Introducing . . .

Actually, this is not an introduction - just a clarifier . . .
Ryan AKA: Captain Jack, Alpha Dude or as I think of him, Ryanrox has now become an "intern" who works with me, Jason and a teacher at Lincoln. He has ENORMOUS skills that God is going to use in many ways to bless LOTS of people. He brings with him a spirit of fresh creativity that makes everything a lot more fun! ANd what a heart! Today when we were doing some defining of roles, I asked, "what do you see yourself doing here?" He answered: anything that can take some of your work away so that you can have less stuff on your plate. I'm going to like this season of life!

Double Blessings x 150 = JOY!

Last night at Tuesday school, our big kids (first graders - fifth graders) paired up with a preschooler to write notes of blessing for residents in the nursing home. When we pitched it to the big kids, we told them that they got to be part of a double blessing. They would get to help a three year old bless a senior citizen. I think the big kids actually enjoyed it more than the little ones! I can't wait to deliver them to the nursing home tomorrow - stay tuned for the rest of the story.

Offerings- Bunks and Balls

The kids brought in enough money to send 16 soccer balls off to Guatemala and over $300 to camp Onomia for renovations in the Retreat Center. How cool is that? I love when they can tangibly see and touch where their money is going, but I love even more when they just give because they want to give to God!

Chadder's in the House

We are always so excited when Chadder shows up! This year, Jake Novotny surprised us by taking a vacation day from work to make sure that this year's VBS kids got to get a little chipmunk lovin'. Thanks, Jake - and Chadder for taking time to be with the kids!

Day 4 - God's Word is life changing

The lesson for this day cam from when the blind man begged for money from Peter and John and they said, we don't have any gold, but what we do have is worth much more than that! And they healed him - and then told the whole crowd that gathered around this rejoicing man,how Jesus had died to give them a whole new life. What great news? Don't we all need to hear that? We talked with the kids about how God's word can help us make a small change in our attitude or our image, and like a big, huge ship, with a tiny little rudder change, will end up in a whole different continent. God wants us to end up fully in His Kingdom!

Day 3 - God's Word is Surprising!

We learned from the story in Acts where Paul was bitten by a poisonous snake - that God's word is full of surprises! We played under the parachute, toured the ship and signed and prayed over 16 soccer balls that will be distributed to a child in Guatemala very soon by Central's mission team leaving July 30.

Day 2 - God's Word is Comforting

After hearing about how God comforted Paul during the shipwreck the kids had ham roll-ups - to help us think about rolling up in a blanket - God's word is that comforting! Then we made pillows to comfort us. We wrote or drew our troubles on a piece of paper in rec and crumpled them up and threw them at other crews. We know that in this world we will have troubles - but God is bigger than all of our troubles.

Day One - God's Word is True!

What a great start to VBS! We have set sail for a GREAT ADVENTURE THROUGH GOD"S WORD! You'll see the kids making exploding KABLOOEY. They could count on the baking soda and vinegar exploding, just like we can count on God's amazing Word to be true. In the craft room they made some very cool frames to hold a photo of their group. And in snack they ate a snack that helped them remember the story of Peter miraculously getting out of prison when the angel came. Cheerios - the handcuffs that broke, grid pretzels - the prison gate, marshmallows - the angel that came to save Peter and many colors of Skittles to remind us of all the prayers that people were sending up for Peter to be saved! Prayers are a beautiful thing!!

Jericho through God's Eyes - and an Eight-Year-Old's Eyes

This picture was created by Jesper Leggatt (8), a boy from London, who drew this fantastic picture inspired by Jago's illustration in the Jesus Story Book Bible.
I love this picture. It reminds me that God sees totally different than we do - and often times so do 8 year olds.

Think about that long line of dots outside the huge, fortified heavily guarded wall of Jericho - they are the Israelites who have just crossed over from 40 years in the dessert to claim their promised land. From the outside, each one of those Israelites had no idea how God was going to give them that city. I'm sure some were petrified. I'm sure many doubted that they would ever get to see the inside of those walls. They were marching in that line out of obedience to God and for something bigger than their own lives - their children and their children. God saw things totally different. So did Jesper when he drew this. We would be wise to enter into spaces and paths that help us to look upon life as God and eight-year-olds do!

The Path of the Divine

I am so excited about this book I'm reading called, "Spiritual Parenting" Very down to earth and helpful. Michelle Anthony has written a book that really helps put things in perspective about what my job is as a mom - to create opportunities for my children to be in the path of the divine. She then shares 10 different "environments" or opportunites we have to create that space for God to interact with our kids. Cool stuff!
We will be offering a parent class this fall based on this book and the great ideas in it and the new kids curriculum (Tru)that we will begin this fall is based on the same philosophy.

Who is My Neighbor?

God gives us the power to serve is today's theme. We are discovering who our neighbor is through the story of the good Samaritan (Luke10:25-38)
Maybe they will already have some strong prompting from the Spirit to help a neighbor when they get home - or maybe they will need us to help them pursue that. Excited to see how God is going to use the seeds He is planting here to grow His Kingdom in and through your kids!!!

