Sore, but good

There are definitely times I start to feel my age, today is one of those days. I was blessed and able to spen Thursday and Friday moving one of my girls stuff to college. (A student here at church who I treat like my own)  God has been so good to my family as we work to figure out all this ministry that we have been called to do. But, living alongside kids and serving them is such a joy and brings christ to life for me. He served and loved and I want to show that to these kids and to my own kids as well.

Another College Weekend

This past weekend I had the great fortune to spend some time at Belmont University. One of the most special students we have asked me to go down there with her and her mom to check out the school. Belmont is a Christian University, however they are not what I would call a Bible College. Chapel is not required and as I told our tour guide, I do not like mixed dorms. I still do not get why colleges put guys and girls in the same dorm, albeit many times on different floors. Security is easier and the ability to track students and help keep them safe is more efficiently done with separate dorms. Enough of my complaints there.
The point is, I am so blessed to continue to be a part of the lives of such wonderful young people. Our college kids are so special to me and seeing them make these tough decisions is exciting and stressful. It is hard to not just tell them what to do, and hard to not overstep my bounds in sharing my opinions. Some of these young ladies are like my own daughters and seeing them grow up to serve our Lord and wanting to do His Will is such an incredible thing.
So be in prayer for college students, they need you!

Day at IWU

Yesterday I had a wonderful opportunity to spend the day with my family. Not only did we spend the day together we spent it with two other very special young ladies. We went to IWU, had lunch and spent the afternoon playing cards. After days like these, I am always in awe that God has allowed me to be blessed with so many wonderful people in my life.
Spending the day with students and just enjoying their life alongside them is a dream for me. I do enjoy studying, reading, working out and other stuff, but hanging out with students, especially with my family, is one great way to spend the day. I pray daily that God will continue to allow me play a part in so many students' lives and to be able to serve them in any way that God sees fit.

The Hole in our Gospel

The college Bible study that I have the wonderful blessing to lead on Sunday nights has been studying the book "The Hole in our Gospel" by Richard Stearns. He is the President of World Vision, and has written a very powerful book about our role as Christians in the world of today. Last night at Bible study we talked very specifically about what the church should be doing to meet the needs of the poor and oppressed. Unfortunately we decided that perhaps the church isn't doing enough. There seem to be plenty of programs for congregations to attend, but what are we doing to help the poor around the world.
Which brought us to an exciting opportunity to help with the United Methodists Church's campaign to end malaria's death toll on the people of Africa. There is a local rally next week in Morton, and our students will be there to learn about the campaign. Then we will work to intertwine the Gospel of Jesus Christ along with it, so we can hopefully save lives both here on earth and for eternity.
www.imaginenomalaria.org

More or Less

This past weekend I had the opportunity to preach and lead our youth as we presented a mission report to the congregation. you can check out the message at www.pekingrace.org/Worship

Our lesson focus for the summer was More or Less. The theme coming from John 3:30, Jesus must become greater, I must become less. The students were challenged in a mighty way to begin this transformation in their lives. We are bombarded with so much in our lives and we live in a very selfish culture. Our students strive to get good grades, succeed in sports, or clubs and maybe even date and enjoy good friends. We talked alot this summer about putting those personal things aside and striving towards what God has planned for us. One thing that is for sure, this change probably won't happen overnight. It takes time to forge a lifestyle change and to allow God to come and transform our lives. These students are wanting this and I cannot tell you how excited I am. They are going to absolutely change the world, and many are already changing the atmosphere in their high schools.