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Showing posts from February, 2014

What To Do First to Make a Profit

The PF Women Team at our Annual Team Retreat  ~ 2018 Today on Seth Godin's blog, he said: It's tempting to decide to make a profit first, then invest in training, people, facilities, promotion, customer service and most of all, doing important work. In general, though, it goes the other way. Yes, it does. If you are waiting to make a profit before you do these things, in my experience you're  not going to make a profit. So many organizations, ministries and churches are struggling with financial issues. I know your pain. As anyone who follows our story knows, our ministry was in a ton of debt four years ago when I came on as director.  Since that time, we've gotten out of debt and turned a profit every year.  God has done amazing things through out team, for which we give Him the glory! I find that what Seth is saying here is absolutely true, with one disclaimer. For Christian leaders, spiritual disciplines must always be first. Before we started i...

Forgiveness is sooooo EXCITING!!!!

Hard. Difficult Excruciating. Impossible. I've heard forgiveness described as all of these things and more. I don't think I've ever heard even one person describe it as exciting, unless they are speaking of the fact that they are excited that God forgave their own sins. But me? I'm totally, 100%, over-the-moon excited out of my mind about forgiveness!!! I'm excited about receiving it from God, and giving it as well. I haven't always felt this way, by the way. Forgiveness totally changed my life, especially in the last year. This Friday will make one year since something happened to me that has been the hardest thing in my life, to forgive.

Oozing Jesus

As I was walking the streets of Pittsburgh this past summer with my family I looked up and saw this message in a store window. I quickly snapped a photo with my phone. Riding down the road in Tampa a few years ago, I looked up and this message had been written in the clouds: I stopped to take a photo, wanting to preserve the moment. Seeing messages such as this are cool, and even more important, I want to BE a living message. I want people to see what I do, even without words at times, and KNOW that Jesus loves them. I have job descriptions and initiatives and goals and dreams. And yet nothing is more important than this. Truth speaking, yes. Yet -- oozing love, compassion, and kindness.  Oozing: To slowly trickle or seep out of something; flow in a very gradual way. To give a powerful impression of a quality. (i.e. "he oozed charm and poise.") Synonyms: exude, gush, drip, pour forth, emanate, radiate   Yes, I want to ooze Jesus.

Are You Preparing Your Child for the REAL World?

If we're not careful, we can go from being our child's advocate to exerting undue interference that renders them unprepared for adult life. Yes...this REALLY happened... Years ago at our church , we had a pastoral staff member in their late twenties whose mother from out of state contacted my husband and me -- TWICE -- to tell us how she thought her son's work issues should be handled. Apparently she didn't agree with some of our decisions. We were absolutely dumbfounded.  Needless to say, the interference on the part of the staffer's mother only made things go from bad to worse. Opportunities for Growth... Giving children opportunity to gain experience in solving problems of all kinds begins not when they turn 18 or 21, but all throughout their growing up years. Living in the era of helicopter parenting , many children and teens miss opportunities to learn problem solving skills. During the course of my children's school years we have had relative...