"Green thumb" is not in my vocabulary anywhere. I have tried to add it but I never made it! So, I visit my mother-in-law's garden and bask in all that she accomplishes! She definitely does not look 88 years old!! Nor does she act like it -- she has as much fun as the rest of us!

Tonight, it was 'have shovel, can dig'! Not me, of course! Me -- I was "have camera, will shoot"!!

I took a mini-tour of the garden and saw this 'little' cabbage -- little? Hardly!! So, I guess you know who has the green thumb!! And she says, "All I do is set out little cabbage plants." But, I can assure you that if I did that -- the little cabbage plants would die! I took the photo below on my cell phone.

So, I am blessed when I visit with great "garden variety", home grown food!! I am pretty spoiled... when I arrived at her house on Wednesday noon, she had lunch already on the table!! Wow!!

We had gone out to eat last evening and were barely in the house when she said, "I'm going to change so we can go to the garden!"

Needless to say, she gives some of her garden goods to family and close friends!!

The cucumber below is almost 18 inches long!!

Celebrating an anniversary!! 25th!

I am in Indianapolis right now -- I didn't realize that I hadn't posted since Monday!! But, it's been a busy week as I flew to Indy and then drove on up to Chicago with two of my brothers and a niece to celebrate Rachel and Allen's 25th anniversary. The anniverary was actually on June 18th and Jene' (their oldest who turned 21 on Wednesday) had put together a reception at their church the Sunday following that date.

What Rachel and Allen didn't know was that we had planned (Jene' and I had talked through -- but she did an awesome job putting everything together and carrying it all out!!) a 25th anniversary celebration for them. They had expressed a desire to renew their vows on a beach but since Florida is a rather long way to go and with gas prices, prohibitive at this point, we thought, "Why not Lake Michigan?" And they also really wanted to go on a cruise and may get that done this fall (perhaps), but a dinner cruise seemed in order. They also just wanted a small intimate group so we only had 20!

The job was keeping it quiet -- but, believe it or not, all six kids kept their lips zipped the entire time -- all the way up to arriving at the Navy Pier and parking the car. It was at that time that I got a text from Rachel saying that she had an idea that something was going on and that "Joel and you better be here somewhere!" We were as was Thad -- Mark and Tim's schedule wouldn't allow them to attend but they were here in spirit!

The cruise was awesome, the food was scruptuous, the entertainment was great -- they had a band on the dinner cruise which played Rachel and Allen's favorite song, "Have I told you lately that I love you?" (No, they didn't dance ...) We went from the cruise over to a part right next to the pier where rose petals had been spread out, a guitar was playing and Joel gave Rachel to Allen once again. They repeated vows and then Shara read a letter I had written to them. I'll include it at the end.

We gave them time to share to each other and while there were tears, they were in celebration of 25 years of love, laughter, difficulties and commitment.

Backing up a little (which I seem to do quite well!), it was quite a feat for us to get to the florists (my job) and then to the pier. You cannot 'get there from here' even though it was right next to you. Fortunately, Thad became the navigator, Joel drove and Jacinta and I just laughed at them -- or they laughed at me -- or whatever!

Just a heads up -- if you ever go to the Navy Pier, parking is $19 no matter how long you stay. I'm glad we were staying several hours so we could get our money's worth -- sort of anyway!!

After the renewal of vows, Jene' delivered Rachel and Allen to a hotel provided by family members and she took the kids to another hotel. She's not old enough to want to be in the same hotel! (lol)

I think it was an awesome day for the whole family - we made it home in just over 12 hours from when we left -- and we covered 400 miles in that time, too! Wow!

And now the letter I wrote which Shara read to them yesterday ...

It has been almost 40 years since you were my miniature bride, carrying a bouquet of orchids down the aisle. I know you have heard the “got my dollar” story more times than you have wanted to, I’m sure. Then, twenty five years ago, I stood beside you as you got ready to go down the aisle – this time you were the bride. I remember how well you had done in making all the preparations and the awesome rehearsal dinner. Then, at the last minute, you became overwhelmed and the tears began to flow. I did the only thing I knew to do – I went and got Dad! After all, he could fix anything! It was my time to go down the aisle and I just told him he needed to do something!!!

