NEXT - WOW!

It was quit a day at church. I went with a NyQuil hangover so most of praise & worship I felt like I was having an out of body experience. But as we sang the song "You are Faithful" and I contemplated the whole light thing within me (just so you know I didn't have an issue with the lights - I can worship with our without lights I was just thinking over things) the Lord took me back almost 19 years ago. I thought about what an incredibly broken and desperate place I was in when I came to this church and what an amazing work God has done in me. I thought about what I needed and what my family needed to heal and how God used the McGee family to be an instrument of healing in our lives. Then I thought...I wondered how many desperate, broken people are sitting in the congregation today and how many of them are watching us thinking the things I was thinking 19 years ago.

Then Pastor Ron got up to share and though I was not expecting his announcement, the second he started I knew what was coming and I was not surprised. There are a million things running through my head, but here's one that stood out to me more than anything. When I was that 17 year old girl broken and desperate, Pastor Ron & Norma helped my parents walk me through with Godly council and Bryan and Jennifer befriended me. They loved me, spent time with me, never compromised, but never gave up one me. They were 2 of my best friends in a time when every friend I had ever known abandoned me.

Then I had this thought...today Pastor Ron and Norma did a momentous thing and we watched Pastor Ron's words fulfilled "One day I will sit on the front row and cheer on the next generation". I want to join hands with Pastor Bryan and Jennifer so that they are not alone when broken hurting people come into our church in need of help and I want my kids to join hands with their kids and befriend the hurting broken kids God is bringing in our doors they way they befriended me. So that one day, when it is time for the baton to change hands again, we can be prepared to become the cheerleader and helper to the next generation.

Super Saturday

What a wonderful, exhausting day.

• Went with my mother to Plant Place and got a few flowers.
• Went with my husband to pick up the first free load of mulch thanks to Craigslist.
• Unloaded 1st load, went by myself to pick up second load of free mulch and pick up the girls from production practice.
• Unloaded 2nd load of mulch, took a break to eat an icecream cone at my mothers.
• Planted my flowers from Plant Place and some other plants I had not planted yet.
• Got my hummingbird feeder back out.
• Took my son to go load the 3rd truck load of mulch.
• Loaded 3rd load, went to Wendy's to pick up super, came home, ate dinner.
• Unloaded 3rd load of mulch.
• Straightened both girls hair.
• Watched Evan Almighty with the family while eating popcorn and spilling water in the living room.
• Took a shower!

What a great day! The only 2 down sides I can see is that my body aches like I can't even explain and I think I caught my daddy's cough...the same cough I had for 2 months! I took some Nychol hoping I can lose it while I sleep.

Don't throw stones, your house might be glass.

What a day! I took 18 Preschool students to a story telling event that didn't even keep me engaged (I think they liked it more than I did though). I came back and had this great plan for a surprise party for my student intern only to have it blow up in my face as I had a student completely loose control. Principle was at a meeting, Special Ed coordinator at meeting, former Behavior Specialist at the same meeting...I stood with my intern in the behavior specialist room trying to keep this child from hurting themselves or either one of us as I watched the clock tick as my plans for the great surprise party began to unravel. It didn't turn out the way I had planned, but we made it through. As I am driving to pick the kids up I am remembering that 2 of my kids had student interns too and we hadn't done anything for them...starting to feel bad. Then as we are traveling home, my daughter informs me she didn't have anything but popcorn for lunch because we didn't turn in the hot lunch form for April and she and her dad had forgotten to fix a lunch this morning....feeling even worse at this point. I try so hard to juggle everything but fail so often. As I contemplated this on my way home, I realized as a teacher it is so easy for me to make judgements about parents. I see everything they are not doing for their child in my classroom. I see the newsletters that go unread, the homework that doesn't get done, the volunteer time that they committed to going undone, and then I thought...that's me! I know I do my best to meet all the deadlines, due dates, requirements and remember all the parties, field trips and birthday parties in between dance and baseball, church and my job but the truth is most days I forget something. How many times have my kids teachers thought "And she's a teacher!" I almost wanted to pull off the road and cry as I realized how many times I have made judgements about people and never walked a day in their shoes. How many times have I made a judgement about someone forgetting to turn in permission slips, or come in and volunteer and yet I have no idea what the rest of their life looks like....we all live in glass houses, I'm going to try to remember not to throw stones anymore.

