turning a new page

in the last three days the mister has preached five times.  five times to present God's Word without apology for God's glory and for people to flood to their knees to grow closer to Jesus.  Opportunities not to pass up for sure and more than that people are going to heaven because his obedience to share the gospel.  Amazing.  I never want to grow apathetic to hearing people's eternity changed because of their decision to turn from their sin and obey Christ.  That's just down right awesome!!!!  

one of his preaches was at the 20's ministry on friday night.  the weather conditions weren't necessarily cooperative but here in chicago, not much stops people.  he preached on authority in our life... the gist being

 'when i honor my authority, i honor jesus.' 

simple but not always the easiest.  the scripture that I'm trying to be mindful of is... Colossians 3:23 'whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working at it for the Lord and not for man.' 
it was a good reminder that the three little lads that reside under my authority are going to follow my example.  gulp, big responsibility.  

three of the other preaches were at the weekend services on the rolling meadows campus of our church, in fact, you can listen/watch his message here . It was from 1 Peter 2:1-3 titled Grow Up.  My favorite part of the message was that 

'Grown Ups desire God's best.' 

he gave examples about how often we let the substitutes just 'cut it' rather than really longing for the Word that God has so graciously given us.  Even more than that disciplining ourselves to be in His Word and then seeing God change that discipline into desire and the desire into delight.  

I can look back at times in my life where i truly longed for God's Word in my life.  Often, it came with a trial and the Word was the thing that I could put my feet on and know that I was standing on a rock... but when I look back over the last 5 years {our firstborn is turning five in less than a month, yeesh time flies!} i find that I've tried to allow the substitutes to cut it or in other words let the excuses over power of discipline.  My goal for this year is to wake up at a set time and get in the Word. 

no more excuses,

no more i'm tired... {i've got kids, of course i'm tired!}

less with the selfishness more with the let's turn a new page!

the encouragement i've received on the days I've chosen his Word over what I would have otherwise has always won out.  

Trusting the Lord that this year is going to be different,

Kristen

a.p. life

about three years ago Luke had a vision to start a summer leadership program for the 'about to be senior' students of our youth group called a.p. life.  it's a program that the students apply for and they memorize scripture, read & discuss books that will grow & challenge them.  They also meet with people from our church {most of whom} are not in ministry but rather are doing work they feel called to do outside the 'ministry field.'  Some of which include: doctors, lawyers, and business owners so that the students can see that they don't have to 'be in ministry' to live their lives for Christ but rather to be lights in the world no matter what their job.  these are the kids in our youth group who have already decided that there's no turning back... that they want to live surrendered to Christ.  

last night was our last {weekly} meeting.  their last 'assignment' was to write a paper that shared their story & included the five components of the gospel & how it intersects with their life.  Each student read their paper out loud.  It's amazing to hear nine individual stories (we missed a few of them the last night:() of how God reached out his hand to them and at a certain point in their life they understood their desperate need for a Savior: Jesus Christ.  It could have been with their parents when they were a young child, a retreat with church in Jr. High or a trip that we have taken as a high school ministry.  Each story God weaved from the beginning of time, orchestrating and using certain events in each of their lives with every detail mapped out, seeing that they would be drawn to Him and His amazing, matchless love.  

The glory goes to Christ for all He is doing at our church and in the high school & student ministries.  It was amazing to hear though these trips that we've gone on where we've sacrificed as a family or couple or just made adjustments in life to make them work and to hear that one students' life was changed..... all hassle or sacrifice was completely and totally worth it.  

to end the night Luke encouraged and challenged the students and then one of the students raised their hand and said, 'We're really grateful for you guys & can we end the night by laying hands on you and praying for you.'  Can you say blessing?  My mascara was smeared & jeans wet from the tears of joy and gratitude for these students' in our lives and I know that I speak for us both.  

