mobile camp

I met today with Tim Lyon, the founder and director of Quakerdale's Mobile Camp. After meeting for only a short time with Tim, one discovers the calling, the prayer, the persistence, and the passion Tim has for Mobile Camp, a five day Christian day camp on wheels. In fact, I met Tim two years ago in March, when he approached me with his vision of running a five day camp in multiple locations over the summer. Just three months shy of summer, Tim had no staff, very little money, but loads of vision and enthusiasm. I prayed with him and encouraged him to shoot for one, maybe two camps that first summer. June arrived and Tim was staffed and funded for five camps. Oh me of little faith...I forgot to include God in the math!

This year, Tim and staff led four mobile camps: two in Waterloo, one in Marshalltown, and one in Des Moines, reaching out to 180 kids. As you can see in the video, the camp staff does a great job over five days in bringing community leaders in, playing zany games, building caring community, loving kids, and sharing Christ with joy. Mobile Camp, not strongly funded or widely promoted, is a little diamond in the rough in our community.

kisses from katie

I urge you to spend a little time on the Kisses from Katie blog today. (see link on left) Katie doesn't post frequently, but when she does (as she did yesterday), I sit with her posts cutting into my heart and mind and life for days after. Oh, God....

book recommendation

The Invisible by Arloa Sutter. http://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Church-Serve-Least-These/dp/0898274567/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1285501979&sr=1-3

I met Arloa in Chicago last month during CCDA. A group took a field trip to Breakthrough Urban Ministries of which Arloa is the founder and executive director, and Arloa led a workshop on ways to connect the rich and the poor.

I love the challenge and beauty found in Arloa's writing as she shares her story of living and working in an inner city neighborhood of Chicago. Arloa does an excellent job addressing the following questions found in her book:

"As wealthy Christians in America, what is our responsibility toward the poor? Is there a better way than guilt and obligation? Can we really experience the blessing of God by being engaged with the poor? Can we learn about our own poverty from those who know their reliance on God for their very survival? Can we be blessed by understanding our own poverty and need for God?"

classic Saturday

From Catherine of Genoa (1447-1510) in her writing entitled Life and Teachings.

"The selfishness that is within us, however, is so contrary to God that God cannot induce us to do his will except by a clever strategy: promising us greater things than what the world can give-even in this life- and promising a kind of consolation that the world does not know. God does this, I think, because he knows how much we are attached to pleasure. He knows that we are the kind who will not leave our one little toy unless we are offered four!

If we could see what we will receive in the life to come (as a reward for what we have done here), we would cease to occupy ourselves with anything but the things of heaven."

life within

The upper left picture is of my son, Nathan, with one of his best buddies, Ben. Nathan was planning to go to Ben's house after school Wed., so I was surprised at 9:30 a.m. Wed. to hear the special ringtone on my phone that Nathan has rigged for incoming calls from Ben. Our conversation went something like this.

"Hi Ben. It's 9:30 a.m., aren't you in school today?"
"Hi Laura. No, at 3:30 in the morning we had to take my mom to the hospital because she was having really bad stomach cramps and abdomen pains."

"Oh, no. Is she okay?"

"Ya. She didn't know she was pregnant, and I had a baby sister!"

Stunned silence. "Beeeeeeen, are you joking with me?"

"No, really! I have a baby sister! I'm so excited!"

It's true. In some miraculous manner, Baby McKinlee grew to 5 pounds 7 ounces inside Amanda over 36 weeks without Amanda being aware she was pregnant. Her monthly cycle stayed the same, she didn't pooch out like most of us mamas do, and she felt no baby movement. Isn't that crazy?! They went to the ER thinking she was having an appendicitis attack, and instead she had a baby right there in the ER! What a beautiful life, a blessing, a miracle!

I've been thinking of this so much over the past few days. In my prayers this morning, as I prayed for their family, God reminded me that I have life dwelling within me. The life of Christ lives within me, and it is my prayer that I live my days aware of this, nurturing and yielding to this life so that His life flows out of me. This, too, is a beautiful life, a blessing, a miracle!

Check out the video below from last night's newscast:

http://www.kwwl.com/global/video/flash/popupplayer.asp?ClipID1=5139105&h1=A%20Little%20Bundle%20Surprise&vt1=v&at1=News&d1=254233&LaunchPageAdTag=News&activePane=info&rnd=76187991

what questions are you leading by?

Brenda Salter-McNeil, in her workshop at CCDA, spent a good portion of the time finding out what the most pressing questions are in the audience around the topic of multi-racial churches.

She then went on to say that her organization has been studying a model of change called the S curve. She said that at the bottom of the S curve, where it's most chaotic...where people are groping in the dark...where there's no structure and people are asking, "Lord, show me what you're doing and what we should do next."....That's the place where the most questions are being asked and the most innovation is going on.

Salter-McNeil stated, "Where innovation stops in organizations is when we stop leading by questions and start leading by answers. Where questions are the driving force, innovation is happening."

What questions are keeping you up at night these days?

Picnic in the Park

Though Picnic in the Park was a rainy 50 degrees yesterday, it was a great day in the park!

* We mastered the canopies without Brian Carr present! Terrell, Perry, and Al, along with Carolyn, myself, and my children (and some hints from Craig Patterson) figured out how all those poles fit together! Hurray!

* There were fewer people in the park for the meal due to weather, but it seemed like there was an even greater sense of community because of that. (Could it have been because we were literally all huddling closer together under two canopies?!)

* The spirit and hospitality of the OHC volunteers was awesome. Thanks to Jean Gedlinske for walking over to Harvest's clothes closet and picking out some coats that would fit some of our more dressed-for-summer friends in the park.

* A friend in the park talked with me about her restless night's sleep under the bridge the night before. Her story, along with the story of so many others, gives me strength as I witness the strength God has given so many to endure through hardship, to look out for one another and rely on one another for survival, to persevere in a spirit of hope and gratitude.