It's More Then Just A Season

If you know me at all you know that I LOVE Christmas!!! Some would say I even have OCD (Obsessive Christmas Disorder).

I love anything to do with the Christmas season; snow, warm mittens, Christmas movies, Christmas lights, eggnog latte', picking a Christmas tree.... The list could go on for pages.

I love Christmas so much that in July my sister's and I have a day where we decorate and watch Christmas movies, for a full day!

But what is it about Christmas that I love SOOO much. Why do I have OCD?

It's not the gifts, it's not the snow, it's not the music, although I did start listening to Christmas music at the beginning of this month. ;) It's the warm fuzzies I get whenever I think about Christmas. It's the feeling of happiness. I think Dr. Seuss explained this best:

“Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before! What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas...perhaps...means a little bit more!”

I get the warm fuzzies because when I hear songs like "peace on earth good will to men" I think of a baby. When I see Christmas lights on houses late at night, I think of the light of the world. When I look to the top of our tree and see the picture of Jesus we place there, I can't help but be overwhelmed with joy. 

I know what that something more is that the Grinch saw, I think of Jesus.  I think of my family sitting around the tree every Christmas reading the story of the birth of Jesus. I think of the baby who was born and put in a manger, who grew up and died on a cross for my sins, for your sins. I think of a man who was willing to die so I could spend eternity in heaven. It's more than the decorations, the presents or the songs for me.

So when I start listening to Christmas music in October, it's not because I want to skip to Christmas day. It's because I can't wait to reflect on what Jesus did for me. I want to remember and feel the warm fuzzies everyday! Because Christmas is more than a season, it is a feeling. 

Stop And Listen

As I mentioned in my last post, I started school about a month ago and am loving every minute of it. In one of my classes this week we had an assignment to improve our listening.We had to take three minutes a day to sit in absolute quiet in an attempt to allow our hearing to reset. This was harder to do than I thought! On the first day the 3 minutes felt like 30! I kept looking at my timer every ten seconds. It was a little better for day two, and day 3, and by day 4 I was starting to really enjoy this time of quiet.

On day 5 of enjoying this quiet time I had a thought... how often do I get silent and quiet before God, to set my heart? How often do I take time to just be silent and listen to God's voice? The answer was not as often as I had liked. On the surface I thought I had been doing a great job of spending time with Jesus, until I realized that my time with God was one sided. It consisted of me talking to God or reading my Bible. I never really took the time to just listen to God's voice.

Psalm 62:5 says "Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him." If my soul finds rest in Him, and I am not taking the time to listen to Him, then how am I really resting? How can I truly walk away from my time with Jesus filled with Hope, peace and, love without hearing from Good?

The truth is I can't... and neither can you. 

Without the silent time to hear from God all we have is a monologue, a self focused time talking to God.  Now hear what I am saying. I am not saying prayer and Bible reading are selfish things. I am saying without Gods voice we will never be refreshed.

So here is my challenge to you, and myself, to take 3 minutes a day to just listen for God's voice. It may feel like the first 3 minutes of waiting is really 30, but trust me as we pursue this, day after day, we will want to extend our time listening for God's voice even longer

Sista-Sistas

Krystal, Heather, Me, Taylor
Photo Credit: Werner Portrats

I just started a new journey in my life. Yesterday I started a Church Partnership Program(CPP) through a church in Olympia. This program allows me to take university classes at a blessed price while working towards my degree in ministry. I love the program, so far. The only down side is that it is held at the church my sister works and attends. Don't get me wrong I love the church and the people, but all day I was introduced as Heathers' sister, and now, that's what I am known as here.

This got me thinking, I will always be someone's sister. Unless I go to a new place where none of my family has gone, which in the small a town we live in is very unlikely. I even run into this problem dropping my brothers off at daycare, where my other sister works. I am known as Ms.Taylor's sister to all the kids.

The more I thought about it the more I started to wonder how else people saw me; Glenda's daughter, Lynn's daughter, Michael's big sister, Arv's grand daughter.... The list goes on. The ultimate question I thought about was do they see me as a daughter of the king?

1 John 3:1-2 says:
"How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known." 

God has chosen us and called us all his children. Even though the world does not know Him do they see something different in my actions that shows I am different. Part of a different family? Do they see it in you?

Do I live in a way that people can see and say "Oh that,s Kolbey, God's daughter"?  As people will always see me as Heather's sister, will they always see me as God's daughter?

Trusting Gods Timing

I hate keeping track of time! I am horrible at it! I have tried wall calendars, iCal, pocket books, everything, but I can't seem to get a handle on how to manage my time right.

Seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades... It seems like everything we do now is measured by time. The amount of time we have to spend on something contributes to whether or not we will do it. Somone or something is always wanting some of our most abundant commodity, our time.

On the other hand time helps us plan how we are going to live our lives. It helps us plan for our future. Without time, without deadlines, things would never get finished. But what if you have to quit or give up before your time is up...

