Happy 16th Birthday Levi

Levi with his Great-grandmother "Mamaw"

Today is my oldest son’s birthday. He is 16 years old. He was due on February 28, 1996, and was born on February 29. My entire family, cousins included said, “Leave it up to Kathy to have a leap year baby!”


He is special. He is my firstborn son. The leap year thing just adds to his special status. 

L to R: Billy Haag, Levi Haag, Me, Rusty Haag

Levi Taylor Haag was named for my father’s middle name: Taylor. But my father never met him. He had already passed when Levi was born.


As my firstborn, he is the one that I dedicated back to God after reading in the Old Testament that God wants our first fruits and our first born. He is the one that I read the entire New Testament to when he was a baby because I wanted him to hear the scripture in his spirit. 


He is the child that I learned on. He is the one that I learned about formula and bottles and pampers with. He is the one that we could afford to have pictures of, and the one I foolishly took to the fair while he was still an infant. 


He is the one that I ran to the emergency room when he first climbed and fell and got a bloody nose. The Doctor looked at him, and suggested that we all go home and go to bed.

He has had to grow up the fastest because he is the first born. He had to baby sit his brothers at the ripe old age of ten (under the supervision of helpful neighbors who were like family), so that I could go to work. 

Levi playing guitar in San Antonio; Age 14

At times, these 16 years have gone incredibly slowly; at other times, the years seem to have zoomed by. 


He led his brothers in creating a volcano with mud on a roaster pan in my house. After observing his dad pour carpet fresh on the carpet, he tried to mimic the activity the next morning before we awoke; except that he had climbed up, retrieved the garlic powder instead of the carpet fresh, and poured it all over the brand new living room carpet. I woke up to a house smelling of garlic.


We had to put a hook lock on the refrigerator door when he was small, because he wouldn’t stay out of the refrigerator. At the age of ten, he had fourteen year olds in the neighborhood bringing his bicycles to him for repairs. 

Being the active boy that he has been, he has had stitches and a broken bone. He has shown leadership qualities through questioning and challenging. 

Levi and Me; Age 12ish

Now, he is 6’3”, 230 pounds, and loves cars and girls. (Well, one girl in particular I understand.) 

L to R: Rusty Haag, Billy Haag, Levi Haag, Me

All that he is; all that he will ever become; I will always love and be proud of him. 

Levi with his Dad. Age 15

Happy 16th birthday Levi Taylor Haag. I love you.

copyright 2012 by Kathy Robbins

The Body of Christ Broken for You

Three weeks ago, I was asked at my new church if I wanted to help to serve communion on Sunday morning. We have communion every Sunday. We have three stations. Two stations have people to go through the line and receive communion. The third station includes prayer with the communion offering.


Not many people like to serve at the station where they are called upon to pray with people. Many people are intimidated about praying with and for others in a setting in which they are called upon to pray out loud. I am not one of those people. It isn’t because I am particularly good at it; it is just that I have a desire to become good at it and I know how powerful prayer can be. I think that the only way to become good at something is to try. For more information about what I am not good at, I suggest that you read my post entitled “Foo-foo.” Ahem, I digress.


I agreed to help in the role of prayerful communion and two weeks later, they had me on the schedule. I attended church that morning not knowing quite what to expect. Whenever we think that we know what to expect, that is when we are frequently surprised by the unexpected. Sometimes it is a pleasant surprise, and sometimes, not so much.


I lined up with the other communion servers at the appointed time in the service, next to the gentleman with whom I would be partnered, used the hand cleaner, received communion from the pastor, and then was sent to our station.

We actually had customers. Without violating confidentiality, I have to say that I don’t know whether or not I blessed anyone, but I received a blessing. We had several people lined up for prayer. Several had a long list of areas that they wanted prayer in their lives. I was a little nervous about insuring that I remembered every request. As we prayed, I could sense relief for the individuals for their struggle. The relief was faith-driven. For the people asking for the prayer believed that the prayers were effective. I could see that in their countenance after we prayed together. I could see that the furrowed brows smoothed out as I offered the body of Christ to them. Seeing the calmness come over them was a blessing for me.

Feeling like I had handed them tangible hope with my words that were led by the Spirit of God was a mighty, powerful blessing for me.

I was reminded again that whenever we step forward with the sincere intent to bless others and to be the vessel through which the spirit of God operates, there is always a blessing awaiting us.

I left that service feeling quite uplifted. It is my hope that the people I prayed with did too.

Amen.

