Tuesday

What a great day today was! This morning the girls and I made Resurrection rolls.  It was very fun, and super messy. (I learned a couple of 'what not to do' tips for next time!)  Then the girls made some beautiful Easter cards for us to take to a nursing home.

Lucy is loving our new workbox deal so much, she actually cheered this morning looking over some of the things she got to do.  (Sigh)  I love that!

Then we went to the nursing home.  This is something I have wanted to do regularly with the girls for some time now and I finally got around to doing it. We went to see a sweet friend named Mrs. Jewell.  She directed my wedding and I cleaned her house for a about a year.  Mike also used to help her in her yard often.  It was such a sweet time to spend with her.  She is such a hoot and still has a quick wit about her.  

After that we went to the park and hung out a bit waiting for Mike to finish up some work. Then we found a letterbox made in honor of the very first Publix ever and came home for some dinner. The girls and I watched a Doughnut man video and now it's off to bed.

What I really wanted to share with you was about the Resurrection rolls we made today.  They tell the story of Jesus and an empty grave.  The girls and I made cute little bags to hand out to everyone at the nursing home today with a poem on them that Mike wrote for us last night.  It was really neat to be able to share a quick moment of Jesus with these sweet people.  Most were very appreciative.  

It was definitely out of my comfort zone to deliberately speak about Jesus to the people.  I didn't know them (and many couldn't hear me!) and sadly it's just not something that comes overly easy to me yet.  But, one of the things that Jesse our pastor is encouraging us to do is to have weekly appointments where we purposely share the gospel.  So this is where I am starting.  

Old people love kids, so I know that my rejection level will be low.  But I want it to be easier and easier for me to share the gospel with anyone at anytime.  So, for now, this is a safe 'practice' place.  Plus, I really have a heart for these people.  It makes me so sad at how many of them are just forgotten and how lonely they are.  It really blessed me today to see so many of them smile and respond to me and my girls. They were truly thankful for some company.  

It is my goal to go about once a month and creatively find ways for me (and my girls) to share the gospel and love on people. I know that somethings are taught and somethings are caught.  I hope my girls catch this because there is no higher calling than sharing the gospel.

 

The story of the roll is this:  The marshmallow represents Jesus, dipped in butter to represent the oil anointed on Him by Mary, then dipped in cinnamon and sugar representing the spices before his burial and wrapped in the bread - the grave.  After they are cooked, the marshmallow disappears (theoretically) and leaves an empty grave.

We learned that if you don't seal the tomb well, Jesus makes a mess!!

Mike's poem: We hope today this roll will bring the joy of Jesus Christ our king, peak inside at the empty grave and remember our Lord's Resurrection Day.  (Mike's so good!)

Lucy and Mrs. Jewell.

Church

Yesterday we had church and it was so good!  It went like this: 

The Roots Community got to the park around 10:30 to set up. We cooked some burgers and dogs and and got everything ready. The people from the neighborhood came. We all ate and hung out.  The kids played and everybody got some sun.  The weather was beautiful.  No catch. No program. No secret agenda. 

It was a great day at church.

Galatians 5:13-14 My friends, you were chosen to be free. So don't use your freedom as an excuse to do anything you want. Use it as an opportunity to serve each other with love. All that the Law says can be summed up in the command to love others as much as you love yourself.   

Disciplines

In our triads this week, we are learning about prayer.  Last week was about meditation.  I can't tell you how much this really is a discipline! I want so bad to jump into my routine of what I know to study the Word and hear from the Lord.  But this morning as I set out to be "disciplined" in meditating and praying, I began whining to God how I didn't like this and wanted to do what I know and is comfortable.  I felt him speak to my spirit about what discipline really is.  

To be dedicated to get up and work out every day is great!  But if all I ever workout is my biceps, I am missing out on a bigger, better picture of health.  I have to exercise and train every other muscle group to be as strong as my biceps now are.  To leave out the other muscle groups is really lacking and to keep only working my biceps isn't taking me to a better picture of health. Great, I've got the biceps trained - that's excellent, but part of being disciplined is gaining the whole picture.  And, is it really a discipline to train something that is already strong? 

So, now I am training myself in a new discipline of prayer and meditation and the truth is these muscles are very weak! But as always, the burn after a good workout is so rewarding.  I am excited to gain a better picture of being "disciplined", or as the scriptures say - a disciple.

