The Lookout Weekly Podcast

Wisdom From the Living Room

• Vinelife Church

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0:00 | 44:09
SPEAKER_00

Thanks for joining us today as you listen to a portion of the message recorded at Vine Life Church in Boulder, Colorado. If you'd like to connect with us further, you can visit us online at www.vinelife.com.

SPEAKER_01

And I just want to say that wherever you find yourself today, whatever emotions come with this day, whatever the circumstances of this day may be for you, we are so glad you're here. And welcome, welcome. Just as you are, in whatever feelings you're having today, you're welcome to have them. We're so thankful that you joined us, and we love you. So, Mother's Day for me growing up, I'm a pastor's kid. So Mother's Day for me was going to church every Mother's Day, and most often my mom was speaking, and it was great. She's an amazing speaker. But I found that I got a little bit sucked into the routine and would start to glaze over every Mother's Day because it was so often the same conversation or the same routine. So I found a little way that I enjoyed making Mother's Day a little bit different for me. And that was to watch as the dads would walk in the room, particularly the younger dads, who you can tell maybe don't have so many Mother's Days under their belts. I like the way that Pastor Bob, you phrase it, the unskilled dads, as they're walking in the room. And you see them come, you see these moms come in feeling refreshed. You can tell the dad worked hard to give them a break that morning. They decided I'm taking it on myself to get my kids ready. I'm going to give them their breakfast. They may or may not show up to church in a Disney princess costume, but it's a dress, so it counts. Their ponytails may be doing this, but hey, at least I did their hair, right? So you see these kids come in and then you look at the dad and they have this glazed look on their face, like they've just survived a natural disaster. That is my favorite. I just, it's kind of like watching the groom as the bride comes down the aisle. I like to watch the dad as the mom walks in on Mother's Day and just see exactly how much of a hurricane turned into their home this morning. So I also just one more thought. For the dads in the room, if you feel like you're the unskilled dad and you're not quite sure what you're gonna do for the rest of this day, and you're kind of like, if you could just let the service last a little longer, I'd really appreciate it because I really don't know what I'm doing after lunch, and I have no clue how I'm gonna make my wife feel special today, pressure's off. Okay? Pressure's off. You don't have to do a song and dance. We live in a circus as it is. We don't need more entertainment. Please, pressure's off. All we need to know is we're loved, we're appreciated, and we don't have to wipe anybody's anything for one day. Okay? That's all we really need, honestly. Right, moms? Okay, that's all we need. Maybe a nap, you know, but that's it. So anyway, all joking aside, we really do appreciate you, moms, and it's fun to be celebrated as moms. So thank you for the celebration. Um, I could come up here and invite all of us moms to speak to motherhood and the place of women in the church. But when Luke called and asked me, would I be interested in leading a panel of mothers and facilitating a discussion, I said, absolutely yes. But right away I knew, but the thing I want to talk about is not necessarily the traditional Mother's Day conversation. Although that conversation is really important, so I don't want to belittle it. But my sense is I really want to just get back into the conversation we've been having as a community. I want to talk about what it looks like in my daily life to be a follower of Jesus. And what better group of people to speak to that this morning than a group of moms who at any given point can be wiping someone's nose and someone's nose and sending in someone else's college transcripts, right? Like you can be on such a wide range of life experience in this moment. You're navigating different people in different phases, different stages, and you're expected to have all the right answers to help them know exactly how to follow Jesus in each stage. And I would venture, I guess, that oftentimes, at least this is my story, not all of us even know what we're doing at our own stage. So I wanted to speak a little bit to what it looks like to follow Jesus. And I'm going to just quickly reference for time's sake the scripture that's been on my heart for the last couple of months as we've been in this conversation, has been the experience of the disciples on the road to Emmaus. You guys can turn to Luke 24. I'm not going to read through it this morning. And I promise these ladies are going to get to introduce themselves here in just a second. I just want to set us up for where we're going. But Luke 24, the disciples, if you don't know the situation here, the backstory is that they have just spent the last several years dedicating their life to follow Jesus. He's been their teacher, he's been their friend, and he's the one that they've placed their hope in. He's the one that they believe is going to come and restore a right government to their people. He's the one that's going to come and save them from the situations that they found themselves in. And they have followed him faithfully, waiting for this day. And here, the day that we're stepping into here is the is a few days after they have just witnessed their teacher and their friend be brutally beaten, humiliated, and sacrificed and buried. And to make things even more confusing, not only have they just watched all of this happen in their own experience with him, but now they're hearing rumors from some of the women of their community that there's an angel that has shown up to say that Jesus is not dead, but he's alive. And then one of their own this very morning goes and runs to the tomb and finds out his body really isn't there. So if we can put ourselves in this context, we're we're the disciples walking on this road along our journey and wondering what has just happened and what does this all mean to me? And we're going to pick up in verse 13, Luke 24, verse 13. It says, Now that same day, two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened, and as they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them, but they were kept from recognizing him. And then it goes on to explain that they recount all that they had just experienced over these last few days back to Jesus, not realizing who he was. And then we'll skip down to verse 30. It says that Jesus walked along with them all the way until they arrived at their destination, and it says, And when he was at the table with them, he took bread, he gave thanks, broke it, and began to give it to them. And then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. And they asked each other, Were not our hearts burning within us, as he walked and talked with us on the road and opened us to the scriptures. And the reason that that passage has been sitting with me through this entire conversation about following Jesus is because that is the Jesus I know. If I tell my story about my walk with Jesus, it is a lot less often me leaving a circumstance I'm in or having a major life change in circumstance, and much more often me meeting Jesus along my daily road and him bringing my mind to a place of opening up to who he is, experiencing him in a place of intimacy, and it not being a change of circumstance, but a change of perspective that draws me near to him. And he meets me right where we are. And that's what I wanted to invite these ladies to come speak with me about this morning because I watched each one of them walk out their relationship with the Lord over the last couple of years and seen as they have allowed Jesus to meet them on their road, right in right where they are, and speak to their hearts about who he is and open up their minds to who he is. So, ladies, before we jump in on the questions, would you, Jennifer, starting with you, let's just go ahead and have you each introduce yourselves, tell us your kids' names and ages, and yeah, go for it.

