It's Friday, but Sunday is coming!

All sinners. All guilty. All in need of a savior. All transparent to God. All given equal access to grace. All loved with an everlasting love. All bought with the highest price. All face to face with a choice. In the shadow of the cross, we... are all equal.

 

 

You Are Accepted

"Matthew 3:16-17 recounts the  Baptism of Jesus by John the Baptist:  As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” God validated his son before he healed a single person, before he changed water into wine, before he raised anyone from the dead. He was please with his Son before he did any signs, wonders or miracles. For those who were raised with parents with high expectations for you that you never felt like you achieved, thus causing you to never feel accepted...know that your Father in heaven is pleased with you just because you are His. Once you have received the free gift of sonship, you belong to God. You are His child. God is not waiting on your performance to validate you-He is pleased with you already merely because you are in the family."  -paraphrased from Pastor Ron Carpenter's Wednesday night teaching 03/27/2013.

As I let these words really penetrate my heart, I realized that all of us, in some sense, have an achievement mentality. We think the more we do for God, the more He approves of us, or conversely we might feel like we could never do enough to meet God's approval so why even try...and we settle for what feels right in our own eyes, who the world says we are...far less than the inheritance of that of a child of the King.

When I heard these very well known words from a very well know passage in the Bible again it was as if I was hearing them for the very first time. Suddenly I flashed back to last Saturday at Operation Go where we repeatedly, lovingly taught each child that "God had always loved them" and "there was nothing they could do, good or bad, to change God's love for them". Suddenly, I was little Adolfo or Sofia sitting on the tarp, needing to hear that my Father was pleased with me. Hearing Him proclaim "You're mine...I bought you with a price far greater than gold, you accepted my gift, unwrapped it, made it your own, made it part of you, and I couldn't be more thrilled to call you my child."

Could it be that all the craziness in the world today stems from the lack of knowing our true identity? Unable to receive the free gift that God has already given because we feel there are strings attached. Thinking that we have to do more and be greater for God to truly accept us, or conversely, feeling that we will never measure up to God's standards so we stop trying all together? Have we been lulled into the social ebbs and flows, and rocked into a deep sleep while our true inheritance moves farther and farther from us forgetting that we were called to be an heir to the King of Kings?

What terrible lies to which we have fallen captive. What a wasted forfeiture of the divine when we settle for anything less than the inheritance that is ours as children of God.

But, the right perspective can turn it all around. Just one glimpse of our true destiny is all we need to readjust our course. Seeing ourselves how God sees us changes everything.

Soccer and Spelling, an unlikely pair

 

 

Here's Jonathan (#5) scoring a goal at his game tonight-His team tough game!

 

 

And then there's Spelling 101 with Lily...just for a little laugh

 

SWAT-Hunter's Park

Hunter's Park is a large apartment complex on the Northwest side of Greenville, South Carolina. It is the site of our newest SWAT (side walk action team) location, a ministry of Operation Go at our church,  Redemption World Outreach Center. This area of Greenville is called Berea, and it is the largest Hispanic section in Greenville.

There are 22 of these apartment complexes at Hunter's Park. Our team comes here every Saturday to evangelize. We break up into teams, knock on each door, and invite all the children to be a part of "Super Saturday"!

This is Tanya with my boys. We just love her!! She is our SWAT leader and has been doing this for years with her three boys. I love to watch her in action. She is a natural at evangelism and the kids are instantly drawn to her! She has taught us so much in the three seasons we have been involved in SWAT.

Although Tanya has been doing this for a long time, she had a new twist added to her truck this season: SPANISH! It is her first time having to work with interpretation. It adds a new dynamic to our SWAT program, but the Lord knows how to work every detail just right!

Two weeks ago was game day for SWAT. Basically it's just like it sounds...we play games with the kids. As our Operation Go leader, Pastor Jen, says, it's basically "controlled chaos". We do musical chairs, eating contests, races of all sorts and just take time to play and love on the kids. It's a great way to break the ice and develop a relationship with the kids.

