Just a reminder that we will be hanging out at More than more tomorrow night, the 29th of December, from 6:45-8:00PM, at McAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette.
It will be a great time!
for the first time we will have a group of teens and tweens hanging out too - this will be a time for students to learn about something More than just the usual American way - they will be talking about a movie called "Facing the Giants" It will be a great time!
As always there will be fantastic time for kids!!
Hope you can make it!
Wednesday, December 28, 2011
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Thursday
Just a reminder, because the writing has been slim of late, that we will be hanging out Thursday night, 12/15/11, 6:45-8:00PM, at McAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette.
It will be a great time!
If you are sick of the "life as usual" American way this holiday season, we hope you join us as we continue to search for More!
As always, there will be free, excellent childcare!
hope to see you there
It will be a great time!
If you are sick of the "life as usual" American way this holiday season, we hope you join us as we continue to search for More!
As always, there will be free, excellent childcare!
hope to see you there
Friday, November 18, 2011
The Fabric of our Lives
Ever notice how amazingly our lives are knit together? We spent some time last night noticing how God has brought us together. So many of us, from so many different places and times, different financial situations, different ages, different relationships and yet there we sit, every other Thursday night, our lives intertwined - these are the best friends i have in the world! They are amazing! We talked through a couple of them - it baffles the mind to think of how we have come together. Now, all of us, dong our best to look behind the usual of the American dream, to find something More out of life - to savor and appreciate the wonder of a God who would love us so much as to bring us together in the midst of our lives!
So, if having some friends who actually accept you no matter what you offer them sounds good, or if you are sick of life as usual in the US, and are looking for something More, you might want to join us - we will be hanging out December 1st, 645-800pm at MCAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette.
and, if you are already trying to live this way you might just happen to notice the people around you who you love and who love you and how your lives have come to be woven together, you might just take a second and thank the God who loves you enough to fill your life with those people - and invite Him into the moment with you - it might just change your perspective!
hope to see you soon
So, if having some friends who actually accept you no matter what you offer them sounds good, or if you are sick of life as usual in the US, and are looking for something More, you might want to join us - we will be hanging out December 1st, 645-800pm at MCAllister Recreation Center, just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette.
and, if you are already trying to live this way you might just happen to notice the people around you who you love and who love you and how your lives have come to be woven together, you might just take a second and thank the God who loves you enough to fill your life with those people - and invite Him into the moment with you - it might just change your perspective!
hope to see you soon
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
Love via Shoes
What if there was a group of people that loved? Really loved? What if the questions that lie in our hearts about our country and whether anyone really cares about anyone else anymore were answered by a simple group of people learning to live life differently than the rest of the country? What if that love got demonstrated in a tangible way, with something that would be meaningful to almost anyone?
After all love requires giving of yourself. Sacrificing. Being present when it is not easy. It involves forgiving and trying to understand someone else. It involves spending time when it is not easy and there is little to gain for yourself. love is focused on the other person's needs, not your own.
But love is also the greatest thing in the whole world. The joy in love exceeds any other joy that there is - the pain in love may exceed any other pain that there is too, but the joy is bigger than the pain. The joy is well worth the pain, no question.
Well, all of these things are happening, right here in Lafayette and last Friday we had this wonderful chance to share the love we are learning to expeerience in daily life. We are sick of everyday Americanism of get more and more and more. But, we are also ready to do something different about life, or more specifically WITH life.
This was exemplified this past Friday at our 2011 Love Your Feet Day. About 20-25 of s took the day off from work and our schedules to be together and share the day with some of the folks in our own town that needed help the most. We invited anyone who needed help afffording shoes to join us and they came - at the end of it all, we were tired, but we had given love and been witness to the giving of love to hundreds of people. We gave away around 700 pairs of new shoes!!!
As part of my time on Friday, I had the joy of being able to tell people who werre coming to pick up their shoes that they were not being given shoes by some big fancy organization with government funding, but rather, they were being given shoes that were paid for by the money from the bank accounts of the people who were handing them the shoes! The expression on their faces melted. They were shocked to tears, and they exploded with gratitude and near disblelief that anyone would value them that much to spend hard earned money to buy shoes for them. They sensed the love in the room - it was no longer about shoes anymore, but about love and meaning. You see, they left with new shoes but mostly with new found respect for who they are made to be. For, at More than more, we value them. And if we do, maybe they should too!!
