Here is the information to sign-up online for the 2010 marathon aid station and below are a few details on what will happen race day.
It’s quick and easy, just click this link: Illinois Marathon Volunteer Sign-up, select “Grace Community Church” for the Group Name, and enter the password: findinggrace
You will be asked to fill out a form, including shirt size for your volunteer shirt, and that’s it! You will receive a confirmation e-mail after signing up. Everyone needs to sign up individually, this lets the marathon organizers know that the aid station will be fully staffed and makes sure you get a t-shirt in the correct size : )
Some details…
The Illinois Marathon is Saturday May 1st, 2010. We are at the same site as last year (north side of Kirby, just west of Duncan), but due to course changes our aid station is mile 19.1 (last year we were mile 15). We should have a schedule similar to last year. The runners have 4 more miles to reach our aid station, but the race starts a half hour earlier, so we should see our first runner at 9:15-9:30 and the last one somewhere around 12:30. The crazy busy time will be about 10-11 and we should be cleaned up and done by 1:00. If your schedule is tight and you are able to help during the busy time (10-11), that would be great. We will need some people to come early to setup, so let me know if you can do this (7:30-8ish).
If you have any questions, please come talk to me. That’s about it. Sign-up, it will be a blast!!
It’s already been an exciting year in 2010 as we continue to enjoy sweet fellowship at Grace and are seeing God birth many great things! We have hit the ground running with weekly youth group meetings on Sunday night and I have to say that every week I have more and more fun with this great group of students. Another exciting happening is our joining with LifeChurch.tv and their online church by hosting a weekly service. We hosted our first official experience this past Wednesday and it has already been an amazing blessing and will no doubt continue to blow us away as we connect with people from all over the world! I hope that you have enjoyed this year so far and that you will pursue one thing that God lays on your heart.
One of my favorite books that I read last year was “Dangerous Wonder” by the late Michael Yaconelli.
This book helped me to see the wonder and absolute joy of my relationship with God, and discover childlike faith.It also made me examine areas of my life.
Michael writes about four obstacles that get in the way of adults living a childlike faith.
One of those is “The obstacle of the banal: we become so immersed in our culture and in the material needs and wants of life, that we fail to live in abject dependence on God for every breath of air and every bite of bread.”
The quote from the book that has stuck with me most is; “When our possessions possess us- imprison us- risk and adventure become impossible.”Wow, he is talking about financial margin and all my stuff.This quote drove a deep desire to develop a plan that would pay off all of my family’s debt, including our mortgage.That way Terry and I will have major margin in our finances, and be ready for whatever adventure God has for us.That excites me!!We are not there yet, but I can already imagine the freedom that will bring.
Are you at a place where your stuff is imprisoning you?If God were to present a risk or adventure to you today, would you decline because of your stuff or would you be free to take the leap of faith He is asking?
Tonight is the launch of Grace Community’s church online experience through Lifechurch.tv! I am so excited. So excited in fact that all day yesterday I was singing an adaptation of little orphan Annie’s song, “Tomorrow, Tomorrow, our online church launch is tomorrow!”
I am amazed at the many ways that it is possible for us to take hope, peace, truth…salvation to people around the world. Everyday individuals meet up at church online and get to see glimpses of who our God is. God told us in Mark 16:15, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone.” It excites me that this avenue is reaching the people who maybe wouldn’t set foot into a church or maybe those people who just accidentally stumble onto the website. Church Online is connecting people and bringing community in such unique way. Last week we had a run through of an online experience and even during the run through, which wasn’t publicized, there were 44 people from 7 different countries. One of those 44 people became a Christ follower!!! I hope that we keep creating and exploring new ways to bring “the Good News” to the world that God created.
If you can, join us tonight (or any Wednesday night) at 10:00pm for Church Online!
