Yesterday was our first Sunday at the local elementary school, Joe K. Bryant. It was wet and cold. The first day that we could not have done children's ministry outside, God provided us with a new location. I love how God always has awesome timing.
I am thankful that God provided us with an inexpensive meeting place for our first year. When no real estate was available, God opened the doors for us to meet at the cheer gym. It was a great beginning, but as we have grown it has been more challenging to accommodate the needs of The Crossroads. So now God has provided us with a new place to meet that has huge potential for continued growth.
I love how God manages to work out all the details better than I ever could. He is really awesome at doing big stuff in ways I could not dream of. Who would guess that we would be allowed into a closed facility, at a greatly reduced (still slightly expensive for us) rate?
This week Shawn preached an encore presentation of "Chasing the Lion". It is an amazing sermon that encapsulates our dream and vision for chasing big stuff. It's based off a book by Mark Batterson, "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day." Be sure to listen online soon at www.welcometothecrossroads.com. This is probably one of my all time favorites.
On a personal note, I find it easy to get caught up in the ordinary. I love to dream big dreams, but I lack follow through. I have big dreams and great intentions, but the ordinary stuff of life consumes my time and energy until there is nothing left. I am not sure how to shift gears so that the kingdom stuff gets done. I have several items on my agenda that God specifically convicted me about doing, that I seem to never find the time to get done.
During the worship service, it was cool to see how much better our acoustics are at the school. I loved the set-up, with the easy to see screen and the raised stage. As I stood watching people worship in that cafeteria for the first time ever, hands lifted high for the first time ever in that facility, I dreamed about and looked forward to the days to come.
Today it was humbling to walk the halls and hear the teachers that I work with express their joy and excitement that we are being allowed to meet at the school. It was beautiful to hear my head janitor express how glad he is that we have facilities to use and ask what else needed to be done to help us on Sunday mornings. I was touched when I logged onto the school's homepage and realized that The Crossroads is listed there as a calendared event (free advertising for every teacher, every parent, and every student that logs on). I cannot grasp how God would allow me to be a part of anything this unbelievably awesome, but I sure am glad He is!
Continue to pray for us in the following ways:
*That we and our members would be protected from Satan. It has been many, many years since I have been involved in warfare like this. He's attacked our health, our finances, our kids, our marriage, and my eating disorder is harder to fight than it's been since I was a young girl. It's tough being engaged in constant battle and having to be vigilant against the enemy, but also exciting that Satan is concerned about what's going on at The Crossroads. We must be headed toward big stuff.
*That we would find the time and energy necessary to minister to our community. To love them with abandon and passion. And to still have the time and energy left to love our family.
*That God would continue to bless the Crossroads financially. We are stretching to go into the new location and are expecting God to bless that faith. We are also anxious to be able to pay Worship Dude a salary that would allow him more freedom and flexibility to pursue his calling.
I appreciate those of you who continually pray for our family in this adventure we're on. I know many of you have shared with me how God has moved in your heart to drop everything and pray for us during moments of our greatest need. Thank you. I can't express how much that means to me, or how great the results are from your prayers. May God rain down his blessings on you and your family as well.
Love,
LaRissa
Monday, October 5, 2009
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Garage sale
My garage sale was a huge success today. This was the most money I've ever made. Yeah! It was interesting to do a sale with preteen help. This morning in the predawn hours I thought the oldest two would be lucky to make it through the day alive. However as the day wore on, they turned out to be great help. They ran the checkout end of things for me.
Katie had a friend over to help her with her drink stand. They were also great help today organizing stuff and entertaining Abby.
I enjoyed meeting new people and getting rid of truckloads of junk. I still have tons left on the porch to haul off to goodwill, but at least it's over!
One of the best parts of the sale was when people asked where my clothes were. When I showed them, they looked at the clothes, looked at me in disbelief, then asked what I was doing to lose weight. Made my day.
But the absolute best part of the day was hanging out with the kids. Abby "guarded the shoes so nobody buyed them". She announced this as she put her hands behind her back and marched back and forth in front of the shoes.
Katie and her friend played chicken on a tree stump and giggled and chatted the day away. It was fun to sit around during slow moments and hang out with all the kids and be a part of their lives w/out any intertuptions for awhile.
Then later on in the car on the way to eat, the girls jokingly prayed about something girly "dear God....". James w/out missing a beat jokingly prayed, "dear God I'd like to use my veto prayer for the day to cancel out what the girls just said". I laughed till I hurt. I love the idea of a veto prayer. That's just awesome.