Now, twenty five years later and here we stand together once again! It is impossible to share all the memories – from the first crush you had on Allen (including some story about throwing stones) to the Hawaiian cruise we took together to celebrate our anniversaries – our 35th and your 20th. I’ve been able to be with you after the births of a couple of your children and am honored when I hear their excitement that I am going to visit. (Maybe that’s just because they know they can beat me soundly playing video games.)

Your life has not always been easy. From traveling in the evangelistic field for many years through the years of pastoring, you’ve poured your lives into ministry. I am sure there are times when the difficulties have taken their toll on your relationship and you wondered if you had it to do all over again, would you?

Because of those very things and the fact that you complement each other so much, I think the answer is a given. Yes! Yes, you are completely difference personalities and that is probably an understatement. But, God saw this, too, and said, “It is good!”

Your differences balance each other (well, for the most part.. lol!) and as you continue to grow in love, those differences may well become less – until you truly become one. Well, then again, it has been said that if two people agree on everything, one of them isn’t necessary! I don’t think that will ever happen to you two.

Your children knew that your desire was to renew your vows on your 25th wedding anniversary – on a beach. Florida was a little too far away. They also knew you loved a cruise. Jene’ began to put together a plan. What better way to celebrate than to incorporate both of those into one – so here we are today. Celebrating in an unbelievable way but hopefully fulfilling your dream for your 25th anniversary celebration.

Happy Anniversary!

And lest I forget, Happy Birthday to both Jene' (21st on July 23) and Shara (18 today!).

Youth Camp 2008 Slide Show

Reality Check

I know --I think I got lost! But, found my way back -- just kidding! I've been "on the road again" and seem to meet myself coming and going. However, I wanted to post this report on the Youth Camp from Sandi. She read this to our church on Sunday morning .. Linda

Genniser (Cornerstone's Youth Pastor) asked me to share about youth camp. I told him no. And he asked several more times before I agreed. In many ways I don't want to do this. But this week I asked campers several times if they were unable to do something or simply unwilling. I do feel unable to do this but I'm not unwilling - so here I am. This past week at Reality Check was the most intense week of my entire life. Tim and I have been a part of many camps for many years in every way (as a camper, counselor and director).

For the past 5 years we have directed youth camp for our conference of FM churches. We knew going in to this week that we would face challenges but had no idea of the scope of things. So as I tried to figure out what to tell you - I went back to the promise I had each teen make whenever they talked to me - be real. So I'm going to get real and pray that you will see through the tough stuff to the realization that it takes being real to make any progress. None of the counselors this week were aware of all that happened - but Tim & I have endeavored to keep the things that can't be shared between us and God. One of my campers came to me this week and said that what she had to share she couldn't simply say - so she had to write it out - I had to do the same.

So what to share. I could share about the fun we all had - from softball, to volleyball, to basketball, to mini golf, and ping pong, to carpet ball to canoeing, to human foosball, to the petting zoo, roasting marshmallows, going on hayrides, pool volleyball, eating kettle popcorn made over an open fire. I could tell you that major prayer happened in the golf cart I was driving (especially since I'm legally blind and don't have a driver's license.)

It was great to see S.A.C.'s Got Talent and we laughed until we cried as the counselors participated in "America's Next Top Model.) I could share about awesome times of team devotions and workshops like Bible Quizzing and Sharing your faith to Just for Guys and Just for Girls to drama and learning how to build biblical boundaries into our lives. I could share about our theme verses from Proverbs 1:1-6 or share about our themes each night.

I could share how Monday night we talked about being "ink'd" by God and being pierced for ministry. I could share about how Tuesday night we talked about developing spiritual disciplines into our life or Wednesday night how we discovered that we each had spiritual gifts and talents. I could share how Thursday night we entered "The Real World". I could share about the most awesome praise and worship I have experienced in a very long time. How I thought the walls were going to come down on Thursday night as we sang "Battle Cry".

I could share how God used our group to minister to other groups at the camp and to the camp personnel. How we invited a group to join us in worship and were able to pray with one of the kitchen workers in our evening service. I could tell you about how every camp personnel from Lakewood including the director came to us to tell us that they had never experienced a group like ours and tried to figure out "how we did it". How people from the camp were asking where the nearest Free Methodist church was.

