One of the things I have learned is that my life is busy and that if I do not focus on the main things then I will get screwed up.  We all only have so much time in our days and in our lives, we need to make sure that we prioritize the right things….So this is what I have come to with some help through the book LEADING ON EMPTY.

85% of my life anyone can do…Anyone can answer emails, phone calls, meetings, etc.

10% of my life someone could do with minimal training, I got trained so someone else could be trained.  If you do not feel this is true for you think about this, the President of the US is arguably the most powerful man in the world and he is replaced the majority of the time every 4 years….You and I can be replaced

5%  of my life no one can do….ONLY ME

The problem is that so many of us let the 85% and the 10% govern our lives.  I am not saying they aren’t important, but they are not the most important.  The 5% is the most important…So, what is you 5%??

MY 5%

1. A growing relationship with Jesus Christ
2. A loving marriage with my with Becca
3. A healthy loving involved relationship with Ayden and Riley.
4. Leading my family spiritually 
5. A healthy body and creative spirit
6. A God-Pleasing ministry
7. Enjoying life with family and friends

I have made a change in my life that my 5% will govern my life, not the 85% or the 10%.

What is governing your life?

Mark Woods: A lost stuffed animal leads to motherly connection

Stinky Frog had lost both eyes. He had a few stains. And, truth be told, most of the time Stinky was appropriately named.

But when Stinky disappeared, a boy named Nicholas was distraught.

In the grand scheme of things, a missing stuffed animal is, of course, trivial. But in the world of a 4-year-old boy who has been with that stuffed animal since birth, who took it everywhere, who fell asleep rubbing the empty sockets, it was earth-shattering.

And for the 4-year-old’s mother?

Well, it’s what happened after Stinky Frog disappeared that brought tears to her eyes.

“I don’t know if this is a story,” Elaine Wilson said, practically apologizing for even telling it.

I told her I thought it was, partly because many of us can relate to our children being deeply attached to some object. Some of us even can recall something from our own childhood, perhaps the familiar fabric of a worn blankie, which was lost at a rest stop on a family vacation. Not that I ever had this experience, mind you.

Back to Nicholas. His story starts one night a few weeks ago, when he was going to bed and realized he couldn’t find Stinky Frog.

They searched the house and yard the next day. When he wasn’t there, they figured he must be at the Center One Building in Deerwood. The day he had disappeared, Nicholas had taken him along when he went to a pediatric specialist for an ear issue.

They called the doctor’s office and the building management. Nothing. One night at bedtime, with tears in his blue eyes, Nicholas asked if they could put up signs, the kind you typically see for lost pets.

So the next day they dug up a photo that Nicholas had taken of Stinky and they made “missing” and “lost” posters. And with the help of his mother and his 8-year-old sister Abigail, Nicholas put them up all over the medical building.

For nearly a week, they didn’t hear anything. During that time, his mother had the kind of day when adults do things that make you wonder about the world.

“The kind of day you really look forward to bedtime, just so it will be over,” Elaine Wilson said. “Of course, at bedtime, there were more tears and talk of Stinky Frog.”

The next morning the phone rang. 

A woman asked to speak with Nicholas.

“Oh, please tell me you found Stinky Frog,” Nicholas’ mother said.

“Not exactly,” the woman said. “But …”

• • •

Becca Turner had been visiting the same pediatrician. Riley, her 21/2-year-old daughter, has been seeing doctors ever since she was born completely blue.

“She had to be resuscitated in the delivery room,” her mother said. “And it has been a whirlwind ever since.”

Riley spent two months in the hospital, undergoing more than a half million dollars worth of tests. And the doctors still didn’t come up with a definitive diagnosis. The Turners just know that Riley is very weak. She receives all her nutrition through a feeding pump. She requires 24-hour monitoring. And she is, they say, their “miracle baby.”

