10-4-10 Challenge

Well, it happened again today.  I had an awesome time w/ the Lord this morning reading His Word and in prayer.  I read Jon DeWitt's awesome daily devotional e-mail (if you don't receive it, e-mail him at jdewitt@YellowDogNetworks.com and ask him to put you on his distribution list.  It's fantastic) and had a precious time of worship in my car singing along to K-LOVE, 97.3FM on the way home from taking my son to school.

My mom found out she had breast cancer today.  Not what we were praying for.  I'm four months out of cancer treatment myself.  Now it's time to travel a different cancer journey, this time with my mother. 

What if I'd received this news today without grounding myself in the Word and with God this morning?  How do people do it?  I will never understand how people can possibly begin their day without centering their spirits with the Creator of Heaven and Earth. 

I sent out an e-mail to the ladies in my Cancer Support Group and Indian Creek asking for information and help.  Within minutes I received return e-mails with exactly the information I needed to begin strapping on my hiking boots for yet another cancer journey.  How do people do it without authentic community in their lives?  How do people exist without a group of friends with whom you can let your hair down (or not if you're going through chemotherapy!) and just be the real you and still be loved, accepted, and encouraged? 

I don't get how people do life by themselves.

But I know a God who has promised me that I can do all things through His Son who gives me strength. 

Pray.  Every day.  Read your Bible.  Every day.  Praise and worship God.  Every day.  Get connected with others and experience authentic community.  The 10-4-10 challenge may have at times felt like drudgery the past 8 weeks.  But stick with it.  Every day.  Because you never know when you're going to have one of those days when you absolutely must draw upon it.

Wow, what an awesome message on Sunday challenging us to not just give but to be absolutely crazy in our generosity.

As my son and I got out the Thanksgiving decorations this afternoon to decorate for what is my favorite holiday, it occurred to me that in order to have pure motives in our generosity, it's imperative that we are first thankful to God for all that we have.  Then as our thankfulness floods our heart, generosity is a natural extension of that. 

Have you decided what you're going to give away this week in your quest to practice crazy generosity?  It only took God about 6 hours after hearing Pastor Gary's message Sunday morning for Him to present me with a crazy opportunity to practice crazy generosity.  But before I go there, I'm going to make sure I get my proverbial horse in front of my proverbial cart and spend time thanking God for all He's so richly blessed me with.  God blesses us to be a blessing to others.  And oh how He's blessed me.    

I've had a clog in my blog.  It's been almost 3 weeks since I've shared here.  Let me tell you why.

On the same day of my first 3-month post-chemo checkup where I learned that there are no signs of cancer returning and that I appear to be in great health, my dear friend, Amy, learned that her cancer has returned, metastasized (spread) to her lungs and she was given a terminal diagnosis of 3 years to live.  She is a precious woman to whom God has inexplicably bound me.  I met her in MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers), loved her from the very start of our friendship, and we were diagnosed with cancer within 2 months of each other. 

You never know what life is going to bring you as you greet each day.  That's why it's infintely important to begin your day with God and to live the 10-4-10 challenge not just for 10 weeks but for every day for the rest of your life:

1. Love - daily worship
2. Friendship - get linked with others and experience community in a group
3. Trust - give back to God what he's so graciously shared with you
4. Kindness - invest in others

I began that day with a rich time with the Lord in his Word and prayer.  Thank goodness I did because I never saw what was headed for me.  I never signed up for the role of linking arms and journeying with a 30-year-old mom who is going through a divorce while staring death squarely in the face.  I don't understand why I was given a clean bill of health on the same day my dear friend was told she was going to die.  I know my Enemy would rather me walk around paralyzed with survivor's guilt but I know what he would use for evil against me, God is going to use for good (Genesis 50:20, Jeremiah 29:11).  For some reason, this is where God has placed me.  And I know that He is going to use this relationship to to grow both Amy and me.  

Thursday I went with Amy, her son, and mom to get Amy's picture taken so she'll have some photos together with her boy (anyone who's taken a two-year-old boy to get his picture taken understands what a hurculean effort it is to keep them focused!) and so she'll have a nice photo for her funeral.  Sounds like a not-fun act of kindness but it was such a blessed time.  If you'd like to follow Amy's journey and pray for her, Click Here.

I challenge you this week to perform at least one act of kindness.  Not an easy one like buying the lunch of the person behind you in the McDonald's drive-through.  But an act of kindness that's a challenge and stretches you; an act of kindness in which you're going to get your hands dirty.      

I can't wait to hear some feedback on your act of kindness!  Make it a great week!

Jean

And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching. – Hebrews 10:24-25

I decided to invite the moms in my discussion group at MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) over to my house this week so we could get to know each other better while the kids played.  I thought I’d whip up a little monkey bread to serve.  It’s been a couple of years since I’ve made monkey bread so I went to my trusty recipe book.  I have 2 recipes I use and couldn’t remember which one I prefer so I just randomly chose one.  I mixed it together in the pan the night before and let sit all night on the kitchen counter, as instructed, then I was to pop it in the oven the next morning.  It couldn’t be easier, right? 

Wrong.  This is what I woke to find on my kitchen counter the next morning:

I couldn’t believe it.  It was a mess.  What was I going to serve?  What would the ladies in my group think?  The outcome of my monkey bread triggered a downward spiral in my mind in which I critiqued everything from how dirty my house was to my pants size.  I had to stop myself in my tracks.  What was most important here?  It was that my discussion group was going to have together time; time to encourage one another; to remember that we aren’t doing life alone; to realize that there’s someone else out there who may be thinking and feeling some of the same things I am and to spur each other on toward love and good deeds.

