I would say that I’ve been a Christian since about age 6, when I “asked Jesus to come into my heart.” Since then, I would have said I had a pretty good understanding of Jesus’ work on the cross, dying to pay for our sin. And for the most part, I was a fairly good kid: keeping my nose out of trouble, and generally doing what was expected of me. However, when I would hear songs like “The Wonderful Cross” and “Jesus Paid It All” and I would think, “Good grief…I haven’t done anything all THAT bad…” and part of me would just feel really uncomfortable.

A situation about two and a half years ago changed that. A set of circumstances made me see clearly, I think probably for the first time, how ugly my sin is to God. Without really realizing it, I had come to really, really like how people responded to me when I did the right/good/noble/expected things and ended up valuing that over God’s opinion. And in turn, I figured that God would probably be fairly impressed by that, too. Over and over the Bible talks about how God isn’t impressed by the things that people are, but that God sees past it and looks at the heart. I realized how awful my seemingly good works looked to God: things that I did to look good to people that were often motivated by jealousy, pride, or selfishness. Suddenly, I realized I wasn’t looking so hot in God’s eyes. Here’s this girl trying to be all religious when inside her heart is just ugly. In the Bible, Jesus uses religious people quite frequently to show how their hearts were in the wrong place and how they really liked the respect that their position got them. And that was me!

All of a sudden, I realized that need for that blood. I was really dirty. I am still so amazed that God hasn’t just zapped me out of existence…considering all of the junk that has been (and is) in my heart and mind. But, he loved me enough to not only not zap me out of existence, but to pay for all of the ugly things that I have (and still will) done.

There’s a children’s Bible that I love (The Jesus Storybook Bible) that puts it so simply: “All Naaman needed was nothing. It was the one thing Naaman didn’t have.” I was trying to please God and please people by doing, by having it all together. But all we need is the understanding that we don’t and can’t have it all together…that all our attempts at being good and perfect will fail. That’s why we need Jesus’ blood from the cross, the perfect sacrifice to pay for our sins.

Some highlights for our family this summer included a week at a cabin with Nancy’s family in northern Minnesota fishing, playing, and relaxing, and also a trip to Chicago with Matt’s family. The kids loved Brookfield Zoo and the Field Museum and we also visited some of his family’s old stomping grounds from when they lived there years ago.

Matt took a new job managing the Web team for Desiring God, a Christian ministry based out of Minneapolis, though he still gets to work remotely from his home office here in Ames. He occasionally has an overnight trip to the Twin Cites for 2-day meetings with coworkers… and we get to tag along! Additionally, Matt manages Zeke’s, a non-profit music & arts venue in Ames, coordinates and leads music for our church, and occasionally teaches at the church’s college ministry.

Elena is almost 3-1/2 and likes to write her name, loves to be read to, and is always asking to do some sort of crafty project. She is definitely a “girly girl” who loves princesses, dancing and fancy dresses.

Kate is 14 months old now, still has a very sweet disposition, and has been walking like crazy for 2 months. She seems to be a little bit more accident-prone than Elena was; she has chipped both of her front teeth in the last two weeks! She greets Daddy with both arms extended and a giant grin when he comes upstairs at the end of the day.

(Matt is now stealing the keyboard to brag about his wife) Just prior to the arrival of Kate in 2008, Nancy pushed pause on her private music studio to concentrate her full attention and effort on caring for our home and family. I am constantly amazed at the skill and joy with which she performs this all-important task. She still finds time to mentor young women in our church, and helped to coordinate a playgroup for other young moms. Amidst all this she does a masterful job of keeping me sane, her most important and difficult task. I am so blessed and constantly thankful for this rare jewel that I have in her.

