Around the World in 60 days

Just found this cool resource created by Focus on the Family for teaching your kids about other cultures and praying for other countries. The best part… it’s totally FREE!

Have you ever wondered what life is like in other countries? This summer, Thriving Family invites you to join us on a trip around the world! Over the next 60 days, you'll have the opportunity to explore 27 different countries on six continents. For each day of the trip, we've packed a biblical lesson and an activity that will give your family a glimpse into another culture.

Click on this link to get the map, itinerary, and passport.

http://www.thrivingfamily.com/Features/Magazine/2013/around-the-world-in-60-days.aspx 

Do you have great resources to share that would be beneficial to your staff sisters? Email Erin.Mullis@cru.org and I will share them on this blog!

Praying for Ourselves & Our Kids

Hey y’all,

I found this great resource on Pinterest that has a list of 31 Biblical Virtues to pray for your children. We’ve been using it for a few weeks and LOVE it! These are also things that you can pray for yourself. One big plus is that it already looks cute. You can just print it out or save it on your computer. It’s not another “Pinterest Project” to add to your list (my list is already way too long).

http://keepingitpersonal.com/2012/02/pray-for-kids/

Scroll down to orange letters at the bottom. Click and Print, it’s that easy I promise!

More coming on the blog soon! Keep coming back for more info about Summer Projects and Fort Collins.

Here’s a sample. The link has a better format for printing.

broken #hope

By Mary Wallace Wilson

I still anticipate seeing how God will work in our midst even after going to 29 years of Cru conferences! When I recently registered for Encounter, I saw that the theme this year is “broken #hope.” It seems the idea of “brokenness” has been in my path lately . . .

I have used Crawford Loritts book, Leadership As An Identity for our Women’s Council devotions. Crawford says that distinctively Christian leaders live from and lead with brokenness (among other characteristics). There was a time in my life when I couldn’t sing the stanza “Brokenness, brokenness is what I long for. Brokenness is what I need.” I felt like I was experiencing so much brokenness that I couldn’t take any more. And I surely wasn’t going to tell God that I longed for it OR that I needed it!

Check out what Crawford says:

Brokenness is a conscious, core awareness that you need God in all things. A broken person has come to realize that he is nothing and can do nothing apart from God’s presence and enabling power. (John 15:5) . . . For a Christian leader, brokenness is a dear friend, and pride is the enemy. When you are broken, you realize you cannot do it in your own power – you cannot earn salvation on your own, you cannot walk with God on your own, and you cannot fulfill God’s assignments on your own. P. 36

Brokenness is not a onetime event. It is never finished; it’s an ongoing process. P. 36

Sounds exciting, huh??!!! What about considering brokenness as a dear friend? I can’t say that I’m at the place where I consider brokenness as my dear friend, but I CAN say that I understand the benefit of brokenness in my life. That is to break my pride. Ouch. Brokenness does that to me every time. It reminds me that my greatest need in life is God. I can accomplish a lot in my own strength, but if the Holy Spirit isn’t empowering me, then my deeds are worthless.

Humility is where God wants me all the time and brokenness is a vessel that gets me to that place. Thankfully I can find my hope in God; He is always there for me! Let’s pray that God will speak to us at Encounter as clearly as He speaks to the students we recruit to come.

· How do you view brokenness? Is brokenness your dear friend?

· Think of a time when you have experienced brokenness. What did it feel like? How did you respond to those feelings?

· How did you experience God at that time?

How can you apply John 15:5 in your life?

“Whoever abides in me and I in him, it is he that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”

Black Mountain or Bust!

Today is different than any other day.  I’m sitting in the middle of a toy strewn living room (okay, that part is not different), and I’m making a list. Insert gasp if you know me at all.  I’m not a list maker by nature.  Ordinarily I like to busily run through my day welcoming interruptions and changes in our “plan”.  What has pushed my pendulum to the planning side you ask?  Three words: Fall Staff Conference. 

My mind is buzzing with phrases like: bring hair brush and also find hair brush; pack cooler for Celia; get cheese sticks; bring Keurig (mercy me do NOT forget the coffee); check pinterest for current hair trends and teach self to braid (seriously getting off track here) .  I’m making mental notes and biting my fingernails (cursed habit I have when I’m the least bit stressed).  And on this Monday morning my plan is interrupted by my beautiful Celia as she dumps her full sippy cup of milk onto her freshly styled outfit and her freshly cut strawberries. And as I hear milk gushing onto the floor I have one glorious revelation:  I don’t have it all together!!  I wipe up the milk and in that moment God puts me on my knees (literally).

I can overdose on the list making and bring enough extra socks to completely clothe every baby in Black Mountain in case of an emergency, but the blessed truth is still there.  What I need as I prepare for the weekend is to have my soul filled to the brim by Jesus himself.  That’s the point of the conference. 

We’re all coming from different places, some high/happy and others low/lonely.  There are areas in all of our hearts where we tend to make lists to cover what we lack and where we put on kind smiles to cover a frenzied daze.  We need rest from daily pressures we face. We need fellowship with others, and we need to meet together to worship God. I pray we find that this weekend in Black Mountain. I pray we would take a deep breath and gaze into the truth. Colossians 1:20-23 “He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.”

I want to continue to believe the truth and stand firmly in it.   I’m starting my fall staff conference list over right now and here it goes: Thank God I don’t have it all together, relish God’s word, be real when you talk to friends during the weekend, make new friends and be real with them too, make the stupid chex mix already and quit talking about it, pack humidifier (trust me on this one), paint fingernails, quit biting fingernails, get at least one latte from The Dripolator in Black Mountain, abandon the hair braiding endeavor for now, take a deep breath, welcome interruptions and let the pendulum fall where it may.

See you there!

Love,

Jenna Sherard