The Mondays: On the Verge – Imagine

What an exciting day we had yesterday! Kicking off the new series: On The Verge and celebrating with those who took the next step in their faith and were water baptized!

On the Verge is a series looking at the Greatness of God and what we, as a church, and as individuals are on the verge of as we learn to trust and follow Him. We looked at the story of Ezekiel and the desperate place he was in when God took him to the valley and showed him a crazy, bizarre and astonishing miracle.

God will often use our darkest moments to set the stage for His light to shine and awaken us to who He is. He is in the business of taking a seemingly impossible situation and making it make sense. He is in the business of breathing life into Dead Bones and He is in the business of lifting our eyes out above our current situation so that we can see the place He is taking us.

We also celebrated with many Rock Citiers as they took the plunge! It’s a big deal every time someone takes this step at Rock City and it never gets old seeing a person who is seeking to follow God make this public declaration of their faith.

Personally, it was a very cool day, as among those baptized were three people from our LifeGroup that we get to share and grow with each week! Here’s a grainy picture I took from my perch in the sound booth. Yes, that is a hot tub … outside in February.

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I Was Not A Good Mom Today

Today, I was not a good mom. In fact, if I had to give myself a grade today, it would be a C-. The only reason my grade is not an F is because my children did not wander into the street or lock themselves in the freezer in the basement and I think that should count for something.

Today I was:

Impatient
Annoyed
Snippy
Too into work
No fun at all

It’s not that I started out the day and thought: “I’m going to do everything I can to make my kids miserable today.” In fact, here is what I wrote in my prayer journal this morning: “God, help my girls feel completely loved today. Let them never feel like they have second place.”

Ha! How ironic?! I think they actually came in 4th or 5th place today.

No, today did not go according to plan. But here’s the kicker. I’m rocking the girls tonight before bed and Morgan puts her little hand on my cheek and says: “Mommy, you are the best mommy.”

Thank you God, that when I lack, you shine. In 2 Corinthians 12: 9 God Says:

 “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

Even on my snippiest and most miserable days … God is here … loving on my kids … letting them know that they have 1st place with Him.

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The Mondays: The Final Guardrail

Yesterday was the last message in our series: Guardrails. For the majority of the series we have been talking about Guardrails that will help us avoid life’s biggest regrets. Yesterday, Chad focused on Guardrails that we can place in our life to help us live INTENTIONALLY. Not to keep us from going to a place we don’t want to go, but to help us get to the place we DO want to go.

Ephesians 5: 15-18 makes a strong suggestion that we live as the wise and not as the unwise making the most of every opportunity.

Chad shared three super practical guardrails that we can place in our life to get us where we want to go.

1. Make WORSHIP a priority in my life.
This seems easy enough, but I’m always amazed how much more difficult my life is when I don’t take the time I need … to reflect on God … to thank him and to study his word. I also think that the discipline of worshiping together with other believers each week should be a priority as well.

2. Make COMMUNITY a priority in my life.
The enemy loves to get us alone doesn’t He? He loves to whisper in our ear and tell us that no one values us and we don’t fit in. The reality is that it is so much more difficult to get off track in community. Remember when you were little and you would go on field trips? There is a reason “The Buddy System” worked. It’s harder to get lost … to get into trouble when you have someone or lots of someone’s walking with you. If you aren’t in a LifeGroup … get in one. It will change your life.

3. Make SACRIFICE a priority in my life.
The first two are relatively easy, but this one is where the rubber meets the road. It requires living beyond yourself and living out your faith in really practical ways. I remember in my early 20′s how difficult this was for me. After all, I was all about me. What am I going to do with my life? Who am I going to marry? Where should I live? Should I rent or buy? And on and on it went. It was pretty obnoxious. The reality is that when we live a life of service and sacrifice, all of those things fall into place on their own.

I wish someone would have told my 21 year-old self this. Although I probably wouldn’t have listened.

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Cleaning House

In January, Rock City gifted our One for One funds to Crack House Ministries. We met Pastor Mitchell and his awesome team over a year ago shortly after our family moved to Columbus. We’ve been so impressed with their heart for the city and their ability to share God’s love in the lives of people who are off track. They are making a difference every day.

On Saturday, around 25 Rock Citiers gave the Crack House ministry center and one of their group homes a CLEAN LIKE YOU’VE NEVER SEEN. I’ve never seen so much Soft Scrub action in all of my life.

One of the coolest things about the phase we are in as a church is that when a group of people get together like that, hardly any of them know one another. It’s the neatest thing. They show up … introduce themselves … spend the day together serving … and then leave knowing they now have some really good friends. I love it!

You don’t need a potluck to create community. HELLO?!!! Just pass the Windex, paper towels and get to work!

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Fun Friday

Macy, our 2-year old, spent last weekend at Grandma and Grandpa’s. We have such an amazing family and it’s always nice when Chad and I can spend some alone time with one of the girls. After a super long week, Chad and I were a little pooped though and were glad when we asked Morgan what she wanted to do and she said: “Let’s just go to dinner!”

