When Church and Camp Combine

This past Friday SpringHill had the opportunity to help out Grace Community Church near Indianapolis by running our Euro Bungee at Fan Jam. This event had over 200 fourth and fifth grade students attend.  The children got to hear a presentation of the gospel, worship with Keith Conner, eat some pizza and participate in some crazy indoor fun.  We got to be a part of the “crazy indoor fun” part by providing our Euro Bungee.  It is not too often we bring this activity indoors and it’s not too easy either.  With the help of some creative minds and strong volunteers we made it happen.

This was such a fun event!  Once the kids were “released” to do the activities we instantly became the most popular with a very long line.  It was such a blessing to interact with all of these kids.  I even got to speak with some campers who expressed how pumped they are to be coming back this summer.  To be a part of an event focused on reaching out to the local community was a real encouragement.  Thank you Grace for all your hard work to pull this off.  Thank you Volunteers and SpringHill staff for helping make an outdoor activity, inside, a possibility.

Fan Jam is a real life example of a local church body investing in spiritual lives of children within their community.  Fan Jam is also another example of what is possible when ministries with a common purpose work together and share resources to achieve their common mission.  I pray that more and more Christ centered ministries would begin to realize the strength we have when we work together to spread the gospel of Christ.

The [2nd] Greatest Gift We Can Give Our Families

The image above shows the product of weeks of fun, work and occasional frustration.  This was my daughter’s first birthday present.  I took an old piece of furniture, found on the side of the road, added some good old-fashioned time, paint and imagination and came out with something she will (hopefully) enjoy for a long time.  So imagine for a second the anticipation I was feeling as this was being given to her.  I was thinking of all the time I put into design, rebuilding, painting, making the oven have a light that turns on when the door opens and another that glows red to cook.  I thought of the late nights, splinters and freezing temperatures I endured to produce this piece of art.  So, I was excited to experience her reaction when this was presented.  Now, you can imagine the crushing defeat when she was more interested in the IKEA felt cucumber than the blood, sweat and tears kitchen.

I soon learned my lesson.  Later that night as I sat near the outcast kitchen along came my daughter who pulled herself up to her sink and began playing, not by herself but with ME.  She could care less about the time I spent on the kitchen (someday I’ll make sure she does) what she cared about was time spent with her.

How often do we replace time spent with our kids with time spent for our kids? It seems like such a small difference but in reality it IS the difference. How often do we convince ourselves that working the extra hour will benefit them?  I say this is the 2nd greatest gift we can give our children because the first is a Spiritual Legacy, however I consider them linked.  You cannot create a spiritual legacy without spending time.

What have you done today to create a Spiritual Legacy?

What have you done today to spend time with your kids instead of spending time for them?

By the way, here is my little cook now.