Ringing the Bell

Last night I stood in the lobby of our local Kroger and rang the bell for the Salvation Army. We do this as a family because we want to give our children an opportunity to develop a heart for missions. Here's my observations:

My bell always seemed to ring a little louder and clearer when a donation had been made!

It was 4 degrees outside last night as I rang. Even though I was "inside" and wearing a down filled parka, wool socks and boots,my feet and fingers were frozen by the time my husband arrived to relieve me. I'm thankful that I have a warm home to go to and don't have to sleep on the streets. I don't worry about where my next meal is coming from. I am blessed!

Men seem to be more generous than women. The older people exited the store with their donations in hand. The more affluent people were less likely to meet my eye and frequently answered my request "Care to help the Salvation Army this evening?" with "I don't have any cash" (Likely since so many people deal only in credit/debit cards now a days). I did find that ASKING for a donation caused some people to stop and dig into their purse or pocket. Children were willing to ask their parents for a donation and I always let them ring my bell once they placed their money the red kettle.

I came away from my stint a little happier, a littl more in tune with the Spirit of Christmas.

I want to be more generous person and will make sure I have small bills on hand so I don't pass up a bell ringer in the future! Generous giving makes me feel like a better person. I admit I don't give to just any charity or person collecting on the side of the road. I do my homework to make sure my donation is well administered--that takes some effort on my part. I want to model generosity so I have to be ready this season!

Merry Christmas!

Forgiveness

Recently we became aware of a marital indiscretion in our church that required forgiveness on many fronts: The aggrieved parties, employer and co-workers and the concentric-far reaching circles of associates, friends and members. My bible study participated in the following exercise and it may be helpful if you require forgiveness or have been called to forgive.

Acquire RED Paper and Envelopes (readily available at a scrapbook store)
List the items that you need to be forgiven for and those which you need to forgive others on the RED paper, using one paper for yourself and a separate one for each person you need to forgive. Be specific and detailed-no one else is going to see these. Get out all your hurt, anxiety and bitterness and record it on the paper
Place the paper(s) in the RED envelope
Seal the envelope.
Place the envelope in a prominent place or in your bible
Every time you feel compelled to pick up your guilt remember that the (red) BLOOD of JESUS CHRIST has covered those sins and you are forviven. Likewise when you begin to feel hurt or angry, bitter or resentful ask the Holy Spirit to help you forgive those who have wronged you as you have been forgiven. Do this as often as you see the RED envelope until you have a peace which passes all understanding. Repeat as necessary.

Change my heart, O God

If you want change you have to get to the heart of things...in this case, literally your heart.
This week pray that your heart is changed, that it is softened, that God reveals any hardness of heart you may be unaware of.

Dear Lord,
Change my heart. Make it yearn for you and only you. Create in me a heart that loves as you love. Give me a heart for the things that are important to you (family, my spouse, the hurting, the ill, the homeless, the lonely, children, the oppressed, teachers, pastors, the elderly, the un-born). Fill my heart to over flowing with your spirit and empower me to boldly love others in your name.
Amen

Prayer

New school year, new you? It's possible with the power of prayer. What do you want to change? Look here each week for a new prayer focus...

Musings from Jim Stovall's The Ultmate Gift

Of work
-there is a certain type of love that comes from a job well done

Of Money
-loving money leads to empty hollow lives. It is learning to love people and USE money that gives everything it’s proper perspective

Of Friends
-If you only think about yourself you’ll always be disappointed

Of Learning
-if you have the gift of learning you are really quite wealthy

Of Problems
-A problem is given to you for the lesson it will teach you

Of family
-People become a family when they love each other

Of Laughter
-In order to love life you have to enjoy it, laughing at both the good and the bad

Of Dreams
-Dreams and goals are the outward manifestations of the love we feel inside

Of Giving
-I use to think that if you gave something away you were left with less than before. In reality when you give out of love…both the giver AND the receiver have more than they started out with

Of Gratitude
-The golden list (of gratitude. Create this list each morning before you get out of bed to assure the best day

Of a Day
-If today was your last day on earth-how would you spend it?
When you contemplate your own mortality you realize how much life you have lived…not just how much you have left. Life is nothing more than a series of days and if we learn to live each one to the fullest, our lives will be rich and meaningful
Then best day is on e that is filled with the people I love

Of Love
-Love makes you a different person

Group Workcamp-Brighton. What I learned!