Wishing you true joy and peace this season through Jesus,

Matt, Nancy, Elena, and Kate

I see my role as teammate, #1 cheerleader, a support, and helper to Matt as the most important part in my life. I know that to a lot of people this idea just sounds plain crazy, but because I believe what the Bible says about my life this is the first priority in my life, second only to my relationship with God. I think I could probably write for about a decade about all of my thoughts on this because I’d really like to thoroughly explain them, but I guess I’ll just have to do that in little chunks :)

Because this is such a large part of my life, I’ve grown to deeply appreciate articles and books on the topic. I’ve posted links to other ReFem articles before, but I think this is the first one I’ve posted on marriage. The author of this particular article has been through some major difficulties in life, and I know that I respect her thoughts even more so because of that.

In church/Christian circles, it seems that women (me included) to whom God has given a husband can often get super-involved in book studies, relationships with other women, helping to meet various needs in the church (which are all excellent things to be involved in), but this articles reminds us that our primary God-given ministry is to our husbands. This plays out in many different ways in different women’s lives, but it’s something that I believe we need to carefully consider.

Oh, dear…I think I could just rehash the whole article, but I’ll just let you go ahead and read it :)

Top Ten Things We Love About Matt/Daddy

1.  Elena says, “Whenever I bring Daddy one of my favorite books, he always takes time to read it to me.”

2.  Matt is so incredibly patient with me…I can hardly believe it sometimes!

3.  Matt is an incredibly hard worker…putting in super long hours to provide for us…and I appreciate that sooo much.

4.  Matt is a man of integrity…in the big things and the little things.

5.  He has awesome taste and sense of design…and I’m not the only who thinks that!

6,  He made me into a sushi lover :)  (I never thought I would say that!)

7.  Elena says, “I love it when Daddy comes upstairs from work and chases me around the living room!  I just giggle and giggle…”

8.  I love it that Matt loves the outdoors and when we go camping, I feel like I have an expert park ranger leading our trip :)

9.  I’m so glad that my man knows how to take time to have fun…including making all three of us get dressed up for Halloween to give out candy :)  

10.  He understands God’s grace and love for us and has helped me to understand it more clearly by his love and forgiveness for me…

11.  He is a gifted musician and writer :)  

12.  Elena says, “Whenever Mommy takes me downstairs to say hi to Daddy, I get sooo excited and wiggle and giggle because I like to be with my daddy a WHOLE LOT!” (She really wanted to share that, and I think it mostly speaks to the fact that she can really tell that her daddy loves her a whole lot :))

1. He’s my big, strong, handsome man!

14.  I appreciate that Matt is involved in even the less-pretty parts of parenthood, including smelly diapers and middle-of-the-night wake-ups.  I am so thankful to be parenting Elena with such an amazing guy…

Happy Birthday, Babe!

She must have still been on a quest for new taste sensations, because about 15 minutes later, I found her with her hands in the dirt of our ficus tree and a muddy tongue. :) At least she didn’t appear to enjoy the taste as much as the couscous, so hopefully there won’t be a take two of that scene!

Recently, I have been reading one of the blogs on the Mars Hill website: Reforming the Feminine. I definitely can’t claim to have a wide, wide knowledge of women’s resources online, but in my opinion, these women have done an incredible job of tackling some of the tougher women’s issues. During the past month or so, there have been posts on unplanned pregnancy, sexual sin, stereotypes of Christian women, gluttony, fashion, marriage, and children. I have been greatly encouraged and challenged by these writers and wanted to make sure that all ya’ll out there have an opportunity to check out this resource.

Between slices of the classtime, they do candid interviews with the students. Sometimes I think God planned that our best source of humor would be kids…and you definitely get a taste of that here. Besides being an quasi-inspirational film, I think pretty much anyone would get a kick out of it just from the candid humor.

A CD/DVD that I have acquired (somewhat accidentally, but that’s another story) recently is “The Five Browns” which is a group of five siblings that all happen to be almost piano virtuosos. The CD has arrangements of classical and popular favorites (Flight of the Bumblebee, arrangement of Westside Story songs, etc.) for five pianos (yes, that’s FIVE pianos) and comes with a bonus DVD that shows them performing a few of the pieces on their five (yes, that’s FIVE) GRAND pianos. It’s quite the show. The DVD also has an interview with them which explains how their mother started giving each of them piano lessons at the age of 3 and sat with each of them nearly every day as they practiced. No wonder they are virtuosos! They continued their studies at Juilliard with several of them being there at the same time.