The Vine

Today the kids learned that Jesus is the vine and we are the branches. (John 15:1-8). They each wrote a prayer on a leaf in the morning and then at evening worship, the counselors handed out leaves, one to each camper. The camper prayed for who ever wrote the prayer request as they hung it on the vine. (Funny, it is exactly the passage that I had picked to lead my part of the worship with the staff on our staff retreat!) I love this passage because it reminds me that all the "stuff" that I try to do to earn God's favor or help Him out ( ; cause me to feel stress. All He wants us to do is abide in Him!
The Message states vs. 4 like this: "Live in me. Make your home in me just as I do in you. In the same way that a branch can't bear grapes by itself but only by being joined to the vine, you can't bear fruit unless you are joined with me." There is no stress there!! Let's pray that our kids make their home in Him!

Rainy Day Fun

The rain doesn't stop us from having fun!!

New Friends/Old Friends

We're back at camp! The kids are in worship right now and will be playing a big game in the rec field soon. Photos show kids meeting their counselors, making pizza for supper and just hangin' with friends. Check back again throughout the week for more news and photos!

Well, Well, Well

Over $5,000 and still counting. . . all the individual stories that are surfacing in regard to One Week, One Well are such a testimony of how God's Spirit moves through His people - it is a phenom to watch! While we did not reach our monetary goal to dig a deep well, we overwhelmingly reached our goal of changing communities. From the beginning of our conversations about this project, we began praying that not only would our dollars be able to transform a village in Africa, but through the giving of our dollars, God would transform the hearts of the givers. Continue to watch this blog for some of the stories and PLEASE take time to share any that you have with me!!

Can Ya' Dig It?

This One is for Dads

Many of you know that my father died a few weeks back. I can't brag about him enough. He was my hero. One of the short little conversations that we had in the last few days included me saying this: Dad, thanks for loving me so well that it made it easy to understand how my Heavenly Father loves me.

I can't think of a higher purpose in being a dad.

As I reflect on what it is about my dad that paved that way, I am reminded of the fact that it was never grand things - but rather consistent, daily things that assured me that I was loved and secure in his love. I never had to prove anything to him, but He always encouraged me to do my best. He forgave me when I messed up. He applauded me when I did well. He talked to others about me in ways that I knew that he loved me. He sat with me when I was sick. He biked with me when I was healthy. He taught me how to work by working beside me. He modeled to me how to make self sacrifices for those he loved and those he didn't even know.

Dad's, let your kids look into your eyes and see the kind of love that you have for them be a reflection of the love their heavenly Father has for them.

Turn Toys to Life

We had lots of kids bring in lots of toys and lots of people buy lots of toys so we made lots of money ($350). I am so proud of our kids who had the great idea to share from their closets, their time and their hearts to raise money to drill a well through World Vision for kids they don't even know!!

Spoiled Children

Below is part of the message I shared on Wednesday, March 10 at Lenten Service:
Some of you might remember when the group was here from Tanzania last fall. I had the privilege of bringing the five of them to visit the schools in Elk River so they would have a glimpse of how our American schools operate. We were in some of your classrooms.
Pastor Seth was the only one who spoke English, so when things were explained to them, he would translate and often the five of them would start talking to one another. I obviously had no idea what they were saying, but kept wondering what they were thinking. When we were walking back to church, I asked him what their impressions were. He explained that the way that we cared for our children was amazing, that even those with special needs were allowed to come to school and be helped to learn. He told me that they don’t do that in his country. He said, I am sorry to tell you that we spoil our children.
This obviously caused some confusion for me. I asked him what he meant by spoil. He tried to explain to me that spoiling is when you allow something like fruit to rot – Yes – I told him - I understand what the word spoil means – but how do you spoil your children? As a society we cast them aside and don’t help them to reach their full potential because there are so many other needs and not enough resources.

Then I had to explain to him that we use the word spoil in a completely different way. When we say that we spoil children here – we mean that we love them so much that sometimes we let them have anything they want or choose to show our love for them by using material things and as a result we instill in them a warped view of themselves as they confuse their worth with how much stuff they have– sometimes our children – (Me included) aren’t reaching their full potential either.

We smiled as we finally had succeeded in understanding each other, but were very troubled by the great chasm of difference between his broken country and my broken country – of our broken world – of our own personal brokenness.

Crayons and Bible Study?

I have promised a new idea every week to keep the bible reading as a family fresh in 2010. Here's my idea for this week. Use a purple color crayon to underline or frame a box around anything that you read that you could pray - purple=prayer. Then when you are looking for a fresh way to pray, you can get out your bible and page through to the purple parts. Here are a few to get you started: Psalm 119 - the whole thing, but I chose just a few parts that I liked best to put purple boxes around. Psalm 84:10, Psalm 86:1-7. And also, Ephesians 6:11-17 is the armor of God. I have re-written it by changing just a few words to make it a prayer in a blank part on that page in my bible - and then I put a purple box around it. PLEASE let me know what you find! jill.pouliot@clcelkriver.org