Riding the Wave of Yesterday

This is the first thing I read this morning when checking Facebook: "That awkward moment when you should be ready but aren't and you have to leave the house with wet hair....... Yeah, happy Monday everyone :/"


My status update would have read like this: "More like, that awkward moment when you should be ready but aren't because you're still in bed."


Yep.  That was me this morning.  And most Monday mornings.


Mondays suck.  We all know it.  There's no need to rehash the madness of Mondays. 


I'm taking Monday back!


While today may not have started off any different than the rest of my Mondays, today has been a good day.  The weather is gorgeous!  My customers were all friendly and in good spirits.  Dinner is in the oven and will be ready in 30 minutes.  It's the little things.  :)


But really, I'm just riding the wave of yesterday.  


The wave of life change.  


The wave of unity.


My spirit is so refreshed by what happened in small-town Kingston, Ohio.  My church - Centerpoint -  held it's second baptism service yesterday and it was AMAZING!  Over 20 people were dunked yesterday - men, women, children, families.


And the awesome thing is, it wasn't just "my" church.  It was THE church!  Centerpoint joined together with another local church - Church Triumphant - to hold the baptism service.  Our pastors, worship bands, and members all came together to work together as the body of Christ.  It was a beautiful thing.  A moment I'll never forget.


Out with the old.  In with the new.


That is my hope and prayer for the city of Chillicothe.  That we would buck the traditional mindset of the church that says "you do your thing and we'll do ours."  That we would do away with what doesn't work (doing things on our own) and be the church that Jesus wants us to be (working together in unity)!!


How was your Monday?  Let's work together to take Mondays back!

putting feet to our prayers

This year I had the honor & privilege of working alongside 30 other individuals from my community during the National Day of Prayer's annual community Care & Clean Day this past Saturday.  We split into different groups and tackled several different projects.  My group walked the grounds of Tiffin Elementary School picking up trash, then joined another group picking up trash alongside the train tracks between Eastern Ave. and Main St.  Once that job was complete, I joined the biggest group who had the daunting task of restoring a mural that was badly chipped and had been painted over by graffiti.

This is the mural before....

...and this is the restored mural!

(photos courtesy of Jeannette VanBuskirk)

I've been involved in the Care & Clean day for the past several years.  In fact, I wrote this post about my involvement a couple years ago.  Each year I learn something new, and this year was no exception.  Here are a couple of things that I learned:

Many hands make light work!  My friend who led the crazy crew of painters this past weekend wasn't quite sure that four hours would be enough time to finish the mural restoration project.  But, with as many people who showed up to help, four hours was plenty of time to finish the project.  Not only was it enough time, but the finished project looks amazing!

Believers long for unity!  The group of 30 individuals that worked together this past weekend represented about 4-5 different churches from the community.  These churches have different denominational backgrounds, different styles of worship, and different ways of doing things.  But one thing is clear - believers in this community long for unity.  There is a strong desire to be THE church working together, not a bunch of churches doing their own thing.

There is a big need for the church to put feet to our prayers!  The church loves to pray about things, which is very much needed.  Sometimes, though, we can simply skip prayer and DO SOMETHING.  One just has to open there eyes to see the needs of the people and of the community around us.  There will always be a neighborhood or two where trash constantly needs picked up, or where people need fed or clothed, or whatever.  It's time we put feet to our prayers and just BE JESUS to our community!

One belief of mine that hasn't changed through all the years of helping with the Care & Clean day is this: "small things done with great love can change the world."  Mother Teresa was a wise woman who put feet to her prayers daily.  And she changed the world, one person at a time.

Tell me, how have you been putting feet to your prayers lately?

my book wish-list from "The Nines" conference

A week or so ago I attended an online conference called "The Nines."  Well, I didn't really attend all of it.  Ok, I really only watched a few minutes of it.  But that's not my fault.  I blame my internet connection.  It wasn't cooperating that day.

Anyway, "The Nines" had over 100 speakers over a 10 hour time period.  Many of the speakers are also authors, and today I spent A LOT of time browsing an online bookstore checking out their books, trying to determine which ones I'd like to read.  Here's my list:

Real-Time Connections: Linking Your Job to God's Global Work & Glocalization by Bob Roberts
Barefoot Church: Serving the Least in a Consumer Culture by Brandon Hatmaker
For the City by Darrin Patrick
Spiritual Warfare & Missions by Ed Stetzer
Dangerous Church by John Bishop
Primal by Mark Batterson
Change the World by Michael Slaughter
The Surge by Pete Brisco
The Poor Will Be Glad by Peter Greer
Compelled by Love by Phillip Nation
Missional Communities by Reggie McNeal
This Beautiful Mess by Rick McKinley
Simply Strategic Volunteers: Empowering People for Ministry by Tim Stevens
Awakening a Passion for Heaven on Earth by Ted Dekker (ok, this one isn't from "The Nines," but I found it while looking through all "The Nines" books, and Ted's one of my fave authors, so....)

Looks like a great list, huh?

As I was thinking about how I would like to read all these books, I thought to myself that surely some of my friends may own one or two of these books.  Or knows someone that owns them.  Or maybe knows someone who might be willing to let me borrow them.  :)

I'm a good borrower, I promise.  And I'm a quick reader, so I won't have them long.

Whaddya think?  Got any of the above books I can borrow?