If you could do anything for God . . .

Question: If you could do anything for God, you knew you wouldn't fail, and money was not an issue (no obstacles) - what would you do?

Just 2 months ago I posed that very same question (with a little different wording) to a group of 48 world changers who took a week off from their lives to serve abandoned children and the poorest of the poor in Monterrey, Mexico. Here are just a few of the incredible responses:

• Jacob would love to use his gifting in art to travel the world and paint huge murals of Jesus with all of His names to draw people closer to Jesus.
• Loretta would love to take her kids and move to Mexico for the summer (or forever) to do outreach. She would use her photography skills to help people become aware of the pain and poverty, plus she would sell her photos to help take care of the orphans.
• Jon wants to start a biking team to tour the country and spread the message of Jesus.
• Darrick is going to art school and wants to take his talent for animae overseas. From the money he makes from animae, he would like to start a home for unwanted and abused boys.
• Lisa would love to open a home for people who have been wounded and have nowhere to go - drug addicts, crisis pregnancies, alcoholics, etc.

Others on the team were not ready to think that big and are still processing that question - I will keep challenging them! To the people that answered and answered BIG - I will keep encouraging them and reminding them of their dream.

Dr. Lori Salierno
Tonight, as I sat in a leadership session with my spiritual mentor, Dr. Lori Salierno (and about 130 other women), she asked that same question! I was blown away at how God used the same question that I asked my team 2 months ago to challenge me and get me to think about this question again. In the past couple of weeks he has revealed so much to me that I can hardly wrap my brain around it - I will start posting some of these things as soon as I can put words to them.

So in the meantime, I would love to hear what your response to the question is. Please post a comment and let me know . . . what would you do for God if there were no limits?

Lifeline 9/25 - The Revolution Continues . . .

Last night was my first Lifeline of the semester and it was so GREAT being back with my students. I love them so much and missed them this summer! For any of you reading that don't know what Lifeline is, it is our high school youth ministry at Granger Community Church, where I'm on staff. My job working with high schoolers is very hard (sarcasm) - I get to hang out with students whenever I want, go to Mexico with them, take them to fun stuff like water parks and Great America, go to concerts, be a part of their lives in good times and bad, and I get to work with an incredibly talented, funny and CRAZY guy named Corey Mann, PLUS (bonus) work at one of the greatest churches in the world! Yeah - I know you want my job, but you can't have it!

Anyway, we had about 180 kids there last night - lots of faces I know and love, but lots of new faces too, which is awesome. The band ROCKED and worship was fantastic. It's going to be an incredible year and I can't wait to see what God does in this thing we're living called The Revolution.

A phone call from the Doctor . . .

It's been 5 days since Cody broke his foot and he's been hobbling around everywhere on crutches and wearing this big, ugly, funky looking surgical shoe (that's pretty traumatic for a 12 year old). I think the worst part was that he hasn't been able to skate for almost a WEEK (that's pretty traumatic too).

So this morning I get a phone call from the Doctor's office that treated Cody on Monday (not our normal Doctor) and they tell me "we looked at Cody's X-rays and the ankle looks good". I said "I'm really confused - he has a broken foot and his ankle has never been hurt". She said, "Oh" - let me get the Doctor. So the Doctor gets on the phone and says that she read the x-ray wrong - it's just a growth platelet that has fused together all the way and he's fine.

HUH???????

So the good news is that Cody doesn't have a broken foot and our record is still going strong (no broken bones or stitches in 12 years). The bad news is that now I'm probably going to have to take him in because his armpits hurt so bad from the crutches.

This was Cody's reaction when I told him his foot wasn't broken.

Pics from the retreat in Colorado

We were up 10,000 feet on top of a mountain and it was GORGEOUS! Nature is definitely my spiritual pathway, so I saw God EVERYWHERE. This is the view from our campus and Merri took a beautiful picture of the sunrise (she was up early every single morning, much to the dismay of our other roommates!).
This is Merri and John Eldredge - I'm jealous! John spoke at one of the sessions and he was amazing. If you've never read any of his books, you gotta go buy one right now!
Here is my great friend Debbie Mann and I up about 50' in the tree tops doing the ropes course. Nobody really knows it, but I have a fear of heights, so this was pretty hard for me. I'v always wanted to go on Fear Factor because I think I could kick butt on some of the obstacles, but now I'm not sure. Debbie sailed through it and we laughed ALOT!
At the end of the course you have to free fall off of this platform and a rope catches you (a little like bungee jumping without the bungee). We decided that once we were hooked up we would not hesitate and we'd just go - that was easier said than done. We counted to three and jumped - I think Debbie was so anxious to go that she jumped the gun. Look close at the looks on our faces - Debbie has a huge smile and I look like I'm having a stroke! I love it that Debbie was the first one to go! I forgot to let go of her hand and I just about ripped our arms off - I think I had a death grip on her! It was a BLAST and such a great thing for friends to share - we were so glad that we did it!
This is Merri and Carrie getting ready to go - they went before us. Carrie is a girl from North Carolina that we met and she was on work crew with us. We just LOVED her and I'm so glad that we got a chance to get to know her. She is going to Ireland for 3 weeks to go on a singing tour with a group, but we never did get her to sing for us - DARN!

