ARCHIVE GALLERY
October 2006
Lately, I have been thinking about friendships and how they change over the seasons of life. Remember when you were young and friends seemed to be at the core of everything? Even before kids came along, friends held a much more central role in life and it was much easier to keep up the delicate balancing act of maintaining friendships.
Let me say this; we have been so blessed in every ministry where we have served over the last 18 years, with strong friendships that are not only fun but also spiritually valuable. People who love the Lord and want His holiness have encouraged us to follow Him and fulfill the calling on our lives. Those are real friends.
The last four years for Randy and I have been quite isolated. As I read that, it sounds really bad, and almost wrong. But I don’t mean it like that, in fact, it has been very good and necessary. Because of our lifestyle, we have very dear friends all over the country and even outside of it, but the day to day kind of friends who know the comings and goings of everyday life; it is much more difficult to maintain those at this stage in our lives.
I know most of you will understand what I mean as I say that I have recently thought about people who were once such a part of our lives, and then life takes us all a thousand different directions and all of a sudden, you wonder if you will ever cross paths again! Plus, home schooling (which is a full-time job regardless of anyone says), ministry, being on the road 6-8 months out of the year, raising future leaders of our country and the like all come into play. It is called life and growing up. This season of our lives does not afford much day-to-day time to develop friendships outside of church and family. And, I have to say, that was really bothering me. I felt like a schmuck for not keeping in touch with certain people and getting together for dinner. You know that saying, “We have got to get with…” Often times, for me, it was driven by guilt. Not only so, there is the side of me that just really MISSES friends that I love. Since I am a social person (if you know me at all, correct me if I am wrong), I thrive on being with others. Randy, is the opposite. He thrives on time alone. That refuels him. So, all of that to say, the last four years have been the season in my life when I have learned to spend real alone time with the Lord and enjoy talking with Him about my day to day activities.
Now we come to Saturday night.
We sang at Java House, a coffee house in South Lyon, three miles from our apartment. It is a fantastic “Starbucks like” café that is Christian owned. Open everyday of the week and the best turkey and artichoke Panini that has ever been made…not to mention the coffee. As the night progressed, friends from 30 years ago (I literally grew up with them at Brighton Wesleyan Church) came in with their cell group. The next set of friends from our Shepherd Fellowship days (1996-2003) arrived bringing people we have never met, but really liked. Next, great friends from our current home church, SoulQuest Ministries, showed up to surprise us. About an hour later, a couple that we were super close to when we first married and as they married (13 years ago) walked in the door. My mom ran over to see all of these people and she sat there and caught up with all of them.
As I was singing, people were just kind of mingling and then it would quiet down and people would listen for a while and I kept thinking about the seasons of life. How they change and intertwine the moments so dear to the heart. People who have made such an impact on me personally and how friendships may go stagnate for a season or two and then they spring to life again. Friends from four different seasons of life were all in the same room, gathered in the name of God. Brothers and sisters who have never met one another, but will spend eternity together.
I have no reason to complain, feel lonely or wonder about friends. We are abundantly blessed and loved.
Thank you to all of you who came on Saturday night. I needed to see you! Thank you for coming to us. You really blessed us by your presence. How about dinner?!
Sunday morning, we sang at Faith Journey church in Howell (30 minutes from home.) This is our third time there and we have established a friendship with the Cottle's. Pastor Stephen is just hilarious and they always bring lightness to life. This start up church is growing, but has been hit hard by the economy in our state. To lose families who must relocate because of employment is tough. So, they have felt the pangs of saying goodbye to several families who were really plugged in.
