I remember JW’s Senior Spotlight and it was a real blessing to listen to the kids pour their hearts out to their families and friends.  So I was really looking forward to this night.

Luke was the second one to give his speech and in quintessential Luke form, it was short, to the point, no tears and no flash….just Luke saying thank you. 

Many of the other seniors were similar to Luke while others were fighting back the tears saying thank you to their families.  And then there were those who were totally surprising in their humor, delivery and sincerity.

The speeches were nearly finished when one young man got up to give his, Tom. He admitted he wasn’t a public speaker, mostly because he doesn’t always have anything to say that anyone wants to hear. Tom is an intelligent, deep thinker and this was obvious in what he had to say. But Tom isn’t always received well by adults who don’t know him, because he’s not shy in speaking his opinion and doesn’t always show self control with his words or actions. You see, Tom has a form of autism.

Those who really know Tom, love him. They find him funny and have always enjoyed having him around. When he got up to speak, before he even got up there, his classmates were cheering him on with anticipation at what craziness he would bring to this senor night. Tom didn’t disappoint. 

He was funny and truthful and quite honestly he caused people to stop, listen and think about life. There was a new appreciation in the room for Tom. But for me, Tom had the best speech of the night.

When Tom and Luke were in 7th grade, he wanted to go to church with us. Elated to have him come,  we picked him up and took him. I wondered what he thought about the whole church thing, but didn’t ask. I didn’t want to scare him off. So I kept my mouth shut and waited to see if he would come with us again. And from that point on for months and months, the phone would ring at 9 am on Sunday morning and it was Tom letting us know he wanted to go to church.

He was like having another son in the van, they fought, they picked on each other and more than once we had to turn around and tell them all to STOP IT! I never knew what kind of an impact going to church had on Tom. I should have asked, I wish I had asked, but I didn’t. All I knew was that he liked it and his mom liked it too. She even began to come and bring her daughter.

Five years later, I finally realized the impact going to church, Sunday after Sunday had on Tom. One of the first things he said in his speech last night was this: “I’d like to thank Luke’s parents for introducing me to Jesus.”

When I heard that I was instantly in tears. All those Sundays when he climbed in the van and didn’t so much as speak a word to me or Bobby.  All those Sundays when I wondered if he was really listening to the sermon or enjoying the music. All those Sundays when I thought his motive was just to hang out with Luke and his brothers…. All those Sundays, Jesus was working in Tom’s heart. He knocked on the door and Tom answered.

The one kid who would be voted least likely to want to go to church or even be able to sit still and listen to a sermon for 40 minutes, was now standing in front of all his peers, family members and teachers confessing his thankfulness for knowing Jesus. Instantly, I wanted to run to Tom, hug him and thank him. But instead I sat in my chair and thanked God for showing up in such a beautiful way, for extending His grace to me once more and for reminding me of His faithfulness. This truly was a senior event I will never forget.

The pastor had begun preaching his message on evangelism when all of a sudden there was a loud thud and all eyes went to the opposite side of the worship center on a man who had hit the wall and then went down.

Immediately people with medical experience rushed to him, including JW. It was a chance for him to use what he had been learning in EMT training! He had practiced on the entire family at home, but now he had a real live person to ask all those questions! JW got up and ran across the front of the worship center to help out with this man who went down.  After a few minutes the paramedics showed up and took care of this man who was apparently a diabetic.

The pastor resumed his sermon on our responsibility to share Jesus with those around us. As I sat and listened to all the excuses we give for not telling our friends and co-workers about Jesus I began to think about it.  Telling others about salvation is the most important thing we can do as Christians. We have such great news, news that is the difference between spending an eternity in heaven or hell and yet we hold it in our clutches and some of us never share it. There are no educational requirements for sharing it. We don’t have to be deacons or Sunday school teachers or pastors to tell others about Jesus. We don’t have to know a formula or memorize a speech or even be good a talking to share Jesus, but we do have to open our mouths and share!

