New Hope Spaghetti Dinners turn into the Grace Lunch Crew

While in my senior year in college at Clarkson University I attended New Hope Community Church in Potsdam, NY. As a new believer, this wonderful group of people welcomed me in and helped me grow stronger in my faith. Many people from that church had, and still have, a big impact on my life. But there is one family in particular whose impact blossomed into something great with my new church family at Grace Church.

Sean and Andrea opened their home every Sunday night and cooked dinner for the college students. This may seem like not that big of a deal but there were two colleges in the town and at times there could be up to 15-20 people over for dinner. Usually they would cook up a large pot of marinara sauce and spaghetti with homemade bread. It was great to get a free meal of course but the best part was being welcomed into their family. Friendship grew over those spaghetti dinners and faith in Christ deepened. I looked forward to seeing my friends, who I considered family, every Sunday night.

Now I have graduated and moved far away from this great family but their impact on my life is still there. God blessed my best friend Maggie and I with a small house to rent starting in October 2013. Upon moving in we prayed over the house asking God to show us how we can use the new space to bring Him the glory. A few months later we had developed a small group of friends at Grace Church and started going out to lunch after the service on Sundays. Our new friend Amy soon realized we loved having people over our house. Well then the idea came up about inviting everyone over our house for lunch instead of going to restaurants! So we started out 2014 with our new Sunday tradition … Sunday Lunches at Maggie and Caitlin's! We do it a bit differently than Sean and Andrea, with everyone bringing a part of the meal or donating a few dollars if they are able. But the thought is the same … sharing God's love amongst our friends and making new friends! For the past few Sundays we have had about 10-15 people over to share a meal. Usually we end up playing some card and board games after eating and having a great time.

It is exciting to see God's hand so obviously at work in our lives. I look forward to many more Sundays with The Lunch Crew.

Crossroads

Which way do I go? It's like an X or T in my path but which way is the right way to go? Someone says left, another says right but I thought I should go straight. I have found myself in this position quite a few times in my life. But right now, this time, it is different.

I have God in my life and He is directing my path. You will see that I did not say it was easier but that it is different. I do not have a crystal ball that shows me the correct path. But I can take comfort in knowing that the God of the universe will make good out of every situation His children are in.

Over the past 2 years of my Christian life I have learned a lot. One of the valuable things I have learned is that God has placed several people in my life of whom are great spiritual leaders, in my life and others. Those that I share life with daily and those that are only a phone call away. I have learned that not only is it okay to ask for help but it is a necessity. I cannot go through this life on my own. Only God can enable me to do so and God has many hands and feet on this earth He created. (1 Corinthians 12:27) I have prayed many prayers of "Lord, help me through this situation" but only to keep my eyes and ears closed to those He sent to help me.

My situation reminded me if a story I once heard. A man is drowning and calling out to God for help. A boat comes to the man and the sailor offers help but the man refuses saying God will help him. This happens several times. God then cries out "I am helping you! Didn't you see the boats come to your aid?". It reminds me to listen and look for God because He always answers our prayers, though sometimes it is not in the way we wanted. I have to continually remind myself that God's plan is much better than anything I can dream up.

Three Sundays ago I attended Grace church in McKean, PA. Pastor Derek was starting a new sermon series titled "Finding Forward" (sermon link at the bottom). This was one of those moments where God was speaking to me through His children on earth.

Derek talked about having to listen for God's direction. In order to do that we have to pray waiting prayers. Like the apostles we need to devote ourselves to prayer (Acts 1:14) and listen for God. This is really hard for me because I am so used to the instaneousness of our culture where everything is just a mouse click or card ride away. 

Lord I will wait for your guidance for You are good and all knowing. I will listen for Your direction! I will pray bold prayers for You are The Almighty God! You will direct me at the crossroads!

Sermon link:

http://whoisgrace.com/resources/sermons/finding-forward-listen-for-gods-direction/

Riddle me this

Read and answer these four questions.

1. How do you put a giraffe in a refrigerator?

2. How you put an elephant in a refrigerator?
3. The Lion King is hosting a conference. All of the local animals are in attendance but one. Who is not present?
4. You are slated to be the final speaker at the conference. Unfortunately, to get there you have to swim a river inhabited by crocodiles. What do you do?

Scroll down for the answers.

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Answers:

1. Open the door and put him in.

2. Take out the giraffe and put in the elephant.

3. The elephant, he is still in the refrigerator.

4. You swim; all of the crocodiles are all ready at the conference.

Explanation: Look for the simplest solution (#1).  Keep things simple (#2). Recall facts (the elephant is still in the refrigerator and thus can’t go to the conference-#3). And, use deductive skills in problem solving (the crocodiles are at the conference- #4).  Side note: Most four year olds score 100% on this.

How did you do? Do you over think things? Constantly analyzing a situation? Replaying that conversation over in your head imagining it going every which way? Well you aren't alone! I stumbled upon this riddle while looking for ice breakers for a group of coworkers and I really enjoyed the lesson it taught.

