EXPERIENCING GOD on Tuesday

It is Tuesday morning Sept. 20, and I am going through the study of Experiencing God...before I talk about that, let me first say thanks to Taylor Martin for reading my blog!...There are so many great statements in today's study, like "I am God's servant. I adjust my life to what He is about to do." And this one just really hit me between the eyes...."Understanding what God is about to do where I am is more important than telling God what I want to do for Him." I am watching and looking for what God is doing here, where I am, and when I become aware of it, I must adjust my life to Him. Some people would say teen-agers are the most selfish people in the world, and in some ways they are right! But there are LOTs of young people who "get it", who understand that God is at work all around them and want to join Him in what He is doing...I know several of them, but won't list their names cuz I'm not dumb...I don't want to set myself up for having favorites, ya know?!...yet, I am SO BLESSED by being around students that "get it"...Yesterday Chris, Jerry and I went to look at the colors and furniture that will be in the new building and they look really good, I think most everyone will like the way it looks...it is going to be a great tool to bring people into the kingdom, a place where students can come every day to be together, to talk about the things of God (we had a great challenge from our pastor Sunday to talk about the things of God more than, say, the football game on Saturday night)...here's another good thing from Exp. God today " The moment you sense that God is moving in your life, you give Him a list of reasons why He has selected teh wrong person or why the time is not right...I wish you would seek God's viewpoint. God knows you CAN'T do it! But He wants to do it Himself through you." Remember that today, or whenever you read this. I'm looking forward to meeting with our F2F leadership group tonight. God is doing some great things around here where I live, I know that is true where you are too. Hey, would you say a prayer today for me and my family as we get ready to go visit a college this week-end?! Getting Alana to college is definitely a God sized task that only He will be able to accomplish!

MONDAY Sept. 19

It's been a while since I've written...but I wonder if anyone reads these very much! It's been quite a week or so...going through Experiencing God with our youth group has really blessed my life, and our Friend 2 Friend peer mentoring groups got off to a great start last week, 19 groups with great leaders. God is blessing that ministry so much, and I want to share with others how important it is...will you pray with me that God will give me opportunities to do that? I worked at the USC football game this week, selling Dippin Dots (the ice cream of the future that's been around about 10 years I think!) with Alana...what an experience THAT was! It was kind of fun, except at half time because it was about 100 degrees and everybody wanted Dippin Dots!! So much is going on it's hard to write about it all...Chris B. is a great help to our youth ministry here, and he's also a great help to me in so many ways...his wife Kelley's birthday is coming up this week...Happy BDAY Kelley! This Thursday we are going to visit Elon University in North Carolina with Alana....today I ordered her senior pictures...where IS that little 4 year old I used to play with when we lived in beautiful Beaufort by the bay? Some times I long for the simpler life we had then, but as I used to tell those Beaufort kids all the time "you can never go back"...and as I have been reminded this week in EXP. GOD you cannot stay where you are and go with God! It was good to see Alden this weekend at the foot ball game, and his sister Ashley and her husband Nathan...God has allowed me to know some great people through the years...today we went to look at the colors and fabrics that will be in our new building getting ready to open up...they all look really great, it's exciting to think how God will use that new facility....well I better go...thanks to those of you who read this stuff...there is so much more, just not enought time to write it all. Keep Believing!

Sept. 11 LATE

It is late Sunday night, after a LONG day...12.5 hours at the church....I had the rare opportunity to help lead in worship today by singing a song called He Is My Strength...it was a joy to be able to do that...I was reminded that when things are going good is when Satan likes to attack...a friend was hurt today, and I hurt with him...sometimes life is hard, but God is always good no matter what, and He is teaching us all step by step....I had lunch with some special folks who serve God in Tanzania, and it brought back some special memories....Lord, do you want me to go back?...Jerry and Kimberly led our first session of Experiencing God tonight and did an awesome job...Lord, please help these kids understand your will for their lives...we had what seemed like the 150th parent/youth meeting of my life tonight, and it went pretty well...our Friend 2 Friend ministry is growing and that excites me, to see people come forward to invest their lives in others...I prayed today with Kathryn, and on Thursday I prayed at the FCA breakfast with Calvin...it's always an honor to pray with people...even with all the good and bad that has happened today, I have been thinking that it is a blessing to just be alive and have thought about those whose lives were taken 4 years ago today as they went to work in New York, or were on one of the planes headed for eternity...Lord, did you use me today to share your love, to encourage anyone? I tried, and you blessed my life by reminding me that YOU are my strength, my fortress, and the hope of my salvation....Exodus 15:2...time to order the State Fair tickets now, at 12:01 am...only God can give me the strength to stay awake to do this...ministry happens in all kinds of ways, even after a long day.....

Labor Day week-end stuff

My 6 year old, Jillian, just came down the steps dressed in her sleeping beauty outfit, complete with the crown...we just got back in from 2 good days at Myrtle Beach....our plans changed from Edisto, so we headed to Myrtle Beach and had a wonderful time. I did miss Alana who chose to stay home, and we let her, since she IS a senior and wanted to do some senior kind of stuff. I am going to miss her when she goes to college, but enough about that. The weather was great today, good waves, great sun, nice temperature, and it was great fun playing in the waves with at least 2 of my daughters. We also got to spend some time with Chris and Kelley, and Kelley's family as well. Nothing relaxes me like the beach. I was glad to hear that things went well at LBC today, thanks to the awesome team of adults who teach our students week after week. I am so excited about what God has ahead of this fall!
My heart is aching for the people hit by Hurricane Katrina...I agree with a lady I heard on the news this week-end who said that those who have been displaced are NOT refugees, they are tax paying American citizens. They are people that need our help and need our prayers. It will be interesting to see how the people of the church react to all that has happened there. This has reminded me that we spend too much time accumulating STUFF. Life is not about stuff, it's about being real, spending time with people and really getting to know them and who they are, and spending time with the One who created us. Tomorrow I will get to meet the newest member of our family, my nephew Ryan's new son, Harrison. I'm looking forward to that. May God bless whoever reads this on Labor Day, and thanks for your comments.
Keep Believing!