Cody's first broken bone

It's official, Cody has his first broken bone. We made it 12 years without him breaking a bone or needing stitches - I knew that darn skateboard was going to ruin our record! When I was on my way home from Colorado I called and Cody told me he wiped out pretty hard on his skateboard and hurt his foot real bad. I asked him what his Dad said about it, whether he needed to go to the doctor or not and Dad said "if you can walk on it, it's not broke".

So Monday morning comes and I was looking forward to a day of unpacking, relaxing and watching some inspiring movies (no, not Joe Dirt this time). I wake Cody up and he comes hopping down his stairs and says his foot is really hurt. After making sure that he wasn't just trying to get out of school I called the doctor and made and appointment. Well, 4 hours later we came home with crutches, a surgical shoe to protect the foot, and a $392 bill. The break isn't bad - it's in his "pinky toe" bone, so it didn't need to be put in a cast.

So now he has a helper at school to carry his books, he has extra time to get to class, he's getting lots of attention from the girls, and Mom and Dad are doing most of his chores - other than not being able to skate, I don't think he minds having a broken foot!

I'm Back!!

Well, I'm back from my quick and spontaneous trip to Colorado to attend the John and Stasi Eldredge "Captivating" retreat. All I can say is WOW - I AM BLOWN AWAY! I've been to many, many retreats before but nothing compared to this. I feel like I have been going around my entire life with sunglasses on and now I have taken them off and see everything in a new, different and brighter way. I will be sharing more, but for right now, i just wanted you to know that I"M HOME and I've never been better!

WOW . . . I'm off to Colorado!

What an amazing day and an amazing opportunity - my good friend Debbie Mann got me into the " Captivating" conference up in the mountains in Colorado that is put on by John and Stasi Eldredge!!! I had 1/2 day to tie everything up at work and home, pack and get to Chicago. I'll tell you all about it when I get back - please pray for Debbie, Merri and Lanette while we're gone. We'll be back late Sunday night. When God opens a door, you gotta be ready to jump through it, so . . . I'M OFF!!!

Spanish Class

Today I took my first Spanish class at IUSB - it is a beginning conversational class and it was really great. I can't believe how much I learned in an hour and a half. My instructor is really easy to understand and listen to - she had some great stories.

There was an interesting mix of people in the class - one was an older gentlemen who was in the peace core when he was young and was stationed somewhere where he became fluent in Swahili - WOW! Another gentlemen is a retired English professor from Notre Dame who named off at least 8 - 10 languages that he speaks fluently, but he does not speak Spanish - yet. Another woman in the class wants to be able to know what her hispanic in-laws are saying about her and she wants to be able to yell back at them in Spanish. Very interesting crowd!

I LOVE Mexico and have been wanting to learn Spanish for about 15 years now, and I'm happy that today I finally started that process. Although it will be great to know some things the next time we go on vacation, that was not what finally got me to a class. My main motivation to learn Spanish is for our annual Lifeline mission trip to Monterrey, Mexico. I want to be able to communicate to the kids in their language. I can't wait to see how much I can learn in a year. So any of my friends who are reading this, make sure you hold me accountable and ask me how my Spanish is coming!

Gray Hair

I'm going to be honest - I have a weird obsession of plucking gray hairs out of my head - once I start, it's hard for me to stop. It used to be that I could pluck just a couple and be done, but lately the number has grown incredibly and I found myself plucking for 20 minutes before bedtime the other night and never even got to close to getting them all. (This drives my friend and hair stylist Debbie Mann crazy!) It wouldn't be so bad if they were just gray, but they are huge, wiry and stick straight out!

It's not that I'm not okay with getting older (I turned 40 in August), after all, it's all about how you feel and age is just a number, right? What I think it's really about is control. I can control my weight, I can control my fitness level, I can control my energy level by what kind of food I eat, but I can't control those stupid gray hairs. That FRUSTRATES me! I even prayed for awhile when they first started coming that God would please find it in his heart to take them away - He didn't - I got more.

