My iPhone Has No Life!

Figuratively & literally, my iPhone has no life after 2:00pm. About this time every day, the battery dies & the phone shuts off. I either have to find a place to plug it in OR just stop communicating with people. Is this the point where Apple hopes I'll hit myself over the head with a, "Duh, Heather, that's why you need the 3G iPhone?" Cause I'm not fallin' for it. Instead, I'll blog my frustration, keep my iPhone and develop the art of patience and shrewdness!

Help Her Habit!!!

I have a HORRIBLE habit. It started when I was eight & being teased at school. I picked my fingers as a stress-releaser. 23 years later, I'm still picking. Raul said I've gnawed my fingers so badly that someday I'm gonna have to move up to my arms! Ewww! I've tried: wearing gloves, praying, applying jalapeno sauce, sitting on them, chewing gum, band-aids, antibiotic cream. Nothing's worked. And today was the final straw. My finger looked SO freakin' nasty, that someone asked if it had been severed & reattached! OMGosh, gross!! Help, please! If you had a bad habit and broke it, please share your wisdom here!

This is the Seat

This is the seat
where I sit
when I talk to God
in the morning.

This is the seat
where I read His book
so I can become
a better me.

This is the seat
where I shut up,
cause God's got my time
and I need His.

See Jane Run

Today, Marc, Espy, Janette & I ran 6.5 miles ON HILLS! I gotta tell ya...running uphill is the analogy of life. When I see the hill, I wanna stop, walk or quit. I mean, gheesh! I'm an adult! Nobody can make me take the hill. It's my choice. But it's also my victory when God and I make it to the top. And whether running or living, I wouldn't trade that for anything.

35 Years, 35 Thanks

Today I can officially mark the "35 and older" box. In no certain order, here are 35 things I'm grateful for today:
1. God choosing to create me
2. God's mercy in not giving me what I deserve.
3. God's grace in giving me what I don't deserve.
4. Freedom from alcohol
5. Raul
6. My parents raising me in a God-home
7. 36 years of marriage for my ma & dad.
8. Every time I've walked away from pneumonia in the hospital.
9. God sparing us from hurricanes.
10. Green trees, blue oceans, bright sunshines.
11. Running water, a roof and electricity
12. Raul and me not divorcing in 1999.
13. Safe pregnancies, safe deliveries, healthy boys.
14. Troy and Stephanie
15. Betty - my Christian psychologist
16. Flamingo Road Church
17. FRC Staff (but Family is more like it!)
18. Jason & Jamie marrying godly women.
19. Our country
20. seeing, tasting, hearing, smelling, touching.
21. 24-hr access to God.
22. Ecclesiastes, Nehemiah and Luke
23. Keri and Liana - friends for over 20 years.
24. Brett and Christy, leading me back to church
25. The marriages I've seen God save at Flamingo.
26. God's gifts to communicate, write & create
27. My family's health
28. The neighbors God allows me to love.
29. Miracles within Lili, Jenn, Clara and Jackie
30. Seeing life change & seeing baptisms.
31. That I'll be able to sing in heaven forever
32. Being in the Gospel Choir last Easter
33. Don and Mary Nash
34. Olivia, Holly and Christy's healthy deliveries & babies
35. The beginning of a new day.

Where Do You Get Your News?

We have many options for getting news and staying informed. I think it's cool that I don't have to get my news from the same place you do. I appreciate the options. Raul gets his news from the Miami Herald, Newsweek & CNN. I get mine from Larry King, Stephen Colbert & Google Reader. Where do YOU get YOUR news from?

Pure

Lately, I've been praying for purity.
The bible says out of the heart the mouth speaks.
If I want my mouth to speak purely, I need to pray for a heart that is.
If my heart is selfish, my words will be.
If my heart is jealous, my words will be.
If my heart is proud, my words will be.
I desperately need a pure heart.

Potty Words

Raising kids means teaching them about potty-words. Last week Andy said one. Immediately I told him he did; immediately he was sorry. I'm encouraged he understood the brevity of it. Now when Raul & I dated, I was addicted to hard-core potty words. Raul told me to stop or he'd stop seeing me. Ouch! So I did & came up with a list of soft-core potty words (screw, crap, sucks, piss). Well recently, Raul said that even when I use "soft-core," it takes away from my effectiveness to communicate. What!? Huh!? Exsqueeze me?! Strangely, my mind & mouth didn't feel bad, but my heart did. So I wanna change. It'll be daunting. For awhile maybe I should pay out quarters as part of my rehabilitation!

Stupid-Post Friday

This is my favorite sitcom. I LOVE to laugh and this show guarantees it every time. Occasionally, parts of The Office can be crass, but that's what TiVo's for! After a long day in the office, sometimes, it's good to just put my feet up and watch The Office. And double my pleasure, double my excitement, cause guess what? This year, the new season kicks off on my bday! Woo Hoo!

The First Serve

Yesterday, for the first time, DJ & Andy served. They helped load water and canned goods into a truck to be sent to Haiti. They came home, busted through the door and said, "Mommy, there are people dying in Haiti and we helped give them something to drink!" I quietly treasured what Jesus might've said: "DJ and Andy, 'truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these...you did for me.' "

The Smart Car?

There was a Smart Car in front of me yesterday. Question...
Is the Smart Car really that smart if it saves on gas but doesn't save your life if you get hit in it?

Collaboration, Communication & Chocolate

Saturday night, our leadHership team got together at The Melting Pot. Combined, we're an editor, an advertiser, a writer, a marketer, a college-evangelizer & a pastor. But we have the same mission--and what we do together is more eternally-impacting than what we could do apart. Today's LeadHership tip? Do life with others.

