Outward Focused Stress Relief?
September 18, 2008
Dear All,
It is Sept. 17th around 4:30 p.m. – - I am at work and about an hour ago, I was feeling very stressed because I have many things to do and not enough time or energy to do them today.
So, I decided to go for a little walk outside and get some sunshine. I was praying to God to help deal with my stress and work responsibilities in a healthy way vs. going to get some more caffeine or food. I put my hand in my poacket and pulled out the “get over yourself” card we got at church this weekend. That is excactly what I needed to get over my “stress attack”, I needed to get over myself and my “problems”. So, I got in the car and just followed the instructions. My card said to do a “drive thru freebie”.
I drove to a fast food place and “waited” for a person to drive behind me so that I could do my deed. While I waited, I asked God to send me somebody that really needed to hear from Him. After a minute or so, a van with a lady in it pulled over and I went into action. i order a bottle of water for me and when I went to pay for my order I paid for her order and asked the teenage attendent to give her the ” message from God” portion from the card.
As i pulled over to get my water I saw on the back mirror a smile from the lady in the van. I continued to pray for her and her family and that God would bless her more today. It is amazing the effect on me. Not only did I get “relief” from my stress but actually beagn to feel very grateful that I have such a great job I have and the opportunity that God has provided me in my work assignment.
I am reminded that I have to continually “get over myself” and know that is all in God’s hands and that everything is a blessing.
Thank you God!
Chuy
Need a ride?
September 18, 2008
I helped a friend with a ride and found out that he had nothing to eat and was one week away from a paycheck. We turned around and went to Bigg’s grocery and got food for the week. That’s why the Lord had me give him a ride in the first place!!
Steve F.
Laundromat Challenge
September 18, 2008
The Outward Focus series has been incredible and challenging. This week our family scratched off six different cards encouraging us to give in a practical way. One of the cards read “Pass out laundry tokens at the laundry mat.”
Okay – sounds simple – but we have a washer and dryer and rarely go to a laundry mat – in fact – where is it? I felt strange just thinking about walking into a laundry mat and passing something out for free without making a connection in a real way with those who were receiving the gift.
So…..who would have known four hours after receiving that challenge we would endure a Hurricane in West Chester! Crazy. Our family was blessed to be without power for the next 75 hours. By Wednesday morning guess who desperately needed to find the local laundry mat! Me! I walked in as a stranger and instantly bonded with a young lady who led me through
Laundry Mat 101. While watching our clothes swishy around and around she shared about being a transplant from Colorado – brought here by her husband – only to recently endure divorce – now alone with her only family back in Boulder. She remains here in order to finish her education at a local college. The same college that I had taught at for 12 years – another connection to talk about. At the end of our time together, I was able to gift her with a laundry card charged with enough money for her next visit! I shared God’s love in a practical way while making a real life connection as well! I loved it.
Not ten minutes later I was folding my laundry and another lady walked up to me and said – “I won’t be needing this charged laundry card next week as I’m hoping my power will be restored by then. Here you can have it.” It was charged with just 50 cents less than I had given my new friend! I guess you can’t out give God!
Thanks for the challenge and keep them coming.
Annette B
West Chester
Power out, but Kindness Abounds
September 17, 2008
It’s not often you hear of people in Cincinnati talking about being impacted by hurricane-force winds. But here we are in one of those times. It’s interesting to see what living in less-than-ideal circumstances brings out in people. I’ve seen some rude behavior, some scarcity-mentality kind of “me first” thinking, and most of the things you hear about on the news when people are under stress.
But I’m also seeing kindness popping up everywhere. You really do notice what you look for. Check out this article on the local news about a woman who cooked all the food in her freezer and started feeding all her neighbhors. Or the person who bought tons of ice and gave it away.
http://news.cincinnati.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080917/NEWS01/809170312/-1/winds
My husband and I also had opportunity for our own little servant evangelism project. We had a connection for ice that none of our neighbors did, as well as a pick up truck. So several hours and $40 bucks later we had some very grateful neighbors. It was worth every penny to get the folks on our street talking about what’s really important and thinking about supporting one another in other ways.
I wouldn’t wish this kind of storm on anyone, but I am grateful for the experience it brought to my neighborhood. Of course I hope the bonds we are beginning to form last long after the power comes back up.
