365 Days of Service

Day 70 - Aug 19

I spent some time chatting with Miguel this evening (who I believe was a teenager, he mentioned school sports). He had some very interesting questions regarding the type of music he should listen to, witnessing to his friends and the frustrations he’s experiencing, and walking closer to God. I was trying to think about myself at that age (I was not a believer until I was 17) and wondering if I considered these things as well. I know that after I was saved, that I immediately felt conviction about the things in my own life that I was taking part in. I have to wonder how much harder it is today for teenagers to try to live pure, Godly, obedient lives. There are all kinds of things they deal with that I hadn’t even heard of 12 years ago, let alone had in my face all the time. He was a great reminder to me that we have to engage new believers - and especially teenagers and young people - in discipleship. Basically as older or more mature believers it is our God-given duty to help them answer those difficult questions, make good, Godly decisions, and help them sort through the confusing aspects of everyday, secular life.

On that note, I just want to voice that I am feeling a little frustrated with Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Oklahoma. I submitted a volunteer application while I was returning from New Orleans, and when I didn’t hear anything I submitted another one about a month ago. Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. Not even an email. It makes me sad to think that there just might be a kid out there looking for a Big that hasn’t been identified yet and there are people like me looking for a little. But, because someone or the system doesn’t work well, there is no connection. Don’t worry, I’m not the type to give up, but I have to wonder how many mentoring opportunities like this go wasted. It’s really too bad. I’ve had some amazing conversations over the last year with young people that I’ve seen result in incredible transformation. Thank God for those people. But I would also like to see that happen for many others. I’ll keep trying.

Day 69 - Aug 18

I stayed home with a bug today and my only outing out of the house involved the neighborhood Wal-mart (we have the little ones here in my neighborhood - love not having to mess with the giant one if I don’t need to!). As I walked back to my car I noted the number of stray carts littering the parking lot. One of them was in the way enough that I couldn’t even get my cart over to my car. I was thinking, you know they strategically place those cart returns in the middle of the parking lot so we don’t have to walk it all the way back to the building (gasp!) and yet people still don’t put them away. It’s amazing to consider that someone will use the cart and then not walk about 10 yards to get it out of the way of the next person to enter the parking lot. So, I was feeling ambitious and I gathered all the carts near my car and returned them to the building. Ahhh… what a feeling. Do you return your cart? Do you put it in the cart parking place? What keeps you from doing it if you don’t?

Day 68 - Aug 17

Spent the afternoon playing with toddlers at the Oklahoma City Campus of LifeChurch.tv. It rocked. These guys are so much fun - even when 7 of them are crying their heads off (seriously, you would think we pinch them as they are handed over). That’s why I love our “hall monitors” and the bye-bye buggy.

Day 67 - August 16

I went out to the lake with the dogs today - the weather this week has been fantastic. We had a good time and they got good and worn out (my favorite result). I called Ryan on the way back and we decided we would finally go see The Dark Knight. He’s been asking for weeks. Knowing how dark that movie was, however, I’d said we’d have to go early in the day. I am so glad we did. We got home with plenty of time to think about other things for a while before getting in bed. I’m still convinced that I’m going to see plenty of Batman or the Joker in my dreams tonight, however.

Before we left the house I decided I’d buy a movie ticket for a random person tonight. We had a guest speaker come to the church this week and he told a story about challenging people at his church to live “random acts of service” out in their everyday lives. They hand out a card similar to the “Revolutionary Love” cards we hand out at the Internet Campus when we do something similar. In the past I’ve paid for people behind me in line at the drive-thru. He told a similar story about one of his church members buying food for someone and leaving the card with the cashier. Their card says something like “Just a little note to let you know God loves you”. Well, this guy contacted the church and let them know that he had actually planned for THAT MEAL to be his last. He was planning a suicide when he returned home. Getting that card simply let him know that someone, and God, cared about him and kept him from making that final decision. I thought that was an incredible story - so much more motivation for living out 365 days of service! Well, I hope that even if our movie ticket doesn’t save someone’s life - at least it might make their day.