SPEAKER_00

So I'm Jennifer Peterson and so uh Dale and I have been married 26 years. We've been at Vine Life 18 years, and I have three children. Ethan, he's almost 19, and Lily is 16, and Paul is 13. Oh, and I uh take care of the things at home, and my passion is to help women explore their creativity, and I'm a quilter and a fiber artist.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02

I'm Karen Quinn. I've been at Vine Life uh almost two years now, and um I live here in Naiwat. I've been married for 39 years to a wonderful man who does not believe God exists, and I can't not see God wherever I am. So um that's our story. I have three adopted children that are um 31, 31, and 32. You can do the math on some of that. And I have four beautiful grandsons, nine, six, three, and two. So that's me.

SPEAKER_05

Okay, I am Megan Humbrecht. I am married to Pastor Luke sitting down there. Um we've been married for 13 years. I've been at Vine Life for almost 16 years, and we have three kids, uh, Noah, who is nine, Asher, who just turned six, and Amelie, who is two. And I work part-time as a GIS technician for a sanitation district, and the rest of the time I spend at home with my three children.

SPEAKER_03

Uh hi guys, I'm Valerie Swanson. And my husband is Nate Swanson. If you've been married 13 years, it means I've been married 13 years. Pretty sure. Okay, that's the right math. Um when, let's see, what else do I need to tell them? Who are you? How many kids I have?

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Well, I feel like I have hundreds of kids between subbing full-time and the Vine Life kids. But I truly only have two kids, and they're KJ, who's age 10, and then Micah, who's age six. Yeah. Just turned seven. I'm really bad with numbers, really.