Thanks for the meal!
September 17, 2008
This person was served by a random someone at our church – they didn’t know who to thank, so they left this message on our general phone line.
Lottery story: Free ice cream!
September 17, 2008
Well my card said free ice cream – give it away!! So today (Tuesday 9/16/08) I went to the small family ice cream store by my house!! No one was there when I got there so I got a sundae and sat to wait!! (The sundae was great). So a mom and her 3 kids came in I heard her say you can only have one scoop because mom doesn’t have enough money for any more!! So I got up and told the family you can all have as meny scoops as you want and that I was paying for it!! The mom was like “What?!” I told her I was doing this for her and she told me that she took the kids for ice cream to have somthin to do because she lost all her food because she had no electric for 3 days!!! She told me that no one has ever done anything like this for her and she gave me a big hug and thanked me and made her kids thank me!!!!I told her to never forget that God loves her and her family. I gave her the outreach card and left!!! That made me feel so good that I left the ice cream shop with a smile on my face and I still have it!! Please, can I have another card? That was so much fun I want to do it again!!!! Thanks for understanding that my spelling is bad but I love God and hope makes up for it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (spelling corrected for ease of reading)
Mark M.
Lottery Story: Introduce yourself to a Neighbor
September 17, 2008
Assignment: Introduce yourself to a neighbor
This card motivated me to introduce myself to neighbors who moved in two houses next to several months ago. I introduced myself to Rhonda and her 2 young daughters, Katie and Kylie. Husband Paul was in the back yard with the dog. But at least I know their names now. The moved here from Williamsburg and the oldest daughter started kindergarten at Seton. I apologized for taking so long to introduce myself, that I was motivated by a sermon at my church to do so. I also suggested we get our families for dinner at the earliest convenience. Rhonda thought that was a great idea. I gave the tear off card and told her to have a great day and that I hoped the Bengals would win She was getting ready to watch the game in 15 minutes.
The experience went great and we may even have made new friends in the process. I am looking forward to additional service opportunities at the Vineyard. Today’s service really connected with my family and I. We will be getting in touch with Vineyard folks soon about how we can get further involved.
Bill C.
Creating God Space
September 6, 2008
What’s evangelism?
Much has been written, been theorized about and probably more talked about then actually done.
Recently, I spoke to a group of teens…I began by talking about a friend of mine who has been coming to the food pantry for breakfast and groceries for the past few months.
I first met him as he was waiting in line… we began to talk… As the conversation continued he told me about his wife who was a gambler. In 1987 she blew through $18,000 in savings, began to use drugs and left him with two young boys. Devastated, he went to the place where he thought he could find some encouragement and support… his church.
He told the pastor his story, how he was left with two boys under 3 and needed some help. The pastor told him, “We can’t help you now, but to come back in a month or so.” His comment, “I desperately needed help then, not in a month.” He left that day vowing, “I’ll never enter another church again.”
He then spoke of his ongoing struggle to work, feed, and care for his boys. During the summer he used a neighborhood garden to grow vegetables… fresh veggies in the summer and he canned the rest for winter. He worked hard, supported his kids, had the usual growing pains of boys becoming teenagers and developing into young men.
After, he spoke I paused, and asked him to forgive me, representing the church as a leader. I then asked if we could pray.
During the prayer, I asked God for forgiveness, and asked for grace to be to be given to his family, to bless them and for favor to rest upon them. He shook my hand and said, “Thanks, Steve.”
I then told the teens he’s now a friend… and spoke about our continued relationship.
I mentioned that evangelism consists of being a friendly open-hearted person and how important it is to gently step into another persons space.
Once stepping into a person’s relational space we create God space… where God things can happen.
To illustrate I shared another story.
Crosby, Stills and Nash came to the outdoor Fraze Pavilion for a show. My wife, and a few friends headed up to have a picnic outside the pavilion and to listen to the music. It was a great night. Good food, drinking coke, singing with the crowd and enjoying our friends.
There are always interesting people like the hula hoop lady, the bike lady, the hippy dude, dogs of all sizes and shapes, kids with mom’s and dad’s who walk by our smorgasbord. Often the people comment on our spread of some pretty amazing food, “Man that’s what we should do.”
