You mean for Jesus, right?

I've been wrestling with some big stuff lately. Last night, someone said something to me that caught me off guard, made me feel a little uncomfortable and ashamed, and certainly gave me something to think about. Here's what happened:

I was at a dinner party with some friends and a senior pastor (Pastor Wayne) from our church. We were talking about work and I said things have been a little crazy lately doing my regular job and so much work on the 12 days of Christmas "for the church". To which he replied, "you mean for Jesus, right?" He stopped me right in my tracks. "Of course... you know what I mean", is what I remember replying, but honestly my head started spinning at that point and it's all I've thought about since then.

I've been going and going and going lately. Work meetings, YMCA meetings, church meetings, sending dozens and dozens of emails each week for the "12 Days of Christmas", feeling like I'm falling behind in YMCA commitments, and trying to squeeze in time with Matt, our families, and our friends. There are days when I look a week ahead in my calendar and can only find a couple of hours of unscheduled time. Individually speaking I am committed and looking forward to each of my activities, but collectively it gets overwhelming and so sometimes I end up dreading things instead of enjoying them. (I can't believe I just put that in writing.) And then someone comes along and says to me "You mean for Jesus, right?" and all of sudden my world looks completely different. Now as I'm thinking about the things on my to-do list, I'm thinking "This is for Jesus, right?". If what I'm doing is for Jesus, then I should be doing it to my best abililty, full of joy, with a servant's heart, feeling good about doing it for the right reasons. If it's for Jesus and my attitude isn't quite in line with what I just described, then I should probably check myself. But, if what I'm doing is NOT for Jesus, then I need to examine my motives. Am I doing it just to please others? Or for approval? Or to meet what I think others' expectations of me are? I fall into those traps all the time.

I plan to start making a lot of decisions based on "You mean for Jesus, right?". I'll keep you posted on how it goes.

More Life Wisdom from the Wizard of Ads...

My Holiday Gift to You... For Real

Tom Hennen has a line in his poem, The Life of a Day, that says, “We examine each day before us with barely a glance and say, ‘no, this isn’t one I’ve been looking for,’ and wait in a bored sort of way for the next, when we are convinced, our lives will start for real.”

That line is a little bit frightening because you read it and realize you’re guilty. You’ve been waiting for that day when your life will start “for real.” The trouble with life is that it’s just so daily. I share this with you because I’ve been thinking about my two grandfathers who are dead and my father who is likewise and I’ve come to the obvious conclusion: Live while you have the chance.

“Papa was a rolling stone. Wherever he laid his hat was his home…” - The Temptations, 1971. In the final moments of his life, my father scribbled a note for me to find. In barely legible pencil he scrawled, “All the little things in life add up to your life. If you don't get it right then nothing else matters. It gets lonely in the promised land by yourself.” My Dad died lonely, I think, because he never made deep commitments. My father’s confession of his loneliness makes me sad, but his scribbled note tells me he wanted me to learn from his mistake. I meet a lot of people who sigh deeply and say they’re looking for their passion, something to set their souls on fire and send beams of light shining out through their eyes. But the people with light shining from their eyes know this: Passion does not produce commitment. Commitment produces passion. Solomon, that wise king, spent years of his life searching for passion. In chapter 9 of the chronicle of that search, the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon writes, “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”

People read that and think Solomon is saying, "Eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you may die," but that's not it at all. He's saying, "Throw your whole heart into whatever you do. Live while you have the chance."

This is my Holiday gift to you, I hope you will receive it: Find something that needs to be done and throw yourself headlong into it. Let today be the day your life begins for real.

Roy H. Williams

"May you live all the days of your life."- Jonathan Swift, author of Gulliver's Travels

12 Ways to Serve Others this Season

I've been working on "The 12 Days of Christmas" for Point of Grace and yesterday we started presenting it to our congregation. We've chosen 12 opportunities for people to serve others this holiday season. I challenge everyone to make this Christmas season their family's best ever by experiencing the joy of giving to other people. What may seem like a small gesture to you, may make all the difference in the world to someone else.

Here are the 12 Days of Christmas opportunities...

1. Waukee Adopt a Family - Point of Grace is adopting 40 families from the Waukee School District and our congregation, along with friends and families, will be providing what the children in these families need and want this Christmas.

2. Festival of Trees and Lights - This is an annual fundraiser for Blank Children's Hospital. It takes place Sat 11/25 through Sunday 11/29 and they are always in need of volunteers to work 3-4 hour shifts.

3. Gift Wrapping for the Heart Connection - The Heart Connection is an organization that provides support for children with cancer and their families. One of their biggest fundraisers each year is a gift wrapping station at Valley West Mall. They are in need of lots of volunteers who like to wrap gifts!

4. Hope Ministries/Token for the Broken - Donate bus tokens (10 for $15) for those who are in emergency shelters, so that they can get to appointments, jobs, ect.

5. Christmas Gifts for Friendship Center - One Saturday each month, the Friendship Center (located at MLK and Meek) hosts a dinner for families in their area who are in need. In December, along with dinner, parents will be provided with a $20 gift card to Walmart so they can purchase gifts or food for their family.

