Who the HECK are YOU?

The 5th grade was a big year for me. I was 11 years old and finally in my last year of elementary school! To say I had entered my awkward stage would be an understatement.  I  was tall enough to be wearing my mother’s clothes and shoes, I wore deodorant, and while the rest of the girls my age were carrying barbie backpacks, I was carrying one of my mom's old purses stashed with maxi pads.  Let's face it-there is no real way to be descrete about that-espeically when you are still in elementary school.

So began a long journey of insecurity. All girls go through it-not all in the same ways, but there is a light switch that goes off in all of our minds that tells us “different is ugly” so we need to do whatever we can to hide who we really are to be whatever it is everyone else is…

I spent all of my teenage years desperately modeling the older and popular girls, making sure I did exactly what they did to fit in, to be normal, to be pretty! I got very good at being what everyone wanted me to be and by senior year of high school-I was the master.

I had made it! I was popular!

I had met every goal I had set for myself as an awkward 11 year old girl carrying her mom’s purse to recess. I was a cheerleader. I dated an athlete. I went to all the dances-with dates. I even made the homecoming court.

The world was as it should be!

By college, I found myself 4 hours away from home and that absolutely nothing I had worked all those years for , mattered to anyone at Anderson University.

I spent a lot of years making my identity what everyone expected me to be and in return had no idea who I really was!

I got married at 21 years old and spent the rest of my 20’s pregnant and sleep deprived. My identity was being at home with my babies. While I found that very fulfilling, I never lost that hole in my heart that I didn’t know who I was or what I was here for....

 Why do we spend so much time thinking about the
“if only’s” in our life?


 “If only I had taken that job…. If only I had went to college…If only I were married…If only I had children….If only I were single.…If only I had this car paid off…If only I was thinner…..if only I could stay focused…if only I had my masters.... MY LIFE WOULD BE BETTER!”

Who taught us that?

I think we taught ourselves.
What if we started practicing being OK with who the heck we are!?

What if we got really comfortable with the

 “even thoughs?”

I am beautiful, I am smart, I am ME…..even though…I didn’t go to college…I didn’t get that job…my friends betrayed me…even though I don’t have my masters…even though I am single…even though it sometimes feels like I h ave 1300 children and drive a mini van.

I am me and who I am will constantly be evolving and growing and I am happy and comfortable with that!

"Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is You-er than You."
-Dr. Suess

LIFE TOGETHER



There has been a lot of talk lately about making church intergenerational.  When I think of church I tend to D I VI D E everything up in in ages and stages of life. Kids go to KidsMinistry, Teenagers go to YouthGroup, and so on.  I use to roll my eyes at parents who would say "I want my kids to be in service with me so they can see me worship."

In a very snarky and under my breath tone, I would ask:

 "Well, then what are you doing all the other days of the week?" 

I won't lie, there is a part of me that is still not sure I have bought into the idea, but on the other hand, I never want to be considered unteachable or close minded.

So here is my thought.

If a church is going to be intergenerational, I think it has to go beyond having a kid take up offering, or leading a couple of songs with the worship team.  I think that being intergenerational is more than throwing a clip board with a coloring sheet and crayons to a kid so he or she has "something  to do" during the service that keeps them quiet.

I think that having kids serve is absolutely necessary, because that is what being the church is all about. 

I buy into the idea that people don't feel significant until
 you give them something significant to do!

If we serve in leadership, it is not about WHAT we do, it is about WHY we do it.


For me, Intergenerational Worship takes effort.  It is about people from all seasons of life coming together as a community and sharing life together.

LIFE TOGETHER.

It's a small group that meets in some one's home that consists of a couple in their 70s, a newly married couple, a family with teenagers, and a family with a newborn that are sharing life together.  It's telling stories, giving advice, feeling supported, by a diverse community of people that share one goal in common, to love each other like Christ loves the church.

It's a group of widows asking to come and visit a jr high girls small group and share in their lives with their stories and experiences.

Intergenerational does not mean PROGRAMMING, it means seeing a bigger picture.  It's about ending the segregation of the ages and stages of life and seeing that there is more to this life than our comfort and our desire to surround ourselves with the people we are most similar to.

If your heart is still beating, God is NOT done with you.

 Just because you have retired doesn't mean you stop being the church. Just because your kids have grown up and gone to college doesn't mean you don't have a lot of parenting advice to share.  Just because your kids are little and life is busy doesn't mean you can't ask for help. Just because you are single, doesn't mean you have nothing to offer married couples.  Just because you're young, does not mean you don't have a voice.

God uses us in every stage,when we are intergenerational we ask the question:

 "What am I doing to pour into the generation that is directly behind me?"

I think that makes us intergenerational.

I think that makes us intentional.

I think that makes us strategic.

I think it makes us THE CHURCH.

It's more than programming.  It's a lifestyle.

Time keeps on slippin...

Connecting, Devoting, Engaging OH MY! With all this talk of this  the go.love.life, I  think I am beginning to break a sweat! Don't get me wrong here, I believe in this mission...I am just baffled at when I am going to fit it all in my schedule!

My husband and I have been married for 10 years and have 3 small-ish children.  We moved into our new home  just 2 days before our oldest 2 kids started school in their new school!  Our life feels like it is running us instead of us running it!

There is nothing more discouraging after hearing the white hot vision for where God is leading us at Church at the Crossing to CONNECT with God and others, DEVOTE to The Word and to prayer and ENGAGE in our community and world, and think to yourself ..
"Ain't nobody got time for that!"

I. DON'T. HAVE. TIME.

I don't have time to meet new friends, I don't have time for the friends I do have!  I can't connect with God, I can't even connect with my husband! When will I have a second to devote to prayer and Bible Study?  The only thing I have time to read are the magazine covers in the checkout line at Kroger!  Engage?  WHEN?  When will I be able to serve in a ministry or go on a trip out of the country,  I haven't left my house in days!

Then it hit me.

While yes, it is true, I don't HAVE time to do much of anything, the real issue is that I have failed to MAKE time.

MY TIME IS MY TREASURE!
 In Matthew, chapter 6:21 (The Message) it says:
"The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being."

I hoard my time..I hold it tight with clenched hands, instead, I need to open my hands, palms up and let God HAVE it!

I guess my NEXT STEP is to STOP making excuses and stop the glorification of BUSY and DEVOTE. I need to devote my time and my life to God and His Word!  I need to repriortize my TIME..and instead make it God's time!

I have not been a good steward of my time.

If I want my kids to know what it IS to BE the Church, then I must turn the mirror to look at myself.

In ministry and as Christians, we are in the people busines. 

Sometimes, people can't HEAR what we are saying because what we are DOING is too loud!

More is caught than taught. 

go.love.