We are believing this is going to be the best youth ministry season yet.  We are excited, encouraged, and fired up to ignite a passion for Christ in these students... or to get to play a part in that.  

and, for those of you who pray for us.... thank you.  we need it- just weak, earthly vessels here that can just offer Christ.  

thanks a.p. life, 

kg {& luke}

Take a listen.

My husband preached this past weekend in Minneapolis at the harvest bible church plant there! He was so blessed by the opportunity! He preached a message he had already preached at camp that I was able to be part of and as I listened - it was a messages soooo needed to hear that I was literally crying my eyes out the whole message. Don't you love when the Lord wrecks you?  Usually it includes the ugly cry (& that's not 'fun') but it's one of the best thing that can happen in our life for us!

All of this to say, there's an audio link from when he spoke this weekend so you can take a listen too. Because this message was so instructive to me, I pray God's Word would 'wreck' you too.

Click here.:)
Happy listening!
Kg:)

monday afternoon commentary

this weekend my mister got to preach in BIG church!!!

he got the privilege of bringing God's Word to the Harvest people a few weeks back at the Rolling Meadows Campus and this week at the Elgin campus!  What a huge responsibility...

He preached from Romans 13:11-14
     Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.   The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.

of course I thought it was a great message because it was faithful to God's Word and preached by the man i love but there were a few key points that i loved that he taught.

when a person is asleep spiritually, they're not who they want to be.  Therefore, we need to wake up! 

we need to grow up out of our childish ways- including spoon-fed Christianity, spiritual cynicism & roller coaster-like faith.  

we need to give up the things that are not Christ-like... interestingly enough that the same things the Roman church {who this letter was written to} was struggling with the very same things that we do today.... hmm...

we have to look up because we don't have within us the power to work through our weakness... we have to put on Jesus.  

the key point of the message was this sentence:

until the pain of not changing is greater than the pain of changing... I'll never change.  

i was convicted about some things in my life.... i love that God's Word is living in active.

grateful to be serving the Lord with my man,

kg       

You can find & listen/watch the sermon right HERE.:)

God WINS.

so there's this girl, she was placed in my small group about four years ago and after sitting through our first small group together i asked her if she would come back next week {or something of the sort} and she looked at me with high school sophomore, cue the hand on hip sass and said, 'well i haven't left yet.'

i remember going home and thinking...
i'm just the pastor's wife.
i just want this girl to love jesus....
why did my husband have to give me 'one of the difficult ones?'
i don't know how to 'deal' with her.

it was a few short 'what seemed long' months with many 'how are yous?' with silent replies... many voicemails left without call backs and many convos that were pretty awkward.  it was slow.  and because we are so completely opposite i didn't think she ever would like me.  but after a while i really began to love her.  yes, she thought i was a bit nuts, and probably 'too nice' but i began to see that the sass was wearing down and the 'fun' that she had pursued wasn't satisfying.  she was seeing that Jesus really is who he says he is.

as i got to know her i saw the struggles in her life {some that were her own consequences and some that were just part of her life because of other people} and i began to see that she wanted badly to love Jesus but it was a struggle.  {isn't it for all of us?} but one of the best things about this girl is that she wears everything on her pretty little sleeves so you see it all pretty blatantly.  at the beginning there were small victories and then there would be times of defeat {again, like all our lives... no judgement here!!!} and i just kept praying.  i knew that if she really decided at a certain point that she would love jesus she would be a powerful force... i mean she's loud, fun, bossy, and if she believes in something or has passion for it everyone around her knows it.  

by her senior year we became friends.  she recognized that when i said the hard things to her that i really loved her and had her best in mind and she was realizing for herself that God is faithful and he always comes through.  she made a big decision to ditch out on all her 'school friends' who were making some poor decisions on new years eve and came to a church event and i am convinced those literal steps were the beginning of something big.  week after week she would come to church; you knew what she was thinking and feeling, sometimes the honesty was painful... but i always told her, please be honest with me... if we don't have that.... we don't have anything.