For those of you who don't know me, I suffer from insomnia. I can generally fall asleep quite easily but frequently wake up sometime during the night and remain awake for several hours at a time. A snoring DH doesn't help matters much. When this occurs, I will spend my time praying or when the time lapse become too great, I will resort to reading a novel.

I am an early to bed (9:30-10pm) early to rise (5:30am) kind of of girl.

Work camp taught me a good lesson how to have a good night sleep with no insomnia. A person's day should consist of hard work, for the lord and worship. Because each work camp day included a healthy dose of each of these components, I never woke up during the night! Now to reproduce that at home!

1) Work Hard. Physical labor makes a body sleep all night through
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

2) Make time for Worship and Prayer daily (it not several times a day)
So if you worship me, it will all be yours." Luke 4:7

3) Eliminate distractions. At work camp I didn't have any access to e-mail, the Internet, television or newspapers. I had limited cell phone service. I had limited things (especially those that I could do nothing about like the state of the economy, the Gulf Oil Spill, Afghanistan)intruding into my thoughts
My thoughts trouble me and I am distraught. Psalm 55:2

SO...if sleep eludes you, try my work camp remedy. Turn off the technology, clear your schedule of all but the MOST pressing items (your work, whatever that may be and daily worship). And let me know how well you slept!

Good night!

Group Work Camp trip-Brighton Tenn

I will be leaving with a group of high school students from my church and the other adult chaperone's to attend a Group Work Camp week in Brighton, Tenn to provide home repairs to local residents. It has always been an awesome event and I expect this to be no different! We're leaving at 5:30am Sunday and will return about 4pm the following Saturday! Might be hot and exhausting but I know I will come back filled up as God works through me and in me

E-mail me at http://www.groupworkcamps.com/Workcamps/Pages/EmailaCamper.aspx
select Brighton Tennessee
Diana Maslowski
I'll post about the trip when I return and get caught up at work and home!
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Blessings!
Diana

"We live our lives before an audience of One!"

Os Guinness says "We live our lives before an audience of One!" And that one is our Heavenly Father. He cares immensely about you. He knows every thing you do...every ounce of extra effort you put in as well as every shortcut you take. He never turns His head to look the other way. He never goes on vacation, so the idea of "the cat's away, so the mice will play" just doesn't cut it. He's always in the audience...smiling...pulling for you...watching what you do and how you do it.

Imagine if there was a real live "God-Cam" installed in your office...in the break room...in the employee cafeteria, your home, your car, at your computer... We'd be working pretty hard and focused on doing it right wouldn't we!

Well, there is a "God-Cam" in all these locations. There's also one in the break room, in your car, at the restaurant where you have lunch, and over your computer where you access the Internet. Your "audience of One" is always tuned in...watching...pulling for you to make good choices, and wincing in pain when you don't.

So the next time you think no one cares about what you do, remember that you have an audience...a very important audience...who's there with you and for you in everything you do. That audience is One...THE ONE! Make Him smile.

My boss is a Jewish Carpenter!

My Boss is a Jewish Carpenter

Our company was recently undergoing some due diligence for investors. Normally, I'd handle this type of inquiry but this time I was asked to collate all the required documents and a new consultant would be making the pitch...the reason? "I am too honest"! I am still shaking my head over that one!

Never in my life have I had my honesty and integrity labeled as a liability and it leaves me shocked, a bit angry and very sad. What is the world coming to?

