cheval glass

Thankful

We took some time off last week for the holidays and I took some time off from my computer. I've fully recognized the fact that I do not truly rest if I do not literally "unplug" from the virtual world!

I had some time to reflect on what I am most thankful for this year and here is what I came up with in no particular order. I am most thankful this year for...

• the man I married almost 15 years ago - our struggles have refined not defined our love for each other.
• the two children that God blessed me with to be their mother - they reveal to me everyday the divine and perfect design of God the Creator.
• a church family that truly exhibits the love of Christ to me - encouragement, love, and support are their traits - not criticism and negativity.
• friends that stay connected regardless of the miles (you know who you are!)
• family that shares what they have with each other - not out of obligation, but out of genuine love and support.
• a God and Friend who has been right there with me through all my immature tantrums, pride, selfish ways and general times of discouragement - not with a heavy hand, but with arms of love and security. 

Pray and Tell the Stories

Now that my brain is REALLY thinking on a school year calendar, I was giving some thought to what this year holds for me. I was praying for our church and for my hubby as we approach our 2nd Year Anniversary as a church campus. I just simply asked God,"What do you want me to focus on this year? What is my role in this amazing thing that is LCC - Hilton Head Island?" I have to ask these questions because I can get REALLY busy doing a lot of good things, but not even crack the service of what is the BEST thing - or rather - the God-designed thing I should be doing. Over the last couple of days, God has brought clarity to that for me. PRAY and TELL THE STORIES. Now, the prayer thing...we all need to pray. That is not what He was saying to me. I really feel like God is leading me to pray in a way that requires so much more intentionality on my part as well as for me as a church leader to GIVE opportunity for our people to pray. He also spoke to me about being much more intentional in telling the stories of our people. In every church that I have served, this was a HUGE part of our DNA. We shared them in staff meeting, we shared them on Sundays, we shared them all the time. We have shared some stories, but I want to make this THE THING that I focus on with our church campus this year.  Our tagline here at LCC is "Lives are Changing." Well, let's talk about that and let people hear about it ALL THE TIME! So, that is my plan this year.  Has God given you some specifics this year for your personal life or ministry? I would love to hear them...

Wasbi Gospel Book Bomb - TODAY!

I love the way Shawn Wood communicates. He is one of those rare people who I believe is an excellent verbal communicator as well as an author. Reading his books are like hearing him speak and I like that. TODAY is the Book Bomb at Amazon.com....CLICK HERE to buy the book and I am telling you, YOU NEED to get this book!  It is difficult growing up in church, being around church, and working at a church my entire adult life to not become callous and "Yeah, I've heard that before..." The 1st couple of chapters of this book absolutely gave me the smack in my face that I needed right now in my life.  I like books that cut through the facade and say it. This is one of my favorite quotes from Sean in the book..." I like butter statements. I like the teachings of Jesus being churned down into an easy-to-swallow action step that I can add to the top of my already fat life as a spiritual topping. I guess sometimes I don't like getting slapped with the truth of what Jesus is really saying..." Wasabi Gospel  (pg.6) This is true for me. I don't want to deal with forgiveness, anger, bitterness...just give me a quick 3 points and an illustration so I can feel better...I hate to admit, but Sean is right. This is what we do as Christians - at least I do. I've been chewing on this "forgiveness" thing a lot. Last week's message at church was on this subject and then I have been reading this book.  This is what I need right now and Sean's book has just complemented what God has already been doing in my life. Need some water in your face? Get this book.

It started on a bike ride - Pt. 3

Today is my final post about my retreat day. I felt led to continue reading in Philippians 4...I had never read THE MESSAGE version of verse 13..."Whatever I have, where ever I am, I can make it through anything in the ONE who makes me who I am." I just kept reading that over and over again...memorizing it. I very quickly realized that this chapter was the passage of scripture that God wanted me to mediate on for the rest of my time. Here are the nuggets I gleaned...

• Don't waver in Your dependence on me, Cynthia...Steady as she goes!
• Get over offenses with others...grow up!
• Celebrate me...delight in the fact that you are my child.
• Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers (exact quote from THE MESSAGE)
• My peace will take the center of your life..not your stress.
• I will bring harmony to your life - all the pieces flowing together to make beautiful music.