One of the most interesting parts of the deal is they are young and fairly hip/normal-looking. This really gets the teacher in me excited because it portrays young people who really enjoy and excel at music, and also gives my piano students (I guess maybe some of you probably didn’t know that I teach piano on the side…well, I do!) a visual of “what they could be like someday” if they work hard (always a bonus in motivating students :)) I also like using their example to have my students notice dynamics, posture, expression, etc. One of the pieces on the album is “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Grieg, and there just so happens to be a very basic arrangement of the same piece in one of the books I use with my students, so it’s fun to have them listen to that after they’ve played it.

I doubt there are many music teachers out there that read this blog, but even if you are a classroom teacher, this would make a great tool for listening and discussion. And if you’re just a random person looking for a little diversity in your CD/DVD collection, I recommend it :)

I think this is about the sixth spring break outreach/service trip that I’ve been on with the Rock, but this was definitely distinctive, mainly in the fact that we stayed with the Jesus People just north of downtown. After calling 20 churches (no exaggeration) close to downtown in hopes of crashing on their floors to eliminate commuting from the suburbs and not getting anything close to a yes, the Jesus People called us back and said they’d love to have us, and not only let us stay with them, but they would cook for us! A friend from a different campus ministry had stayed with them several years before and I remembered that it was a very positive experience for them and so I, along with the other leaders going on the trip, were really excited about the prospect.

If you’re not familiar with the Jesus People, you can check out the awesome Web site [at least in my humble opinion] but I’ll give you a brief overview. Their group started in the early 70’s out of the “Jesus Movement”…people whose lives were changed by Christ and who wanted to really follow what the Bible was saying. They found they could best carry out Christ’s commands by living communally and pooling their resources to free up more people for full-time ministry and service. This is still what they are doing 30-some years later…400 people living in what used to be a hotel just north of downtown Chicago. Funded mainly by several businesses [roofing supply company, record company, printing company] owned and run by themselves, they are able to support themselves and several significant ministries including a 350-bed shelter, an after-school program, a transition program for people that have been homeless, and the Cornerstone music festival. At first when I read about that on the Web site, I was like, “Ok, sure, that’s cool.” However, after Scott, our host, shared with us more in depth on Sunday, I realized how amazing it was that they were able to feed/clothe/supply shelter and basic needs for 400 people AND do all that other amazing stuff! Wow!

I think it especially struck a chord with me just because I tend to struggle with “white-picket-fence-itis”…sometimes I just want to live the “normal” American life and take the easy lane. The lifestyle of the people we met this weekend made me think of this:

“But godliness with contentment is great gain.” 1 Timothy 6:6

Sometimes (well, a lot of the time), I feel like I am the furthest thing from content…I have everything I need and much, much more, but sometimes I sure don’t act like it!

Since we were only there for less than 48 hours, I didn’t have a lot of time to personally build a lot of relationships with the people there, but while we were coordinating the weekend, I got to know Scott I. as we discussed housing/food/etc. Before we even left Ames, I mentioned to Matt and the other leaders how impressed I was with his flexibility with us! Not just flexibility, but bending over backwards to serve us. Again, knowing my tendencies, I was challenged by this example. In the same situation I would have responded, “What do you mean, you don’t have an exact head count? You want us to do what else for you?” I definitely saw an honest heart to serve and some real “look[ing] not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Philippians 2: 4)

