Love in LoCo

Over the past week I’ve had the pleasure of experiencing several ministry “wins”.  The first came in the form of an email early last week.  One of the middle school girls who had attended the Huddle Leader Boost  earlier this month reached out for the name of one of the resources that we talked about at the event in our “Knowing Your Bible” session.  Any time a 13-year-old girl wants to know about resources to help her get into and understand God’s Word more, that is a huge win!  The next day I had a chance to follow up with her at River Bend Middle School’s huddle and give her an FCA Athlete’s devotional book to encourage her in her time with the Lord.  The devotion at the huddle that morning was led by 7 th graders Jonathan and Brian, who also attended the Huddle Boost.  It has been so amazing to see these boys step out to lead with such enthusiasm, especially knowing that neither has been a believer for very long.  While both boys have grown ...

My favorite scene in C.S. Lewis’s book, The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe is when the children are learning about Aslan, the Christ figure in the books, for the first time.  In the scene, Susan, Lucy, and their brothers are talking to Mr. and Mrs. Beaver, who inform them that Aslan is likely not exactly what they expect: “Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion." "Ooh" said Susan. "I'd thought he was a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion"... "Safe?" said Mr. Beaver ..."Who said anything about safe? 'Course he isn't safe. But he's good. He's the King, I tell you.” He’s not safe.  But He’s the King.  How often do I live in a way that equates safety with God’s goodness?  I mean, this is crazy thinking, right?  But don’t we all feel this way sometimes?  Even though the Bible clearly says that following Jesus means taking up your cross (which doesn’t sound very safe to me)...

Every once in a while I have days where I am overwhelmed with gratitude that I get to do the job that I do.  Obviously, I’m thankful that I have a job in the first place.  But as an introvert working in ministry, particularly in this role where I’m constantly reaching out to coaches and students, it can be overwhelming at times.  But when I get to see the impact – students making decisions to follow Jesus and those who are already believers being encouraged to take Jesus back to their school campus – those are the moments I know I will carry with me forever.  This past Saturday, January 13, we hosted over 70 students from all over Northern VA and DC at the RAC gym at George Mason University.  From 10am to 6pm, students played games, learned, and were encouraged not only in their personal walks with Christ but also in their role as a leader on their campuses.  We started the morning with Tanya Crevier, a talented performer and speaker who shared her baske...

This morning while on the treadmill I listened to the latest episode of my favorite podcast, That Sounds Fun.  The podcast, hosted by Christian author and speaker Annie F. Downs, is equal parts hilarious and thought provoking and new episodes are released almost every Thursday.  Today’s episode was an interview with pastor and author John Mark Comer on the practice of Sabbath.  I’ll be honest, I am not very good at making this a habit in my life, especially now that my job is not 9-5, Monday through Friday (not that teaching was…#grading).  It’s not that I wasn’t warned about this when I went into ministry.  Sabbath was a major topic of discussion in our “Fit to Lead” workshop on spiritual and physical health during my new hire training at the National Support Center back in October.  We then talked about it again at our annual regional conference in November.  Furthermore, my director reminds us all of the time that we should be taking a day away fro...

Last year for Christmas my mom gave my sisters and me a cute little plastic jar with post-its attached.  I think she had seen the idea on Pinterest and thought it might be a good way to keep track of things we’re thankful for throughout the year.  I keep mine on my desk where I read my Bible in the morning and as I’m praying, I’ll often look up and be reminded of something I can write down.  I don’t do it every day, but probably one or two a week throughout the year.  Then yesterday, because of the snow (ahem dusting and cold temps) day, I had a couple of morning meetings get cancelled so, with this bit of extra time on my hands, I decided to go back through my little notes of thankfulness from 2017.  It was such a huge blessing!  I know it’s good to write things down, prayers and blessings, because we’re so prone to forget having things written down gives us the ability to look back and see where God has shown up and answered prayers in the past....