Back to School Blessings

Can you believe it?  Summer of 2015 is complete.   Finished.  Over.  I know some of you are in mourning and some are counting down the days for school to begin. 

Our family is busy getting ready for the new school year.  Cody is moving up to middle school and Dylan is starting his 4^th grade year.  Every year at this time we look at school supplies, class list, and check the closet for clothes that fit.  I work hard to prepare the kids for school, but last year I realized that my To Do list had nothing to do with lifting my children up in prayer.  This definitely needed to be added to our back to school supply list!

So, we chose to do a prayer walk around the school one morning and it was a powerful experience for all of us.  It gave me such peace knowing that I had covered my kid’s school in the power of God’s love and guidance.  The boys also got the opportunity to prayer for their school, teachers, and the New Year.

Here at St. Andrew you will see many things this upcoming Sunday to help your family prepare for the school year.  We can’t do your back to school shopping for you but we can work with you on surrounding your family and your school with prayers and God’s love. 

How are we doing this?

-        Prayer stations are set up in the chapel all day on Sunday, August 23.  At 9:30am the chapel will be open all day with 3 different prayer stations:

o   Prayers for your child’s school

o   Prayers for the educators

o   Prayers for the students

-        Your children will receive blessings over them and their backpacks at every large group time on Sunday morning.  Every child will receive a backpack tag.

-        In the traditional services we will be giving a special blessing for the school year.  If you would like a tag for your own school bag they will be available after the services. 

We encourage you to stop by the chapel across from the bookstore and take some time as a family to pray together.  The ministers and staff at St. Andrew have been lifting your family up in prayer all week.  

VBS 2015- Get ready to MOVE!

VBS is next week from June 22-25 9:00am-12:00 noon and then wrapping up with a Family Experience Friday, June 26 from 6:30-7:15.  We’re looking forward to a great time!

What I love about VBS is this week cannot be possible without the passion of our amazing church family.  Planning for this week takes an incredible team of people.  I want to thank all of our volunteers that have helped:

recruit volunteers

develop creative arts and crafts

organize all of our youth volunteers

plan all of the amazing decor for the church

volunteer to teach

volunteer to be a small group leader

help lead music

help in the large group each morning

I would like to specifically thank our  Leadership Team:  Debbie Anderson, Meridith Saunders, Heather Coleman, Cheryl Hamilton, Cathy Turner, Suzanne Judkins, and Elisha Harrison.   This group of church volunteers have worked so hard for months to insure that this VBS will be the best year yet!

St. Andrew shows again, and again what a church can be.  We support one another and work together to bring the love and light of Christ to all we encounter.

So, thank you St. Andrew!  You are all amazing!

I though the blog entry that I wrote from last year would be a great way to start VBS this week.  Let's get read to MOVE!  VBS 2015!!!

Looking for Amazing Things (6/27/14)
I just completed an AMAZING week at St. Andrew.  We had so much fun at our VBS!  We had about 500 people in the building (children, youth, and volunteers).

It was a week that was full of many things.  As the children's pastor, it is easy to view things in "how can we do this better next year" attitude.   Every day we looked on what happened each day and how we can make it better next year.  The problem with this perspective is that you don't focus on the amazing things that are happening.  You focus on what needs to be changed.

When I changed my perspective I saw:

- Children experiencing faith in a new and exciting way
- Volunteers putting their whole heart into make this week wonderful
- New families to the area getting connected to a church home
- All different generations working together (our volunteers ranges from teenagers to grandmothers)
- Over a thousand toiletry items donated to the Plus One Mission for our church.

The week of VBS is an amazing week. What will you see this week when you change your perspective and look for Amazing things happening all around you?!?

Change Happens....still

I originally wrote this blog entry when I began working at St. Andrew.  I was focusing on the many changes that were happening in the life of my family by serving at a new church.     I didn’t take a moment to stop and think that change happens.   It happens all the time.  

The end of another school year is upon us.  This year we are making not only a change in grades but a change in schools. I have one child that is entering into a new world...MIDDLE SCHOOL...(play dramatic music here).

When I worked for the Region Ten Education Center teaching second career teachers, we would show this video.  It is out of date today, but the concept is the same.  Change is always happening.

Change happens with our kids:   We watch them slowly grow up and become more independent.  This change can hurt sometimes, but it is good.

Change happens with our spouse:   We grow and change in our marriage, sometimes it is for the better and sometimes it is not.  I know I am not the same person that I was as a 23 year old.   But we are changing together....so that is good.  

Change happens with our friends:   We don’t all have the same friends throughout our life.  You might have one or two life long friends but other than that people come in and out of our life.  I am so thankful for that.  I have some wonderful people that have come into my life these past few years.  On the flip side I have had others leave this world...and that, well, stinks.

Change happens with our bodies:  Ok, so it can get wider, or more fit, we grow taller, etc.

Change happens with our faith life.  We grow and develop our faith throughout our lives.  Faith is not a stagnate thing but something that is constantly changing as we do.

