Looking out for others...

Jeff Manion reveals a great leadership lesson in the short 2 minute clip below.  Who are you looking after?

At the Harmony House...

"Everyone deserves to live a life free of abuse".  That is the statement written on the home page of The Harmony House website.  On Sunday, our CYM students, Parents, and Staff volunteered their time to have a part in making sure this safe place endures.  We cleaned like crazy!  What does cleaning have anything to do with making sure a life "free of abuse" endures?  Well, we want to do our part in making sure these women and children feel loved by the Church.  We want to make sure that the environment in which they live is not only safe, but clean...similar to the house you and I live in.  Unfortunately, because of the lack of Government assisted funds, over the past couple of years the Harmony House has not always been able to hire for the custodial demands that 110 residents need.  That is where CYM has stepped in.  We, along with many other volunteers from all over Springfield, have developed a partnership to offer our volunteers once per quarter.  This past Sunday we spent our time cleaning, scrubbing, sweeping, mopping, and organizing.  We quickly realized, as we looked into the eyes of a young child, this was a ministry that reached deeper than a clean floor.  This was a ministry that helped the residents feel valued.  When was the last time you felt valued?  When was the last time you added value to someone else's life?  If you would like to add value to a person's life, then volunteer to serve with us next quarter at the Harmony House.

Katie and Christine scrub down a recently vacated room.

Rachelle helping Christine and Katie in a room

Alley sweeping one of four hallways

Alexis and Kim cleaning the dining room

Sarah and Katie working on a hallway

Ellen, Katie, and Alley scrubbing walls

Christian, Joey, Dave, and Scott in the basement

Patty helping in the dining room

Scott and Jon deciding what needs to be done next

In the Game

This morning I listened to John Ortberg talk about playing the game.  This was his message from this past weekend as the entire country was gearing up to watch the Super Bowl.  This message was directly linked to serving the Kingdom (playing the game) during the entire week.  He related the church to a locker room where they go over the playbook, make adjustments in strategy, and where an inspirational speech is made.  He talked about how much the locker room is needed but we don't meet in the locker room for the locker room's sake.  We meet in the locker room so that we can go play the game.

We meet at church every Sunday to review the playbook (the Bible), make adjustments to our strategy for reaching the world, and find an inspirational thought or message to get us going.  One thing he said really caught my attention.  He talked about a child never dreams about becoming the best spectator to ever watch the game.  Children have a dream and a passion to become the best player to ever play the game.

When I was a kid, our favorite game to play in the backyard was tackle football.  I remember the players who we used to be.  I was always Deion Sanders.  My neighbor Nathan was always Barry Sanders and his brother Shane was usually Randall Cunningham or Derrick Thomas.  My brother was Christian Okoye because he always ran us over.  We never pretended to be fans or spectators.  We always dreamed of playing in the game.

Is it possible that God gives his children the passion and desire to want to play in the game?  The Kingdom of God is better when everyone who is a child of the King serves and when the spectating is left up to the world not to the church.  Then, when we all play the game from the same playbook, the world will watch in amazement and be stirred into a desire to "Get in the Game" themselves.

Thanks John Ortberg for inspiring me to stay in the game!