These Are a Few of My Favorite Things!

So so so so so so so so so... It's late fall! Yay!! I love late fall. LOVELOVELOVE. And I'm starting to work more and more on some of my favorite things (speech, VBS, among others). So you all get to look forward to posts about those sorts of favorite things.



{I'm positive you're all thrilled. :P I kid.}



Anyway, I've been praying about ways that we might be able to expand "Doane" Vacation Bible School. So I decided that I'd post this on my blog, and possibly on facebook too. I've been thinking lately... how many people that I know might want to have their own VBS {either in their backyard or a small church that currently or never has offered a VBS program} but simply would not know where to start?

Could there be people who are able and willing to teach God's Word, who love kids, and who want to spread the gospel in their communities but are somewhat intimidated by the task of starting a VBS?
Then I thought of myself several years ago, before we started our own Backyard Bible Club. It was my grandma's idea... I absolutely loved the idea, but if she hadn't suggested it I think I would have been too scared to take the first leap all by myself. I don't think I could have done it without my grandma's excitement, Haley's help, and my parent's encouragement.

So these are the things that made me think of others who might want to go in that direction, but are scared to take the first leap. And I want to help others take that first leap.

So, I am starting a blog (perhaps soon a website) that will chronicle my adventures as I set out to produce a free, interactive curriculum for VBS teacher wanna-be's (haha), as well as as schedule, a place for comments, a question/answer type section, among other things.

If you have ever seriously looked into starting a Vacation Bible School, then you probably know that even if you don't want over-the-top elaborate, curriculum can be pretty expensive. That's why I will be offering a free curriculum of my own (as I said above) that comes with lessons, skits, game ideas, snack planners, craft planners and instructions, and a mission moment. If you want something a little more elaborate, this blog will hopefully also offer (perhaps not right away, but eventually) suggestions for craft kits that may be purchased, as well as "professional" curriculum reviews.

If you would be interested in having a VBS this year, NEVER think that you're too young or too inexperienced. Haley and I started off as thirteen-year-old girls who were only helping at a church VBS for the first time that summer. We had never taught Sunday School, nor anything of that nature. I had never really planned anything like that-- I learned completely from experience. So I would urge you to follow this blog as I attempt to put what God has placed on my heart and what He's taught me so graciously these last few years to you. There are some things that you have to learn by experience-- but there are also some things that you can learn through hearing from the experience's of others! Praying that this blog will encourage YOU!
Here's the link: http://backyardvacationbibleschool.blogspot.com/

Grace,
Rachel

{P.S. Even if you don't follow this blog, please feel free to comment! This ministry is not at all intended to just be for those I know-- I want to be able to meet others who want to serve God through this. Thanks all!}

Pretty First Place

Recently, my friend Hannah wrote something on her blog (http://xian-na.blogspot.com/2010/10/pretty-ball-for-louis.html) in which she talked about "Pretty Things" in our lives that we often don't want to lose or give up to God. She says it so so well that you should probably go read her post before using your valuable time reading this. Anyway, lately, I've realized how many 'pretty' things appeal to me-- how many things I desire other then God. The song "Pretty Things" (which, the most observant of you will have noticed, was recently added to my play list) by Tenth Avenue North says it so well.
Look at all the pretty things
That steal my heart away.
Wow. Not a long section, but so so powerful! The things that I love the most besides God are the things that have the most power in pulling me away from God. The things that look the best on the outside can be the most harmful, because they steal my heart away from my best friend, God.
The strange thing about it is that the things I desire other then God are the things I expect Him to give me! If I'm distracted by other things (and I am), and He is the sovereign of the universe (and He is) then isn't it within His perfect rights and power to take away all those things that don't bring Him the glory He deserves?

Now, I can't even tell you how I've wrestled with this. How many times I've thought (in my wicked, sinful heart) "If I do this right, then God won't have to do this and that and then things can go back to the way they were! So I just need to trust Him in this and then *maybe* He'll reward my trust and make things easier later." Of course that isn't how it works at all! Do I actually think that God would ever, ever be tempted to change His amazing plan because I trusted Him? No, that's what He wanted in the first place. Only He doesn't want me to trust Him out of my selfish motives, but because I really, really do trust and love Him with my own heart.

