So I keep typing the word "pastoring" in something I'm working on and Word defaults to "pasturing."

So I looked up "pasturing." It means to feed. While I won't to be correct, of course, I love that meaning--to feed. Jesus said to "feed my sheep" three times to Peter. That's what we do in children's ministry, we feed Jesus' sheep--we pastor them and pasture them, I suppose.

God bless you as you feed his sheep throughout this coming weekend! 

One of the toughest things in writing is falling in love with our words. They're so beautiful, artful. How could we ever cut them? But fitting great writing into a magazine or a book requires deleting excess. So cut we must. And what we find is that the piece is often better--more concise but still a thing of beauty.

The same is true in our ministries. We can so fall in love with a program that we'd never delete it. Yet, I just heard this line that I thought was really good (and I've edited it a touch): "Your ministry is only as good as your worst program."

It's true for us here with resources, too. We may have amazing resources, but if we let one languish or in any way become weak, that's what most strongly could represent our brand. And the weakest resource can be death to our brand.

Is there any program you're holding onto that if you get really honest with yourself is harming your ministry's brand? Feel free to prayerfully and sensitively hit the "delete" button. Your entire ministry will be stronger for it!

During our Celebration Station workshop yesterday at the Celebrate Recovery Conference, Lori Keller shared a story about a child whose family's life was changed because of Celebration Station.

So here's the story...a little girl was spending the night with her friend Mary (whose family goes to Celebrate Recovery on Friday nights). So she went along with this little girl to Celebration Station, and she loved it! The next week, she told her mom she wanted to go back. So Mom went too. The next week, at Dad's house, she told him she wanted to go back. So Dad went too.

Soon, Mom on one side of the room and Dad on the other and the child in Celebration Station. They all found that they liked it.

And here's the kicker: God healed their family and brought the couple back together, restoring their marriage! (That's what I call a goosebump story!)

If you haven't yet checked out Celebrate Recovery and Celebration Station (and now the new Landing for youth), do it today. There are broken families who need healing in every community!

You can learn more at group.com/celebrationstation.

Our family went to an amusement park this week with a water park. As we waited in line to get our tubes for the lazy river, a boy (around 11) asked me, "Can we cut?" I just looked at him. "My family is right down there and we need to stay with them," he said. I actually considered it. Then I looked down at the water to a family that wasn't even the same race as this child--and they weren't looking back in concern as though they were leaving their child behind.

Whoa! It's amazing how long lines can compromise someone's ethics.

But then it happened to me. My son and his friend had bought "rapid passes" that got them to the front of the line. They were tired of riding so he offered it to me. And I actually considered taking it for awhile. Then I thought about what I'd be modeling for him and declined. But I considered it.

It made me wonder: As a kid, long lines are enough to compromise a child's ethics. What inconvenience is it in our lives that would get us to compromise our ethics?

Just wondering...

Our family went to an amusement park this week with a water park. As we waited in line to get our tubes for the lazy river, a boy (around 11) asked me, "Can we cut?" I just looked at him. "My family is right down there and we need to stay with them." I actually considered it. Then I looked down at the water to a family that wasn't even the same race as this child--and they weren't looking back in concern as though they were leaving their child behind.

Whoa! It's amazing how long lines can compromise someone's ethics.

But then it happened to me. My son and his friend had bought "rapid passes" that got them to the front of the line.

They were tired of riding so he offered it to me. And I actually considered taking it for awhile. Then I thought about what I'd be modeling for him and declined. But I considered it.

It made me wonder: As a kid, long lines are enough to compromise a child's ethics. What inconvenience is it in our lives that would compromise our ethics?

Just wondering...