How deep are your roots?

John 15:5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.

My first house was the cutest little thing you ever saw; a little white wood frame with green shutters, it was 1,500 square feet of newlywed bliss. One of my favorite parts of the house was the back yard. In the back was a beautiful red bud tree. Every spring it would bloom bright pink flowers, it was absolutely stunning. One night we had a storm come through. For those of you unaware of "tornado alley," wind storms in Oklahoma can be quite destructive. In a matter of an hour the winds had kicked up and our beautiful tree had been knocked down right before it was to bloom.

It laid in our yard for the next week waiting to be taken care of and the most amazing thing happened. It started to bloom! Roots sticking up in the air, it laid there blooming its bright pink flowers. I knew it wouldn't be long before it died because its foundation wasn't in the ground. It was an amazing and sad thing to watch.

Reading John 15:5 reminded me of that tree, God is the vine, I am the branches. God is the ground in which that tree was planted, once it pulled away from the ground it was only a matter of time before it died. The thing about being a christian is we can "bloom," or at least fake it for awhile. We know the things to say, we know how to act, so that from the outside it appears that we are "blooming," but if we are out of the soil too long we will eventually die.

I encourage us to keep each other grounded and attached to the true vine.

If you haven't joined us in signing the Christmas Convenant, it's not too late.

As members of the CCV family, we will seek to make Christ the center of our Christmas holiday celebration by…

1. Creating a modest budget and committing not to buy any gifts on credit.

2. Adopting a child from the CCV sharing tree.

3. Reading the Christmas story, Luke 2:1-20, on Christmas Eve and asking, “What’s the greatest gift Jesus gave you this year?” and ending in prayer.

4. Creating a “savings jar”, saving money from Thanksgiving until Christmas Eve; bringing the savings to CCV’s Christmas Eve services to be given to an annual benevolence event (Casas Por Cristo or an African mission that will take place next year).

5. Making a gift “from the heart” for people in your immediate or extended family that cannot be purchased.

By signing this Christmas Covenant, I/we agree to partner with others from CCV to make Christ the center of this Christmas holiday.

Signatures:

Thanksgiving

"How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?" 1 Thessalonians 3:9

I thought it would be appropriate to take a moment during this Thanksgiving week and thank my family for who they are and the joy they bring me.

Shannon- I am thankful for your friendship, your unending patience and love. You know the real me and love me in spite of it. You are kind and generous and I love spending my life with you.

Emma- Thank you for your kindness, you are a beautiful girl inside and out. I love watching you bring out the good in your friends and your brother (even when it is hard). You have the ability to find the good in all situations and your caring attitude changes those around you.

Ethan- I am thankful for your humor. Your smile has the ability to change my day. You are funny and smart and I love to listen to your stories. Thank you for the innosence in the way you spend your day.

God has blessed me with a wonderful family. I encourage you to take time during this week to let your family know how much they are loved by you.

Fear

I never thought of myself as a scaredy cat kind of person. I like scary movies, I don't have to check under the bed for possible hiding people in hotel rooms (my husband), I am not afraid of my dark basement (Brian Jones), you get the idea. So recently I was faced with this fear thing, and it took me by surprise.

Last week some of our staff went on a retreat and Stephanie and I had the opportunity to go on a ropes course during some of our free time. It was a beautiful fall day up near the Poconos, the leaves were starting to change and there wasn't a breeze to be found. We get harnessed up and Stephanie takes off cruising through the course like she was part chimpanzee. So it's my turn, and I froze, completely scared out of my mind. I could no more take a step off that platform than I could lift a building. What was crazy about the experience was that the fear was completely unexpected. So I stood there frozen while a wrestling tournament was taking place in my mind. The logical side of my brain argued that my harness would hold me, the rope swing before me was something I had used a thousand times with my kids in the backyard, and Steph. was right in front of me cruising through the course with ease. The irrational side of my brain was arguing every reason that I would plunge to my death if I were to even think about stepping off that ledge.

Needless to say, with Stephanie's encouraging words (or the threat of telling my kids what a chicken I was if I didn't do it), I managed to take that first step. After that I was fine, the fear subsided and I made it through the course and was able to crash land like no other.

So the follow up left me thinking, what else scares me? Do I let fear stand in my way of doing things that would help me do my job better, be a better friend, wife, mother? I have to say, fear probably stops me from doing a lot of things that I'm unaware of. I am trying to be more in tune with that feeling and not let it keep me from accomplishing what God has set me out to do.

Isaiah 41:10
So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

www.helpoutyourneighbor.com

Tuesday evening I had the opportunity to attend a town hall meeting at Perkiomen Valley Township. One of our faithful volunteers is fighting a battle reminiscent of David and Goliath. Her parent's land is being taken from them under the covering of "imminent domain". They are not being offered fair market value for their property, but more importantly, they don't want to move or sell the land.

Laura Dietrich is not only trying to help fight for her parents' rights, she is also helping fight for her father's life who is ill with brain cancer. Laura and her family need our prayer support as well as our actions. Please visit www.helpoutyourneighbor.com and help Laura and her parents in this battle.

Back to School

I am a sucker for the back to school season. I love this time of year; school buses on the road, kids at bus stops, new back packs, the smell of new crayons, you get the idea. Even before I had children, seeing kids at the bus stop put a smile on my face. Now that I have children of my own, I still feel that same excitement but there's a twist.

Sending Emma to school 4 years ago for the first time just about sent me over the edge. The thought of someone else being responsible for my baby during the day, teaching her lessons, making sure she remained safe, keeping her from getting her feelings hurt... This did not sit well with me and I moped around feeling quite sorry for myself for days. She was thrilled and thrived in the school environment and slowly I came around too. What other choice did I have?

Well, fast forward a few years and it is now Ethan's turn. I felt very confident that I wouldn't be effected in the same way. He is a boy and I had been through it before, so the night before school when I turned into a crazy whirling tornado I was taken by surprise. As I was packing enough lunch for him to last a week and making sure all of his forms were in his bookbag for the 5th time, my husband looked over at me and laughed out loud. I knew what I was doing and I was not happy. I sat on my couch and had a good cry.

New beginnings, as exciting as they are can be very painful too. That's where I feel we are in Valley Kids. We are entering a new beginning. As our church continues to grow it is exciting and awesome, but at the same time painful. We need more volunteers and people are use to doing things certain ways, change is difficult but the benefits are huge and the rewards immense!

God gave each of us this incredible gift and the coolest part is, we can give it away as many times as we want and it never runs out. I look forward to sharing the exciting plans for the upcoming year in Valley Kids this weekend, Sept. 7th at 1:00pm. I hope you will join us as we explore the year ahead. It's going to be a great one!

Classroom Design - Your feedback wanted!

We are in the process of painting our classrooms and giving them a more "kid friendly" atmosphere. Our building has been a multipurpose building housing all of our ministry areas, but in the spring, the space will be designated as a children's building. As we prepare for that transition we are trying to create a fun and exciting atmosphere.

From the beginning of our church life each classroom identified itself with an animal; ducks, bears, turtles, etc. In this interim time, before we deck out the building with a wild and fun movie theatre feel, I'm curious to know what you think about saying good bye to our animals. Strictly using the age of the child to identify the room.

Thank you for your feedback!