FI-NAL-LY

My chest was heaving for air and I was trying to relax while clinging to the side of the pool.  There were little kids swimming around like fish, while I was hanging unto the edge for dear life.

It all started back when I was a pre-teen. Since then  I have always LOVED the water, especially pools!  Water has always been so relaxing. Because of all my back problems, pools have been a place of relief for me.  So while I was recovering from my surgeries in high school, my parents installed a LARGE above-ground pool in our backyard.  It was 5ft deep but I could stand and be okay.  It was soooo much fun.  Some of my favorite memories involve that pool!

Ironically, I couldn't really swim. I did take some swimming lessons one summer but I never learned what I needed to.  I could hold my breath and swim across the narrow part but then I would stand up and that would be the end of it.  I never learned to come up for air and swim again.  In fact, I had this fear of swimming in water that I could not stand in.

So as soon my kids were born, I looked into swim lessons for them.  My 1 year old can float like a boat and my 3-year-old son can swim and rescue-float himself.  It's pretty amazing. To get where they are now, they had to go through some intense lessons. There were lots of tears but now we see the result! They are like fish in the water.

I personally have always wanted to learn, and even more than that, I wanted to beat my fear.  So this summer when I signed up my kiddos for lessons, I signed up myself too!  I figured I shouldn't expect my kids to do something that I myself was not willing to do.  So, there I was taking swim lessons and sneaking off to practice while my husband watched the kids.

It's been a journey.  I have not reached where I would like to be, but the day finally came!

I knew I didn't have much time. The kids were sleeping and their daddy was home for only a short time.  I had just enough time for a few laps.  I decided that "TODAY was the day."  I was going to swim half way across, take a breather and swim the other half.  I had done the first half many times. I would swim and come up for air several times until I got half way. I was comfortable doing this because I knew I could still stand if I needed ot 

So I did a little more then the first half and then swam to the side to get a breath.  I couldn't stand at this point so, with my chest panting for air, I clung unto the side of the pool and breathed.  Finally, a little girl came by and asked to go by.  I knew that I needed to finish the job.  So I took a deep breath and dove in.  I swam and came up for breath a few times until I could almost touch the wall.  It was a beautiful moment to reach out and grab the wall and know that I had finally done it.

29 years later, I beat the beast.  I still have a lot to do.  I want to get to the point where I am strong enough to do the full lap without resting, but I can now swim even when I can't touch the bottom!  YAY!

It was a big day!  What about you?  Is there something you need to beat?  Is there something you have always wanted to do?  It's not too late. You're still breathing. Give it a try :-) - Rejoicing in the Present

Ps. Since writing the above post, I have become quite comfortable with the deep end. I am even "trying to learn" to do flips. :-) (It was a flop)  ...so for now I think I will stick with Cannon Balls. :-)

bAHamas moment #5

Our time in the Bahamas was amazing.  We all had a blast serving with Liberty Baptist to try to win the souls of local youth.  We went out soul-winning in the morning, spent the afternoon planning, and put on a big youth rally at night. 

The church is in a poorer area.  The streets are very narrow and not always well taken care of.  The flowers and trees are gorgeous and the people seem to take care of what is given them. ...but it's a normal life to not have air-conditioning and to live with less. 

We spent over a week ministering, laughing, and enjoying the Bahamian people.  On the last day, a few of the people expressed an interest in seeing the Atlantis Hotel that you always see advertised on TV.  So we decided to go tour it. 

We went over a large bridge to get to it and almost immediately saw a difference. The streets were much wider and everything was well kept up.  The grass was perfectly green and cut in a professional way.   The buildings were painted and everything had a touch of elegance to it.  When we walked through the shopping area, you could see a fake portrayal of perfection. 

As we walked down the boardwalk to the hotel we saw yachts lined up next to each other, many of them worth over 100 million dollars.  I noticed a few people sitting on their decks; they were busy on their electronics. 


As I continued to watch people, I didn't see a lot of joy or peace. When we arrived at the hotel, we had to walk through the casino to see other parts of it and many in our group expressed a feeling of darkness while walking through. 

As we toured Atlantis, all I could think about was what Solomon wrote...

"Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity."   The people looked empty; there wasn't real joy in their faces.  They all looked like they were trying to keep up with each other. 

Ahhh... it hit me.  #5.  Life isn't always what it looks like.  It may look like perfection, with extravagance, brand-name everything and people waiting on you, but it's empty. 

