“Fire bullets, then fire cannonballs. First, you fire bullets to figure out what’ll work. Then once you have empirical confidence based on the bullets, you concentrate your resources and fire a cannonball. After the cannonball hits, you keep 20 Mile Marching to make the most of your big success.” Jim Collins, Great By Choice.

I’ve been a fan of Jim Collins ever since he wrote “Good to Great” and I heard him speak at Catalyst in 2008. Although his material is considered “business”, I have found his research to be incredibly relative to church work. So much so, it’s one of the books I require when I mentor someone hired from the pew into professional ministry.

Collins’ book, “Great By Choice,” came out at last year’s Catalyst and I was intrigued by his comment, “Fire bullets before cannonballs.” So I put it to the test when the church I serve decided to offer mid-week ministry fall of 2011.

I am responsible for the children’s part, so we began to “fire bullets.” Bullet qualifications: low cost, low risk, low distraction. 

Low cost: By talking to folks who are faithful to being at church every time the door opened (or better, yet…had keys) we discovered there are many hobbies and skills they were involved with. A fellow KidMin Director was doing this on a much grander scale at her larger church and offered multiple skills at the same time.  I thank her for her creative genius.  We made a list of hobbies/skills that could be taught to little people who would use it for someone else (ministry/mission).  We then recruited folks to take on one month from November through April to teach their skill. I would arrange the opportunity to use it in ministry/mission. We taught Sign Language, Cake Decorating, Liturgical Dance, Beginning Spanish, Kids & Money, and Watercolor Painting. The instructors we recruited were already in our church, most already had supplies, and we offered a beginning and ending date by serving for a month of Wednesdays.

Low risk:  We offered the classes at different times from month to month (5-6pm, 5:15-6:15pm, 6:30-7:30pm, 7-8pm) at the discretion of the instructor.  This gave us insight to when the greatest number of kids would regularly come.  It would also give us a chance to build up a group of “regulars.”  By offering a different class each month at a different time, we were able to keep the kid’s interest for the skill being taught.  Faithful attendance would be an indicator that the kids really liked what was being taught and the timing either worked for families or it didn’t.  It also allowed us to affirm our intention that skills and hobbies can be used to honor the Lord.  We consistently offered good teaching and good “product.”

Low Distraction:  By working around the schedule of the new Wednesday night dinners and youth group, which was already in place, all the focus wasn’t on the programming offered to the children.  The Wednesday night dinners gave us an inter-generational meeting place to come and go, before and after the meals, which made for great relationship building.

Taking a whole season to fire bullets worked.  By the time we began planning to “fire the cannonball”  fall of 2012, we had fired enough bullets since last fall to give us an idea of what would be successful, when it would be successful, and the expectation that all we learn and do should be used for the glory of God.  So we came up with a name, decorated the space, and began talking it up.   Then we fired the cannonball in September 2012.

We are now focused on tweeking the programming to include more of what the kids enjoy, but we have fired enough bullets to know the best time, the best space, the most faithful, and new DNA of learning skills for ministry/mission has been woven into what we do.  We also recruited the music director to take on a 15 minute block of time and our kids are preparing to serve the Lord in various creative capacities in the contemporary worship service.

Are you firing bullets?  I’d love to hear about it.

I have a pair of running shoes, but you won’t find me running in them.

We have a family membership at the local BodyPlex, but it seems every time that I decide to AGAIN get in a regular work out, I notice there have been upgrades and renovations that I missed.  Now we have to scan our membership key ring card to unlock the door as they no longer have a front desk attendant.  Which means that I have to be sure I have the right set of keys when I go.  One more thing I have to remember.

The voice in my head tells me that I need to make this choice if I intend on living a long, long time.  Now that Mr. Yummy has arrived I’m thinking of hanging around a really, really long time.

Self-control is the voice of personal discipline.  How is it that there are some areas in our lives when self-control is intense and actually increases.  And then there are others that a mere change in the wind, would have me toss my hands up in the air and ignore what needs to be done.

Gaining self-control has much more to do with going with what I know rather than with what I feel.  I never feel like getting dressed to work out, then having to take another shower, and again fixing my hair.  If I could ready myself within 30 minutes, I’d be more motivated to cut out a chunk of the day to go through the “getting ready” process again.  Or, if I just had someone to do this with, it’d be so much easier.

Self-control means we draw healthy boundaries for our behavior and choices.

It’s not like I eat bonbons in front of the TV, but carving out some time to take a walk…or stretch…or move to some of the 1980s exercise videos I still have in my basement, is something.  But mediocrity in any part of a life is, well, mediocre.  And what kind of testimony is that?

