Compassion/Travis

Hey, I finally got back on line! Our internet has been rather moody lately. About the only thing it has let me access is Facebook. Weird.

Anyway, Friday, August 21st (I think that's the right date) Denny and I went to O'Fallon, Illinois over near St. Louis. Denny was working a table for Compassion International at a Travis Cottrell concert. And I was able to go too!!! Yay!

Travis and his team were AWESOME!! I was so impressed. It really wasn't a concert, but a worship service. And an awesome one at that! I had seen Travis lead worship before at a Beth Moore event, but this evening it was a straight two hours of worship...oh so good!!

And at the Compassion table they were busy!! Over 50 children were sponsored that evening. That's 50 kids released from poverty in Jesus' name!!!

It was fun for Denny too...working the Compassion table was fun, AND he had a special surprise of getting to work the table with Brian Seay. If you've heard Denny's story, then you know that he was initially drawn to Compassion by a group of bloggers that had taken a trip to Uganda and blogged about it while there. Well, one of those original bloggers that God used to draw Denny into this ministry was Brian, so it was a thrill for Denny and I to get to meet him. Brian is the one with the shaved head in the picture below. Just as a side note, if you follow Contemporary Christian music, Brian is a brother-n-law to Shaun Groves, and a brother to Robbie from the "Robbie Seay Band".

We also had a chance to visit briefly with Travis after the service...that photo is below too.

If you're interested in finding out more about Compassion International be sure and catch Denny or I at church, or leave a comment, and we'd love to talk to you about it!

Update

Well, gee, I have a lot that I'd like to say to you all, but we've been without internet at home for the past week!!!!

For some reason it's not wanting to work, so I'm trying to just enjoy the time without it, but at the same time it's been frustrating because there are some things that I've wanted to share about. Like our trip to St. Louis last Friday where Denny worked a table for Compassion International at a Travis Cottrell concert.

Anyway, I'm wrapping up my week at work right now, but hopefully our internet will decide to cooperate soon 'cause I want to show you some pics. We'll see how that goes...

Peace in the Midst of Chaos

Here lately, I've been trying to maintain a peaceful attitude even in the midst of chaos. This is a little exercise that God has been working on with me for about the past two months, 'cause just because life gets crazy, doesn't mean I have to. Can you relate? Amen.

It started in my personal worship time.

Often times in my personal worship time, I'll just sit at a piano and play, and sing whatever is on my heart. (sorry, if you were at church yesterday, you've already heard this part of the story).

Anyway, as I would worship, I just kept singing the same words over and over, "I want to slow down, cease striving, and soak up your love." That was my prayer.

Understand, I realize that sometimes regardless of how hard we try, life just doesn't slow down. It doesn't always cooperate in that manner.

Take last Thursday for instance. I had already been swamped all day. On top of a million other things that happened that day, we had produced a commercial for a client, and did so in accordance with the client's specifications.

The commercial was scheduled to air the next day. At 4:30 I got a call from the client letting me know that there was an error in the spot. Admittedly her fault, but nevertheless, it could not air the way it was.

It was too late to pull the scheduled commercial off of the log for the next day, though we could send a corrected version if we could get it done by 5. However, another problem was that the guy who always cuts this client's audio was already off for the day, and the audio needed re cut.

Panic. Or not?

I chose the latter. Mentally I chose to not panic, and prayed instead.

Fortunately, our Houdini commercial director, Ron, was able to edit pieces of the audio together to make it work...and it sounded completely natural. The problem was solved and I passed the test by maintaining peace in the midst of a chaotic situation. And can I tell you? That was so much more joyful that allowing my mind, body and emotions get tangled up in the chaos.

Do you struggle with this too? Maintaining a peaceful attitude in the midst of chaos?