My point here is that change is always happening.   ALWAYS.   I guess that most of the change in our life is so simple or moves so slowly that we are not afraid of it.   It is the change that is sudden, that is scary.   Not always bad, it just puts a jolt into our daily rhythm.

Perspective:  Pay attention to change, don’t be afraid of it.   When you need to:  embrace it.   When you need to:  stop it.   But, notice it.   Change Happens!

Introducing our FaithZone summer reading

This summer, we have another great parenting book to recommend: Playing For Keeps! We recommend that each of our parents read this book; it's a great way to make an even more significant spiritual impact in the life of your child! This book gives tangible and simple ways to connect faith in our everyday life.  This book is available on Amazon, Kindle, and in the St. Andrew Bookstore $17.99. 

We're also super excited to share that we have summer reading for our Elementary children! STAND UP is a daily devotional that corresponds with our small group lessons during June and July. We hope that STAND UP is one more way that we can partner with your family and help your kids get to know Jesus even better!  This book is available in the Elementary Hallway and the St. Andrew bookstore $14.99. 

-The FaithZone Ministry Team 

Winners and Losers

I have shared before my #boymom status is a new road I have never journeyed before.  I grew up in a family with a sister, a dad that really didn’t watch many sports, and a mom who didn’t care much for sports either. Most of my young adult years were full of music lessons, band, and theater.

The family that I have now loves sports.  All sports.  And I am learning.  I am learning the language, the attitude, the different plays, the different uniforms, and all the different rules.

 This year my oldest is on a newly formed baseball team and until Wednesday night they had not won a single game.  They have good players and good coaches, yet they had not formed a rhythm as a team.  It’s hard to go out every game and lose.  It’s hard to keep your spirits up.  It’s hard to keep trying.  I thought, well this has been a great lesson on losing. 

At the end of each game, the coaches would discuss the different mistakes (which I now know are called errors) and the plays that were well executed.  Then the coach would say, “I am proud of you boys.”

I am ashamed to say after a really tough game when the coach said, “I am proud of you boys,” I thought…no, stop saying that!!! Tell them they have to work harder, they have to communicate as a team, they have to… 

Then I knew I was wrong. 

The losing wasn’t the point.  The playing was the point.  After one particular game we received an email from the coach listing every player and why he was proud of their playing.  Then he told them to keep working and practicing all week long and to remember the next game will be a brand new opportunity to play. 

So, in the CRAZY month of May, when our to-do lists are full and our calendars are crazy, let us remember that it is not about what is on our to-do list, but about living our lives to the fullest. 

My perspective:  Keep your eyes on what is happening now.  Live into it…the moments pass by so fast and every day is a blessing.  Honestly, even the bad ones are part of who you are.

Ecclesiastes 5:18-20, MSG After looking at the way things are on this earth, here’s what I’ve decided is the best way to live: Take care of yourself, have a good time, and make the most of whatever job you have for as long as God gives you life. And that’s about it. That’s the human lot. Yes, we should make the most of what God gives, both the bounty and the capacity to enjoy it, accepting what’s given and delighting in the work. It’s God’s gift! God deals out joy in the present, the now. It’s useless to brood over how long we might live.

Why do we make prayer so hard?

I have been in many different meetings, conferences, etc. where when adults are asked to pray they all look down and say a silent prayer that they will become invisible. 

I have also been in a Sunday morning Small Group with our elementary age children and when I ask a child to pray five hands go up. We pray for birthday parties, football games, grandparents, new shoes, sleepovers…we pray for everything we can.

What happens between the age of 8 and 38?

I think we make prayer bigger than it is.  Prayer is simply a time to connect to God, who wants to be in a relationship with us.

Prayer does not have to be silent reverence with candles and music.  But, it can be.

Prayer does not have to be liturgy that comes from tradition. But, it can be.

Prayer does not have to be bowing of head and folding of hands.  But, it can be.

Prayer can be what you want it to be.  Simple or scripted.

 This year our family started a new tradition with prayer.  We began the year by pulling out a Christmas card that was sent to us and putting it on the fridge.  I counted our cards and we had about one for every week of the year.  Perfect! When we walked by the fridge we would pray for the family, a simple prayer of joy and thanksgiving for each family.  Sometimes we would pray together as a family, sometimes we would just walk by the card a say a simple prayer.  Then at the end of the week we would write a card to the family letting them know we prayed for them.  We really had not talked to the families asking if they received our cards or if they felt our prayers.  Sadly, as the year kept moving along at a faster pace each month we slowly forgot to pull out a Christmas card and put it on our fridge. 

Then, this past week I was stopped by one of the families that we prayed for.  A simple card that was sent to their family several months ago was sent at a time that they needed prayers.

This reminded me of two things:

1.     Prayer is simple and powerful.  It connects us to God and to each other.

2.     Our family needs to get back to our new tradition.  We will be pulling out two cards this week to make up for our lost time.

P.S. If you are looking for a simple way to add prayer into your life I recommend the prayer app Echo.  It is free and it reminds us to stop and pray in our very busy lives.