You’ll need to following items to survive your first few semesters in Chi Alpha. Prep well and gather these essential items: New XA Shirt- Promoting your new logo is a secondary benefit of new Chi Alpha shirts. You need to make sure you have many of these around because you won’t be able to do laundry for a solid three weeks. Use the wear & air method; wear it once, air it out, wear it again. When in Rome, right?  Name tags- People think you need name tags to learn names. This rarely works, but we do it anyway. However, the pack of 500 name tags you’ll burn through is more there to remind you that this mission will begin to show you who the real you truly is, and more importantly, who God really is. Call on His name. We can’t do this gig without him, don’t try.  Duct tape- Every seasoned campus missionary stashes a role of duct tape in their supply bag for ministry events because you never know what you will need to repair. This also comes in handy to tape...

Whenever I smell cedar logs burning in a fire place, I am immediately brought back to sweet moments in my childhood. You see, my sister and I were lavishly loved by our pastor and his wife, something that we deeply needed. The church was huge and broadcasted live on TV each Sunday, but they made time for two little girls that they knew needed some extra loving. They even let us ‘adopt’ them as grandparents. I remember the days we would go to their house for a few hours. We got to play in their pantry and pretend it was a grocery store. We went on walks in their woods and he struggled to button my denim jacket because it was a little too cold to be outside with my jacket open. I remember their big, antique looking bathroom with a clawfoot tub and the big windows upstairs in his Study. I remember all the pretty things around the house. But I mostly remember the smell of cedar logs burning in the fireplace.  Maybe it’s just my own understanding of how heating with a fir...

I listened to Philippians today. It’s a letter from Paul to the church in Philippi. One theme stuck out to me: servanthood. Paul reminds the body of believers to serve others, to be humble, to work hard with your body and to take note of others doing the same, to become like Jesus even to the point of death. This seems to run perpendicular to the idea that “every knee shall bow at Jesus’ name”, but this is what we are called to do.  My mind wandered to the stage of life I am in currently and the tasks required of me to serve, tending to the needs of those that can’t quite take care of those needs all on their own yet. I wash bodies, clothes, sheets and towels, dishes, food, counters, floors, windows, myself, the dog, the sinks and tubs all these things are washed in, and even the car. I go through a lot of dish soap, vinegar and baking soda. I am beginning to realize that there is a lot of washing that happens in the Bible, too.  You see, we are cleaned by the was...

Since my youngest has been old enough to wiggle, I have continually found him laying down beneath the church pew. I have tried my best to silently wrestle markers, crayons, pens and pencils out of his hands before he left an everlasting impression upon the seats, but I am certain he scribbled on the bottom of the pew at least once already. One day, I just might get down there and take a look for myself.  Last Sunday, I snapped a picture of his view during service. We sit on the last row, so it showed all the rows ahead of us and it’s quite an interesting view. A low view. An unimpressive view. A quiet view. A grounded view.  Ben’s view made me think of how young children see people. They can’t tell the quality of our clothes or the status that we try to portray to other people. Kids can’t determine our value based on the cute shoes we wear, the loud voices we turn on, or the smart sounding words we employ. Kids are straightforward and honest. Their view is groun...

I have recently decided that not only do I not like to cook or do dishes, I also have started to dislike grocery shopping. My poor family. This comes at a rather inopportune time also, since we are trying to continue down the path of eating healthy. However, avocados and protein balls don’t come in packages ready to eat, nor do they arrive on my doorstep prepared. This food we all want to eat just seems to require attention I’d rather give to other things and my personal assistant hasn’t show up yet.  However, I think I have hit an all time low. I googled the most embarrassing thing this afternoon. You see, there wasn’t much left in the fridge or freezer because I avoid grocery shopping. But, being the good mom I am, I couldn’t let the kids go hungry. So I looked at the random foods we did have and asked google for help.  Did you know there are about four dozen websites that give you ideas on what to do with frozen chicken nuggets? Now you do. And now I know 11 dif...

14 years and 11 months. 179 months. 5449 days ago Gil and I got married. We were blessed with some amazing bridal showers and wedding gifts, all of which filled cabinets and closets with wonderful things that made our home comfortable. We had a big stack of navy blue towels, light blue towels, and a arm load of sheets. Large creamy blankets, dish towels, and cozy throw blankets for the couch. A large portion of those linens died miserable deaths over the years, but the blue towels and the creamy blankets still remain. I remember trying to use the towels without washing them (gross, I know, but I was a new wife and didn’t think about all the grossness hanging out on them) and how they left navy blue fuzz all over us. The blue towels taught me that new towels aren’t useful until they have been washed several times. These towels dried sweet baby faces, cleaned up mega messes, and have hung- practically every day- in my bathrooms for 15 years. Recently, they have been showing their a...

If you are looking for a sweet book to include in your upcoming Easter Baskets, check out When God Made Light by Matthew Turner, the same author of When God Made You. Turner uses the story of God creating the light as the basis of his poetry and speaks about all the things that shine light- the sun, moon, fireflies, campfires, flashlights- and teaches about how the darkness has to leave when light is shined. My favorite part of his poem is near the end when he says,  “cause you’re just like the sun and the moon in the sky, as lustrous as twinkles that dazzle the eye, You’re as splendid as lightning when it flashes so bright,  ‘cause on the day you were born, God said, “let there be light!” So beam like the sun; glimmer like a star. And wherever you go, dark will stop being dark. Shimmer and shine, be a beacon so bright, ‘cause when God made you, child, God made light.” Gosh, I love that. Imagine if we all truly b...

I heard a nugget of truth at a regional Chi Alpha staff conference that has stuck with me. It has nothing to do with Chi Alpha at all. It was an answer to a question given during a Q & A session and I can’t seem to shake it. The speaker said, “plan for the life stage five years from now.” His point was to begin planning for where your family will be in five years, so that the next stage of life will not surprise any member of your family. What seems like a “duh” point of advice, really will be life changing if it is implemented. Most of us have seen the three or five year plan for Chi Alpha and goals in ministry, but we often do not look at family life with the same lens. Personally, my kids are currently 11, 9 and 4. I homeschool them while doing Chi Alpha with my husband. If I am thinking through the roles that I play in my family- wife and mom- it will all look different with kids ages 16, 14, and 8. I need to begin prepping for parenting a potentially driving teen, wh...