Surprised by Joy

Last week, something amazing happened to me.  I went along on mission with our church youth group. We drove ten hours to Tennessee to work with Operation Backyard. This organization repairs the homes of needy people for free, using volunteer labor and materials purchased by donors. I went along as the cook for our exuberant group of 30 high and middle schoolers and  their leaders. I had never done such a thing before, but I knew they would need some healthy food to fuel their efforts. I packed my good knife and cutting board, my apron and my pillow, and headed out the door, driving through VA, NC and through the Appalachian Mountains into TN.

 

My daughter (front right) was a chaperone/project manager, and my three granddaughters and their friends were part of the crew. They were all the incentive I needed to make this trek. I wanted to be there for whatever they needed. Their team prepped and painted this house for a wheel-chair bound man, whom you can just barely see in the frame of the door.

They climbed the roof to scrape under the eaves. She, of course, has never done such a thing before.

They painted while balancing themselves on top of ladders. No mattresses underneath to catch them if they fell.

They contended with dust flakes from old paint. It had been many, many years since this nearly 100 year-old house had been painted.

Days and days of back-breaking work in 95 degree temperatures. Nary a complaint.

Meanwhile, the second half of our team was in another part of town, re-roofing another house. Yup, our high schoolers just ripped off the old roof and completely replaced it with a new one.

They were also up in the stratosphere, climbing around like pros.

They nailed hundreds of new shingles on to the roof, guided by a roofing professional from our church.

After being in the hot sun day after day, one wonderful night they got a refreshing cool-down in the fountains of Knoxville's World's Fair Park.

Back at our host church, we all slept on the floor and the girls did so without complaint. These are my roomies. They made me laugh. Lots.

Here they are the next morning, eating the breakfast that I got up at 5:15am to prepare, so they could leave for the job at 7am each day. I had never cooked repeatedly for this size of crowd, but loved every minute of it. Spaghetti, pulled pork, stuffed potatoes, baked chicken, french toast, turkey bacon, mexican scrambled eggs. The usual. They were so affirming and grateful, and I felt a joy and enthusiasm I haven't felt since Joey departed. These kids were such an encouragement to me.

Here is our incredible team of leaders and chaperones. They prayed, counselled, encouraged and lead by example. They all hammered and scraped and painted right alongside of the kids. And laughed. Lots of that.

All done with their labor of love, the kids take a picture with the homeowner. See that neat roof behind them? They couldn't have been more proud if they had just won a league championship.

Our second group,  also smiling from ear to ear. It feels really good to help people...
Who knew?

With the work done, we headed to our pastor's parents' house at gorgeous Lake Norris in TN. A day and half of lake swimming and jet skiing--such a nice refreshing drink after a  a job well done.

Two of my granddaughters and a friend waiting for morning devotions to start. This was the highlight of each day. I loved hearing how God was working on the hearts of these kids.

It was such a sweet time of sharing thoughts and experiences. Each one answered the question, "Where did you see Jesus this week?". I, of course, saw Him in each of these loving, giving kids.

Praying together.

A final photo before heading home.
This group was so bonded, so full of love and joy, and high on what they had just accomplished. I felt so privileged to be part of this team. That's me in the front, third from left, and my daughter next to me on the right.
I came home with new memories, new friends,and  new hopes. Perhaps it's possible to live again with joy in this world. 

Hope in a Troubled World

This is the last time I saw my baby bird last weekend. He was nestled under the hedge and under his father's breast and trusting him to take care of him. In a similar way, I am trusting my Heavenly Father to take care of me. The father bird continues to stay in our yard, so I think the baby is hidden someplace safe.

At the beach on Sunday, I watched our pastors baptize some new believers. I love these beach baptisms. It's just a breezy, relaxing and refreshing way to worship God in one of the most beautiful places He created.

I especially like it with an assortment of people on the beach and body surfers all around watching the show. I think a beach baptism gives spectators pause to think about their own souls, and that's a meaningful thing for any of us.

Here's our little church, gathered on the sand and watching as Joe plays his guitar.