Sunday Night Brain Dump

• It was a busy weekend - church til after 10 Friday, back at church at 8:30 Saturday there til 7:30 that night, back to church Sunday at 8:45, lunch at Crystals and then home...at least P.A. had mercy on us and canceled choir practice.
• Learned a lot from Sharon Parks this weekend.
• My husband snored really loud last night...between his snoring and my kids freaking out about the thunderstorm I didn't sleep too well...so was feeling a little glazed over Sunday morning UNTIL
• My husband broke his microphone and the top of it rolled across the stage and as we all tried to continued trying not to laugh I caught Bret out of the corner of my eye and I am quit certain I saw the biggest grin on his face I had ever seen him have on stage...it was all I could do not to laugh straight into the microphone.
• Kennedy gets her cast off tomorrow! We will be cast free again.
• I start back full time teaching this week...8 weeks of school left! Thank you Jesus!
• We got another piece of our vacation planned - we are going to get to tour the White House! I can't wait...it's something I always wanted to do but didn't think it would be possible after 9/11 - God is good!
• I think I ate enough today to make up for all the meals I missed the last 2 days and then some.
• Now off to start a busy week...the first two days already have 2 extra appointments doctors, 2 extra school meetings, a baseball game, on top of the regular dance and cleaning duties. I think I'll be happy to see Wednesday.

Thoughts on Thursday

Well I did it. I interviewed for a new job at my current job location. It was kind of crazy to go in to an interview with my fellow colleagues. They were all laughing about how weird it was and it was hard for me to know what to say because I felt like they already knew me and knew my answers.
I left knowing whatever happens with the job, I am OK because God has a plan that is so much bigger than I am. Saying that I have to say I love the people I work with. They are amazing! It was a neat reminder of that. So many times we get so busy doing our job we forget to really get to know and appreciate the people we work with.
If nothing else came out of today I enjoyed laughing and sharing time with my colleagues that I rarely get to do during the year.

Change

What does change mean to you?
Here's what i have decided it means to me (at least until God changes my perspective)
Change - being stretched beyond what is comfortable to fulfill a more meaningful important purpose in a way that I would have never seen coming....
I think I'm in the middle of a BIG change.

What does your life say?

Yesterday we took Caleb to a Panther's football clinic. I must confess I was hoping (and so was he) for Steve Smith or Julius Peppers. We got neither. We got 4 Panthers, 3 of which I had never heard of. At the end of the camp, after the kids had gone through all the drills, they were able to sit down and talk to the players. They were able to ask the players anything and they did. During this time one player,C.J. Wilson, stuck out to both Johnny and I. He was funny, engaged, and real with the kids. He seemed to love life. We knew nothing about him but we were drawn to him.
On the way home we started reading his bio from the yearbook they had given the kids...this is what it said.
What is the most interesting thing about you? I'm trying to be Christlike, not a Christian...Most people don't know the difference although the definition says the same.
What is your most memorable college football moment? Seeing my mother, my deceased grandmother and God smile on me for doing the right things the right way in a wrong world.
How's that for being bold about your faith. When Johnny and I heard that we both looked at each other and at the same time said, "I knew I liked him!" So that made me think, would people be drawn to me the way we were drawn to him? Does my life reflect the nature of Christ? Do I exude his joy, his love, and his passion for purpose? Would people who didn't know me, walk away after meeting me, read something I had written like that and say what we said about this guy or would they say "Wow, I'd have never guessed!" What would people say about you?

Meet David Wilson - A story on Race

Tonight at 9:00p.m. EST MSNBC will air Meeting David Wilson, followed by a 90 minute live discussion on racial issues. I so hope we are at the hotel by this time so I can watch this. Watch this trailer. If you care about race relations in our nation, find time to watch this tonight. The only way we will understand other's perspectives is to hear what they have to say.
I watched the interview on the Today show today and I was blown away with this young mans honesty and perspective on race, anger, forgiveness, the past, and the future.

Race & Smokey Robinson - My thoughts

I'm thinking everyone is afraid to comment on the below video by Smokey Robinson. Having said that maybe some of you are afraid to watch it due to the bad language...if that is the case let me assure you there are only 2 words in the whole video. But since no one is commenting, I will give you my perspective on the video.

What I found interesting was

• His perspective on the fact that the black American race is the only race who's name is a "trend"
• If America is so bad "why is there so many coming, and so few leaving"
• his idea of being and American American - he's not from Africa and if he went to Africa no one would claim him as one of them
• his idea about moving forward in progress instead of dwelling in the past
• Amos/Andy in relation to The Beverly Hillbillies

What I didn't agree with

• I don't think Adam was black. I do however think Adam was a perfect shade of brown (which would be much darker than the average white person) and that within his DNA was the ability to produce every shade of color found on the face of the earth today.
• Garden of Eden - in Africa?

I am certainly not black but I do have a black husband who feels the same way about the whole African American name. Though I didn't agree with everything, I thought a lot of what he said was worth pondering. If you haven't watched it, go ahead...it's funny and interesting.

• 
  

Smokey Robinson - A Black Man

WARNING - Offensive language used.
Having said that, this was sent from my father-in-law and I found it very interesting. What do you think?

