I want to SMELL LIKE SHEEP.

My rambling thoughts of being a Shepherdess for my Jesus

by Angel Thompson on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:34am ·

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In the past 4 years I have had the most humbling ministry. I get to shepherd our kids from Kindergarten – 4th grade in our KIDS Church. I have watched them grow, struggle and ask amazing questions about God, Jesus, life, family stuff and spiritual warfare that they have faced in their young lives. I have been a witness as God has grabbed their hearts and have heard them confess HIS NAME and tell everyone that they are making HIM the leader of their lives and from that moment forward that their hearts are HIS.

When I reflect back on the last 4 years I can only think of one ACTION word regarding shepherding kids…INVEST.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary States:

In`vest´

v. t.

1.

[imp. & p. p. Invested; p. pr. & vb. n. Investing.]

3.

To clothe, as with office or authority; to place in possession of rank, dignity, or estate; to endow; to adorn; to grace; tobedeck; as, to invest with honor or glory; to invest with an estate.

4.

To surround, accompany, or attend.

5.

To confer; to give.

6.

(Mil.) To inclose; to surround or hem in with troops, so as to intercept reinforcements of men and provisions and preventescape; to lay siege to; as, to invest a town.

I LOVE THIS PART OF THE DEFINITION AS WE AS SHEPHERDS DO THIS TO BRING SAFETY AGAINST THOSE THINGS THAT ARE RAGING ALL AROUND….WE INVEST IN THEM, SURROUND THEM……AS TEACHERS WE ARE LIKE A TROOP HEMING OURSELVES AROUND THEM TO KEEP THE ENEMY OUT AS THEY GAIN STRENGTH AND LAY HOLD OF GOD’S POWER IN THEIR LIVES.

8.

To expend (time, money, or other resources) with a view to obtaining some benefit of value in excess of that expended,or to achieve a useful pupose; as, to invest a lot of time in teaching one's children.

WordNet Dictionary

Verb

1.

invest - make an investment;

Synonyms: commit, put, place

2.

invest - give qualities or abilities to

Synonyms: endow, endue, gift, indue, empower

What happens however if the shepherd does not INVEST but has become….complacent?

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Com`pla´cent

a.

1.

Self-satisfied.

What view and action will you take today in the areas God has placed you?

We are called to invest.

Matthew 28:18-20

Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Father, may all of our kids at YTWO feel your warmth today and may those who come in contact with one of your warriors experience something different and want to know more about you. Help all of the kids to BE THE ONE for you today. Protect them in the name of Jesus and grant them UNITY. In the name of Jesus ~ Amen

www.gccytwo.blogspot.com

www.churchofsecondchances.com

I had the honor...

I had the honor of sitting with an amazing mother today.
She is the mother of 3 beautiful boys. The middle child has Autism.
She is a survivor of ovarian cancer, breast cancer and she is now in the last stages of bone cancer.
I sat with her for an hour as she talked of her children and how she fought and advocated for them throughout her time with them. WE talked about her continued fight for her middle son and her passion for him to know he is loved and that he matters.
She talked of the difficulty of knowing how to help him through the grief, to understand that “mommy is dying”, and will soon not be here. I watched this mother talk proudly of her sons as she battles daily to maintain life.

I listened as she spoke of her ex-husband who left because he just couldn’t take anymore and her light appeared to dim for a while, yet she knew she could not stop for the sake of her children. After all, they were entrusted to her.

I stood with her sister who admires her and has joined her in taking up the fight for her middle son when she leaves this world.

I am honored that God gave me an hour to sit with a remarkable lady. We embraced as I left, one mother to another, raising children on the spectrum. I let her know, even though she is going home, her son has an Autism Family that will look out for him and be support for her sister.

As I walked to my van I sat and thought….how much we take for granted. The air we breathe. The warmth we feel. The food we have. Through aches and pains, yet the health we have been blessed with. Our CHILDREN and their voices, dreams, hugs and kisses. We fight over petty things that have no eternal value and take for granted the fight we should have for our children. A fight to show them that not only do we love them, Christ loves them. Not only do they matter, they matter to HIM. That they don’t have to wait to make an impact or have a purpose, they impact our lives daily and we NEED TO EMBRACE those moments.

