Mission Trip Day Three!

Hey!  We’re finally able to update you all with what has been going on with our mission trip to South Chicagoland.  For the first few days we have had internet issues, but starting now you should be able to be updated each morning of the trip.  Here’s a rundown of what has happened so far…

 

Sunday

After traveling we started our trip with authentic Chicago style pizza just to get in the “head” of a typical chicagoan.  Not only did it help us, but it tasted great too.  Then we arrived at First Baptist Church Tinley Park and met our host for the week Pastor Dale Thompson, his wife Rebecca, and their 11 month old son, Toby.  We got unpacked and began to prepare for Monday’s VBS kickoff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Monday

We spent monday morning working out the details for VBS and at 11:30 our first child arrived!  We had taken flyers to some of the surrounding neighborhoods and a grandmother who had received one on her doorstep decided to bring her granddaughter to VBS.  The numbers were not as high as we had hoped, but the kids were enthusiastic and excited about the day.  After eating a wonderful meal prepared by our crack team of cooks, we headed off for our first shower of the trip.  (and boy did we need it!)  We are showering at LA Fitness.  We had to joke and say that many of us do not look like the well sculpted clientele they are used to, but it is a great facility that works really well for getting us all in out out very quickly.  After late night popcorn we headed off to catch a few hours of sleep before it all began again.

Tuesday

Our VBS numbers increased by 80% today!  One class grew by 50% another by 100%!  God is so Good!  Once again we spent the morning taking flyers to new neighborhoods and then had VBS in the afternoon.  We were supposed to serve at an outdoor soup kitchen but because of weather we were forced to change plans.  Instead, we ate in downtown chicago and then spent a little time sightseeing along the miracle mile.  We ended the night with Culver’s Frozen Custard. (don’t come on mission expecting to lose weight)

Here are a few pictures from the week so far…

Tomorrow we begin our construction projects so please pray for safety.

Have a Great Day!

That was a close one!

After Vacation Bible School last night I was driving home with my children.  As we were approaching an intersection, I began a conversation that went something like this…

Me: Hey guys look at that beautiful Yellow Lab!  (pointing to the right of the car where a woman was walking her dog)

Caitlyn: Oh Daddy! She’s so pretty!

Me:  Caitlyn that’s a boy doggy.

Caitlyn:  How do you know?

Me: (with sudden panic in my voice) Oh, I just know.

Caitlyn:  But HOW do you know?

Me:  (attempting to think on my feet) I just know what to look for.

Caitlyn:  What are you looking for?

Me:  (with sweat breaking out on my forehead) Ohh…

Caleb:  (My dear sweet boy interrupts the conversation to say)  Caitlyn, he’s looking for the bow!  If she were a girl she’d have a bow on her head.

That was it.  End of conversation.  Thank You, Lord for simple answers!

Good, not Great

Recently I was taking my son, Caleb, to preschool and we had a great conversation.

ME:  Hey Caleb are you ready for school?

Caleb:  Yep, we get to ride our bikes at school today.

ME:  How are you doing this morning?

Caleb:  Good.

ME:  Just good, not great?

Caleb:  I’m not old enough to be great.

(Now let me pause here long enough to say that sometimes asking a 5 year old to explain himself can get you in lots of trouble, but it was just the two of us in the car so I thought I’d risk it.)

ME:  What do you mean you’re not old enough to be great?

Caleb:  You know, like Great-Grandma, you’ve gotta be older before you can be great.

 

It made absolute sense to him that he was not allowed to be great simply because of chronological age.  He had reasoned out in his head that since he calls both of my grandmothers Great-Grandma, that to be great meant you had to have a few years under your belt.  While that logic seems flawed to us, in his mind it made perfect sense.  I often wonder what God thinks about our reasoning for not being “Great”.  I can just hear the rationalizations that we give:

“Our town isn’t big enough for a really great church”

“We don’t have enough money for that”

“I don’t have enough education to make something out of myself”

“We’ve never done it that way before”

We often use our own reasoning to explain away what God can and cannot do in our lives, in our families, and in our church.  The picture that the bible paints is quite different than that.

“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” Phillippians 4:13

“…I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance”  John 10:10

God desires great things for our lives, I think that when we give our reasons for why things can’t be, God chuckles to Himself the same way I did when Caleb said he wasn’t old enough to be great.  He sees so much more clearly that we ever could, and He reminds us that He doesn’t want us to be good, He wants us to be Great!

Three Funerals and a Birthday

Yesterday was Caleb’s 5th birthday.  To celebrate we went to Springfield and ate burgers and ice cream at Culvers and then we went to get his birthday present…FISH!  He got a beautiful fishtank with 8 fish.  As of this morning we had performed 3 fishy funerals.  What a way to teach you child about the cycle of life…have him watch his birthday present die.  (I’m pretty sure I lose dad points for this)  He was enthused when he found out he could go pick out new ones though…all’s well that ends well!