I’m grateful the Holy Spirit is our personal trainer, offering counsel and enabling us in the areas of our weakness.  Some days I need it more than others.

I’m headed to the health club this morning.  Not because I want to, but because it’s part of “walking properly.”  I will be the one lip-sincing to some Mandisa and Jamie Grace.

Romans 13:13-14 Let us walk properly, as in the day, not in revelry and drunkenness, not in lewdness and lust, not in strife and envy. But put on the LORD Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to fulfill its lusts.

There is no better way to add the snuggle factor to a blustery, cold, fall, windy day, than to go for the slippers.

Just seeing them in the closet, I begin to relax.

Slippers aren’t restrictive and their expectations are minimal.

Slippers are generally devoid of shoestrings, buckles, heavy heels, and metal.

They have a gentle design.

I have friends like that.  They have a gentle design. And by their mere presence, I feel warm, comfortable, free of expectation, and nurtured.

My friend Sheila is like that…….she is generous and gentle.  She offers a hand, an encouraging word, clicks a photo, celebrates the good fortune of others, and prays for needs. She decorated for Baby Girl’s wedding and she’s taken our first Team Reilly Family photos.  She was the gentle one who was the first to pull me out of my house in fellowship after my Daddy passed away.  In her presence, I am in the company of a nurturing soul with a delightful voice.

These gentle friends enter our lives like a welcome breeze and leave without slamming the door.

I pray you have a gentle friend.  I pray there are times when YOU are the gentle friend.

Ephesians 4:1-3I, therefore, the prisoner of the LORD, beseech you to have a walk worthy of the calling with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

I have had the worst time with my back lately.  I don’t know if I picked up something I shouldn’t have or if I slept on it wrong…for a month.   This has been a huge distraction as I’m in the midst of workshop and training season which means long car rides and standing for extended periods of time.

It has really affected my choice of shoes.

Hoping folks look at my face and not my shoes as I speak, I’ve long discarded the thought of wearing high-heeled shoes that make my legs look longer and would make Stacey and Clinton proud. Regardless, I know that the LORD is aware and He will bring me comfort from my aches and my pains.

He who is high and lifted up is faithful….to each of His own.  He has sent me friends who have offered suggestions, helped me carry all my stuff to and from my car, and even lent me a TENS unit.  I’ve already replaced the 9volt battery in the TENS unit and gone through 2 packs of IcyHot Medicated patches.

In the midst of our struggles, we feel as if the pain will be eternal, but in truth most situations are fleeting.

When I Googled “lower back pain” it tells me to keep moving and it should pass within a couple of months.  And take Advil along with all the other things I have already been doing.  Now that the season is slowing down, I should be able to address the pain and distraction more diligently, more faithfully. 

He is faithful to lift me out of my misery.

Again and again the LORD lifts my sagging spirit with lanterns of truth and sets me on solid ground.

Psalm 40:2 He also brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my steps.

Shoes in bible times were never worn indoors.  So putting on sandals, a piece of leather tied onto the foot, was a sign of readiness for activity.  Acts of kindness…planned and random.

There have some beautiful sandals of kindness seen this summer…

1.  When homegrown tomatoes were dropped off at the church for anyone who wants them

2.  When a fellow KidMin servant brings the gift of drama and her own students to our church to share with our kids how bible stories were meant to come to life

3.  When a Mom who could be sitting by her neighborhood pool chooses instead to spend 3 weeks (yep, 3 weeks!) to share summer camp fun with our kids and the kids of other churches even AT the other churches

4.  When two Dads rush from work every day for 4 days just so they could carpool a small group of energetic and eager tweeners to a Marketplace VBS

5.  When a friend who likes to take pictures comes to our VBS after working all day to take closeups of active kids so we can cover our walls with professional photos of faith in action

6.  When a college student has a faith so great she rearranges her schedule so she can spend a week helping at a  VBS where she only knows me.  Now she knows all our kids and most of our youth!

7.  When a pastor takes a moment out of a busy day to be the voice of God and say, “Noah, Noah, build an ark” in a Bible Drama

8.  When a small group of women cut 300 kites with tails, for VBS decorations to be shared

9.  When a another pastor comes to remind us that we serve a creative God who has placed the gift of creativity within us all with glue, paint, crayons, and stuff

10.  When a ministry mentor comes to teach little people that even face painting can open the door to sharing the gospel and brings an entourage to play

11.  When a precious friend meets me at the car to carry my junk and offers to cover me when I am running late

The sandals of servants, just being kind.

Seen your share of sandals of kindness this summer?

Colossians 3:12 Put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, long-suffering.