Sitting in my seat I thought about the man who collapsed in church and his need for medical attention. People didn’t wait for him to ask for help. No one was worried if he would reject their help, they just saw that he needed help and helped him. JW didn’t hesitate to run to this man in need, he just ran. Shouldn’t this be our reaction as Christians? Do we really need to wait until people are calling out on their deathbed before we offer our good news? Shouldn’t we just run to share Jesus with people anytime?

Recently, our pastor, Dr. James Walling, has been emphasizing the ripple effect.  Simply meaning that what we do as Christians should make a ripple like a rock thrown into a pond of water, it ripples.  Our intentional actions for the glory of God should not only effect those directly involved but they should be felt or observed beyond our physical reach…they should ripple!

I have felt the ripple and I want to make it go just a little further across the pond….

A week ago something in my back went haywire and I’ve been pretty immobile since. I spend a lot of time on my bed with ice on my back and a laptop in my lap. I’m getting better day by day, thanks to a great chiropractor and God answering the prayers of a few prayer warriors.

While my kids have been great at taking up the slack with the house work and the farm, my washing machine decided to quit thus creating a mountain of laundry that would make the most fearless mountain climber tremble.

Never fear my small group is here!

Like the wonderful women they are, the ladies in my small group have diagnosed my washing machine’s ailment, suggested who I call to repair it at a reasonable price and one woman has taken on my laundry challenge and at this moment my laundry room has one pair of dirty slacks. This week I’ve given this woman eight baskets of dirty laundry and we’re not talking just stuff the kids wore to school or even sweaty practice clothes. I’ve sent over manure stained barn clothes that will sure enough make her house smell and put her front load washer to the test.  Each time she’s done with my laundry she has had the courage to ask for more! This morning she practically badgered me into bringing more laundry to her until I finally said, “Okay, Okay,you can have it all!”

Not only is this wonderful woman making my life easier but she is making sure my husband has clean jeans, my son has a clean baseball uniform, we have fresh linens on our beds, clean towels in my bathroom and that none of us run out of clean underwear!

This one act of doing the laundry for a farm family of six is what is known as the ripple effect.

Do you ripple?

They sit in a row, beautiful all in their own way. They are there faithfully every week. Never missing. Their hair is perfect, make up just right and they have learned to dress in colors that flatter their aging complexion and graying hair. Their warm smiles welcome you in, their hugs and handshakes reassure you the sun still comes up, the world still goes around and God still loves you.

They ask about your family, tell you how beautiful your children are and ask, genuinely wanting to know, how you are this week. If you shared your troubles they would listen intently and pray specifically. Then they would send you on your way with a hug, a smile and that calmness that only those life warriors know and can pass on to you.

You can’t help but be encouraged by these pillars of strength, these women who have been through all of life’s trials, the ups, the downs and those day to day afflictions. They’ve learned through the fire that when we are tested we shall come forth as gold. They are golden.

Every church has them.

They are those ladies, some widowed, some single, some married who sit in the same spot week after week in church. They are that fixture that you remembered as a child who are still there today as an adult. Every week, we are greeted by these aging beauties as we come in and sit down. They are incredibly reassuring to me. In times of trouble, in times of doubt, I can look to these women who have each been through so much and know that I will make it through my trials, just like they have.

My mom is one of these ladies in the church I grew up in. Every Sunday you can find her in the choir loft, the soprano side in her choir robe along with the other reassuring, faithful choir members who were there when I was young.

And tomorrow morning, on Easter Sunday, celebrating a risen Savior, each of these pillars will be in place, some with a new Easter dress, some with the same Easter dress from last year. But they will be there, in their spot rejoicing over not only that Christ has risen, but that they are still around to praise Jesus one more Easter morning. And I will be there to receive an intangible, irreplaceable  comfort from them and they don’t even know it.

