Lord willing.
Because I'm never sure how it will happen.
This is the time when I need to keep reminding myself it's His work. His way. His time.
Stay tuned to see Him do it again.
Wednesday, August 28, 2013
One Month and Counting
Lord willing.
Because I'm never sure how it will happen.
This is the time when I need to keep reminding myself it's His work. His way. His time.
Stay tuned to see Him do it again.
Monday, August 19, 2013
God Gives Us the Brush-On
I love it when God brings people alongside me in this Operation Christmas Child journey. And one of the sweetest people he's brought back into my life is my friend Ellen. Ellen's husband and I were in the same youth group as teens and she sang at my wedding.
Now, years later, we reconnected on Facebook and for the past few years she has used our NWPA Operation Christmas Child Packing Party as the mission project for the VBS at her church.
When I told her I needed about 5,000 more toothbrushes for our boxes this year, she decided to make that their goal. I told her I'd been buying nice ones from an online site for about 15 cents each.
Last week Ellen sent me a message saying their church would be sending me a check for $505.17. Even though their VBS had the smallest attendance ever with only 15 regular attendees, their giving was amazing. The children were especially touched when they heard the story of a shoebox recipient who lived in an orphanage in Russia where 20 children shared the same toothbrush.
Ellen said "we all have long faces because we didn't reach our goal. I think with the money and the toothbrushes we had donated, it came to 3,426 toothbrushes."
But that's not the end of the story.
When I went to the site where I've ordered the toothbrushes, I found the price had risen to 17 cents each. So I decided to check some other outlets. Here's the story via my Facebook conversation with Ellen.
- from Ellen to me: Oh my goodness Kathy! I can't believe it! What a Savior we serve! I can't wait to tell our Hill kids And my granddaughter Sam who gave me her piggy bank $ when she knew we didn't hit the goal. She said I know God wants those kids to have brushes! Praising God with you and FOR you.
Thursday, August 15, 2013
The Pen Is Mightier
Sometimes people contact me for tips on how to host a large packing party, assuming I have some secret list of places to obtain low-cost items. But that's not the case. Each year we pray and then watch God lead us to wonderful contacts. And I see the same thing happening all around the country for others who are packing boxes also. Let's give God credit because whether you are packing one box or thousands of boxes--everything you need always comes from Him.
So today was my birthday and I got a great gift as the 44,000 pens I ordered for our packing party (2 will be put into each box) arrived via 18-wheeler. The timing was a perfect answer to prayer and my sweet husband and my dear team member, Pam, were both there to help with the unloading.
In only 1.5 hours we got them all opened, inspected, and loaded into the storage container. These are nice pens at a low cost--a perfect gift from God.
After dealing with the pens we headed to a packing party team meeting. Excitement is building as we're only 44 days away from our 5th annual event.
In just a bit over 6 weeks these pens and a lot of other treasures will be on their way to bless children around the world.
Now THAT'S something to write about.
Wednesday, August 14, 2013
Thrill Seeking
Yesterday morning we drove 2.5 hours to Cedar Point, an amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Visiting amusement parks is one of the few things my husband and I have always enjoyed doing together and I was excited for this trip.
Our first two rides were on the Magnum--a roller coaster--where the lines were very short. In 1989 when it was built we stood in line for several hours to ride it. It was thrilling then, but now not so much.
There is in us a desire to always seek a greater thrill. I thought of how this applies to our spiritual lives as well. I don't want to be satisfied with the spiritual thrills I experienced 25 years ago and 25 years from now I don't want to be satisfied with what I know of God today. My Operation Christmas Child journey of the past 18 years has been used by God to grow me in so many ways, and I'm trusting Him to use whatever means He chooses to continue to draw me closer.
Higher up and deeper in--more of YOU, Lord.
Back to Cedar Point. The picture above is of our favorite ride--a steel coaster named Millenium Force. If not for the 1.5 hour wait we would have hopped back in line after our ride.
Here's where the spiritual thrill ride analogy starts to break down.
We intended to stay until the park closed at 10:00 pm and wring every drop of fun out of the day. By 4:00, though, my husband was sick and tired and had to go to the car to rest while I rode three more rides. (Truthfully, I was feeling a little sick myself but refused to give in.)
We then reunited to ride the newest ride at the park--The Gatekeeper. The lines were shorter than earlier in the day but we still waited over an hour for our 2.5 minute ride of ups and downs and twisting and being turned upside down. When we got off my husband said, "I think that's it for me."
By 7:30 pm I was behind the wheel of the car and we were headed home. Some thrills are just harder to handle than they used to be. I guess that's why they give you that senior discount.
Still, God--I'm ready for more thrills with You--higher up and deeper in.
Friday, August 9, 2013
Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Andy Stanley
Closing Session--
One day Jesus is way north of the city of Jerusalem. They're walking into the city (renamed Cesarea) and Jesus asks them, "Who do people say I am?" They answered that some said he was reincarnation of John the Baptist. "But who do YOU say I am." Peter said, "I think you're the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus tells him that answer was given to you from above and then tells him, "Upon this rock I will build my congregation, my assembly, and death won't stop it."