You may think that the grass is greener on the other side but usually that's because there is a septic tank right under your neighbor's lawn.  

That resort was trying to sell a perfect "Bahamas experience"; however it wasn't even the real Bahamas.  It was faux perfection. 

Interestingly enough, when we came out of the hotel we walked right past those yachts where some of the same people were sitting in the same spot, not interacting with each other but playing on their electronics.  They looked bored and unhappy.

Yet I saw more people laughing and giggling and having a blast at our youth rally on the "poor" side of town. 

After living there for a week, it wasn't hard to sniff out the falseness. 

However, I wonder if I would have seen it if I had gone directly to Atlantis.  The world will try to sell it to you. 

• Come; gamble; you will be the one to win. 
• If you look like us, you will be happy.
• Have a party. Get drunk on the beach; that will make you happy. 
• If you spend $$$ on ______, you will be happy. 

But, my dear friend, joy comes from the Lord and from salvation.  We had a hard week but a full week.  We had joy, real joy.  The joy that comes from your salvation and seeing the souls of others coming to salvation.  I would not have wanted to be on the other side.  I was blessed to be on the Fox Hill side of town.  - Rejoicing in the Present

bAHAmas moment #4

One of my favorite AHA moments is #4:  "Take away all electronics, stick a bunch of teens in a room with a beach ball and it can entertain them for WEEKS."

So there we were broken down on the side of the street. We found a blow-up bat and an empty water bottle and played baseball. 

Then at the church, we were stranded every afternoon because of the bus situation. Our teens found a beach ball and some hula hoops and we played every game you could think of. 

From volleyball to taps, to Hula Haphazardness to Dodge Ball to "make it up as you go along," the young people and some of us "not-so-young" people played, laughed, teased, joked and had good clean fun.  I'm sure those memories are going to last forever. 

Give a child an empty box and a spoon and he will play for hours. Give a child a room full or toys and she will come crying in 30 minutes that there is nothing to play with. 

The youth really bonded because they had to talk to each other face to face.  They played together.  They were a team.  They teased and laughed together.  They built forever memories. - Rejoicing in the Present

bAHAmas moment #3

When we arrived in Nassau, we got lunch and waited for the missionaries to pick us up.  We soon realized that something was amiss, as we waited for more than an hour longer than had been agreed upon. 

We found out that the church bus was having issues and they had to continually pull over.  Once we were picked up, we pulled over two times to give the bus a rest. Finally we continued on our way again; when we did, the driver opened the radiator cap which happened to be on the inside of the bus.  There was a small explosion of water and steam gushing out.  Someone yelled "everyone out" and we trampled over each other to do so.  A few of the guys just jumped out the windows. 

We laughed over our silliness.  The emergency evacuation was not necessary but our laughter soon turned into gravity when we realized that the bus was done for.  We waited on the side of the road for a few hours while the church rounded up some people to pick us up. 

This was the beginning of some "earthly" issues that we had.  One of our sweet ladies struggled with dizziness all week due to the heat and her blood pressure pills, while most everyone else just struggled with the heat. 


With the bus down, we were not able to pick up kids to bring them to our youth rallies.  We were discouraged by this fact but kept plodding along. 

Although I had always known this fact, my AHA moment #3 was a good reminder.  "No matter what life throws at you, remember there is a God Who is bigger."

Our youth rally had an incredible turnout.  Over the course of the week, we had 20 young people come to Christ.  The last night we had 100 attending.  We had two huge lists of contacts to leave for the church to followup on; the exciting part was that since we couldn't pick any kids up, their parents either dropped them off or they walked, which is unheard of there. 

Our lemons seemed a bit sour when they were handed to us, but God made the most delicious lemonade out of them. - Rejoicing in the Present

bAHAmas moment #2

"Here am I Lord, send YOU.  Here am I Lord, send YOU..." 

This is my son's version of a portion of a Patch the Pirate song, which really goes "Here am I, Lord, send ME."

The first couple times that he sang it, I laughed loudly, but the more that he sang it, the more it didn't sit well in my stomach.  It hit me that this is the song on our hearts. 

"Lord, I'm here, I want to be used... but send someone else to do that hard work.   I'll give, I'll pray, but going... well that's just too hard, God."

