Forced Confession

I've been told that if I don't tell this story, fellow LPC staff members will blog about it for me. Bear with me...the details are important.

At the last Newcomers' Dessert, seating was limited. There was a large inner circle of about 40 people then there was a partial row of four adults in a second row by the door. Since we were running out of seats, staff members stood in the back, but Melody Workman and Rachel Fullen pulled up chairs behind the 2nd row. At the start of the meeting, I was standing behind Melody and Rachel but shortly into the meeting I made my way to the front row and sat in the inner circle.

Joe has each staff member share about their ministry. A common theme happened to surface that night. By the time it came back to Joe and Tricia, we had all mentioned "I love this church" in some way. It kind of became a joke by the end...staff members claming "I love this church!"

As usual, Joe then opened the floor for questions. We got all the norm...how to we do baptism? communion? Why aren't we a denomination? Is Joe a "real" pastor? Why don't be have altar calls? etc, etc. Then the final question was "how do you get such professional musicians?"

Well, I thought I'd be sweet and encourage Melody whom I thought was sitting directly behind me. So without looking, I reached back to pat "her" on the knee. Instead, with my fellow staff members watching, I grabbed the jean covered leg of a strange man! I turned to the gentleman to explain my actions and the guy says, "I LOVE THIS CHURCH!"

Well, as you can guess, the corner of the room just exploded with laughter. Joe was on the other end of the room and didn't have a clue what the commotion was about. He was still trying to answer the worship question.

So if anyone ever asks you what happens at a Newcomers' Dessert, you can tell them that the single Children's Director flirts with married men. But, hey, it must be effective...it makes them say "I love this church!"

HOORRRAAAAY!

Sue is still welcome to bake a cake! We'll celebrate...

...baby boy Jones

...Brooke's anniversary

...my refund!!!

Oh...I guess that means I could supply the cake. Chocolate, anyone?

Productive Weekend

My "weekends" are Friday and Saturday. So Fridays are my day to catch up on personal stuff (cleaning, phone calls, laundry, cooking, bills, etc) and Saturday is errand/running-around day. This weekend I had the blessing of a wonderful handyman help me get some maintenance projects completed around the house. So in celebration of a productive weekend, here's everything that got completed between the two of us...

FRIDAY:

1. toilet handle fixed (yahoo!)
2. leaky kitchen faucet fixed (the culprit was a speck of dirt...seriously! I told him that that would make a good sermon illustration. I'll remember that the next time I preach)
3. magnetic knife rack hung (love it!!)
4. bedroom mirror hung
5. discussion of random refridgerator alarm (but no solution!)
6. bathroom door stop replaced
7. furnace filter replaced (I did that one!)
8. water main access built
9. front door removed, adjusted, rehinged, molding replaced, rescrewed, rehung (huge project I wasn't expecting him to do!)
10. clothing sorted: donation pile, consignment pile, swapped winter for spring! (uh...that was done by me not him)
11. laundry and ironing
12. grocery shopping
13. organized 3 closets
14. fixed clock
15. dusting and vacuuming

OH NO...I forgot to have him check for the guy living in the attic!

SATURDAY:

1. donations taken to mission
2. to Towson for errands
3. to Pikesville to get cell phone fixed
4. more grocery shopping (produce prices in Reisterstown rock!)
5. to Walmart for light bulbs and weed killer
6. light bulbs replaced around the house
7. minor yard work (man what a beautiful day!)
8. church
9. Newcomer's Dessert
10. watch Final Four...I'm out of the running

And, of course, emailing, blogging and phone calling were done throughout both days. I can tell what most of you are thinking..."you can tell she doesn't have kids!"

Man, I love a successful weekend! As a reward, Sunday afternoon I'm going to DC to see the cherry blossoms which, believe it or not, I've never seen!

Oh...um, yes you'll notice that "finish taxes" is still missing from the lists. There's always next week.

Simple Minds

I was blown away by something Joe said last week. God's plans are simple. I never thought of it like that. God keeps things very basic. No complexity to confuse us. Obviously, this was His intentional plan...because we are so thick! He keeps salvation so easy...we are the ones who make it confusing.

I also think God uses the simple so the credit can be given where credit is due...to HIM. He often uses the weak so that HIS power is demonstrated.

So I started to think of samples of "simple" in scripture:

• David with a slingshot instead of heavy armor
• Gideon with 300 men instead of 32,000
• 5 loaves and 2 fish
• a widow picking up leftover grain in a field
• 2 spies with giant faith vs. 10 spies who saw giants
• a baby in a manger instead of a palace
• a red rope in a window
• a ram in a thicket
• a strong man and a haircut
• a baby floating in the Nile River
• mud on blind eyes

I often wonder if my simple mind will ever demonstrate any progress. When will I stop making the same mistakes over and over? When will I learn from them and be able to move a step closer to my Savior? In the meantime, I'm so thankful I'm loved by a God whose patience never ends. I'll never understand how He can put up with my simple mind.

TODAY IS APRIL 3

...THAT IS 12 DAYS AWAY FROM APRIL 15TH.
AND GUESS WHAT APRIL 15TH IS?
AND GUESS WHAT I STILL HAVEN'T DONE?
Will anyone visit me in jail?