At one point a father with a small baby girl walked by. I noticed an attached tube to help the child receive meds or food. The father evidently was besotted with his little girl. At one point he introduced the child to another baby. They made faces at each other eye to eye, laughed and giggled…the connection baby to baby was amazing to watch.
A little while later the mom walked toward us carrying the child. I mentioned to a friend, “I think we need to pray for them.” When the duo came by I asked the mom, “What’s the baby’s name.” The mom replied, “Abigail.” I laughed and said, “Our third child was supposed to be an Abigail, but she ended up being a Nathan. I have a blond, brunette and Nathan has red hair.” The mom replied, “Oh, Abigail has red hair.”
I then asked what was wrong with Abigail. She told the story of the birth, things not right with Abby’s stomach, and how she was improving but still had a long way to go. I then mentioned I and my friend were pastors of the Vineyard and asked if we could pray for Abby.
She replied, “That would be great.” We prayed general, to specific prayers for the baby and prayed for the mom. I noticed that the mom was obviously being emotionally moved as we prayed.
It was ‘a God space moment’ Crosby, Stills and Nash were presenting a great show for the crowd, we were presenting a child with a great need, to a great God. At the end of the prayer we thanked the mom for allowing us to pray with her. She in turn thanked us smiled and continued her walk.
Again, seeing a need, then intentionally stepping into a person’s relational space is where God space can be created.
God space is where faith can begin to grow.
I told the teens. “That in a nutshell… is evangelism.” Be where you are. Notice needs. Ask good questions. Listen to their story. Take note of their need as they talk. If you have a story that relates to their life share it. Offer prayer. Usually, people respond in a positive way when they sense genuine love and care… no strings attached.
People are either moving toward Jesus or away from him. Our job is to seek, with gentleness and respect, to enter into a person’s life space.
We can then nudge people who have turned away from Jesus… to turn toward Him, or to nudge those who are moving toward Him… closer.
It’s not really that complicated. It just requires seeing eyes, hearing ears, and a willingness to respond and create space where faith can begin to dwell.
I’ve discovered that God is interested in the people within my sphere of influence. Once I’ve discovered and entered into a God moment He tends to show up. In His presence, there is life. We call it serving our way into the heart… Breaking down barriers, building bridges. Creating God space.
That’s why I enjoy practicing Servant Evangelism. Serving others creates God space. Giving Gatorade to skaters at the skate park on a hot day, or offering sun screen to people at a beach, or cold water at the Dayton Air Show, or serving breakfast at our food pantry helps create God moments where His life can be shared.
* postscript…the couple and Abby walked into the Vineyard Sunday
You get more than you give
September 6, 2008
One of my highlights of this summer was Crash.To CRASH means “to collide into, and impact, with force, power and intensity” So “Crash the Community” is about colliding into, and impacting the community, with force, power and intensity, no better way to do that than to impact our broken world with the love and mercy of God
This year we had a team of 14 come over from the Mother Ship (Cincinnati Vineyard) and serve, serve, serve along side Vineyard Dungannon. We did kids club every morning, 20p car wash in which you got your car washed and then when you go to pay you get the 20p; I’d do that again for sure, We prayed for people in the streets, we held a healing service one evening, we went to a nursing home and worshiped and prayed with the residents, we gave away loads of free stuff in our communities. Man we worked the guys hard. What always gets me is when people serve, they always come back feeling that they got the best deal in the world. I have had emails from many who served during the Crash week, thanking us for letting them serve in Dungannon, many saying God changed so much in their lives. Its starting to make sense when Jesus said “to find your life, you got to give it away” We had so much fun serving and the cool thing is this, when we go, we grow and there is healing as we become wounded healers.
You wanna find your life? Give it away a little this week and see what happens.
Getting Started
September 5, 2008
My first post on this brand new site should be profound. It should be…but…well, w
e’ll see. You get what you paid for. Actually, as believers, we get what He paid for. This really wasn’t my point, but it’s not a bad one.
Getting started. I think that’s 95% of the deal. God calls us to Go. “Go and make disciples”. He calls us to get started and to “come, follow me”. It’d be great to write stuff in this blog all day, but I think God might have more for me. He might have something for you too.
So take a minute. Use that 5% of your time and energy to consider how you can love the people in your world…and then get started. Use that other 95% to impact the world around you. Times a wastin’
seriously…let’s get going