Our main focus of the time in Chicago was to feel out the spiritual climate of college campuses in the area in preparation for a church plant and also to provide opportunities for people to be bold in sharing their faith with others. I’m quite confident that this was God’s plan for us and I’m quite confident that we were able to make steps towards those goals, but the more I think about it, the more I think that maybe God wanted us to be challenged by the Jesus People and their example. I know that God doesn’t call everyone to live communally, but I do know that He does call everyone to live and serve from a heart that really knows Him and is devoted to Him. The more I think about it, the more I realize that what was at the core of what hit me the most was that these people weren’t serving or living this way because it’s what they thought they should do, or ought to do, but they serve and live this way because they really know Jesus! Of course, in these generalizations, don’t get me wrong…I definitely see this in the hearts of people within the Rock…I think God just chose to use the Jesus People’s example to really bring this to my attention and remind me of it…once again… ;)

So, thanks, God, for waking me up once again… 

Thoughts from anyone else? (I would especially love it of those of you who stayed through Tuesday would blog about your experiences and also those who went to Louisiana and Wisconsin.)

Four Jobs I’ve Had in My Life:

• Typist/copy editor for a auto racing newspaper
• Flower delivery girl
• County extension program intern
• BAND TEACHER

Four Movies I Could Watch Over and Over, and Have:

• Father of the Bride
• Clueless
• Home Alone (I)
• Sound of Music

Four Places I Have Lived:

• Webster City, IA
• Ames, IA
• Estes Park, CO (only for a summer…not sure if that counts but I haven’t lived 4 different places permanently)
• Merida, Yucatan, Mexico (again, only for a summer)

Four TV Shows I Love To Watch:

• Extreme Makeover: Home Edition
• Saturday Night Live (I sure liked the old-skool SNL…most of the time we turn it off)
• a little Letterman once in a while
• hmm…I’m looking forward to the Olympics?

Four Places I Have Been On Vacation:

• Minnesota
• Florida
• Minnesota (North Shore)
• Minnesota (what can I say…my family likes to fish and now my hubby does, too!)

Four Websites I Visit Daily:

• Planet Rock
• Dana’s blog
• pregnancy calendar
• not quite daily but often: CuteOverload

Four Favorite Foods:

• smoothies
• my mama’s cookin’
• gummi things
• good tropical fruit

Four Places I Would Like to Visit: (I’m changing this! Ha! [I just want to hear interesting facts about people...I don't really want to be anywhere else])

• Florida
• Alamogordo, NM
• Central America
• Europe

Four People I Am Tagging With This Meme:

• Dana Cramer
• Kristen Borseth
• Emvee Lammey
• Megan Blair

Last night I thought I was going to a “normal” team dinner with some Rocker friends and when I got there someone put a “Birthday Princess” crown on me and we had marvelous enchiladas (made by Autumn and Amber) and a lovely cherry chip birthday cake :) He had been plotting!

And then today…I knew Matt had something up his sleeve today because I definitely saw the “I have a secret that I really want to tell you but I can’t!” look at lunch, but I didn’t know what it was…but then Christie escorted me to the mall for some prescribed (by Matt) shopping late this afternoon and when I came back, wouldn’t you know it but a whole slug of our married folk friends were there! AND a whole table-full of Panda Express (one of my favorite sources of Chinese food :)) So it was really awesome to get to spend time with some of our friends that we get to see a lot and some friends from out of town that we don’t see very often AND play a quality round of Cranium :)

So yah, I guess I’m officially old now! Thanks for all of your online greetings as well as ya’ll that came tonight (and last night, too!) and who made my birthday very special :)

Anybody else out there have or know a cat with a weird taste in toys?

It seems my CrockPot and I really bonded this last year…I found out that you can make a whole lotta stuff in a CrockPot (and that when you’re out of the house all day, you can make stuff the night before and your sweet husband can plug it in on his lunch break and voila, it’s supper!). My CrockPot has been on a lot of field trips, too…it went to MoJazz in the days when the Rock met there (now how many Crock Pots have been to a bar?) and Curtiss with nacho cheese. But I must say that although I saddened by the crack (which I think if repaired with Crazy Glue or other adhesive that it may be a fire hazard :( )I have been very impressed with how well it’s kept up!

