Around 3:15 the best part of my day begins. I hang out and plan with my teacher peeps. Today we worked long and hard on end of the year plans. It's wild to be finalizing that kind of stuff. I've just got 24 school days left! Yeah me! I love this team of girls that I work with. I have never laughed so hard in my whole life. I loved my Pottsboro girls, but I seem to fit in a little better down closer to the metroplex. Strange, huh?
Today I got to leave work early....as in before 5:00....and head home. That's the very best part of my day. I love hanging out with my husband and kids. I am blessed with an amazing family. Tonight the kids are doing some chores, I'm chilling on facebook and watching some more of the X-men movies, and Shawn is writing his sermon. It's a good life and I am lucky to live it.
I am so thankful that when I come home, I am starting the best part of my day. I have lots of girlfriends who dread going home to cranky husbands, and look for reasons to work late or constantly want to go hang out with their chick friends to avoid the nastiness at home. At the end of my day today I was so frustrated and tired and well, frustrated. It was good to know that I could walk out the door, get in my car, and go home to an incredible life.
This is a bit rambly, even for me. I'm having a hard time concisely and adequately expressing myself. Bottom line....I've spent lots of time whining this week and so today I was trying to spend some time focusing on how blessed I am. I have a job. It pays the bills. Most of the time it is extraordinarily rewarding. I work with amazing people. I have incredible friends. I have a family beyond compare and get to be married to an unbelievably sexy man. So the 6 years olds got on my nerves this week.....and the some of the drama at school sucks.....small price to pay for a great life.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
It just hit me like a wall
True story. Today I am walking my kids back from art. We have precisely 6 minutes to get down the hall, grab our backpacks, and get to the bus line. Moving quickly. One of my little guys has way more energy than the other little boys. (Read TONS). He abandons my line, runs as fast as he can, and body slams the tile wall in the hall. For real. He hit the wall hard enough that he busted up his face, knocked a tooth loose, and bloodied his lips.
I hear frantic screaming. My sympathy is limited. What do you expect to happen when you body slam a tile wall? Seriously? I became much more sympathetic when I saw the blood pouring off his face and dripping onto the floor. He was really hurt. And I could not laugh. Even though the whole body slamming a wall was pretty funny.
So God used this incident to remind me of something important. Sometimes stuff that looks really fun just gets us hurt. God places boundaries in our lives so that we can live the best life possible. When we abandon those boundaries and run headfirst into a wall, it hurts. REALLY bad.
Lesson learned - don't body slam concrete walls with your face. Follow your leader who knows the best path to get where you are going.
I hear frantic screaming. My sympathy is limited. What do you expect to happen when you body slam a tile wall? Seriously? I became much more sympathetic when I saw the blood pouring off his face and dripping onto the floor. He was really hurt. And I could not laugh. Even though the whole body slamming a wall was pretty funny.
So God used this incident to remind me of something important. Sometimes stuff that looks really fun just gets us hurt. God places boundaries in our lives so that we can live the best life possible. When we abandon those boundaries and run headfirst into a wall, it hurts. REALLY bad.
Lesson learned - don't body slam concrete walls with your face. Follow your leader who knows the best path to get where you are going.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Monday Morning Update 4.27.09
It's a sad moment for me when I sit down weekly to do this blog. You see, I typically write this segment right before I go to bed on Sunday night. That means work is the next thing on my agenda. Which means that I have to wait another seven days before I get to be with the church at The Crossroads. Catch that phrase? Not go to the church....be with the church.
I am loving Shawn's sermon series on popular music. It's cool to see how God can use secular music to direct people towards Himself. It's neat to see how artists are asking and looking at the big questions in life. Now sometimes they come up with some pretty screwy answers, but sometimes they are close to the truth. I don't want to give away all the details to the sermon for my friends are becoming regular online listeners at www.welcometothecrossroads.com. But I loved Shawn's reminder that we have an unknown expiration date on our lives. We need to live life like that expiration date is imminent. Do what needs to be done and focus on the big, important things in life. Don't put off relationships. Love like there will not be a second chance.
I am out of new things to say about music at The Crossroads. What other adjectives do you use for incredible? We had a full band today for the first time in a long while. Grrr, the bass player, is back from the Air Force, and we have a new electric guitar player. I am thankful that God allows me the great privilege to work with such talented musicians. Did a couple of new songs today that were really amazing. Loved the set. Robby always does an incredible (see there's that adjective again) job picking out stuff that our band does well that moves our congregation right into God's presence. It was so odd.....recently I attended a worship event led by "professional" musicians, and it was a let down that it was not as moving as our worship every week at The Crossroads. God has greatly blessed us. I just still can't get over it all.