My friends weren’t coming to my house to examine my housekeeping skills or to evaluate the quality of my monkey bread.  They were coming over to be together with others who were in the same spot in life as they were.  What could be better than that?  We, women especially, like to think that we can’t host guests in our home unless it’s spotless and we impress with our cooking/baking skills.  That’s a bunch of hooey that our Enemy would love for us to believe in order to keep us from being together.    

I went ahead and baked my monkey bread.  Here’s how it turned out: 

            Funny looking?  Yes.  Yummy?  Absolutely.  Fodder for us to discuss that we don’t have to have a perfectly kept house or be Julia Child to do life together?  You betcha.

We’re better together.  Who would you like to invite over to share life with?  Just do it.  

- Jean Janner

Last week I heard Mark Batterson speak at the CMA Conference.  He struck me as an authentic person trying to live a God-sized adventure.  He talked about his lifetime goals and challenged us to give some thought and prayer to setting lifetime goals. Check out his overview at chasethegoose.com then click on downloads. 

I'm a goal oriented person, I always set annual goals, so the idea of lifetime goals appealed to me.  I've already started my list!  One thing on my list is a return trip to India, I'd love to see the work my niece Libby and her husband Chris are doing to impact the city of Bangalore for Christ. Another thing on my list is to run 5 miles...does that seem possible? Just looking at my beginning list is giving me some insight into the dreams God is placing in my heart and is encouraging me to think bigger.  Check it out, start dreaming...chase the goose!

...and when I closed up shop today, I ran across the street to speak to my neighbor who was also having a sale.  On my way back to my house, a woman who was wearing a look of desperation on her face asked for my help.  I recognized her as one of my shoppers.  She explained that her car, which was parked in front of my house, wouldn't start and asked if I would help jump-start her car.  I explained that I didn't know how to use them, but that she was welcome to use my jumper cables.  She said she already had cables but just needed a car to hook them up to.  I told her I was happy to back my car out of the garage so she could hook up her cables.  She was immediately relieved.

I ran inside to get my 5-year-old son, Zachary, so he could be involved in helping this dear woman.  I then positioned my car in front of hers.  As she was hooking the cables up to our cars' batteries, she related how she had just asked another woman, who was also Hispanic, for help and that she had refused.  She was so disappointed, she said, because her husband is always one who's there to help others.  And now when she's needing help, she's having trouble finding someone willing to help her.  We tried for several minutes but it was obvious her car was not going to start.  She said she would just walk to Aldi and call for a ride.  I told her that she didn't need to do that - I was happy to give her and her daughter a ride home.  She couldn't believe it - especially, she said, when I was of a different race. 

I knew that this was an opportunity to exercise #4 in the 10-4-10 challenge: investing in others to find their way back to God.  On our way to her apartment, we had a precious time of conversation.  I learned they had just moved to Olathe in July from Kansas City, MO, and from Los Angeles, CA, before that, both moves to flee from violent neighborhoods in hopes their two teenagers would have a chance at safe, better lives.  She loved the sanctuary that Olathe offered but her kids are having a difficult time adjusting and making friends.  I asked if they had found a church home yet.  She said they were visiting one.  I told her that my family attends Indian Creek and invited her to come on Sunday.  I explained that if she felt more comfortable, there is a Hispanic church that meets at Indian Creek on Sunday.  She thanked me for inviting her. 

Upon arriving at her home, Zachary and I helped her carry her shopping bags in while she carried her daughter's car seat.  She offered to pay me and I declined.  Instead she gave me one of the top 5 sweetest hugs I've ever had the privilege to receive.  We exchanged God bless yous and just like that, it was over.

On the way home, Zachary and I discussed what had just happened - that we helped her because Jesus asks us to love others; that we were just passing Jesus' love along.  

What a thrilling opportunity it was to live out God's love "horizontally" with my new friend, Lupe, because God first loved me "vertically" through the gift of his precious son, Jesus, just like Pastor Gary talked about last Sunday.  The rest of the afternoon, though, I kept thinking about things I should've said and things I should've done.  I started to feel like I had failed.  Then I realized those thoughts certainly weren't coming from God but rather from Satan: my accuser working overtime in hopes that I wouldn't be so quick to live out like that again.  Could I have done some things differently?  Yep.  But I don't think it was God's plan for me to be Billy Graham today with Lupe.  It was to be Jean Janner.  And I think, by the grace of God, I did that just fine.

How are you investing in others to find their way back to God?  I'd love to hear how you're living out. 

Jean     

Technology has made it possible to be in constant multi-tasking mode but studies show that multitasking can actually make people less efficient and tired. I can relate, over the last eight days I tracked how I'm spending my time to see if I'm stewarding that resource in an appropriate way.  Interesting!  Here are some things I learned:

• I definitely multitask, most of the time I eat while doing something else at the same time. I don't drive while I eat my cereal but I know someone who does:)
• Most days I spend about an hour praying, reading my Bible, and journaling.  This time is so important to me, if I don't connect with God and get fueled up, everything else suffers!
• I'm actually getting a good amount of sleep. Last year I read that if you sleep more you could lose 5 pounds so I quickly adopted an earlier bedtime and have stuck to that pretty well. Lost 5lbs no, sleeping more, yes.
• I spent 43% of my non-sleeping hours working, 56 hours in those 8 days--it felt like a few hours too many so I'll have to keep an eye on that.
• I serve outside Indian Creek as a CASA, read more here.  I'm an advocate for two little girls, different moms, same dad, who are impacted by divorce custody issues. My CASA role makes my schedule complicated some weeks but I wouldn't trade it. I feel uniquely called to be an advocate, I love that I can invest in these families lives in this way!
• I averaged a couple hours a day to relax, with a couple of weekend days in there this surprised me so I'll be thinking about that this week.

What about you?  Try writing down what you are doing for the next week and see what you learn...I'd like to hear about it!

Patty