We spent time sitting on the floor and reading books with kids. We spent moments observing people as they removed their rag-like shoes in the hallway and slipped on their new shoes, then took a second to just look at their feet in them - smiling - feeling their feet feel good and their spirits feel valued. We saw children with little hair, grin widely when reminded that they are beautiful. We saw people confused that any simple group of people could really love like this without an agenda of some kind and without expecting anything in return. We saw individual members of More than more so broken hearted over those who came to late to sign up, take the names themselves and go buy the shoes after all the Love Your Feet was over. We saw people who had really never heard of More than more before crying tears of joy as they simply observed the giving of the day. We saw people who felt so little like they mattered that they did not want shoes for themselves, even though they needed them, only for their kids - only to be overwhelmed with gratitude when they realized that the shoes (and the love and value) could be for them too!
In short, it was a great way to spend a day! It was not all easy - there were some who were less than thankful, even hurtful. We were tired at the end, after it all, giving that sacrificially is not typical, or lightly done. But it was sooooo worth it!
In the evening, we spent a long time sitting around a campfire and sharing stories and challenges - with one end result:
We are going to do everything we can to live out this kind of love and mission in our everyday life, not just on Love Your Feet Day!
If this sounds like something you would like to be a part of, we would love to have you join us - we will be hanging out together at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette, from 6:45-8:00 PM this Thursday - the 3rd of November - of course there will be free,excellent childcare!
Friday, October 14, 2011
What does it mean to believe?
So, i had to tell you about a couple things that have happened in the last week - once again my children have humbled me...
So, Tuesdays we go to school early for my oldest's prayer group - but this only for Junior Higher's - so me and my 2 younger children spend some time talking to God together and learning something. This Tuesday we read a section of in my son's Bible about faith. Now faith is one of those fancy Christian words that people talk about a lot but i'm not sure what it looks like in everyday life, if you know what i mean. So, i was trying to explain to them that having faith means that you believe that what you hope for will be true - and the best kind of faith is when what you hope for is good and true and pure, not to get new xbox games or for your worst enemy to break their ankle or something like that - it is best when it is when you hope for what God would want in each situation...It was a good conversation and i think they understood what i meant but it is hard to explain and harder still to live.
We finished and they went to their classes and on with their days, and i with mine.
Then the very next morning we were talking with God about some friends of ours who are being evicted by their landlady, who seems to be downright evil and who had forbidden them from fixing their sewer - leaving them with no place to go for now and having to go to the neighbor's house to do laundry, brush their teeth, wash dishes, etc. Let's make it clear, they were offering to even pay for the repairs, which they should not have had to, and she wouldn't let them. So, as i was talking to the kids, i said that we should pray for these friends, that they would find a place to live and that God would help them in the meantime.
Well, i came time for the kids to pray and Sophia, the youngest started out - she talked to God about family and friends and our days and our neighbors - all the usual things and then she went on to talk to Him about our friends - "Help them to find a place to stay and take care of them. And please help their mean landlady to have a soft and loving heart and to see how great life can be with You. Help her not to be mean anymore." Then, one at a time, they each prayed for first our friends and then the mean landlady.
I just almost couldn't take it. I had just been taught a lesson in faith. You see, i could give talks about faith and i believe God will give our friends the perfect place to stay and that He will take care of them. But, until my kids satarted talking to Him, i never even considered trying to believe that He would reach down into the heart of that mean lady and bring healing to her hurting heart. But, my kids saw through her meanness to her broken heart - to whatever it is that makes her so mean. And more than that, they saw that God could and wanted to, help her just as much as us, our family, our neighbors and our friends. They seem to understand faith much better than i do - maybe this Tuesday they should lead our time together!
The Truth is, there is no one beyond the reach and love of the God who made all that is - He wants everyone to have life that is full of wonder and freedom.