When I Net Zero

Ever desperately pray & earnestly pursue something? And when the big moment comes, it nets a big, fat ZERO? This just happened to me, and it's hard. So I'm trying to figure out what to do next--if not in action, at least in thought. I think my note-to-self will be that life's a race. Sometimes, I'm gonna be in the lead, keeping a perfect pace, nearing the finish line, feeling great...and out of nowhere, I trip & fall. You know what? Netting a big, fat ZERO doesn't come from falling, it comes from quitting. So I guess I'm gonna get back up & go. If you're with me, you get back up and come too. Ok?

Help, please.

And the King will say, ‘I tell you the truth,

when you did it to one of the least of these,

you were doing it to me'








CLICK HERE TO HELP

The Thief Strikes Twice

So if you read the post below, you know I put a message on my windshield to a thief. The next day, I found this:





The thief came back; two nights in a row, man! He didn't take anything because there was nothing left in our cars to take. But he did rip the sign off & chuck it into our shrubs. I honestly didn't think he'd strike 2 nights in a row, so part of me felt stupid for even attempting to communicate with him. (btw, he also hit my neighbors car & stole everything in it). But I can't help but think that God's up to something in this thief's life.

The Thief Who Came to My House

Last night, someone came onto our property, broke into my car and took my things. It's a violation. It's scary. And it just plain hurt. All day, this dominated my mind and my heart. All day I prayed for this thief (little does he know). I also came up with a sign for my windshield, just in case he's foolish enough to strike twice. It reads:

Dear Thief,
Then on their crosses, as they died, the thief to the right of Jesus asked Him
for forgiveness. And Jesus forgave him. (Luke 23)
P.S. - next time you steal from my car, please steal my bible too

I Don't Like School

Every day, like the predictable rooster that crows, DJ gripes that he doesn't like school. As a matter of fact, I'm so confidant he'll gripe, I'd bet Raul's retirement on it. I don't get it. His teacher said he's doing fantastic, yet he, "doesn't like it, doesn't want to go & wishes school would die." How come he gripes about something SO good for him? I wonder if this sounds all-to-familiar to God? Ya know, God's big enough to walk with us as we gripe. What's sad is when we quit before He gets the chance to.

Friend Day, Flamingo Rd Church, and YOU...my friend

Dear Friend-o-mine,
This weekend, at my uber-cool church, we're having Friend Day. Cheesy? Yep, unashamedly cheesy. If you've been hangin' w/ me at leadHership for some time, but have yet to sniff out my church, this is SO the weekend. If you don't live here, no prob! You can EXPERIENCE our services, live & online, just click here.
Oh, hey, wait...if you're one of my buds who doesn't really do the church thing, will you do this for me? And whether you join me online or in person, if it's still not your thing, walk away, man. No questions asked & our friendship takes no hit. Promise. See ya this weekend.
Grateful,
your friend, Heather

Where It's TOTALLY At...

Today, I found where it's at! Get this: awhile back, the Flamingo Road Church leadership passionately prayed for God to send our students a Pastor. God delivered. So today, I went to check out the buzz. OMGosh!! It was sick, phat, pimp, hot, kewl, dope, groovy AND fly. I roll out my blog-red carpet and send a BIG shout-out to our new Student Pastor, Scott, his wife Holly and their team for doing what it takes to connect w/ students & to get students to connect w/ their community. BIG props, yo! Oh, hey, leave a comment, man & welcome them. They traveled a long way to get here & are deserving of our encouragement & prayers!

God's Blogs, Mary Kay & 1 Month to Live

1. I found a book for bloggers for $4.97 at the bookstore today. It's called, "God's Blog." Here I am excitedly posing with it!

2. I just finished the autobiography of Mary Kay. After reading this, she's def. in my Top 10 LeadHers of all time!!
3. I'm leading a book study on Friday nights for 35+ singles. We're walking through, "One Month to Live." We're havin' a serious party every Fri. night & I'm profoundly humbled to be teaching this group. If you wanna come, email Lili here.

SHOUT!

I love the blind, homeless dude in Luke. Jesus was coming and this guy wanted to SEE! He shouted for Jesus, but the people around him told him to shut up. So he shouted LOUDER. When we're desperate for Jesus to do something - do we whisper one token prayer in our head? Or do we passionately & repeatedly shout for Jesus to do something? Maybe it's hard for Jesus to be eager to heal when we're not even eager to ask.

Aiming

Growing up, my Dad had an index card taped to his desk. In black marker it simply said:

If you aim at nothing,
you can be sure you'll hit it.
Though I didn't always get that, I never forgot it.
I hope all of us are aiming at something.
I hope none of us are aiming at nothing.

Nicknames, anyone?

Over the years, I've acquired many nicknames. As a kid, Dad called me, "Squirt;" Ma called me, "Heath" (she still does). I also acquired some not-so-nice nicknames. In the 80s, when Return of the Jedi ruled, some punk gave me the name, "Chewie" (for Chewbacca) cause I had big hair like it. And I am SURE I don't have to tell you the nicknames that come from having the last name "Funk!" Anywho, these days...other than Heredes & Raul calling me "Saga," I really don't have any. How 'bout you?

John Mayer: WOO HOO!

Last night we went to the John Mayer concert & alot of my Flamingo fam was there. It was awesome. Like I told you in my previous post, I totally heart concerts. And I let the whole world know it last night---using my Dasani water-bottle as a drumstick, I rocked it out like I was 17. A big highlight was when Mayer & band busted out with a remake of "Panama" by Van Halen. It was so cool....unlike the temp last night...which had to been somewhere in the 1000s. But in the words of my fav SNL skit: "good times, man, good times."