Patsy Clairmont wrote, “A flip-flop is a slipper with the top down, and what’s more fun than a convertible on a summer’s day.”  Yep, after a season of wearing closed-in shoes, my feet scream “I’m free!” when I bring up the laundry basket of flip flops from their basement winter home.

Floral clothing, loose house dresses, and flip flops reflect a kick-back pace when we can count our blessings and agree with God when He made the world by saying, “It is good.”

Flip flops  encourage the cry from the bottom of our very soul that, “God is good, all the time.” “All the time, God is good.”

Adam Hamilton in “Why?” tells us that God bends bad to fit His will.  I know this to be true for all the blue ink in my bible.  The black words are God’s words to His people.  If it’s red, Jesus said it.  But the blue is His personal history with me.

When He resurrected dead places in my heart by His words of, “He told her, ‘Your sins are forgiven.'”  When He turned a foggy-head into a Claritin morning by His story with the woman at the well.  He made me laugh out loud when I turned from page 1903 to 1904 in my NIV Life Application Bible and read in red, “‘Leave her alone,” Jesus replied (John 12:7).

Good doesn’t emerge out of bad unless God’s redeeming hand is involved.  I have a magnet on my fridge that reads, “Life is hard, but God is good.”  Because He is.  This I know, because we have history.  And it is this personal history that makes me smile at His goodness.

A precious friend gave me a new pair of flip flops to wear when I became a Mimi.  They are black with shimmer straps and big, purple flowers.  That’s what the goodness of God looks like for me today.  A visual reflection of the bigness, shininess, and love of God in a season of goodness.

Psalm 116:12  “How can I repay the LORD for all His goodness to me?”

I LOVE LOVE LOVE what I do and my man is thrilled I can do it and get paid.  I would much prefer spending time in God’s Word and time in DeDe’s Calendar World planning for the next season than even sleep.  And even though we are in the midst of Vacation Bible School and Summer Mini Camps, I can’t wait to begin setting fall plans on the church calendar in ink.

Yet, in the midst of all life’s flurry hurry, I need to put on the brakes and put on some house shoes.  I used to think it was my age, but have learned through experience that it is healthy to follow each season of jet-plane activity with a transition season of shuffling through the house in some house shoes.

Time to rest, time to sabbath, time to be still.

I typically mark these times to be patient on my handy-dandy calendar for August and January.  Time to be patient with myself and others.  Not my in-the-zone, over-caffeinated, can’t sleep right now, frantically searching for that blue post-it-note that had the exact thing I am looking for to finish the details on the next thing.  Time to patiently wait for God’s direction for the next season.

I used to take a DAWG Day every 6  weeks.  A DAWG Day is a Day Alone With God.  A day with no electronics, no tv, no movie, no music, no sound except nature, no housework and time in the Word.    On one DAWG Day, a precious friend took me on a 7-mile hike around Red Top Mountain:  she walked in one direction and I in another holding a scripture scrawled on a scrap piece of paper.  Sometimes I’d take an 8-week bible study and take two DAWG days to go through it.  I have Cynthia Heald’s “Becoming a Woman Who Loves” on the shelf right now calling my name.

For some reason, when I had little ones running through the house, I wore my house shoes of patience more often.  Maybe I took greater advantage of every no-school day, holiday week, and snow day to put on my house shoes and just share life with the ones most important to me.  I knew that time was fleeting and the time would come when the house would be quiet for longer stretches.  Let me confess here and now that in the furry of trying to prove myself to a new congregation I have not been as faithful to taking my DAWG Days over the last year and a half.

So as I purchase that new school year calendar from Staples and put on my house shoes in August, I will intentionally schedule DAWG Days just like I do everything else.  We were made for community, yet we require rest to practice patience with ourselves and with others.  My house shoes of patience are a pair of gray TOMS purchased at last fall’s Catalyst Conference.  Printed in white all over the fabric?  “Carpe Diem”

Psalm 23:2  He leadeth me beside still waters, He restoreth my soul.

Boots are our attempt at expecting the worst, but hoping for the best.

I became a fan of boots during our stint in New England, but I think it was because I could find a pair that fit.  From my father’s side of the family, I inherited some fabulous traits and one not-so-good one:  My calves begin at my heels.  No ankles and thick calves make for a very uncomfortable season when snow is on the ground and ice is likely beneath it, thus requiring a good pair of boots with some serious traction.

Frankly, under that beautiful white stuff, I really didn’t know what was beneath it.  But I trusted a great pair of boots would keep me upright and steady.  I recall one time in particular when I chose not to wear my boots to retrieve something from the car.  The memory/photo in my mind resembles a cartoon character with her feet and dress up over her head as she moves in slow motion up and then down…well, you get the picture.

