MomminginMinistry

Who says you don't learn much over the summer? Here are some of the things I have personally learned in just the past 24 hours. 1. I am too old to eat M&M's and drink half a Sunny D at night and expect to get a good night's sleep. 2. Probably nobody should drink Sunny D. 3. Spending an unexpected hour and half playing the board game, Life, with my kids is time well spent. Even if the to-do list got pushed back a day. 4. Moses always wins every game that involves money. I'd definitely invest with him. 5. Daniel should be a chef. His cream cheese, tortilla, taco seasoning creation is a-m-a-z-i-n-g. 6. If the Facebook advertisement for a Harry Potter Birthday party at the library shows that over 1,000 people are interested in this event you should probably assume over 1,000 people will be there and maybe find something else to do. 7. Lines are at least funner with friends. 8. Everyone should learn about the Enneagram. In fact, if you want to join me, I'm...

I am sitting here listening to the washing machine running and waiting for Grub Hub to bring me a poke bowl. Event number three is in the books and I can finally take a deep breath and reflect. This year kids' camp, Vacation Bible School and our Arizona District Church of the Nazarene camp meeting felt a little more squished together, nearly overlapping in preparations at times. This is the best kind of busy I could possibly be. This is the "worth it" category of exhaustion I mentioned in my last post. Because this is the busy that represents lives forever changed and decisions made to follow Christ. But, I've also discovered that for a lot of us who spend a little extra time in the trenches of this kind of ministry that the spiritual battles that follow are real. I now recognize that I tend to come off of this two month stretch of spiritual highs with a bit of an Elijah syndrome. If you are not familiar with this, see I Kings 18 and then read on a few chapters. ...

I want to start by saying I never play games on my smart phone. Never. I'd rather do more people-y things. But Wizards Unite, the Harry Potter Version of Pokemon Go? It's kinda people-y. Earlier this week Dan and I went on the annual getaway that we try to squeeze right in between Vacation Bible School and leading Preschool for our denomination's district camp meeting. So I can take a deep breath and remember what it's all for instead of eating Tums like they're M & M's. This is the third time we've picked the retro, historical Hotel Valley Ho, just a short walk from Old Town Scottsdale. I did a lot of things. We swam, we went to the gym, we went shopping, and we ate...so much. But I also spent a lot of time reading a book, Missional Renaissance: Changing the Scorecard for the Church and, ironically, playing Wizard's Unite on my phone. I even talked Dan into playing. If you're not familiar with how these things work, you follow a GPS type map th...

E Pluribus Unum. Out of many, one. Sometimes it's hard to see. Even in the tightest circles of fellow Americans. Gathered around the table at family barbecues, huddling at the alters on Sunday with heads bowed close in prayer, and maybe even having late night conversations with the people who live in our own homes. It took two minutes of scrolling through facebook this Independence Day to remember that some of the people I love most think and see the world so very differently. And our ballots each November rarely match. Some of them will remind us of their differing political viewpoints on social medial three or four times a day. There's no pretending that we are wired the same anymore. How do we remain out of many, one when it feels much more like out of one, many ? Can we be faced with the differing opinions of those we respect and not change either our personal views or our love for that fellow human being? It's not easy. Social Psychologists refer to this intense inn...