The Roots Community

Mike and I are involved in a church plant in the Davenport/Haines City area.  This is the church that Mike was the interim pastor earlier this year.  The new Pastor as well as a crew of 20 or so moved up from Miami and West Palm this summer.   In these last few months we as a launch team have been learning what it means to plant a church.  My role so far has been with the children a lot of the time but now we have a children's director so a few of the other moms and I are freed to be in the service. Saturday night's service was GREAT!  

We learned about a, new to me, method we are going to participate in called triads.   It is not an evangelistic program. It is also not a curriculum focused on information and teaching. It is a group of 3 people that agree to get together weekly for approximately 18 months to hold one another accountable, encourage each other and learn from each other. It is a method for making disciples by, initially for us, learning to practice 12 spiritual disciplines. ( I would list them for you, but I don't know what the all are yet.)  Then hopefully after a year and a half or so, we are in a place to then each go make a new triad and disciple 2 more people.

I am so excited about this new opportunity.  Although I'm not real sure what to expect there is a longing in my heart to 1) be a better disciple myself and 2) to learn how to make a disciple.   In the last church we were at I was involved in an evangelism program called FAITH.  It was a neat program and I learned so much about how present the gospel of Jesus to people.  I personally led 2 people in a "sinner's prayer" to meet Jesus.  But one of the weaknesses of this particular program was any kind of real follow up that would actually come along beside these new believers and disciple them.  Sadly, I have never again made contact with either of these 2 individuals.  Nor do I know if either of them actually have a relationship with Jesus or if they just answered yes to all my questions to shut me up and make me leave or if it was a "fear of hell" yes. 

One thing that was taught when I started that program was that Jesus told us to make disciples. (Matt 28:19) He also told us that He would build His church. (Matt 16:18)  I think for most of my life I have been attending churches that had these two concepts reversed.  Churches that I have been a part of - God loving, bible believing churches - have been trying to build the church and hoping that Jesus (or the pastor) would make them disciples after we got them in the doors. Tonight we were challenged and encouraged to make disciples and (I believe) allow Jesus to build His church.  

There was one statement that stuck out to me that I hope I never forget.  The statement was "A successful disciple makes disciples".  It was a light bulb moment.  I felt like it answered so many questions for me.  It was confirmation to me from an earlier teaching this week;  you can't push anybody to Jesus - you have to get in front of them and lead them to Him.  

Discipleship isn't entirely about a teacher and a student.  I think I am beginning to see that it is more about coming along beside one another and walking through life together.  Isn't that a picture of what Jesus did?  He came along beside a couple of guys and said "Hey, let's walk some life together".   I am excited to grow with and walk beside the other 2 people in my triad and as we learn better what it means to be and make disciples.  

Matthew 28:18-20  And Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, “All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on earth.  Go then and make disciples of all the nations, baptize them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teach them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and yes, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.

Thank You God!!

We received some very generous unexpected financial support this morning and I am so thankful!  God is so good and He really meant it when He said He would provide all our needs!! 

Thank you Jesus for never giving up on me even when I'm quick to doubt you.  You are so faithful!! Thank you for keeping me dependant on You and You alone.  

Missionary or Volunteer

Mike and I are helping to plant a church - something new to both of us.  It is an interesting challenge.  It is the goal of this new church to really be effective to the community.  To really meet the community where they are and take the gospel of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ to them. As you might imagine there is a lot of work to do.  

Last week we were reminded that we want to be a church that raises missionaries not just volunteers.  This was such a great challenge for me.  As I defined in my mind the difference between a missionary and a volunteer, this was the main conclusion I came to: a volunteer serves for a time, but a missionary serves a purpose for life.   A volunteer says " I will commit to this".  A missionary says "This is my life's passion".  

I don't think I have been living a missionary life, but I want to.  I want my mission in life to be to share the life changing love of Jesus to all I come in contact with.  But I am encouraged.  The more I open up and allow His love to flood my soul, the more free I become to be a catalyst to give His love instead of just a vessel that keeps it.

Free to be passionate about, not just committed to. That's what we were created for. 

Some words of His love for your soul from Romans 8:

So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn't hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn't gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God's chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ's love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture: 

   They kill us in cold blood because they hate you. 
   We're sitting ducks; they pick us off one by one.
None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I'm absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God's love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us. - The Message

May your soul have a drink worth sharing passionately today, not just taking in and committing to.