OCC

*This post was originally written on 11/5/2017. I just found it in my drafts and am publishing it today.* 

What does a person who has been lousy at tithing do with all the money that should have been tithed? 

Spend it all on shoeboxes, of course. 

This year, I packed 6 Operation Christmas Child boxes, one for each category, as well as stocked up on some extra supplies that our school will use at our packing party. I had never done a toddler box OR  a guy box before, so this was a new experience for me. 

WHAT I INCLUDED IN EVERY BOX

• Washcloths
• Soap and soap box
• Toothbrush

GIRL 10-14.

This was the first box that I packed, and it was also the easiest box for me to pack. 

Contents:

• The basics: soap, toothbrush, washcloths
• Pencil pouch with 3 compartments.
• pencils, pens, pencil sharpener, markers, erasers.
• nail clippers, emory board, band-aids.
• compact mirror and blush
• Stuffed animal dog 
• Hairbrush
• Notebook

BOY 10-14.

Danny helped me with this box. I was surprised at how much he cared about what went into it. It turns out he has expensive taste and would veto almost everything I suggested. Regular notebook? No way. The $8 sketchbook must go in! LEGOs? Nope! How about Magrific Tiles! Unfortunately, we didn't end up buying the Magrific Tiles because they were ridiculously expensive and in a fairly large box. We did however pack a soccer ball and pump (he spent a LOT of time picking out the right soccer ball), sunglasses, harmonica (not up to his standards), and a baseball cap. 

The contents:

• The basics
• Soccer ball and pump
• Pencil pouch with pencils and sharpener
• Harmonica
• Dice
• Sunglasses
• Baseball cap
• Sketchpad
  

GIRL 5-9

This was Betsy's box. She packed it at the same time that I was packing the 10-14 box. I had gone to Walmart and bought the supplies for both. As I went through what I bought we separated them into 2 piles (hers, and mine). She took such great care packing this box. 💗💗💗

Contents: 

• The basic toiletries
• Stuffed animal dog (with zipper! She put the washcloths, toothbrush, floss, and kleenex inside).
• Twisty Crayons
• Kleenex
• Pencil pouch with markers, pencils, erasers, and pencil grippies.
• Notebook

BOY 5-9

• The basics
• Pencil pouch with markers, pencils, erasers, and pencil grippies
• Notebook
• PAW Patrol Playing Cards
• Squishy baseball
• Recorder
• Bird stuffed animal
• Cars tote bag

GIRL 2-4

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Ahhh, the toddler boxes turned out super cute. I loved buying stuff for them. The adorable thumper leggings are from Lularoe Emily Jang. She's such an awesome consultant, and when she heard they were for a shoebox, she shipped them to me for free and gave me an awesome deal on them! She is super sweet. 

I also stuck in some hair bows, a stuffed animal, 32 ct. crayons, a coloring book, a waterbottle, plastic utensils, soap, washcloth, and a comb. 

BOY 2-4

• The basics
• Coloring book
• 32 ct. crayons
• Long sleeved athletic shirt
• Bouncy ball
• Squirrel stuffed animal
• Waterbottle and plastic utensils
• 2 large Ticonderoga pencils

Last but not least the boy 2-4 box (feat: horrible wrapping job). 

I would highly recommend doing this project. It is a great way to put others before yourself. I am usually a very frugal person, but I found that while shopping for these boxes I was not as concerned about costs as I was about the quality of items. (I do NOT recommend dollar store toys.) If you have kids, make sure to include them on this! We did these boxes when I was a kid and I have very fond memories of packing them and even going to the volunteer location in Minneapolis to help sort and ship the boxes. 

For more information you can go to:  https://www.samaritanspurse.org/what-we-do/operation-christmas-child/

You Can't Get Normal Sick Anymore

It all started Saturday night.

 I was curled up on the couch watching Psych with Danny when I felt this lump in the back of my throat. I tried coughing it out, clearing my throat, and making some sort of weird gagging noise.

Nothing worked. 

The next morning I woke up with a sore throat.

I HAVE THE 'RONA. (Symptom count: 1)

Frantically, I gargled salt water, brewed some tea, took a shower and hey-the sore throat went away. 

Only to be replaced with nasal congestion.

IT'S THE RONA. (Symptom count: 2)

At this point I began freaking out and thinking about how now I have to do virtual school, I've probably already infected some of my kids, parents could sue me, parents will be mad we have to go digital and could switch schools...

And then I remembered- this happens to me every. year. 

