Looking for Ideas

This summer I'm going on a work project with my youth group to Montana. We are staying at a YWAM (Youth With A Mission) base that has about 40 children. Our group was asked to come up with crafts and game to entertain the children for about an hour or two each day while we are there. I would like to do a craft with food....for me a crafty food is a double win! How often can you be creative with your food as a kid? I certainly wasn't allowed to play with my food at the dinner table. So all that being said I'm looking for ideas. Stuff like making ants on a log (celery stalk filled with peanut butter then topped with rasins). I need to keep if very simple because I'm going to have to pack it in my suitcase or purchase it when we get to Montana. Also, I have no idea what ages the children are that we will be working with?

I can't wait to hear your ideas!

Leadership Lesson Learned

This weekend our youth group was supposed to have a mini retreat at a local camp ground. After many phone calls, text messages, facebook post and a lot of frustration, the decision was made to cancel the weekend. So instead of an over night activity we just met after church for lunch and had a time of sharing. It wasn't an easy decision to make and I knew a lot of people had changed their schedules to they could participate. However, as soon as the decision was made...a HUGE weight was lifted off my shoulders. I was confident that the correct decision was made and I was going to stand behind it no matter how unpopular it became. It was a teachable moment in commitment for everyone involved. It's so easy to be a part of Leadership when something goes well. You can sit back and relax and appreciate the work/effort you put into the activity. But the sad part is....it becomes more about you than about God working through you. This weekend was defiantly a challenge for me, but God was faithful (as He always is) and made it a success! So even though we didn’t do what was originally planned, God was still able to use our plans to glorify Him! Thank You Jesus for the gift of the Holy Spirit, our comforter, friend and teacher! May I be reminded everyday that it’s not me, but CHRIST THROUGH ME!

Yon Won't Relent

I have recently fallen in love with the song "You Won't Relent" by Misty Edwards. If you listen to this song and you aren't moved, well......listen to it again! I must confess that I am on the payroll with the Lyric Patrol, so I ALWAYS pay close attention to the lyrics. Most of the lyrics from this song have been take from the word of God. So if you get addicted to this song like me, it's ok because you're filling your mind with TRUTH! Below are two versions of the scriputre the song was taken from. Enjoy!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3spvQYlB-I


Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot sweep it away.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7 (NIV)

Hang my locket around your neck, wear my ring on your finger. Love is invincible facing danger and death. Passion laughs at the terrors of hell. The fire of love stops at nothing—it sweeps everything before it. Flood waters can't drown love, torrents of rain can't put it out. Love can't be bought, love can't be sold—it's not to be found in the marketplace.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7 (The Message)

Valentine's Day

I usually look forward to 2/14 because my birthday is on 2/15. But the past few year I've wanted to skip Valentine's Day altogether. Don't get me wrong...I'm a sucker for the cards, hearts, candy, and flowers part of Valentine's Day. However, the stage of life I'm at right now makes 2/14 a struggle. So I entered February with that mindset....let's skip 2/14...until yesterday. I must confess I was having a hard time paying attention in Sunday school yesterday morning, but for some reason this verse caught and held my attention:

"God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." 1 John 3:20 (b).

Ouch. I've been so wrapped up in me that I forgot that God was bigger than my feelings, my wants, my fears and my worries. And why on earth have I been trying to hide anything from him? That thought led me to Psalm 139...

"You have searched me, LORD, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, and you lay your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain. Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I go up to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me,” even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, God! How vast is the sum of them! Were I to count them, they would outnumber the grains of sand— when I awake, I am still with you.
23 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. "

So today February 14, 2011 I am choosing to NOT be discouraged. I am choosing to reflect and declare that I am…

FORGIVEN, BELOVED, HIDDEN IN CHRIST,
MADE IN THE IMAGE OF THE GIVER OF LIFE,
RIGHTEOUS & HOLY, REBORN & REMADE,
ACCEPTED & WORTHY!