this year she went to a large public university in the city.  i've heard many of her frustrations and struggles to live for Christ in such a worldly environment (and i'm sure it's not the half of it) but she's giving it everything she's got because to her it's black and white.  If i love Jesus- my everything is for him; there's no gray for her.  A few weeks ago on my birthday she stopped by and gave me the sweetest card ever combined with an 'over the hill' balllon just keep things interesting... her sass has continued, it's just a tinge sweeter.   

i say all of this to say, she had been asking Luke to come down and speak at her CRU meeting so we committed to this week.  She showed us around, bought us dinner and then took us to the meeting.  I didn't know this but she was sharing her testimony that night.... when you've been part of the process with someone and their journey you've never heard them tell it but rather you've lived it alongside them.  She couldn't look at me because my tears were flowing but it was such a beautiful sight to see the girl who went through 'so many tug-a-wars' professing her faith in jesus. she was so radiant.  then i got to hear luke preach God's Word... that never gets old.  The part i loved was that there were probably no more than twenty people in the room and he preached with just as much passion and authority as he would to a room of two hundred.  love that man.

for those of you who are in ministry ... by vocation, association, or just because we are all called to serve... don't give up on the ones who might seem hard on the outside... it's so worth the fight.  God is bigger than our stubbornness and our desires to satisfy the flesh.  my favorite part of her testimony was when she said, 'even when i was doing all the things i knew i shouldn't be.. i never could shake the feeling of God continuing pursuit of me.'  God is awesome, keep on keeping on... He will be victorious!

To God be the Glory,
kg

my yesterday.

yesterday was too funny not to share and by funny i mean an awful, terrible, no good, very bad day. 

i woke up not knowing but it was all in full throttle by 9:30 a.m.

So from the moment he woke up my 2nd born was whiny... like can't go about doing anything without being right next to mommy.  He willingly ate breakfast.. bananas and some pretzels he found later and begged for and so nothing seemed amiss.  I made breakfast bread for the next morning because I was supposed to have play date and of course I would make breakfast bread... i'm a mom hero... not.  lol, please laugh this is about to get really funny.

so then we (my kids and i) proceeded upstairs for mommy to take a shower. Reid sat happily on my bed while I did that but when i got out of the shower he would have none of that... just crying, crying crying.  So finally i lost it... clearly not a mom hero.... and i was telling him that he couldn't keep crying there was nothing to cry about ... yada yada.... he lost it, yes... loose it meaning crying and loosing his cookies- yep, on my bed, his clothes... yes gross.

i moved him to his changing table only for it to happen again. yuck.

I get help once a week from my mil so that i can run errands and this happened to be the day and we were out of EVERYTHING so i desperately needed to get to the store especially for a few ingredients for a meal i needed to make for someone that night...  

she gladly agreed to come to my house for an hour...i just about was in tears by the time she got there with nasty puke on my pants and mind you my teeth weren't brushed because... puker, the 2nd born had found my toothbrush and hid it somewhere... i was totally winning.... {pure sarcasm}

then enter walmart... i have one hour to get a list of a million items.  ready, set, go!  As I am about done and on my way to the cashier I see a person from church.  This guy is on his phone so i say hello and he acknowledges but he keeps going to where he is going, i go to cashier.  she rings everything up in record slow speed and then i hand over the coupons... add 5 more minutes.  then as i am leaving the cashier i see that the guy from the church is standing there to talk to me.  let me remind you: my teeth aren't brushed, i have puke pants on, and i have about 4 minutes left to get home.  yahhhhh!!!!

It was raining so he walks me to my car (this isn't weird, he's a nice guy in our church that luke and I both know and there was no, let me repeat no weirdness about this... just a bit awkward since it's your personal groceries... thank the Lord there was nothing personal in there....lol) with his umbrella and then proceeds to help me put my groceries in my car... actually a kind grace from God at that point in my day.

I had about 5 minutes to spare to get home.  Kids were sleeping.  Ahh i could breathe.  I made the meal in silence and even though my first born woke up in the process he was quite a champ.  I get everything in the car to drop the meal off where i needed to and at the last minute i put #2 in the car and halfway in our 7 minute car drive I see in my rear-view mirror him puking all over himself and on his seat. 