Opener: Hurricane (Jimmy Needham) - cool chilling out and playing with Worship Dude on the harmonica. Fun times.
Be Near (Shane and Shane)
I will lift my eyes
My Glorious (not sure on this title?)
Closer: Surrender All (Parachute Band) - love this band. You need to download this song immediately if you have not heard it.
We continue to have new families stop by to check us out, and at the same time we are adding and plugging in returning families. The sad part is that part of being in a commuter community is that some of our friends have relocated to other places with their jobs. It is really hard for me to become attached to people just to realize that God only placed them in my life for a short season. Today I said good-bye to the first person we baptized at The Crossroads. She is moving to Colorado.
Continue to pray for us often. We are meeting with the superintendent this week to ask permission to use the school as a meeting place on Sundays. The schools are currently closed to religious organizations meeting more often than once a month. Pray that God would grant us favor with the powers that be. We are quickly outgrowing the space that we are in and are not able to afford property at this time. We need God to do the impossible and open doors that are closed.
Also - pray for homes willing to host small groups in Anna. It is time to begin expansion of our small groups using local families' homes. This may mean more late nights and long hours for our family as we try to guide and lead groups until they are ready to take off on their own.
One last thing.....pray that every move that we make, every decision that we attempt, every breath that we take would be God honoring. Pray that we would minister not in our own strength or wisdom, but in God's strength and wisdom. Pray that we would not underestimate the God of the universe and only attempt the safe things that we know we can accomplish on our own but that we would live life dangerously - for Christ.
Have a super week. Love you all. LaRissa
I am loving Shawn's sermon series on popular music. It's cool to see how God can use secular music to direct people towards Himself. It's neat to see how artists are asking and looking at the big questions in life. Now sometimes they come up with some pretty screwy answers, but sometimes they are close to the truth. I don't want to give away all the details to the sermon for my friends are becoming regular online listeners at www.welcometothecrossroads.com. But I loved Shawn's reminder that we have an unknown expiration date on our lives. We need to live life like that expiration date is imminent. Do what needs to be done and focus on the big, important things in life. Don't put off relationships. Love like there will not be a second chance.
I am out of new things to say about music at The Crossroads. What other adjectives do you use for incredible? We had a full band today for the first time in a long while. Grrr, the bass player, is back from the Air Force, and we have a new electric guitar player. I am thankful that God allows me the great privilege to work with such talented musicians. Did a couple of new songs today that were really amazing. Loved the set. Robby always does an incredible (see there's that adjective again) job picking out stuff that our band does well that moves our congregation right into God's presence. It was so odd.....recently I attended a worship event led by "professional" musicians, and it was a let down that it was not as moving as our worship every week at The Crossroads. God has greatly blessed us. I just still can't get over it all.
Opener: Hurricane (Jimmy Needham) - cool chilling out and playing with Worship Dude on the harmonica. Fun times.
Be Near (Shane and Shane)
I will lift my eyes
My Glorious (not sure on this title?)
Closer: Surrender All (Parachute Band) - love this band. You need to download this song immediately if you have not heard it.
We continue to have new families stop by to check us out, and at the same time we are adding and plugging in returning families. The sad part is that part of being in a commuter community is that some of our friends have relocated to other places with their jobs. It is really hard for me to become attached to people just to realize that God only placed them in my life for a short season. Today I said good-bye to the first person we baptized at The Crossroads. She is moving to Colorado.
Continue to pray for us often. We are meeting with the superintendent this week to ask permission to use the school as a meeting place on Sundays. The schools are currently closed to religious organizations meeting more often than once a month. Pray that God would grant us favor with the powers that be. We are quickly outgrowing the space that we are in and are not able to afford property at this time. We need God to do the impossible and open doors that are closed.
Also - pray for homes willing to host small groups in Anna. It is time to begin expansion of our small groups using local families' homes. This may mean more late nights and long hours for our family as we try to guide and lead groups until they are ready to take off on their own.
One last thing.....pray that every move that we make, every decision that we attempt, every breath that we take would be God honoring. Pray that we would minister not in our own strength or wisdom, but in God's strength and wisdom. Pray that we would not underestimate the God of the universe and only attempt the safe things that we know we can accomplish on our own but that we would live life dangerously - for Christ.
Have a super week. Love you all. LaRissa
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