Yesterday was awesome…

It was the last day of Vacation Bible School–which, surprisingly enough, was a little sad! We had a “Cherry Blossom Festival” last night, and the kids performed for their families all the songs we’ve learned…

…and you know what almost made me cry? It wasn’t seeing all those kids, especially the preschoolers, singing praises to the Lord–though that was really moving as wel!! It was seeing my boys up there, singing, smiling, doing the hand-motions, etc., not causing problems…actually enjoying themselves.

After they sang, they came down and gave me high-fives. These boys, who earlier yesterday were “too cool” for this, and were constantly hitting each other, etc.–except when they saw me looking straight at them–were SINGING…amazing!

Pastor Tom asked the kids to say what their favorite thing about the week had been, and only one kid said “my teacher”…that was one of my boys! After a week of constantly having to tell them to behave, to listen, etc., it turns out that I did gain their respect! Seriously, those 10 minutes last night made it worth all the preparation, all the trouble, all the frustration…everything. I almost cried!

Yesterday afternoon I had four youth over for pizza, swimming, a movie, and good times. I had some good conversations with each of them throughout the day, and while I had them there I realized just how much I love this…I love spending time with these young people, building relationships and trying to be an example. Two of the kids are a former professor’s sons, and it was so awesome to hear their wisdom and their insight–it’s quite remarkable for their age!

This week taught me a lot…

…one thing I’ve come to realize is that I’m not as bad at teaching as I thought I was. Even though it took me a lot of preparation and focused time of study, once I got in the classroom, it wasn’t so bad! Those who observed my interaction with these 5th-6th graders said that I was good with them…so that meant a lot to me, because I definitely was convinced that the opposite was true!

…and, like I’ve said before, I’ve come to realize that I love these kids so much! I don’t know them very well, but my heart just breaks for them when I hear about their situations…when little comments are made to me throughout the week, giving me an insight into their home life…and all I can do is pray.

I cannot wait to see where the Lord takes me…but I am certain that youth ministry will be a part of the picture somehow!

More each day I realize just how much I love youth, and how much I love youth ministry!

It amazes me just how much love the Lord has given me for the youth with whom I work…they just mean so much to me…and my heart just breaks for those who are undergoing rough trials in their lives.

I decided today that I wanted to have a few of the youth over tomorrow after VBS to swim, have pizza, and just hang out for a few hours before our “Cherry Blossom Festival” at church tomorrow night (where the kids perform their songs, show the parents their rooms, etc.). I can’t wait! I am so excited about talking with them, hearing about what’s going on in their lives…especially because I don’t know when I’ll see some of them again–they go to a different church now…

It truly is the little things in life that bring joy…

As I look back at the past 7 months, I have begun to put pieces of the puzzle together…pieces that just didn’t seem to fit are now being put into place. For instance, when I came back from Washington, D.C., I became very disenchanted with the political world…and I didn’t know why! Well, it occurred to me today that perhaps that was the Lord’s way of preparing my heart for the drastic change in career He would send my way on July 5th. Now I see that, though I know He will use my political knowledge and experience in some way, that is not supposed to be my main “calling”…

It’s all beginning to make sense…slowly…and I LOVE when that happens!

The more I pray about seminary, about youth ministry, etc., the more I realize just how much I would love doing that…I am seeing how my gifts, talents and abilities are really compatible for such a career, and that excites me.

But, had the Lord revealed this to me even two months earlier than He did, I probably would have laughed, because it didn’t fit into MY puzzle. 🙂

Funny how He changes things…

Brian (my “problem child” in VBS) was nearly an angel today…

After two days of nearly pulling my hair out, I found something that worked.

When he arrived this morning, I pulled him aside and took him to “meet” Pastor Tom. I said to him “Brian, this is Pastor Tom. And if we have another day like yesterday, you’ll be spending a lot of time with him today.”

Brian said “YAY!” And I looked him straight in the eye and said “No, Brian. It will not be a fun time. Pastor Tom doesn’t put up with anything.”

From that moment on, we had only a few incidents.

INCREDIBLE!

Granted, the rest of the class was unruly today, and I probably asked them to stop talking 40 or 50 times…but I didn’t mind as much because I could focus on the entire class instead of one kid.

Praise the Lord for answered prayer!

I got to spend some time with one of my former youth boys today, because I picked him up for VBS this morning (and will the rest of this week too). My heart aches because of the things he told me, about things going on in his family, etc. Devastating…and I only have 2 more days with him and his sister…sad! My goal is to be as encouraging and as loving as possible, in this short period of time, before they are out of my weekly “sphere of influence” again.