If you are sick of living in a world that is just not seeing all there is, we would love to have you join us - we will be hanging out at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette, from 6:45-8:00PM this Thursday, October 20th. We would love to meet you - and maybe we can open up our minds a little more than usual!
So, Tuesdays we go to school early for my oldest's prayer group - but this only for Junior Higher's - so me and my 2 younger children spend some time talking to God together and learning something. This Tuesday we read a section of in my son's Bible about faith. Now faith is one of those fancy Christian words that people talk about a lot but i'm not sure what it looks like in everyday life, if you know what i mean. So, i was trying to explain to them that having faith means that you believe that what you hope for will be true - and the best kind of faith is when what you hope for is good and true and pure, not to get new xbox games or for your worst enemy to break their ankle or something like that - it is best when it is when you hope for what God would want in each situation...It was a good conversation and i think they understood what i meant but it is hard to explain and harder still to live.
We finished and they went to their classes and on with their days, and i with mine.
Then the very next morning we were talking with God about some friends of ours who are being evicted by their landlady, who seems to be downright evil and who had forbidden them from fixing their sewer - leaving them with no place to go for now and having to go to the neighbor's house to do laundry, brush their teeth, wash dishes, etc. Let's make it clear, they were offering to even pay for the repairs, which they should not have had to, and she wouldn't let them. So, as i was talking to the kids, i said that we should pray for these friends, that they would find a place to live and that God would help them in the meantime.
Well, i came time for the kids to pray and Sophia, the youngest started out - she talked to God about family and friends and our days and our neighbors - all the usual things and then she went on to talk to Him about our friends - "Help them to find a place to stay and take care of them. And please help their mean landlady to have a soft and loving heart and to see how great life can be with You. Help her not to be mean anymore." Then, one at a time, they each prayed for first our friends and then the mean landlady.
I just almost couldn't take it. I had just been taught a lesson in faith. You see, i could give talks about faith and i believe God will give our friends the perfect place to stay and that He will take care of them. But, until my kids satarted talking to Him, i never even considered trying to believe that He would reach down into the heart of that mean lady and bring healing to her hurting heart. But, my kids saw through her meanness to her broken heart - to whatever it is that makes her so mean. And more than that, they saw that God could and wanted to, help her just as much as us, our family, our neighbors and our friends. They seem to understand faith much better than i do - maybe this Tuesday they should lead our time together!
The Truth is, there is no one beyond the reach and love of the God who made all that is - He wants everyone to have life that is full of wonder and freedom.
If you are sick of living in a world that is just not seeing all there is, we would love to have you join us - we will be hanging out at McAllister Recreation Center - just off 20th and Schuyler Ave, Lafayette, from 6:45-8:00PM this Thursday, October 20th. We would love to meet you - and maybe we can open up our minds a little more than usual!
Monday, October 10, 2011
The Amazing Diversity of our Minds!
So, after talking about what More than more meant to us, we had some time, as we always do, to notice the amazingness of God and to notice the amazingness of people and their brokenness.
We began by talking about the way we think. I related a quote given me, and shared with permission, by a patient with ADD. He came into my office and his presenting complaint to the nurse was "Because you can't change the world if you can't focus." Now, why is that so important?
Because, he realizes that he has something amazing in him that could change the world, but he cannot seem to get his mind to focus long enough to get to it.
Why will he change the world? Well, let me tell you with a question.
If you want to balance your checking account, make a budget, get everything to add up perfectly, stay on schedule, what kind of a person do you ask to help you? Proabaly not someone with ADD. You would be looking for someone with a compulsive tendency, very organized and structured, right??
But, if you are stuck in your thoughts, trapped in a box of ideas from the past that you just can't seem to out-dream. You are bumping into a problem with the ame solutions and just can't seem to get past the usual ways of thinking. You are blank and just can't dream any more ideas. Who do you ask for help? Do you run to the compulsive person who is doing your books? Or do you ask your buddy with ADD and tell him not to take his medicine?!
