Living WITH Jesus, not just FOR Him

Last Sunday our pastor was out of town so another man from our church shared with us during our Kaleo (Sunday night) service. He and his family have been missionaries to the Kurds here in Nashville for 15+ years (if I'm not mistaken). He shared from his heart about ministry and even some of his personal struggles with being in ministry. What he shared really hit home for me. **You can check it out at http://www.donelson.org/** One of the "AHA!" moments for me was when he stated that "sometimes [he] gets so busy giving and giving and doing and doing that [he is] living FOR Jesus and not WITH Him." WOW! That's powerful stuff. I think if we are all honest with ourselves, we are all guilty of that - and I'm the world's worst. Those words just kept resounding in my head and, obviously, they still are.

We are in student ministry. Students are our passion. We currently serve 13-24-year-olds in our church. Think back to when you were in that age group. For some of you, it was not too long ago and for others...well, its been a couple of years. Think about all of the decisions there are to make in that timeframe. What life-changing things you had to face that would effect the person you would become. The ministry opportunity that we have been given is an amazing responsibility. I DO NOT TAKE IT LIGHTLY. When students come to us asking for advise, help, or guidance, it is not something that we "give a whirl." It is too important of a position to do that!

I've stated before and I will again that MINISTRY IS NOT AN OCCUPATION, BUT A LIFESTYLE. I wholeheartedly believe that. If you are a follower of Christ, you are a "minister" of the gospel, or you should be. That too should not be taken lightly...the responsibility to share the incredible gift of salvation and eternal life with everyone you come in contact with.

I also believe that ministry is an overflow of your relationship with Christ. It all goes back to the vertical relationship (with Christ) being where it needs to be before the horizontal relationships (others) can be right. Daily spending time in the Word and in communication with the God of the universe is vital to you and to your ministry. As ministers of the gospel, we should be sharing our faith. We should be helping those in need. We should be "going to Jerusalem, Judea, and Samaria and to the uttermost parts of the earth." That starts where you are with what you've been given. Your neighbors need salvation, so do your coworkers. Your FAMILY needs Christ as the center of all that is spoken and done.

Don't get me wrong, I'm preaching to the choir. I need to do a better job of living life with Christ and not just for Him. I am counting on all of you to hold me accountable for that. At the same time, I want to challenge you too to do the same. I pray you find yourself having an overflow that you can't help but share with everyone around you. That's ministry, my friends.

**Pictures courtesy (and with permission) of the amazing Tammy Gentuso**

Holiday World, House Guest, and Weedless Garden

We've really been busy the last few weeks. Part of being in youth ministry is celebrating big events in our students' lives. Thus, we have been to several graduations in the last few weeks, the last being this past Friday night. Memorial Day weekend, we took a group of 11 seniors to Holiday World in Santa Claus, Indiana. It is the most family-friendly theme park EVER. We LOVE it there! (They even have a nursing mother's room which was nice to escape the heat to change a few diapers and such.) Free drinks and free sunscreen all day long, reasonable park food prices, great rides and a wonderful water park. We went a couple of years ago with a group of seniors and Desmond was only a couple of months old. This time, we took both boys, and Desmond had the time of his life!  They have lots of places for small kids to play. He was too short to go on most of the slides and some of the rides, but we were able to find plenty to keep him busy and wear him out. Here are some pictures from the weekend:

The first ride of the day for Desmond. He was fine until Aaron walked outside of the fenced area. He screamed and cried the whole time...until it was over. Then he said, "I go again!?!"

Here are the boys with "Summer Santa" (he's been on a diet)

Desmond LOVED riding the boats. He wanted to ride one of every color...so of course he did!

He also loved the corn dog. Excuse the picture. I'm glad he held the corn dog up or this may not be appropriate to share! ;-)

Riding the fishies

They were both worn out!

This cracked me up...it was day 2.

Desmond and Holidog ("hod-e-dog")

Lincoln had a blast too!

I have a few videos I'll have to share later of Desmond playing in the water. He loved every second of it.

After returning from the trip, one of our students moved in with us. Its kind of a long story how it all happened, but we've arranged for him to live with us for a few months. Thus far, he's been a huge help and Desmond is loving his new big brother! His name is Clifford and he just graduated high school. He's a great kid with a huge heart and wonderful story. He spent three days this past week helping me weed the garden. Here are my garden helpers and my beautiful garden, WEEDLESS thanks to his hard work!

On Saturday, Aaron's dad came into town for a few hours. Its nice that he's close enough to come here for the day. We had previous plans before we knew he was going to be here, so we got to visit for a little while. He was excited to see his grandkids!

Can you believe how big Lincoln is getting? He turned 5 months this past week. That's hard to believe! He's started sitting up now and just randomly falls over. He's so cute and the happiest baby in the world...unless he has a belly ache. But hey, who isn't a pill when their tummy hurts?

The next few months are, of course, the craziest time in our lives. Between weddings, trips, camps, visitors, and much much more, we will be in and out like crazy. I'll try to keep you updated as I am able. This weekend, my best friend is coming into town with a few students to go to Precepts Boot Camp. I'm excited to see her again, even if it is for a day.



Desmond's Bible verse for this week is "God made...everything." He's doing a wonderful job reciting it. We are trying to teach him how to pray. For his bedtime prayers, we pray and then ask him who he wants to pray for. He has his "usuals" and then randomly chooses others to pray for. He repeats after us and it is the sweetest thing in all of the world to hear my sweet little boy offer up prayers on behalf of our dear friends and family. Oh, that his relationship with Christ would grow deep and flourish! That is my prayer for my boys - that they would fall madly in love with our Savior and have a personal relationship with Him. This is a HUGE step in the right direction for Desmond. What a privilege it is to have the honor of being his mommy and teaching him these things. "Train up a child in the way he should go. When he is old, he won't depart from it." We're trying to do our best! What about you?

I'll close for now. Thanks for reading. I'll leave you with this thought: What are you teaching those around you about the Savior of the world? You're either encouraging them to fall in love with Him or pushing them away. Do you know Him yourself?