Every fall I get sick with a head cold at the beginning of the year. The weather is changing, I'm around a bunch of new germs, I'm busier than usual. Any other year I would think nothing of it. I'd power through and go to work. 

But this year? Well, you can't get normal sick anymore. 

According to the MDH, if you have: 

1 more common symptom= you and everyone else in your family needs to quarantine for 10 days unless provided an alternate diagnosis by a medical doctor.
*More common: fever, cough, shortness of breath, loss of taste/smell.

2 less common symptoms= you and everyone else in your family needs to quarantine for 10 days unless provided an alternate diagnosis by a medical doctor.
*Less common: nasal congestion, sore throat, nausea, diarrhea, chills, headache, fatigue

1 less common symptom= evaluate whether or not you are well enough to go to school.

After talking with my principal, since I figured the sore throat was mild and just right away in the morning, we decided that I was really only presenting ONE symptom and I was free to teach. 

I totally get these guidelines. We are trying to keep everyone safe and healthy. But if I- the teacher- don't want to follow them, you can FOR SURE guarantee that parents will not be keeping their kids home for two weeks just because they have a cough or are stuffed up and tired. 

Covid is very real. All four of my uncles and aunts on my mom's side have had it. 2 with mild symptoms, 1 with none, and one was even hospitalized. However, I think some of us have lost sight of the fact that-

It's not the only disease on the planet. 

You can still get a cold. You can still get the flu. You can still have allergies, strep throat, and pneumonia. 

Not everything is Covid. 

It is GREAT to be cautious, keep sick kids home from school, stay socially distanced, and wear masks. But for the love of all that is good--if someone COUGHS that's normal. If someone sneezes, that's NORMAL. 

PEOPLE CAN COUGH AND SNEEZE WITHOUT HAVING THE CORONA VIRUS. 
(side note: actually they probably do have a corona virus since the common cold is a type of corona virus). 

All I ask is if someone coughs can we not look at them like they are a leper? That would be great. 

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.

A Day on the Town

First week of teaching is in the books!

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day, and after a morning of lesson planning and getting ready for week 2, the lovely Adrian stopped by and we went out on the town for a time of relaxation, eating and window shopping.

Unfortunately, it was also Mankato's Pridefest, so we probably got mistaken for lesbians no less than 5 times. Especially when we were perusing wedding dresses in the consignment store, because why the heck not. They were prettyyyyyy.

There are so many fabulous stores in Mankato that I didn't even know existed. There's a few antique stores, a bike store, and a new thriftstore all within walking distance of my apartment. Also an ice cream shop, a couple coffee shops and an adorable (and delicious) bakery (this is the classy part of the downtown we're talking about).

(I'm sorry to say, I've got no pictures of our day to share). 

Our first stop: Mom and Pop's Ice Cream! Yum! I tried Fat Elvis and Adrian got some sort of pumpkin flavored ice cream which she *claims* was good. Jk I'm sure it was. :)

We walked around for a while, visiting the antique stores and such. In one store, the owner was singing along to some karaoke tracks. He sang a song about taking care of your woman. Unfortunately I think his song fell on deaf ears, because the whole store was just women and 2 gay guys.

At Thrifty's, I bought These Happy Golden Years to fill out my Little House collection and at the bookstore, we stopped to pet the cat. That's pretty much the only reason we went in. Then Adrian bought something else pumpkin flavored.

Last, we stopped into New Bohemia for their happy hour ($3 loaded potato bites!). I tried my first beer that I didn't hate. Harvest...something (pumpkin flavored :P), and I also had a darn good "roasted duck and cilantro" brat.

Whew. Such a great way to relax and celebrate my first week of teaching. God is good!

Tithing...to Charity?

Traditionally, we are supposed to give our first 10% back to the Lord. My question is, does that have to specifically go into the church?

Let me know if this is a crazy idea, because currently I'm thinking it's a pretty good one.

As of now, I don't have a church body that I am regularly attending here in Mankato but I do have a full-time job.

Meaning, there's a substantialish sum of money (as in, more than I've ever given before, because I'm making more than I've ever made before) that I want to give to the Lord. But, I don't have a home church. I could just give to my church back in Plymouth, but I don't really want to do that. I want to do something different.

Traditionally, we are supposed to give our first 10% back to the Lord. My question is, does that have to specifically go into the church? I've been thinking about supporting Christian charities.

Since Christ died and fulfilled the law, Old Testament laws are no longer required of us. Meaning, the "give to the Lord the first 10%" isn't as much a requirement as it is a guideline. We can give 10%, or 15%, or 5%  (or anything in between). The Lord loves a cheerful giver and so when we give, it should be cheerful and not because we're "forced" to do so.