SPEAKER_01

And Val also leads our children's ministry as she referenced Vine Life Kids. She does a phenomenal job taking care of our kiddos here. She's not sure how long they've been here. I'm not either. You just fit right in.

unknown

Three years.

SPEAKER_01

Three years, maybe.

SPEAKER_03

Three years.

SPEAKER_01

All right. And if you don't know me, I'm Piper Kepin. My husband is Graham Kepin. You usually see him sitting in the sound booth back there. And I have four children also. Uh Addison is 12, and then I have my daughter, and then I have three boys, Weston, Declan, and Brennan, and they are 10, 8, and 6. So we have, like I said, we have a circus at our house. It's lots of fun. So we're gonna jump in. Thank you. We're just gonna jump in, and I'm gonna just ask you, ladies, some questions about what does it look like for you in your daily life to follow Jesus? And Karen, I know that you have a really beautiful story about how Jesus met you in the very beginning of your relationship with him. Would you mind sharing that with us?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah, it's kind of a funny story. I um I met Jesus for the first time on the baseball field. I was 17 and I was um living with my grandparents uh after my parents died when I was seven in a plane crash, and then after three years of living with my aunt and uncle and a family with alcoholism. And um, and then my grandmother, when I was a senior, um, just dropped dead of a heart attack. And so I'm really kind of questioning God. I'm I'm kind of angry, I'm hurt, I'm I have a very poor image of who God is, and so I'm asking a lot of questions of God. And a friend uh invited me to a Bible study, and the woman that was leading it was probably my age, and I thought she was ancient. Um and she was telling me about having a personal relationship with Jesus, which I'd never heard about before, even though I'd been going to church all of my life. So I was playing on a girls' softball team that summer, and I said, Okay, God, if you're real and you want me to have a personal relationship with your son Jesus, then you will have us win this softball game this afternoon. I didn't know you weren't supposed to do that. And um, we hadn't won a game all season. I'll just preface you with that. We were a pretty rotten team, but we won that particular game 18 to nothing. So it was it was just like those disciples on the road to Emmaus. Jesus met me right where I was. He knew exactly what I needed, when I needed it, and so I got down on my knees at night in my room, and I didn't know exactly what I was doing, but I accepted Jesus as my savior, and the journey has continued from there.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. And what Karen didn't share with you is that Karen actually was a PE teacher, and physical activity, sports, those were always things that she just loved, that she was invested in, things that met her heart, ministered to her heart, and Jesus knew that about her, and I just love that he met her right where, not only right where she was in the moment, but right where her heart resonated in the first place, because he knew just how she was made. So I love that. I love that story. And Megan, do you have, you had shared with us, we met this week and we kind of talked through some of these questions. And Megan, I liked what you said when you started sharing about how Jesus is meeting you currently in this season, not only how he met you when you first started following him, but now currently in this season, what's that look like for you?

SPEAKER_05

Yeah, as you know, three kids is extremely busy, so my time um spending with God is very limited. And so I've found that God is really speaking to me right now in this season um through dreams. And I've just been having tons and tons of dreams and having the ability to get them interpreted by the amazing Jeanette Ross sitting in the back room. Um has been really powerful in my life knowing what God's doing and wanting to speak to me. Because, you know, as you know, three kids are busy, and sometimes the only time I get with God is in the car with worship music on or praying when I get a chance here and there. So um don't discredit the little things in through dreams and how he can speak to you, because it's in the very little things that he's gonna really help you hear him the best.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, and that's so good because he really doesn't waste a minute of our time, even in our sleep. You know, he pursues us and meets us wherever we are. That's really good. Are there any intentional practices that any of you would like to share that you've set into motion in this season in your life to cre to create space for the Lord?