So I am reading this lifechanging book called "Captivating" by John and Stasi Eldredge and it is opening my eyes to the way that God sees us and how we can reflect His true beauty. I am starting to understand what it means to be truly beautiful, and it is not about my outside physical appearance. Here's a quote from the book that really resonated with me . . .

Every woman has a beauty to unveil.

Every woman.

Because she bears the image of God.

She doesn't have to conjure it, go get it from a salon, have plastic suregery or breast implants.

Beauty is an essence that is given to every woman at her creation.

There is a radiance hidden in your heart that the world desperately needs!

That is the journey I am on right now, finding the radiance in my heart that God has given me. I am beginning to understand that I can't control everything and that the gray hair doesn't matter (although I can say that I'm not completely at peace with that yet). What matters is how I love and honor God, how I show love to others, and that I embrace and pursue the purpose that He has for my life. In this, he will make me so beautiful that the gray hairs will just add character.

So from now on, whenever I start to get frustrated by the gray, I am going to stop and think of something beautiful about myself that God has given to me. But please do me a favor, when you see me, don't be looking for my gray hairs!

Labor Day Weekend

We had the last big hurrah of summer up north at Silver Lake in Hart, Michigan. For those of you who have never heard of Silver Lake, it's about 20 miles south of Ludington, MI. The big draw to the area is the state ORV (offroad vehicle ) park on Lake Michigan where there is literally miles and miles of sand dunes that you can offroad buggies, jeeps, quads, whatever will make it on the sand and up the hills. The best part of this park is that it has it's own Lake Michigan shoreline beach that is beautiful, so our friends pick a spot on the beach and we all hang out sunning and offroading all day.



Cody got some skimboarding in, he found a perfect spot!

This is Trent, CJ (dog) and our friend "Giddy Bob". He comes over almost every morning on the weekends and has coffee with us - he is a trip, but a really great guy and friend. I have no idea why we call him Giddy, but that's his name.

Cody and Lanette visit Dr. Oppman's office

Cody had to go get his middle school physical yesterday, and I needed to go figure out why I'm still sick, so they just doubled us up in the same room (the verdict for me is a sinus infection and they finally gave me some drugs to kick it!).

It was very funny because this was the first time Cody had to do an entire physical - you should have seen the look on his face when the nurse handed him the little cup and told him to fill it at least half way. She pointed him to the bathroom and off he went with this "you gotta be kidding me" look on his face. When he got back, she handed him the gown and told him to put it on. After Erin (our nurse at Dr. Oppman's office) left, he gave me another one of those "are you kidding me" looks. Then the doctor came in and gave him his first "turn and cough" test. Poor kid had to endure that AND his Mom being in the room - he's probably going to need therapy after that!

Anyway, it was really strange sitting in the same room that I sat in 12 years ago when I brought him to Dr. Oppman for his first newborn check up. It seems like it was only 2 years ago, not 12. It puts a smile on my face to look back and compare our first doctor visit when he was all safely wrapped up in my arms, to this time when he is a rambunctious, fun loving pre-teen dancing around the office proudly showing me his moves in the hospital gown.

Yeah, I definitely miss the "baby" days when he needed me all the time and he didn't talk back or roll his eyes, but he is turning into such an incredible young man that it makes me look forward to the next few years with him. What an incredible privilege that God has given Trent and I to raise this amazing kid. I can't wait to see what God does with him - he's going to be something AWESOME!

Teddy used up one of his 9 lives today . . .

I was just getting up this morning after Trent went to work and the phone rang. It was Trent and he said "you need to come get your stupid cat". Being really groggy from taking 2 Nyquil gel caps last night, I had no idea what he was talking about. Come to find out, my cat Teddy hitched a ride on the frame of Trent's truck to work this a.m. - all the way down Vistula, across the bridge on Jefferson and on down McKinley and ending up at Michiana Auto Pros. I have no idea how or why he stayed in there but I sure am glad he did - that must have been a heck of a ride! (You blew it Trent, that was your chance to be rid of Teddy once and for all - now I know you really do love him :0)

Home sick

Today is the third day that I've been down sick and it really stinks - I HATE being down and not getting anything done. That's THREE days out of my life of just moving from the bed to the couch, wishing I was outside doing something or accomplishing something. I've got stuff to do - I can't be sick anymore!! I did get up about an hour ago and finally had enough strength to get in the shower and brush my teeth - my family will be so glad for that when they get home, Trent said I was starting to smell like a billy goat.