Thinking about the amount that I am going to give, I would be much more cheerful giving to a charity that I really support or giving directly to the hurting and impoverished people. I really want to give, and to help them out, yet when it comes to giving to the church, it's more like something I feel I have to do.

If we're not under this law any more, is it okay to give to a charitable organization instead of a church? How about a missionary? I would say, yes!

Here's a list of some charities that I researched yesterday that I am thinking about sending my first 10-ish percent. (I picked a number that's a little over, but I mostly picked it because it ends in a nice "00").

Feed My Starving Children
Chicken! Veggies! Soy! Rice! FMSC is the classic youth-group field trip. I love this place and I love what they do here. They pack food for Starving Children in Africa (and other places). It's staffed pretty much completely via volunteers and 90% of donations go straight to the food. At 25 cents per meal, my donation could buy an awful lot of meals at a charity that I love.

Baptist World Missions
This organization supports Baptist missionaries.

Christian Relief Fund
I liked this charity as soon as I saw their mission:

I love that it's specifically based around Luke 2:52.

CRF also has the option to sponsor a child for $35/month. I've always wanted to sponsor a child! $35 is well under my alloted amount, so I would be able to write to the child and share the Gospel, while financially supporting this child.  I would also have some extra money available to support CRF or to support a different charity. Or I could support this child and then use my whole "tithe" somewhere else.

Once I really started researching child sponsorship I found 2 other Christian organizations that also involve sponsoring children: World Vision and Compassion International. While they were both very nice, I didn't feel like they emphasized the Gospel as much as CRF does.

Christian Community Action

"In the name of Jesus Christ, Christian Community Action ministers to the poor by providing comprehensive services that bring hope and change lives" 

 It looks like right now the focus of this charity is school supplies, but overall this charity looks very Salvation-Army like. They have a re-sale store and a food pantry.

Compassion International
This also has the opportunity to sponsor children. On their website it shows what each sponsored child will receive. I love that faith is so important to this organization!

As I type, I think it more and more likely that I will be sponsoring a child! In fact, I've actually spent the last hour or so researching the differences between the different sponsorship organizations and trying to pick which one I want to go through. I've also been looking at all the pictures of the children!!

That's all!
If I kept researching, I'm sure I could find COUNTLESS charities that I could donate to, but if I did, I'd have to pick one and I'm not great at making decisions in a timely manner. I deliberate for a looooooooooooooooooooooooooooooong time. I am my father's daughter, what can I say? ;)

Which one should I pick? Which one would YOU pick?

ROAD TRIP!!

This past weekend, 14 people from my church headed down to Kentucky for the weekend. As in, we left Friday morning and got back Sunday night. It was kind of a whirlwind trip. Here are the highlights: 

ARK ENCOUNTER: 



Wow! The ark was huge and I was pretty impressed. Mostly with Noah and not as much with the crew of construction workers that put this one together. I mean, he built (by himself, by hand) what it took a modern construction crew a year to do! Plus it's not like Minnesota where there's snow half the year. It took them a year in Kentucky, with only a little tiny bit of snow here and there. I know this because I watched a time lapse ;)



Here's a perspective picture. The thing is HUGE! I definitely had a lot of fun going inside and touring the ark. I enjoyed seeing how they might have stored all of the animals, and also how their living quarters might have looked. 

CREATION MUSEUM: 

Raptors are my LIFE.

The Creation Musuem (45 minutes from the Ark) was more informative than impressive, and I thoroughly enjoyed going through it and reading up on fossil records, seeing the bug and dino rooms,  and walking through the 7 C's of History.

There was one part of the creation museum that oddly made me super emotional. You know the feeling where your heart feels heavy and your chest constricts? I got that as I walked through the "corruption" C of History. The Fall into Sin. It showed some sins of today and it made me internalize how sinful we all are and how we desperately needed a Savior. Our world is so corrupt. More than that, our hearts, MY heart is corrupt. The heart felt SO heavy as I walked through here, and as I exited this section into a gloriously lit chamber with pictures of God's creation and glorious pictures of the sky, my emotions changed into happiness and thankfulness for God!! He is good :)

CHURCH: 

In lieu of my church stacking operation which would have been a little hard to complete, being that I was in a different state, I enjoyed great fellowship with my road trip companions and attended a Baptist church in Illinois.

I liked it! And I've decided to rate this one as well for several reasons. First, I think it's important to line it up with other churches to get a picture of what I'm looking for and not looking for. Second, I did have a couple of requests and people wondering what I thought about the church.

