Frauenrüsttag

 Late in the spring, a friend from church (and now a member of our church planting team) came to me with an idea. She had noticed that many of the young women in the church mostly had relationships with other young women and that the older women also weren't very connected to the younger ones. She wanted to give women of all ages a chance to connect and develop intergenerational friendships, perhaps even leading to mentoring relationships where the older women could teach the younger women from their life and spiritual experience. So she and I began working to plan a daylong conference in the fall for the women of the church.

We chose the theme "encouraged and strengthened" - encouraging one another and being strengthened by God. We filled the day with game time, food and connection time, worship time and several talks. We intentionally invited women from the church to speak, instead of inviting anyone from outside, so that the more experienced women in the church could share from their own wisdom with the rest of us. We also offered a card making time in the afternoon, where the women could make their own card and then write an encouraging message to someone. We had three "vendors" there with tables for the women to visit - one women who owns her own sewing business, one who makes bible verse cards, and representatives from an organization that offers post-abortion counseling for women and men.

What I enjoyed most was watching the women connect for the first time. During the "speed dating" game we played at the beginning, I enjoyed watching the women smile and laugh as they discussed the questions on the screen, shared about themselves and made new connections. I also really enjoyed working with my friend for all those months and seeing this day come to fruition. I hope a new tradition has begun and we will turn this into an annual event for women, perhaps even bringing together women from several area churches to connect, share and encourage.

Card making time

Beautifully sewn items handmade by a woman in our church

Sitting on Someone's Wheel

A few days ago, I went for a bike ride on the road.  The weather was perfect,  the sun was out, it wasn't too hot...everything was wonderful.  I did a familiar 17-mile loop, and it felt a lot like home.  In the winter, I miss the freedom, speed and head-clearing that riding outside provides.

As I rounded a turn towards my favorite section of the ride, the road that goes right along the Cantigny golf course, I rode in behind another cyclist.  He was older than me, and clearly in better shape than I was.  He went at it hard, but I was able to keep up with him.  I am not sure if I followed proper road etiquette, but I fell into his draft as we crossed beautiful prairie and rolling hills (which are hard to come by around here).  Over those 3 miles, he tapped out a strong tempo.  I had to push hard to stay with him.  At the end of the road, he went one way and I went another.

Drafting is a specific skill in cycling that is all about efficiency.  One rider has to ride as close as they can to the other rider's back tire.  The rear rider can save as much as 30% of their energy by riding in a draft.  The front rider is able to set a pace that is faster than either could sustain by themselves.

As I thought about those short 3 miles, I saw this as a great illustration of mentorship.  When we do life in community with people that are further along down to road, we are able to glean wisdom and live in their "draft."  They speak into our lives and can help us to ride at a spiritual pace that is above how we could live our life on our own.

So here is the question: Who do you have that is helping you grow? Who are you drafting in your life? 

If you don't have those sorts of relationships around you, here is your chance.

Grab a chapter of scripture, a person you are close to (or someone you would like to be close to) and a cup of coffee and spend 30 minutes reading, asking questions and challenging each other to be more like Christ.