School. Sports. Plays. Band Concerts. Rehearsals. Practices. Family Time. Friends. Homework. Our worlds are BUSY! I can only imagine what it must be like for most of the parents that have students- especially those in Junior High and High School. Kids can’t drive and you have to be taxi mom or dad making sure your student is where they need to be when they need to be there. Your schedules are crazy! I know that with so much going on it is easy to look at Sundays and Wednesdays and think that you just can’t make it this week. I want to encourage all of you to help your student be consistent with their attendance to their service and their Fuse Group. It is a vital piece of their lives! We have some great series coming up over this semester- including “Family Portrait”- helping your student discover their role (to honor and obey YOU!) in the family. Fuse Groups are also a huge piece of helping your student Grow in their relationship with Christ, and our leaders are committed to being there every week. Please don’t let business and crazy schedules get in the way of your student being consistent in their attendance at Fuse!
Frank Tappe
FuseWednesdays
I am a mother of a teenager and step-mother to a 2nd grader. They both, although very capable of entertaining themselves, still need attention and care. Add a husband and two kitty cats to the mix and we’ve got a busy household! One of my roles in the home is having meals ready when it’s dinner time. I plan, I shop, I prep and I cook. It’s not always great but it gets done.
Well last night, something happened that doesn’t normally happen. I was sick. Fever, chills, sore throat, the whole she-bang. I went upstairs and laid down and then remembered, I still need to cook the dinner! Oh no.. what to do? Well, I relied on my husband. He prepared dinner and it was fine.
So, yeah.. so what, right?
As I’m lying in bed, eating my dinner that he’s lovingly brought upstairs for me. I am thinking back to the days that it was just me and my son and there were no sick days. There was no lying in bed waiting for someone to bring my dinner – I was it and if I didn’t do it then no one ate.
How soon we forget….
I started to think about and pray for all of you single parents out there, working hard to make sure that your kids are taken care of…. without any sick days. Having been there and done that, I know how hard you’re working and as you read this blog – please know that you’re loved and prayed for.
Melissa Millwee
Central Kidz - Preschool
The past two weeks have been a whirlwind in our family beginning with the loss of my dear father-in-law. For almost 30 years this man played a huge role in my life. On February 16, 2010, surrounded by his three grown sons and wife of 52 years, he left this world with these final words…”I have fulfilled God’s purpose.” Wow! That statement pretty much sums up the kind of man he was. The legacy he has left behind not only for his sons, but for his daughter-in-laws and grandchildren is one of integrity, honesty, hope, joy, goodness, faithfulness, and an unbelievable passion for God and for people.
Although his journey on earth has ended, ours continues. His final words stay with me. They challenge me to ask, “Am I fulfilling the purpose that God has laid out for me? Do I love Him and love people with my whole heart?”
As a mom, I am so thankful for the incredible legacy my father-in-law has passed on to his kids and grandkids. It makes me want to be a better wife, mother, sister, friend, leader. His legacy encourages me to not give up when things get tough, but to lean into God. One of his life verses comes from Isaiah 40:31…”But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. The will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint.”
My question for you is…Are you fulfulling God’s purpose in your own life? What kind of legacy will you leave for your children?
Laura Murphy
Central Kidz/Area Director of Elementary
I have a problem. It is January and I am already anxious for May! I am ready for the sun and the pool and the freedom to walk out of my house without a jacket! I have spring fever and I have it badly.
Just as I have been so fixated on summer I have also found myself looking forward to the future in my spiritual life. I have been missing what God is doing in the present and I have recently discovered how exciting the present really is. God is moving in big ways through day to day things and it’s happing right now! I just look at what God has been doing in our student ministry and I am taken back, not only because it’s awesome, but because God is allowing me to be a part of it. I am learning it’s the small things in life that truly change the world. In Matthew, Jesus tells us the second greatest commandment is to love your neighbor as yourself. So it’s the one on one coffee with a student, the hug I gave them on Sunday morning, or a simple text or call throughout the week that shows them how loved and worthy they are. And when they know how loved and worthy they are they then can show that same love to others spreading God’s kingdom throughout the earth! This is a big thing done in small ways! You don’t have to be prefect or wait to have your life in order. You just have to love people the way God loves you in your day to day life. I am seeing our students grasp this concept more and more and teaching others how to love this way. It’s a beautiful thing and I am so honored to be a part of it!