6. Miracle of the Bell - Find out when and where you can ring the bell for the Salvation Army at http://www.ringbells.org/

7. Waukee Food Pantry - Monday nights from 6p-8p you can help sort food at the Waukee Food Pantry.

8. Deliver Christmas Dinner with Hope Ministries - From 9am-12noon on Christmas Day, volunteers will be delivering hot meals to those who are unable to leave their homes or afford Christmas Dinner.

9. Des Moines Dream Center Food Distribution - Saturday 11/21, 12/5, and 12/19 from 8:30am to 12:30pm, volunteers pack up bags of groceries at Eastwood church and distribute them at Evelyn Davis Park and Bates Park to people who need the assistance.

10. Christmas Party and Cookie Decorating - This is a great opportunity to show your children a special serving opportunity. The residents of Walden Point Assisted Living Center are hosting a cookie decorating party on Sat, Dec 12th at 1:30. Many of the residents don't get to see their own grandchildren very often and they look forward to sharing this special activity with your families.

11. Teen Challenge Wives Weekend - Teen Challenge is a Christ-based program that helps men who have fallen into addiction and lost their way to find hope again and get their lives moving in the right direction. In January they will have a Wives Weekend where they work on restoring their marriages and their families. We will provide each wife with a gift bag full of items such as lotions, soaps, Christian books and music, and more.

12. Christmas Caroling - Sat 12/12 and Sat 12/19 from 4:30p-8:30p, join us as we set out to visit those who are ill or homebound to brighten their day with Christmas Carols and goodie bags filled with Christmas treats.

If you are interested in being a part of any of these opportunities, let me know! I can give you more information or point you in the right direction.

Blessings for a wonderful holiday season! And may each of us never forget what has been given for us during this season when Christ first came.

Lightbulb Moment!

Our small group is doing a study right now called "Life's Healing Choices" from Pastor Rick Warren. (You know, The Purpose Driven Life guy.) Last night we watched the study video and then we were talking about it when all of a sudden I made a connection I have never made before. The lesson was about letting go of your issues and giving up control to God. He said that the following five things typically stand in the way of giving up control... pride, fear, doubt, guilt, and worry. The more I thought about it, the more I made the connection between those five things and every drama I've ever had in my life. My plan is to write those five words on a card and carrying them in my purse so I can constantly check myself to see which of these is creeping up on me and causing me to react badly to any kind of situation. Ever since last night, I've thought about a long list of arguments with people or stressful times in my life and I can pinpoint every single one of them to one or a combination of pride, fear, doubt, guilt, or worry.

"You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought."

Matthew 5:5 (The Message)

Way better than Coldplay.

Des Moines Dream Center

Matt and I helped the Des Moines Dream Center with their food distribution program on Saturday. We have never worked with this organization before but I was VERY impressed. Their volunteers were so nice and made Matt and I feel very welcome. And considering the task of putting together 170 bags of food, they were very organized. The first thing we did was assemble the bags which basically meant putting one brown paper bag inside of another, putting a Dream Center stick on it, and then stacking half of them on one side of the room and half on the other. Then we packed half of them with dry foods and the other half with frozen foods. We had all of the food on tables and then we walked along the tables putting the food in. I only packed the dry foods so I can't tell you for sure what was in the frozen bags. In the dry bags, they received 1 large can of juice, 2 cans of veggies, 2 cans of fruit, 1 bag of rice krispies, 2 small cans of tuna, 1 can of tomato sauce, 1 jar of italian seasoning, and a box of pasta. In the frozen bags they put in a combination of pork patties, scrambled egg squares, cheese, hamburger, sausage, and chicken. I think there might have been some bread too. After we got the bags all packed, we loaded them onto a truck and drove over to Evelyn Davis Park. At the park, those in need would come up to the tent and provide us with information about their family size, names, address, ect, and we would give them food in accordance with their family size. If they had 1-4 people they received one dry bag and one frozen bag. If they had 5+ members in their household they received 2 dry bags and 2 frozen bags. Many people are regulars at this distribution and their information is already compiled so we just checked them off. The Dream Center does food distribution like this twice per month. They mail flyers to everyone who uses their services to let them know what dates and times they will be at the park. My job was to greet people and either check them off the list or help them fill out the correct form. I had so much fun! Every person I met was so friendly. They were funny and sweet and very grateful for the help. It was a wonderful experience and I look forward to my next visit with the Dream Center.

PEACE, LOVE, CURE

Our Race for the Cure team is called "Peace Love Cure" this year. We have a team of over 20 people, but the really cool thing about our team is that we designed these t-shirts from Smash and we've almost sold 100! The t-shirts are $20 each and each purchase includes a $10 donation for breast cancer research via Susan G Komen for the Cure. Do the math people... we've almost raised an extra $1000 through these t-shirt sales! That's so cool. If you want to order one, let me know. Tomorrow is our last day for placing orders!