It's hard as a mom because as much as you feel bad for them, you feel bad for yourself at the same time because you have to clean up the puke.  

The rest of the night I was home catching up on laundry... as you may have guessed among other things and i gave myself a pity party and i put the hero mom breakfast bread in the freezer because the play date was of course cancelled.

some days are awful, terrible, no good, very bad days.  the next day you can laugh at the funny things about them.  that's why i could write this today.
be not discouraged moms... you're not alone.
i'm right here too, with puke on my pants, unbrushed teeth, and sick children...
we can make it through:)
kg:) 

hs ministry. sunday nights. family. & prayer.

yesterday was daylight savings... oddly enough my second born was up at 4 as if to inform us.... he has been under the weather so i went in to check on him to make sure we didn't have another vomitting episode {we've had two in the last month where i find him covered it in the morning.. yea... good morning puke, nice to see you...} however, he was just awake, so after cuddling a bit with him i put him back down and although he wasn't initially thrilled he fell back asleep. Oddly enough he slept in until 8:45 in which i had to wake him up to go to breakfast with out of town relatives... go figure.:)

we came home and played outside... took a walk in the wagon... oh and i took this picture...
seriously.. they are the cutest buddies ever.

if i had gotten paid for how many noses i wiped yesterday i would be rich. i could see that what Reid had last week was seeping into Carter's immune system... no good. He had a good nap but it seemed like we were headed for an evening of lethargicness... not one to spend with anyone else but mommy.

but, sunday night is ministry night. but sometimes, i mean always you have to make the best call for your family. there will always be another ministry night.... there won't always be a sweet, cuddly, lethargic carter that just wants his momma. so i stayed home. i prayed a lot about and for the students and the night and because it was out of the norm i soooo wanted to be there. but knew that the tug of war of doing the hard thing is usually the right thing.

and did i have things to pray for ... i got three texts in the 5-6 p.m. range of people in pain, hurting, persecution. Lord, we need you.

to finish out a prayer series Luke preached out of a boat....

and then they bused the students to different local high schools and had them worship
and pray in the parking lots there.
i wasn't there but i believe that God used that.

i hope you had a good sunday and that you find yourself too in prayer today.... we can't carry these loads on our own...
prayerful,
kg

matthew 11:30 'for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.'

keep on keeping on...

ministry is an interesting thing. you serve and love people and you do as unto the Lord but...
relationships are messy...
life isn't easy.
people aren't perfect.
hard things happen.
circumstances change.
and on and on...

which makes the need for Christ in our lives so urgent. who can get through this life alone? let me go first, not me!!!

just today i have been in tears probably three times. i need Christ... in fact i'm desperate for him.

that's why we do ministry .... high school ministry propels kids toward Christ in the midst of life.

every sunday night after youth group luke and i debrief. sometimes that means talking for a half hour while other times that means just silence, praying, smiles and laughter, or tears... the whole spectrum sometimes too.

there's always reasons to be frustrated and always reasons to be excited, to see God at work and to stop and think... wow, what we are trying to use our lives for is actually meaningful. clearly, we are just two people he is using but none of what is being done is because of us or something that we should receive glory for. all of it is for the Lord and his kingdom it's just cool to be part of it.

however last night Luke received a letter from a student whose life has been changed in the midst of being part of harvest hsm (among many things of course).

these type of stories we don't take lightly... i hope it blesses you the way it did me. God changes lives...to him be the glory!

Dear Luke,
I'm sure I've said it a million times, but I am so glad I started coming to youth group in Rolling Meadows. You have no idea how much it has totally changed me. Before coming to HSM, I was totally NOT on fire for the LORD. I was very focused on myself and what I wanted in life. At that time, I had no idea what brought me to youth group (obviously, now i know it was the Lord!!) that day in January, but I knew the minute you started preaching that this is what I had been missing for years in my life: in your face, unashamed, relevant to me, TRUTH. I never felt that way about youth group before. I am forever changed by the message you gave that day. Your words brought me out of my selfish haze and made me realize how stupid and stubborn i was.
Since your message, I have been forever changed. I have never been happier in my relationships with friends, never so in love with the LORD and never stronger in my faith. I have you to thank for that. The Lord spoke powerfully through you that day and I am so glad he did.