We finished out the day with some burgers at mg's and chilling out at the house watching movies. It's been a great day. I am grateful that God blessed me with children.
Katie had a friend over to help her with her drink stand. They were also great help today organizing stuff and entertaining Abby.
I enjoyed meeting new people and getting rid of truckloads of junk. I still have tons left on the porch to haul off to goodwill, but at least it's over!
One of the best parts of the sale was when people asked where my clothes were. When I showed them, they looked at the clothes, looked at me in disbelief, then asked what I was doing to lose weight. Made my day.
But the absolute best part of the day was hanging out with the kids. Abby "guarded the shoes so nobody buyed them". She announced this as she put her hands behind her back and marched back and forth in front of the shoes.
Katie and her friend played chicken on a tree stump and giggled and chatted the day away. It was fun to sit around during slow moments and hang out with all the kids and be a part of their lives w/out any intertuptions for awhile.
Then later on in the car on the way to eat, the girls jokingly prayed about something girly "dear God....". James w/out missing a beat jokingly prayed, "dear God I'd like to use my veto prayer for the day to cancel out what the girls just said". I laughed till I hurt. I love the idea of a veto prayer. That's just awesome.
We finished out the day with some burgers at mg's and chilling out at the house watching movies. It's been a great day. I am grateful that God blessed me with children.
Friday, October 2, 2009
Love the Boy
This afternoon James and I ran some errands together. We finished getting junk out of storage and then went to "Albertshires" as Abby calls Albertsons. I love time alone with that kid. He pours out his heart and opens up when its just the two of us jammin' to some loud 80's rock in the car. It's cool.
He started by giving me the rundown of last night's football game that I missed. The play by play, injury by injury, story was long and confused me, but I tried to nod along and not freak out at his war wounds. He was so proud that he got hit so hard that his boxers split right in two. Apparently this was a great play. I said "wow that's awesome.". It seemed to be the right response.
Then he sprung the sex talk on me out of left field. "Hey mom, you know this girl's pregnant at my school." (whoa - thought we were talking about football) That led to him talking about the abstinance program the kids attended today at school. He said it was good, but it was really awkward to sit through with all your buddies.
He said the main focus of the "talk" was to explain STD's and encourage abstinance as a way to prevent catching weird stuff. This led to him explaining and discussing herpes with me. Are you kidding me? Since when am I old enough to have children old enough to be having this conversation? I had this weird out of body experience. Most of me was comfortable and cool with the conversation. But a small part of me watched from afar with great sadness that my baby is not a baby any more.
However, it was cool to get to talk to him some about God's design for sex in marriage and to get to share with him how glad I was that I waited and how God blessed that decision.
The kid's got a good head on his shoulders. I am praying often for him and Grace that God will guard their hearts and minds over the next few years. I know most everybody takes away a few scars from their teen years, but I don't want theirs to be decisions that damage them long term.
Then when we arrived back home, the moment was over. He lost his reasoning capabilities again. We were stringing a clothesline for my garage sale tomorrow. He couldn't figure out how to go around the tree. For real. At one point he had tied himself to the tree and at another point he had me wrapped with the cord.
Love the boy.
He started by giving me the rundown of last night's football game that I missed. The play by play, injury by injury, story was long and confused me, but I tried to nod along and not freak out at his war wounds. He was so proud that he got hit so hard that his boxers split right in two. Apparently this was a great play. I said "wow that's awesome.". It seemed to be the right response.
Then he sprung the sex talk on me out of left field. "Hey mom, you know this girl's pregnant at my school." (whoa - thought we were talking about football) That led to him talking about the abstinance program the kids attended today at school. He said it was good, but it was really awkward to sit through with all your buddies.
He said the main focus of the "talk" was to explain STD's and encourage abstinance as a way to prevent catching weird stuff. This led to him explaining and discussing herpes with me. Are you kidding me? Since when am I old enough to have children old enough to be having this conversation? I had this weird out of body experience. Most of me was comfortable and cool with the conversation. But a small part of me watched from afar with great sadness that my baby is not a baby any more.
However, it was cool to get to talk to him some about God's design for sex in marriage and to get to share with him how glad I was that I waited and how God blessed that decision.
The kid's got a good head on his shoulders. I am praying often for him and Grace that God will guard their hearts and minds over the next few years. I know most everybody takes away a few scars from their teen years, but I don't want theirs to be decisions that damage them long term.
Then when we arrived back home, the moment was over. He lost his reasoning capabilities again. We were stringing a clothesline for my garage sale tomorrow. He couldn't figure out how to go around the tree. For real. At one point he had tied himself to the tree and at another point he had me wrapped with the cord.
