365 Days of Service

Day 250 - Feb 22

Recently Ryan has been awesome about helping around the house, cleaning the kitchen, doing the dishes, getting laundry put away, all that jazz. I have not been all that helpful, however, and felt the need for some new tools to motivate me to action. Since we have been trying very hard to pay off debt, we had a little extra change and I was able to purchase a floor steam cleaner - for our hard floors. AWESOME! It’s so good because the dogs run in and out of the house all the time and drag in all kinds of good stuff (or not good, not really at all). I have mopped and disinfected and tried everything to get the floors really clean and the steam cleaner was easy and amazing. I’m going to start selling them door-to-door, at least that was what I told Ryan. I spent the day serving Ryan by getting our house truly clean - so he would be able to take a break from the housework for a while.

If you’re interested this is the steam cleaner that I bought on Amazon.com: http://tinyurl.com/bxv8vb. 

Day 249 - Feb 21

I’ve been really sick the last few days, so I went with Ryan to LifeChurch.tv tonight and helped set up the kids experience instead of going to work at my other job. I really just didn’t think I had the energy to chase kiddos around all night, and I knew I could help Ryan as well as attend church with him tonight. We’re continuing the series “The Vow” at LifeChurch.tv and I know it is very important for us to attend together and to be really engaged. It was a great message about pursuing your spouse - we all forget, every now and then, that we still need to make them feel special and appreciated. It was another great reminder. Watch Week 2 of The Vow online: http://www.lifechurch.tv/message-archive.

Day 248 - Feb 20

I’ve been highlighting causes that I find worthwhile or inspiring on my blog. This cause, Compassion International, is another one that I support. I wanted to share their vision and help spread the word with a sidebar link.

Compassion International exists as a Christian child advocacy ministry that releases children from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty and enables them to become responsible, fulfilled Christian adults.

Founded by the Rev. Everett Swanson in 1952, Compassion began providing Korean War orphans with food, shelter, education and health care, as well as Christian training.

Today, Compassion helps more than 1 million children in 25 countries. Sponsor a child today by following the link to the right. The child featured will change as the link is updated every day.

Day 247 - Feb 19

On the way home from work, I remembered that I had to get cat food and was struggling to decide where to look for it. I have one really old cat, Hannah, that has hairball problems. Well, it bugs Ryan all the time to find cat puke in the house, so I shopped around to find a better formula for Hannah and it seems to help. The problem is that I need to buy food in bulk quantities, and they only sell this formula in a small bag. This story has nothing to do with serving, other than the fact that I went to Petsmart, found their high-end food on clearance (just the formula I needed!) and wheeled it out to my car. This particular Petsmart has no cart return places, so I wheeled the cart back into the store. This is one of those things I’ve been doing regularly since I started serving 365. I think it’s great for the employees, but I also hope that in this crazy Oklahoma wind, I’m also helping someone else out there by preventing a door ding from a loose cart.

Day 246 - Feb 18

I was attacked today in the worst way. I was attacked so much that I actually ended up walking away from a service opportunity. It’s a long and really difficult thing to explain how Satan could attack me so easily and so severely on any given day, but most of it goes back to my issues of trust and pride. Ryan gave me the opportunity to leave during Switch tonight (while I was in tears) and we had a great discussion about it when he returned home. So while I had originally planned to serve at Switch tonight, God had another plan for my evening and it involved some really great conversation with Ryan. We’re praying together that I can defeat the issue of pride that I struggle with and that I can develop a genuinely trusting relationship with God. Without those two changes, I’m only going to continue to be vulnerable to the enemy’s attacks. Tonight was a great reminder that there is only one person that I can rely on to get me through the day. His name is Jesus Christ.

Day 245 - Feb 17

…but freely given by our Savior. Have you considered that thought lately? That Jesus took it upon himself to die so that we might be forgiven? Why is it so difficult then, for most of us, to admit that we have failed others and to seek their forgiveness?

I spoke with a woman at the Internet Campus today that is struggling with that very concept. She says she recently redidicated her life to Christ, but is still struggling with sin, and the consequences of her past actions against her mother and daughter. I can completely sympathize with her situation regarding past sins against her family - I have been there myself. When I suggested that a good place to begin might be to simply ask for her family’s forgiveness, she said that they would still hold things against her. I never know quite how to tell someone that the only real forgiveness they need is that of Jesus Christ. We want so badly to make things right with those here on earth, but sometimes I think we get distracted by them so much that we lose focus on what matters most. I only hope that she can rely completely on her relationship with Christ someday, and through that relationship help the others in her life see that she is forgiven.