Do I really, really trust Him?
Do I really, really love Him?
Do I really, really want Him to have everything?
yes.
yes.
yes.

"Therefore, we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are be renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." Oh, how I love these verses! Oh, how I wish that these verses might be exemplified in my life-- so that I wouldn't fix my eyes on either troubles nor pleasures of this life, but on Christ, Who is my Joy, my Life, my Love.

I think the best thing to sum it up is a story told by Leslie B. Flynn, one of my favorite illustrations of what the gospel is.

"An orphaned boy was living with his grandmother when their house caught fire. The grandmother, trying to get upstairs to rescue the boy, perished in the flames. The boy’s cries for help were finally answered by a man who climbed an iron drainpipe and came back down with the boy hanging tightly to his neck. Several weeks later, a public hearing was held to determine who would receive custody of the child. A farmer, a teacher, and the town’s wealthiest citizen all gave the reasons they felt they should be chosen to give the boy a home. But as they talked, the lad’s eyes remained focused on the floor. Then a stranger walked to the front and slowly took his hands from his pockets, revealing severe scars on them. As the crowd gasped, the boy cried out in recognition. This was the man who had saved his life. His hands had been burned when he climbed the hot pipe. With a leap the boy threw his arms around the man’s neck and held on for dear life. The other men silently walked away, leaving the boy and his rescuer alone. Those marred hands had settled the issue. The boy was convinced of his rescuer’s great love because of the great sacrifice he made."

Today, there are many things that may try to pull us away from God. But there is One whose nail-pierced hands remind us that He did not come to pull us away from God, but to draw us near to Him.

I want no other 'pretty thing' or 'substitute' then Jesus Christ: the One who doesn't steal my heart away, but deserves my whole heart-- and my everything.

Have You?

Have you read this? Do you know what's happening in North Korea?

Would you be willing to go back if you were her? Would you risk everything you had left-- when you had already lost so much-- to gain something for eternity?

Have you read this? Have you?

If not, do. You will be blessed. http://www.desiringgod.org/blog/posts/weeping-for-north-korea

Average Teenagers: They Are, in a Way, Not Good

So on Wednesday when I went to take the PSAT, Matthew was asking me to remember and take note of all the kids who were texting, skateboarding, hanging out with their boyfriend/girlfriend, sitting on a bench with someone of the opposite gender, skating on their heelies, chewing bubblegum, or involved in similiar "unseemly" behavior. (Although I'm still not quite sure why chewing bubblegum is unseemly. Anyway) Finally, Mom said, "Matthew, I'm sure she'll let you know about any average teenagers she sees." But apparently that didn't satisfy him-- he wanted to walk in with us. And today, he wrote something on his blog about average teenagers. Actually, his friend Reid wrote it, but he gave Matthew permission to put it on his blog. You see about a year or so ago, Matthew was on quite the kick about what he as deemed "AVERAGE" teenagers. He wrote to parents, "If you think that you may have an average teenager don't let him hang around other teenagers who may influence him to become average." So now Matthew's friend, Reid, started his own book too. On average teenagers. He says, "Average teenager are in a way, not good." Yep. It's that profound. I love what they're written! So if you want to know what two getting-close-to-teenager boys think of average teenagers, go to: http://everyone-is-upsidedown.blogspot.com/2010/10/chapter-1-average-teenagers-who.html

Things I Learned Summer 2010-- That I Never Want to Forget

My friend Kalahan over at "Be Still" wrote a wonderful a week or two ago about what she learned this summer. In a way, she inspired me to write this post. I learned so much this summer... things that I truly needed to learn, and I never want to forget. God is so great and merciful to teach me now!