The question is, "Why would anyone in our modern world bother to get baptized?" Some view it as an outdated and irrelevant ritual, meaningless in our high-tech, but troubled world. With all the suffering around us, it's hard to believe in a God who cares, anyway.

But this girl's arm says it all.

God is Love.

It fills me with hope just to see it.

That simple phrase, God's declaration about His own character, lifts me from despair and allows me to bear the loss of my son, and all the other losses of this life.

(and even the sadness about the bird's nest.)

Despite what we see around us, we have a God who says He loves us. He tells us that no matter how things look, nothing can ever really separate us from His love. It's that irrepressible love, whispering quietly in my heart, that helps me patiently endure.

Romans 8:38-39

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

What We've Been Doing

Our new church has been a wonderful gift to us from God. We love our young pastor, Steve, and his beautiful wife and family. He is a gifted Bible teacher and his life wisdom belies his years. We love the kind and honest people who join us on Sunday mornings to learn about God, and how to live with one another in love and grace. We love our old/new building, donated to us by another church that was in decline, but wanted to see the building live on through another congregation. We love seeing our grandchildren there learning the life-changing truths that will sustain them through the terrible storms of life that undoubtedly lie ahead. We love contributing to this noble effort in our own little ways.

With all this in mind, we spent most of our spare time during the month of December and early January getting the building ready to be occupied. My interest was in the children's wing, because I think Sunday School should be the warmest, coziest, funnest place we can possibly make it. I think children should wake up on Sunday mornings and think to themselves, "Yippee, I get to go to church today!"

So we set out to create an environment for them, and with albeit limited resources, but lots of good will, we came up with Treasure Cove. And we, along with some very wonderful and dedicated partners, painted and sawed and hammered our way through December and created a kids' zone where our precious little ones could learn where their true treasure lies.

We started with this projected drawing on the wall...

Then painted it (I love the goatee on the little sailor)...

and turned it into surf shack check-in center...

then built a boat on some waves-- for climbing, and sitting, and gathering...

and added frolicking orcas to inspire the kids to do the same...

...and a treasure chest, overflowing with treasure on the outside, and prizes on the inside, that are earned by learning their verses and bringing their friends.

So far it's working beautifully!

Store up for yourselves treasure in Heaven...Matt. 6:20

Almost Speechless

This is a picture of our new fledgling church--Essential Church. It just started back in February, and we currently meet in a school because it's expensive buying and maintaining property. In fact, we didn't think a building was anywhere in the near future, but in this picture, our gifted pastor is making a "Big Announcement" (notice the screen). He revealed ---drum roll, please--- that another church in town with a declining membership had given us their 7-acre property. Yes, you read that right. A $4 million dollar property and they gave it to us!

Included: a spacious and fully stocked 15,000 square foot building.

Jaws dropped around the room, and not surprisingly, we erupted into applause.

Here, Steve's lovely wife, Melissa, talks about a verse that she had hung on to: Jeremiah 29:11. "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a future and a hope".

But really, what an amazing answered prayer this place is! Melissa gives God glory for doing more than we could ever ask or imagine.

While we were listening to the announcement, a group of people were over at the new property preparing spaghetti lunch for us. When our morning service was over, we high-tailed it over to the new property to check it out. Oh my, it is indeed so much more than we could ever imagine. It is nothing but POTENTIAL! Who knows what lives will be changed in this place.

Here's the auditorium with lunch over and us out of there and the chairs all set back up in place. This incredible building also has about 10 children's classrooms, 6 adult classrooms, a recreation/game room, a fenced playground area, a full kitchen, and a piano and organ! You can see more if you go to my link for Essential Church.

What do you say to something like this, besides thanks to the generous people who gifted it and

"Thank you, God!"

I've never heard of such a thing and I'm almost speechless.

I'm just praying that this will be a haven of hope, healing and comfort for people, and that God will be pleased by how we serve Him in this amazing place.

Last Sunday Morning

Joe and Jaime leading worship at our new church.

One of the greatest blessings of the past two months is finding a church here where we feel at home. They sing the songs we like and they have a very easy and casual approach to church, which we find works the best for us after our "flip-flops and board shorts" church in Maui.