As you breathe today
As you feel sun or rain
As you drive
As you shake a hand of a friend, hug a spouse
Hearing your child singing or even arguing……

TAKE NO MOMENT FOR GRANTED.

Embrace it.

Use it to SHOW HIS LOVE. Use it to TEACH THOSE WHO WILL FOLLOW BEHIND YOU.
Until your last breath …DO IT.

"My counsel for you is simple and straightforward: Just go ahead with what you've been given. You received Christ Jesus, the Master; now live him. You're deeply rooted in him. You're well constructed upon him. You know your way around the faith. Now do what you've been taught. School's out; quit studying the subject and start living it! And let your living spill over into thanksgiving."
Colossians 2:6,7

1.28.2011 Early Morning Thoughts

SNOW FALLING GENTLY

by: Angel Thompson

Snow falling gently
Sky gray and light
Listening to the flakes fall
What a wondrous night

Snow falling gently
Plow scraping loudly
Passes by now quietly
Morning wakes tenderly

Snow falling gently
Cars moving slowly
Dog jumping energetically
Morning “I love yous” whispered softly

Snow falling gently
Shovel scraping quickly
Stopping to take it all in
God’s creation flowing eloquently

Through JT's eyes

A view of the world from the other side of the camera of a boy who lives with Autism everyday.

Joshua, you are my hero.

This is his movie of Shark Chaos.

Joshua has always been fascinated with camera's. So much so he took possession of our video camera.

I generally get motion sick when I things move quickly, yet his video and how he perceives the world at this time in his life...well, I have found it interesting, enlightening and eye opening. As he watched his finished movie he stood with a smile...stimming as he watched it. He was beaming with accomplishment.

Father, as I sit daily with Joshua and the fears that have entered his life lately and how You have given him Your WORDS to decrease those fears...we continue to thank you for his Autism. Continue molding us as his parents.

Because I love HIM.

I don’t know what sparked the question that led to her prayer. Was it that she hears about God daily? Was it the prayer that I fervently pray for her? Or was it just GOD’S timing for her?

As she danced around the kitchen in her princess dress and gloves she said, “Where does God live?”

“In heaven”, I answered. As I began to ask her questions about Jesus and what He did for her, she danced into the other room to look at herself in the mirror. Our conversation continued talking about following Jesus and having Him in your heart, and I asked her what that would mean. She said, “You then will live in heaven.” I asked her what happens if you don’t follow Jesus and have Him in your heart?” From a distance by the mirror I heard, “Ooooo, then you go to hell.”

She came back into the kitchen and continued to spin and twirl. As she did she said she loved Jesus and wanted to live in heaven. As I shared with her what she needed to do…. in a twirl she said with a smile as she looked up, “Jesus come in my heart.”

At that moment began more questions from me. I wanted to see if she was truly grasping. She shared that she knew Jesus died for her on the cross. She stop mid twirl when I said Jesus name again and she said to me, “You mean God?” “Yes, honey.” (She gets that God and Jesus are ONE. Last year she put that together.)

So, we then prayed and she decided that she wanted to use “Bibleman’s words to pray.” Apparently his words sound cooler than mine. So with a simple nod she prayed and asked Jesus into her heart. When I asked her why she asked Jesus into her heart she simply said, “Because I love Him.”

Her journey begins.
I will not doubt the authenticity of her prayer. I will continue to lift my little girl and boy up to Jesus and pray that He gives me wisdom and knowledge to continue cultivating HIS LOVE AND PASSION into their lives. That they grow as HIS.

Lord, I just had a great conversation with Faith, and I know you heard it and that you also had a great conversation with her. Please guide her footsteps and may they continue towards you and in you. Help her to grow with Godly integrity, character and discernment. Give me wisdom to always point Joshua and Faith to you and teach them your truth!
Wow…is all I can say!

Goo Goo....Go into all the world....

Go into all the world….
I love that verse and today, as parents, we were able to not only talk about what Christ was telling us to do….we got our “sandals dirty” and let our kids be part of the action. Nothing says outreach like GOO GOO bars!

