We came back from a fantastic vacation.
I remember thinking as our time on this island was wrapping up — I didn’t want to go home.
But we came home and was immediately immersed in a storm at church.

It was such a tough week after such a restful week.

The end result of all this is that I’m the interim children’s director at my church.

Even though it was my suggestion I still left the conversation thinking, “What. The. Heck.”

I’ve never done children’s ministry. I can barely say the word, “children.” [chill-rin]

But here I am. I’m desperately praying that we find the right person real, real, real soon.

I’ve been oscillating between “omg, there’s just too much to do” and “we’re at a good place” every minute.

My goal in this interim period is to start working on building a system, focus on 2-3 things that the children’s ministry can excel at, and recruit, recruit, recruit, recruit, recruit volunteers. I have no qualms utilizing the Jewish/Catholic/Korean guilt trip as a tool. Oh yea, no I get it. It’s just… it’s just that I thought you loved Jesus and that you felt that one of the best things we can do with our time is to lead kids to Jesus. 🤣 😂 😅 😬 😏

During this interim season — the only way I’ll get out of this healthy and sanity intact is to be disciplined and intentional with my time.

I printed out a schedule of what I should be working on during the week — and if I follow that as close as I can — I’ll be good.
And I’m going to even be more territorial and vigilant of making sure I don’t do any church work on Fridays. Sabbath is going to be essential during this season. Don’t get me wrong, it’s essential for every season. But I’m going to be even more protective of this time.

…Discipline and intentionality…

When I realized that I couldn’t back out of this, I contacted one of my favorite pastors ever who is a veteran children’s pastor and who’s been a mentor to me.

She sent me the way she handles the Orange curriculum and at the end of the email thread she wrote:

I will stop sending you files now.

I remember old days thinking you will be a great children’s pastor. Kids will love you so just enjoy being with them!

Welcome to children’s ministry!!!  🙂

I don’t know if she knows how much life that little comment gave me.

It’s just a reminder to never estimate how much power our words can have over someone.
And as famous philosopher Uncle Ben once said, with great power comes great responsibility. 

Also, during the week I’m writing this, someone left a gift card for my favorite work spot (Pearland Coffee Roasters). It gave me so much joy. I sincerely thought it was good for one latte so I went to use it, got me that latte and found out that the remaining balance was 95.00. Someone gave me a gift card worth $100. And I have no idea who it’s from. But it was/is such a blessing. I’m so grateful.
Which is another reminder, you don’t know how much life our actions can give someone — even if we think it’s small and insignificant. It’s often the little things that go a long way. Anyway, thank you to whoever gave me such a generous gift. Your generosity has blessed me so much. I give thanks every time I use the gift card — which has been quite frequent this week.

Anyway, keep this church in your prayers if you’re the praying type.

But onward and forward we go!