365 Days of Service

Day 81 - Aug 30

We’re visiting Ryan’s family in Galveston this weekend. His mom recently had knee surgery to repair some damage she’d done when she had a nasty fall. She’s doing really well, but since it is her right knee, she’s had a hard time getting around town - obviously driving is difficult. Ryan and his stepdad ran some errands earlier in the day so I took Karen to run some too. She needed some office supplies and to run to the grocery store. It was fun to spend some time with her one on one and to be helpful. She’s really funny and a generous person so it is fun to spend time with her. I was glad I could help her however she needed it.

Day 80 - Aug 29

This weekend Ryan and I decided to go visit his family in Galveston (hadn’t been there in a very long time and hadn’t seen the entire family in months). Ryan left early and so I got a one-way ticket into Houston on Southwest so he could go to the airport to pick me up. On the plane I was sitting next to a guy who I believe was reading the Bible. Although he didn’t start a conversation with me, and I didn’t ask any probing questions, I was eating a Schlotsky’s turkey sandwich and he commented that it looked good. Normally when I buy a sandwich from Schlotsky’s I order the smaller sandwich. At the airport they give you the bigger size. I was wondering how much of it I’d be able to eat. In the moment when he made his comment, I decided that I’d give him half. It was funny to see his reaction. The woman next to him also said “Looks like you picked the right person to sit next to.” It was funny. He was grateful and that made me feel a lot better than throwing half the sandwich away.

Also today, I asked a friend in our LifeGroup for a ride to the airport so we wouldn’t have to stop back by on our way into town to pick up my car. She was generous and spared some extra time to run me over there. She has two young kids and so I thought it would be fun to get them some special treats for going with us to the airport. I found two of those little gift balloons in the florist area that said “Thank You” and grabbed some frosted cookies for them. It was fun to ride the entire way to the airport and listen to them singing and playing with their balloons. I remember when I was a kid that a balloon was one of the coolest things you could give me. I’m a simple person. Anyway, they couldn’t wait to get home to get one of those cookies. Thanks for the ride, Stephanie, Braden and Bri. It was fun.

Day 79 - Aug 28

Tonight I had to run some errands and while I was dropping off my movie at Blockbuster, I decided to grab a few gift cards to put in neighbors’ mail boxes. I was picking up one for myself (Ryan was out of town) and I thought what a great gift that would make for the Labor Day holiday weekend for some of the families near us. I found the four families that I knew had young kids and thought it would be fun to write “God loves you, have a great weekend” on the cards. Hopefully they all found something to watch together and have some great family time. My biggest hope is that message was really meaningful for them all.

Day 78 - Aug 27

I am sure no one noticed (unless it also defeated your RSS feed to my blog) but my site went down Tuesday night and didn’t return until sometime Wednesday afternoon. That’s because I was trying to “fix” it. And, well, I didn’t. I did everything write but when you get down to the nitty gritty of the database, there are a few lines of code (they are definitely code to me too) that needed to be deleted to make it all work again. I have a friend at LifeChurch.tv that knows what code to remove. He’s practically a genius in my opinion. So, I asked him to help me get it back online and after some frustrating moments where he wasn’t sure what I’d done, he figured it out. So, now I’m back in business and better than I was before. So, Sam, thanks for fixing my blog. And because he’d served me by being very smart, I wanted to serve him somehow. His favorite cookies are chocolate chip, so I made him a bunch of fresh baked cookies tonight. Thank goodness for the smart people in this world!

Day 77 - Aug 26

I planned to play with our indoor team that we haven’t played with in a year and a half - since I had surgery to rebuild my knee and complete rehab. They were glad to have both Ryan and I back even though we’re in terrible shape and out of practice. It was a fun game, though. Made me realize I’ll need to work out more often than once or twice a month. Well… I have been sick a lot lately.

After that I ran home to serve at the Internet Campus and attend church. It was the last week of the series “So You’re Dead…Now What?” and Craig was answering some of the more difficult questions regarding death - one of which applies greatly to us - “Do pets go to heaven?” Man, the bad news is that they probably won’t, but the good news is there will probably be animals in heaven. Hopefully one of them will let me adopt them and call them some silly name. That would make up for all the others that won’t be there.

