Life Overflowing

In some ways I’m feeling like Mary.

In the ‘big uncomfortable can’t wait to meet this little person’ way.
In the ‘God is amazing and I’m not sure where life is going, but I know He’s in control’ way.
In the ‘I have great husband that I trust will hear God and lead us well’ way.

In some ways, though, it’s way different.

We usually travel at Christmas, but this year, being ‘great with child’ we are free to stay put.
My doctor and hospital and health care is here and ready whenever I need them.
This little one of ours was planned – no major surprise like Mary’s baby. I suppose by the time she was this far along, she was used to the idea.
I imagine she got a lot more negative attention (being an unwed mother) as opposed to all the positive support I’ve felt the whole way through.

I wonder…

Was Jesus pushing up under her ribs, causing her to not sleep very well at night?
Would she have wondered about each movement like I do, trying to figure out if that’s a foot or an elbow, and which way he’s positioned?
When was 40 weeks for Mary? Was she perhaps due in January like me, but had Jesus early due to the travelling? Christmas marks 36 1/2 weeks for me – right in the ‘any-time-now’ zone.

Just a few thoughts as I experience a Christmas feeling in some ways like Mary must have.

I thought I’d share a few thoughts as I begin to think about wrapping things up here in the office.

In 11 or so weeks, I’ll be beginning a new time of life – again – and will be staying home with a baby. (Check out pictures on my other blog for proof!) We are all thrilled about this new addition to our family, and I am really looking forward to being mom to 2. I don’t know why more people don’t allow themselves 12 years between children – I’m going to have lots of help!

It has been interesting, this fall, to go through routines at work and realize that for some of the seasonal bits, it may be the last time I do this. For the regular weekly stuff, that it won’t go on forever and I need to write out, detailed, how I do what I do, to make it easier to turn over to others. Coming up next is to make a list of all I do and figure out what I’m turning over to whom.

I’ve picked up the pace on the file-sorting, too. When I first started on staff here at the church, it was as leader of the youth team, the year after Neil (my husband and our youth pastor) died. So I inherited all the files and boxes and stuff from his office. Most of it has been sorted, used, passed on, and dealt with over the years, but for the last year I think, I’ve had ‘go through files’ on my weekly to do list, aiming to spend a little time each week and get through the last of it. Somehow that rarely got to the top of the priority list, though, and there sits the filing cabinet on the floor, just waiting for someday. It seems someday has arrived, and I have motivation to go through not only that, but when it’s done, my own current files and bookshelves. It helps that the fall newsletter is out and the women’s retreat is over and we don’t have another major event coming up that I’m working on at the moment. So I’m taking advantage of what are slower days to purge and clean up and clean out.

As I look around my office, I see reminders of lots of different things. Paper bits with series graphics on them, posters for old events, magazines and curriculum that we’ve worked through, pictures of people who matter to me… I have experienced much in my 7+ years here, and had the opportunity to work with many people. I don’t regret any of the time I spent here, and consider myself blessed to have been placed here by God for this time. The staff and our church family have been a fulfilling part of life, and I’m glad that although I am switching roles, those relationships will continue.

Just a few of my thoughts – now I should have time to go through a couple more files before I leave for the day…

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend here at Westhill. To acknowledge the need to give thanks and to encourage people to participate, we challenged people to either tweet what they were thankful for, or write their response on cards that we left in the rows. The tweets were shown up on the screen before and during the service, and the cards were collected and used in the pastoral prayer.

I’m in tidy up mode now; the thanksgiving display is down and all those cards are on my desk… I’m having a great time going through all of them. We are thankful, as a church, for family and friends. Husbands, wives, children, grandchildren and greats. Parents and siblings. That’s probably at the top of the list.

There are many comments expressing thankfulness for this church family and friends here who are supportive, for the staff and the work that is done here; also for the chance to worship. People are thankful for our country and province, for the freedom and safety and opportunities we enjoy here. As well, many are grateful for the good weather and the seasons we enjoy here. Health was another common thread through the cards, as was jobs and employment. Shelter and food – we are thankful for the necessities of life.

One other theme I saw come through was that of being thankful in the midst of difficult situations. How wonderful that people can recognize the good and remember to be grateful in hard times.

Many people expressed thanks as well for our God and Savior, for his grace and love, for creation and salvation. It’s true, isn’t it? Our God is great and we have so much to be thankful for.

Yesterday, and a number of times over the last 2 years, Emile and I have had conversations about the best way to store our banners. For the last number of years, we have used banners up front in our sanctuary to illustrate our current sermon series, and once they come down, we add them to the developing stock pile…

I am not sure simply storing them is the best answer. Some of them can be reused, like our yellow Easter ones that a group of us girls sewed, and the Serve the World ones, but most are single use. For here. Do you know of other churches that use banners? That might want to use banners? I am working on putting a little catalogue together of the ones we have, so if anyone happens to be doing a sermon on any one of the same themes or passages, we can maybe let them see the light of day again.

I’ll keep you posted.

I have a new blog that I’d like to share with you.

For years I have been jotting down prayers for my daughter, and this past year it developed into a regular routine as I chose a ‘trigger’ to help me remember to pray. She leaves the house in the mornings to catch her bus a few houses away, and that is my time to grab my Bible and journal and sit on the couch by the front window. When the bus goes by, that is my trigger to stop and pray for her. I find it helps me think more deeply about what needs to be prayed when I make myself write it down.

I wonder sometimes what other parents pray for their kids, and if they ever wonder about what to pray of how to pray. I began to put the prayers I have written into a blog in order to share them with other parents, figuring the more help we get from each other, the better it has to be for our kids.