I don't know what they were thinking about this. At the moment it must not have seemed very significant.
It's so unfortunate that the word 'church' showed up in our New Testament because the German word 'church' means a place but Jesus was talking about a gathering, a movement.
When Tyndale was translating the original text into English and came to the word 'ecclesia' he first translated it as 'congregation'--an assembly. If we put all Christians into their own groups, the only thing that is common ground is what Jesus predicted--"I am the Christ, the Son of the Living God and I will build a people around that."
Before you walk out the door to church, think about the fact that you are going to fulfill a prophecy made 2000 years ago. Do you know how astonishing it is that the Church survived? Jesus said, "ALL authority has been given to me, go therefore into all the world and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all I have commanded you and I will be with you to the end of the age." And then He left.
How did this happen? Simple. When Jesus made His promise, He said He would build a gallery of people in His name, and they would have in common that Jesus is the Christ the Son of the Living God.
Imagine standing there in the holy land (the armpit of the Roman Empire where no one wanted to go) and hearing Jesus tell them to go to ALL nations. How did it happen? Because Jesus made a promise and you can believe or disbelieve but Jesus will continue to build His church. And no one's death will stop it--not even His own.
They then go out into the city and pour into the streets and begin to preach. Peter's first sermon is one that we stopped preaching. The first message was, "You killed Him. God brought Him back to life. Say you're sorry." It was not about salvation by faith or about miracles. It was about what they saw. They were witnesses of the resurrection and they said, "You crucified Him." That is some bold preaching and it should have been the end.
The central teaching of the Church was "we believe something happened" NOT "we believe something is true." The resurrection was central.
Then things began to bog down. (Andy's interpretation) -- Persecution broke out and they went just far enough not to be persecuted. And the movement stopped moving and the gathering wasn't growing. They were huddling in Judea. God may have said, "I think you need a leader. I think you need to find someone courageous, someone who's fearless, someone who can gather momentum. And while you're looking I think you should find a Pharisee and tell him if he does a good job I'll let him write 1/2 the New Testament. Saul of Tarsus? That's the kind of guy you should have picked in the beginning. I'm telling you--he's our guy."
Saul becomes the champion of the Church. When Jesus said He was going to build His church, He built it. Jesus is willing to interrupt lives to build His Church and nothing, nothing, nothing will stand in the way.
Paul ends up back in Jerusalem. Paul tells them, "You take Jerusalem and I'll take everything else." And Paul begins to travel around the world building the local Church. Everywhere he goes he is writing letters and 2000 years later we're still trying to figure out what he said.
Eventually Paul goes back to Jerusalem and reminds those who fear for his life that they serve a resurrected savior. James the brother of Jesus might be the strongest reason to believe Jesus is the savior. What would it take for you to convince your brother you are the savior?
As Paul was about to be killed, did he wonder if the Church would last? Did he wonder if he wasted his life?
Andy tells story of taking his children to visit Jerusalem and Rome and at the Roman Coliseum at the Emperor's Gate you can see a cross on the wall. When you think no one sees and cares, there is a cross.
Think of Paul being walked to be beheaded, what if you could tell him that centuries later people would want to know where he was buried? There will be nothing there to commemorate Nero but everybody will want to know about Paul and Peter. There will one day be crosses to commemorate Jesus' resurrection. In the future, people will name their children Paul and Peter and name their dogs Nero and Caesar. Someday there will be a coliseum and for four centuries it will be an arena of death and violence but one day it will be dedicated to the martyrs who died for the name of Jesus. One day there will be no Roman Empire but the Church will be in every country of the world just like your Savior predicted.
When Jesus said He is going to build His Church, He meant it. And you can never do anything more significant with your life.
"So my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord. Because you KNOW that your labor in the Lord is not in vain." There's a cross that hangs over the Emperor's Gate in the Roman Coliseum because Jesus said "I will build My Church."
He meant it.
Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Bill Hybels; Jim Mellado; Gary Schwammlein
Transitions--
Bill Hybels says, "Building the Willow Creek Association with Jim Mellado has been one of the joys of my life. I know I'm supposed to be excited and wish him well as he goes to Compassion and promise to pray for him but I'm still in the mode of missing him. It's going to take me a long time to get over him moving to Colorado. It's tough after two decades to say goodbye.
We have a tradition at Willow. The Bible says in Phil. 2:29 that when someone has led well in a church you should give them appropriate honor. Our tradition is to say kind words and then say, "We hold you in high regard. Way to go," and then clap like crazy. This is important to our church."
Jim Mellado (with great emotion) says "There really aren't words but I want to say thank you. I met the first member of my team when I first joined and there were only a dozen employees. John Williams was the one that suggested we satellite the summit...Thank you to my church Willow Creek. My kids came to Christ here. I thank my mentor, Bill, who gave me the gift of belief, the gift of opportunity, the gift of coaching, the gift of reprimands at the right time. He believed in me every year, learning to live with successes and failures. He wrote a note to me that will mean more to me than you can ever imagine and said, "We're gonna do Kingdom mischief for the rest of our lives no matter what seat you're sitting in in the Kingdom."