One of my last courses in graduate school was a research and data analysis class. As part of the course, the professor required us to review the work of researchers in a newer branch of psychology called “positive psychology”. The basic aim of research in positive psychology is answering the question of, “What makes people happy?” This week I was reminded of the research of one particular researcher named Barry Schwartz “The Paradox of Choice” In his research he has found that more options for choices can seem like a much better chance for happiness, but actually generally leads to less satisfaction with the choices made. This seems to be caused by the nagging feeling that with so many options when you choose one you might be missing out on something else. He calls this, “Doing better and feeling worse.” Although this research seems new to the world, a simple review of the book of Ecclesiastes shows us that “there is nothing new under the sun” and that having more is not necessarily “better”.
Craig gave us a great challenge of longing and thirsting for what is “better” this week. He challenged the idea that is promoted in the world that happiness means having more, or something, newer, or bigger. More or less Craig made an argument that happiness is found in having what is “better”, but “better” does not necessarily mean that which is the newest and most advanced or most endorsed. ”Better” was not in having anything but in being rooted in one thing: connection with God. Over and over in scripture we see the principle that we will be blessed (which means “happy” or “fulfilled”) whenever we “Lean not into our own understanding” (Proverbs 3:1-10) or “seek first the kingdom of God” (Matthew 6:33). I think the apostle Paul puts it well in Philippians 4:11-13 when he says that he has “learned to be content in all things…” because he knows that he “can do all things through Christ who strengthens” him. You see, when we know and are connected to the source of happiness, we are blessed and life is “better” regardless of what things we do or do not have.
What are some ways that we can find what is “better”?
Week #3 of Margin was a good challenge for me. I like the simplicity of “if you don’t have financial margin you either have to make more money or spend less”. If you could not be with us you can watch the message at http://findinggrace.com/messages/
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Illinois Marathon - We need 30 volunteers to help with an Aid Station on Saturday, May 1st. You can sign up at the church this coming Sunday. We need 10 more volunteers to join us the first Saturday of May.
Housing for University Students - A group of 40 University Students will arrive in Champaign on March 13 and need housing for a couple of nights. The group will be in Champaign working at our church and in the community. Your responsibility will primarily be housing. Some transportation will be needed but the group will have vans rented to take care of the majority of the transportation needs. Please let me know how many students you could house and if you have a preference of male or female.
2009 Contribution Letters - 2009 Contributions letter are available. Look for Mary Howard this coming Sunday to pick up yours.
Church Online Launch - Pray for our church online team as we go live this week! Our team is running the Wednesday, 10:00pm experience. Invite a friend to join you this week at church online! If you can’t join us at 10pm….no worries! There are over 30 church online experiences every week. Check out the schedule at http://internet.lifechurch.tv/times/
I really don’t like the phrase “it is what it is” it sounds like defeat to me. Lately I have found myself wanting to say “it is what it is”. When I find myself about to say that I always stop and ask God to help me see things through new eyes. People also say “life happens” and lately life has happened in crazy unexpected ways. I can say with confidence that if it were not for the margin built into my schedule I would have lost my way the past few weeks. I try to build space in the schedule for the unexpected, the holy, and sometimes not so holy, interruptions. A few years back I had no margin, no breathing space on the calendar and it completely stressed me out and distracted me from spiritual things. I thank God that He got my attention and taught me a better way. I love that I am now in a place where I can build in margin and help those around me to be intentional to have margin in their life.
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full. John 10:10
This past week’s message, Margin- Scheduling Margin, was major convicting for me.For much of my adult life, I have been the “Queen of Busy”.I am not sure why, but often if I am not busy doing, I feel as though I am not being productive. Sometimes I subconsciously act or feel like the world would probably fall apart if I am unproductive for an hour or morning or even a day.Wow!How prideful and arrogant is that statement? I act like the God of The Universe; Creator of Everything can’t handle things while I take a time out and rest.Are there any other “Kings or Queens of Busy” out there?
As I reflect on this past decade of my life, I realize that God has been working on getting rid of the busyness, so that I can have time for the important stuff.It has not been easy, and many of the decisions that were about time, were also about money.
What has helped most in making major changes is seeking God’s wisdom before making changes or committing to something else.Searching scripture for guidance, seeking wise counsel and just spending time with God are tools that have worked well.