So you are welcome to come check it out. I’ve tried to make it easy to follow with an email that you can receive when there is a post, if you want to follow that way. I try to post every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. My hope is that this will be a blessing to some other parents as you pray for your children.

As the Bus Goes By

http://prayersformychildren.blogspot.com/

It seems pretty slow around the church in the summer. Sometimes. When you think that many of the regular weekly events are taking a break for a couple of months, and there aren’t the same number of people coming through the doors, it’s true. Peggy, our secretary, started this past year and so this is her first summer season here – she’s a people person and was prepping herself for the long quiet… I don’t think she’s found that yet!

The staff do take turns being gone – summer-time is holiday-time, after all! This year, however, we have two interns (Becki and Melanie), and with them being full time all summer, they bring not only more bodies in the office, but a lot of fun and energy.

Two of our big children’s programs happen in the summer – Fun Club was a couple of weeks ago, and VBS is coming up in August. There’s a lot of work and planning that go into each of those, and the weeks they are on are full of fun and laughter and kids. Not a boring time to be around!

One thing that’s going on that you may not have known about is a nursery renovation. If you have little ones, you’ll know this, and were probably here last night helping with phase one. There are men working in there right now, getting it ready for phase two tonight. Exciting changes to make this place meet the needs of our families better. Thanks to Pastor Darren for spearheading that.

And we are busy working on the details for September, too. Did you know we are planning a great Women’s Weekend Sept 23-25? And that we are moving to two different styles of services when we go back after our summer schedule? New times are 9:30 and 11:15. Of course there’s the kick off and all the ministries that will start up again in September that are being planned now, too.

Ah, Summertime. Lots to be excited about around here.

This past Sunday I set up a display in the foyer and invited people to vote on a new logo. There was lots of interest, a great amount of people voting, and lots of conversation. It wasn’t advertised that we were working on a new logo, so this was the first most people heard about it, and there were a few questions. I thought this might be a good place to address them.

Why do we need a new logo? What’s our old logo?

Does the second kinda answer the first?

The design currently used on our stationary and business cards and on the ‘staff and hours’ bit on the front window is an image of our building. It is a good rendering, and our windows and cross are distinctive. that’s the ‘old’ logo. (We have also used a blue & green wordmark more recently, as a ‘in the meantime’ logo). In communications, one of the questions you have to ask is if something is still doing the job it was created for. Does it need updating? What is the role of a logo, and who is it meant to communicate to?

The role of a logo is to create recognition for your brand. It can simply be a wordmark, or you can work with a separate graphic along with your name. The idea of having a separate graphic is one we like, so that we can use it alone, and possible adapt it to go along with our different ministries, for a unified look. It is important that the people who are already here understand and support the image as being what we are about, but it’s people not from here that we want the image to appeal to – can we find an image strong enough that people think we must be an interesting, forward moving church?

Another question to ask is about timing. Change for change sake is sometimes good, like if you’re updating a room in your house, but a change like this has to make sense. At this point in the life of our church we are hiring new staff and moving to a format of two different services; things are changing! It makes sense at this time to make the change in our visual identity. We are not centered around our building; we are centered around people. The new logo should reflect not a structure, but a person. (Did you catch the person in logo #4?) And did you notice that by using a ‘W’ in the logo, we ended up with three parts that represent our three part focus of Love God, Love Others, Serve the World? You can even pick out the L, L, S if you try.

The decision will be made by this Friday as to which logo we are going with. You will notice it begin to appear in different places over the summer, and by the time things get back into full swing in the fall, we should be fully changed over. I look forward to sharing our new look with you.

I thought I’d share a few sites that are inspiring, helpful and encouraging.  My hope is that you find some gems within them that will make the kingdom come richer in your life today.

A Holy Experience – Ann Voskamp writes heartwrenchingly beautiful words, honest words that acknowledge struggles, but always end up facing the Father and offering hope.  She lives and writes a thankful life.  I’ve written about her before and recommended her book; I get daily emails with her blog updates, and they are one of the few things in my inbox that I read faithfully.  I’ve been meaning for a while now to blog about her Ten Point Manifesto for Joyful Parenting – I printed it off and need to get into the habit of reading it every morning!

Inspired to Action – the introduction that Kat writes about this blog says “Inspired To Action is dedicated to practically helping moms develop the habits and skills they need to effectively manage their homes and raise children who are prepared to change the world.”  She’s got an ebook called Maximize Your Mornings that’s worth a read, and if you’re into twitter, they’ve got a morning community to help you start your day off right.

(in)courage – those first two are individual blogs; (in)courage is a site with a number of contributers.  Many are authors themselves, but (in)courage is a community, and all the members are able to write for it. Check this one out – I’m betting you’ll find encouragement of some sort here!

May you be blessed and encouraged and strengthened today.

(Adapted from the April 28 post on my personal blog.)

Here’s the beautiful red pepper I was talking about in church this past Sunday.  Beautiful on the outside -

And so nasty on the inside.

It’s just about here – we’re on the eve of our trial of two different services.  There has been lots of thought and talk and planning in the past few months, and there is a sense of excitement that it’s finally here.  There is also, I’m sure, apprehension in some people, about what to expect.

My thoughts?  If we are doing church with the Worship of God as our objective, and trying our best to connecting his word with the people, then it will be good.  It may not be what is expected.  That’s okay.  It may not be different enough for some people.  That’s okay.  We may mess up on some of the details.  That’s okay.  If we come to worship, it will all be good.

“I was glad when they said, Let us go to the house of the Lord.’” – Psalm 122:1