You might be asking, "How does this relate to my life in Christ?" Well God tells us not to worry. When I'm analyzing a situation wondering whether or not I have enough money to buy this or that, or stressing over a dress that doesn't fit right, I'm worrying (See Matt6:25-33). I'm worrying that God isn't enough. That His sacrifice of His only Son wasn't enough. When I remember that, I realize my worries are so trivial in the scope of eternity. God has a plan far greater than anything I could imagine. Jesus has taken my burdensome worries and given me freedom!

Matthew 6:25-33

“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.

There is no secular world for God's people

Two weeks ago I had the opportunity to see Nancy Martin give several presentations. Nancy is the leader of GE's Edison Engineering Development Program and Lead instructor for technical training across the company. During her presentation one of the topics she covered was effective presentation skills. I enjoy presenting but I do find myself nervous at times. Her tips seem very applicable so I wanted to share!

I also see this directly relating to sharing the gospel with non-Christians! I find it exciting when I see God weaving my IT job into the plan for His Kingdom because there is no "secular part" of a Christian's life. It is about bringing God glory in all parts of our life!

There are three areas to focus on:

1. Content

• The first minute of the presentation is crucial, especially when presenting over the phone. We need to engage our audience, make them understand why they should listen to us!
• Don't start with a joke (and only in some cases should you start with a question). Your audience may be unsure how to react and it could make you start out on the wrong path.
• We should plan our presentations to focus on what our audience wants to hear and determine the point of our story. How much detail do we really need to share? I know the exact number is 11.983945 but maybe I should round it up to 12.

2. Body Language

• When standing in front of a room, the most powerful body language tool is moving forward.
• When sitting in a chair, the most powerful body language tools are leaning forward slightly and sitting on the edge of your chair.
• Both of these techniques give the audience the feeling that the presenter is confident in what they are talking about. This directly translates into the audience believing your message, whether it is for funding for a project, hiring additional resources, or learning about Jesus!

3. Fears

• We can be forgetful which leads us to be fearful and nervous. A practical solution is to write down some notes. Sometimes just the act of writing down what we will say is enough. Other times we can bring those notes with us.
• If we our hearts start pounding and we are sweating … breathe! Try breathing in 1-2-3 through your nose, hold your breath 1-2-3 and blow out through your mouth 1-2-3. Repeat this 2-3 times.

When we have Christ as our Lord and Savior, we know God's Holy Spirit is within us. If we seek God in all our daily actions, He will guide us.

James 1:5-6

If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given him. But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind.

God's loud voice

Sometimes God answers our prayers in a small still voice (1 Kings 19:12) but sometimes He can be very loud (Psalm 104:7). For me, this happened while I was in Shanghai, China.

When I was preparing to leave for China my constant prayer was, "Lord provide me with fellowship in China so that I may be built up in Your Name to serve You while abroad." Last summer I had been severely discouraged by not having fellowship with other believers during a month long business trip. So now I was fearful that it would be even worse in a foreign country that was a 12 hour time difference to my friends and family in the US. 

But this wasn't a problem for God. 

A friend of mine in Erie, Cindy, told me she knew someone who knew a young Christian woman that lives in Shanghai. One thing led to another and soon I was exchanging emails with Blanche. 

I landed in Shanghai on a Saturday and by Monday Blanche had invited me to tea Saturday afternoon and church Saturday night! I was excited to join my fellow brothers and sisters and worship our King all the way on the other side of the world!! But God's plans were even bigger than I imagined. 

On Tuesday I found out that a night of partying was planned for Saturday. I was excited that God had provided me with an alternate plan for that night. I was eating dinner Tuesday night with my new friend Hannah and I asked her if she was going to the party Saturday and she said no. So I asked her if she wanted to join me for church. Her face lit up and said yes! We instantly smiled and hugged. Over the next 15 minutes it was as if our surroundings had disappeared and we shared how we each came to know Jesus. It was a wonderful start to an eternal friendship. 

That Saturday the three of us, Hannah, Blanche and I, planned to meet for church. Blanche and I hit traffic and were late to church. I was nervous I wouldn't meet up with Hannah because I wasn't able to use my phone to text her. Blanche and I got to church and the service had started. It was packed! We ended up finding two seats in the very back. When I sat down I looked next to me and there was Hannah! Thank you God!

After church, Blanche introduced us to her friends and we went out for dinner. It was so wonderful to have the instant connection with fellow believers. It truly was like having a home away from home. We also had the blessing of attending our new friends Bible study later that week.

God is great all the time. His plans are so far greater than anything I could imagine or plan myself.

1 Kings 19:12

And after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper.

Psalm 104:7

At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight.

You want me to sing? .... what?

On Sunday July 21, 2013 I had the opportunity to share how I experienced God's work in Cap Haitien, Haiti with the Millcreek Community Church Haiti missions team. Below is the written transcript of what I shared. You can also listen to it, and stories from the rest of the group, from the MCC website. Here is the direct link to the sermon.