One thing I learned early in the business world was that if someone wanted my answer immediately without time to review all the information, saying “No” was the wisest answer.Slowly, I am learning to apply that principle to my everyday life.
I love the simple questioned posed in this week’s message; “In light of _____, is it wise?”Fill in the blank with whatever applies; your family situation, your health, your finances, whatever the important things are in your life.Most likely, you can answer that question without thinking twice.
If not, I highly recommend getting your nose in the bible, seeking wise counsel and spending some time seeking God’s wisdom.
James 3:17says But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.
This week has been a hard week for me. For no particular reason, my thoughts have been consumed with memories of my brother and with wishing that he were still here. I have just felt really sad and really alone. This morning I was laying in bed and the lyrics of My Beloved kept playing over and over in my head, “You’re my beloved, you’re my bride. To sing over you is my delight.” This song was stuck in my head through out the day.
I went to the gym, and after my work out I met a lady named Charlotte. She walked up behind me and said, “Is that a child?” People always mistake me for a 12 year old so I just looked up at her with a confused stare. She clarified by pointing at the T-shirt I was wearing. The shirt had been made by some of my brother’s friends in his memory. We started talking about my brother and my life after his death. It turns out Charlotte had also lost a brother and has had a hard time dealing with it. She was telling me that her biggest struggle is wanting to know why. I have dealt with why…Get no where with why…Daily struggle to get beyond asking why. I told her that I had to give up on asking why and the way that I was able to do that was by clinging to the hope that I had in God. “I sing over you my song of peace. Cast all of your cares down at my feet. Come and find your rest in Me.”
Charlotte looked really confused by my answer but before I could explain further, she sat her book and water bottle down and gave me a hug. I laid my head on her shoulder and we just stood there. “You’re my beloved, you’re my bride. To sing over you is my delight. Come and find your rest in me.” I became really emotional, because at this moment when I was so low, God did something really beautiful. He used me to share about how He was my only source of strength, and at the same time He was using Charlotte to remind me of that exact same thing! God reminded me, “I’ll breathe My life inside of you. I’ll bear you up on eagle’s wings and hide you in the shadow of My strength. I’ll take you to my quiet waters. I’ll restore your soul. Come rest in Me and be made whole.”
I am completely amazed at how God loves me (and you) and goes to great lengths to comfort me, complete me, give me peace…restore my soul.
“Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” -Matthew 11:28-30
Week 2 of Margin was a message that was both inspirational and very challenging. He asked us who wished they had more time and then pointed out that most of us probably wouldn’t spend that time resting. I began to remember the point in my life (somewhere during college) when my “time off” really became time that I would try to catch up on work I had missed. Long gone were the days from grade school when a day off meant seeing just how late I could sleep in or spending the day having fun with family and friends. Then, as I finished school and began to work for a nonprofit the demands of our grant from the State of Texas were high. I distinctly remember more than one Friday when I had worked well over 50 hours for the week and still had a long list of things to accomplish. I was left to choose between more time at the office that would shorten that list or go home to enjoy my family that I had seen very little of. When I was able to gain the perspective that there would always be more work (I would never be completely caught up) and that my daughter wasn’t getting any younger the choice was simple. I made the decision (even though it wasn’t always popular with my supervisors) that I would not allow my work to take more time away from my family than I had to.
Two challenges that Craig gave us were to make sure that we guard the time we have with the most important things such as our family time. This reminded me of a song by Brad Paisley called Time Well Wasted in which the singer speaks of how glad he is for the work he didn’t accomplish by spending his time elsewhere. Then Craig spoke of scheduling intentional times of rest and how taking rest as commanded by God blesses the rest of our time (the reason that Chick-Fil-A isn’t open on Sundays).
These were very challenging points for me and I hope that I can have plenty of time well wasted this week, and that I will allow some good things to go undone so that I will have time for the best things. How can you create margin in your schedule to have time for the most important things? What are those most important things?
