absolutely depressing. Gloomy skies, snow covered grounds and plenty of time to think about what you would like to accomplish for the kingdom in the coming years. Not really a great thing for me. I have discovered if I am lucky enough to live to 80 years old then I have already lived half of my life.  If I died today would God say "well done good and faithful servant"?  Would he say "You gave your all for kingdom sake?"

What about you? Have you lived your life to the fullest for Christ's sake?

Don't misunderstand me. I have a great life. I love working in ministry. We always have a fridge full of food, A closet full of clothing and amenities abound.  But...could we live with less to make a greater impact on the kingdom? I think so. Which brings me to the speed bump. Many Christians, including myself, are happy to just sit on the speed bump and not cross over it. We go to church, we listen to Christian music, we say the right things but ... are we willing to give life a little more gas and make it over the speed bump to the other side where we are doers of the word and not just hears of the word?

Maybe Gandhi said it best while observing Christianity: " I like your Christ. I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."  We sit in a world of amenities and look at the hurting, hungry & homeless. Maybe we even pray for them. We put on our Sunday best and then over hear others saying " I can't believe she wore that to Church!"  Hey there self righteous! Let's just be happy they are at church. We eat dinner at restaurants and throw away enough food to feed 12 hungry orphans in Africa. We get chicken in the drive thru for our children and they refuse to eat it because we forgot to ask for barbecue sauce. Hey there ungrateful! You had three meals today! The waste in our lives is excessive while the need in others lives seems so overwhelming. What could you live without? What could you give to someone else who genuinely is in need? Instead of a vacation on a sandy beach or skiing in the mountains, could you hold an orphan child in your arms and tell them about The Lord? Could you spend the week feeding the hungry and helping the homeless?

Give it some gas friends! Get over the January speed bump. Get up, get out and show Christ to a hurting world. You do not have to travel across the ocean to do that. You only have to walk out your front door and be willing to reach out to others.

Fall Fuse retreat

The fall Fuse retreat for our 5th & 6th graders was a blast! We rented Bancroft Bible Camp in kingsport, Tn.  We had a couple decisions for Christ and I had the honor of Baptizing Chloe Puckett! 

We did a great bible study by precepts called "evil".  It was a study of job.  Our guest speakers were Scott & Lynn Kain.  We also had lots of messy games, swimming, hiking, zip line, card games and more.

The Summer Sensation!

As we ended the last school assembly of the 2012-2013 school year in May, I took a deep breath and said "Ahh, Summer is here!"  Lazy days and long afternoons by the pool right?  Guess again.  God had bigger things planned for me this summer.   It started with an amazing Mission trip to Tyler, TX June 13-23 with 28 Middle school students.  We had Missionary training at Teen Mania and then we hit the local parks to do VBS in the mornings and spent the afternoons at the Salvation Army or The Local Food Bank.  Several Children came to know the Lord and our teens learned how to share the gospel & give their testimony!

We drove back to church on Sunday June 23 and I literally unloaded the luggage for our teens and then drove straight to Camp Placid to begin our children's camp for 3rd-6th grade and our day camp for 1st-3rd grade.  Our theme was Gold Rush... discovering the rock of ages.  Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also!  Several more children chose to follow Christ during this time and eight children were baptized in the pool at camp. We had amazing worship.  You could just feel the Spirit of the Lord  hovering in the air as we sang.    It was such a joyous occasion.  Camp ended with many happy memories and a few scrapes from the grass at the end of the slip n' slide:)

I was 16 days in a camp bunk bed either in Texas or Tennessee.  I was thankful for my bed when I crashed that first evening.We had a one week turn around to get camp supplies reorganized in the resource room and pull out the supplies for Worship Arts Camp which began today, July 8!  We are off to a fun week of art, dance, drama, music & science. Worship Arts Camp ends July 12 and 2 weeks later we will be back in the schools for our assemblies.  I can't wait to see all those smiling faces!

Lots of pictures are posted on my Facebook page.  Feel free to stalk them and tag yourselves.

Plenty of stuff happening this fall! Don't miss the fun!

Sleeping with the sharks: fuse 56

Loaded the bus and headed off the ripley's Aquarium. We had a great time of worship & teaching on the bus. We arrived and entered the aquarium only to realize that I left the check for the aquarium in my car in the church parking lot 2 hours away :). Minor detail! No worries we worked it out. Thank you Sandy & Teddy Miller for bringing us the check. We began carrying all the luggage into the aquarium and then realized that we also had the bus driver's luggage. The bus driver and his wife are staying in a hotel in gatlinburg. They did come back to retrieve their luggage. So, it has been a comedy of errors .

The children of course had no idea any of that happened because they were so excited to be at the Aquarium. They quickly made themselves at home in the classroom and began asking questions. We had a pizza snack and then squid dissection. Next then children went on a scavenger hunt in the aquarium followed by a question and answer session in the classroom and instructions for lights out :)

Eventful day!