I ended my time with Psalm 23 and this brought it all into focus. Verse 1 says, "God, my Shepherd...I don't need a thing." I began to write down all the things that I have...food, clothing, shelter, health, children, love, family, job...I was so overwhelmed with God's goodness to me. I finished my bike ride, returned home, and then drove to my favorite beach, Islanders Beach, and walked about 4 miles and just enjoyed the sun. I spent that time thanking God for the morning, for some specific things he had taught me, and watching all the vacationers enjoy their time at the beach.

In conclusion, if you have never taken a few hours like I did to get away with God...DO IT! I caught my breath (Ps 23:3) & I cannot tell you how much I needed the refreshment. If you do it, let me know how it goes!

It started on a bike ride - Pt. 2

I took my journal and my iphone with me on my bike ride and stopped at Spring Lake to sit for awhile. My friend, Jan, really encouraged me to just listen for God...to be silent...to be patient. I watched the activity on the lake...fish jumping out of the water and birds dive bombing the lake to get them. I didn't know who to cheer for - the bird to get one or the fish to get away!  As I sat there, I just drank in the beauty of that lake and the peacefulness of it all. I really don't know how long I sat just watching the lake, but then my thoughts began to turn to how much I missed having time like this to sit....and then God starting speaking to me again. He said, "Cynthia, I have so much I want to say to you, but you are very distracted with noise. I am not taking about your kids, your job, or your responsibilities...I'm talking about your thought life." He brought me to Philippians 4:8. I love YouVersion. It is the greatest app for me because of the ability to view so many different translations of the Bible. I was drawn to THE MESSAGE version of this verse...

"I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse."

This is a familiar verse to me. I've always used this verse as a standard for information intake...I would call it "The Philippians 4:8 test." Honestly, I haven't "taken the test" in awhile with regard to my life as a whole. God began to reveal to me how much of the negatives of life I had been focussing on...the economy, my recent friends' marriages unraveling, our personal finances, raising the kids...pretty much all the big stuff. Then came the BIG hammer..."Cynthia, the noise I am REALLY talking about...is your TV. You are filling what empty space you have with TV and there is no room for me to speak to you." Now, here's the deal. I don't watch a lot of TV. News in the morning...DVR old movies and Seinfeld...but I have an awful time falling asleep. I have Panic Anxiety Disorder so bedtime is the hardest part of the day for me. Mine is genetic and a generally mild case, but still something I deal with everyday. So I have the TV on at night when I am trying to fall asleep...not really watching, just on...noise. This is a bad habit I started when I was nursing Sydney 5 years ago. I would be awake with her, and then try to go back to sleep and the panic anxiety would hit me. So how do I stop? I'm canceling everything but basic cable (local channels.) No more DVR.   Now before you start thinking I'm freaking out, Todd and I had been discussing this for about a week. We are such internet people that we weren't using our cable very much. We have been trying to continue to cut our monthly expenses (Thanks, Dave!) and this is a HUGE expense. So, this was confirmation for me. Our cable gets cut off today, so it starts today. I'll let you you know how it goes.

But that was just the beginning of God revealing truth to me from Philippians 4...

It started on a bike ride - Pt. 1

No Sunday Recap today as I was not in church yesterday. I took a spiritual retreat morning over the same hours that I normally am serving each week at LCC. I was overwhelmed at how much God had to say to me in such a short time, and I'd like to share pieces of  it over the next week here at cheval glass...one post could not contain it! I focused on 3 statements (Thanks, Beth!) all morning.

1. God, I just want to be with You.
2. God, I need Your guidance.
3. Lord, I want to feel Your love.

I grew up out in the sticks of South Louisiana...hot, humid, no breeze...summers were awful. The one thing that brought relief was riding a bike. I grew up in the day when it was safe for little girls to ride for miles, and that it was I did. We lived out in the country and I would ride for hours. It was during this time that I started just talking to God. I would share my thoughts, my worries, and my dreams. This is how I learned to pray...on long bike rides. Skip forward 22 years or so (!) to where I live now on Hilton Head Island. So much of this place reminds me of home (except this is a lot prettier, and then there's the beach!) We have miles of back paths all over the Island and the Plantation (or subdivision) that we live in has beautiful bike paths. Our new house is just outside of the bike path so I can easily jump on it and ride for miles. I started my day on my bike and I rode and talked to God.  Here is what God said to me. "Cynthia, I've missed our bike rides. Did you ever think that maybe the reason I have brought you to this Island is because I wanted you to get back on your bike and talk to me like you did when you were a kid? I look forward to those times together again. They are my favorite. " I felt the 1st statement immediately. And that was just the beginning...