Funny side note, I had to ask two different ticket sales guys to let me buy a ticket for someone else. The first guy said he could not do it because he thought it might be breaking the rules. The next guy did NOT understand what I wanted to do. He kept saying, “I’ve never had anyone do this before” and he didn’t understand why I wanted to do it. I had to argue that it was simply a good deed - something nice for someone else. That was very confusing, apparently. Finally I handed him the ticket and the Revolutionary Love card and said, “Give these to the next person who asks for a ticket to that movie.” He turned the Rev Love card around and read it. It thoroughly confused him. Note to self - in the future I might be able to do a kind deed for the ticket sellers. Apparently they don’t see many good deeds done.

Day 66 - August 15

I worked at the bookstore tonight for a few hours. An interesting conversation began with a fellow co-worker that I hadn’t really spent a lot of time with before. We were talking about our full-time jobs and I mentioned that I work for LifeChurch.tv. She did not know that (and after 10 months working there part-time I’m wondering how many more people don’t know…hmmm) and mentioned that she also worked for her church - a Catholic church. One of the other cashiers overheard us talking and asked more questions. Finally she said that she had not yet found a church to attend. Later in the evening I gave her my name and number and said I’d be willing to meet her for church anytime. Hopefully she’ll take me up on the offer. She’s really nice, easy to get along with and makes the work a lot more fun. I will pray that she takes the next step to finding a church that fits her, even if it’s not at LifeChurch.tv.

Day 65 - August 14

Still working on the painting for a KONNECT video shoot on Friday. I worked on it tonight to get it prepped for the video shoot - still not complete, but I hope I’ll finish it this weekend to the point where I feel like it is complete.

Day 64 - August 13

We were unable to throw a shower for our friends, Holly and Kevin, before their little girl was born a couple of months ago. We fooled them into thinking we were having a normal LifeGroup and threw them a surprise shower at our house this evening. They were really surprised! We had appetizers, a cake and we decorated little onesies for Harriett with fabric paint. I think they will be a very cool reminder of the shower and a great reminder of how much we all love her and her parents. Welcome to the group, Harriet! We’re so excited to be a part of your life and to watch you grow up!

Day 63 - August 12

As it usually does, the evening started with the Internet Campus at LifeChurch.tv. I spent some time helping people figure out how to best connect to the experience on their computers. Typically they are missing some piece of software and installing that helps the problem. It’s nice to know that I am able to answer their questions and help them connect with God online. I also spent time praying with several people.

I’ve been working on a painting this week for a KONNECT (LifeChurch.tv’s children’s discipleship program) video -the team contacted me and asked if I’d be willing to participate. I never turn down an opportunity to paint! I’m not sure how much I’ll like the final product when I’ve had time to work on it and finish it, but I like the idea and I’m just glad I’m contributing what I can to such an awesome program like KONNECT. When I get it done, I’ll post some pictures.

I painted parts of a scene for our most recent series, “So You’re Dead… Now What?” recently. I had the pastor who asked me to paint send a picture of the entire setup so I could see it all put together. Here is the photo so you can see it too. (I painted the Grim Reaper on the right, and the tree and tombstone on the left).

Day 62 - August 11

I met a LifeGroup - a big one - at Mercy Ministry tonight to bag groceries and get the place ready for the week. I had the fun task of taking a big bag of peppermint candy pieces and sorting them into smaller bags. Sticky job, though. I think the families that get the treat enjoy it though so that makes a tedious task worthwhile. The group there tonight is ridiculously efficient. There are a lot of them and they’ve been volunteering for such a long time that they just get in there and knock it out. I was out of there in about an hour!

The weather today was very unusual for August in Oklahoma. We had rain from very early this morning until late this afternoon. All that rain and with it being overcast caused the temperature to drop to 75 deg. today. It was so nice when I left Mercy I was suddenly taken back a couple of months where the dogs and I went on a bike ride everyday. Since we’ve had blazing heat in July and August, the dogs are not even a little interested in running around outside. It’s making me think of fall sooner than it will probably come! We rode over to the elementary school and it was a nice ride.

We’re sitting on the couch watching the Olympics tonight. We’ve watched some every night this week. This is a fun season. Oh, and Michael Phelps isn’t part dolphin… seen that commercial a few times.