God’s awesome timing

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Something neat happened at our Life group last night. We were talking about prayer requests and how so many folks in our Life group seem to be under attack by the enemy and that we need to continue to pray for each other. Then, people started comparing our trials to storms, and we listened to the Casting Crowns song, “Praise You in the Storm.”

 

I was reminded about the prayer devotional that I just finished earlier in the day for next week …  the focus is on the storms of life and praying for our Life groups! Isn’t God neat?! I hope it is useful and timely.

 

Prayer prompt for Feb. 3

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We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week:

 

(Thursday) R – Round Top Women’s Retreat. In the weeks leading  up to our retreat next month, pray for the women who will be     attending this time of renewal and learning. Pray for the leaders and all of the details that need to fall into place for a successful    retreat. Pray for open hearts.

 

Happy Birthday to my Groundhog!

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My little Groundhog Day baby turns 10 today. (I guess I can’t call him “little” anymore!) In honor of his birthday, I thought I would share a piece that I wrote several years ago in his honor. One of these days, I hope to have it published. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy it.

 

Little to Middle

 

Aidan started school this week

with recess every day;

Jeremy stayed behind at home

wishing he, too, could play.

 

Soccer season begins next month,

and Aidan is on the team,

but Jeremy will sit in the stands

with parents who cheer and scream.

 

Why can’t I go to class?
Why can’t I run the ball?

Jeremy pouted and thought:

Being little is no fun at all!

 

Then one night before bed,

Jeremy’s Mommy pulled him aside

and said, “Put your hand on my tummy,

and you’ll feel a surprise!”

 

Mommy’s tummy was round

and somewhat bumpy,

and when he touched it,

something inside was jumpy!

 

Jeremy wondered

what in the world could it be,

So Mommy explained

it was boy number three!

 

Another brother? Jeremy thought,

One who is younger than me?

I won’t be the littlest anymore!

Hooray! Yippee!

 

Mommy said, “Being the middle brother

is special, indeed,

Because you’re both younger and older—

a unique breed!

 

There still will be things the oldest can do

that younger ones cannot,

but with a new little brother on the way,

You’ll get to teach him a lot!”

 

Then Jeremy hugged his Mommy,

and the baby inside, too.

He said, “Night-night little brother,

I can’t wait to meet you!”

Prayer prompt for Feb. 2

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We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week:

 

(Wednesday) O – On the job. Did you know that we have only one   “full-time” paid staff member? The rest of the Crossroads team is   bi-vocational, meaning that they have regular jobs outside of their ministry. Please pray today for our church leaders and ask God to strengthen them during the many hours that they put into ministry and other work. Ask God how you can be a “missionary” at your own job, too. Pray for the unemployed in our church family.

 

Beginning my dissertation already?

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In my doctoral program, they encourage students to begin thinking about their dissertations now, in the second term. It is both exciting and terrifying, because I’m still trying to figure out how to put into words what I’d like to research. That’s ok, though—right now, the ideas are starting to piece together as I learn the terms that I’ll need to observe and measure my findings.

 

I picked up a book at the library today that I hope will solidify the foundation for my study. If this book explains what I have a hunch it will reveal, then my own hypotheses will be better grounded. If not, well … I don’t know what then. I guess I’ll brainstorm another idea.

 

What I hope to discover is whether mega-gifts (also called transformational gifts) by the Carnegie family to establish and endow numerous libraries across the country spurred the federal government into offering more funding for libraries. I wanted to use a well-known example from history that we can delve into and track along a timeline. In other words, I want to find out if national library associations, federal grants, etc. gained more oomph after the Carnegies invested private money into the effort.

 

Why is this important? I’m so glad you asked. 🙂

 

I believe this is important because if it turns out to be true that philanthropic gifts have a direct or indirect influence on federal priorities, then we can speculate the potential impact of mega-gifts in the future. Specifically, I’d like to try to forecast gifts from the wealthy individuals participating in The Giving Pledge. I believe that we can narrow down their affinities (based on their current giving and/or that of their private foundations) and predict (within the course of a few decades, depending on their lifespan) the impact on federal spending priorities.