I'm flying the coop

Well, just for one Sunday...I am taking a personal retreat tomorrow morning and I AM PUMPED. Thanks to 3 great chic worship leader friends (Jan Owen, Kim Bontrager, and Beth Brawley) I have some direction on what tomorrow morning should be for me. My team at LCC-Hilton Head Campus is going to ROCK the house (we have a new guitar player and my friend, Dean is playing sax tomorrow!) I love being able to leave and know that the services are going to be BETTER than if I was actually there! Rob Jacobs, our High School Pastor, is leading worship and my fabulous intern, Emily, is the musical director. No twitters or live blogging for me tomorrow...just me and my God somewhere on this Island. I can't wait, Father. See you in the AM!

I'm just sick

Not physically...although, I have a rotten feeling in the pit of my stomach. In the last 3 weeks, I have seen 4 Christian marriages fall a part. Yeah, it happened before that, but I just found out about it. We have become callous as a society, even in the church, to hearing the stories..."So-and-so did this and now this...and the kids are ..." It stinks BIG TIME. I walked this journey as a young adult within my own family...I'm one of the blessed ones that got to witness God's grace and restoration in our family. Not everyone gets that ending to their story. People ask, "What happened?" No offense, but honestly folks, do you not know? Does your own marriage not give you the perspective that if it were not for God's grace, we would ALL be in the same boat? I guess other people have their act together better than I do. Todd and I are flawed people. We have produced 2 flawed children. We are all sinful people and one stupid mistake away from totally wrecking our lives and our children's lives. My heart is breaking for my friends.  I called Todd today and just confessed to him that I take him for granted and I apologized. I thanked him for being a great husband and a great Father. I told him that I respected him and that I was so thankful for God's grace is our lives. So if you are married, stop and tell your spouse how much you appreciate them. Yes, they are flawed and not perfect...neither are you.

Settled

Todd has used this word a lot in the last few months. I'm not a huge fan of this word and I am not sure really what it means. I have used this word before and everything opposite of this word started to unfold in my life.  This is the last word I would use to describe my life pretty much since 2003. Don't get me wrong...These last 6 years have ROCKED! So much adventure, change, out-on-the-ledge living...no regrets AT ALL. But I'm starting to realize that I have entered a different season of life now. Sydney starts Kindergarten in August...our church campus is 2 years old...Sean is no longer a baby...and we bought a house in a horrible economy (we got a GREAT deal!) So, there it is...I put it out there. No guarantees that it will apply to our lives for very long, and honestly, I'm cool if it doesn't :)

Fresh Blood

When I arrived in Hilton Head 2 years and 2 months ago, the thing everyone kept telling me was, "You will never find any musicians." Yeah...that is what you want to hear as a worship leader. I got on my knees for the 6 months before we launched our campus and prayed for God to send them. I told him I would use them if he sent them. Out of the 20 months that our campus has existed, I have gone only 2 Sundays without anyone on stage with me and 1 of those was a service outside at the beach.  I am losing Rob our cellist to college, Susan our flautist to a job transfer, and Carma our Lead Producer to a job transfer this summer...I'm grieving. Not only are they wonderful artists, but they were the 1st ones to say "Sure, I'll join the team."  But God keeps doing His thing and sending, as I call it, "Fresh blood." I have 2 new bass players joining us this summer, a worship intern who plays drums, keys, and sings, and a guitarist who also plays drums.  I write this post to give God the glory...100 percent. I also write it to encourage all Worship leaders and Worship Arts Directors to pray...just ask God for what you need.  I also encourage you to use who God has sent you. Have extra rehearsals...spend time with them...put them with a more experienced person on your team so they can learn. I do my best to find places for everyone who wants to use their artistic gifts for God. The key there is "gift."  I am looking for gifted people. I am looking for people who have ability and maybe need some development or opportunity to grow.  The pros on our team are so willing to help guide the younger ones on our team...it really overwhelms me to see their servant's hearts. I pray everyday for musicians, tech people, producers, and artists in the low country to find their way to LowCountry Community Church.  I love my job.

Are you praying for "Fresh Blood?"