Trust is an open invitation for peace.  Peace gives us the courage to face life with sanity and dignity.

Over the last couple of years, I have put on my boots of peace expecting the worse, but hoping for the best.  As I watch my Mother-in-Law struggle through multiple knee and hip replacements, when will my parts begin wearing out?  Will #1 Son marry someone who will be nice to me when she has to take me to the multiple doctor appointments and will she want to do lunch, too?  Where will the Lord call #2 Son and Baby Girl to be in ministry after they finish their schooling?  Will Mr. Yummy only know me as Mimi in a box through Skype?  Will my man find contentment in his vocation no matter where it takes us?  Will all those years of Dave-Ramsey-financial-planning sustain us as the economy takes it toll on so many?  I only have a handful of kids pre-registered for an event…is the event a God-thing or a me-thing?

What are the questions that bring you to the Word of God that provides peace? The peace that fit like a good pair of boots giving you the courage and traction to face life with sanity and dignity?

John 14:27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

When #1 Son graduated from high school and embarked on a summer of discovery among a challenging drum and bugle corps, our home got very quiet very quick. As a percussionist, our home was always filled with noise, music, and the sounds of youth. I felt such joy for my children as they began to dance to their own beat. But the empty nest became too quiet for this Mama to bear.

I never cried so much in my life. But wasn’t this a joyous time? It was supposed to be. But somewhere in the midst of my celebrating their remarkable seasons and dancing before the LORD with them, I had forgotten how to dance before the Lord without them.

I had always wanted to learn how to tap dance. I even looked into it that lonely summer. But the thought of my size 11 wides sounding more like a car backfiring caused me to think otherwise.

I wanted so badly to keep dancing for joy, but couldn’t muster the courage to dance on my own. How do you keep dancing when your regular dancing partners have changed studios?

I decided to step out and embrace life with other courageous women doing the very same thing.  And I got a Stephen Minister.  This beautiful woman of faith challenged me to read Psalm 119 three times a day.  And we shared a season of Dolly Parton’s famous words from Steel Magnolias, “Laughter through tears is my favorite emotion.”  I was also part of a small group of women who met at a fellow empty-nester’s home as we shared stories, laughed our heads off, and shared life among the chips and dip.

Women in the midst of crisis and tragedy have taught me that life’s dance of joy can be done in the shadows as well as the sunshine. Dancing with tears is OK, as long as I keep on dancing before the Lord…in gratitude, in hope, in honor, in worship.

Have the strength and interest to press past the loneliness, past the disease, past the crisis, past the tragedy, and past the loss to fellowship with others.  The scriptures record joy and tears in tandem.

When I spent a season painfully transitioning in ministry, I remembered my need to dance before the LORD.  And I remembered the strength I gained from the fellowship of other women.  When I would have rather stayed in bed, I planned something to do with someone who loved me and who I loved every single day.  I gleaned from their dancing until I could dance on my own again.  And I danced through the psalms.

Psalm 30:5b  “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”

When was the last time you had to keep on dancing?

I was invited to speak at the ladies gathering this month at the church where I serve. I am always honored to get a chance to spend time with these saints of the church. Whenever I am in their presence, I pray that some of their holiness rubs off on me just by breathing their air.

I was inspired by Patsy Clairmont’s little book on how the Fruit of the Spirit can be related to the shoes we wear. Being a woman who wears a size 11 wide, I don’t have the closet full of shoes that my more moderate and normal footed friends have. My shoes don’t fit on a traditional shoe tree, and I typically shop not by “That’s shoe’s cute,” but rather “What are my size 11 wide options?”

On 9/15/87 I gave my life to Jesus when Baby Girl was born. I accepted Jesus as my Savior on 3/18/71, but didn’t choose to make Him Lord of my life until the moment I held her in my arms and thought, “Oh My! He gave this up for me.”

On Good Friday, I became a Mimi and my Baby Girl became a mother. During one of those first late nights, she would tell me, “He (Mr. Yummy) filled a hole I didn’t even know was there. He changed my body and changed my heart.”

We have embarked on a SEASON OF NEW LOVE: a new child, a new honey, Jesus newly presented, a new neighbor, a new friend-in-the-Lord, a new job, a new ministry, a new experience of Jesus’ presence, a new bible verse that seems written especially for you, a new season of VBS, a new summer of wonder.

Babies born in the South do not wear shoes unless it’s winter.  Bare baby feet are out and open.  Bare baby feet remind me of new love. When we get to plan for “do overs” and “restarts” and “new beginnings.”

When was the last time you experienced “new love?”