I could share that we had over 90 campers and about 30 counselors from churches from St Pete, Tampa, Miami, Cape Coral, Port Charlotte, West Palm, and Nassau Bahamas. I could share about the low ropes course and the trust fall. Where in an hour and a half with your team more tears were shed and more walls broken down - than anything else we could do. I could share of the 35-40 of the teens that Tim & I spent individual time with - some lasting 5-10 minutes and others lasting hours. I could share how camp didn't end on Friday at 1pm but that the rest of this weekend has been spent on the phone and e-mail counseling campers and counselors alike.

I could share of the many that got saved - I prayed with at least 15 campers myself. I could tell you of the 2 girls that were called into missions. I could share about the Timothy track and how teens that were identified by their youth pastors as being spiritually mature and exhibiting leadership qualities were able to take part in a special workshop and assigned personal mentors that spent individual time with them each day. I could tell you that every one on the Timothy track came to me personally to tell me that it was the best experience they had ever had. I could tell you that our 15 minutes scheduled for individual mentoring turned into an hour or more each day. I could tell you how proud you should be of Donna Blanton and Brandi Costa who joined with Tim & I and Eddie from our Tampa church as Timothy track mentors. I could tell you of the 3 guys that are off to college to prepare for the ministry. I could tell how one of them came to me to thank me for teaching me this week how to disciple others.

I could tell you that over 3000 "Character Counts" points were awarded this year. I could share that dozens came to know Christ and dozens more rededicated their life to Him. I could tell you all that and it would be true and it would be good. But it wouldn't be all. To be real means to tell you the rest of the story. It means to tell you things that were hard to hear. It is to tell you that the camp flag I am holding doesn't bear 120 names - which means that teens were real enough with themselves and God to acknowledge that their lives aren't "ink'd" by Christ - they aren't Christians. I could tell you that the cross didn't hold 120 nails because there were teens unwilling to let God use the things that pierce them.

I would have to share that although Tim and I have the job of directing - our week was spent counseling and that logistically things fell apart because we couldn't leave the teens we were ministering to. I would have to share that there were teens that aren't there yet - and one cried out Thursday night, "I'm not there yet - but Jesus, I'm coming!" I pray she has the chance.

I would have to share that teens confessed to promiscuity, to alcohol abuse, to drug abuse, to cutting, to violence including some very serious stuff. I would have to share that teens shared their real life and many times that included stories of physical, emotional, mental and sexual abuse. I would have to share that we had to stage a full blown intervention and we sent teens home with constant supervision until we can get them into rehab. I would have to share that I had to stay on the phone with a camper as she walked into her house because that is the only way she could do it.

I would have to share that a guy camper came to me Thursday morning with tears and said, "I can't go home - Please don't make me, I'm just too scared." I would have to share that we have a rule that things are kept confidential unless they are life threatening or illegal - and we had to break confidence this week. I would have to share that most mornings began well before dawn and most didn't end till then. I would have to share that teens that "look the part" aren't always who you think they are. That they can hide deep hurt and bad choices.

I would have to share that there are teens in our own church that don't know Christ. I would have to share that it's time to get real. Real with ourselves, real with each other, most importantly - real with God. Tim and I spent months preparing and praying for camp. And this week there were so many times when I cried out to God, "I'm not able". And He only responded, "Are you willing?"

To be real means that we can't think "glad that's not our kids" - because it is. It means saying like I had to this week, "I'm willing for you to hate me - to save your life, to save your soul." To be real means to stop telling people what they want to hear and sharing with them straight talk - right from God's word. It means getting phone calls like I did - when I am emotionally, physically, and spiritually depleted and answering it anyway. Because lives hang in the balance. It means getting real about discipleship. To be real means saying that our teens are too valuable to God and to valuable to us to risk losing them. This IS our great mission field.

To be real means acknowledging for all the successes we had - we failed too. So I stand here - not jubilant. I stand here used up. I stand here unable - but I don't stand here unwilling. I'm asking you to do the same. Pray for our teens like you never have before. Be strong enough to look and look closely and ask and ask deeply and pray without ceasing. I guess this is our reality check!