The sermon at this church was really good. The pastor focused on the Bible the whole way through and it was about loving God. The music was more praise-and-worshippy, than I'm used to, but weirdly so. Usually praise songs are pretty easy to get the melody and even harmonize, but these had some weird melodies and I could just not get the hang of it, so I kept making errors. Mostly they had good words though, although a few were a little weak. I really liked one of them that I had never heard before. I wish I remembered what it was called so I could look it up and post a link to the lyrics here.

At any rate, here's what I'd give this church, using my 3 scores.
Doctrine: 10
Music: 6
At home-ness 7.5

THE FELLOWSHIP: 

So I wasn't 100% a fan of spending all that time in the van, but uncomfortable seats, late nights (ahem, rolling into the hotel at 3am) and boring roads aside, I had fun. We had fun. The girls and I in my van laughed and laughed and laughed. I am coming out of this experience knowing them so much more than I did when we started the trip. 20+ hours of sitting next to someone will do that to you.

Photo Credit: Analisa (The one with the longest arms) ;)

Would I do this trip again? Absolutely.
No questions asked. :)

Church Stacking: Week One

Week One: Here we Go!

If you're confused about what I'm writing about or why I'm doing this, check out my original "church stacking" post HERE! ---> "Church Stacking Background & Explanation"

I'm going to rate each church service on three things. Doctrine, music and at home-ness (how comfortable I felt in that service). This MIGHT offend some people. Im going to try to be as objective as I can about what I saw so please don't take offense if you personally love one of these churches. All had great things about them! :)

Hosanna (Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod)

Saturday evening service

I'd heard a lot of great things from people who go to Hosanna and I knew that it is a fairly large church with two buildings. Honestly, I wasn't quite sure what to expect! (I went to the main one, not the MSU campus one). If you're one of my friends that goes there, please don't be offended. It honestly just wasn't for me.

I had a really strange emotional reaction upon just walking into the sanctuary (worship center, as they call it). I pretty much cried all the way through the service and I'm not really sure why. The service started with a video about the youth mission trip and I just thought it was so cool. Then the worship songs were moving. They dimmed the lights, tears were streaming down my face, and it was just like me...and God...and

WAIT. I'm sorry. But that "worship song" didn't really say anything. All I was singing was "beautiful one I love, beautiful one I adore." Like, am I singing to my boyfriend? Ha. Cat? Excellent lesson plan?? I'm confused. Then when I started doing upper harmony, the guy a few chairs down from me gave me a dirty look. So much for just me and God.

One thing I did really appreciate about this church was the sacraments. I thought they did a great job presenting the Lord's Supper in the typical Lutheran viewpoint. There was also a baptism (infant, mind you). It was clear they believed this was more than just a dedication. They welcomed the young girl into the faith and it was really sweet. And...I cried.

I don't even believe that and I cried, so I really don't know what was going on that day.

Overall impressions:

Doctrine: 6

Music: 3.

At home-ness: 5

Mt. Olive- Evangelical Lutheran Synod

8:30 Sunday Morning

This church is ELS, meaning that it was one of the churches that originally I was very opposed to back when I started attending Bethany. Now I'm not sure why that was...

The hymns were fantastic.  I felt comfortable singing them loud and proud, knowing that they lined up with my beliefs, meaning I didn't have to analyze every verse for what it would have me sing. There was more content in just one verse of the hymn than in all of the worship songs from Hosanna...combined. Plus, everyone was singing, and I could sing whatever harmony I wanted without getting a dirty look. Win-win!

The sermon, which was challenging and definitely gospel centered, focused around Matthew 21. It was a fantastic sermon about how Jesus ate with the tax collectors and the harlots. It is with repentant hearts that we enter the kingdom of God, not with hearts that boast about how perfect we are.

I think if I spent more time here, I'd probably feel more at home. I'm giving that section a slightly lower rating than the doctrine/music ratings because the liturgy was unfamiliar to me. 

Overall Impressions: 

Doctrine; 10

Music: 10

At home-ness: 8

Grace Baptist

10:30 Sunday Morning

I have never heard hellfire and brimstone preached like it was here. 

I have never heard a sermon based so much on a person's own works. 

I have never wanted to get up and leave a church as much as I wanted to do with this one. 

I brought 3 of my Mount Olive attending friends to this church with me. I trust and value their opinions and wanted them to experience this church at the same time. I have never been so embarrassed to be a Baptist. 

