Encouraging Deep Roots

  🎄45 dozen cookies baked 🎄 6 batches of fudge/truffles made 🎄 1 batch of caramel popcorn put together 🎄 2 young adults delivered from college 🎄 Snow every day 🎄 A few presents purchased and some to go for our family 🎄Christmas gifts being purchased for a family that was not going to be able to have a Christmas this year due to circumstances 🎄 6 packages to get in the mail for extended family 🎄 Christmas cards that still need to be written and mailed 🎄Numerous other small and large tasks to be completed 🎄A children's program to get through 🎄A Christmas eve service and bulletin to put together Dan, Stephen and Emily are off Christmas shopping this afternoon, Nathan is at work and I should be working on the list above.  However, I've plopped myself down on the couch and am watching A Christmas Story , a holiday favorite.   Stephen came home last night and after turning in a couple of assignments that are due by Tuesday will b...

One of the problems of having young adults and no grandchildren is that all the Christmasy things that used to be fun aren't being done anymore.  So some of the magical and child-like wonder has returned for me this year with the start of my 3D Kids program at church. Each Thursday night children in grades K-5 come for a night of fun.  I have nine children registered though last night I only had 4 with the weather and sickness. We start with a short Bible lesson. One night we learned the meaning behind Christmas through the use of a candy cane.  Last night I brought a wrapped gift and we talked about the excitement of the person who bought the gift for me and how disappointed they would be if I never unwrapped it.  We equated that with the gift God has given us through Jesus and what it must be like for Him when people don't unwrap it and accept it. Then we do a craft/art project.  One week we made gingerbread ornaments. Another we made gingerbread hous...

I have found joy in simple things by Grace Noll Crowell I have found joy in simple things A plain clean room, a nut-brown loaf of bread, A cup of milk, a kettle as it sings, The shelter of a roof over my head, And in a leaf-laced square along the floor, Where yellow sunlight glimmers through a door. I have found such joy in things that fill my quiet days: a curtain's blowing grace A potted plant upon my sill, A rose fresh-cut and placed within a vase, A table cleared, a lamp beside a chair, And books I have long loved beside me there. Just a few pictures of the simple enjoyments in my life.

Matthew 4:18-20 ~ As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will send you out to fish for people.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Matthew 9:9 ~ As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. Luke 5:27-28 ~ After this, Jesus went out and saw a tax collector by the name of Levi sitting at his tax booth. “Follow me,” Jesus said to him, and Levi got up, left everything and followed him.   Matthew 10:27 ~  My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. When I was 14,  I clearly heard the voice of God calling me and telling me to follow Him into full-time ministry.  I thought that meant I would be a missionary in some foreign land.  I didn't e...

Luke 2:8-14 (HCSB) ~ In the same region, shepherds were staying out in the fields and keeping watch at night over their flock. Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for look, I proclaim to you good news of great joy that will be for all the people: Today a Savior, who is Messiah the Lord, was born for you in the city of David. This will be the sign for you: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in cloth and lying in a feeding trough.” Suddenly there was a multitude of the heavenly host with the angel, praising God and saying: Glory to God in the highest heaven, and peace on earth to people He favors! The shepherds were out tending their flock when the angel appeared to them.  The text tells us they were terrified, so can you imagine what they felt when the multitude of heavenly host showed up?   The magnitude of this event was ...

I feel as busy as one of Santa's elves this year.  I've been baking up a storm as I prepare for different events at church, our own Christmas and our Holiday Open House. 🎄So far I've made eight different kinds of cookies and have a few more to go: 🎄Gifts are beginning to show up beneath the tree. 🎄Christmas cards are still sitting in their boxes and waiting to be filled out.  Some of that will happen today. My ministry life has been busy too: 🎄Advent readings are being worked on for church, as well as Christmas music. 🎄I'm working on a 3D Kid's program for the 24th during our morning service. 🎄I mentioned before that I passed my accreditation interview.  I have since received a letter from our district office, and the next step is that in order to issue me a license the church had to be willing to create a licensed position for me.  I met with the elder board Tuesday night and I am now the disciplemaking ministry dire...

I came away from a conversation last night feeling a bit unsettled.  I was trying to explain why I was pursuing something and just couldn't articulate it in a way that I felt was being understood.  I hate when that happens and it leaves me frustrated and defeated.  I wish I was more eloquent at times or thought quicker on my feet.  I often think of a perfect response to a question hours after it has been asked. I was still feeling uneasy this morning when I opened up my Bible to the following passage. Romans 8:26-27 ~ In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groanings. And He who searches the hearts knows the Spirit's mindset, because He intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. I often can feel frustrated when I'm praying too. I have a hard time articulating what I'm thinking or feeling and come away from my time...