It took us 3 hours to walk to different businesses, banks, stores and gas stations here in Geneva to pass out Goo Goo bars and hand them a special invite card.

As parents, it was exciting and humbling to watch our kids begin the outreach journey of “Go into all the world…” Joshua is quite a little evangelist, which is no secret. He has been that way since giving his life to Jesus. And Faith did not want to miss any of the action. Our little “shy girl” was not afraid to walk in and give a gift and invite people to come to GCC for Easter.

“Lord, as silly as this sounds, I know to your ears it is not. Please go with each goo goo bar and the invite cards that touched the hands they were placed in. May your Spirit draw them to where they can find YOUR WATER OF LIFE! Thank You for asking us to join You today in reaching Geneva for You. May today stay in the hearts of our kids and may they continue to have a burden to reach out and share Jesus in our community and beyond. In Jesus Name…Amen.”

I was created for eternity…

Matt and I have been studying 1 Peter. I remember during my college and seminary years studying this book, and yet, I learn something new, something that God points out to me that is crucial at this moment in time, in my walk with Him and others who share that they, too, are followers of Jesus.

It was verse 7 that made my heart stop, but to fully grasp it, let’s also read verse 6 and 8 along with 7 from chapter 1. (Verse 7 is in bold)

“In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy,”

I grew up in a time, in which I find continues to permeate throughout churches, and that is one of “just say the prayer.”, or dare I even type, “Just get baptized.” I can vividly remember during a revival that we were told if we “but come forward and say the prayer than we would be saved from hell.” It was not shared with me or those who were with me that, “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Ephesians 2:8

I recently drove past a sign with the photo of a soldier and it read, “We don’t accept applications…only commitments.”

Verse 7 in chapter 1 of 1 Peter is talking about commitments versus applications. I believe there are many out there today, walking around with the application in their back pocket or tucked away in the “did it” file but never made the commitment. In the book of John, chapter 6, verse 60-70, it talks about those who did just that and when they heard what it would mean to commit to following Jesus…”many deserted Him.” In this chapter in the book of John, Christ is telling them and us, “I don’t accept applications…only commitments.”

As I read 1 Peter 1 and camp in this chapter and the verses above, my heart truly cries out in praise, glory and honor to HIM. I don’t have to see Him to know He is here and that He alone is walking with me through the trials I face daily. It is true when it states there is an inexpressible and glorious joy. It is almost…ineffable to describe, but it fills me because I know the goal that is ahead of me and it is far better than all I face here. My salvation in HIM is set with His stamp, His deposit of the Holy Spirit in me when I decided to walk past just the “application” and stepped across the line and committed!

I was created for eternity…nothing this world holds will satisfy!

The passion to follow Jesus

There truly are no words that I could use to describe the intense emotion on feels when witnessing someone being baptized.

There are no words to use when it is our son except...GOD, YOU AMAZE ME, BLOW ME AWAY EVERYDAY. You captured him in your arms, placed eternity in his heart before he was even thought of and he followed that to You. I will never forget the day he first prayed to you for snow. I will never forget the day he prayed that you would provide money so we could go to McDonald's. I will never forget the day he asked you into his heart. I will never forget the days he worked hard to put his face in the water. I will never forget the first time he shared Christ with a lady at WalMart....and I will never forget this day when he shared with everyone that he was following You! Thank you for the work You have done in his life, and the work You will continue to do! I am amazed! I am humbled!

Be sure to watch the clips at the end.

Traveling with Angel today....my thoughts....

It is no secret; I did not grow up with my parents my entire life. It is not a secret that my father has been married more than once, twice, three times….you get the idea. My brothers and I lived with our grandparents for a while when we were toddlers and when my older brother and I were 12 and 13, we went to live with them permanently while my two younger brothers lived with my dad and then, wife. I wish my two other brothers would have been with us….I really missed them and growing up with them under the same roof.

