now or later

With all the babies being born or about to be born in the church, I have been thinking about the strangeness of exactly how we came to be who we are.  Just think.  If you had been conceived just one month earlier or one month later, you would be a completely different person.  Or… if even one day later, you could be a totally different person!  The complexities of genetics are amazing.  If my parents hadn’t “accidentally” had me (yeah, thats right, I was the “we didn’t plan on having more children, but oops” baby!) when they did, if it had been any other time, I wouldnt be me. Which means I wouldnt be married to Jamie which means I wouldn’t have Charlotte.  If Jamie and I had tried for a baby earlier or later, Charlotte wouldn’t be Charlotte.  But the Bible says that God knew us before we were formed in our mommas bellies (I hate that “w” word, sorry).  So, our parents had free will to “do” when they “did”, but yet God knew who we would be.  Think about that for a minute and tell me your brain doesn’t hurt!!  So, if Jamie and I wait longer to have another baby, who is that baby going to be?  If we had a baby now, who would THAT baby be?? What if the baby we would have now is better than the baby we would have in like 6 months??  But if God knows our children before we do, does he have like a set list of children for us, and He combines the necessary genes together to make that particular child?  Like if I saw the index card for my parents children, would it have said “Erin, Sean, Jennifer” years and years and years before my parents were even born?  Woah, what if there were supposed to be other siblings… Okay, my brain is kinda hurting.  Oh, and then think about that family with 19 kids (the Duggars). Did God really have a list of all those kids?  And then that brings me into the conversation about Gods Will and Biology. I won’t go there today, maybe another post.  Anyway… so my concluding thought to tie it all together is this… God made me exactly the way I am, no accidents, and He made my daughter exactly the way He wanted her to be, and He will make all my children exactly according to His plan.  I just have to trust and hope (confident expectation!!) that I’ll hear His voice and know when the right timing is to have more children.

Sigh, enough of that for one evening. Time to go to sleep!! ttyl!

fingerprints

Last night at Stage20, we watched a Rob Bell Nooma Series video called Trees.  It was really good.  One of the last discussion questions was “Are you leaving your fingerprints on the world?”.  And someone, I think it was Nathan, said that we always leave fingerprints, no matter what/who we touch, the bigger question is are they good or bad fingerprints.  Oooh, good one Nate!  There is a song they always play on KLove about seeing the fingerprints of God on people.  But Rob Bell said, perhaps this is actually Gods world and WE are leaving OUR fingerprints on it.  That puts a lot more importance on what we do and dont do.  We are either helping God take care of the world, or molding the world into something that God never wanted it to be.  Selah.

And, no matter how many of us are working on a project, each of us always leaves our own unique fingerprint.  That is why YOU are important.  Without you, it just wouldnt be the same.  So… what are you leaving your fingerprints on?

potty precepts

I’ve learned over the years that some of the best revelations come while in the bathroom.  Whether the steam of the shower loosens the wax in your ears, or taking the pressure off your feet while seated somehow unblocks a path to your brain, some really great revelations have passed through my mind while in the bathroom.  And I’m not alone, just ask Jamie, he will tell you all about “bathroom spirituality” (its quite hilarious actually).  But the lesson that I learned most recently was this…

We are re-decorating some things around the house, our bathroom included.  So there is a mirror propped against the wall, waiting to be hung in the master bathroom.  One day while using the potty, I caught a glimpse of my feet in the mirror and realized just how exposed one would be if someone were to barge in.  And this got me thinking… So many times when we are being super not nice to someone (or for metaphors sake, dumping on them), we think we are being all big and bad and strong.  But in reality, we are exposing the most embarassing part of ourselves.  I’ve heard people call it “showing your butt” and as much as I don’t particularly care for that phrase, it is really by far the most accurate one.  When you are dumping your issues, your problems, your crap on someone for no reason, you really are showing your butt.  So don’t do that.  Don’t crap on people. It makes you look bad and them feel bad. So just don’t, mmkay?

lessons from the big-D

Did you know that DFW airport is the same size as the island of Manhattan?  And it takes 30 minutes to get ANYWHERE in Dallas.  And that really there are like 8 million little towns that are pretty much considered “Dallas”.  I would NOT want to live there!  Visiting was almost too much.  But the nation of Dallas isn’t what this post is really about.

Tammy, Aaron, Rose, Charlotte, and I went to Dallas for Jeanne Mayo’s National Youth Leaders Conference called Epicenter (never really understood why it was called by like 3 different names).  It was really great.  I had heard clips of Jeanne teaching, but never heard a whole one and had never seen her live.  I loved her!  The other speakers were really awesome too, Ed Young, Judah Smith, Rev GH Williams, and Greg something (“You need a tic-tac, Jack!” LOL).  Unfortunately I wasn’t able to take notes because I was too busy trying to handle an 8 month old (childcare people, is that too much to ask for?!), so I’m glad we got the recordings.  Now I need to go back and listen to the sessions and really take notes.  Even though I wasn’t able to write anything down, I did learn a lot.

Its hard to put it into points, but the overall impression was “family”.  You can’t work your tail off trying to build a “ministry”.  Family is the only thing that will last.  Programs, events, and stuff will fade and fall apart, but bonds and love won’t.  Its all about family.  Oh, and Tuesday was old school Tuesday… Aight, Sweet!  … nevermind, you wouldn’t get that.

Well, now I have to fight the usual knee-jerk reaction you get when coming out of a conference- Just trash what you have and start over! I have to honestly evaluate what would and wouldn’t work for Stage20, and begin to slowly make any changes necessary.  Thankfully I have Tammy to help me navigate those things!   But, with all that said, I learned a lot, and am looking forward to learning a whole lot more when I can finally take some notes!

One other thing I really came away with was a renewed purpose.  If you talk to any one working with “youth”, they will tell you why the particular age group they work with is the most vital.  Middle school leaders will tell you something about “getting them before they reach high school”, High school leaders will tell you something about “reaching them in a pivitol transistion time”, but I have to say that all of that is false.  The BEST age to work with is Stage20.

When you are in college, or just fresh into the work place, you have such high ideals.  You want to change the world… and you truly believe that you can!  Most people don’t go to college just to get a degree so they can sit in a desk 9-5 M-F… they go to learn the skills needed to pursue thier passion, to learn to make the world a better place.  They are finally doing something they want to do, and they are excited about it! No other group has more of a “whatever it takes” attitude!  So if you can build a relationship with someone like that and help them focus that raw passion and potential … that is world-changing!  So forget stinky middle schoolers and apathetic high schoolers … Stage20 is the place to be!!