Love the boy.
Monday, September 28, 2009
I'm happy
Yesterday was a busy day and Abby was exhausted. I put her to bed for a nap. She was screaming "I'm not sleepy. I'm not tired. I'm not grumpy." She flopped and cried and whined. The hysterical moment was when she was mid fit and started screaming "but I am happy. I am happy." Soon after she totally crashed and slept for three hours.
As I snuggled her for a minute, I wondered if I am like that with God. Are there moments in my life when He's saying "rest with me for a minute. You'll feel better later" and I am frantically screaming "I'm happy" as I fight against Him? How often do I try to convince God that my plan is better and that I don't need Him?
Abby's fit made me stop and think that maybe I need to slow down and listen instead of frantically trying to convince myself that my plans for my life are great. I need to make time to just spend time with God. Just to love Him.
As I snuggled her for a minute, I wondered if I am like that with God. Are there moments in my life when He's saying "rest with me for a minute. You'll feel better later" and I am frantically screaming "I'm happy" as I fight against Him? How often do I try to convince God that my plan is better and that I don't need Him?
Abby's fit made me stop and think that maybe I need to slow down and listen instead of frantically trying to convince myself that my plans for my life are great. I need to make time to just spend time with God. Just to love Him.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Monday morning update 9.28.09
I am trying to sort through all of our junk this week. I am planning to have a garage sale next weekend. I have found tons of interesting stuff up in the attic. Boxes and boxes of clothes left from my eBay seller days, old journals, books, bible studies, toys, and crazy stuff I did not even know we owned.
In sorting out everything, I am once again convinced that I have way more stuff than any one person should own. Much of it I don't know where it even came from. But I have stumbled across some treasures along the way. I found some old journals from when the kids were little, back in the days when I actually wrote on paper- pre blogging days. But the treasure I am sharing tonight is from my daughter Grace's journal that we found. I am sharing this with her permission.
June 15, 2008 (our first preview service)
"Dad did an awesome job preaching and Robby, well he could have been mistaken for Chris Tomlin himself. Nursery? Complete success. There were only 3 children - Emi, Abby, and Reid. We all had a fun time, and I heard everyone liked the children's area. So today, an awesome day."
I know this is a little different spin on my Monday morning update, but when I found this it reminded me about how beautiful this year has been. Seeing my daughter's unvarnished, unprompted, private thoughts about church at The Crossroads made me thankful a million times over that we said yes when God asked us to plant a church.
To quote Grace "So today, an awesome day." That has been the bottom line of everything I have said or thought about our journey this year.
Today was our last day at The Tiger Cat Tumble and Cheer Gym. Next week we open a new chapter of the story as we move into Joe K Bryant Elementary. We are excited about the possibilities that are in our future. There is now a much greater potential and space for growth.
At the same time, I confess that I am nervous about the unknown. I am nervous about being "enough". I don't know if that makes sense. I guess sometimes it seems that God has called us into something so much larger than ourselves and there are days when I am nervous about being surrendered enough to be what God needs me to be.
I know that this is an unusual spin, but God really uses Grace's journal to remind me about what an amazing year we've had. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in this next chapter of The journey.
In sorting out everything, I am once again convinced that I have way more stuff than any one person should own. Much of it I don't know where it even came from. But I have stumbled across some treasures along the way. I found some old journals from when the kids were little, back in the days when I actually wrote on paper- pre blogging days. But the treasure I am sharing tonight is from my daughter Grace's journal that we found. I am sharing this with her permission.
June 15, 2008 (our first preview service)
"Dad did an awesome job preaching and Robby, well he could have been mistaken for Chris Tomlin himself. Nursery? Complete success. There were only 3 children - Emi, Abby, and Reid. We all had a fun time, and I heard everyone liked the children's area. So today, an awesome day."
I know this is a little different spin on my Monday morning update, but when I found this it reminded me about how beautiful this year has been. Seeing my daughter's unvarnished, unprompted, private thoughts about church at The Crossroads made me thankful a million times over that we said yes when God asked us to plant a church.
To quote Grace "So today, an awesome day." That has been the bottom line of everything I have said or thought about our journey this year.
Today was our last day at The Tiger Cat Tumble and Cheer Gym. Next week we open a new chapter of the story as we move into Joe K Bryant Elementary. We are excited about the possibilities that are in our future. There is now a much greater potential and space for growth.
At the same time, I confess that I am nervous about the unknown. I am nervous about being "enough". I don't know if that makes sense. I guess sometimes it seems that God has called us into something so much larger than ourselves and there are days when I am nervous about being surrendered enough to be what God needs me to be.