This last Saturday was our first official SWAT complete with lessons, a short preaching and games. I past seasons, at another site, my job was the registration table. I would sign the kids in, give them a name sticker and get the water and snacks ready for the end. It's basically all the administration of SWAT and I really liked it. Maybe I enjoyed it because it was behind the scenes, and that's where my nature always pulls. This season, I am training Sandy to do this job.

Here's Sandy doing her thing, and doing it with excellence. She's a natural, and the kids love her!

The reason I am training Sandy is because I am stepping into another role. One that is on the truck, in front of the kids and with a microphone. Definitely not the Leslie I used to be (I was tired of her anyway!), and it feels great!

The picture isn't real clear, but you get the idea. Luis was interpreting my lesson, and then he had a turn teaching and I interpreted for him. It's really great working as a team with Luis. He is really easy to interpret for. I have basically learned the Mexican Spanish (yes, there is a difference!) and being together 16 years, we read each other so easily. This next Saturday I will be interpreting for our friends Rafa and Jetter from Cuba, so that will shake things up a bit. Joshua and Jonathan are usually actors with small speaking parts, and they have done a super job.

Last week, after the preaching time, Tanya felt to have an alter call of salvation and 12 kids and one parent came forward. What an awesome end to a great day! This is what it's all about!

SWAT is just one of the many ministries in Operation Go at our church. There is "Rescue Squad" that ministers to the homeless. "Adopt a Block" that goes into a community and builds relationships, helps to clean yards and gives people a new outlook on their life.  "Night Flight" is a Friday night ministry for teens that is held at the gym at our church where they have basketball games from 9pm until midnight. It gives the kids a safe place to gather, with great mentors and keeps them off the streets. And then there's "Prayer Evangelism" which covers all of the ministries through intercessory prayer. There are countless other ministries that take place during the week as well, with hundreds of volunteers and staff that make it all possible.

And seeing all the kids' smiling facing and lives changed for eternity makes it all worth it!

Following in the Footsteps of Jesus

There is no greater joy than to watch your children walk in obedience to God's Word. We celebrated yesterday as Joshua and Jonathan both chose to be baptized. Not that I think my kids are perfect by any means but at their age I wasn't really all that thrilled with church. So when Josh kept asking when he could get baptized I knew it was on his mind and that made me happy.

It was a great day, and we were so touched that our great friend Tanya shared it with us. 

Behind the Lens

My camera died the other day and I felt like I lost an arm. OK, that might be little dramatic, but I love taking pictures of the kids and Luis. So, Luis bought me another one, and it's a really nice one. Takes great pictures, has a great video on it too. I feel very spoiled, and I am loving this camera!

While we were out buying the camera, Lily spotted this dress and asked her Daddy if he would buy it for her...as you can see, it came home with us. It's supposed to be an Easter dress, but she just had to try it on to see how it twirled...because Lily just hates dresses that don't twirl. So, I snapped some shots of my little girl in her twirly dress.

 

 

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OK, I Stopped Laughing...

Lily has been so funny lately...it must be the Kellish in her coming out! Here's a video of Lily and I having a conversation...she starts out talking about "Michael" who is Josh's friend that is coming to spend the night this weekend. She adores Michael. Michael has 3 brothers...hope this little girl doesn't make him hate us!

Needless to say, it's been a unproductive morning at best...

High Gear

Well, March is off with a bang!! We are busy doing all the things we love! Soccer games start this week, we participated in Serve Our City day in Greenville (even though it's not really our city, being that we live in Anderson county haha). Operation Go started yesterday and today we volunteered in the Redemption en Español booth at church. Here's some photos from the past week.



Josh ready for Operation Go!
 



Redemption en Español





Serve Our City day! Our church had 350 volunteers assist Greenville County parks and recreation, providing lots of man hours of work to beautify the area parks. This is not the most flattering picture, but oh well...Lily looks so cute, and everyone commented on how hard she worked. I was sore for three days after laying pine straw and weeding for 3 hours, but it was lots of fun!
 

And here's just a sweet one of Lily, all worn out...at least being busy makes her sleep early and all night long!