SPEAKER_02

Well, um, one of the things that I have loved doing over the years is practicing centering prayer, which is silent prayer. And um, one of the places that God led me, um, and to some of you you'd love to come with me, and others you'll think I'm a little bit crazy. But there's a monastery up in Snow Mass called St. Benedict's, and I've been going up there for about 10 years now, and I sit in silence with a number of other retreatants for 10 days. And it's just a time of refilling and just doing nothing but just being loved by God. It's so beautiful. Um, so lest you think that's all I do, um I I love to do that, and that's my birthday gift to myself during the Advent season. I go up to St. Benedict's. But you know, I find and see God everywhere that I am. I take walks in nature, and God speaks to me deeply through nature. I love to um, as Piper said, be active, and so I cross country ski and um I'm out just singing and praising God when I'm out there. Um I love to bike, I love to hike. Um I last uh two years ago I went to um a retreat out at in Reading to the Bethel Women's Conference, and I heard God speak to me so powerfully that He wanted to take me higher and deeper in my relationship with Him, and that's what's led me here to Vine Life, and I'm so very, very grateful to be here. So thankful.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We're glad we have you.

SPEAKER_00

So um I have a story about how God has really changed the definition of intentional practices for meeting him. Um when my children were preschool and elementary school age, I had a pretty good routine for how we got through the day, but it didn't really include any time with deliberate time with God. And I was really craving uh a deeper relationship with God, but not really knowing how to make that happen, not realizing that it's really kind of his job to make that happen. But um so I had, you know, you go through Bible studies and you learn that you should get up in the morning and make spend time in prayer in the Word, and that's the best way to start your day, and that's your quiet time, and that's where you meet God, and that's true, and that's good. And I was asking God, how am I gonna you know really draw closer to you in this season in my life? And I heard him say, I want you to get up at 5.30 in the morning, half an hour before everyone else, and uh spend time in prayer in the word with me. And I'm not a morning person, and I but but I was obedient to that for a period of nine months during a school year. And to about April or May of that time period, I would still get up at 5.30 and I would sit in my chair with my open Bible, but then I would go back to sleep. And then the Dale's alarm would ring about six, and we'd get up and we'd do the day. And so I um and I was just so exhausted by the end of this time. And uh I said sat down with God at some point and said, okay, I was obedient to you, but I really didn't feel like you were showing up. I slept through most of this time. This was this I'm not any closer to you. What's going on here? And I heard this just sweet voice in my heart say to me, Well, first of all, Jennifer, well done, good and faithful servant, because you did what I asked you to do, but that's really not how I want to meet you in this season in your life. Um that that's you need as much sleep as you can get to uh meet the demands of your children during the day. And there are other ways I can meet you. And I've given you this gift of of quilting and fiber art and this creativity, and I want you to spend more time doing that. You're already frustrated that you don't get enough time doing that. Spend more time on that, and I'm gonna meet you in that place. And I thought, wow, what a gift. Um and I did do that, and I would just have this overwhelming sense of peace, rejuvenation, uh, and uh even an equipping to be able to step back into the demands of serving my family.

SPEAKER_01

So, Jennifer, before we leave your story, what what do you think it was that Jesus was teaching you in the practice of having you get up at 5 30? What do you think he was showing you about yourself and about the way he wanted to meet you there?

