Inside Mandy’s Head

It’s a new year….

Monday, January 11th, 2010 | Personal Thoughts | No Comments

In my last post I shared with you my “self growth” project from last year by not drinking any pop.   As this new year has started, I have been thinking of what I can do this year as my “self growth” project.   I have decided to challenge myself with a reading project.    If you know me at all, you know I HATE reading books!!!    I can read short materials like blogs or articles, but give me a 100+page book and it will most likely just sit on the book shelf.   Cliff notes in high school were my best friend…..I perfected skimming in college…..and most of the books on my bookshelf in my office are for show.  

However, it is good to stretch yourself and challenge yourself to do something that will require discipline.    This will mean that I will have to plan time during the day to read and I will have to shut the TV off at night (EEEKKKK!!!!) every once in a while and pick up a book and read.  

Last week I had the privledge of speaking at one of the Christian schools in town and I challenged them to a “growth project.”   My orginal goal was to read six books this year, but afterwards a girl came up to me and in her lovely words pretty much told me that wasn’t good enough….so I’m uping it up to nine books.   Below are the nine books I’m committing to read this year.    I’m posting them to keep myself accountable of this decision.  

1.   Deadly Viper Character Assassins- by Mike Foster & Jud Wilhite    (Love these guys and the ministry they have going on with People of the Second Chance….check it out at http://potsc.com/)

2 & 3.  Quitting Church by Julia Duin & Real Church by Larry Crabb   (interesting books about people who have been burned by “the church” and their search for what church really is….excited to see what insights I can gain from these two books)

4.   If You Want to Walk on Water, You Have to Get Out of the Boat- John Ortberg   (one of our Life Groups is doing a study of this book this semester, and as I was preparing for this studying it really challenged me in some areas of my life)

5.  Mad Church Disease-  Anne Jackson  (This will be a book I pick up every year and read through…read it for the first time last year and it was AMAZING!   It’s about burnout and how to avoid it and get through it if you find yourself in the middle of it)

6.  Plan B-  Pete Wilson  (So excited for this book to come out this spring…..Pete is an amazing pastor in Nashville that I follow on his blog, twitter and through his podcasts)

7.  Killing Cockroaches- Tony Morgan   (This is  book that I bought a while back that has been sitting on my bookshelf “for show”….it’s about time I took it down and read it!…..it has recieved great reviews)

8 & 9.   Counterfeit Gods & The Prodigal God- Timothy Keller   (I have heard great things about this author, so I am excited to check these books out)

So there you have it…..that’s my reading list for the year.     How about you?    What are you doing to “Grow” this year?

In Tradition…my one update this month

Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 | Personal Thoughts | No Comments

Since Kelli has a link to my blog on her blog everytime I go there it shows me how long it has been since I have last posted a blog….and since I hit the “1 month” mark sometime last week I figured I should probably post something . I have had a lot of thoughts racing through my head the last couple of weeks but just haven’t had time to sit down and type them out. Today is no exception…since my computer is slowing heading to it’s final resting place it takes me a long time to load internet pages .
Today I wanted to share with you a blog I came across this morning that was very thought prokoving, at least for me. The author is Pete Wilson who is one of the Pastors at Cross Point Church that has two campuses in TN. I found his blog yesterday and was intriqued by what he wrote this morning. You can check his blog out at…. www.WithoutWax.tv

God’s Presence
I’ve been doing my quiet time out of Exodus lately. Moses is a leader I can learn a lot from.

Exodus 33:15 “Then Moses said to him, ‘If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.”

God promised Moses he would send his angel before them and guide them to their God-given destination. This is what Moses has been waiting for. This is a win. A huge win. He’s assuring Moses success, but Moses doesn’t want success. He wants God.

When I read this I felt like I was getting hit by a mac truck! Far too often as a leader I make success my God. I make success the destination. I’m willing to make a lot of sacrifices, even some unhealthy ones, if it means achieving success.We’ve all sacrificed things for….

larger church attendance

more money

nicer car

corner office

bigger title

noticeable popularity

Moses reminds us that no amount of success, plans, or dreams are worth it if it means less of God’s presence in your life.