I have to ask

I have been wondering and just have to ask. Those of you who attended the Myles Monroe meetings at our church, did any of you walk away this unexplainable desire to go back and reread (or read for the 1st time in my case) your old history books from college? I was absolutely intrigued by his ability to take spiritual meaning out of history. It made me wish I had paid more attention to the details. I'm just wondering if this was a response everyone felt or if I was just one of the weird ones that majored in history in college and so that is why it intrigued me so.
When I asked about old history books I was serious. I spent Sunday night digging in the attic and office for all my old history books. I can't find them and I am very upset. I think in one of my "cleaning rampages" last year I got rid of all of that stuff thinking I'd never use it again. I was pretty bummed to realize I done something so stupid.

GPS

A Global Positioning System - that is what I thought about sitting in church today. What is a GPS? It is a system designed to get you where you need to be no matter where you are. You don't have to know how to get there, all you have to know is where you are going, how to work the GPS, and how to follow directions.

I was reminded of what Dr. Myles Monroe said last week, if you don't know where you are going any road will get you there. So I started wondering why I was thinking about a GPS in the middle of church. Imagine for a minute being in a unfamiliar city, you have a GPS, you type in your destination and start following the directions only to realize that you are passing through the "red light district". At that point you have 2 basic choices - you can keep going or turn around. If you turn around, you have quit following the GPS directions. After you try to figure out where you are, you try the GPS again. At this point you may be given the same route again or maybe you are lucky enough to be given a different route that takes twice as long. I know what you all are thinking...a GPS isn't perfect, many are outdated before you use them...blah, blah, blah. I get it, but that doesn't change what God was showing me.

Imagine now - another GPS (God's Positioning System). A system that is never outdated, never broken, and never wrong. How many times do we turn around, back track, second guess the road God is taking us on? How many times do we turn around, re-evaluate and try our own way only to realize we don't have a clue how to get to where we are going? Maybe the reason we were going through the middle of the "red light district" was because there was someone there God needed us to pick up along the way. Maybe it was because there was something he wanted us to see. Or maybe it is because He knows it was the fastest way from point A to point B. Regardless here's what I realized today. I need to know where I am headed (my purpose in life). I need to know how to tap into the perfect GPS, and how to follow the directions. Then I need to enjoy the ride.

Tendinitis

As I type this, I'm thinking this is probably not the thing the doctor would recommend, but I will make it short. So last night as I am straightening my daugthers hair with this amazing wet/dry flattening iron, my hand locked up! I mean really like it was all I could do to straighten my fingers and when I got them straight, I couldn't bend them...a little strange but I went to bed thinking I had just strained something in my hand, woke up at 3:00 a.m. with a swollen, throbbing hand. Came down stairs, took medicine, and tried to put an ice pack on it only to be brought to tears because the weight of the icepack sent a sharp pain straight through my hand. I was beginning to wonder how in the world I broke my hand straightening my daughters hair. After the school nurse looked at it when I got to school, I ended up at the orthopedic office with x-rays. Turns out it is just a severe case of tendinitis in my hand. Rest and anti-inflammatory drugs...if that doesn't work...shots. I had to laugh when the doctor asked me if I was jealous of my kids and just wanted a cast myself. I'm starting to think he should be our primary doctor since the staff knows us by name now.

What's in a name?

What to say? There is so much I am still processing...haven't even had time to read over my notes and it seems like I keep remembering bits and pieces of this weekend, so I will wait and chew (not on tobacco)but on what Dr. Myles Monroe said for a while and share more later.
I will share 1 observation. Dr. Monroe asked a spiritual son, Courtney Fadlin, to join him while at our church. He was amazing. If you like jazz music, you have to check him out. But here's the special part to me. For those of you who have been going to our church, you may remember when we dedicated Courtney...Johnny likes to refer to it as the time I preached at The Rock (feel free to insert laughter anywhere in that sentence). For those of you who weren't there, I did share why we named our youngest daughter what we did. We had picked out another name and God woke me up at a TD Jakes conference and told me to name her Courtney Chase because Courtney meant Kings Courts and Chase means hunter. He told me she was going to be a worshipper and worshippers have to know how to enter the Kings Court and just like a hunter, a worshipper has to know when to seek what they are looking for, and when to just wait on what they are looking for to find them. SO, when Courtney Fadlin, graduate of Berklee College of Music, finished playing and was walking off, my baby girl looked at me and said "Does the name Courtney mean the same thing for everyone?" And all the sudden I thought WOW...that's cool! "Why yes it does, honey." We bought his CD's and got to share part of the story with him. He asked us to keep in touch through email. I think my Courtney will be listening to that Courtney every night to go to sleep...let some of that anointing get on her in her sleep!
It made me realize in an even greater way the magnitude and significance of a name to God. Do you have any cool name stories? Share please!