We've been blessed to have had two great churches in our lives-Calvary Community in California when we were raising our children, and Hope Chapel in Maui during our fifteen years there. Now we've found Essential Church here in Virginia. The pastor, Steve, is a great Bible teacher, and the worship leader, Noah, is dedicated and gifted. We like the casual atmosphere, and though we've always attended large churches, this small community just suits us perfectly now. They are very welcoming to our family and that means a lot to us. This church simply focuses on the essentials of the Christian faith, hence the name, and we are now finding it to be essential to our week.

Hebrews 10:23-25
Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful;
and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds,
not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing near.

Nana's New Career

You don't get opportunities like this every day. A community night at the park, sponsored by our new church, and a table full of face-painting supplies. With my counselor's heart on hiatus for the past year, this one was calling to me. Improving people's lives --one silly face at a time. Only a fool would pass this up!

Shhh...Quiet please...Artist at Work...

Okay, so I need some practice. But isn't she just the cutest thing you've ever seen!

Some FINE-looking bunnies. See how my art is drawing families together!

You should have seen my masterpiece alligators. Unfortunately, there were no paparazzi nearby to document the splendid artistry, but I will tell you the parents were impressed. That family left the park happier than when they'd arrived!

This teenage boy wanted nothing more than a Mom tattoo on his shoulder. Isn't that the sweetest. Who needs a counseling room? There is hope for American families, and it's only a brush stroke away.

I'm available for hire. Cheap.

The Church Shop Hop

This is the backside view of Essential Church as they appeared in the Pungo Strawberry Festival Parade. Here they are walking down the street together, pushing strollers and having a grand old time. Up in front, a flat bed truck with the band playing worship music.

So here we are living in a new town, making a new life, and therefore looking for a new church. Not an easy order to fill after our wonderful years and friends at Hope Chapel on Maui.

Since we feel like church is essential, we visited Essential Church yesterday. It's a great group and we felt very much at home there. We also heard they won 1st Place in the parade! Cool! They were really good!

Hillsong Shouts to the Lord

This is Darlene Zschech. She is the little woman in a blue dress on the stage, and the powerful worship leader on the center of the screen over her head. She is the worship leader for Hillsong Church in Sydney, Australia and she has written some of the absolutely most inspiring worship music ever. "Shout to the Lord", "Hosanna", and "The Potter's Hand" are just three of my favorites. She is a world class worship leader and sings to stadium-sized audiences throughout the world every week. So, you can imagine my delight that she was here at Wave Church in Virginia Beach last night! It was glorious!

This shows you the size of the crowd and how far back we were sitting-- but with the jumbo screens, it really didn't matter. The kids eventually went down to the front of the stage so they could jump with the rest of the true worshippers! We are really liking attending Wave Church on Sundays. Though it is the largest church we have ever attended, there is a lot of energy and excitement about God there. It always lifts us up and inspires hope.

This is the Wave's Aussie pastor, Steve Kelly, and he's preaching for all he's worth. I am the shy reserved type, but he's not. Here he's asking people to raise their hands if they want to know Jesus and a minute later he asks them to come down the aisles and stand in front of the stage. At least 200 people went forward and prayed to receive Christ. That was wonderful!

I love the heart with wings behind the drum booth. It looks like my "Joey" tattoo on my arm. Jesus helps my heart to soar on wings, too.

Here we are in full-concert mode with the lights and the crowd in silhouette. It reminds me of a scene from a movie and I've dubbed it "Close Encounters of the Spiritual Kind". We all had a close encounter with the Spirit last night, reminding us again that our God is an awesome, powerful, loving Father, who is worthy of our trust and our praise.

Here are some of Darlene's lyrics, the chorus from "Shout to the Lord":

Shout to the Lord, all the earth let us sing,

Power and majesty, praise to the King,

Mountains bow down and the seas will roar at the sound of Thy Name.

I sing for joy at the works of Thy hand.

Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand.

Nothing compares to the promise I have in You.

Ps 66:1,2 Shout with joy to God, all the earth! Sing the glory of His name; make His praise glorious!