A Real Important Day

I love old people. The older you are, the more I love you. I took Marissa to an assisted living home every week for almost 4 years. The only bad situation I've had is with my brother-in-law's 90 year old uncle. I met him at my sister's wedding and he told me about his Playboy subscription and then flirtatiously said, "I will see you in my dreams tonight!" After vomiting in my mouth, I quickly ran away from him!

I sat with Vince and Dawson during the 12:00pm service at Kensington Community Church this past Sunday. There were two empty seats between me and a very old man. Because it was Memorial Day, they did a tribute to people in the military. They sang a beautiful song and showed tons of touching black and white images of the military.

Because of my love for old people, it wasn't surprising to me that my attention was fixed on the old man next to me. He sat slumped in his chair, looking sad and depressed. The deep sadness showed in his eyes. His wife put her hand over his. I was sure he had served in the military because of the way the images and song were affecting him. I couldn't take my eyes off him. I imagined his life and the pain that he had endured. The friends he had lost. The experiences of war that had stuck with him.

Things got weird when all of a sudden I pictured Jesus sitting in the empty seat next to the old man with His arm around him saying, "I've been with you through it all." I was brought to tears. And then I pictured Jesus saying to me, "Can you tell him that for me?" I thought I lost my mind. Did I faint or something? What was happening? Like I'm going to walk up to this total stranger and tell him that Jesus has a message for him! AWKWARD!

After debating with myself during Vince's whole sermon, I decided that I would talk to the old man.

After the service ended I took a deep breath and sat next to the old man and told him the whole story. His eyes got full of tears and he said, "Thank you." We talked for a while and he told me that after attending church for most of his life, he finally understood God's love for him. He said that Vince's sermon was so easy to understand and that he finally got it! He thanked me again for passing on the message from God and said, "Today is a real important day in my life."

He bought one of Vince's books after the service and had me sign it. I wrote, "I've been with you through it all" and dated it.

It was seriously one of the most powerful experiences of my life. I'm so glad that I decided to talk to him. I'm so glad that I listened to God and stepped way out of my comfort zone. Just like that old man, it was a real important day in my life.

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Weekend Update!

We had a great trip to Michigan this weekend. We got to hang out with Chuck and Juli Cason, two of our best friends from VA Beach. They adopted 3 year-old twins from Haiti and they are a riot! They also have a 9-month old baby who is adorable. I loved watching my kids interact with the twins. They were so encouraging and helpful; totally putting the twins above themselves and their comfort. They had the best attitudes!

Vince preached at Kensington Community Church 4 times this weekend. We also got to spend time with the McGlassion family from Paradox church and Nick and Amy Boring from Kensington.

Detroit reminds me a lot of Buffalo, NY, where I grew up. The city is totally run-down, the population is diminishing, and they both have easy access to Canada. Because of the Canadian connection they both have Tim Hortons Donuts! This is big plus for me because of my love for peanut donuts. I had about 10 this weekend!!!!

One of the highlights of the weekend was actually seeing green grass and trees! I miss the color green so much!

Our flight home was a mess. I was near vomiting the last part of the trip. We had a launch team pool party scheduled at our house at 5pm. We arrived home at 5:30pm. This wasn't a very good plan. All I wanted to do was jump in bed, but instead I had to play hostess with the most-est! Upon entering the house, several kids came up to me screaming, "Kuma (our dog) has human poop all over his face! He was drinking out of the toilet bowl and someone didn't flush, so he got poop all over his face!" I wanted to run out of the house screaming. Don't even get me started on why there was poop in my toilet.

Do you ever have a time like this, where you have to make a conscience decision to have a good attitude? Where you have to choose to ignore yourself and put other people ahead of you? It's sounds easy in theory, but actually doing it is a little more difficult.

I sort of succeeded. I put on a happy face for about 1 1/2 hours and then couldn't take it anymore so I took a nap on the couch while people watched the game (I have an amazing ability to sleep anywhere, anytime. It's awesome!).

I realized this morning that I need to have a better attitude. Next weekend we have the same exact situation to go through. We will be in California and will arrive home around 5pm, right when our launch team meeting starts at our house. I'm going to pray that God gives me a whole new attitude (an attitude like Dawson and Marissa had with the twins), that I will have a hospitable heart, and that I will view the situation in a more positive way...and that Kuma doesn't have poop on his face when I get home.

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Michigan Bound!

Vince is preaching at Kensington Church in Troy, Michigan this weekend. Kensington is one of the main churches that's supporting us. Vince has been traveling a lot lately and they graciously invited me and the kids to join him. We try to go with him whenever he drives somewhere, but because of the price of airfare, we rarely go with him when he flies.

So, not only did they pay for us to come with him, but they are putting us up in a hotel that has an indoor waterpark! And to make it even better, two of our best friends from Virginia Beach just happen to be visiting family in Michigan this weekend! YEAH!

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Dig A Little Deeper

As a church planting wife, I meet tons of people. Some are awesome and others take a little more grace and patience to be around! Let's be honest, we all come across people that really annoy us. They act in ways that get under our skin. They make us say things like, "Seriously?" and run in the opposite direction.

It's stinking hot here and for some reason Dawson won't wear shorts. We keep asking him why and he says things like, "I forgot" or "I'm cold" and on and on. One day I told him to put some shorts on and he put jeans on instead. I sat him down and asked him why he keeps wearing pants. I finally figured it out...he has a small wart on his knee. It's so small that you wouldn't even notice, but for him it's an embarrassment. We were getting so annoyed with him, when all it took was a short conversation to get behind the mystery of the pants!

Vince's mentor, Dean Trune, was in town this weekend. He did some teaching for our launch team that was life-changing for me and others. One of the things he talked about was this concept of digging deeper.

He said that if someone offends us we tend to avoid them. We don't invite them to our homes, we pray that we don't see them in public, etc. But what if we look at the situation differently? What if we see that person as having a need in his or her life that God wants us to fill? Wow...that really convicted me.

So what if that annoying girl really just needs someone to listen to her? What if that arrogant guy in your office is having marriage trouble or is really depressed? How can you help? What has God done in your life that makes you the perfect person to help him or her? How can you meet a need in that person's life?

So the next time you are tempted to run ask God to make it obvious to you how you can help, and ask Him to help you to see the big picture behind the person's behavior. I bet you'll be happy that you stayed.

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Update!

It's been a while since I've blogged. Life has been crazy here in Las Vegas. Vince has been traveling a lot trying to raise funds for Verve. The economy is really hurting us, but God is definitely providing despite the recession.

Dawson turned 10 and invited 6 friends for a swimming sleepover! It's such an answer to prayer that he has made friends and is adjusting so well (he's my shy guy).

Our launch team continues to grow. Several people are joining us who already live in Vegas and two more people from Forefront will be here by next week. We're having our first Verve baptism sometime in the next few weeks!

I'm still looking for a job. I send between one and three resumes out a day and haven't even received a phone call back. It's so frustrating because I have a bachelor's degree and 15 years of work experience. I can't even get Target to hire me!

I hope you have an awesome Mother's Day!

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I Need Some Help!

Dawson and Marissa are 7 and 10 now. Since they've been little I've done a daily bible study time with them. We've done all kinds of things from arts & crafts to Bible memorization, devotions and straight bible reading.

I'm wondering what you do with your kids. How do you teach them the Bible? Do you have any fun or out-of-the-box ideas that you can share?

My kids' relationship with God is the most important thing in my life. I just want to make sure that I'm doing the best I can!

Thanks!

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