I know that this is an unusual spin, but God really uses Grace's journal to remind me about what an amazing year we've had. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us in this next chapter of The journey.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Monday morning update 9.21.09
We are excited to share that last Thursday Anna ISD redid their facilities policy to allow churches to use the buildings on Sunday. We will be changing locations sometime in October. We are anxiously and eagerly waiting to see what God does in the next few months at The Crossroads.
Today was a good day. It is such a cool adventure to me to see who God's going to bring through the doors each week. We continue to see several new people each week.
Services were the standard awesomeness again today. Shawn shared a good message about family and Robby brought us into God's presence during worship. It was good stuff any way you slice it.
Tomorrow begins another insane week of early morning football practices and late nights of soccer. Pray for our family as we live life on fast forward. We are enjoying life, but are also exhausted from the fast pace.
Today was a good day. It is such a cool adventure to me to see who God's going to bring through the doors each week. We continue to see several new people each week.
Services were the standard awesomeness again today. Shawn shared a good message about family and Robby brought us into God's presence during worship. It was good stuff any way you slice it.
Tomorrow begins another insane week of early morning football practices and late nights of soccer. Pray for our family as we live life on fast forward. We are enjoying life, but are also exhausted from the fast pace.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Monday Morning Update 9.19.09
It was good. Real good. The end.
Sometimes I feel like since that's always the bottom line about services at The Crossroads that maybe I should just write that and be done.
Seriously, the weekend has flown by. Both of my big kids played sports in the rain on Saturday, I worked a couple of hours at school, we set up for services at The Crossroads, and Katie had friends sleep over. That was just Saturday.
In spite of a huge accident that blocked the road to where we meet, people still showed up at church this morning. They used backroads to find their way. We even had visitors. When we heard about the accident, we really didn't expect a crowd but God had other plans.
Shawn preached about using your marriage to make a difference on the world. I have to say that is one of my favorite aspects of our marriage. I love that we get to work together in ministry. It's way cool that God uses two super different people to work alongside each other to love on others. We've been ministering together for 17 years. It's hard to imagine having to go it alone. I love how God continually changes us so that we are a great team no matter what our current situation in ministry might be.
The worship set came together well. Unexpectedly, I worshiped more during practice than during services. I found myself crying at more than one point during the practice as I contemplated how much God loves us and how much He does to continually make us more and more like him. I was overcome by His compassion. Don't misunderstand me here, the service was great, too. I loved meeting with God then as well, and it was beautiful to see our people worship. That's a definite highlight of my week.
This afternoon we met with the children's workers to sort of touch base and see what's going on and how we can improve the ministry. I love looking around the table and seeing all the faces who are committed to helping out, even if children's ministry is not their primary calling. In spite of my selfish reluctance to work in children's ministry in the beginning, God has certainly blessed me.
I am blessed to be on this journey at The Crossroads. I am blessed with great friends, beautiful worship experiences, and excellent ministry opportunities.
Sometimes I feel like since that's always the bottom line about services at The Crossroads that maybe I should just write that and be done.
Seriously, the weekend has flown by. Both of my big kids played sports in the rain on Saturday, I worked a couple of hours at school, we set up for services at The Crossroads, and Katie had friends sleep over. That was just Saturday.
In spite of a huge accident that blocked the road to where we meet, people still showed up at church this morning. They used backroads to find their way. We even had visitors. When we heard about the accident, we really didn't expect a crowd but God had other plans.
Shawn preached about using your marriage to make a difference on the world. I have to say that is one of my favorite aspects of our marriage. I love that we get to work together in ministry. It's way cool that God uses two super different people to work alongside each other to love on others. We've been ministering together for 17 years. It's hard to imagine having to go it alone. I love how God continually changes us so that we are a great team no matter what our current situation in ministry might be.
The worship set came together well. Unexpectedly, I worshiped more during practice than during services. I found myself crying at more than one point during the practice as I contemplated how much God loves us and how much He does to continually make us more and more like him. I was overcome by His compassion. Don't misunderstand me here, the service was great, too. I loved meeting with God then as well, and it was beautiful to see our people worship. That's a definite highlight of my week.
This afternoon we met with the children's workers to sort of touch base and see what's going on and how we can improve the ministry. I love looking around the table and seeing all the faces who are committed to helping out, even if children's ministry is not their primary calling. In spite of my selfish reluctance to work in children's ministry in the beginning, God has certainly blessed me.
I am blessed to be on this journey at The Crossroads. I am blessed with great friends, beautiful worship experiences, and excellent ministry opportunities.
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