Just a few verses before in verse 11 it says “The Lord spoke to Moses face to face as a man speaks to a friend.” I think Moses had grown so accustomed to God’s presence that it became the most cherished and prized thing in his life. He couldn’t imagine going a moment without it.

Can I be honest? I’m not there… but I want to be. I want to get to that place. I want to get to the place where I want God and His presence in my life more than anything this world has to offer.

Mandy back here….I’m right there with him on that last paragraph.  What would my life look like if one top desire was God’s presence in my life??  Yesterday I finished reading this book that the Life Group leaders are going through together and one of the chapters talked about a Growth Plan for life.  If you are like me, in order for me to get anything done I have to do two things….make a plan (and write it down) and have accountability.  Otherwise it doesn’t happen.  I have some great intentions, but only about 1% of the time do those intentions because reality.  After reading that chapter yesterday and this post today, I should really go work on that growth plan!  If you see me this weekend…ask me about my growth plan!!!

A Tale of Two Cities

Monday, October 6th, 2008 | Personal Thoughts | No Comments

“It was the best of times…it was the worst of times…”  So I really have no idea if that was a line from A Tale of Two Cities or not, infact I have no idea what a Tale of Two Cities is really even about….but it was a great title of what I’m feeling like today.  I’m sitting at my parents house in Silver Lake at the current moment getting ready to head out on another adventure.  It’s been a pretty slow day, so I have had time to reflect on things going on.  It seems that the more I am here in Kansas the more I miss it.  I miss the small towns and truly knowing your neighbors.  I miss the slow pace of life….I actually sat down and just watch the rain fall this morning (seriously, who does that?!).   It’s weird to think that I have a life waiting for me to get back to over 1200 miles away.  It’s amazing the difference 1200 miles makes.  I realized today that one of the things I love most about my life here in Kansas is that it is consistant.  I moved here when I was 5 yrs olds and almost nothing has changed.  Even when I come back after being in Arizona for almost 2 1/2 years, my neighbors are still here, still have the same jobs, and still look the same.  It’s consistancy.  My life in Arizona has been a constant adventure with one change right after another; never leaving time to become comfortable.  Both cities have their negatives and positives, but it makes me even more thankful that I serve a God that never changes.  He was the same when the world began and He’ll be the same in a million years.  And I know I can always come home and rest in that assurance. 

I’ve had a great vacation and have been able to reconnect with so many people.  Last night I was able to reconnect with one of my old youth ministers and his family which was absolutely amazing.  This morning I headed back to my old high school and was able to tour their new additions they have been adding on to this past year and see two of my favorite teachers ever.  All of these men have been incredible influences in my life and who I miss dearly in Arizona!!  God is good!!!

Vacation- Day 2

Thursday, October 2nd, 2008 | Personal Thoughts | No Comments

So I told everyone I wouldn’t have access to a computer, but while I do for a second I wanted to share just a quick thought.  As I woke up this morning in Kansas it made me realize how much I love this place.  I think out of all the things I love the most it has to be that the pace of life is just slower around here.  People aren’t rushing around a million places trying to get a million things done in a day and then wake up and do it all over again.  Their is quiet in the air.  Last night when I arrived at my parents house around 10pm it was dead silent in my parent’s neighborhood….and by dead silent I mean that if you dropped a pen on the next street over, we would hear it.  Also, this morning I woke up a little before 6 to take a walk (see Brandon, I did get up!) and I just loved walking around town when it was just silent.  It was completely dark, and families were starting to wake up and get ready for the day.  I only saw about a handful of cars on the road heading off to work.  It was great to start my day with some silence and solitude.  Were can you find silence and solitude today???

Now, let the real vacation BEGIN!!!!!!!!!  WOOOHOOOO!!!