It’s true there is a deep longing in the heart for family, parents….love and acceptance. No matter what your past is, even if you try and deny the longing…it is there. I remember when I was overseas, talking with a fellow missionary and she asked me if I thought my birth mother loved me. I remember sharing at that time that I did not believe she did. She then asked me if I had a longing for her and I was very quick to say, “NO”. She, of course, did not believe that. There was a longing there that I did not want to believe existed.

Did you know that we have a deep longing in our very souls for God? We have a deep longing for our Heavenly Father? Oh, we may try and deny that…but it is true. I remember being outside of His family…trying to fill the longing, trying to find purpose.

Ecclesiastes 3:11 states:
He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

Just reading those words bring tears.

And then I read in Psalm 139:15,16
My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

I remember the intense love that grew as I carried Joshua and then Faith. It is truly something ineffable. Now, here is our God who knew us before we were even formed. He placed within each heart a desire for eternity. That “taste of the sweetness of LIFE” with Him. Can you grasp the immensity of that? A longing for Him in our hearts….we were HIS before we were even born. Then sin enters the world and snatches His LOVE and all these years He has been pursuing to take HER (US) back. I remember when I gave my heart to Him….i thirsted for HIM, could not get enough of HIM. Even in my “veteran” years as a follower….I still cannot get enough of HIM.

Joshua asks me daily if there are “don’t knows” (people that we don’t know) who are going to Hell. He has a burning to tell them about Jesus; (and does every chance he gets) that incredible Hope he has found and continues to learn and thirst for. Just today he was trying to grasp that God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit are ONE God.

To answer my friends question…I do believe that my birth mother loves me. I am sure she has the deep longing in her heart and that her birth children are just beyond reach. My mom has been incredible with trying to understand my relationship with her…even the need for relationship with her, whatever that may look like. (And I thank her for that.) Living most of my life with my grandparents…my heart misses them…yet I do know, because of the eternity that was placed in their hearts just like you and I and them accepting HIS pursuit…I will one day see them again.

Oh Lord, what a day today has been for reflection on my “eternity gift” that you have placed in my heart on so many levels. May my eternal heart along with the eternal hearts of, my children, my husband, my friends, & my family always long for MORE of You…and, to quote the verse that Joshua continued to say today:

Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. 1 Peter 3:15

Letter to Santa

This evening I walked out into the living room to see a note and cookies. Joshua was planning early. I smiled as I looked at this and at the same time I was reminded of my son’s Autism and where it has him.

I’m not talking about his mind and that he will “always be as a child.” (He has displayed incredible maturity in his thoughts. I do believe his faith in Christ will always be like a child...I don't mean immature...but rather always knowing, believing and trusting that Jesus is who He says He is. That He is his Savior and that He is the one he goes to with all his needs and praise...leaving them there and knowing that God heard him. Something many lose as they grow older.) Believe it or not, our son knows that Santa is not real. He will tell you that Santa is just a character, and that Mrs. Claus and the elves are also fake. He knows that I will be the one to eat the cookies and drink the milk. So, why put out the letter and cookies? Because that is what people do. He has watched and heard people talking about putting out cookies. There are commercials on TV about it, TV shows that do it and families tell their little ones that they need to remember to put out cookies and milk for Santa.

Our son is a mimicker. He looks to everyone for social cues. That means, he looks to you and me to see what we are doing. This is his way of coping and “fitting” into our world. Whether we do something that is appropriate or not appropriate…he will mirror back what he sees. So…the cookies and letter are a reminder to me of my son who lives with Autism, and how he longs to be part of our world and wanting to know how to live in our society and to not only relate, but have relationship.

I learn so much from Joshua that continues to draw me deeper in my relationship with Christ. Yesterday was one of them as he told everyone at church, “We all need to follow Jesus because he died on the cross for our sins and now He is alive.”

My prayer this Christmas…is that my life…my social cues will be those that draw Him deeper in his relationship with Christ.

How are you living your life? Who is watching you? People don’t have to have Autism to take on our “social cues”….how we face life, circumstances…moments that challenge our daily life. The stop light, the slow driver, snow, frustration, anger, fear, anxiety, joy, praise, humbleness…

Thank you, Lord for Joshua’s letter. Thank you for the reminder and thank you for the talk he and I had about the letter…and the talk we had about YOU. May my walk each day be one that reflects You. May it draw both my children towards You and may they fall deeply in love with YOU!