Does anyone else have fond memories of their favorite kitchen appliance?

(btw…don’t anyone despair here…I think I might be able to find a replacement “Pot” it :)) sigh of relief

Thursday We arrived in Shreveport about 11am on Thursday, September 8. We got the abbreviated Red Cross training and then they put us to work. The shelter in Shreveport was in a coliseum of similar size to Hilton but not as high and maybe 30 years older and in poorer condition. It is on the Louisiana State Fairgrounds so there were other buildings that they were able to use for the shelter close by.

As Megan mentioned in her blog entry (sorry a lot of this is going to sound similar to yours, Megan, but I guess we spent a lot of time doing similar things!), we started organizing the chaos that was the section of bleachers covered in donated books and toys and school supplies. That of course attracted a lot of little folks who had just gotten back from school. I met a sixth grade boy who “hated” his new school and was determined he was going to have to beat up a lot of people at school. Sounded like he was pretty scared….I sure would be. We played a couple of board games and got to talk. I got to meet some of his brothers and cousins.

Later that afternoon we had a few free minutes and Kathy, our Red Cross leader who had claimed us as “her” volunteers, encouraged us to talk to some of the residents and see if there was anything that we could get for them…and offer a listening ear most importantly. Amber and I met a girl who is my age and was attending music school in New Orleans. Wow…to be at a shelter like this alone. I must say that there wasn’t a moment that I didn’t feel safe there…lots of security guards around…but still…to be there alone. She had plans to move to Minnesota to finish school there and live with her cousin. She had a plane ticket for the next week.

Friday Friday morning I spent some time helping the “floor” crew…picking up the linens of people that had left…bagging them for the laundry truck, sanitizing air mattresses, and generally picking up the area. I went on a hunt for more rubber gloves and found Kathy giving haircuts. I stopped to say hi and found that the folks there were Spanish speakers. The three, all about our age, were from Kenner. I found out that one of the gals was only 18…wow….on her own here. One of the guys’ wife and kids were in Houston. I was excited to be able to connect with these guys.

While we were cleaning up the “floor,” we noticed some camera crews and were told that it was Al Sharpton. One of our friends, Mark, who was working at the gate, joked that he wanted to let Sharpton that indeed there was plenty of cleaning to do. Matt noted later that it seems we all developed kind of protective attitudes toward the media. We were told that the week before we were there volunteers were coming but would sit in the bleachers with camera phones and take pictures of people as if they were zoo exhibits. The coliseum was their home…the 6’x8’ space containing an air mattress and some plastic grocery bags with their wardrobes inside and maybe a makeshift bedside table was their space. I certainly wouldn’t appreciate camera crews barging into my home. Due to the problems with cameras earlier, we weren’t allowed to take pictures on the grounds which was a good thing, but I would love to “introduce” ya’ll to my new friends with pictures…

