No Cost Too Great

May is Digital Outreach Month. In light of this, 15 bloggers have been participating in a Group Blog Project. We are reading through and blogging about this book together - @stickyJesus: how to live out your faith online.

If you are a Christian, God has called you to ministry and evangelism wherever you are…and where most of us are, at least part of the time, is online! Tami Heim and Toni Birdsong have written this great book and created an online community where they collaborate with others and equip all of us to #LiveSticky.

“We're here to infuse biblical perspective and daily inspiration into your online time. We’ll help you grow your technical know-how so you can share the sticky love of Jesus Christ with others.”

You can read my guest post here about the cost of Christ following, online or face-to-face.

Thanks for visiting...have a Beautiful day {especially if it gets a little Crazy}!

The New Season of Life is Crazy Beautiful

Betcha thought I had quit blogging. No...it's just that the month-long break I had planned to take became 4 months!  I won't give you a long and boring recap of "What I Did Over the Summer Break", but the synopsis is: A few awesome things, a lot of annoying stuff (like 1 a few about 20 too many food allergy reactions), and not nearly enough fun and relaxation.  I plan to make up for that last part this Fall :)

One awesome thing - Youth Mission Trip to Manitoba in early July.  Here's a post-thunderstorm picture I took...

I know, right? I often wonder why we don't see fashion and decorating influenced by "sunset colors" more often, but I guess we could never translate it as well as the Creator!

Another different-but-awesome thing is that the hubster's title has changed.  He is still Associate Pastor, but his ministry focus has changed from "Youth & Christian Education" to "Discipling & Family Relations".  The students had a fun little "Not Going Away Party" for him and "prayed him out" as they traditionally do with the graduated seniors their last year at camp. It's a little bittersweet, as we'll miss working directly with students...but we are both excited about God calling us in a different direction in ministry and all of the opportunities and challenges that await.

Speaking of changes, what do you think of the blog's "new do"? I really liked the clean look previously, but just needed a little more spunk and color for awhile. I've still got a little work to do, but I'm enjoying it so far.

It's good to be back...I'll not stay away so long again.  Have a beautiful day!

God Sees Me

Heading out on the road in a little while.  I'll be listening to some great music, worshipping my Lord, and driving through some scenery that looks a little bit like this (except the winter version).  I'll be meeting my sisters/friends/teammates and one of the things we will be doing is planning for our annual women's conference in September.  Angela Thomas will be our featured speaker, and it's going to be wonderful (in fact, it's called "Wonderful Weekend for Women")!

Our theme for 2010 is Stand Out, with the tagline "God Sees Me".  Our scripture inspiration is Psalm 139.  What a fantastic reminder that God not only sees, but created and intimately knows every single inch of us - including the most important invisible parts...and LOVES us anyway!  I'm praying for a safe, unified, inspired couple of days - feel free to join me in that :)





Have a beautiful weekend!

Just Because I Promised...

Waaaaayyyyy back I promised to post a picture of the group we took on our Youth Mission Trip to Texas in late May. So, here it is!


Our theme for the week was "It's a God Thing" and it really was! The purpose for our theme was to get the students to be aware of God's presence in their lives ALL THE TIME, and we have seen fruit since then that tells us that at least most of them really have been making that effort. What a blessing to watch people grow closer to their Lord!!

Time Flies (Like the Concord)!

Puh, just a little "placeholder" post... My "regular" blogging schedule is being delayed by another week!! I've had so much going on and taken many pictures of many different things and events, but haven't had any time for downloading or typing - my computer misses me, I can tell!

Today, it's our Boomerang Express Vacation Bible School Kick-Off at 3pm. We woke up to pouring rain this morning, so we have been praying for it to finish so we can have the event outdoors. My husband, Brad, is really praying because we lined up a mini train and the company couldn't provide someone to drive it so he gets to play engineer for a couple of hours. I'll have to add pictures of that to my list of things to post. The sun just poked it's head out, so I think there's hope - yea God!

Before this it was VBS preparations & decorating; before that a wedding; before that recovering from a mission trip; before that a mission trip; before that graduation...and those were just the things in addition to "?normal?" life...

Yes, life is Crazy and Beautiful...but you probably already knew that! I will make picture downloading & editing, and blog posting part of my "for-me" down time during VBS this next week -- I'll probably need it!

Blessings!

That's MY Girl!

 

I spent last week with 23 students and 7 other adults from our church in the Beaumont, Texas area doing hurricane relief (both Rita & Ike) on our Summer Mission Trip. This is my daughter, Bailey, cheerfully bailing water from a hole surrounding a pipe that a man needed access to on their work site. Their team worked on a former nursing home in Vidor, Texas. Nehemiah's Vision wants to use the facility to host future work teams, like ours, who come in to help with the repairing & rebuilding efforts. You gotta love a 16-year-old girl who doesn't mind getting dirty, sweating and working hard to help out those who need it. Bailey's spiritual gift is service...and she often shows it in helping through our youth group, shoveling neighbors' snowy driveways, or just helping out when asked.

Another team from our group did some sheet rock, siding and repair work in an area home, and my team removed some flooring, did some repairs, and painted the outside of First Baptist Church in Rose City. First Baptist Church in Lumberton, Texas hosted us for the week and did a fantastic job showing us love and hospitality.

It was a great week of hard work, great fellowship (including a snipe hunt and an amusement park visit)...but most importantly, sharing Christ through our service. We are blessed with a super group of students and adult sponsors!! I'll post a pic of the whole gang tomorrow.

The Usual, Crazy Spring at the Youth Pastor's House!

Part of the life of a Youth Pastor's family is an incredibly busy late Spring! We've survived all the end of the school year festivities, including the BIGGIE - High School Graduation. Plans are under way for Vacation Bible School (Brad is Associate Pastor for Youth & Christian Education, so he oversees that, too). School here got out for the Summer a couple of hours ago, AND we leave for our Youth Mission Trip tomorrow morning!

I wouldn't trade any of it...but it means we've been quite distracted around here and I haven't written any new blog posts! It also means I won't touch my computer for a week *sigh*...BUT, I am all set up to be able to post by email/MMS from my phone if I can find the time. I'll definitely be posting pictures & updates on the Family Blog, but a post or two might make it here, as well. If you've happened on over and are reading this, please be in prayer for me, my family, our youth group and the Rita & Ike victims of the Beaumont, Texas area where we will be serving to help with rebuilding. Thanks, and have a Blessed & Safe Memorial Weekend!