Letter from Nepal

I am humbled and honored to have two incredible friends who live in Nepal. I met them when I was at Grace. I remember the love Bethany had for Andy and their journey as a couple realizing that together God had something incredible instore. Bethany is from a beautiful province in Canada and Andy is from Germany. For years they lived in Germany as missionaries and then God did something incredible...He moved in their hearts and took them to Nepal.

I am so honored to catch a glimpse of their journey every month as either Bethany or Andy send emails and photos. This new area God has called them to is...let's just say living in the Western World we tend to forget. My heart is stirred upon every letter and this one in particular hit my heart and I wanted to share it with you, along with the photo's Andy sent us. If you think of it, please remember them, their family and those God has called them to take HIS HOPE to, in your conversations with God.

________________________________

Dear Friends,

I just got done shoveling snow and chipping ice off our front steps (we've gotten 3 feet of snow recently). What a change from installing solar panels in a t-shirt among the very poor in Nepal, trekking around remote Mugu to visit prior ministry locations, and scoping out future projects.

Very early this morning, Lou and I concluded our 24 hour trip home from Nepal.

Thank you so much for your prayers on our behalf. God carried us through this time in miraculous ways. There were no flights available to the Mugu district, so we flew to the neighboring district Jumla. From there Lou, Bob and I did six days of strenuous trekking over high mountain passes to get to a district where we've been involved with past projects. We are looking to the Lord for future ministry opportunities in this area. While not planned, this trekking proved to be a good thing in many ways. We had a chance to stay in Nepali homes and get a better grasp of the ways of these people - rice and dahl, smoke, friendliness, material and spiritual poverty, curiosity, and much more. We also enjoyed and benefited from spending time with the two Nepalese Christians who accompanied us. One, a former trekking guide and the other, an elder in one of the new churches. We learned so much from and about them. We are thankful for God’s protection in this remote area where medical help is a long way off.

God...

...gave us strength to make it up the mountains with our packs
...strengthened our knees on the long descents
...led us through a snow blizzard high on a pass

...healed my ankle which was getting so bad that I was beginning to think of calling a helicopter

...mercifully shortened the time of stomach flu that hit during our time in Mugu

...gave us opportunities to share the gospel with people held in bondage by Hinduism

One of the saddest moments was during the visit of the village where Lou led a ministry team in March of this year. During that time a baby was born to a local family. Thankfully (and miraculously) the baby is still alive. Almost half of all children born here die before their second birthday. However, as we sat on the ground around the wood stove eating flatbread the lady had just made, we learned that the husband and father of the family had suddenly died out in the forest just 7 days prior. In the corner, the man’s brother sat in sackcloth, mourning. The mother looked very sad as her 5 children gathered around. Their religion offers them little hope. We pray that her eyes will be opened and that she will have a personal encounter with the God of hope!

We also visited the village where we will be taking a team of students from the international school down our street. Please pray that God would be working both in the hearts of the people of this village, as well as the hearts of the students that will be going.

It was a joy to visit the area where I had been in March of 2007. Since then, a number of people have come to Christ. Several churches have been established and Nepalese nationals are part of an area-wide outreach going on. Now we are planning projects for 2009 and are excited to see how God will continue to work in Nepal.

Thank you for praying for Bethany and the kids here in Leysin. Bethany was very busy here as she held up the fort and continued working with the youth. Now, final preparations are underway for a Christmas play outreach, followed by a potluck dinner this coming Sunday, December 7. Please pray that this would go well and that God would bring people and speak to their hearts.

We thank you for standing with us and wish you a worshipful Advent as you celebrate the hope we have in Christ who has come and is coming again!

Celebrating Jesus, our hope!
The Maier family

Andy & Bethany,Gabriella, Adrian, Jeffrey and Brianna
CrossWorldSwitzerland/International

P.S. I’ve attached a few pics. One with our assessment team (l to r: me, Lou, Resham (former guide), Shandra (church elder), Bob). One with the lady who lost her husband. One with me helping install solar panels in a village in Jumla district.