Here are three things I learned this summer:

1. "If Christ be God and died for me, then no sacrifice can be too great for me to make for Him." ~C.T. Stubb.
Now, I'm not going to pretend that I made some extraordinary sacrifice for God this summer that changed my life forever and was really difficult. At this point in my life, God hasn't yet asked that I physically die for Him or that I give up my freedom, security, or leave my homeland in order that His gospel could be preached-- although He has told me to be willing to do all those things if He should some day ask! But, even though God isn't asking me to make the "big sacrifices" right now-- shouldn't I make those small ones every single day? You know, the things like holding my tongue when my siblings say something and I want to give a harsh reply, or giving up a few minutes of free time when one of my siblings wants to do something with me or needs to talk, or volunteering to do those 'thankless' jobs that would bless my parents by my doing them, and just serving the way that Christ did when He lived on earth! If these are the things He wants from me, and He was the God that died for me, then is there any sacrifice ever that could possibly be too great for Him?

2. God's plan is infinitely greater than my own. I was so stressed in June and July because I was still living in Nagoya, Japan, while I wanted to be back in Washington state. I was very, very worried that I wouldn't get back in time for our annual Vacation Bible School at my grandparent's house... however, the more I worried, I realized the less I was focusing on Jesus and what He did on the Christ. How ironic... the very reason that we do the VBS every single year-- to remind and teach the children about the cross-- was the very easiest thing for me to lose sight of in planning for it! Fortunately, we serve a God who, despite all my inefficiencies and mistakes, divinely orchestrated everything to work out so much better than I could have every imagined! We ended up having about 20-22 kids every day, the drama worked out well, the helpers were amazing, and I loved, loved, LOVED our curriculum. Also, I was able to get home almost a week early to shop and prepare for VBS. What a fool I was to worry so much! Everything seemed to go so well at VBS-- but the amazing thing about God is that He showed me that it went well in spite of me, NOT because of me.

3. I saved the most convicting, and the hardest, of this summer's lessons for last. It's simply this: I really needed to get over the "childish need" for friends. Now please hear me out. I love my friends! If you're reading this, then I want you to know that I deeply care about you and more than likely I have really enjoyed our conversations, learning from what God has done and taught you in your life, visiting with you, etc. In fact, many, many of the people I call my friends have been great spiritual influences in my life and have taught me a lot about God's blessings and how great He is! God has blessed me with great friends.
*Takes deep breath* That being said, I think that it's important to remember that that's all that friends are-- blessings. Friends are gifts from God, they are NOT meant in any way to "replace" God in our lives or be placed on par with God. Now, to be perfectly honest, I've never really been a girl who's 'obsessed' with her friends. I enjoy going to visit people, and having company over. I love talking with friends-- but I've never been a person who's constantly trying to spend every waking moment with her friends. Even so, I realized these past two or three months that I've found a lot of "SECURITY" in my friends. It's a false security, but it's one that I've been valuing for years now. I've had a "childish need," so to speak, for friends. I realized after I had spent several months in Japan that it was really hard to meet many new friends and to keep in touch with all the old ones. And I realized, to my dismay, that I was far too devastated about this. I was far too concerned over the fact that I wasn't surrounded by friends-- because I had found too much of my 'security' and 'identity' in who my friends are-- but wait, there's something wrong there. My security and identity should be found only in Christ!

Again, there's nothing wrong with having friends. God doesn't want us to hide in a closet our whole lives and never spend time with other people... but there is something very dangerous about placing too high of a priority on friendships-- because, after all, my best friend is always, ALWAYS with me! And He is the same forever and always! And His name is Jesus, and He IS awesome!

And those, my friends, are the things I learned this summer. And painful as it was to learn some of these things, I wouldn't trade them for anything in the world. And I never want to forget them for the rest of my life...

Fun with the Kovachs at Soap Lake!

These past few days have been so much fun! On Friday, I left for Soap Lake with my "second family" the Kovachs. Adventures have abounded since! Some of the highlights are as follows:

Yesterday (Sunday), Haley, her cousin, and myself, were all talking about how babies should be kissed and cuddled a lot, because if they're not, they won't feel very loved. Babies need lots of attention. Anyway, as we were talking about that, Jackson (two years old) came right up to me and gave me two kisses-- one on my cheek and one on the lips. Since then, he's given me lots of kisses and hugs and cuddles. He is so adorable!