This church was a polar opposite of  Mount Olive. Mount Olive preached hope and repentant hearts. The full gospel was apparent in the hymns. The point was clearly made that it was no work of ours that saves us, but solely Christ's death and resurrection.

Grace Baptist preached condemnation and the necessity of living a good life. He focused on the eternal consequences of sin, specifically adultery, with little focus on the hope that is in Christ. At one point he yelled at us all from the pulpit with hellfire-and-brimstone preaching. Yet, through all of this, the pastor hardly touched the Bible and mostly just told stories of his own life and how he did a great job in his marriage and managing money. I was so embarrassed, and kept telling my friends, "not all Baptists are like this! I promise!" 

I'm so glad I went to Mount Olive this morning as well as I was able to clearly see the stark differences in the two churches. One was ridden with shame and guilt, while the other convicted my heart with a message of hope and peace.

*EDIT 8/09* There WAS a guest speaker at this church. I have heard from several church attendees that this sermon was not the norm for them and they were irritated by it as well. I think I'll add it to next weekend, and go to the evening service. 

Overall Impressions: 

Doctrine: 2

Music: 4 (the hymns were really weak, doctrine wise. They didn't really say anything). 

At home-ness: 4 (only because the service type was familiar to me. I certainly didn't feel at home when told to NEVER COMMIT ADULTERY AND NEVER GO IN DEBT)

Our Savior's (LC-MS)

Sunday Night 6pm

Oops! Turns out that Our Savior's 6pm service is actually on Saturday's! Looks like I'll be going to this church next week on Saturday. :)
Next week's line up:

If you think of it, please pray for me as I try to find a regular church here in Mankato! :) 

Church Stacking: Background & Explanation

Church Stacking? What....is church stacking? 

I'm back in Mankato, and I'm searching for a home church. To find it, I have to "church shop". But that's a term most conservative Christians don't like for some reason.....so we'll go with church stacking instead. And by stacking, I mean fitting in as MANY churches as I can into one weekend. Like, 3 or 4.

Wait a second, Madelaine. You were in Mankato for four years, and you still don't have a "home church?? What've you been doing???

Well, uh. You're right. That is sad. Let me explain.

My first 2 years at Bethany, I was staunchly Baptist. I went to a spattering of Lutheran churches, because I could walk to them, but I was pretty opposed to becoming a member of, or regularly attending a Lutheran church at that time. Especially one that was *gasp* ELS. A synod that for some reason, I felt was just a little too Lutheran for me.

However, I was in luck because I had a good friend who was also Baptist/non-denominational AND she had a car! What luck! We tried out a couple different churches- a few Lutheran ones, a non-denominational one, and 2 Baptist ones. We settled for a church that was perhaps less than perfect in our minds, but hey! It was Baptist! So, we attended, and it became "our church".

Looking back, I'm pretty sad that we went to that church all of those Sundays. Doctrinally, it was alright, but there were a quite few errors that our Lutheran friends were quick to point out the Sunday that we brought them to church. They played a little game of "spot the heresy!" much to our chagrin. We had to concede, that yes, the pastor or the hymn really had said that, and yes, that wasn't really doctrinal.

Enter junior year at Bethany and my friend was hired to be the choir director at a Presbyterian church. Being that she was my ride to church, I went with her. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise because they actually gave me a scholarship for singing in the choir, and the next year, they even hired me as the children's choir director. We went to this church for the better part of 2 years, and this one was even less doctrinal than the Baptist one, but the people were nice and occasionally the sermon would be good. Then sometimes there would be this:

I don't even remember the analogy he was making...

Anyhow, now that I have graduated, some things are different: 

1. I have a car
2. I'm not tied down to any particular church! (except for 1 Sunday/month at my school's church)
3. The church I settle into by no means has to be Baptist, but it to be a place that preaches the Gospel and is true to the Word of God. Sound doctrine is #1 on my priority list. 

I created a list of churches and service times so that I can start my "Church Stacking" Endeavor. When I told my friends what I was doing, they earnestly asked me, "what do you hope to gain from this, and what are you looking for in a church?" 

This question made me seriously think. My first impulse was to say, "to find a church that feels like home!" But I quickly realized that what I really needed was correct doctrine. Of course, also the music is important (contemporary vs. traditional. I prefer traditional hymns) and I do need to feel at home, but I think to an extent, feeling at home will come when I attend a church that preaches and teaches the Word of God without distortion. And one that preaches the entire Word--not just law, and not just Gospel, but both, in a balance.

This weekend, I attended 3 different churches. I'm going to write about them in a different post, because this one's already pretty long. My feelings about these churches may surprise you! They certainly surprised me :)