_______________________________________________________________________________________


Thankfulness Challenge and Joy Dare:
 Today, I am thankful for:


71. Texting
72. Blogs
73. Easy recipes

Linking up today with Laura

copyright 2012 by Kathy Robbins

Stress Relief Suggestion #29

Try the following yoga technique whenever you feel the need to relax. Inhale deeply through your nose to the count of eight. Then with lips puckered, exhale very slowly through your mouth to the count of 15 or for as long as you can.
Concentrate on the long signing sound and feel the tension dissolve. Repeat 10 times.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Thanksgiving Challenge and Joy Dare


Today, I am thankful for :


68. A good night's rest
69. Sitting on the front porch with friends under blankets with the wind blowing in the evening.
70. Family photos to record our togetherness forever.


copyright 2012 by Kathy Robbins

An Unexpected Event at Sunday Worship

Today, I have invited Ryan Stratton to write a guest-post. Ryan Stratton is currently employed as Youth Director at Buda United Methodist Church in Buda, Texas, and a student at Wayland Baptist in San Antonio, Texas. He serves on the Austin District Lay Speakers Board, Austin District Youth Professionals, and the Austin/Crossroads Chrysalis Board. I am honored to have Ryan's message in word today.

The measure of God’s love can be expressed in many ways, depending on each person’s circumstance or situation. God’s love is the same for each of us, but impacts us in different ways in our lives. 

One Sunday, during the message, an elderly lady passed out, so some of the congregation began to check on her to see how she was doing. Once it was known she needed help, a prayer was offered up to help her heal and help her family during this time. The message for that day was about love and how we can express love to each other. 

Then, something amazing began to occur, a few people in the congregation stood up, held hands and prompted the entire congregation to create a large circle around the woman. This was a circle of love that can only be seen through the love God gives each of us. When EMS came, the woman made some jokes and had the people around her laughing and they took her to the hospital. 

The incredible piece to this story is that a sermon on Love was given by the people to the people in a way that could not be expressed by words. “Amazing Grace” was sung as the congregation took their seats and the service continued in prayer. “Amazing Grace! How sweet the sound, that save a wretch like me, I once was lost, but now I’m found; was blind but now I see.” To be part of this experience was incredible and what amazed me even more was how much God’s Love filled the room and the hearts of the congregation. 

copyright 2012 by Kathy Robbins

Can a Lay Person Really Speak?

Here I am leading a session at the Advanced Class

About three years ago, I responded to an announcement at my church about Lay Speaking classes. In the United Methodist Church, lay people can become Certified Lay Speakers. Because I have been speaking and singing in front of groups since I was a child, this sounded interesting to me.


I signed up and paid the little fee, and was excited to attend the first class, which I was sure would be the spiritual equivalent of Speech 101 in college. I loved that class, because we had a wonderful instructor.

Sheri, Ryan and Tami,
Course Instructors

To become certified through the United Methodist Church, two separate courses are required: Basic and Advanced. Sometimes someone will only take one or the other and think that they are certified, but it doesn’t quite work like that. Both classes have to be completed within a three-year time frame to be eligible for certification. Each class lasts approximately two days of eight hour sessions each. The Basic Class doesn’t have to be taken before the Advanced class.

Ellie attended the book table.

This was good for me because I was able to sign up for the Advanced Class first. Our particular topic was Our United Methodist Heritage. We received a book on the topic, which was great to have. Knowing the history of the religion that you profess is always beneficial. It is great to understand what the core beliefs are and why. One of the things that I received from this class is the knowledge of the connectedness of the United Methodist Church. We are somewhat unique in this over some, but not all, other religions. 

One of the benefits of this connectional system is that we have ministries in operation all over the world at all times. When a disaster occurs in a country, we don’t have to send people; usually, we already have people there who live there. And through our UMCOR program, (United Methodist Committee on Relief), because of our apportionments, (money paid to a central fund by every Methodist Church), every penny donated to UMCOR goes directly to the relief effort. None of that money is used for administrative costs. This is a church that is truly being the hands and feet of Jesus worldwide. Lay speaking classes helped me to realize the extent of these programs.


The thing that surprised me about the class is that it had more of a focus on ministry than on speaking. The idea behind the class was to give us the background and information that we needed to be able to lead a class about Methodism within our own churches. I also noticed that we had a lot of small group discussions, which gave us the opportunities to explore topics with others.


That is when I realized that Lay Speaking is more about leading, teaching and ministering. Speaking is one element of this leadership, but ironically, speaking isn’t always the focus.




