A Lumberjack Tale

This is the Kids' Time message from our service last Sunday. I got so much out of it that I asked for a copy to share it with you!

Once upon a time, two lumberjacks strode into the forest with their axes hefted upon their shoulders. They were having a contest and would at long last determine who was best.

The first lumberjack was big and young and strong, but inexperienced. The second was experienced but not big, not young, and not strong. The contest began and, man, did the chips fly!

The young lumberjack furiously swung his axe - chop, chop, chop, chop! The old lumberjack was slow and steady. Chop.... chop.... chop...

One hour passed. The old lumberjack looked at his watch, stopped swinging and took a break in the shed. The young lumberjack laughed and pumped his fist in the air. "I have him now!" he thought. "I'm tired, but I can't stop. I must keep going! Chop, chop, chop, chop. He mopped his brow, did the Hokey Pokey, spit on his hands, and kept on swinging. The old lumberjack emerged from the shed and resumed at his steady pace. Chop.... chop.... chop...

Two hours passed and the same thing happened. The old lumberjack stopped and rested in the shed. The young lumberjack snickered and kept working.

This went on all day until the final whistle blew. In the end the old lumberjack had chopped twice as much wood as his opponent despite taking breaks every hour. The young man stretched out his hand to congratulate him.

The young lumberjack asked the older man, "How did you do it? What's your secret? What did you do in the shed? Did you nap? Did you have a protein bar? I know, I know - it was Gatorade, wasn't it?!"

The old man smiled, put his hand on the young man's shoulder and said, "No, son. While you kept working, I was sharpening my axe." The end.

That story reminded me of a verse from Psalms 46:10 - "Be still and know that I am God." How often do we act like the young lumberjack? We struggle and strain and think we can do it all on our own. We wake up in the morning and get pulled in five different directions and try to solve five different problems at once. We can't spend still time, quiet time in prayer or studying the Bible. We have things to get done!

But when we slow down and be still and focus like the old lumberjack, when we sharpen our spirits through prayer and reading the Bible, when we take our dull and dirty implements to Jesus in quiet patient study, He improves us. His Word sharpens us and He polishes us, and that's how we can stride into the forest ready to swing for the Lord.

This is a good time of year to try that. Let's forget yesterday. Let's not worry about this afternoon. Let's still our hearts and minds before Jesus and let Him sharpen us.

See You at the Pole

Today was the annual See You at the Pole! 40 students, 6 faculty members, 1 parent & 1 youth pastor gathered around the pole at Swallows Charter Academy to pray for the Lord's blessings & guidance on our school!

Emily, Grace & Beth

Marissa helps lead worship with her guitar!

Kayla leading the worship time with her beautiful voice!

Katie & Josh

New member of the Cross family!

I had to share the picture of the newest member of the Cross family - Raelyn Elisabeth, born Aug 28, 5 lbs 12 oz, 18 in long! Congratulations!!

Father/Daughter Dance

The YMCA & the Pueblo Youth Project had a father/daughter dance tonight. It was an awesome time with just Rachel & me. We had a great time! I love this "fashion" picture!

Hair cuts!

Before

After

Before

After

State Fair

We enjoyed the Colorado state fair on Friday, Sept 4! The kids got coupons at school. for free gate entry & half off an arm band.

Rachel rode the ride that takes you up in the air several stories then drops you!

We all enjoyed riding the ferris wheel together.

(Sorry the quality isn't that great. It took these with my phone.)

Rachel's new earrings

We told Rachel she could get her ears pierced for her birthday. She didn't want to at the time, but then when she was hanging around her older cousin a few weeks later, she decided to go ahead and do it. She's been really good about putting the antiseptic on there to prevent infection.

SkySox Game

Our choir sang the national anthem at the Colorado Springs SkySox game on Aug.9. It was great! We had several people that weren't able to go. But special thanks to Mike Cross, who was visiting our church that same day, for filling in!

Here we are up on the big jumbo-tron!

We had a great time! Several people took advantage of the group outting.

Visit from Crosses

The Mike Cross family visited us Aug 7-9. They presented their mission work to Scotland to our church. They will be moving there in the fall. They are currently on deputation to raise ministry funds for the work there. We took them to Liberty Point, which overlooks Lake Pueblo.

The kids had a great time exploring the trails!

Rachel Cross is due in Sept 18. Pray for a safe delivery. And pray for the Crosses as they prepare to move overseas.

Seeing Family!!

Vacations are nice and all! But there's nothing like spending time with family. Janna's high school reunion was this summer, so we told her siblings and they graciously made their way to Springdale at the same time. (Thanks, guys!)

We decided that we needed to do another Allen family picture. As Joanna stated, we look like Skittles or Fruit Loops. (no comments, please!)

Our new family pic!

Amanda, Chris & their family

Wade, Jo & their family

Quiet time

Some of the kids decided to put on a drama. The did Robin & Repunzel! (They put Robin Hood into the story of Repunzel!) Here's the cast & crew.

Carly was the director, producer, camera lady, etc.

Oh, yeah & hair dresser too!

Rachel was Repunzel. (They used bedsheets for her hair!)

Caleb was the page & Josh was Sir Robin!

As I said, there's nothing like time with family. It's refreshing to get away & fellowship with those you love; to share what God's doing in your lives; to pray together; to attend church together; to see friends you haven't seen in a long time.

"Thank You, Lord for the opportunity to experience all this and more!"

Mission Trip Day 4

We had another fun-filled day of working for Jesus! We had one group do another day of Backyard Bible Club. There weren't as many kids today as yesterday, but those that were there were just as important as if there were a big crowd. I helped the team the painted a bathroom at one of the parks. We also had people painting a sign at another park & painting the railings of one of the Jones' neighbors. If you've been following my updates, you know that we've been doing a lot of painting!

Tomorrow's our last full day here. It doesn't seem possible. We'll have one more day of Backyard Bible Club, one more painting project and then we'll cap off the day with a live concert in the park. Our youth band is playing & our drama team will also be performing.

Today has had an extra blessing in the fact that we've seen several people make a profession of faith. While we had band practice, Sergio went over to the neighbors house and talked to some students that were hanging out over there. He explained the Gospel to them and they prayed to place their faith in Christ! He also talked to some people tonight in the park.

We also went to the lake this afternoon. Our students were wanting to swim & we needed to give the Jones family a break from the huge number of people running around their house!

(Sorry I don't have pictures! The camera got left at the Jones' home.)

Mission Trip Day 3

We started Backyard Bible Club today. The kids are listening to the Bible story here. We had 6 kids from the neighborhood today. (The rest of the kids you see are either the missionary's kids or kids that came with us.) Even though that seems like a small number, we'll teach whoever comes. It was a privilege to share the Bible with these children.

Marissa is explaining the craft to the kids.

We brought our water slide for the kids to play on before and after Bible club.

While one group did Backyard Bible Club, another group went to a gas station where they gave away gas cards. Jamie gave cards to people who were willing to fill out a short survey asking general questions about people's view of church. (Here's Kayla on the left with some students from Grace Baptist Church in Russellville, AR who also came up to help the Jones' this week.)

The other group did some more painting. This group painted the bumpers in the parking lot of a park.

It was a good day. We were exhausted by the lunch. The missionary gave us the afternoon off. The humidity was stifling. (It's easy to forget about it after living away from it for a while.) The students that grew up in CO noticed it immediately. One student said, "Give me a straw so I can breathe through it!" I thought that was putting it well! We attended youth group tonight with Cody (in the yellow shirt). He used to go to River of Grace before they moved to Kansas City. It's been great to visit with him & his family. They've been helping us out.