Before lunch on Friday, I met Ernestina, a Latina woman from New Orleans. She was 79 and didn’t speak English but told me about her escape from the storm. She and her son, Jose, were caught in the water…walking in water up to their necks for 6 hours until they reached safety where they slept the rest of the night outside in wet clothes…it was obvious that she was still traumatized by the memory. She was cold in the coliseum…they kept it cool to keep air moving. I found her some coffee and when I returned a nun was a nurse who had been looking after her was talking to her with the aid of a translator. The nun, Laureen, was concerned because she hadn’t been eating a whole lot and wasn’t getting much exercise and her legs were still beat up from the storm. She didn’t want to leave to go eat lunch even after we asked and asked because her son had gone to go file for FEMA and she wanted to make sure he knew where to find her when he got back. I went to find her some soup to smuggle in (food wasn’t allowed inside the coliseum) and when I returned there was a camera crew surrounding her. I mentioned how this was the last thing this woman needed to the gentleman next to me and he told me that the man talking to her was Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, who had founded Samaritan’s Purse, a Christian disaster relief organization who did a lot of rebuilding in Honduras after Mitch. I told the gentleman next to me that I took back everything I had said! After the crew left, I took the soup to Ernestina and Laureen told me that she had asked Franklin to find Ernestina and Jose a place to live and that Franklin had agreed to personally find them a place. I was a bit skeptical…but about 20 minutes later she returned and said that Billy Graham had offered for Ernestina and Jose to come and live at his house in North Carolina! And the Michael W. Smith (Christian singer/songwriter) had offered the use of his private plane or commercial plane tickets! Laureen said they could leave tomorrow. I explained what Laureen had said to Ernestina and even she knew who Billy Graham and recognized the amazing-ness of his offer. She wanted to wait to hear what her son would say before she made a decision. I was a little worried that they might not want to leave the state and refuse the offer, but after some of their questions were answered, they agreed. WOW! I could see a parallel to the parable of the persistent widow in the New Testament…God wants us to ASK him for our needs…and he has resources beyond our belief and wants to wow us with how he chooses to provide for us. I was challenged in how I saw the situation of people needing homes by Laureen’s example…she had a very “let’s get this done, we’re gonna do it” kind of attitude and her determination had made an impression on Franklin Graham and I think on God, too. I think it was also obvious to the evacuees that here was a lady that was going to get something moving. At this point, the people have heard promises of apartments, jobs, houses, bus tickets but not many had seen it yet and were starting to lose a little hope and become a little skeptical and uncertain. Laureen made an impression on me…she contacted her family in Ohio and persuaded a family member to offer up a house for another Latino couple. I realized that what was going to speak of God’s love and care to these people was them really seeing that we were going to do everything we could to meet their needs. Another Latino gentleman that I met was hoping to find a place to live. I wish I could say that we actually found him a place, but not yet. I tried to help him find his sister in North Carolina and helped him find some places he could apply for jobs in his area. This whole situation made me realize how natural it is for me to really feel for these people…but then to walk away and go back to my normal life rather than personally getting involved for the long haul….

Later that evening, I was on my way to find a new task when a little girl came to me with her little brother and asked if I would take them to the circus (the Shriner circus was in an adjacent parking lot and had given free tickets for the evacuees). I asked her if it was ok with her momma and so we found my friend Megan and another little boy and we took off. We missed most of it, but got to have a ride in the clown car and see them shoot the woman out of the cannon. On the way back, the kids were tired, so we gave the piggyback rides, but then we came across some “buggies” (shopping carts used for toting stuff about the shelter) in the parking lot so we raced those home. That’s a beautiful memory…Megan pushing the little girl racing one of the boys pushing her brother…having fun and being kids in spite of everything that was going on around them… (By the way…on the way home someone picked up a Sunday paper and I was looking through it…and found a picture of the little brother, Brandon, on one of the fronts of the sections…our one photo from the people we met!

We got back to the coliseum (they called it “The Hirsch”) and found some of the boys with a lot of energy throwing footballs around the floor, much to the mothers’ annoyance. I am not an athletic person, but it seemed like these kids needed to blow off some steam. So I suggested a football game outside…so here I am with half a dozen black boys going out to play football! Yay for Luke and Dan…they found us heading outside and were soon tackling these little guys and carrying them and the football down the “field.” That was another beautiful sight…these little boys who really needed guys to have to fun with them…

Saturday On Saturday, I think I felt like I experienced about 10 different things all in the same day. I started that morning by unpackaging hand sanitizer by the Red Cross tent/trailer. They were having a staff meeting there and I heard them say that they were going to start consolidating evacuees from the other shelters in Shreveport to the Hirsch (where we were) on Monday. I was trying to imagine what it would be like to finally feel a little settled in your “home” with several hundred others and then have to move again…and imagining what the response that the current Hirsch residents will have to several hundred more people coming in and crowding “their” space. Yikes. I can’t imagine how emotionally and physically exhausting that would be.