We ended up at the Kingsdale Market District because it was close, easy and I needed to pick up a few things anyway. I know I’ve said it before but … I LOVE that place. Their food is so fresh and when we dine in there, there is something for everyone! On this particular night, one of the chefs even cooked up Morgan something special that wasn’t on the menu because she had her heart set on it.

We ate upstairs where they had a really good live band. The place was packed. Morgan loved the live music and we danced in our seats till the band packed up.

Love that Morgan Mae. What a fun night!

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The Mondays

What a big weekend at Rock City! We continued in the Guardrails Series focusing on Avoiding Spiritual Drift, shared what our One For One Funds did for a single Mom this week and kicked off week 1 of Rock City Connect!

Avoiding Spiritual Drift
This series has been challenging and inspiring. We certainly don’t have control of everything that happens to us in our life, but it’s amazing how much we can avoid by putting up guardrails (disciplines in our life that help us from going to a place we don’t want to go).

For many of us who are strong and with lots of thoughts and opinions, this can be difficult. And even though this has improved as I have gotten older, I never like to be left out or feel like I am missing out on anything. But something that Chad said during his message this weekend really resonated with me:

“Don’t fool your self into thinking that there won’t ever be a point where you want to put on the brakes. That you won’t meet a line that you don’t want to cross.”

Each of us gets to a place at some point in our lives, where we say: I don’t want to go there. We looked at the story of Daniel and how one guardrail impacted his future and ultimately an entire nation. The kicker with this was that Daniel resolved his conviction before he knew the end of the story. Would he be killed? Starve to death? Would his friends abandon him? It turns out that once he took a stand, God began to do what only God can do … defy the odds.

One for One
We had the extreme pleasure of blessing a single mom this weekend with our One for One funds. On Saturday, over $500 worth of groceries and toiletries  were delivered to a mom of three children whose husband was recently sentenced to Prison for 18 years without the possibility of parole. The family that delivered the items said that when they dropped them off, the mom brought her children over to the boxes and pointed to the two large boxes of toilet paper and said: “Look, I want to show you how God has provided for even our most basic needs.” What a beautiful picture of how we, as a church, can make a tangible difference in the lives of people.

Rock City Connect
Perhaps one of the most amazing things I get to experience is on the first nights of our Rock City Connects. As we watch people come in one by one, I am always thinking: Where in the world did you all come from?

Rock City Connect is the way that people get plugged in to Rock City … how they go from attender to engaged team member. And even though we are nearly a year old, I am still surprised when people walk through those doors. It’s amazing to hear their stories, how they got here and to see God at work in their lives. We were joined by over 50 new friends on Sunday Night for Week 1 and I took my usual seat in the back where no one can see me the big tears in my eyes as I look at the faces of those who God is at work in. What God is doing here is simply amazing.

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Summer Dreams … At Sam’s Club

On the way home from picking up Morgan from Preschool this morning, I had a little breakdown. I didn’t run the car off of the road or anything but I just could not bear the thought of going home. My kids have kind of been at each others throats this week and despite having a super fun playroom, every kid movie ever made and a semi-creative mom (ok marginally creative), they are bored.

As we neared our neighborhood I was desperately thinking of some place we could go. We had already eaten lunch so that was out, I didn’t have our Library books that needed returned with us so that was out and we only had a few hours before nap time so that ruled out any other fun Columbus play type of activity.

Then I remembered: WE NEED APPLES!!! Hallelujah, we need apples. A BIG bag of them.

So, I turned the old Odyssey around and headed toward Sam’s Club. A good decision. Where else can you give your kids free sampless, allow friendly elderly sample sales people to oogle over them, treat them to an inexpensive treats at the snack stand and scan new cameras, coats, books, grills, lawn furniture and incredibly large quantities of green beans? No where on the planet! … except maybe Costco.

We spent the bulk of our time there in the garden and pool area. We looked at beach towels, wagons, incredibly large rafts and super comfy beach chairs. We talked about Summer and how good it will feel to go to the pool and run in the sprinkler.

$12.56 later we emerged the store with two 5lb bags of apples, full tummies and smiles on our faces.

I am grateful for this incredibly mild winter, but winter is winter friends.

Summer and sunshine are only a few months away…just hold on.

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The Mondays: Guardrails Week 3

I couldn’t help it. Salt-N-Pepa’s 90′s anthem was ringing in my ears the entire time Chad was sharing with me what he was going to be talking about this weekend. “Let’s Talk About Sex.” Something we don’t often talk about in church. (as a side note…He and I talked about doing this song as a duet to open up the service, but eventually came to the decision that it may not be in good taste. Maybe some other time I’ll get to debut my rapping skills to the world).

So Sex was the topic on Sunday and to be honest…you could have heard a pin drop. Don’t get me wrong, there were bouts of laughter, particularly when Chad outed me=) , but it was, for all intents and purposes, a very serious discussion.

