Three Things

We recently returned from spending a week in the Dells to help launch the summer training program for Navs.  We won’t be living there all summer again but wanted to help the staff there get settled in and ready to go.  At first I wasn’t sure if 3 boys added into the mix would add more or take away from what we wanted to accomplish, but in the end we were all glad that we went as a family. 

Our boys had a great time playing with the other Nav kiddos and I enjoyed showing the staff moms around town.  We stopped at all the important places: parks, swimming pool, library and of course the Starbucks drive thru.  Hubby spent his time introducing the director of the STP to some of the local pastors and employers they will be working with this summer and helping train the team leaders.

For those of you who read this blog last summer you will remember that we lived in a little house in the woods during our stay in the Dells.  I learned that living in an older home in the woods = mice.  Between us  and the family living below us I think we caught a whole forest full of them in the 2 months we shared residence.  It wasn’t the nicest place in the world to live but certainly not the worst either.  So when we pulled up to the house where the staff are living this summer I had to take a deep breath and swallow hard.  It is a BEAUTIFUL two story townhouse on the lake…not a rodent in site. 

Let me say first off that I am grateful that they get to live in a beautiful home all summer!  And I recognize they will have their own set of burdens and responsibilities to trust Jesus with.  Yet I admit I had to force myself a little bit to praise God for their blessing and not grumble in comparison. 

God asked me one morning while we enjoyed sharing in their accommodations, “Do I love you any less, Sherry, for giving you that house in the woods and them this townhouse on the lake?”  I had to answer, “No, of course not!”  And then He asked me to give Him Three things.  (“Three things” is a little game we play with the boys whenever we hear one of them complaining that the other got something they didn’t – they have to stop right then and there and give us three things they do have that they are thankful for.)

 God is funny sometimes…using my own parenting techniques on me is pretty humbling.  It wasn’t hard to rattle off more than three because He has blessed and continues to bless us so abundantly.  It is only when I stop to compare myself with others that I lose some of the joy of all He has given me, starting with His Love and salvation.  One of these days I’ll learn not to compare…until then I guess I’ll be coming up with my own list of “three things” on a daily basis!

Would you do me a sweet favor?  Would you take a moment right now to pray for the 7 staff and 3 kids who are “manning” the Dells STP this summer?  And would you also pray for the nearly 40 students who are participating?  And lastly for many of the international workers that our student friends are laboring and living beside in hopes of sharing about Jesus’ love with them?  Thanks!