God is awesome and it's so cool to hear about lives changed.
Psalm 33:4
For the word of the LORD is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.
thankful,
kg

hey hey!

how was that for a blog binge? luke LOLed when i told him that i wrote five blogs in one afternoon. five?! i must be crazy. (but you already knew that) wink.

anyways, last spring i had the privilege to meet Steven and Holly Furtick, the pastor and his wife of Elevation Church. I enjoy meeting new people and I love when you meet people who are as cool and authentic and love Jesus like you hope they do (especially having read her blog for the last while). These people genuinely love God, their kids, and they are in the trenches doing ministry. Today she posted a blog titled: Don't blame it on the ministry: Relationship edition. I've been thinking a lot about what she has concisely and well written in this post. I don't think i could have stated it this well so you might as well hop, skip, or jump over to her blog to read it. To sum it all up: we should invest in relationships in our lives but know in doing that all relationships aren't forever relationships and that's just life, not to blame on anything else.

have a great thursday!
kg:)

'life change' from my own eyes.

this week we spent a few days up at camp harvest [a.k.a. one of the greatest places on earth]. it was jr. high camp week (for the rolling meadows week). This is one of the major pluses of being a pastor's wife.. i got to go up with our kids and we got to spend time with Luke while he was working.

Carter loved looking for fish in the lake. Rides with daddy (which i may add are a bit crazy) on the golf cart. A dip in the pool with carterman. a stop on the way home to Sherman's dairy. there were lots of memories.

Being a pastor there's always critics but there's fortunately stories of life change and kind words that people share. I don't always hear the stories although Luke tries to share as many as he can with me but this week I got to first hand wittness an awesome 'life change.'

i was able to be part of the Tuesday night session when Luke preached and shared the gospel message. There was a leader serving up at camp who had a few kids that were in jr. high. Not only did Luke share the gospel but he invited the kids to stand who had accepted Christ. Then he had them say out loud... "I profess Jesus Christ as Lord." So after the message was done and the kids were about to head to their small groups this leader comes over to me with tears in her eyes and she said, kristen that was a great message. and i was like yea, praise the Lord, huh? at that moment her daughter (a student) came to give her a hug because she wanted to tell her mom that she had accepted jesus as her savior.

stop.
awe.
wow.
dead in my tracks.

this woman was there serving the Lord but she got to experience one the biggest joys of life, her own daughter proclaiming that she has chosen Jesus Christ to be Lord of her Life.

that was a moment.
i can only imagine seeing carter and reid stand and proclaim that one day.
but for now, i'll just pray. and praise the Lord for what an awesome moment that was to be a part of. from mom to mom.

3 john 1:4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the truth."

PRAISE THE LORD!
kg:)

'when doing the hard thing is the right thing'

my man had the privilege of preaching God's Word this weekend at Harvest on our rolling meadows campus.

he definitely didn't shy away from our first pillar at harvest which is to proclaim the authority of God's Word without apology.

I don't want to take the point of the message away since you can listen to it or watch it but i honestly came to church with a bad attitude about some circumstances that day and left convicted to do the hard thing because it's the right thing.

that's the awesome thing about God's Word it pierces our hearts like a sword. so...

take a listen here.:)
kg

7 things i learned on spring break.

last week i went on the spring break trip with the harvest rolling meadows high school juniors and seniors [see pics] my husband wrote this insightful post of things he re-learned, but i have a few thoughts myself.

first off, you've gotta see some of the videos the students produced. they got the info, made the idea/script, and shot/edited it all within one day.

the last three years i've taken the trip. the first year, i drove by myself in a packed to the brim cavalier with an 8 week old, last year i was stranded in the airport for 7 hours due to delays, and this year we drove 18 hours... why? you ask.

i think i have seven reasons why any youth pastor's wife should say YES to going on a ministry trip.
1. it's good for your marriage.
luke and i have been married almost 4 years and we've gone through all kinds of seasons. i think one of the best things for a marriage is to serve Christ together. It negates the petty fights and recognizes the place that Christ should have in your life when you try to help students put him first in their lives.