What if God calls you to move on or do something new  before you feel like you have had enough time to complete your task?

Whenever I think of timing, Gods timing, I think of the story of Abraham and his son Isaac.
Now Abraham had a wife named Sarah who was having trouble conceiving a child. Then one day God promised her she would have a son, and so he blessed them with Isaac.

Now after Isaac was grown God asked Abraham to do something CRAZY! He asked Abraham to take Isaac up a mountain sacrifice his only son.

So out of obediance Abraham did as God asked. He went up the mountain, got the alter ready, laid his son out before God and at the last second God told him to STOP!

God stopped Abraham just in time.... His time.

What would have happend if Abraham had not trusted in Gods timing? We could go into all the what ifs, but it would not do us any good. Gods timing is perfect because He is aware of every detail of our lives.

So, when we wish we could have had more time to do something, to know someone, to finish our task, and God says GO, or we wish for an immediate change in our lives or circumstances and God says WAIT, not now. We need to trust that God has the right timing for us. Because, at the end of our lives, at the end of the day,  the only thing we really have to give, and be remembered by is our time.

Lessons I Learned From Serving In Ministry

I have just wrapped up my first year working in ministry. It was quite the adventure and I have walked away with many lessons that will stick with me throughout my life.

The truth is I have never really thought about what life in ministry would look like before. I had always come to church, enjoyed the service, went home and came back the next week. Never really stopping to think about what went into the planning of the service, or the ins and outs of the life in ministry, or the daily tasks of serving. I think this is true for many of us.

Some lessons I have learned this year were harder to listen to than others. So today I want to share a few of the lessons I learned with you. 

1) Ministry Is An Event Planning Business

I recently heard it said that a church is an event planning business. At first I did not agree that this was true. I was kind of offended at first, but the more I thought about it, and watched those around me the more I started to agree. Each week is spent planning and anticipating the coming Sunday, the event. The pastor plans his sermon, the worship leader plans and practices their music, teachers prepare for their Sunday school lessons, people are lined up to make the coffee, serve the doughnuts and greet at the door. All this and more is in hopes that the big day, Sunday, goes well.

We want people to want to come back. We want them to feel welcome, to feel safe, and feel they can let down their walls. To get people to feel that way takes planning. It does not just happen.

2) More Ministry Happens Outside The Office Than In

Yes we do have office hours, just like any other business does, but unlike other businesses we are called upon more outside the office than in. Everyone takes some of their work home with them, but not all of them take their work with them 24/7. We do.

Whether it be preparing a sermon, praying for someone, making a house call, a text at 10:00 at night because a kid has run away, someone forgot their book at church and wants you to come let them in to get it...The list of things goes on. Ministry is a 24/7 job. It extends way beyond our office hours.

3) The Staff Have Lives Outside Of the Church Walls

This may sound a lot like number two but trust me it's different. ;)

This was hard for me to realize at first.  The first few months I started working in youth, I poured everything I had into growing my ministry. I was at the church 8hr days and then when I went home I would still work on things for the church.

I remember when my cousin came to visit, and I was too "busy" to hang out with him. He asked me a simple question that has stuck with me, he asked, "Why are you doing all this now?" Truth was I could not answer him. Everything I was working on could wait till tomorrow at the office. I didn't have to do it right then. It was not time sensitive.

I had never really thought about the fact that I needed to balance ministry with my personal life. That it was not all or nothing, that I needed to set aside time to be with my family and friends. All pastors do, or need to do the same thing. I didn't realize that if a student text and wanted to hang out or wanted to text me that it was okay for me to tell them that I was spending time with family and would get back to them as soon as I could.

I used to look at pastors, or people who serve in ministry, and think that it was their job to serve me and that I deserve access to them any time I need...NOT TRUE. They too deserve to have lives outside the church.

4) Relationships With People Are The MOST Important 

I used to think the tasks of ministry were the number one priority of working in ministry. Man was I wrong!!! Building a relationship with people in our church, or community, that is the most important, that is what I am called to do. Not check things off my todo list so I can go home. Jesus did not come to do tasks. He came to build relationships with people, to show them the way to truth. A person does not take the advice of a stranger, they take the advice of a friend. The same is true in ministry. 

5) I Am Not Qualified For My Position

There is a saying "God does not call the qualified, He qualifies the called" and BOY IS THIS TRUE. No matter the task in-front of me there is always someone better to do my job. Whether it be talking to a student about their home lives, designing a flyer for an event or preaching a sermon, their is always someone more qualified to do my job than me. Realizing that the person next to me may be better at this than I am, causes a lot of self doubt. 

Truth is I am not qualified to do this job. That is what keeps me turning to God and His strengths. God did not call the person next to me to do what I do, He called me and I intend to continue to serve Him for many more years and I am sure learn many more lessons.