bow to the crown

Meet Kacie. She is my 17 year old “baby gurrl”…please do not stalk her.

Kacie is in her senior year of high school and I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about the SAT, college choices, GPA, or class rank. And don’t even get me started on senior pictures, baby ads for the yearbook, or senior trip. I just want to pretend this isn’t happening.

I told Kacie a couple of weeks ago that I was going to “back off” this year. No more bugging her about homework, no more reminding her about stuff, no more meddling. My role is shifting from “manager” to “consultant”. Not that I like it…and I sure don’t want to talk about it.

The senior class chose this t-shirt “Bow to the Crown” to represent the Class of 2007. High school seniors always relish in the glory of tradition – that they are superior in rank to the underclassmen. They wear their gold cardstock crowns to the pep rallies with pride.

When I saw this shirt, the first questions to cross my mind were: Did I do a good job raising her to bow to the crown of Jesus Christ? Is her foundation strong enough to keep her focused toward the path of the throne?

We have so many responsibilities as parents. Keeping our children healthy, not only physically, but spiritually, is at the top of the list. It is not the responsibility of the church to provide my child with 100% of the recommended daily allowance of spiritual nutrition. After all, they only get my kid a few hours a week. But I am grateful to the churches who “partnered” with me, guiding me and equipping me as a parent.

Sometimes we have to talk about things even when we don’t want to or know how to.

word up

My schedule has been crazy this past week! I was going ninety to nothing (what does that mean anyway?) until Wednesday. I had a doctor's appointment and found out my hemoglobin is 10. Twelve is the lowest it should be. Ever since I found out about this "anemia", I have been so exhausted. Understand..I wasn't exhausted BEFORE the test, only once I got the results. So, I have been milking it ever since.

I have some stuff in my brain to blog about, but time and energy have not allowed it to happen. But I did want to post a link to a cool site I found from another blogger. Check this out:



This is called a "word cloud" and it takes common words from a blog and turns them into this cool visual. This site also offers your word cloud on a t-shirt or coffee mug if you're into all that.

So I'm going to take a One-a-Day with Iron now...gotta get my energy back up for Sunday!

bye, bye, bye

August 22 will mark the second anniversary of the public launching of TrueNorth Church. Don’t miss this Sunday morning as we reflect and celebrate what God has done to change people’s lives through TNC.

As we celebrate, we will also be saying goodbye these next few weeks to a building we have called home for two years. The high school auditorium reminds me of the old wineskin parable from Steve’s message last week. It is bursting from pressure. The gym will be our new wineskin, our new container that will stretch so that the church can reach more people for Christ in our community.

I remember being told that there was no need for a church of this type in North Augusta and that it would never work. When people are loving God and loving others the way we are commanded to do, God would never allow the church to fail.

There IS a need, and it IS working. Thank God for TNC!

this t-shirt is mean

You lost me at hello.
Always remember you're unique... Just like everyone else.
Out of my mind... Back in five minutes.
I'm busy. You're ugly. Have a nice day.

What’s up with all the sarcastic tees these days? They are everywhere! I always thought it would be a fun job to design t-shirts with sayings. I also thought naming the Jelly Belly flavors would be right up my alley. They've used up all the good names though. All that's left is Macaroni and Cheese.

I have a friend in my Journey Team who was at the grocery store with her TNC shirt on recently. A guy came up to her and said “Hey, you TrueNortherner! I go to TrueNorth too and isn’t it cool that we don’t know each other, but we really do in a way?”

I liked that story.

The TNC is coming out with new t-shirts for the fall (non-sarcastic ones). Be on the lookout for these at the information center on Sunday mornings. They sell quickly!

TNC 2nd service insider

1936-1991

Michael Landon, may you rest in peace.
You will always live on in the heart of our pastor, Stevie D.

thank you for hearing me

My husband is a smart man (using my best Forrest Gump voice here). He doesn’t say much, but when he does, you won’t forget it.

Alan is also a great listener, even though he doesn’t look like he is listening. I need eye contact and an occasional grunt of acknowledgement. But he can read the paper, watch TV, and brush his teeth (with the loud electric toothbrush) all at the same time and still repeat everything I’ve said, even though it doesn’t look like he is listening.

Alan is not a big talker in the car. Lots of ‘yes’ and ‘no’ answers. I have found that I have a captive audience in the car and it is the best opportunity for me to talk to Alan about “stuff”, because where is he going to go?