When I began to reflect on this experience, I realized again and again, our God is all powerful. Similar to others in our group, I was nervous going to a fourth world country for the first time but there was another paralyzingly fear that I hadn't realized. I was tasked with teaching songs to the children during our VBS with Ryan... But I was terrified of singing in front of people.

Saturday night, our second night in Haiti, I was sitting in my room praying. I was so overwhelmed already and anxious for Monday's VBS. The rest of the group was playing cards in the living room but I was too upset to come out. I asked God to empower me to overcome this gripping fear. Not a minute later did Amy come knocking on my door and give me a big hug.

On Sunday I spent some time talking with Katie about my fear. I realized several things... that my heart was full of pride, I didn't want people to think I sounded bad, and Satan was using this fear to pull me away from God. God wanted me to minister to these 250 children through song, and it was Satan holding me back. The theme verse for our missions team was, Luke 18:27 But he said, "What is impossible with men is possible with God." It was impossible for me to overcome this fear of singing on my own, but it was possible with God.

Later that Sunday night we had a meeting to finalize everything for VBS and at the end, Jess looked at me and asked me to teach the memory verse song to the group. I looked at Katie, later she said the look on my face was hilarious but that she immediately started praying for me. I took a breath asked God to give me the courage. I sang the three lines and for the next ten minutes I practiced with the group! Afterwards I was elated and Katie encouraged me with a big hug.

Then throughout the week I was brought to tears multiple times as the children enjoyed the voices of Ryan, Seville who translated for us, and I. By the end of VBS the children knew the memory verse, Psalm 16:11, and could sing it strongly! Together we praised our Lord in English and Creole. Cultural barriers were broken down through song and the children learned about God's love and our Savior Jesus Christ.  

I learned that a fear can start small but grow to have a huge impact on our lives and hinder our service to our Lord. 2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” I learned I need to continually give myself over to God, and not be fearful in my weaknesses but joyful in that God's power is made perfect in those weaknesses!

FOL Day 5: What do you want to be when you grow up?

Do you know the answer to that question? What do you want to be when you grow up? Well that is what we discussed on Friday, the last day of Foundations of Leadership training at Crotonville - GE's corporate university training center.

Richard Simpson led a discussion about shaping our careers. He said you should try and describe your leadership style in 3 words. His words were demanding, focused, and energetic. After some thought ...

My leadership style is: passionate, organized, and results-driven.

Next Richard discussed values. We had already discussed the GE Growth Values, so now we were discussing our personal values. I was very surprised when Richard explained that his number one value was his faith!! I was so excited. He is a superbly successful GE executive and he said his values were faith, family, and work, in that order. It was refreshing to hear that because there are many people in this world that put work first in their life and can make it an idol as they pursue success in a worldly sense.

Continuing with the theme of values for the rest of the day, we did an exercise to visualize our personal values. We were given a deck of cards that had values written on them. Through a process of making piles, ranking, dropping and combining we identified our top 5 values. Mine were:

1. Faith
2. Family
3. Health
4. Service
5. Friends

Our instructor then asked for volunteers to share their top value. It was interesting to hear the variety of responses. I boldly raised my hand and shared that faith was number one value. Others that shared did not list faith as their number one but voiced answers such as family, challenge, health, loyalty, and achievement, to name a few.

Team bonding...

Throughout FOL we had many fun games. On this last day we were challenge to create a chair that would hold the tallest person on our team ... out of balloons and masking tape! Then the teams competed to see which team's chair lasted at least 10 seconds without popping any balloons. We successfully lasted the full 10 seconds! Here are two photos; lowering our teammate onto the balloons and then tensely holding our breath during the 10 seconds!

Urbana 2012

I haven't written in quite awhile but I want to update everyone on all the amazing things God is doing in my life!

I felt God calling me to attend Urbana after talking to Glen Ewart about it all the way back in February 2012. I was intrigued so I signed up super early and had no idea what to expect. If I had expectations they were most definitely blown out of the water. After the first night of the conference I could already feel God's presence and sense Him working in me. After hearing Chai Ling speak and talk about forgiveness - God placed it on my heart to forgive those that have hurt me in the past and to lift those burdens to the Lord. Through the amazing Prayer Ministry at Urbana this was possible on the following day.

Throughout the Urbana conference I was learning how to spread the gospel to my non-Christian friends. I learned more about the Hindu culture through attending a seminar titled "Engaging your Hindu Neighbor" and then attending an Adrhana concert (a band that uses traditional Hindi style music with a sitar and tabla but with Christian lyrics and scripture). I felt the call from God to give my life fully to Him offering up my life to server Him. I am unsure as to what that will look like in my life but in the near term - I am continuing to disciple 2 high school girls and my little sister.

I will be going on my first international short term missions trip to Haiti in June 26 - July 7, 2013. I will be going with 12 members from my local church, Millcreek Community Church (MCC) to Cap Haitian, Haiti. MCC sponsors an orphanage and school in Cap Haitian. There are 90 orphans and 50 are of school age and attend the EBAC Christian Academy school that is part of the orphanage. I am really excited to see what God is already doing in the lives of the children and the Haitian people - and to let God use me as His hands and feet how ever He sees fit.