Piano duet

Great-Grandma Schippers was very gracious to allow Cora to add a few notes to her song! Isn't it amazing that she could play from memory? I knew she could play the piano - she taught Laura and I a fun duet on her organ when we were younger. But I was surprised at how many different hymns she could just sit down and play. And at this age, too, when so many details of life have faded from her memory.

We're back from MI and had a wonderful time. We got to spend a lot of time with Mom, Dad, and Deb, and also saw Cora's great-grandparents and some other friends and relatives. There's never enough time to see everyone that I'd love to see, and definitely not enough time to spend as much time with everyone as I'd like to. But I'm thankful to be able to visit home - my first home, that is - and to have even an hour or two to reconnect with long-time friends and family. And I'm thankful for days to just hangout and "do life" with my family. It's good for my soul.

And, of course, I'm happy to be home - my current home - and be with Brad again. Hopefully the jet-lag won't last too long (Cora woke up at 4 am today, ready to go - still on MI time, I guess) and hopefully the post-visit blues won't last too long, either.

Brad had a great time hunting, even though they didn't see a single elk anywhere! When he got back to town he talked to a number of guys from church and our neighborhood who also were elk hunting in different areas and it turns out NOBODY got an elk this year! They've eluded the hunters this time...But Brad always says the animal is the icing on the cake. I know that just being out there, hiking, watching and waiting is good for his soul, too.

Walk down memory lane: Part 2

Another occassion for remembering the past was a gathering of some high school friends. What a blast! Some of us haven't seen each other for a year, others for 8 years! We brought out pictures from high school, laughed at our hair-do's and the baggy grunge style we sported. We relived stories and fun times, and recalled other classmates. It was such a fun evening, and I think that if the children that were there didn't have to go to bed, we could have spent all night together, laughing and talking.

I feel so blessed to have had these girls as my friends during high school, and even more blessed that we can get together 9 years later and have just as a good a time! Friends are so important in all stages of life, but in high school your friends are the people you often spend the most time with, want to impress the most and need to be accepted by. Friends are a huge part of your identity in high school. I'm thankful for the friends I had, and still have, and wonder if they know how important they were to me! Thanks, girls, for your friendship!

Walking down memory lane

It's always good to reconnect with family and friends who have known me since I was very young. This last weekend Maranatha CRC, the church I grew up in (from 0-18 years) and where my parents still go, celebrated their 50th anniversary. As part of the celebration former pastors returned for the festivities. There are still many people at Maranatha that were Sunday school teachers, youth group leaders or even vbs teachers of mine when I was little and growing up. Also, many people that have been part of my family's lives in some way or another. So seeing these people reminds me of who I was, where I've come from and how many people God has used in one way or another to shape me along my journey. Church has always been a huge part of my life (though not always by my choice!), so returning to the church of my youth is such a cool thing. I always enjoy visiting Maranatha when I'm in town.

Last Sunday, Larry Slings gave the sermon. He was the pastor there from 79 to 94...so from before I was born until I was 14. (My parents joined Maranatha when I was a couple months old.) As I sat listening to him I was very touched by the fact that this is the man who I learned to listen to sermons from, who taught many children's sermons, who delivered the word of God with love for 14 years of my life - half of my life! It was wonderful to hear him preach again. As I sat listening to him, it dawned on me that, though I remember enjoying Pastor Larry's sermons as I came to an age where I started listening, I don't remember a single one of them! In fact, for all the wonderful pastors I've had, I remember very few individual sermons.

This brings me back to a comment I heard a number of times at the youth pastor convention in San Diego. "You have to focus on relationships because kids don't remember the lessons. How many bible lessons do you remember?" I don't argue the importance of relationships in youth ministry, not at all. But I hate to hear the importance of lessons downplayed. Though I may not remember a single sermon from Larry Slings (or even a sermon from a few months ago), I know that the Truth that he preached week after week after week, and the passion for the Bible and thirst for righteousness that he showed through his preaching are the building blocks that formed my faith and changed my heart little by little as Truths took hold and became a part of who I am.

So I feel so thankful for having been blessed with faithful, loving pastors like Larry Slings, my grandpa, my father-in-law and our current pastor, Mark. I'm thankful for their gifts of preaching and teaching; for their loving relationships with congregations; and for faithfully writing sermons week after week that may be "forgotten" but that God uses to transform the hearts and minds of his children.