365 Days of Service

Day 241 - Feb 12

Today is my brother, Ethan’s, 32nd birthday. I dropped a package in the mail to him, but I cannot reveal the contents and ruin the surprise. I can say that it contained a book given to me for him 2 years ago that I never got around to sending. Better late than never, I always say! (Literally, I always say that, because I am always late. I can’t remember the last thing I was on time for, but I am trying to get better!)

Day 240 - Feb 11

At the Edmond campus (and all of our LifeChurch.tv campuses) we had Big Switch. This event is designed as a great way for our regularly attending youth to invite friends to church for a great message, food and a lot of fun. We had about 600 kids attend - compared to about 300 - and we had a ton of food, a message from a Christian rap artist, dancers in a Christian dance group and a few fun activities. The response seemed to be really positive and I’m hopeful (and praying about it) that some of the extra 300 kids return next week. We would love to be able to connect with them on an ongoing basis and really encourage them in their relationship with Christ.

Day 239 - Feb 10

Wow is all I can say about today. It was a crazy crazy day in Oklahoma. I left the dogs outside this morning because it appeared to be a nice day. When I got in the car I heard we were expecting bad weather so I prepared to leave work early. Well, after training as a volunteer at the Internet Campus I saw other people were saying we were under a tornado watch. Bad weather? Seriously? This weather is like catastrophic weather. So, I hurried to leave to get home before it got really bad because Crash and Pongo were outside and they do not react well to bad, let alone catastrophic, weather. I was a little late. Just 2 miles from the house I had to pull into a gas station parking lot because the tornado was going over the path I was taking home. It was a little weird, to say the least.

When I got home, Pongo was a total basket case. Nothing had happened to the house, the tornado had gone by just a little to our east, but he had been out when it was going by. We finally had to ask our LifeGroup leaders if we could bring him with us to their house for the meeting. I don’t think he would have responded well to abandonment after a day like he had. (I brought brownies as a peace offering). The good news is that very few properties were damaged and no one was very seriously hurt. Several houses were destroyed, but they will be able to rebuild.

Day 238 - Feb 9

I helped sort clothes in the closing closet storage area at Mercy Ministry tonight. We literally have a mountain of clothes in there and it keeps growing. I don’t know where it all came from, but when you ask - you shall receive!

Day 237 - Feb 8

I delivered my meal to our friends with the new baby. Since they were not at home, they offered to leave the back door open so I could drop it off on my way to church. I walked into their house and saw a pile of pink laundry on the couch. I thought to myself, well, that’s a silly little pile of laundry full of pink things that are no bigger than my hand. (This little baby is tiny!) So my next thought was that it would take them probably 30 minutes to fold, with the interruptions of the new baby and her older siblings, and it would only take me 10 minutes. So I folded baby laundry. Honestly, I didn’t know what to do with some of it; it was so small I wasn’t sure it really needed to be folded, and thus, making it smaller for storing. I was having fun, though, laughing at how ridiculous it seems that we start out so small. God has some funny ideas, sometimes.

Day 236 - Feb 7

Today was a day spent around the house trying to knock out some long outstanding projects and cleaning up. I bought the supplies for an apple pie for Ryan yesterday so I made it for him today. I even splurged on ice cream. He loves apple pie, as I have mentioned many times before, and I knew this would make his day.

Day 235 - Feb 6

I went grocery shopping today for friends of ours who just had their third baby. (I painted the murals in her nursery). Our LifeGroup and some close friends all picked a day to deliver a meal for the family and this weekend was my turn. Can’t wait to deliver it and see that precious teeny tiny baby again!

Day 234 - Feb 5

One thing Ryan and I have learned about LifeChurch.tv, and Oklahoma in general, is that people really like lots of kids. I mean LOTS of kids. They are everywhere. At my second job I’m working at an area church where there are tons of kids from families of 4, 5 and 6 kids. It’s crazy. I think it’s awesome, and wonder how parents do it, but I also see how close the siblings are and how engaged the parents are and I think big families probably have a lot of fun. A great example of this is how many baby showers, hospital visits and baby gifts we’ve given in the last 3 years here. Of course, we work with a lot of young couples, but there are still a lot of kids in Oklahoma. Every time I turn around someone is getting pregnant or having a baby. It’s definitely a joyful place.

We had a baby shower for a friend today. She is due with her first baby, a girl, and she is a really cute and funny pregnant person. Her husband is in the service, and he had been deployed before she got pregnant. She talked a lot about how she was excited for him to return so they could start a family. I am so thankful their prayers were answered both by him making it home safely and that they were able to start planning their pregnancy. This is going to be a very loved baby. I can’t wait to meet her.

I left work and went to our friends’ house where they have recently moved. It was a painting party, and I spent about 30 minutes painting the cabinets in their laundry room. I only got one cabinet done before I had to leave, but I had plans at Mercy Ministry. Once a month they are having single moms come to a special event just for them and their kids. It was so good to see those women again and to pray with one particular mom I’ve connected with. I always feel so blessed when I leave at the end of the night. God is so good.

Day 234 - Feb 4

Instead of serving at the Edmond Campus, Ryan and I took a little roadtrip to Stillwater, Oklahoma tonight. Ryan has spent some time there coaching at Oklahoma State University, but I had not spent any time in the town before. We met the LifeChurch.tv Stillwater Associate Campus Pastor and went out for pizza. We had a great discussion and we were both anxious to get back to the campus and experience Switch. What we had hoped and prayed would happen did and we found ourselves in a great discussion on the drive home. Thankfully we were able to visit and see things going on in Stillwater to help us clarify our family vision as well as to better know how to pray for the Youth program in Stillwater.

Day 233 - Feb 3

Ryan and I recently left our old LifeGroup of 2 1/2 years because they meet on Wednesday nights when we are serving at Switch. At first we were worried that we were not going to be able to find another group like ours’ with people seriously striving after God, people willing to listen and pray for each other, and the kind of chemistry where no one feels awkward and jokes are ok - even if a little off-color. We have been visiting another LifeGroup and tonight we stayed and talked until 10:30pm. It was awesome. For whatever reason, I had a lot of questions and the group was great about discussing them and digging into the Word for answers. We had a great time. I’m pretty sure this confirms for us both that we will be with this group for a while. It’s sad to break away from one tight-knit group and reach out to another, but our first LifeGroup and the friends we made there will always be special to us. It’s pretty cool to expand and grow with a new group of believers that will challenge you and encourage you in different ways. I think in so many ways that is what God really has in mind for fellowship.