When I took the basic class, in addition to providing information about the different gifts and ministries of laity, they also did a session about preaching and had us to write and present our own sermons, based utilizing the Wesleyan quadrilateral. That was fun and a little scary, because we didn’t just present our own sermons. We were critiqued on our sermons. But it turned out to not be as scary as I thought because the one critiquing now would be the one preaching later. That always softens the criticism before it starts.


After I finished the second class, which, for me, was the Basic class, I received a certificate, a pin and a wallet card that can be used for a discount card on selected books at Cokesbury. My children immediately lost the pin, but it was nice to have while it lasted. 


Then, I turned in a form to my Pastor for her signature and presentation to the charge conference. (Annual meeting of the administrative board with the District Superintendent to kick the tires, so to speak.) A vote is taken at the charge conference meeting to approve lay speakers. I am guessing that a recent ax murderer wouldn’t be approved. Then the District Superintendent forwards that information to the leader of the District Lay Speaking Committee. And voila, the process is complete.


Since becoming a Lay Speaker, I have had the opportunity to join the District Lay Speaking board and help to teach the newer classes. The Advanced Class topic changes every year based on the selection among approximately eight topics that are available. I have also had the opportunity to speak at different functions at church and preach at other churches. This has been a very rewarding journey.

For those in the Austin, Texas district, the next class will be held at Manchaca United Methodist Church on April 21 and 28, 2012 at 8am both days. Childcare and lunch will be provided. To sign up please contact Tami Anderson at tamianderson2000@yahoo.com.




copyright 2012 by Kathy Robbins

Stress Relief Suggestion #28

Writing your thoughts and feelings down in a journal can help you clarify things and can give you a renewed perspective. Or writing a letter to someone that you say all of the things that you want to, and then throwing the letter away can help to vent steam.

________________________________________________________________________________________

Thankfulness Challenge and Joy Dare


Today, I am thankful for:


65. Humility
66. Passion
67. Processing information with friends.

copyright 2012 by Kathy Robbins

Relationship Mastery: A Business Professional's Guide By: David Fraser, PhD

Have you ever met someone for the first time and realized that you were hitting it off? If so, you may have the same thinking style, according to Dr. David Fraser in Relationship Mastery. For example, you may both be visual thinkers. If you have trouble connecting with someone, it could very well be because you have different thinking styles: you may think visually, and the other person may be more of an auditory thinker, for example. So, how do you bridge that difficult gap with someone who has a different style so that you can communicate effectively? First, be able to identify the thinking style of others, by paying attention to certain cues that will reveal a person's thinking style. Then, you can acclimate your speaking patterns to match the other's style. Fraser identifies four different thinking styles, which include visual, kinesthetic, auditory, and auditory-digital. Then he explains all of this in a simple, easy to understand way.


Thinking styles are just one facet of the twelve steps in Neuro-Linguistic Programming, which is the methodology advocated by Dr. Fraser. Neuro-Linguistic Programming is an intimidating label applied to the skill set that leads to improved relationships in every area of life. This programming relies on learned material from the areas of psychology, Provocative Therapy, semantics and anthropology. Dr. Fraser developed these concepts into a twelve-step system that simplifies the intimidating label.


The twelve steps are in the following areas: Attention to others, attitude, self-control, wavelength, filters, connection, values, language, self-awareness, attention to yourself, balance and love.


Dr. Fraser wrote that approximately 100 days of work in these areas should produce results that are noticeable to others. Although this book can be read in a matter of hours, working on the specific areas will require more time.


He cites the wonderful body of work by Dale Carnegie in his relationship study, but makes the point that the area of human relations has been more highly developed since Carnegie's time.


Boxed sections can be found interspersed throughout each chapter, breaking up the reading material into chewable, smaller bites. These boxed sections cover specific real-life examples, steps to take, summaries and special topics. He also peppers his writing with applicable quotes from Carl Jung, Jim Collins, Albert Einstein, Albert E.N.Gray, Dale Carnegie, Milton Erikson, Richard Koch and many others. 


Dr. Fraser's engaging style breaks down a complex system into easily understood concepts. I highly recommend this book for anyone who could improve in the area of interpersonal relationships.



Note: This book was provided to me free of charge in a Goodread's Book Giveaway, in return for performing the book review. No representation was made by me to give a favorable review of this book.
______________________________________________________________________________________

Thanksgiving Challenge and Joy Dare


Today, I am thankful for: 


62. Selfless service by others
63. Travel mercies for friends.
64. Reading and writing.


copyright 2012 by Kathy Robbins