Her dad, Josh, is a youth pastor at Celebration Church. So they’re hardly rolling in money, but they make too much to qualify for Medicaid. And way too little to cover their expenses. They end up holding fund-raisers, like an upcoming 5k Walk/Run for Riley, in hopes of covering nearly $70,000 annual out-of-pocket bills.

“She is a super child, a wonderful blessing,” Turner said.

On a website they set up for Riley, it says she loves books, tea parties and, most of all, playing with her brother, Ayden.

He’s 7 years old. And until about six months ago, every night he fell asleep with a stuffed animal. A frog. Exactly like the one they saw on the poster when Riley went to the doctor. Only without the stains. And with eyes.

• • •

Mother to mother, Becca Turner said to Elaine Wilson, she was so touched by the poster. If someone cared enough to take a picture of their stuffed animal, they must really love it. And really miss it.

She said she wanted to help. She said she had a Stinky replacement for them. It was in good condition, maybe even too good.

“I know how suspicious kids can get,” Turner said.

Maybe, she said, they could remove the frog’s eyes. Or say that the doctors had fixed Stinky.

They agreed to go with the latter. And the next morning a box arrived at the Wilsons’ house. It was addressed to Nicholas.

He lifted the lid, pulled out what was inside and hugged it so hard, his mother said, “it was though both arms were hugging himself, crushing Stinky Frog in the middle.”

Elaine Wilson already was overwhelmed that a stranger, a mother who had plenty of challenges in her own life, had found time to help them. But when she saw what else was in the box, that’s when she really started to cry.

There was a copy of Max Lucado’s “God Thinks You’re Wonderful!” A photo of Turner’s two children. And a note.

Dear Nicholas

I AM HOME! I am so sorry I have been away, but I met a boy and a little girl that could use a little love from someone soft and green, so I had to help. But I have missed you so very much and I am really happy to be coming back home to be with you again. I learned a lot while I was gone. The little boy I have been living with is named Ayden and he loves baseball! We played catch a lot. Ayden also taught me how to give really good hugs, especially the kind that help get rid of bad dreams or boo-boos. Ayden has a little sister named Riley that I played with a lot too. Riley is a very special little girl that is very sick. She taught me how to snuggle with someone when they don’t feel good. Also she knows some really smart doctors and they helped me to get my eyes all fixed up. I can’t wait to hug you and snuggle with you to show you all the new things I have learned. Ayden and Riley said for me to tell you “Hi!” and they also let me bring one of my favorite of their bedtime stories home with me to your house. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Much Love (the good green and fuzzy kind)

Stinky Frog

The 5k Walk/Run for Riley will be held Oct. 9 at the St. Johns Town Center. For more information about the event, or about Riley, go to rileyturner.blogspot.com.

I have been a student pastor for 3 years now and I can honestly say that last week was the best service ever.  It was not the biggest service ever we did not do anything crazy over the top, but it was amazing because we had students own it.  The band that night was lead by an all student worship team (thanks to the amazing Lindsey Carter) and they absolutely killed it.  It is so neat seeing students lead other students in worship and that all of them respond better that way.

We then had a student come up and give an amazing spoken word that got all of the students pumped up for the last worship song….This student will also be preaching this week at FUSE which I am super excited about.

Then to top all of that off a 15 year old by the name of Kyle Kitzman preached a 20 minute message that was awesome.  He told his testimony and how God had carried him through so many difficult times in his and it is truly amazing what God has done in him.  Then Kyle when on to share the three things he has learned in facing hard times.

1.  Continue to trust God

2.  Spend time with God

3.  Keep a good attitude

It was a great sermon from a student that has an amazing call of God on his life, but then the truly amazing thing was how much it caused all of the students in small groups to open up.

Alex, Jeremy, Lina, Corey, Amber, and Kyle…..I am so proud of all of you

Lastnight, after Becca and I put Riley to bed I slipped into Ayden’s room to pray for him as he slept.  As I knelt by his bed I was overcome with this sense of love for him that brought me to tears…..As I laid my hand on his chest and prayed for him I had a thought cross my mind…WILL HE EVER KNOW HOW MUCH I LOVE HIM?…..I wonder if at night God does the same thing to us?.  I wonder if at night He looks at us in awe like I look at my children and is overcome with a love that moves Him to tears.  I wonder if He looks at us and asks the same question that I asked last night…..Will he ever know how much I love him?