SPEAKER_00

Well, he was showing me that he that there's so many ways of of of uh him uh teaching us that it's not just about sitting down in prayer and quiet time, that it it's through the passions that he gives us. And um so in and and and the through the skills that he gives us. So my artwork has been a place where he's really met me and taught me. Yeah. Um so I uh about 2010 or so I had the opportunity to take a four-day seminar out of out of state that that I thought was going to take me to the next level in my artistry and in my my quilting work. I was really great at following patterns and using the ruler and and making pretty things, but I was really wanting to try something more freeform, more artistic in my mind, something that was more my own expression of my artistry. And I thought this teacher at this seminar was going to be able to impart that to me. And it became really clear the first day that I was way out of my league. Um the the teacher had her way of being creative, and she kind of thought that everybody should be creative in that way. And I knew that when I was cutting apart strips of fabric and sewing them back together and trying to make this abstract piece of artwork, which is what she did. And which was beautiful when she did it. It was not beautiful when I did it. It was just, it was really not good artwork. And I knew enough about composition to know that what I was making was not any good. But I did not know how to fix it, didn't know where to go from there. And I found myself really frustrated with that seminar and really feeling like a failure in my creative journey. I get home and I'm visiting with my grandmother on the phone, who has always had always been my inspiration, my artistic inspiration. She was an artist, and my favorite place to be with her was as a child was in her studio. And I was telling her my frustrations, and she says, Well, Jennifer, you know, the reason that happened is because you're not free. And I thought, and she says, and I and I know what that feels like. And I thought, wow, I'm not free. What does that mean? And I sat with God about that and and realized, you know, I don't feel free to stop controlling my creative process and allow God to just flow through it. And that's what I need to be asking for. So I discovered, though, that this, because this workshop had pushed me so far out of my comfort zone that when I came back to a place that was more comfortable where I could feel successful again as an artist, I was actually several steps ahead of where I had been before I ever went to the seminar. So in that failure, I actually was released into the freedom to move ahead to a place of just more ability to be free to let the creativity flow through me. So it was a good lesson that we have to give ourselves the freedom to fail. Yeah. So I have a picture of a quilt that I made several years later that I want to talk a little bit about. I had was learning to pray about a gift before giving it. I want and asking the Lord, what is it that you want to impart or give to this person who's going to be the recipient of this quilt? And then asking him, you know, show me what to do through my handiwork that would speak to them. So this is a quilt that I did for my little nephew Charlie. And when he was on the way, I was praying about what to do for this kid, and and this image of St. Francis came to my mind, and I thought, well, okay, what does that mean? There must be something in Charlie's life that will be a reflection of St. Francis' life. And I um thought, well, how am I going to do this? And I was taking a class at the time and felt like I can I can use this technique that I'm learning to create this, and this is based off of a picture, a photograph of a statue, a wooden statue of St. Francis. So I show you this as an example because every technique that I used in this quilt, the mosaic piecing of fabric, the thread painting, so all the stitching of the birds and the animals, everything was new to me. I had not done it before in any other quilt. And so it was kind of scary. There wasn't really a lot of room for error, especially with the stitching. But I could feel God's presence, I could feel him working in my hands, I could feel him just guiding me every step of the way through this. And it was a breakthrough for me in trusting God to uh to give me all that I needed and to uh let go of control of my creative process and let him flow through me to complete something.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah, that's so beautiful.

SPEAKER_00

There's a close-up, a second photo. There's a yeah, there's another second photo. You can see the stitching better in that one. And I had this moment when I was stitching his face, and this is on the machine, silk thread, tiny little eyes, just no room for error, and I actually cried out in joy as I started that process. I'm like, I'm doing it, I'm doing it. And I honestly don't know if I could ever do it again.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, so good. And I love, I just love, again, another story. If somebody, Jesus knew exactly how Jennifer was created. He knew exactly the things that are gonna bring joy to her life are gonna be the most meaningful moment to meet her, and he chooses to step into that space with her. You know, the 5 30 in the morning wake up and fall asleep as I'm trying my hardest to read my Bible moment wasn't what was bringing the most life in her relationship with Jesus, but here she finds herself being drawn in in the places that matter to her, her heart, because the things that matter to us matter to him. He made us that way, right? So I love that story, Jennifer. Thank you for sharing it, and thank you for sharing your artwork. She has so much beautiful artwork. If you ever have the chance to see it, please do. Um, so Val and Megan, we haven't gotten to hear a whole lot from you guys yet this morning, but I'd like to hear from you guys how does this season of your life look different than maybe in your 20s following the Lord?