The service went really well and the people were with us. They worshipped and sought the Lord. The comments afterward were all about being in the presence of the Lord. Mission accomplished. Have a great week.Friday morning, I left (all by myself!) for our home church’s ladies retreat held at Maranatha Camp in Muskegon, MI, about 2 ½ hours from home. I loved driving there alone! I called a couple of friends on the phone I had been itching to talk to and just haven’t had a chance and then I just blasted some awesome worship CD’s and sang at the top of my lungs. Much like you, I suppose, isolation is when I can really pour my heart out to the Lord. By the time I arrived at Olive Garden, to meet the other staff coming from Waterford, I felt refreshed and prepared to lead a weekend of worship…without my husband! Because Randy was not going to be there, we compiled three separated sessions worth of mostly live worship songs led by our favorite worship leaders like, Lincoln Brewster, Chris Tomlin, Michael W. Smith, Paul Wilbur, Steven Curtis Chapman and more. As I was putting the sessions together, I just kept asking the Lord to show me what songs should go where and that I would not just pick what I really like, but would use anything that would nail the theme of God’s Unfailing Love. Looking back on the weekend, I cannot believe how the songs matched right up to each session’s theme! Even as we were singing, we could sense the Lord preparing the way in our hearts for the Word. As Connie Bauer (our pastor’s wife) taught, the message of the Word came alive and pierced right through to the core. It was excellent. The entire weekend went so well and I was heart broken to leave on Saturday night. The retreat didn’t end until Sunday, but with a concert Sunday morning, I had to miss the final session.
Alan and Betsy Wate, friends from the Fenton area, made arrangements for us to minister at their home church, First Baptist of Fenton. Sunday morning came early, but I was totally pumped up from the retreat, so we headed off and read scripture out loud for the hour-long drive. By the time we got there, we were ready to sing and encourage this body of believers, who have had a rough road for the last few months. So many churches that we visit are struggling and it just reminds us that the devil is alive and attacking our body. Randy knew a little of the struggles but I was really unaware because I just didn’t want to know. I cannot explain it, but this time, I just didn’t want to know what was going on. Not that we really ever do know what is happening at a church when we walk in on a Sunday morning, but you do learn to get a heartbeat for the spirit of a specific body. So, as I was sharing, the Lord just really gave me words to encourage and answered my prayer that we would say not a word too much and not a word too little. God is so good. Thank you for praying that the Lord will use us. Prayer is the work of the ministry! Have a great week.
October 16,
2006
Last week was extremely quiet and we got a ton of schoolwork done! Randy was a bit under the weather, so we tried to keep the place quiet. My dad had a knee replacement and it was a perfect week for the kids and I to pitch in and help with him.
Yesterday morning we had a concert at Owosso Free Methodist in Owosso, MI. That is our fourth time there and we have really come to love these people. There are a lot of farmers and they always have great stories about their fields and horses and yesterday we heard about 15-year old goldfish…
But what was really exciting to us was the response of young people who came to the altar at the end of the service. Not only young people came, but the teens that came and laid something at the altar really encouraged us. This church loves to use their altar and they make it a weekly practice to come to the altar and pray. Oh, if only more of us would do that. There is something about walking to the altar and kneeling that is humbling and reaffirming of our relationship with the Lord. He says to humble ourselves and pray, and we should. Does it have to be at an altar? Of course not, however, when the Lord told people in the Old Testament to build an altar, it was so that they would remember what He had done in their lives. Over time, we forget and we need to revisit that altar.
We want to bring some prayer requests before you and ask you to make these issues a serious matter of prayer. We have some financial needs, which we ordinarily do not like to mention, but we need your prayer support and help because it is just plain bigger than us.
We have gone without reordering 3 CD projects simply because the money isn’t there. We have waited for over 2 years (almost 3) and not having these CD’s to sell makes the lean times even leaner! We need about $4000.00 to reorder all three. Our prayer is that we have all of these CD’s in hand before the end of the year.
Pray for the timing, finances and new music for a new CD. That will run about $6000.00. Okay, to me, right now, that is overwhelming!
We also need an up-to-date laptop computer that works well for the motor home. As of January, we will live in the RV for the next 8-9 months! That means booking from the RV and communicating with EVERYONE from the RV! We will be home a bit in April and May, otherwise, we will be on the road. The RV needs to be in tip-top shape for that to happen. Our calendar is really filling up for 2007 and we have such a peace about the schedule and the commitment to the sacrifices of life away from home. We are going to let our lease on the apartment go so as to save that money. Please pray for the Lord’s preparation for this journey! We want to see people’s lives changed! We also need several repairs on the RV, hopefully nothing major.
Health Insurance for Randy and I. The kids are covered, we are not.