Emily Wood
Fuse-Summerlin
I don’t know how old your children are but i am sure that if you have children you know what a baby changing station is. I did not know or care to know what one of these was until my wife and i had our first child… who is now a 6 and half month old little girl named Ava (and she is stinkin cute!).
Well, it was family date night so we took a little trip to the mall. Ava (warning: this next part is a little graphic) had one of those diaper blow outs where the stench from holding her seeped in to my wifes jacket. Because of this, i offered to change her. So, i make my way to the bathrooms and come to find out there is not a baby changing station anywhere in sight…nowhere! i end up creating a make-shift baby changing area on the counter with paper towels which did not make the other bathroom patrons too excited about washing their hands.
Afterwards, i told my wife i was going to write a letter to this mall explaining how inconvenient their bathroom set up is for families with small children…which i never ended up doing.
So, why am i sharing this with you? Well, first, i just had to get this off my chest and second, i want all the parents out there to know that we as a church do NOT want to be like that mall. Not only do we want to provide baby changing stations but we want to come along side of you as parents to help you raise your children in Godly homes. We don’t want to make life more difficult for you but to encourage you and challenge you to be the best parents you can be. As a Central Family Ministries staff, we want to be there for you. And if we are missing big things like baby changing stations, please let us know. Just comment to this post and i’ll see what we can do.
Derek Bareman
Fuse-Summerlin
It is “red carpet season”…time for the world to critique the performances of the rich and famous. It’s time for the fashion police to praise those who wore the best the hottest and belittle those who, well, just weren’t hot enough. Jewelry, shoes, clothes, hair, makeup- everything is up for scrutiny! It will be decided who walked the carpet with appeal and who should have turned around and walked right home. Wonder how many of those celebrities, who “have it all,” will watch the TV shows, check out the Internet, and read the magazines to see how they have been rated? “Best of the Best” or “Best of the Worst?”
In family ministries, one of the most important values we want to install in children is that they are made to know God! They are God’s child. Made in His image; made to love Him; and made perfect through Him. With the constant media influence on our children, we have to make sure that children understand how truly important they are to God, chosen by Him, just like they are.
We are key players in helping our children know that God’s view of them is much more important than society’s view of them. How do you help install self-acceptance in your family’s life? How do you encourage them to stand tall and be an individual when everything around them makes them want to slide into conformity and be accepted? As we help our children remember these truths, we probably need to remind ourselves of them every once in awhile. How do you find peace knowing that your relationship with your Creator is more important than how the world “rates” you?
Kim Trethewey
Central Kidz
Life doesn’t go according to the plans we make for it. Life’s very disagreeable that way. We tell our lives “go left here,” and instead it goes right. It’s a curious thing, and it can be an enraging thing. When I have a particular idea of how my life should go, and it doesn’t happen, my first reaction definitely isn’t to say, “This is wonderful.” Often I feel blindsided by the difference between my plans for my life and the real events in my life. We are planners, some of us more than others, but we all have internal expectations for our lives. If you’re at all like me, when work and family and relationships arent what I expect or are harder than I anticipate, I feel cheated by life and sometimes let down by God. To be totally honest, my plans for my life didn’t include me still being single right now, moving 3 times in the past 3 years, moving 1000 miles from my closest friend, or for that matter, ever experiencing hardship or suffering consesquences when I make any bad decisions. You may feel very similar in your relationships, marriages, families and jobs.