We talk about church a lot in the car. Not just our church…THE Church (capital C). On a recent four hour trip, I was on my soapbox about how some Christians can get so caught up in biblical “knowledge” that they become too focused on the knowing and not the doing. And that same attitude can be used as a tool by Satan for people to become boastful and self-righteous. Blah, blah, blah. Yada, yada, yada. No comment from my honey for about ten miles.

Then he said it. The one sentence that summed up all my ranting:

People don’t care about how much you know. They want to know how much you care.

So what took me ten miles to say, he said in a fraction of a mile. And he actually shut me up because I was speechless. I told you he was a smart man!

i miss my MTV

It was the early ‘80s. I was perfectly content wearing out the joystick on my Atari, when something better and more socially interactive came along. MTV had entered my living room and my world would never be the same.

I am not embarrassed to admit this: I could act out and sing to every video that they showed. All fifteen of them. I didn’t have a single friend (or boyfriend) who was as crazy about this new concept as I was. They were quickly burnt out on When Doves Cry, Jump, 99 LUFT Balloons (not RED…I liked the German version better), Hey Mickey, and Hungry Like the Wolf. Then the Video Music Awards were introduced. I planned my weekends around the show, with my predictions in hand.

Then the ‘90s came along and I was involved in my career and raising a family. I still caught some glimpses of my MTV, but it was apparently changing faster than I could change a diaper. Grunge was on the scene…and I just couldn’t sing and dance to something I didn’t understand the words to. I could appreciate the new sound…it just wasn’t visual anymore. The Real World also caught my attention (my first encounter with reality TV). The Puck and Pedro/San Francisco season was the first and last season for me.

The alphabet and number groups (TLC, *NSYNC, DMX, POD, 50 Cent, Blink 182, and Sum 41) helped usher in the new century. (I hope they know that U2 started that trend in the 80’s!) To their disadvantage, their videos have been overshadowed by ride pimpers, spring breakers, and prank punkers. And there is more jiggle going on these days than a Bill Cosby Jell-O commercial. If I were to act out any of this generation’s videos like I did in the past, I might either break a body part or get pregnant.

MTV has “jumped the shark” because it isn’t about music at all. It’s about programming and money.

But they know their young audiences. The powers-that-be at MTV understand that the youth of this generation relate to things that are short-lived. Young people absorb themselves in technology and visual stimulation. They need a dose of reality by being engaged in real life situations.

The Church could learn a lesson from the MTVers. There is a responsibility to connect with the present culture, without compromising the Truth. Jesus did it. He knew his audience. Modern churches today are using cutting edge graphics, gargantuan video screens, diverse music styles, amazing light shows, and relevant, biblical Truth to reach the same audience that MTV is attracting.

Who is doing a better job?

i don't want to miss a thing

I was in a marathon Creative Team meeting yesterday to help plan upcoming services and God was putting some BIG ideas in some TINY, little brains. If He didn't drive those meetings, we would never get out of first gear.

This Sunday is going to be an exciting service at TNC! There will be LOTS of surprises and awesome music...

...and I am going to miss it! Somebody take some good notes and decent cell phone pictures for me!

we're all in this together

This summer, I have been reading and re-reading John Ortberg’s book, Everybody’s Normal Till You Get to Know Them. I can't get to the bookstore fast enough to get some more of his books. He is an amazing storyteller with a great sense of humor.

In this book he tells a story of his friend who comes to the South and stops at a diner where grits are on the menu. He asks the waitress what a “grit” is. Her reply was, “Honey, they don’t come by themselves.”

Ortberg’s comments: “Grits don’t exist in isolation. No grit is an island, entire unto itself. Every grit is a part of the mainland, a piece of the whole. You can’t order a single grit. They’re a package deal.”

Ortberg continues with the Creation story. Everything that God made, he said was “good”. But in Genesis 2:18, God says, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him."

God requires for us to be in community with others. You can experience large group community at TrueNorth Church on Sunday mornings as well as small group community during the week. These small groups are called Journey Teams, where people meet in homes for fellowship and Bible study. It’s a place where you can develop meaningful relationships and share your spiritual journey.

Check out the website for the times and locations. There is an empty chair with your name on it!

Besides, you weren’t made to be the Lone Grit.