grace eventually.

This is one of the coolest, most powerful things I've seen in a long time! We're doing our own on Sunday.

I wonder what my life would look like if I didn't work 2 jobs. Would I have more time to take those walks I plan for every morning but am too tired to get out of bed? Would I have more time to read, to pray, to catch up on all my friend's blogs, to blog myself? Would I spend more time with my precious God-children? I'm sitting at Starbucks as I write this and I look up to see my sweet co-workers waving at me and I smile. For this time I'm meant to be here. The truth is, I love my job at Starbucks. I love interacting with different types of people who may never walk through the doors of Trinity. I love loving them with all that I am. I've been traveling a lot the last couple of weeks. I'm still trying to catch my breath and I wonder if I will accomplish all I want to accomplish this weekend (clean, laundry, re-organize my closet, hang out with my God-children, take a walk, write a worthy children's sermon for Sunday...). At one of the conferences I went to, Catalyst, I found myself in tears for almost every speaker. God knew I needed to be there and he was speaking to me. I was moved. I was moved to get out of my seat and admit before 12,000 people that I had lost "IT". Craig Groeschel told this story about vacationing with his family. As he was swimming with his kids one day, a stranger cameu up and bet him $20 he couldn't hold his breath under water for more than a minute. Craig, like most men, took him up on the challenge and he lost. When he came back up, the man told him that he could help Craig hold his breath for even longer by showing him some breathing techniques. As Craig went under water once more, the man coached him. He told him when he hit significant time markers...30 seconds, 1 minute, 1 minute and 10... When Craig acted like he was about to give up, the stranger continued to yell at him, "Don't come up, you still have more in you." When Craig finally did come up, he found out he had been under for over 2 minutes! The man looked at him and said, "Craig, I've been following your ministry for a long time and the Lord told me to tell you that you still have more in you. Don't give up!" After Craig finished his story, he looked out at the audience and said, "I know there are pastors here who are tired, who feel like they don't have what it takes to do ministry anymore. I'm here to tell you that there's still more in you! Don't let anyone try to tell you different." Then he asked all of us who were receiving that word to stand up so we could support one another and he could pray for us. It's always hard to admit when we don't feel like we're where we're supposed to be. I mean, we're in ministry, we should have it all together. Yeah, right! I encourage you to pray for the pastors and staff in your churches. You never know what they might be going through. The Lord and I are still working through that message but I'm grateful to know that I have people all around me who continue to cheer me on and remind me that there's still more in me!