I spoke with someone at length tonight from India. He was asking for prayer for his church and over his ministry. It was interesting to get to talk with him. I think I need to start tracking all the countries/places where I’ve spoken with people at the Internet Campus. It would be very interesting.

Day 76 - Aug 25

I spent an hour and a half at Mercy Ministry tonight. There was a miscommunication and a LifeGroup was supposed to meet me there, but no one came. I was there alone and called the Director to let her know. She let me know I could do as much as I could and I tried to get as much ready as I could in that amount of time. It was a busy evening - good hard work. The only downside was near the end when I dropped a case of tomato cans on my toe and turned my nail blue. It will be fun if it falls off in a few weeks.

I know a few families were fed with the groceries I bagged. But I hadn’t realized until I was there alone just how much work goes into running the food pantry and getting everything ready. Once again my respect for the ladies who run Mercy was increased.

Day 75 - Aug 24

Sunday afternoons are always fun since I’m serving in the toddler room at LifeChurch.tv. Lately we have had a lot of twins in that room so it’s been even more fun getting to know them and watching them be so different from one another. I don’t know why I assume they will be exact copies of each other, even in personality, just because they look a lot alike. They are all cute though, and when they are that young, they are attached. They like to be together and they will show signs of envy when you pay more attention to one than the other. It’s funny stuff.

Bookstore.

Day 74 - Aug 23

Saturday was spent on me and my family. It was one of those days that I had not had in a very long time - the weather was very nice, I was feeling good, and there were no other service opportunities on the calendar. I decided that I’d clean the garage, and while I was at it, or before I cleaned it, I decided to make a mess. One of my hobbies is woodworking - or I should say rough furniture building. I’ve built some nice pieces for the house, too, but lately I’ve been into building outdoor furniture for the back porch. The weather in Oklahoma is fantastic for sitting outside and reading or playing with the dogs. I will even attend church online outside. I had some wood in the garage and wanted a table, which I then decided could actually be a potting bench. That’s what I built. I spent about 8 hours outside working on the bench. I made dinner (Lettuce wraps, so I’ll include the recipe when I can. They were SO good). Then I put away all the junk that had piled up in the garage and cleaned it. I want it to be a nice place to go to for various reasons, but the cats live out there most of the year so I don’t like it to be dirty for them. That was my day. Ryan was appreciative of dinner and the clean garage. That makes me happy.

Day 72 - Aug 21

One of my co-workers at the bookstore called to see if I would cover their shift tonight. I gracefully accepted (it’s still a favor even if you’re getting paid!). It was a good night to be at the store for many reasons. I was scheduled to work with several people I had not been around for quite some time so I caught up on the latest with them. I learned that one of my co-workers has an MFA in photography and wants to find a job teaching. Very cool - had no idea. I also found out that one of the others teaches in the public school system as a Special Education Aid. So, again, very cool. It’s amazing what you can find out about others when you spend some time getting to know them. It is sometimes so much easier to just go through the motions and keep to yourself. What’s cool about getting to know them better is knowing how better to pray for them. I mentioned an opening I’d read about at a local Christian college to the guy with the MFA, and he asked if he had to be a practicing Christian to work there. I told him it was a requirement. Then, from his reaction, I confirmed that he was not a practicing Christian. So, there’s the job and there’s his salvation to pray for.

Day 71 - Aug 20

My mother-in-law, Karen, had knee surgery on Tuesday. Ryan and I always get things from Karen, including flowers for any occassion - like the few times I have had surgery recently - and in addition to praying for her we decided we’d let her know we were thinking about her by sending flowers. We’re planning a trip to see them and Ryan’s dad’s family over Labor Day weekend. It should be a lot of fun. I don’t know how much Karen will be up and around by then but she and her husband, Ted, are very hospitable and we always have fun visiting them. We haven’t seen them since Christmas when they came for a visit. How time flies!

We also met with some friends from our LifeGroup tonight and we had a great time of discussion. I think in all relationships, especially those that are for fellowship, discipleship and growing in your walk with God, like in a LifeGroup, there comes a time of assessment and re-evaluation. I think we’re in one of those times as a group. We’ve added a few adult members and about 6 kids in the last year or so (wow!) and we’ve been busy and distracted this summer. I am going to spend some serious time in prayer for our group and all of our friends while we seek God’s direction for each of us. I’m excited to see what the future holds!