But it was a good day. I was well-rested (thanks to someone who made me be in bed by 11pm, LOL), and my day at VBS was productive.  Two more days…then I’m done! 🙂

I’ll probably post my new poem tomorrow…:) I know you’re all anxiously awaiting it! HAHA. 🙂

Have a blessed day…

 

After another long morning of VBS–where I was continually “babysitting” one particular child–I was pretty down. It is so frustrating to feel like you aren’t able to teach these kids anything because of them being distracted by a few boys…the problem should be solved tomorrow…

But one of my dearest friends advised me to stop, breathe, and ponder the blessings I have received today…and since I am a writer by nature, I will use my blog as a medium to find these blessings…

…kind words from a dear friend…

…hugs from children…

…sunshine and a beautiful day…

…encouragement and affirmation from observers/helpers in my class…

…getting emails today from many of my youth kids all over the country…

…a check coming in the mail, that will cover my expenses until pay-day…

…health, and no allergy problems…

…kids in my class who are spiritually hungry…

…inspiration for a poem from the Lord…

…writing the first poem that I’ve written in months (I’ll post it later this week)…

…a Bible study group who is going to take time out of their Saturday evening to help me move…

…a church who is truly a family–loving, caring, providing for needs…

Wow…so maybe this morning wasn’t so bad after all…looking at the things that are good, things that went as planned, I can see that today wasn’t as bad as I perceived it to be.

Thank you, my friend, for helping me to “count my blessings.”

 

Today was day one of five…

and it wasn’t all that bad.

I have fifth-sixth graders, 14 of them. 10 boys, 4 girls. Usually I have more problems controlling the girls than the boys, but praise the Lord for these angelic girls! They were no problem!

The boys, however, were another story.

There was one “problem child” who stirred up trouble amongst the rest of the boys, and I was constantly saying things like “Brian, get off the table.” “Brian, please don’t paint Nicholas’ face.” Etc. He was never where he was supposed to be. My class had the most kids today (of course, LOL), and they were the loudest. Jenn, the VBS director, walked around to each class and was amazed at the size/noise level of my kids…so hard to keep them quiet. At least they did respect me when I was talking–after we established the “No talking while Lesa is talking” rule. 🙂

Thankfully, I had one of my former junior high youth, Chris, (he moved–and is in high school now), and one of my current junior highers (Bella–pronounced Bay-a) in there with me. They were wonderful! Actually, my morning was immediately better when Chris and his sister Erica showed up, because I hadn’t seen them in over a year…they were definitely two of my favorite youth! Such awesome kids! They will be here all week. Praise the Lord!

The Bible study, the Japanese language lessons (LOL–I only taught them 5 phrases, but they loved that!), and the craft (with the exception of paint ending up on faces) went really well. The morning flew by!

I’m exhausted, but content. I feel much better about VBS after the first day, which I knew would happen–now that I know how things are done at this church.

Now it’s time for more preparation for tomorrow, and hopefully more sleep tonight than last night. 🙂 But you know, it really is worth it. It also is reminding me of why I work with youth! 🙂

Today was day one of being a morning person…and I like it a lot!! I seriously am shocked at the amount of self-discipline I have been able to have lately! I believe the Lord is really blessing my efforts in this area, which is SO helpful! So, we’ll see how long I can carry out this morning thing.

 

Many things have changed in my life in the past 17 days…many unexpected!

However, one of the changes was absolutely shocking to me, more than any other…

 

I have begun to realize that I could stay in California, at least for a few more years…

 

Why the sudden change? And why is this so shocking? Well, after living on the East Coast for 8 months, I realized that I loved it there, and that I wanted to live there…and part of me definitely still does. I had begun to see California through different eyes, and realized that it didn’t necessarily suit me anymore…that’s why this is shocking to me (and to my family!)…

 

(Note: This is not an essay on the “supremacy of California” or any such thing. I know that a few of you will take it that way–please don’t! That’s not what I’m trying to say.)

 

1–Most of my family lives here, or in the Western United States…

not the East Coast.

After my family reunion, and the extended time with my immediate family, I realized how much they all mean to me…and how hard it would be to not be close by. I thought about January, and how when my Grandmother had a quadruple bypass, I was able to fly up there to be with them–and many of them traveled quite a bit to get there as well…but if I were on the East Coast, that might not be possible. Also, my grandparents are getting older, and I want as much time with them as possible. My whole family is VERY close, and I’d hate to miss reunions and family events.

2–California is beautiful.

After being in Yosemite this month, I realized that California is a breathtakingly beautiful state. Granted, of course there are areas that are not the prettiest (the Central Valley in the summer, for instance…700 miles of brown grass…not exciting!). But, we have the Pacific Ocean, many gorgeous lakes, hundreds of miles of mountain ranges, majestic redwoods, etc. And I realized that even though I also believe that Pennsylvania is beautiful, I don’t know how I would handle living in a “landlocked” state (which it is, but just barely)…California also is so diverse in its terrain–desert, ocean, mountains, valleys, etc…cities and open spaces…everything! 