This has also opened my eyes and I can better understand how a person of deep faith might be tempted to "play the game" by the rules of the world instead of doing what they know is right. I will examine every aspect of my work performance to make sure that I am not comprimising God's standards to get ahead, fit in or make a buck.

S.H.A.P.E.

How can I make a contribution to God's kingdom???
By better understanding my SHAPE
S-my Spiritual gifts
H-my Heart and where my passions are
A-my Abilities
P-my Personality
E-my Experiences
and how I can use these to honor God, increase his kingdom, remove fear, frustration and fatigue from my life.

What's your shape? Share your passions with me today!

Why I work camp

School will be out in just a few days and summer will officially begin. I will have the privilege of serving as a chaperone to both our Middle school work camp (Louisville, KY) and High school work camp (Brighton, Tenn)this summer and I can't wait.

Why would I use 2 weeks of my vacation to serve a with a bunch of people I don't know, sleep in a school with 30 of my closest high school "girl-friends" on a cot and work outside in the heat and humidity? Glad you asked!

I love Jesus and Group Work Camps has been one of the greatest experience of my Christian walk. I have met some amazing people (youth and adults), I have grown in my faith, I have gained confidence in sharing the gospel and I have PERSONALLY seen GOD at work!

My first work camp was in Racine, Wisconsin in 2007 and was the experience that got me hooked. We arrived on a Sunday and worshipped at the local United Methodist Church in Racine. Later that day I met my crew (4 teens and one other adult). Our project would be to paint the house of our resident, a man named Ed.

We met Ed (a tattooed, chainsmoking Viet Nam vet who worked at a meat packing plant)on Monday morning after stopping for a short prayer outside his home. During the 32 hours we worked outside Ed's home, it was apparent God was working inside. Lunch devotions bonded the crew members to each other and to our resident but the chair reserved for Ed was always empty until Thursday, when he joined us for lunch. Ed shared with me that the church I had attended on Sunday was the church he had been raised in and that his sisters still attended there. He hadn't darkened the doors of a church for more than 30 years. When it came time to conclude or meal/devotion time with a prayer, I asked Ed if he would close us out with a few words of his own. He stumbled over his response, stating "I don't know if I can do that" but when the prayers circled around to him, he boldly uttered "Amen". God had used 6 people, painting a house to reach one of his lost sheep. Ed returned to his church the Sunday after we left Racine, exactly one week from the time I worshiped there. He joined several committees and the following summer he served on a mission trip his own church sponsored to West Virginia.

I love work camp because I have seen God through the actions of his people. I have felt his presence in a real an powerful way. I have grown in ways I did not imagine possible and I have seen the power prayer has to change things.

The mission field is right outside your door. Pray hard!

What Kind of Runner are you?

What Kind of Runner are you?

Track season has just come to a close and already I am thinking about Cross Country and the training I will need to get in if I am going to participate as a parent runner next season. I have been off the track except for a half mile run occasionally and am out of shape! Christians, Like any athlete, must also “work out” by reading God’s word, “train” with like minded individuals by attending small group studies and worship and “serve” (run the race) to see the fruits of their labors.
Dennis Rainey says “In the Christian life, there are at least five kinds of runners

1)The Casual Runner. He runs when he feels like it. For this Christian, the sacrifice demanded by the race is just too high.

2)The Cautious Runner. He thinks a lot about the race, but he plays it safe and seldom leaves the starting blocks.

3)The Compromised Runner. Unwilling to lay aside present pleasures, he has given into temptations to run outside his prescribed lane. He has few convictions and takes no costly stands in life.

4)The Callous Runner. This veteran runner is a cynic and is critical of people. Preoccupied with his injuries, his heart contains layers of thick, tough tissue made of bitterness, envy or apathy.

5)The Committed Runner. This person is determined to win and knows where the finish line is. "In training" at all times, he knows victory is never achieved by the fainthearted. “

What kind of runner are YOU?