God is so good to us and has provided for our family and ministry unfailingly. He has protected us and kept us safe all along the way. We will be excited to report to you how the Lord answers these prayers. Thank you so much for joining us on this mission of promoting the gospel and bringing unity to the body of Christ. We are truly honored to be His servants.
Blessings!
Friday morning we left for Cleveland, Ohio, to spend the night with Randy’s mom and dad. It is always so gorgeous there, and he constantly reminds me that Ohio is “God’s country.” His folks have lived in that house since Randy was about 5 years old and so the memories for Randy are numerous and wonderful. It seems like he always has a new story to tell us as we are driving by a neighbor’s house.
Saturday morning, we said goodbye to Nana and Poppy and left the kids with them! We made our way to Pittsburgh, PA on Sweetest Day (although neither really new it was Sweetest Day) and prepared for a concert the next morning. We ministered at Bethel Assembly of God in Pittsburgh and were so thrilled to meet this congregation for the first time. They had about a half hour of worship music led by their team, which was such a blessing to us. We love to just stand and worship when someone else is leading and Pastor Tim did an awesome job! He didn’t “get in the way” and focused all of us on the Lord’s faithful qualities. So, by the time we were on, our hearts were softened and ready! We always notice a difference in the people as well. We love Assembly of God churches because they tend to love music and worship. They always jump right in and praise the Lord with energy! It is always exciting to be apart of .
From there we traveled to Lancaster, PA and checked into the hotel and got settled. Monday we headed to the Good N Plenty restaurant in Lancaster to participate in a banquet for Lancaster area supporters of the Faith and Action ministry from Washington DC. We have several events with Faith and Action and Pastor Rob Schenck and his wife, Cheryl have become very dear to us. We have reported about this ministry before and again, we strongly encourage you to check out their website at www.faithandaction.org. They are literally missionaries to Capitol Hill and their ministry is frontline! You may have seen Pastor Rob on Larry King Live a few weeks ago reporting about the school shootings in Nickel Mines, PA, not far from Lancaster. He did an awesome job telling the nation about the forgiveness that the Amish immediately extended to the Roberts family and how this is an example of God’s grace. Not only so, but it is what God wants us to do with one another. It really was a beautiful picture of the gospel laid out before the nation in the midst of a terrible tragedy and loss. Faith and Action assembled three ring binders filled with hundreds, probably thousands, of letters from all across the country from people who have been praying the families of the girls who lost their lives as well as the shooter’s family. Pastor Rob then took these binders and delivered them to the families on behalf of all of us! He said they were so touched and appreciative. It was a moment when our differences were overlooked and love was the agent that bridged a gap. At the banquet that evening, we sang and played a lot of dinner music and led a bit of worship. It is always a thrill to partner with Faith and Action and their staff has become quite special to us. The time goes by way to fast. Any church would benefit from having Pastor Rob speak about how God is working the capitol and in the lives of so many on Capitol Hill.
Once again, we thank the Lord for His protection on the highways and the opportunity to declare His good works through song and word. Have a blessed week!
Yesterday we were blessed with the opportunity to lead worship at our home church, SoulQuest, in Waterford, Michigan. It was awesome to be with our church family, as we are there only three or four times per year. When we are home, we attend bible study on Wednesday nights, which is our time to be taught and admonished. So, it was a treat to be home and our friends are always happy to see us on a Sunday…at least they act like it!
Immediately following the service, we drove to the Battle Creek area to sing at Crossroads Community Church. Pastor Trent Hammond invited us to participate in a community sing-along that included several area churches. We really didn’t know what to expect, but absolutely loved what these pastors are doing! Approximately six times per year, several evangelical churches (varying denominations) gather together and worship corporately and/or have a meal or special event. We watched as these people gathered together and were so excited to be with each other…it was a great picture of the body of Christ! There were several soloists that came from various churches and we had a request time…a couple of hymns I had never heard before, which challenged both my musical reading skills and my eyesight!
The whole evening was casual and quite relaxed which made for a great time of worship and fellowship. We so appreciated the comments afterwards regarding our flexibility and willingness to serve! That may be true, but we wouldn’t have missed that for anything! It was, honestly, so much fun that we look forward to the next one! What a great way to bring local church bodies together and build unity among the family of God.
Have a great week!