Partnering With You

Ah, Good Intentions!

Crusade Staff Conference 2005

Cathy writes:

When we sent out postcards from Colorado, I was planning on writing on this blog right away. But life happens! When we got back to Indiana, we went up to Chicago for the weekend to lead a partnering church in worship and packed up Chris, our youngest, and moved him into Anderson University on Monday.



More pics will follow shortly!

Since then, we’ve had a few medical issues to deal with, so I am just now sitting down to write about our CCC Staff Conference experience two weeks later.

Many of you know I am seeking the Lord’s will for what is next for me since we will have an “empty nest” this fall. I have been writing brief thoughts down as they occur to me this year, keeping them paper-clipped together, but I haven’t allowed myself to dwell on it yet. There were too many other important life events that I wanted to take in completely. Dividing my attention with what’s next for me would have been difficult to do… and I wouldn’t have been able to enjoy Chris’ last school year, his graduation, or the Keynote Summer Project with a split focus.

But as soon as a bunch of us from Keynote were loaded into the caravan heading to Staff Conference (held at CSU (Colorado State University in Fort Collins), and referred to as CSU after this!), I let my mind begin to think in this new direction. I read a couple of books (Stories of Emergence, by Mike Yaconelli, and Becoming a Woman of Influence, by Carol Kent) and began a special journal, separate from my daily one, containing thoughts about what might be next. There were many little thoughts from the amazing speakers at CSU that may be direction for me (or may not!), but the overwhelming impression I received there was to be a follower of Jesus. Following Him with everything I have. Joe Stowell put it an interesting way: If we want to truly follow Jesus, we must care about what Jesus cares about, and Jesus cares about people. That means a true follower of Jesus loves people. Sounds like a no-brainer, but I’ve never heard it put just that way before. He also said that the test at the end of the day as to whether Jesus knows I love Him is if I have loved the people around me. In other words, how do we prove we love Him? We do as he has asked and care for his sheep.

There are other things I want to share, but that’s enough for today. Check back in a couple of days and there will be more.


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posted by Tomás @ 1:39 PM