BUT…the last 7 years of my life have been the best so far. The last 7 years of my life have been the years that I have chosen to TRUST God’s promise that he knows the plans he has for me. When I began to trust my life to God, my life didn’t immediately align with my expectations, nor has it to this day, but instead my life got good. A soul satisfying good that leaves me feeling free and taken care of all the time. The type of good where the amazing, wonderful things I’ve experienced so far outweigh the bad that those bad things become only a foggy memory. There was a saying I heard a lot in college as a Missions Major, “The safest place to be is the center of God’s will.” The more we align our lives with God’s will the more we can trust that our lives, while unexpected and often unplanned, are going to PROSPER.
-Heidi Sandifer
Central Kidz
When I was a kid I had a decent relationship with my Dad. That’s not really the case anymore, but every once in a while I catch myself doing things my Dad use to do. It’s really a pretty creepy thing when I catch myself doing certain things he would do. I tell some of my jokes the same way, I’m sarcastic JUST like he was, and I definitely have most of the same facial expressions as he did. Now, let me tell you, I have never intended on being anything like my Father what so ever for a number of reasons but it seems that that isn’t really in my control. I am still my Father’s son, and over the past 20 years I inevitably picked up some habits and idiosyncrasies (whether good or bad) from him.
Your kids see you. They pick up on how you see the world. They catch on to how you make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, and how you talk to people, and how you love on them. I’m sure plenty of you picked up a thing or two from your parents along your journey. Your kids will learn a TON from you: whether it’s how to pay their bills, mow a lawn, or tell a joke. The things they learn from you they will take with them forever, for better or for worse. Take some time every once in a while and teach them on purpose. Love on them. Show them how you pay bills. Tell a funny joke. You’d be surprised how well they remember them 20 years from now.
Bradley Brittain
Fuse Junior High Intern
Not only am I apart of the preschool team here at Central but I’m also a Personal Trainer. Being the beginning of a new year you can imagine the number of people wanting to start a new workout program. You hear New Year… New You… all the time these days. People are wanting to better their lives, get healthy and feel great about themselves. As I sit with these individuals discussing goal, and what its going to take to get there, it makes me think about our lives as Christians how these simple principles are transferable in our lives.
One principle that is transferable commitment. Not only do you have to be committed to a fitness program but you will also have to be committed to living a life for Christ. You have to be “all in” and ready to do what you need to do to continue to make progress. That leads me to my next principle.
Discipline. You have to be discipline to stay on track so that you can reach your goals. Its an every day decision to be disciplined in reading the bible, taking time to pray and it takes discipline to continue to eat healthy and exercise.
One of the last things I will talk about is Time. When starting a fitness program people expect results fast, and in life people want answers now. One thing I have to stress is that this will take time. You have to be patience and continue working out and eating right, even when you can’t see results. In life you have to continue to pray, read the bible and reach towards God even when you can’t see or feel Him.
When thinking about 2010 and a New You take the time to not only get physically fit but also spiritually fit.
Jessica Dillon
Preschool Coordinator
My grandmother celebrated her 90th birthday on Saturday. That’s pretty cool and amazing to me. We started this year with my grandfather’s 90th birthday and wrap up this year with my grandmother’s. They are a very fun couple. You will find my granddad out golfing, fishing, hunting, or working in his gardening about every day. There is no way to slow that man down. Just in the last couple of weeks he had a hugely successful quail hunt and a great fishing day. In the middle of winter! My grandmother is a wonderful woman, a great chef, and she has such a big love for others and life. They have been married to each other for almost 70 years. They raised two kids, have 9 grandkids, and 9 great grandchildren right now. In life there are always some people you think you would like to be like. We all wanted to be like Mike for a while. Role models come and go. I am so fortunate to have some pretty amazing role models in my family. They aren’t going anywhere. I will be lucky to make it to 90 some day. And I will always be able to think back to the example they have given me. And I aspire to be a role model for others, just like they are for me. I want to be like my grandparents.
It takes some intentionality to live a life like that. I have to stick with the choices I have made and consistently live who I want to be. It’s not about mistake free life. It’s about the consistency of who you are. Are you living the life of the role models you want your kids to have? How about your grandkids? Live to be the 90-year-old hero.
Daniel Carnahan
Central Kidz