The Lingenfelter family found ourselves in Pekin bright and early Saturday morni
ng at the kid's last JFL game of the season. We took advantage of being in Pekin to stop by the ABC Extreme Home Makeover house on 14th St. It was very exciting to see so many people come together to make a huge impact in the lives of this family. It is also incredible when you look closely and see beyond the big house to those actually giving of themselves and their resources to make this happen. You might not know it, but the rafters, trusses and decking of the roof on that huge house were put in place by ex DL leader and rookie Quest man Brian Cooper. We looked closely and saw a friend named Kim, a Northwoods woman, serving food to the hundreds of volunteers. I looked really close and saw a styrofoam cup. That simple cup is one of thousands provided by third grade DLer Rachel's dad Craig (hubby of Treehouse volunteer Amy). And I know there are so many more pitching in, making an impact. Then it was off to church.
ng at the kid's last JFL game of the season. We took advantage of being in Pekin to stop by the ABC Extreme Home Makeover house on 14th St. It was very exciting to see so many people come together to make a huge impact in the lives of this family. It is also incredible when you look closely and see beyond the big house to those actually giving of themselves and their resources to make this happen. You might not know it, but the rafters, trusses and decking of the roof on that huge house were put in place by ex DL leader and rookie Quest man Brian Cooper. We looked closely and saw a friend named Kim, a Northwoods woman, serving food to the hundreds of volunteers. I looked really close and saw a styrofoam cup. That simple cup is one of thousands provided by third grade DLer Rachel's dad Craig (hubby of Treehouse volunteer Amy). And I know there are so many more pitching in, making an impact. Then it was off to church.We greeted about twice as many kids in the Factory as the prior week. They learned first hand about ma
king an impact for God as they prepared the sacks they would fill later that evening for the South Side Mission Food Drive. The Northwoods plan worked (from what I noticed). The faithful of Northwoods heard the call Cal gave and went by the masses to Walmart and Kroger. We opted for Walmart and it was astonishing how many people gave of their time and resources to help the Mission through this mission. You could barely get through the aisles as they were jammed with Northwoods people filling their carts to the top. The shelves were literally being emptied while the semi trailers were filling in the parking lot. And this was Saturday night, a service that is usually attended by fewer people. I can only imagine the scene on Sunday. What a testimony to my kids to have a day such as last Saturday. Impact.
king an impact for God as they prepared the sacks they would fill later that evening for the South Side Mission Food Drive. The Northwoods plan worked (from what I noticed). The faithful of Northwoods heard the call Cal gave and went by the masses to Walmart and Kroger. We opted for Walmart and it was astonishing how many people gave of their time and resources to help the Mission through this mission. You could barely get through the aisles as they were jammed with Northwoods people filling their carts to the top. The shelves were literally being emptied while the semi trailers were filling in the parking lot. And this was Saturday night, a service that is usually attended by fewer people. I can only imagine the scene on Sunday. What a testimony to my kids to have a day such as last Saturday. Impact..
The Impact lesson of last weekend concluded the all church Kingdom series. It was a great series but it is time to move on. We are back to studying virtues. For November our virtue is Gratitude. The lesson this week is Leaping Lepers (uh, not that I am the PC police, but can we say that?). Gratitude, letting others know you see how they've helped. The memory verse is "Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; His love endures forever." 1 Chronicles 16:34. The Bible story is Leaping Lepers (Jesus heals 10 men) Luke 17:11-19. Bottom line, take time to just say thank you. The small group leaders material for the entire month of November can be found at this link http://www.nwoods.org/storyWithChart.asp?storyid=598.
This Saturday I plan to serve with Kevin, Monica and Zach Van B. Zach missed out on our little leader connect time we had prior to service last Saturday. In attendance were Doug & Tiffany Bergia, Doug Luebke and his son Phil, Carly, Tim & Gayle Thorson, Susan Rychener, Kevin & Monica Stewart and Pam & Rick Lingenfelter. It was a great, too brief, time of getting to know each other a little better. Leapin lepers! we are boring...I mean blessed. Just kidding, although many of us seem to have grown up under pretty similar circumstances and with similar testimonies. Of course there is likely more under the surface that some of us didn't divulge. To that I show gratitude and say "Thank you." Aren't we drowning in enough bad news these days? I have pretty much stopped watching the news with the exception of the news on ESPN, ESPN2, Comcast and The Weather Channel. Speaking of current events...
I am ready for this political season to end. It started years ago and I pretty much can't take it anymore. More and more I am hearing kids talk about politics. It just makes me uncomfortable. I even had to flex my editorial muscle in church Saturday regarding the decorating of the grocery sacks. Three were really political, and one was downright embarassingly political. Note to parents reading this blog...your kids will repeat your views in your own words outside of your view, so watch what you say. Whether it is slamming Sarah Palin for whatever she is getting slammed for this week, or writing this on your grocery sack "Obama thinks it is OK to kill babies before they are born," your kids are a window into the opinionated section of your soul. Maybe I am off base here. There is a comment section below for discussion. Just watch what you write on your sack.
1 comment:
hey, we were spectating Saturday as well - too bad we didn't see you...and to add to your list of dl/nwoods folks working on the Extreme Home: Rick Byrne headed up the team of flooring installers (hard wood in every room except the bathrooms + big house = looonnngg hours and lots of help needed)...and some of the folks on that team of workers were: Caleb White (husband of our very own Rachel), Sean Neilson (brother of our Rachel), Matt Martin (dl family/volunteer), Brian Heinz (former dlander himself & more recently graduate of Reality) & me :o) We worked from about 6pm to about 4am. We also saw another northwoodser: Eileen Bowen working during the night on the cleaning crew. I also know that Scott Lewis (nwoods family) headed up the trim carpenters & the Scott Zarley (nwoods family) was part of the tile install crew, and Mike (drummer in big church) & Kate Holland also volunteered. Just to name a few...
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