SPEAKER_05

Um, so for me in my early 20s, if you were around Vine Life then, um we used to throw a princess party for the youth girls ages 12 to 18. And the center around it was really getting at their worth and helping girls to see who they are and um know how valuable they are. And that was an amazing, amazing time. But as we started having kids, I had to close that chapter for a while because it's just as you know, too much to try to do it all. So now, finding myself in my 30s, got kids in elementary school, I decided that I want to be a part of what they're doing. And the best way to do that is to get into the school and you know, really get engaged in um the things that they're learning and their friends that they're meeting, and just the people in the school. And so I joined the PTCO this last year, and um we just got to throw this amazing mom prom for moms in the um Erie surrounding community, which uh really tags at my heart of like who I am as this girly princess and you know feeling beautiful and going all out. And it was really an amazing time, but this one was a little different. We um raised money for three nonprofits that feed all into the Erie schools, and um, one of them is called Erie Uplink, and they actually provide about 20% of meals to students in just our school alone on weekends, and they send home backpacks of food, and they really provide a lot of help to families in need, and then we also gave money to um the Erie Food Bank, which provides food to several people, and then the last one was the Optimus Club of Erie, and they um help run a lot of the different events that go on in Erie. So it's just really cool to be a part of something that still ministry focused because now my focus is in the schools and reaching these other communities where we're at, but also still a really big part of my heart and getting to plan really fun events for women. So it does look a little bit different, but it's still a little bit of who I am.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, I love that. I love she's stayed here the same when she told me. Megan and I have been friends for 16 years, and when she first told me, so I've joined the PTCO and and we're doing this fundraiser, and I was like, really, what are you gonna do? She's like, I'm doing a mom prom. I was like, of course you are. Of course you are. What else did Megan do than throw a party for women? That's what she does. It's amazing. And I just love, I love that she has stayed the same, she has stayed true to who she is. Val, what's it look like for you to be pouring out both in the schools and in church? And you know, what are the different experiences that you're having? Because in some venues you can speak very directly to the heart of God, and others maybe not so much. So, how do you navigate that? What's how does that look for you?

unknown

Right.

SPEAKER_03

I'll answer that in just one second. I have to share a testimony to Megan's ministry. Um, I know some of you are like, mom prom, but I've been around the community and I'm very plugged into Erie. And so I'm talking with some moms, I think at a soccer game. Not only that, but at the school that I currently work at. And every single mom that I ran into had said to me, like they brought it up on their own accord. I went to this mom prom and it was the most fun I've had in years. I got to dress up and I got to wear something really beautiful, and I got to meet a lot of new moms.

SPEAKER_04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So they were seen, they were heard, they made new friends, um, and they got to have a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, it's so good. It's so good.

SPEAKER_04

Okay, so then how is the season different for me?

SPEAKER_03

Yes. Yeah. So um when Nate and I first got married, we I think we used to go to about five different churches on a regular basis. We were plugged in at all of those churches. We had community at each of those churches, and we just felt loved. We are part of those families, and in New Mexico, everyone's family. Um, it's just this great thing about the culture there. And so as we were plugged into these families, we spent a lot of afternoons with um just people all over New Mexico, all over Albuquerque. And what was cool is they're just really adventurous down there. And so we did a lot of prayer walking, we did a lot of just um treasure hunts. I don't know, most people know what a treasure hunt is, but basically you're asking God, hey, I want to partner with you today, Holy Spirit. What would you have us do? Where would you have us go? Who do you want to minister today? And uh to today. And so I think that's what our life looked at like before we had kids. We were a little bit more um just advent be we were able to be more adventurous, we were able to just um fly by the seat of our pants, and at all times we're asking, all right, Holy Spirit, what do you have for today? And we were able to just listen to that answer and that calling and go. Kids is different. Yeah, so different. Um, you have to have schedules, you have to have um time to invest in them. And so now in this season, I think one of our highest callings, I feel like, is that we're mom and dad. But out of that, I'm also plugged in as the Vine Life Kids team lead. And thankfully I get to serve alongside some wonderful women, uh, Catherine Leslie and Mary Louvador and Stacey Searcy. And we're still asking the Holy Spirit, what do you want to do today? But we're not able to maybe do as many treasure hunts. And um, it just looks it looks different. We're still able to minister to hearts, though, and that's the biggest thing. Maybe I'm not calling it a Holy Spirit treasure hunt, but in the schools and at Bind Life Kids, I'm saying, okay, God, where's the heart that you want to minister to? Right. So it's similar, just looks different.