We've also been playing a card game called Nerts. It is super fun!! We played today for about two hours....

Haley and I went on a prayer walk today. There is simply nothing better than going on a walk with one's best friend and spending the whole time praying for different things in one's life... there is something so beautiful, serene, and tranquil about praying outside on a walk (especially when one is not in a rush :).

We also went paddleboating yesterday. It was really frustrating for a little while, because the thing would NOT TURN LEFT!!!! Anyway, one by one we all jumped into the lake to direct the boat the way that we wanted it to go. Only, the water was slightly cold. Oh well, we adjusted quickly.

Oh, a side note about the paddleboating: on the way back to shore, Haley lost her flip flop. Thankfully, there was someone there to find it. Yours truly. Haha, I'm just kidding. She completely repaid me and banished any debt she owed me today when she found my best gray sweatshirt. :) Please realize that these last few sentences were a joke.

Well, we still have three days left at the lake! Well, nearly anyway.

Signing off with adventures ahead,
Rachel

Sold out for Jesus

A few months ago, I was thinking about Vacation Bible School. That's not so strange. You think to yourself. She's ALWAYS talking about VBS. Why shouldn't she think about it? But bear with me a moment. This was one of the rare times that I was thinking of VBS in a non-positive way. In fact, you might almost call it a negative way. Why? Well, because, I bought into this lie that you and I both have heard everywhere. I was thinking that the lie was truth. I was thinking one day, that if only someone else would lead this VBS, he or she could do such a better job than I could. For instance, if someone who was really musically talented led the VBS, the kids could sound like a professional choir! Or if someone who was really talented at crafts led the VBS, she could help us save a ton of money on crafts and they would look great! Or if someone who knew his neighbors well led the VBS, we could have more neighbor children join in. These thoughts went on in my mind, and as you can probably imagine, I thought of more and more scenarios in which people who had talents that I don't have led the VBS, which would help it be better.

This, my friends, is not only ridiculous considering I can't really help the fact that I don't live around here and know neighbors here or that I'm not very great with crafts, but it's also one of the worst lies that Christians could ever believe! Think about it. If we believe that God can only use us when we have certain talents or abilities, we'll think twice about volunteering both in the community and in the church body. You'll stop telling people about God if you don't think you're a great evangelist. You'll stop teaching Sunday School if you don't think you're a natural-born teacher. If you're not incredible with toddlers, you'll stop volunteering in the nursery. If you don't have a "passion" for cooking, you might stop setting up snacks after church or for Bible Study. You don't think you're great at traveling, so you stop going on mission trips. Imagine, even, if everyone who didn't think that he was a great listener stopped attending the Sabbath day service!

These may sound like extreme cases, but it's the truth. What if we waited for God to give us the full dose of talent that we would like before serving Him? Listen to the wise words of the apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians 1:26, "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised thing-- and the things that were not-- to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before Him." God has chosen those who are FOOLISH (me) and WEAK (me again) so that He can show His perfect power clearly, if I am only willing to be used by Him. As 2 Corinthians 12:9 says, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness."

If God can delight in using my insufficiency to show His aptitude and sovereignty-- then the least I could ever do is be willing to serve Him.

I don't just want to serve God-- I want to be sold out for Him. I want to be so sold out for the Lord that, no matter what else, my talent doesn't matter, my resources don't matter, my strength doesn't matter-- but that all these things pale in comparison to how great and awesome my God is!

I suppose I made it sound above as if I don't think it's important to have gifts. That's not it at all! God is the giver of all good gifts. He gives us all talents and abilities to SERVE HIM. But. If we're always concerned with waiting for someone with more talent to step up to the plate, we'll stop serving God where He wants us. One of my favorite verses is 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, "My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit's power, so that your faith might not rest on men's wisdom, but on God's power."

I don't think the author is saying that being able to speak well is bad, but rather that it's not where our faith should be. Our faith shouldn't rest on the fact that someone says or does things well, or in our abilities, or even how well we think some ministry opportunity will go.

Where, then, shall we put our faith?

In Christ Alone.