Sunday, June 29, 2008

Return from VBS Land

I'm back!


VBS was great! We had 258 children enrolled. 42% of those registered do not attend our church. I haven't figured out what percentage is unchurched yet. 21 children committed their lives to Christ and/or committed to follow through with believer's baptism. 5 of those children were baptized today! The children collected just over $400 for the Sarah and Joseph Foundation, an organization that provides pigs and goats to widows and orphans in Uganda as well as training in how to raise, breed, and sell the animals. The children also brought in many donations for our upcoming mission trip to Uganda.


Now that I'm back from VBS land, I have to get ready for a real trip to Uganda. Todd and I leave on July 10th. I am looking forward to the trip, but I really hate leaving the kids. They will have a great time with grandparents, but I feel like I miss so much already, I hate adding 12 more days! At least I have Todd with me this time.


Please pray for us as we go on this mission trip. Pray for the safety of our children while we are gone. Pray for the Kingdom of God to be expanded here on earth specifically in Uganda. Pray for our safe return. Pray for our team, most of whom are going to Africa for the first time, many on their first mission trip. Pray for our families as they care for our children. Pray for my church and the countless volunteers that have come forward to "do my job" for the 12 days (2 Sundays!) that I'm gone.


Here is a picture from my last trip to Uganda.

Saturday, June 21, 2008

VBS Land

I have taken a trip to VBS land and I'm actually still there. It's a nice place to visit, but I am looking forward to being home soon! Please pray for our VBS, June 23-27.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

Showing Kendrick How This Works



I need to help Kendrick learn how to insert pictures between paragraphs. So now I'm writing a paragraph to have something to insert a picture in between. See picture below.

This is a picture of Kendrick's first-born child, Sophia Margaret Dyer. I used to have a cat named Margaret. She was evil. Sophia is not. She is very sweet. My kids still call her baby Sophia.
This is a picture of a quarter of Kendrick's face, and her second-born, Ethan Daniel Dyer. We call him Squire Dyer. You see, Kendrick is related to Daniel and Squire Boone. Hence the middle name. We think they should have gone with Squire.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Graduation and Recital Pics
















Inspiration


Ahhh the beach! I knew it would inspire me!


So, here is what the Lord showed me at the beach. I was able to use this as a devotional for our VBS planning meeting last Sunday.


Sanibel Island is the shelling capital of North America. When the tide goes out, the people come to the beach in droves. Everyone wants to find big, beautiful sea shells! There are rules, however, to shelling. You are not permitted to take a shell off the beach if it still contains a live animal. Doing so can bring you hefty fines. Finding big, beautiful shells becomes much more difficult.


I went out to the sandbars and tide pools along with everyone else in search of big, beautiful shells. I was somewhat disappointed when after about an hour, I only had a handful of shells. Most of the big shells had live animals and could not be taken. I could find them, but I couldn't retrieve them.


Somewhat discouraged, I walked up off the sandbars and noticed a shell mound that most people were neglecting. Many people were walking on it, crunching the shells beneath their shoes. There were clearly no big, beautiful sea shells in piles such as this one.


Something called to me though, and I stooped down to take a closer look. To my surprise, I found exquisite, beautiful, tiny sea shells. These shells were perfectly formed, intricately designed, and void of live animals. Here were the beautiful shells, small, yet ready for the taking. All it took was for someone to stoop down and notice.


I couldn't help but think of the way we sometimes do church. How often do we focus all of our programs and outreach on adults, trying to save the big, beautiful shells? The reality is, for all of our efforts, we're only going to find a few. Yet here are the children, just waiting for someone to stoop down and notice them. They are ready and open to receive the gospel message. If we don't stoop down, someone else will - unless, of course, they are crushed under the feet of those who simply don't care.


That's what we do at VBS. We stoop down and notice children. We walk with them and share the message of salvation through Christ. Many are open and willing to receive.


I gave each volunteer a beautiful, tiny shell that I collected that evening at Sanibel Island as a reminder of why we all take part in this crazy week.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

MINI VACATION

Have you ever had a mini-vacation in the middle of a meeting? You know, the kind where someone is going on, and on, and on, and on, and you realize 10 minutes later you have no idea what was just said because you were one million miles away in your thoughts? Hopefully you were nodding slightly and writing something down. Good cover. I took a million minis yesterday, but tomorrow I get to take a real one!

We are going on a mini-vacation to Sanibel Island for two nights! Yeah! And it's all thanks to Vacation Bible School. Really.

We have our big volunteer organizational meeting this Sunday for VBS. I've been getting ready for it all week. I've worked on the volunteer handbook, handouts, decorations, menu, etc. I found in planning that I was lacking proper motivation and inspiration. We're using LifeWay's Outrigger Island. Living in Florida, the theme is super easy to use and super easy to be complacent about. That is, unless you take off for a beach trip!

I need beach sand and sea shells for decorations, so why not get some fresh from Sanibel Island?

So now, I must get back to work. I have a lot to do to be ready to miss a half day of work before a big meeting. Isn't strange how much work it takes to be able to take a vacation?