Finishing March & beginning April

As I reflect on all the activities that have happened since my last post and look forward on my calendar to what the summer will bring, I thank The Lord for the talented, creative & dedicated volunteers who serve each week with me. Their hearts are sold out to The Lord and his love radiates through them. So very blessed to serve with them!!!!!!

We have really been focused on service in the children's ministry this spring with "spring into service". We painted the fence at Holston Home for children & finished up our last month of service for the spring at Salvation Army. The children have loved serving dinner at the Salvation Army!

Our school assemblies have been a blast! The chick-fil-a cow has joined us to wrap up the end of our school assemblies. We have one assembly left in April and two chapels in May at a couple local Christian schools. Our school assemblies will come to a close for the 2012-13 school year after these. I love hanging out with the kids, teachers, staff and principals at these schools. They get it... Core Values are important and vital for a child's success in life. This months value = friendship

I had the honor of being apart of several baptisms on the weekend of April 13-14. I am always excited to see young people chose to obey God and tell the world they love Jesus through baptism. God is so good and I thank Him for each one of the decisions that were made to follow him and commit their lives to him.

We took a fun caving trip to Appalachian caverns after church on Sunday April 21. Relationships were built, new friendships were made and our spelunking skills were put to the test. It was great to know I could fit through a hole the size of a piece of notebook paper 😀 lol!

The spirit of The Lord is really moving at Celebration Church right now. We had a wonderful time of worship last weekend led by our youth band. It was so great because many of the teens playing and singing on stage actually volunteer in children's Ministry. The children loved seeing them serve The Lord through music and worship. They did a fabulous job!

March Whirlwind

It has been a very busy month!  So Busy I could hardly find time to post anything, please forgive me.

We have had several school assemblies this month.  Our good friend Sandy Kneffel and her monkey Kumba joined us as we talked about Honesty using Core essentials.  We have one more school assembly left this month.

Learned way more than I wanted to know about Child Abuse at our teacher training given by the Children's Advocacy Center. I am so thankful for those who serve, protect and advocate on behalf of the children in our communities.
 
Helped remove lice from a sweet family associated with one of our local schools.  

Attended the Food Show in Gatlinburg to pick out food for camp.  I sampled so much food I thought I was going to bust.  I had a great time hanging out with a few ladies that I love to work with, Debbie, Carol & Sandy.  We also made so new friends that work for Reinhart foods and were recruited to help greet and hand out goodie bags with them.  It was a fun time.

Helped Celebrate my Sweet friend Angie Bundy's Birthday. 

The Fuse 56 Retreat: Sleep with the Sharks was lots of fun.  We studied the book of Daniel and learned how to resolve to be like Daniel and live for God!  It was pretty cool watching all the sharks swim above our heads as we drifted off to sleep.

 Enjoyed some girl time and laughs with facials & fondue with a few friends.

Did some major Bible studying in Chattanooga at the Precepts Ministries campus.  I took classes on the Old Testament, The New Testament, Spiritual Gifts & Bible timeline: How the Bible fits together.
My favorite class was Bible timeline, however, my hands may never recover from all the notes I took.  While I was there, Jack Authur, co-founder of Precepts celebrated his birthday and it was a privilege to be there and celebrate with him.

Planned, practiced and costumed with all those acting out the Easter Story for Children's Worship.  We are so very blessed to have such dedicated teens to help teach our children.  I am forever thankful for all those who serve in Children's Ministry and help impart God's word each week.

Met my new friend, Kevin, while serving dinner at the Salvation Army.  Kevin is a sweet soul.  The children had the opportunity to lay hands on him and pray for him as he is trying to figure out God's will for his life.  With the help of a few friends, we found him a place to sleep for the night equipped with a shower and laundry facilities.  He is going to help work at The Branch House, an outreach and recovery center under construction by Celebrating Freedom, tomorrow.  Asking you to lift him up in prayer even as you are reading this.

Whew, I am tired just thinking about all that has happened this month.  I am also so blessed to be apart of all of it.   This week is full of preparation for Easter.  The children at Celebration Church will experience the sights, sounds and smells as the experience "The Jerusalem Marketplace", complete with carpentry, jewelry making, weaving, a scribe shop, bakery and Live animals.  So excited for our children to be able to experience 33 AD as we reenact the Easter Story!

Salvation Army Dinner

Thanks to all those who helped serve dinner at the salvation army last night.  It was great to see some of the same faces we saw last month.  Praying for several of them this morning.  I personally had a super time getting to know a few more people who came last night to eat dinner. 

This song came to mind as I was praying for several of my new friends.  Praying for jobs, housing, healed relationships and clear direction for several of my new friends.