Protecting volunteers

Protecting them from themselves, that is. A day will come when I post about protecting volunteers from safety and liability standpoints, but that's not today's post.

A few weeks ago, I had one of my precious one-on-one buddies call me about the week after Easter. Her husband and children were going to be heading to her in-laws' home for the weekend, and she was planning to stay home.

Why? Because she didn't want to trouble me with finding a sub and because she wanted to ensure stability for the child she works with. She was planning to split her family up for a long weekend - a weekend in which they would all be celebrating Easter together, albeit a week late - so she could serve.

When I assured her that we could take care of it and that I wanted her to spend the weekend with her family, she said that she would check back with me to make sure I found someone before she left town. Then, when I emailed her to let her know that one of our high school students would take her place that Sunday, she replied with the offer to drive separately from her husband and kids so that she could easily get back if the sub fell through. I told her that I would really like her to drive with the rest of her family.

In another recent incident, we had a volunteer who needed to step down for personal reasons, and she was brokenhearted about leaving when she approached me about it. Without getting into the specifics, I'll say that I didn't simply respect her reasons; I had been praying that God would help her grow in a certain area, and I rejoiced in her choice to leave special needs ministry because I think Christ is doing some awesome things with her where she is now.

These scenarios have provided me with two major takeaways:

1. I am amazed by how serious our volunteers are about loving Christ and serving His bride, the church. They teach me more about commitment, resolve, and humility than I could ever impart to them.
2. If I am more committed to making sure I have volunteers in place than I am to making sure those volunteers are growing in their faith, then I am not leading. It is my responsibility to do more than coordinate logistics and manage resources. To lead, I need to love because Christ first loved us.

Is it easy to find a sub every time one is needed? No. Is it easy to recruit a new weekly volunteer to replace the one who left? No.

That week we needed three subs - because another helper was out as well - and my husband had to coordinate it all without me because I had to stay home with a fever-stricken little girl. Was that week easy? No.

Leading isn't always easy. Loving others isn't always easy.

Actually, it can be exactly the opposite. Leading is doing what's hard when it needs to be done. If I'm serious about showing love to others, I'll do it in hard times too. (Which, by the way, would be impossible if it were up to me. Praise God that I don't have to be sufficient because He is more than enough!)

In Matthew 5:46, we read Jesus asking, "For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?" Likewise, if you're only willing to serve Him when it's easy, can we really consider ourselves servants? There are plenty of people willing to step to the plate when it's easy.

If I claimed to care about the families in our ministry but I failed to protect the families of the volunteers in our ministry, I would be a hypocrite. To truly protect volunteers, I have to care about more than just the role they fill. 

I need to care about the person filling the role.

Materialism run amuck

Nope, this isn't a post about our culture. Or America's insatiable appetite for stuff. Or any of that.

It's about me. And my heart.

I love stuff. I love that I can get free books from publishers to write reviews. I love that I'm part of Amazon's reviewer program, which has provided me with hundreds of dollars worth of products for the cost of nothing but my written review. I love that other vendors who have been willing to partner with me simply because I am willing to share my opinions.

I love the new winter coat I just bought on sale, in part because it's cute and in part because my old winter coat was a couple sizes too big and let in icy air. I love homeschool supplies, and - even though I'm only certain that we're homeschooling through preschool - I could have happily purchased every item in the local homeschool supply store here. I love owning DVDs, even though I rarely watch any of them other than my Gilmore Girls series. I love shoes, and I can get pouty when the joints in the lower half of my body limit me to nothing but Crocs.

I love stuff.

Which is exactly why I knew that the book Unstuff by Hayley & Michael DiMarco would be a good one for me to read.

And while I certainly don't intend to sell everything we own to tour homeless shelters from a tiny RV for three months like the DiMarcos did, my life could use some unstuffing. One of the first statements that grabbed me was this: "the truth is that it put our concern for stuff over our concern for people." While my house doesn't resemble this statement right now, it is not uncommon for my desire to have an orderly house to motivate me to ignore my kids. It's not really neglect, but it's not an attitude that esteems my love for them over my love for stuff.

On Facebook (ironically) I posted a link to http://www.thelogoff.org/ It's cute. And witty. And a wee bit convicting. Because the truth is that I love my online stuff too. Sometimes I love reading anonymous people's thoughts on blogs more than I like interacting with people outside of the interwebs. Because you know what? Online, I can close the window if it gets too messy. In real life, I have to deal with it in a more mature way than that. In a more Jesus-like way.

Another good tidbit: "If you're feeling overworked, there's a good chance it's a sign of stuffing." I work hard to manage emails and blogs and tweets and laundry and dishes and food and sewing supplies and toys and... Really? Is stuff what I worship? No, but does how I spend my time and my energy show that? *gulp* sometimes.