I think you are getting the idea now. So many people consider their mind type and their thought life to be a handicap of some kind. They hate that the numbers all need to add up - they don't like being so organized and anal. Or they hate their tendency to wander and wonder in their thoughts - they just want to accomplish things and they can't get their heads out of the clouds long enough to do it. Yet, on a second look, we see the value in the organized and compulsive mind - someoone needs to keep everything reigned in and moving in a positive direction. And at the same time, we see the value in the ADD mind - ready to imagine outside the box,to dream new dreams, new combinations of dreams. To unleash their mind on the unsolvable!
Isn't it amazing? Now, seriously, how, by accident, did we all develop so differently and yet so much like pieces of a puzzle - perfectly fitting together to make sense. Put an ADD person with a compulsive person and they may irritate each other, but they will gt so much done and complement each other amazingly. No, this variability in our minds that leads to such amazing possibilities is obviously an expression of the creativity of a God who loves us deeply (and who clearly has a sense of humor).
So, the next time you notice the difference beteen how you think and how you want to, or how you think and the person next to you does, notice. Pay attention for just a second. And then thank the God who made you that way. Invite Him into the moment with you. Ask Him to be part of your days. You see, why would God go to so much effort to make us so amazing only to abandon us? The answer? He didn't - He very much wants to be a part of your life. And as He becomes more and more a part of your life, your perspective will change - you will begin to have a life that opens up and is More than you ever dreamed. I hope you'll try it!
Hope to see you next Thursday at McAllister Center - just off 20th and Schuyler - in Lafayette - from 6:45-8:00PM.
Have a thoughtful week!
We began by talking about the way we think. I related a quote given me, and shared with permission, by a patient with ADD. He came into my office and his presenting complaint to the nurse was "Because you can't change the world if you can't focus." Now, why is that so important?
Because, he realizes that he has something amazing in him that could change the world, but he cannot seem to get his mind to focus long enough to get to it.
Why will he change the world? Well, let me tell you with a question.
If you want to balance your checking account, make a budget, get everything to add up perfectly, stay on schedule, what kind of a person do you ask to help you? Proabaly not someone with ADD. You would be looking for someone with a compulsive tendency, very organized and structured, right??
But, if you are stuck in your thoughts, trapped in a box of ideas from the past that you just can't seem to out-dream. You are bumping into a problem with the ame solutions and just can't seem to get past the usual ways of thinking. You are blank and just can't dream any more ideas. Who do you ask for help? Do you run to the compulsive person who is doing your books? Or do you ask your buddy with ADD and tell him not to take his medicine?!
I think you are getting the idea now. So many people consider their mind type and their thought life to be a handicap of some kind. They hate that the numbers all need to add up - they don't like being so organized and anal. Or they hate their tendency to wander and wonder in their thoughts - they just want to accomplish things and they can't get their heads out of the clouds long enough to do it. Yet, on a second look, we see the value in the organized and compulsive mind - someoone needs to keep everything reigned in and moving in a positive direction. And at the same time, we see the value in the ADD mind - ready to imagine outside the box,to dream new dreams, new combinations of dreams. To unleash their mind on the unsolvable!
Isn't it amazing? Now, seriously, how, by accident, did we all develop so differently and yet so much like pieces of a puzzle - perfectly fitting together to make sense. Put an ADD person with a compulsive person and they may irritate each other, but they will gt so much done and complement each other amazingly. No, this variability in our minds that leads to such amazing possibilities is obviously an expression of the creativity of a God who loves us deeply (and who clearly has a sense of humor).
So, the next time you notice the difference beteen how you think and how you want to, or how you think and the person next to you does, notice. Pay attention for just a second. And then thank the God who made you that way. Invite Him into the moment with you. Ask Him to be part of your days. You see, why would God go to so much effort to make us so amazing only to abandon us? The answer? He didn't - He very much wants to be a part of your life. And as He becomes more and more a part of your life, your perspective will change - you will begin to have a life that opens up and is More than you ever dreamed. I hope you'll try it!
Hope to see you next Thursday at McAllister Center - just off 20th and Schuyler - in Lafayette - from 6:45-8:00PM.
Have a thoughtful week!
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