"I want everyone to see what a great Christian that I am so I will announce that I'm a good Christian.  I will be in church.  I will give money, but "go"... well that "going" business is for someone else down the pew. 


Getting on the plane with two little children, one who has had too many medical problems recently, is frightening.  Listening to my children fret due to the heat is hard.  Watching my daughter learn to walk in a room full of metal chairs is a bit scary. 

...a different place, a different culture...

It was far from "easy" but it was so worth it.  To see the lives that were changed while we were there, to see God's protection on our little family, to know that we were where we were supposed to be was so reassuring. Easy, no, rewarding, YES!

Just this morning, our Pastor quoted C.T. Studd.  "Some wish to live within the sound of church or chapel bell.  I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of Hell."

What is the song of our hearts? - Rejoicing in the Present

bAHAmas moment #1

"My sweat is sweating" - This phrase was coined by Momma Jo on our missions trip to the Bahamas.  It was the best description of how hot we were at times.  We joked that people paid for sauna treatments but if they were $$-savvy, they could just get in a hot vehicle in the Bahamas for a  few minutes and get the same effect.  I believe that I sweated every toxin that was present out of my body.  It was insane!

The very first day and night, I struggled immensely, but within a few days, I was learning tricks to stay cool.  I would take a shower before I went to sleep at night and during the day, I tried shade and air flow tricks to keep cooler.  Yes, we fought heat rashes but we adapted.  We learned to do with less. 

I was reminded how spoiled I am.  I couldn't turn the faucet on and drink any old time.  All their water and pretty much everything has to be imported to the island. The cost of a small jar of peanut butter is $10.  The price of most food is QUITE ridiculous. 

I only packed so many items of clothing so I just kept washing and re-wearing the same shirts.  In the end I learned that I really could do with much less than I have. 

We are spoiled. 

So what am I going to do about that?

Live with less? 

How can I do that?

Maybe I can turn the air conditioning down.  Then I can take that extra money I save and use it for someone else. 

We CAN do with much less, and we can help more people. 

What can you cut out of your life? 

So blessed... now what am I going to do with that extra money I save?.... - Rejoicing in the Present

What is your church made up of?

What is your church made up of? 

Look around. 

Who attends? 

With whom do you connect? 

Who do you chat with? Who do you reach out to? Who puts a smile on your face?

Who doesn't fit into that box?

When someone comes in that smells a little funny or looks a little different, do you offer a seat next to you? 

Do you move?  

What is your reaction?

Recently, I was talking to a dear woman about a ministry that she is a part of.  The people live in a “rough” part of town and going there makes other church people noticeably uncomfortable.  As my friend was going around talking to various residents, she met a few ladies that were not your “typical” church goers.  They were a bit rough looking and probably did not know “church etiquette.” 

My friend had this SAD thought, "I wonder if these ladies would be welcome at our church."

When she told me this, I didn’t know whether to cry or scream!  These are the people that Jesus sat and ate with.  These are people that Jesus died for.

One of my favorite quotes is also my heartbeat  “The church is NOT a museum for saints but a hospital for sinners.”  When dear people with drug addictions come to our church, our arms should be held out open to them. When prostitutes come, we should surround them with REAL love and affection. When "sinners" come to church, we should cheer.

And my dear friend, may I remind you that YOU are a sinner.  You need Jesus like every other person does. 

The angels in heaven rejoiced when you came to Jesus; can you not have that same joy when another sinner joins the team?

Our whited sepulcher is not so white when we look through the eyes of God.  It’s full of sin and filth.  Yet we keep scrubbing the outside to make it look like it’s clean.  

Let’s be REAL!

We may be fooling another church member, but we are not fooling God.  

I may appear righteous but there is a lot of  sin growing inside.

We may think that we are better then those who have some obvious outward sin, but we were still born sinners and we still have those sin habits we have to fight every day.  (Praise the Lord, we have the Holy Spirit to fight them for us.)

Dear friends, let’s open our doors. 

Let’s be excited when the un-churched “dirty” up our pews.  Let’s love on them, pray with them, and celebrate with them the gift of grace!

I didn’t say be like them or party with them, I said to love on them, pray with them, and worship God with them. 

The hospital beds in our church should be full.  Let's get off our pedestals, clean out the museum and put out the beds.  I want my church to be the one that Jesus visits. - Rejoicing in the Present.

And Jesus answering said unto them, "They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick. I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." - Luke 5:31-32