SPEAKER_01

Sure, yeah. And what's can you give us an example of a time that you um so before it was getting called in to do treasure hunts? Is there a time you can think of recently that instead of a treasure hunt, this is what it looked like to hear God's heart for somebody today and express it to them?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's actually kind of my nose. Um so I've been teaching this whole pretty much this whole year uh in the public school system. And um going into the new year, I asked God, I was like, hey, I I just want a word from the Holy Spirit. What would that word be? And the word was influence. And influence is just the capacity to have an effect on the character, development, or behavior of someone or something. And so I got that word, and I was like, yes, I'm gonna have a good effect. I'm gonna spread Jesus, this is gonna be awesome. And um, so then we get back to school in January, and I get a new student that's never been to school, and I'm teaching kindergarten at the time. I'm like, okay, God, this is gonna be so fun. I'm gonna just rock myself in the teacher chair. I have a new student that's never been to school, and um, but these students are still going to feel God's love, and I'm going to influence them with God's love. Uh so this kid shows up to class, and he doesn't actually even understand how to sit down yet, because that's not something you know how to do. It's something that we kind of teach them like this is a schedule, these are the expectations. So he's kind of like sitting down, standing up, like walking around. I'm like, hey buddy, I'm trying to teach. You want to sit down? You know, and uh it continues on and on. Some of the kids are going, hey, um, that's that's not what we're supposed to be doing right now. And so um later, I'm thinking during my 10-minute lunch, well, God, influencing this child is looking a little bit difficult right now. And um God started to speak to my heart, and he just said, Well, how do you want to influence others? And I just thought by being in alignment with him, I was gonna have a good influence. Um, and God's like, No, I'm more interested in the small exchanges of the details of our lives. And then God asked me, What does influence really like look like to you? What are the most profound moments of your life where you can recall that I was present, that God was present. Are they replicable? And so then it's really starting to move in my heart. I'm not sure what if I know what influencing others for you means. That was hard. And um so I asked the Holy Spirit, okay, I think I need some help right here. I I need to hit the pause button. And so thankfully, some of the leaders around here um I've been able to process some of those things with them. Like, I'm just feeling like empty. What is what does it actually look like to influence? And some of them have been saying, hey, hit the pause button. And so um, this was a couple of weeks, this was like a month ago, two months ago, that I'm gonna end with this. I know it's long. I had a student um arrive in the classroom, and every morning I start out the same. I usually am praying in the spirit over all the kids. I'm doing it silently, just kind of like a little bit under my breath, but I'm praying in the spirit, asking for the Holy Spirit to be there. Um, generally have on soaking instrumental music as they walk through the door, and um this gal walks in, and I'm like, oh, today's not gonna be a good day. Oh, it's not. And what ends up happening is um she ends up pushing the buttons quite often, and um, let me just repeat. And she starts to just break some of the rules, some of the simple rules of following directions the first time and what academic attitude looks like. And so I'm starting to uh get a little bit angry that she's breaking the rules, and then I ask myself, why am I letting a five-year-old take my piece? And so because I've been taking the pause button and saying, All right, Holy Spirit, what does influence look like? The Holy Spirit immediately comes to me and says, Maybe ask the question, why is she breaking the rules? She had marked up a girl with some marker that day, you know, just different things like that. Um, they're little things, they're really not a big deal. But in the kindergarten world, those things are a big deal, and we work on um honoring each other day to day and what it means to be a good friend, things like that. Um, so as it turns out, I'm like, okay, Holy Spirit, why is she breaking the rules? And um this gal has been shuffled back and forth between her parents' house all year long. And so she's not at the same place every week. She has different boundaries at each place. And so then I started to say, all right, Holy Spirit, well, what what does that have to do with breaking rules and any of those things? And the Holy Spirit said, um perhaps she has