The entire high school is going skiing today. One hundred and one teenagers will load up this morning and head to the hill and for most of them, this will be their first time. It seems so odd to me that my kids have never been skiing.  Back in the day, skiing was very popular. There were a few kids who frequented the slopes and you could tell how many times they had gone by the number of lift tickets on still attached to the zipper of their jacket. But for some reason, it has never occurred to me to take my kids skiing…probably because I was such a failure at it….but we won’t go down that mountain today.

Luke and Sarah asked what they should wear. As I thought about the navy blue snow pants and coordinating ski coat I had when I was there age, I realized they did not have the proper outfit for the slopes. So they improvised.  With a trip through the washing machine, their Carhartts that they normally where in the barn suddenly transformed into their skiing outfits!

Sarah’s Carhartts were new at Christmas. She’s not had them long enough to rip or stain her coordinating raspberry barn clothes. She’s bound to win the best dressed for the slopes award. By the way, her jacket is the one I was sent from www.countryoutfitters.com back in December and I gave it to her as a Christmas gift.  This jacket is so warm and she absolutely loves it.  I love the color!  And like everything Carhartt makes, it will wear and wear and wear!

On the other hand, the farmboy, is a very different story.

Luke’s barn clothes aren’t so new and like everything Luke owns, he literally wears them out. Note the jacket pockets that are no longer pockets. And also take notice of the Mickey Mouse hat that has been in the barn hat collection since they were in grade school.  I asked if he was really gonna wear that hat and he said, “Ya, it keeps my head nice and warm, why wouldn’t I wear it?”  

As Luke hits the slopes today, my guess is, he will probably look the worst, but after he gets the hang of heading down hill at break-neck speed, his wardrobe challenges will be the least of his worries.  More than likely, this adrenalin junkie will be challenging everyone on the slopes to a downhill race and come home wanting to start training for the Olympics. 

I’m hoping for lots of pictures and maybe some reports on Facebook today!  And I’m praying that they don’t break anything!

I’ve been wanting to write this for two weeks but haven’t had the time to put it down in words. I really don’t have the time now, but the house is quiet and I want to write!

JW left early that morning for his MMA fight in Taylor. JW, Luke and I prayed together for God’s protection before he walked out the door and I continued to pray all day long. While I don’t pretend to know God’s path for JW and his desire to pursue MMA fighting, I did see Him at work on that Saturday in January.

I was enjoying a cup of coffee that afternoon before leaving for the fight when a text came in…it was JW.  He asked if someone could read the story of David and Goliath from the Bible to him.  Overjoyed at the fact that my son wanted to hear scripture….I said, SURE! 

With Bible in hand, I loaded up three teenagers and we headed to the fight. About half way there, JW called and said, “Ok, can someone read it to me now?” Because I was driving and I didn’t feel the need to die, I handed the phone and the Bible to Luke and said, “Here….read 1 Samuel chapter 17 to JW.”

Luke being the middle child never balked or questioned, he just started reading about a little shepherd boy taking five smooth stones and a sling shot and with his faith placed in God, he killed the giant. He read the entire chapter to JW over the speaker phone. And when he was done, they said, ‘goodbye’ and hung up. That may seem silly to some and not a big deal to others.  I mean, it makes sense, right? If you’re in a fight and you need a courage transplant, what better story to read than David and Goliath, right?

God knew JW needed to hear it but God also had more than JW in mind when His word was being spoken out loud in a car filled with three teenagers, two of whom didn’t grow up in the church.

For those few minutes, the Truth was being heard by tender hearts.  Some seeds were planted, other seeds were watered and still other root systems were being strengthened. Never in a million years could I have written than scene or predicted that instance. God promises that His word does not return void. This was orchestrated by Him, for Him and through Him and He will use it in the lives of those who heard it.

God is in constant pursuit of each one of us. He loves us enough to tear down every obstacle to get to our hearts.  That’s just who God is and I can’t wait to see what He does next!

The baby of the family has a lot of advantages but on the farm, if the baby is a boy this can work to his disadvantage, especially if he likes to run equipment but has older brothers who never vacate the tractor seat long enough for the youngest to get a chance to do anything.