As I continued to load sanitizer into a buggy (such great word for a shopping cart!) the director of the shelter came over and asked me to tidy up the trailer…they were going to be using that space to tell people about the death of loved ones. Wow…having the burden of being in a shelter and then receiving the news that a loved one has died and not even having privacy to grieve….

I knew that Ernestina and Jose would be leaving that day so I wanted to make sure that I got to spend some time with them. I saw them heading to breakfast and we chatted for a bit. Amanda, one of the Spanish-speaking Red Cross gals, had bought Ernestina some cute clothes at Target but she was still cold and I could tell she wanted to go on the plane in something that looked nice, so I went to the women’s clothing room and found a decent looking corduroy blazer for her to wear. Jose looked real spiffy in a Nike t-shirt and bright white tennies that Amanda had found for him. They didn’t know what time they were going to be leaving and I could tell they were anxious/excited.

I got to spend a little time in the toiletries room with a really nice woman from Shreveport. I loved her drawl…I think I could have just sat back and listened to her talk and fall asleep! It seems the supply of deodorant and hair grease (a high-demand item for a group of mostly African Americans) was getting low. A woman came in looking for birdseed for her bird…I took her to the pet food room and we looked. We found some, but she didn’t want to take the whole bag in case someone else had a bird they needed to feed so I went and found a baggie. I was shocked by her unselfishness and thoughfulness for the needs of others when she herself had so many needs right then…

I went to lunch and found my Spanish-speaking friends and found out that Ernestina and Jose had left. Sister Laureen was eating with them, too, and informed me that their plane was leaving at 2 p.m….there they go…off to a new life that God had provided for them…

First of all, I got a random call from a good friend who just found out that she worked with another friend of ours. (Sorry for the vagueness!) I think that just reminded me that even when I am not even paying attention to the world around me, God is moving, like it or not!

Later on, Matt and I were enjoying a lovely date night, cruising through town in search of Tropical Snow (btw, where did the one that was in Campustown go?) but when we didn’t find one nearby, we decided to cruise through campus. Ahh…campus in the summer…drummers drumming in front of Music Hall…new students walking around with red orientation bags…everything is super green…’twas lovely. We had the brainstorm of getting alternative frozen fruity dessert at the UDCC (quality smoothies!) so we turned around and parked in ye ol’ Friley lot. Wow. I don’t think I had been on campus since move out. But, wow, guys…it made me so excited for fall! And honestly, I don’t know if I’ve even been this excited for fall kick-off!

At the Rock leaders’ gatherings lately we’ve been doing a lot of evaluating of the past year, and so I think that my brain has been cranking on a lot of that. Last week, someone brought up the thought/concept of how the amount of “heart” we put into anything affects the outcome. I’ve been thinking about this a lot…and a couple days ago read this verse:

“Be sure to fear the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you.” 1 Samuel 12:24

I’m not sure how to define the “heart” thing, and I almost think that the “heart” in the verse is slightly different (but yet not…) than the “putting your heart into it” “heart.” But it seems to me like it might be kind of a combination of two things: 1) yielding to God and his overall will for our lives, and Him changing us through the Spirit to be more like him, 2) I think it’s also like “putting ourselves out there” for God and making ourselves vulnerable to serve him and to see him get glory.

Probably part of this “change in heart” (oh my, I’m sorry English majors…I’m really wearing out this word…) is due to the focusing of my heart that is due to me finishing my time teaching band full-time in order to be able to focus on helping my Matt and supporting the Rock ministry. I have so dearly loved my time at school but am so super excited to be able to not have my time, energy, focus, and heart split in so many different areas.

I know that a lot of our Friley team is in Chicago for the summer, and ya’ll are just trying to survive the chaos of things there, and a lot of us here are still just trying to get the summer figured out, but I am going to be praying that God will be giving out team a ton of “heart” for people and preparing us for the stuff he has planned for us this fall…

Thoughts?