 

The Missions Group at Youth Camp…I love these kids!! 🙂

 

I couldn’t help it…I just had to put this up here–because these kids mean so much to me! You guys are great! Keep seeking the Lord!

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Today was my first Sunday back at my church here in Glendora in three weeks (because of traveling, I was at my home church for those weeks). I was really looking forward to it, because I love the church and my church family…and I was not disappointed.

 

It was so awesome to be back up on worship team, and not because I was singing (though, of course, I do love to do that as well). I love being up there, watching the congregation worship the Lord, and during the greeting times I love to watch the love and the fellowship that takes place. My church is truly a FAMILY…which is more than I could have asked for in a church! There are no age barriers–the elderly interact with the young, the young love to spend time with those who are both older and younger…it is so great.

 

I realized today just how blessed I have been by this church body…though it is fairly good sized, most people had noticed that I had been gone and came to talk to me and welcome me back. We always have a time in the service for praises and prayer requests, and today the time was given to the team that just returned from a week on a Navajo Reservation in Arizona…hearing their amazing stories of God at work in the lives there was so encouraging…and hearing about the conditions they lived in (monsoon rain, primitive housing, etc), I was even more amazed by the amount of people who go back each year (this was the 12th year going there).

 

A few days ago I posted about being at a crossroads of sorts, where the Lord was calling me to pray and consider some major life decisions that were completely unexpected. Well, I never said what those were.

 

More and more I am realizing just how much I would love to be in youth ministry full-time. Each day, the idea of seminary is becoming more appealing…and exciting…and it is still so strange to me, because prior to my long drive on July 5th, I would have told anyone that I was NOT going to graduate school, because I am so tired of being in school…but the Lord works in mysterious ways. That driving experience was the beginning of some intense changes in my life that the Lord is calling me to. Youth ministry is calling my name, while I thought all this time that I was going to be involved in politics…and, perhaps I still will be! At this point, I have NO idea where the Lord is leading me. And I am content with that, because I am learning more each day that it is best to just let Him handle things, while I follow His lead.

 

So, yeah. My church is an incredible group of (of course, imperfect) people, dedicated to serving the Lord with the gifts they have been given…and I love that.

So often in my life I am just overwhelmed by watching the Lord at work…in my life…in the lives of my friends…in the lives of the youth with which I work…

This is one of those times…

The youth from our “Missions Group” have embraced the idea of partnering with each other for accountability, for prayer, for encouragement…they are teaching each other, without anyone really telling them to do so. I received 3 emails this morning, to the entire group, with prayer requests for people “outside” of the Missions Group that the kids wanted to pray for…incredible! They are deciding to be radical in their daily lives, and to live with an eternal purpose in mind. What an example to me…

I met up with one of my close friends last night, and we sat and talked for an hour and a half about what the Lord is doing in our lives; and as we talked we realized that we are undergoing many of the same trials and lessons in our lives. We have decided to meet once a week for prayer, accountability and fellowship…and I know that will be an amazing and challenging time each week!

The Lord is working the the lives of people everywhere, and I love when He opens my eyes to see just some of what He is doing. It is so encouraging!

As part of my self-discipline work, I have committed to reading every morning–from the Bible and from other spiritual growth books. In my reading today, I came across several quotes that made me think. This one, from C.S. Lewis, was especially thought-provoking, and I wanted to share it with all my readers:

“It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship, or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare. All day long we are, in some degree, helping each other to one or other of these destinations…there are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations–these are mortal, and their life is to our as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub, and exploit–immortal horrors or everlasting splendors.” –C.S. Lewis

Lewis has a way of speaking directly to my heart, and it is always fascinating to me. When I think of humans in those terms, it makes eternity so much more real and tangible, so to speak. When I am rude to someone, I am not just speaking to a human being…I am speaking to an eternal creature, created by God…hmmm….When I decide not to build a friendship with someone who does not know the Lord, am I realizing the importance of that life to God? Or am I just being selfish and “careful”?

Already I can think of several examples in the not so distant past where I have not treated people with the respect that should be given them, as they are a precious creation of God…

I want to become an “everlasting splendor” in the Lord’s eyes…but I cannot do it alone:

“Now with God’s help, I shall become myself.” –Soren Kierkegaard

And the journey continues…

I am going to post a few pictures from camp, periodically, beginning with these two of Duane and I, just because they happened to be easily accessible. I’ll post ones of my youth soon.

Duane and Lesa at camp, before leading Bible study
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