As I type that I'm reminded of Paul and Silas. Thrown in jail for doing nothing wrong. I would consider that shake up in my life chaotic. And yet, Paul and Silas were found praying and singing hymns. They chose God instead of chaos. As a result, they went from being held captive by the jailer to being cared for by the jailer. Acts 16:25-34

Remember that when life gets chaotic, we dont' have to go there with it. We can trust Jesus to bring us peacefully through it.

Devotion

The closer I get to Christ, the more I'm amazed by His love.

I wrote a devotion that's up over at the FCC Women's Ministry Blog. Click here if you'd like to read that.

She Speaks "Moments"

Kathy and I returned from the Proverbs 31 She Speaks Conference Sunday evening. Since then it seems that my feet have kept going at the same speed that the plane hit the ground at....FAST.
When I've been in God's presence, and/or have finished doing something that He has asked me to do, I don't like to move on without talking to Him about the experience that we've just had together. So, I thought I'd share some of my She Speaks ponderings here.

For me, going to "She Speaks" has never been about going to a speaker and writer's conference. It has always simply been about obedience. "Lord, I'm a worship leader, so why don't you send me to a worship leader conference?"

Now, obviously being a worship leader means some speaking, and I do some writing as well so I'm certainly not saying that I can't glean a ton of information from the conference, because I can, and I have. Nor am I closed minded to the fact that God may want me to speak and write more, because I KNOW that He has given me a personal story that He wants me to communicate in whatever manner He chooses.

But for me, right now, what She Speaks is mostly about in my heart of hearts is relationships.

God, for whatever reason, has knit my heart to some of the gals on the P31 team, and I feel His love for them. One of my biggest reasons for going to the conference was to hopefully, in some sort of manner, express His love to them in person, because I care about them.

However, instead of simply being "care-full", I found myself being "cared for". Or in other words, I felt the truth of this scripture:

"You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full', you find yourselves cared for". Matthew 5:7 (The Message)

So, here are a few of the She Speaks moments where I was "care-full", and felt "cared for"...

Wendy Pope running to meet us. Hugging her. Having time with her apart from the crowd to just catch up. Her grabbing my hand as she left that conversation. And the humor in her referring to me the rest of the weekend as the director the their new track, "She Hangs Out".

Marybeth calling me over to sit at her table for dinner Friday night. Laughing with her both at dinner and various times thoughout the weekend. Holding onto her when we said goodbye...and then holding her tighter.

Holly, Lysa's assistant, standing and talking to Kathy and I while we were waiting for the rain to stop so we could walk back to our hotel. She said goodnight and went on up to her room. Just speaking with her was blessing enough, BUT then she came back down with the keys to Lysa's vehicle, waving them in the air she said, "look what I have! Would you like a ride back to your hotel?!" That simple act of kindness touched our hearts so deeply. Thank you Holly.

Rachel passing by me and waving while I was sitting in a session. I would have thought nothing of it had she kept on walking, but she didn't, she came up behind me, squeezed my shoulders, and said, "it is SO good to see you." Oh my heart.

Having the opportunity to thank Lysa personally (though quickly) for showing me encouragement in my writing. To be able to chit chat with her briefly in the hallway, and to sit under her wise counsel as she shared both Biblical and practical wisdom with us.

Getting to meet Glynnis, the editor of the P31 Magazine. She too stopped while passing by Kathy and I, and showed much love to us by simply visiting with us for about 20 minutes.

Dinner with Renee on Saturday night. I, truly, find it hard to even find words to express what this meant to me. To sit across from Renee and visit with her face to face. Face to face. Face to face. Did I say face to face? Loved it. Thank you Jesus.

Hanging out with Kathy all weekend. The great conversation that took place in the hotel room Friday morning before the conference started. Our prayer time Friday night...so good. Kathy reading the Bible to me while laying in our beds. I LOVED that! (though it makes me laugh)

Oh so many more moments that I care about, but would take forever to mention...

When I got home, I was met by this "grate" note from my boy Josh...

Marybeth...

Renee...