News & Events

Lately I have been enjoying the blog, Giving Up on Perfect, and wanted to share one of the entries that touched my heart. The author starts out describing a call she got from her daughter's teacher. It involves quite a disgusting incident (see article below, What He Sees). Once you get beyond the vivid description of the incident, she compares it to a unique way of understanding God's love and forgiveness. She states, "...God reaches down, picks up the mud pie (that we are covered in) and starts wiping away the dirt. Wiping and swiping, until finally, a face (our face) begins peeking through. "There you are," He says. He sees us. What does God see when He wipes the mud off of your life? Much love, Mary
P.S. Don't forget to send your prayer requests...

From (In)Courage For the past month, my life has been largely consumed with matters of the...potty. If you don't count the Pull-Ups at night, my daughter has been diaper-free for four weeks now, and she rarely even has an accident. (Of course, this is partly due to her fascination with finding - and trying out - every public toilet in a 20-mile radius, from Home Depot to our favorite Mexican restaurant to all three Walmart locations near our house.) But those first couple of weeks? They weren't so accident-free, although they were definitely spent obsessing over all things potty-related. That's why I shouldn't have been surprised when I received a call at work that went like this: "Hi, this is Cory, your daughter's teacher? Yes, um, this is just an informational call to let you know..."

Each week, debrief with yourself and God. Here's how.
by Gordon McDonald In the year 1801, William Wilberforce, a member of the English Parliament and leader of the anti-slavery forces in the British Empire, passed through a severe spiritual crisis. The core issue? Political ambition. Had he mishandled the experience, it is possible that the history of 19th-century England would have been quite different. Wilberforce's struggle began when a general election produced a new prime minister, Henry Addington. The banter in the streets was that Wilberforce was on Addington's A-list of possible cabinet members. Biographer Garth Lean writes that Wilberforce was sucked into the speculation and, for a while, could think of nothing else. Later, recounting those days, Wilberforce described himself as "intoxicated (with) risings of ambition." Many of us who have experienced the privileges of leadership understand such "risings" well, and ambition is just one of them. You can put abuse of power on a "risings list" along with anger, competitiveness, integrity issues, and moral temptation. And that's just the beginning. When we leaders get enamored by a fantasy or an egregious attitude about someone or something, it's hard to stop them. They almost never stop by themselves. For Wilberforce, the great seduction was ambition. Many leaders know what it is like to be mesmerized by the lure of something bigger, more influential. Usually it's followed by the temptation to manipulate people and processes to grasp for whatever it is that the ego desires.

I scream, you scream...

Rich chocolate. Creamy ice cream. Yummy. 70% less sat fat · 62% less fat · 45% fewer calories than the original recipe. With fewer calories and less fat, this turtle won't take a bite out of your diet!

Comedian Anita Renfroe explains (musically) sweet tea and why we're so picky about how it's made. Celebrational, yet educational. Raise a glass to that!