Day 244 - Feb 16

I had an amazing night at Mercy Ministry tonight. What started off as a bad evening (thanks to my poor attitude) after work turned around nicely after I got out of my funk and started focusing on other people. I headed out to Mercy expecting some drudge work (I said I had a bad attitude) and what I found instead was a great group of people working together to take care of the less fortunate in OKC. I had the opportunity to speak with one woman serving who was also needing some care. She has been homeless and out of work, and asked if she could have some clothes. I was able to get her set up in our system and speak at length with her about the kind of work she does. I also let her know she was welcome there any time. I could tell she wasn’t the most outgoing about her problems (she said at one point she was “too proud”) and I was able to share a little about our recent financial issues and hopefully help her know that we all fall into difficult circumstances. There is nothing wrong with seeking help. God has established the ministry at Mercy just for that reason. It was really good to meet her and spend some time with her. She will definitely be in my prayers.

I also had a chance to connect with one of the other ladies there this evening. She was really interested in what Ryan and I are doing at the church and I was able to share my passion for serving. It was a good talk.

Finally, I wanted so badly to help out one of the husbands there that had been dumping trash when his wedding ring fell off his finger into the dumpster! I have had a flashlight in my car for years just for this reason! Well, not that specific reason, but a reason like that. Anyway, I went to get it to find the batteries had corroded inside it! What luck. I finally scrounged around and made a phone call to find a flashlight for them. When I left they still had not found it. I’m hoping they do.

Day 243 - Feb 15

I spent an hour serving at the Edmond Campus related to the upcoming Women’s Conference. I also had the opportunity to attend an experience at the Edmond Campus with Ryan and we just began the series “The Vow” at LifeChurch.tv. The first week was about finding “The One”. It was so good to sit there and reflect that it was just about 3 years ago that I heard a very similar message and rededicated my life to Christ. We’ve been a part of LifeChurch.tv since that time and our marriage has never been stronger. Powerful morning, to say the least.

If you’re married, or as Craig says, want to be married someday, you definitely need to take part in this series: http://www.lifechurch.tv/message-archive/watch/the-vow/1. It is powerful stuff, not only to help strengthen our marriages and to protect them from attack, but to remember very honestly why it is that we are here, and in this relationship. Jesus says it best with “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’” Matthew 22:37-39. And there is no doubt we could all use a reminder to love our neighbor (even our bedroom neighbor) - am I right?

Day 242 - Feb 14

I’ve been working part-time with some college student’s recently and I’d heard them dreading the upcoming Valentine’s Day because they were single. I spent some time today making chocolate mousse for everyone, just to let them know that people love single people, too. One of them commented about “Singles Awareness Day” and I laughed out loud. At least, although very depressing, they have a sense of humor. Fun stuff. Some of the ladies at the church felt the same way I did, apparently, because there were homemade pizza rolls, cinnamon rolls, brownies, iced cookies and rice crispie treats as well. It was quite the Singles Awareness Day spread of goodies. I ate some too, even though Ryan and I were headed out for Cuppies and Joe after work. Hey, I’ve been working out.

I also stopped by the store and grabbed some “Cupid’s Crunch” for our elderly neighbors. I dropped it off on with a card that read “Jesus Loves You”. I know they are believers and I love adding just a little something special to their day. In case you were wondering, Cupid’s Crunch is toffee popcorn drizzled with several kinds of chocolate. It’s good. (I bought us a box, too.)

Day 242 - Feb 13

My boss had his birthday today, on Friday the 13th. I wonder how many times that happens in your lifetime when your birthday is on the 13th? I have no idea, but I also wonder if it is weird for anyone. It probably didn’t bother my boss, Brian, since he’s a pretty laid back guy (and I think he was quite a bit older than I was when those movies came out - didn’t have the same affect on adults, I am sure).

Anyway, I created an e-card for him.  Hopefully he got it and it didn’t go into his spam filter. I will have to remember to ask him about it. It was a really weird week (see Tuesday’s post) so I am sure he was just glad to have the day off to spend with family. Happy Birthday Brian!