Wonderful Wednesday

I used to think that the busiest day to be a pastor was sunday.  In fact my typical sunday schedule is pretty crazy:

• 5am – arrive at church
• 7am – Trustees Meeting
• 8am – Early Worship
• 9:30am – Sunday School
• 10:45 – Late Worship
• 3:30pm – Church Council
• 5pm – Discipleship Period 1
• 6pm – Discipleship Period 2
• 7:15pm – Choir Rehearsal
• 8:45pm – GO HOME!!!!!!!

But I have decided that Wednesdays are worse.  I think it’s just the mentality of working all day and then participating in all the church activities that evening.  I have to wonder…for those of you in ministry as well as those who are not, what do you do to get yourself prepared and “fresh” for Wednesday nights? 

Not Goodbye

This past weekend I lost a friend and co-laborer.  John Raffety was an encouragement to me in many ways.  He always had a smile and a good word.  He loved to go on mission trips and share his talents with others.  He loved to sing the praises of the One who gave His life for him.  Thursday morning we will lay his body to rest, but it will not be goodbye, for he has gone to the place that has been prepared for him.  And I will see him again, some day.

Sickness Round Two

Man, this bug that’s going around is a nasty one!  I got sick again this past wednesday and Rachel picked it up yesterday afternoon.  Thankfully the kids have yet to succumb to it’s attack.  I have learned a few things while laying around trying to keep my insides on the inside, here are my observations:

1.  TV really does stink these days.  Not only is the content less than desirable, but they just repeat everything over, and over, and over, and over, and over…get the idea? 

 

2.  Never accidentally mix Gatorade and Diet Coke.

 

3.  Having your son run across the room and jump up on you for a hug is really great when you feel well, and really scary when you’re trying to keep your lunch down.

 

4.  It’s easy to lose weight when nothing stays in your system for more than 15 minutes.  I’m thinking of coughing on a bunch of sugar pills and then reselling them as “the new diet miracle drug”.

 

5.  It’s amazing how fast you can run up a flight of stairs when the only open bathroom is located on the second floor.

 

6.  Laundry doesn’t go on vacation just because you’re sick. 

 

7.  Friends DO go on vacation just because you’re sick.  (Or they at least wear gas masks within 50 feet of you).

 

8.  The lack of anything good on TV does make it easier to get sermons written.

 

9.  Hugs from your kids DO make you feel better.

 

10.  Are you still reading this?  I figured you’d be bored with it by now.  What do you know…now if I could only get my kids to pay this much attention. 

Monday Miracle

This happened to one of my church members yesterday and I just had to share it with everyone. A woman from our church really felt led by God to participate in our mission trip this summer.  The problem was that she did not have vacation available until August and our trip is in July.  She went in to her boss and explained the situation, hoping that she could simply have the week off unpaid.  (quite a sacrifice in itself for a mother of four)  But instead her boss replied that she was simply too valuable to the office for them to get by without her that week…so HE CLOSED THE OFFICE THAT WEEK!  He decided that he would just go ahead and take his vacation that week so that the office would not have to be open.  God is SO good!   I love how He works things out so much better than we could have ever hoped for.

My Children’s Cooking Experiment

Last night we had a couple over for dinner.  It was a great time, I got to fire up the grill, (always fun), and we all ate more than we should have.  After dinner we were sitting in the living room laughing and sharing stories when all of a sudden I smelled something burning.  I first thought that we had neglected to turn the oven off and that was where the smell was coming from.  Then my daughter yelled up the stairs “there’s a fire”!  I have never moved so quickly in my life.  My kids had put a bath towel in the downstairs microwave and it had caught on fire.  Everyone was safe and nothing was damaged, but I was reminded of the preciousness of life in that moment.  I will always be thankful for the protection of our Heavenly Father.  I know I can’t protect my children from every danger in their life even though I want to.  We had a great talk with our kids about safety and how good they were for letting us know what had happened.  ( I can’t imagine what would have happened if they had tried to hide what they were doing ).  It reminded me of a time when I was a child and put a rolled up piece of paper into a space heater.  It caught on fire, singed my eyebrows and eyelashes and smoked to high heaven.  Obviously my kids get their destructive side from me, I can’t get that upset with them.  Besides, on the bright side, my kids obviously like “hot” food!

Friends, Fellowship, and Food

Yesterday after our morning services we had the pleasure of entertaining the Adult 3 sunday school department for lunch.  We provided burgers, brats, dogs, and drinks.  Everyone else brought side dishes and desserts.  We had over 40 people in our home and we had a blast!  It’s amazing what can happen when you sit down to a meal with someone else.  It seems like barriers break down and people feel free to be themselves.  That department is made up mainly of empty nesters, so it was great to experience some of the stories and life experiences that they shared.  Everything from comedy to tragedy, they were able to point to Christ as the constant in their life.  I thank God that we have the opportunity to truly be the “body” of Christ.  Not just going through life alone, but loving, learning from, and living out our lives with those that He has brought us into contact with.