Gary Schwammlein is going to be the new president of the WCA. He says: When Bill asked me to be president of the WCA he knew I was planning to retire. I turned 70 in May and my wife had organized a birthday/ retirement party but I made the decision to take this job so it became a non-retirement party.
The local church is the hope of the world when it's working right. But many are not working right. My mind was clouded with the faces of many people who have impacted the church in the right way. And I heard a voice telling me, "I want you to take this position."
Let me share an example: Recently I visited a church in Calcutta to see if we could hold a GLS there and the pastor was greatly supportive. What impressed me was to see a church in the minority in that area ministering to all the needs of the people. A school for 3,500 children, a hospital with 350 beds, 10,000 children being fed every day. What would the city be like without this church?
When I see churches functioning without passion it frustrates me and angers me. Without passion relationships are dull and boring and church can become routine.
The local church is the hope of the world when it's working right. Leadership matters and in the last few years I've embraced this concept in all I do. Leadership allows all the other gifts to flourish. Great, God-honoring leadership is the key to the church being the hope of the world. If you want your leadership to matter, lead in the things that matter to God.
Recently I was in VietNam and saw the work of an organization based in the US and was so impressed with their work. I put an old German hymn on repeat on YouTube for two hours and prayed that God would open up a door for ministry in that country.
We're about helping churches everywhere to thrive. That is well worth delaying my retirement plans. "If you're not dead, you're not done."
Willow Creek Global Leadership Summit--Dr. Henry Cloud
Reversing the Death Spiral of a Leader--
I'm the shrink that Bill told you about. The bad thing is not only am I a shrink at a leadership conference, I'm a Christian shrink. Hybels goes around the world and tells people I'm his shrink, so obviously I'm not very good.
When I got my first job I was hired at a leadership consulting firm. You step into that space from 'here' to 'there' and it's you on that path. You get out there and it's you that has to do it. I fell in love with leadership as I listened to CEOs talk about the struggles of implementing what they learned about leadership.
Here's why I love it. As leaders you are people who take charge and do stuff. Leaders don't blame; they take the stewardship and exert their energy in that space to lead people and take ownership of that. Leaders take ownership of difficult people problems.
(Tells of a man who owned a successful factory and is grooming his son to succeed him and sees his son berating an employee publicly. He tells his son I wear two hats--my 'father' hat and my 'boss' hat. Now I'm putting my 'boss' hat on and you're fired. Now I'm gonna put my 'father' hat on -- "Son you just lost your job--can I help you?")
The hardest thing a leader has to be ridiculously in charge of is himself or herself. Some leaders get results and some don't. Many times they begin to get results and then start a downward spiral they can't stop.
Very accomplished leaders get there, and if you're not there yet and you keep succeeding you will get there.
Leaders who are in charge of themselves think, feel and behave differently than those who spiral out.
Study took 2 groups--one group had applied to get hired and did great on the test and so they hired them. Then they also hired a group who did poorly on the test. Which team do you want--the smart guys or the idiots? In the field the 'dummies' blew them away with 53% higher sales. There was one other difference. The smart guys had another test to measure their thinking and they were shown to be pessimists. The ones who were not smart but were positive did better and they will every time.
The biggest factor of success is whether or not you believe it can be done.
All leaders believe it can happen when they start but then they get into a circumstance somewhere that makes them realize they are out of control of the circumstances and that begins to change their brain. This is called learned helplessness.
What happens to the brain when you find yourself not in control? The brain begins to change in predictable ways.
1) Personalize --brain says "I'm no good. I can't do this." (the dummies don't let it bother them. They don't take it personally)
--this can happen in childhood if you cannot gain approval
2) Pervasive--brain says "No one thinks I'm any good. My whole life sucks." Everything is bad.
3) Permanent -- brain says "It will always be this way." Once this happens, even the best performers can start to spiral.
We see David in the Bible going here. This can happen to any great leader. When everything gets negative, you don't even do the things you can do to stop the spiral.
But there is a way out-- Science and the Bible will agree in a place called reality.
To reverse the 3 "P"s
1) Log the thoughts and dispute them -- write down the negative thoughts. One man wrote down all the negative things he thought a client would say and 99% of them were false. You dispute those thoughts, if a believer, with Scripture. There's a difference between your brain and your mind. Your brain has nothing to do with reality. Write down the good things to prove that everything is not bad.
2) Control -- make two columns of lists-- one you can't control (obsess about it for only 5 minutes) and then make a list of what you CAN control. Everybody has control of something. There is always something you CAN do.
3) Connect--you fuel your brain on oxygen, glucose, and relationship -- you MUST connect. When you are connected you start to forget about whether you are good or bad and go solve problems. Experiment with monkeys--just by putting a 'buddy' in a stressed monkey's cage, the stress level dropped by 50%.
Connect and your brain will change. The first thing Jesus did with His team was put them in a room together and pray for unity.
A "can do" attitude is something that will give you confidence and "find a way" thinking. May God empower you to get there.
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