The book does talk about debt and all that, but it doesn't shine as much there as it does when it's addressing other symptoms of overstuffing. Like this: "The sin of overwork is seen in things like worry, fear, anger, bitterness, lack of time for God, lack of time for family, and lack of time for rest." (If you do want a good read about money stuffing, Money & Marriage by Matt Bell is a great one that I reviewed here.)

My one criticism of this book is that it hits so much that it doesn't dive deep in many places. I don't think that's a bad thing, though, because it's still powerful and convicting. Every Christian book doesn't have to read like a seminary text to point us to God and His Word.

And thanks to Tyndale for providing this book for my review. They didn't ask for a positive review, just an honest one. And thanks, also, to them for giving me another structural member for my bookshelves, because they are so overloaded at this point that I stack books in them in such a way that the books themselves support the weight of the other books because the shelves are beyond their limits. It's handy that my husband is a structural engineer, huh?

random thoughts

1. I'm a wee bit jealous that our church has begun handing out The Jesus Storybook Bible at baby dedications. Why? Because the ones they gave Jocelyn and Robbie were meh. Not so exciting. Or accurate. Or awe-inspiring. So I'm 90% excited that these families are being given a really fantastic Bible storybook, and 10% envious that they weren't doing that when our babes were dedicated.

Because, of course, we all know that the most important thing about baby dedication is which Bible you get to bring home.

2. Laundry is drowning me.

That is all.

3. The Advance the Church 2011 conference was ah-mazing. Will Johnson has posted a lot of the notes he took over here. I'm not ready to intelligently post anything yet, but it will be coming.

4. We ordered pizza for Mother's Day. Best dinner ever, in my opinion. Menu planning will commence again tomorrow after dinner with my dad tonight, but I'm a low-class broad who loves pizza even though it and my affinity for sugar are to blame for my rheumatoid arthritis. Well, that and my lack of faith and the ineptitude of my prayer life. {insert snark here}

5. Domino's won me over for life when they added garlic salt to their crust.

Well, for life or until another chain gets the hint.

6. I love my dog. He is goofy and protective and not incredibly intelligent. And he's perfect.

7. I don't know why this item is italicized, but I'm too lazy right now to undo it. I'm thankful, though, that while my hips, knees, and feet are being affected by my present RA flare, my hands and wrists are not. So typing and writing and reading and all that aren't affected. 

8. There isn't much I love more than a hot, nearly scalding bath. With bubbles. Even though the angle of my bathtub faucet makes it hard for it to hit the water as forcefully as necessary to create said bubbles.

9. (Geez, the italics again?!? What on earth.) I love, love, love my friend Jenelle's new haircut. Love it.

Identifying & emphasizing the essentials

(This post was originally featured on the Treasuring Christ curriculum blog, and you'll need to click through to read the whole thing.)

As those entrusted with the role of teacher, we need to know that essence of what we’re teaching. In other words, how would you answer this question:

If children and students at our church only grasp one thing today, what should it be?

(I don’t mean for that to be hypothetical. Please take a moment to think about your ministry as a whole. How would you answer that for your next Bible study or Sunday school class? How would you answer that if I were to ask what one thing you hope that children and students grasp before they reach adulthood? Take a moment, and think about that if you don’t have an answer already.)

Answering those questions can add clarity to your teaching for every child and student, but it becomes even more crucial for those with special needs. If a child has intellectual, emotional, or behavioral difficulties, then odds are good that you don’t really have the full class time to teach a plethora of points. You might just have five minutes.

Let me give you an example from a couple weeks ago: I was working one-on-one in one of our preschool classes with a little boy – who I’ll call Jack – who loves balls and blocks and who also happens to have Down syndrome... (continued here)


To read the rest, go here to the Treasuring Christ curriculum blog. 

And, while you're there, check out the rest of the site too! You'll see a familiar face - mine! - among the contributors, but Steve Wright and Kim Davidson are the ones who really poured their time, effort, and love for Christ into this. And, while Steve and Kim are absolute rockstars in my book, God is the One who deserves the credit for this amazing resource.

A symptom of a larger problem

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

{Hebrews 12:1-3, ESV}

One thing has struck me recently: The failure of the church to include people with disabilities isn't the problem. It's a symptom of a larger problem.

The problem is not that we don't love people with disabilities.

The problem is that we don't love Jesus. 

If we truly loved Him, then we wouldn't be relying on our own love to welcome people with disabilities and others who we often marginalize. Our hearts would be so fixated on Jesus that His love would overflow from us, spilling over to everyone else we encounter.

We wouldn't need Autism Awareness Month, because we would love people with autism enough to want to be aware of what life is like for them. We would love them enough to do life with them and run the race with them, aware of their realities.

We wouldn't need Mother's Day, because we would show His love to our mothers every day, as well as to the women for whom Mother's Day can be difficult. We would love them enough to know them and to want to serve them.

What is hindering you from loving Jesus fully and letting His love overflow in your life? Whatever it is, it's sin. Even if it's something good, if you let it keep you from loving God, then it has become a hindrance that is entangling you.

Examine your heart, and repent. 

And love Him.