Luke and JW have their strengths when it comes to the farm scene.  JW is good with the cows and seems to enjoy working with them while Luke is the tractor man. He would rather load, unload, drive or wrench on anything that moves on wheels.

Jake on the other hand would love to drive stuff, but gets the leftovers of the farm.  He does everything from mowing the lawn to folding the laundry.  His duties range from feeding calves and helping mix feed to making hot chocolate and keeping us from ever hearing silence. But yesterday he got a chance to be pure farmboy.

While normally on a Sunday everyone does what they want….anything but work, the neighbor had a different plan in mind which included hauling manure.  He needed some help and the only two boys available were Luke and Jake.  (Sarah hates things that move on wheels)

While Bobby and I were taking our Sunday afternoon nap, little did we know the baby would be out hauling manure. In his glory, he got to drive up and down the road and through the fields, just like the big boys. Seriously, it was high time this kid got to haul manure. He’s 14 for heaven’s sake! It was way passed time. When he came in for Sunday dinner he was dirty, stinky and had a smile a mile wide and he looked about 10 feet tall. His confidence was stronger and he even sounded grown up.

It’s amazing a little responsibility can take the baby right out of the boy!

This awesome JV team also worked hard and came home tournament champions two weeks in a row. Beating some great teams, these girls pushed through and played like winners.

This varsity team, much like their male counterparts are used to winning and have proven that this season. Next week they will begin district play and should go deep into the play-offs!  I look forward to watching this team of girls play with heart and come out on top!

It was parent’s night last week at North Adams-Jerome on the gridiron. The boys lined up in numerical order and waited as their parents were introduced taking their place in a line across the field.

With roses in hand, some mothers were crying while proud fathers held in their emotion as the senior boys walked up the 50 yard line flanked by the two people who supported them, loved them and watched them succeed and fail over the years.

I took my pink rose, hugged Lukie and we held hands as we stood and cheered for the other boys.

While I wasn’t nearly as emotional about this evening as other parents, there were a myriad of emotions flooding that field.  Some parents just plain got caught up in the fact that it was the last time they would watch their boy play football. But the boys were emotional for a different reason. 

You see, it had been a season of highs and lows.  This was the team that didn’t lose. Since junior high, this group of boys had won nearly every single football game and had dominated the league. They were strong, powerful, smart and played well together. And the beginning of this season was no different.  They came out shouldered with expectations of Ford Field on their backs and right out of the blocks they were full steam ahead and couldn’t be stopped….until they played division 7 super power, Detroit Loyola. A team full of underpriviledge African American boys with more power and athleticism than this little farming community team could handle. They got smoked on 7 mile that Friday night and walked away with deer in the headlight looks on their faces.

The next week they would play a good team, but certainly a beatable team. After the spanking in Detroit they set out to be on the other end of the lashing and again, got smoked on the opposite side of the state and instead of being stunned, they walked away mad, frustrated and with the consequences of a lack of self control.

Climax-Scotts handed them their next loss but it wasn’t until the following game that they realized they were finished for the season. It was homecoming and they were playing their rival, Pittsford, a team that was ready for the battle. They came storming into North Adams with a single goal of knocking the rams out of the playoffs… and they succeeded.

Low-headed, this team quietly sang the fight song at the end of their defeat and wallowing in self-pity they slowly, painfully left the field.

With a week off to regain a little composure and be ready for their final game, they took advantage and worked hard. It didn’t matter who their opponent was this night, they were ready to get back to their winning ways and the team that showed up that night was the team all of us remembered. They were confident. They were smart. They were tough. They were unstoppable. And they won.

The fight song that night was a louder and stronger. This was the team we knew. This was the winning team. And as they left the field the air was bittersweet. A team that should have been getting ready for the playoffs ended their season on a high note.

As these same boys turn in their football uniforms they will head into the gym to get ready for basketball….another sport where they have been successful over the years.  And hopefully they will be confident and smart and tough and hopefully they will be unstoppable.