lilly's pad

make poverty history...start this weekend!

this weekend is the TAKE a STAND weekend. it's a weekend to stand up for poverty and be counted in the guiness book of world records too. we haven't made much progress as a nation towards fulfilling the millennium goals but there is still time. we just need to get the word out and make sure our elected officials know that poverty, justice and ending world hunger need to be at the top of the washington agenda, not off the map.  if you need help discovering how we are doing as a nation and how you can get involved, check out the links below and make a impact for the kingdom!

Ways to Take a Stand against poverty in the World:

The ONE Campaign 

The Micah Challenge

Stand Up against Poverty 

Bread for the World:  

Living Generously 

Invisible Children 

Millennium Development Goals

Blood Water Mission (Jars of Clay) 

World Vision 

Samaritan’s Purse

NWYC austin

so it's sunday evening...i'm actually blogging!

i love NYWC! it is really great to be a part of another convention year.
i love the folks at YS.
they make me smile and they truly are passionate about youth workers.
i love their creativity and their patience and their desire to help everyone have a great time
while learning more than one's brain can hold.

this year, we aren't doing prayer stations in the main sessions so i didn't have the inside track on the
theme for the year and i didn't arrive early for any setting up, so i've had a new YS/NYWC experience.
i've been so busy getting all my supplies/worship gear together that i haven't made it to one general session! weird!
thankfully, i'm speaking in all 4 cities, so i'll have a chance to catch donald miller and make it to a few of the great new soulshaper workshops, like the one karen sloan is doing on monasticism.

this convention i've hung out in the speaker's lounge, packing and unpacking gear for the worship experiences in my workshops. shelly and her team have been awesome as usual. it's been fun to reconnect with folks i only see at stuff like this and actually get to have great meals with a couple.

i've also been interviewing while in town and the great folks at st. matthews have shown me amazing hospitality and friendship. thanks.

dan kimball and i have fun for 2.5 hours in our emerging worship seminar. yesterday the clay creations were exceptional and the even being right after lunch the time didn't seem to drag . shout outs go to will pippin (a great YS volunteer) and travis and justin of "work of the people" for helping me set up stations. when i actually get firefox to work i'll link you to their site for amazing videos. thanks guys.

i've got some tweaking to do on my visuals for tomorrow mornings workshop.
9am ( the workshop i always slept through when i was an attender : ) )
pray i actually get some good sleep. the last two nights have been less than restful...
so i won't do my add ramble!

and a plug for the next one...if you're going to NYWC...whatever you do, find the prayer chapel and take some time in silence! it's worth discovering and it will change your convention experience forever.

off to austin

heading out in the early in the morning for austin and the first 
of the  YS national youth workers conventions.  i'll be doing  two workshops again this year.
so if you're coming to austin, come by and say "hey"
saturday: 2pm emerging worship: beyond preaching and singing and monday: 9am  creating Sacred Spaces: an Introduction to Experiential worship. since austin is a wireless town, let's see if i can actually blog while i'm away!

rite of passage ...parent's weekend at culver military academy.  just finishing up a three day visit with mac along the shores of lake maxinkuckee in northern indiana...the trees are just starting to change colors and the hint of fall is definitely in the air!

mac decided at the end of last may to follow in his dad's and grandad's footsteps (my dad) and become a culver man. 

due to all the health issues he's had throughout high school, he also decided to postpone his senior year and start culver as a junior.

that took a lot of wisdom and guts. and i am very proud of him.  when you come to culver as a junior you are still considered a new cadet and you're treated like all the other freshman...you have to learn to march, salute, clean bathrooms (luckily he'd had lots of practice!), shine your shoes, march, make your bed with hospital corners, march some more, and greet all the "old men" with their proper rank, name and sir! and learn all the other military info that is required. 

we dropped him off on august 20 and this weekend's been our first face to face glimpse since then. a friend asked me how i sent my son to military school when i'm a pacifist...
we'll let's just say that it is a great leadership school and their is an amazing opportunity to meet students from across the globe...the world comes to study at culver. ( and it's nice for this southern girl to hear a few yes sirs and yes mame's every so often)

i'll have to admit it's been really quiet at our house this fall and i wasn't quite prepared to have him fly the nest so soon.  it's a learning of letting go and trusting and allowing him to try new stuff and go through the hard stuff on his own. 

this weekend it's been fun to see him and see rob as he remembers being here as a student.

it was great to be at worship and hear the students pray for each other and remember the students of
bailey colorado. and boy do i wish i could've sung in the gospel choir.  and ashlyn ( sophmore at cga)
did a great job on the sermon btw...there's a culver girls academy too so he's not totally bored...

so i 'm praying that mac keeps on keepin on and hangs in there for another few weeks til fall break (the end of october) and whether he gets it or not, i know that jesus has him in the palm of his hand.