2. it's good for your kids.
i knew when we had children that they would need to be flexible. I think it's so important to be flexible that it's one of the family values that we're shaping in them. where they eat, where they sleep, who they're around.. i believe it's truly a character trait that is important for the future. to be frank: the high school students who struggled last week were inflexible.

3. time with dad.
whose kids get to spend 24 hours a day with their dad? why would i give up that opportunity for my kids when if we were at home, one: we'd be away from him and two: if he was at work we wouldn't be with him. it wasn't that he was available 24/7 to us but we got more time than we do in a normal week...

4. studying God's Word with students
When high school kids are answering the big questions of their faith... are we born sinners? why did Jesus have to die? what is God like? it heightens your own faith meter. You can't tell me that students praying fervently and reaching out to a student on the trip that doesn't know Christ can't build your own faith?!

5. time with the students.
each year i thought that my time with the students would lessen because I have more children and there were more students on the trip. instead it increased. i got the chance to talk to them while they played with my kids or while eating meals or just hanging out. i also loved talking to them after sharing my own testimony & about where the Lord has brought me to. i wouldn't give up my time with the students.

6. fires you up for more.
worship on the dunes, hearing the student's testimonies, hearing the students encourage one another, seeing students have a-ha! moments from the Word, and seeing their creativity rise to the occasion fires me up to do more ministry. my heart is ripe for more.

7. meet with God.
I got to meet with God. I got to worship God. I got to see students exhorted in their faith by their leaders. I was convicted toward change in my own life.

i know that some pastor's wives [or insert your husband's job title here] are great at complaining that their husbands aren't home enough. i certainly have complained in the past. but, what's wrong with going against the grain of everyday life and ceasing the opportunities for our family, our marriage, our ministry. He certainly will pave the way...

now, if you got the idea that i was sitting on a lawn chair drinking margaritas... i've given you the wrong impression, it's demanding work... but these 7 reasons show that my heart believes it was worth it.

lest i leave you thinking i wish was still in north carolina, i'm happy to be home in our 'normal' {if there's such a thing} life with a much calmer & quieter home. 73 people in one house should be outlawed ;) it no doubt took high personal cost... but is still reaping high reward in my heart.

thankfully done with spring break,
kg:)

valentine's day is coming....

how could you do valentine's day without conversation hearts... they're a staple.

meanwhile, this is a funny (especially for pastor's wives) article my own valentine sent to me:)

love is in the air,
kg:)

thankful day 8.

i am thankful for mondays.

when i worked mondays - they were both exhausting and productive. it was difficult to wake up when i was leaving on my husband's day off and especially hard to leave my little man and my husband for a season. so, i've seen mondays on their worst side & now i would say i've seen them on their best side.

we've established that we do something as a family on mondays. sometimes it's something as simple as a walk to the park or walking around the mall. other times it's driving to a museum or seeing an exhibit somewhere.

we've established that we do a few 'chores' on mondays but nothing extreme. today it was putting together our double stroller. a chore? yes. producing laugher? yes. it made for a good teamwork activity;)

we've established that naps are good and that we can't walk 'loudly' (yes, i have loud feet) around the house when someone's napping. no one's allowed to feel guilty for napping on mondays.

we've established that we have a meal out... usually lunch. this leads to maximum relaxation.

other than that our mondays are pretty open... lately i've had dr. appointments on mondays.. but that has been one more reason to look forward to them. i'm looking forward to introducing our new little one to our mondays.... they're a huge blessing.

i'm thankful for mondays:)
kg