Judges 7:2

The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men for me to deliver Midian into their hands. In order that Israel may not boast against me that her own strength has saved her

God has a way of revealing things to me in just the right time, I guess that’s one of the things that makes Him God.  Well, a couple of days ago I was driving to work thinking about how much I need another staff member and how I could do so much more in FUSE and Sub30 if I just had another staff member to help with stuff.  I then let my mind start wandering on all that I didn’t have instead of all that I did have and found myself getting in a bad mood.  So, I asked God why He had not given me another staff member yet, I was informing Him on all the other awesome stuff I could do with someone else’s help.  Then it happened, God reminded me of the scripture that is listed above…..He was telling me that if He were to give me another person right now that any growth, any additional health, or any improvements in the ministry would quickly be claimed by me and my ego…..It was God telling me that before He can trust me with more He needs to be able to trust that I depended on Him more than the talents He has given me.

Not for one second do I not think that God gets pleasure from seeing me or any of us operate in our strengths, but I think it does concern Him when we trust in those strengths instead of Him.  I felt that at this time He was just telling me to trust more in Him and not my strengths…..Most of the time I am educated beyond my own obedience.

 “The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon Me,
      Because the LORD has anointed Me 
      To preach good tidings to the poor; 
      He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, 
      To proclaim liberty to the captives, 
      And the opening of the prison to those who are bound;              Isaiah 61:1

 So a couple of weeks ago I was given the honor of preaching on the weekends here at Celebration Church and was really nervous about it for some reason.  I just could not get the notes right in my head and I couldn’t seem to find my flow in the sermon.  I finally relaxed and just got my main points and handed the rest over to God.  Apparently, it was one of the best messages I have ever preached judging on the feedback I have received from it.  However, the crazy thing is that I do not remember saying half the things that people told me I said, as I listened back I realized that I said things that I have never thought of, said, or read anywhere else before.  What is so amazing about that is, it is a constant reminder to me that I am not the one preaching that it is a powerful, graceful, loving God who has taken a busted, broken messed up man and is using him for His glory.  It never ceases to amaze me the things that God has done with my life and I pray that I never forget that it is all HIM and not me.

At work this past week we found out that our medical insurance was going up in price and there was going to be a change in benefits, for the worse.  Now, you could say yeah that is just the state of our health care and you would be partly right, but the main reason that our churches health insurance is going up in price is because of Riley.  So, in this meeting I knew that when really no one else did and even if they did know it they weren’t thinking about her or blaming us for the situation.  However, through tears I apologized and thanked all of our amazing staff members and pastors for sacrificing for my family and my beautiful daughter…….

Later that day I was walking to my office when I heard a staff member turn a corner and make a comment about how much money he would have to pay now for doctor bills, I immediately thought that he was talking crap about me and my family.  I started getting really upset and formulating a response to this person if he were to ever say anything to me about the situations.  I mean I was going to reference so many different situations which would have showed this person how unfair his feelings were and how wrong he was for feeling this way…..Then it happend my phone wrong and it was the staff member.  I was sure that he was getting ready to tell me how unfair the situation was for him and his family, but what I heard was so much different then what I expected.  He told me how he felt like I should not have even apologized in the meeting and that it is out of my control and that he loves me and my family.  He then went on to tell me how he thought insurance in America is so jacked up and that he is glad that he is able to help my family…..I was speechless

See what I learned in this is that satan wanted to take my own insecurities and concerns and turn them on me.  He wanted me to condem myself because of our situation with Riley and also get angry at my friend who didn’t say anything at all.  He wanted me to let my mind run on all the things that I thought were said and get offended….Satan is a punk who is looking to do nothing more than destroy us….Watch for his schemes