inconsistent boundaries between being sent back and forth each week. And then God asked me, do you want to help her feel safe? Do you want to respond in a loving way or to reprimand her? And your anger is spurring the very reaction she possibly gets at home. And that might be confirming her worst fears. And maybe that's why she can is continuing to break some of the rules that are simple things that simple just simple expectations in the classroom. So then the Holy Spirit's asking me, Do you want to respond in a loving way? And I'm saying, I think I need your rest, Holy Spirit. I need your rest, and I need it in a large way to make her feel safe. I'm gonna help her. She's gonna feel seen today, she's going to feel heard, and at recess, we've finally made it to recess this day, we go outside and we have a good chat. I ask her a couple of really great questions, just letting her know, I see you, I see you, I see you, I love you, I see you, you're amazing. And um she just got to talk and we walked. Uh, I didn't talk to her about boundaries at all, I didn't talk to her about classroom rules at all. And um she came back in and she was like the superstar student of the day. She came back in. She was not only following the rules, listening the first time, but she was pointing out what she saw in others in the classroom. So that's my testimony. We call that out in one person, and it can change the whole classroom because now she's starting to see in others what I saw in her.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's so good. That's so good. Yeah. And we're gonna come into land here, but you know, what I love that I'm hearing with each one of these stories is people being seen for who they are, for the way that they were created. I love that they're having an experience with the gentleness, the heart of God, as he's meeting them in right where they are, just as Val was meeting this girl right where she was. She wasn't just meeting her in her behavior, but she was meeting her in the reality of her circumstance. She was able to have an imagination with the Holy Spirit about what it must feel like to be in her circumstance, in her situation, and what might she need to be to feel seen and known. And that's exactly why the road to Emmaus means so much to me. That's exactly why the stories of the fabric art and the baseball games and the mom proms and the classroom experiences, they mean so much to me because every time I hear somebody else's story, I find the ways that Jesus found them in that moment and drew near to them and spoke to them in their own language. And I think what we want, you know, if there's anything that you walk away from this service with this morning, I think the thing that I really pray that you've all seen and heard in these testimonies, in these stories, is just that it doesn't really matter where you're at or what um what season you're in or what circumstance you find yourself in, Jesus is gonna find you right in the mix of that, and he's gonna walk along with you, and he's gonna give you the tools you need for every moment. And if you're a mom and you're in a place where you're navigating little children all day long, he's gonna meet you in the snotty nose moments with those little kids because he's not lacking in compassion, but he's actually cheering you on and walking alongside of you and equipping you every step of the way, just as Val is finding she was equipped to meet this child with what they needed in that moment. So we're gonna pray, and I believe Pastor Bob's gonna come up and close out. But first, I just want to thank these moms, each one of you, thank you, ladies, for coming and sharing. I know it takes a lot of guts to do that, and you guys did such a beautiful job of sharing pictures of your story and how Jesus meets you. So thank you so much. And um, moms, we're just gonna stretch our hands out. You can put the mic out with you if you need to. But we're gonna just pray over you all this morning as we close out this time, and I just bless every spirit in this room. If you want to put your hands out, actually, to receive, I just bless every person in this room to receive a new, fresh understanding of the way that Jesus meets you along the day, along the path, as you're walking along your life, the ways that Jesus is encountering you, the things that he is equipping you with, and that you are seen. That you are seen. He meets you right where you are. He doesn't call you into a new circumstances, he meets you in your circumstance and calls you to a new perspective. And I just bless you to see the ways that God is at work in your life on a daily basis, and the ways that you are equipped, you are loved, and you are seen. I bless you in the name of Jesus. Amen. Thank you.

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Luke Humbrecht

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