 

For example, we know from their current funding practices that Bill and Melinda Gates are strong advocates of global health and poverty initiatives. If my Carnegie Influence Model (for lack of a better term) is accurate, then I believe that we will see an uptick in the amount of attention given to global health and poverty initiatives at the federal level in the future.

 

This idea of the Carnegie Influence Model is what I’m working on this semester. In future classes, I might be able to replicate the study based on mega-gifts in other areas. I’m excited to delve into it and see what I can find!

Prayer prompt for Feb. 1

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We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week:

(Tuesday) W – Welcome crew. It has been said that visitors often make the decision whether or not to return to a church in the first few minutes of their arrival, even before the singing or sermon time! Thank God today for our welcome crew, greeters and others who work hard behind the scenes to make Sunday mornings   pleasant for the rest of us.

Go Into The World (Prayer Devotional for the week of Jan. 30)

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I don’t know about you, but waiting is not my strong suit; I’d rather being doing something and seeing results. I enjoy writing because it’s concrete and allows me to see my thoughts unfolding, literally. I like working with tools because I have the satisfaction of seeing something broken become workable again. It’s tangible.

 

Waiting … for the unknown, for God’s sweeping intervention, for things to happen that are out of our control, to have to rely on someone else’s decision-making … is much more difficult.

 

Have you ever planted a garden? As we were reading the seed  packets for our vegetable garden, we noticed that the length of time necessary for each plant to mature varied dramatically. Some took just a few weeks and needed little effort, while others required more time and a lot more attentive care.

 

Aren’t trials like that? We whine about how lonnnnng things seem to take to resolve. There are things we want to hurry up and fix, push along, get moving, take care of—yet, they are out of our control. Just as we are completely and utterly incapable of making plants grow, we have to wait and watch expectantly as God allows other areas in our lives to take root and mature.

 

On the other hand, simply waiting around and watching the grass grow isn’t good enough. We can’t force the plants to grow, but if we  neglect to water and fertilize them, we can be sure to thwart their growth or kill them all together. We can do the same thing to the gospel: we can spread it enthusiastically around the world or keep it   to ourselves and pretend like mission work is for missionaries and   pastors. Let’s see what the apostle Mark had to say about missions:

 

“Then he said, ‘Go into the world. Go everywhere and announce

the Message of God’s good news to one and all.’”

—Mark 16:15 (The Message)

 

Does that mean ME? Yes, me! Whether it is in our own hometown or halfway across the world, there are opportunities for you to get    involved in missions. What’s stopping you?

 

We will use the phrase GO WORLD as a prayer guide this week. (In case you aren’t familiar with it from earlier posts, C4 is our inner city mission at a public housing project.):

 

(Sunday) G – Grades. Pray for our C4 kids who attend tutoring and the volunteers who work with them. Pray for our local schools and teachers.

 

 

Weekend review

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It’s been a crazy weekend, so I’ve been remiss in posting the daily prayer prompts. I’ve been fighting a cold, plus we had the turning-10yo’s birthday party on Saturday. All 21 (or 22? I lost count) boys had a great time at a local video game shop where they had seven XBox 360s to share. That many tween boys in a relatively confined space was more than enough testosterone in one room for me! The other boys are already asking about their birthday parties, and the next one’s birthday isn’t until July. Give Mom a break, ok? 😉

 

Here is yesterday’s prayer prompt; we are finishing our week discussing The Word:

 

(Saturday) The Word became flesh and dwelt among us. We hear a lot about Jesus’ birth during Christmastime, but today let’s think about how astounding that really is! The Word – Life, Light, Creator – becoming     vulnerable for you and me. Thank God today for sending Jesus to live among us. If you are a follower of Christ, thank him for the promise of forgiveness and life. If you haven’t accepted his gift of forgiveness, what is stopping you?