Why so serious? Because Sex is kind of a big topic. And unfortunately, I don’t think we talk about it often enough.

The message was based on 1 Corinthians 6: 18-20 and that we need to think about putting Guardrails in place in areas where we can be really hurt and cause a lot of damage. And let’s face it, Sex can do a lot of damage.

I wish I didn’t know this to be true as much as I do. I wish I had put guardrails in place when I was younger that would have kept me from running off the road and I wish that it was easier not to get so distracted and caught up in the things that can ruin families, marriages and futures.

Chad gave a bunch of suggestions for Guardrails … all really good. But as a woman, one really stuck out to me. He talked about it mostly from a man’s perspective, but the Guardrail of NO SECOND LOOKS is a really good one.

Men are EXTREMELY visual creatures. They can be distracted by a woman 200 yards away. As women, we tend not to be as distracted by the looks of a man, but more by the IDEA of a man. Ladies, you know what I am talking about. Our hearts melt when we see someone else’s husband doing dishes or when we see a hot guy on TV down on one knee. In fact, it can make us crazy. I remember bawling my eyes out for like three hours after reading The Notebook. “I’ll never have a love like that! I’ll never have a life-like that!” I was nuts. And you know what? I was also right … I will never have a love like that because that kind of love is fiction … It’s. Not. Real!

Now before you go getting all worried, Chad and I DO love each other and enjoy each other (most of the time), but it’s not what I thought it would be. Because what I thought it would be was based on a million second thoughts. A million tv commercials, a million Real Housewives, A million Sophie Kinsella Chic Lits and a million US Weekly’s.

And now, a guardrail for me is NO MORE SECOND THOUGHTS.

I try really hard not to let myself go there. And to be frank, this is hard to do when I am watching The Bachelor, the newest Jennifer Anniston flick or reading Nicholas Sparks’ latest and greatest. In fact it’s really hard. So I have to make a conscious effort not to fill my free time … my thought time … with that stuff. It’s not that I don’t want to…in fact I really enjoy “that stuff,” but I know for me, it gives me Second Thoughts. It makes me question my life and think: There must be more out there.” And “that stuff” takes me to the edge of a place I know I don’t want to go.

Guardrails are personal for each of us, because each of us are different. I find that the more I get to know God, the more I realize that he cares about each and every aspect of my life and if I ask Him, He’ll show me the road I need to be on and how I can stay there.

I am thankful for this series and for what God is doing at the people of Rock City. Can’t wait for Week 4!

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Bloody Knuckles: Best Day Ever!

It’s been a Luke kind of month for me. Not quite sure why, but I’ve been with Luke exclusively all month and I am loving it. Luke has a way of reminding me what is possible through Christ and at the same time humbling me to the point where I just have to close the Bible and say: “Ok, I’m a pretty big idiot. I’m going to need you to go ahead and help me fix that up.”

The other day I was reading in Luke 10 when Jesus sent out The Seventy. Basically, Jesus had been with his disciples and his followers for some time. They were seeing crazy things … crazy miracles and crazy life-transformation. He had been pouring into them. Preparing them. And then he says: GO.

Now keep in mind that he didn’t give them a big fat expense account, first-class airfare and deluxe accommodations (I noted this one in particular because I am admitted Hotel Snob … something I am trying to work on). On the contrary, He says: “don’t take any money, luggage or even any shoes.” And then He says: “whatever city you go; if they receive you, eat the things they give you. And then heal the sick there and say to them, The Kingdom of God has come near to you.”

The best part of the story in my mind is when the seventy return. They are pumped. They’re longer spectators. They are in the action. I can imagine them coming back together and sharing their stories with one another. It must have been crazy!

I remember one time my sister and I got separated at a Vera Bradley Warehouse sale. Don’t be fooled, this was no leisurely afternoon of shopping. On the contrary, we had arrived with our game face on. Ready to take by force. Molly had gone to the bathroom and while she was in there, I was swept away to the mile-long duffel bag arena. It was quite a while before we saw each other again, but when we did, we were both bursting with energy and I could not wait to tell her all that had transpired and the amazing deals I had found. She returned with bloody knuckles (not exaggerating) and a garbage bag full of hipster purses. Best day ever!

Anyway, imagine what these seventy people felt after seeing demons fall like lightning, sick people healed and limbs returned! And they probably didn’t even have a scratch on them!

Then you get to the part of the story where your heart just completely melts (at least mine did). Luke 10: 21 says

In that Hour (when they returned), Jesus rejoiced in the spirit and said. “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for this was your good pleasure.”

He is so grateful that the seventy experienced that. Now granted he still calls them “little children” so they don’t get a big head about the whole situation, but he rejoices … pure and passionately.  And more than “what” they had done, it seems to me that he was rejoicing in “who” had done it. He had been preparing a group of ordinary sinners to build His church and they were getting it!

As a church, I really want us to be the kind of people who get as close to Jesus as we can so that when he says GO … we are ready. The kind of church that Jesus rejoices in and says: “They are getting it!”

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