and my hilariously beautiful life...
Showing posts with label ministry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ministry. Show all posts

Friday, December 10, 2010

I am not a bimbo. I am not a bimbo. I am not...

"Well, nothing was the same when you were away..." - Captain Von Trapp (Sound of Music)


     Perhaps I've never been the pinnacle of organization, but really, am I as utterly dippy as my actions as of late could lead me to believe?
     Leaving the keys in the outside door overnight?  Ok, I can retrace my steps on that one pretty well.  Arms loaded with groceries and a toddler, I approach the front door, drop a couple of bags near the entrance, take keys out of my mouth, unlock door, herd children into the living room, unzip their coats and go back to car for the rest of the bags...  enter door again to discover two-year-old is missing.  Frantically search upstairs, basement and storage ottoman (his favorite hideout) only to realize he escaped out the side door into the dark and vast snow covered yard.  Barefoot target located and held hostage, I head back into house and close and lock both exits... Grandma knocks on front door next morn, holding my keys, going on about how me being in my twenties makes her feel better about her forgetfulness at seventy something...
        Alright, so that one is somewhat understandable.  But, leaving the keys in the ignition, WITH THE CAR RUNNING AND UNLOCKED as I merrily drool my way through the aisles at  Hobby Lobby, in FLINT for TWO HOURS!? Ashamedly, I was alone with no toddler to blame... That one made me question my sanity (not to mention stand in awe of God's miraculous protection).  Searching for answers as to how such a thing could happen, I pondered  the sleepless night spent battling the possessed smoke detector (Note  - Buy the cheapo alarm.  You do NOT want the talking CO/smoke test-once-a-week-at-random-it's-better-because-it's-ridiculously-expensive detector - It's pure evil.), and the stress that comes with moving into a new house, homeschooling, running a business, and single-handedly preparing for Christmas.  But, let's face it, I've fried bigger fish before, with a respectively clear head even...
     What makes this time different? It's the grace factor.  I don't know how to explain it.  Previously, every time my husband and I have had to separate in order for the Gospel to be announced in the uttermost parts, there has been this strange sort of peace and easiness about his absence.  Sure we all missed him, but there was an excitement of "roughing it" by ourselves.  I call that peace, "the grace factor"
         Well folks, the exhilaration is gone, and I want my husband back.  Is the sacrifice worth it?  Without a glimmer of a doubt, YES.  I'd do this for five years if I knew people were getting to hear about Jesus because of it.  But, what I really feel, is that, God is moving us in a new and wonderful direction, to a place where we can travel together, as a family, making an even greater impact on the world. There's a stirring in my heart, distracting me at all times, causing me to... leave keys in the ignition, and place dirty socks in the refrigerator and the milk on the washing machine, and all the unmentioned absent minded things that I'll discover later.  It's there.  It's constant.  It's unmistakable, unshakable.  He wants us to go as a family. No financial burden will stand in the way, no excuses.  It's big, to have your family travel like that for the purpose of evangelism.  I only know one other living human who has done it (besides us, on occasion).  I say, "What the hey!" Pioneers make the way easier for others to follow in their footsteps, and I'm not only willing, I'm happy to do it. Future generation of evangelists, You're welcome!  Christina and Michael Lusk love you!

Dream big,

Christina Not Nearly As Arrogant As I Probably Sound Lusk

P.S.  This is the one other human I was referring to.  Thank you Dr. T.L. for your inspiration. We love you dearly.


Friday, May 21, 2010

3 Essential Reasons Why Christina Lusk and You Can Succeed

I have asked a good friend and fellow blogger, Mark Hancock, to sub for me tonight. Lemme tell you guys, you're in for a real treat. (He talks about me, in a good way, even. :)


When Christina asked me to be a guest blogger on her blog I immediately said, “yes!” because I can tell when something (someone) is going to go places.

In thinking about how I arrived at this sense, three things came to mind.  And these three things can be duplicated in your life.

Here they are:

1)  She did something.  
We seem to spend a lot of time talking about what we should do or what we would like to do. Christina has done it.   In the midst of mothering two beautiful children and one anointed husband as well as growing an international ministry she started her blog.  And she incorporates her mothering and ministry into her blog posts in such a way that we get a picture of her ordinariness and her extraordinariness at once.
Here’s the application for you:  God is calling you, in the midst your mothering or fathering or working – your life – to DO something.
This won’t make you any more saved or loved in His eyes, because Grace is the key, but it will make you more effective as a steward of His mysteries (1 Cor. 4:1), an ambassador (2 Cor. 5:20), and a minister of reconciliation (2 Cor. 5:18-19).  
Give God something to back.  DO something.  Write the book.  Sing the song.  Knock on your neighbor’s door.  Go on a missions trip.  Write a check to the Lusk World Outreach.  Pray for a lost or sick person.  Start a blog.  Enroll in a class.  Buy plane tickets.  Pray and DO something.  
You’ll get to where God is leading you.  It’s much easier to steer a moving ship.

2)  She draws on her strengths.
Christina has a great sense of humor and it comes through in every post.  Rather than hide this, she uses it to both disarm and open the heart of the reader for the truth that always comes at the end.
Our tendency is to focus on our weaknesses, thinking that we’ve got to reach some level of perfection before we launch out and deliver something to someone else.
Build on your strengths.  Find the one (or two or three) thing(s) that you do well and move in that area.
A woman in our church loves to shop.  So she turned that into her ministry.  God has gifted her in finding great bargains on really nice clothing.  So she buys clothes and then prays about who to give them to, seeing God move in miraculous answers to THEIR prayers.  This is her strength and she engages it for the Kingdom.
What are your strengths?  Engage them.

3)  She shakes up the status quo.
C‘mon now, who uses blog titles like, “Have You Ever Eaten a Booger?” or “NEWS: Smoking Weed Pays the Bills”?
Not Christians, right?  Wrong!  Christina does.
She understands that irreverence, for her, is as much a door-opener as anything.
People who are looking for realistic real-life role-models will be drawn to what she has to say.  Enough of the plastic TV evangelists.  
At the same time, the world doesn’t need more Christina Lusks; it needs more YOUS!
If you aspire to be just like someone else, one of you becomes unnecessary.  Be you.
Irreverence is Christina’s key.  It may not be yours, but being real is.

Watch her rise to the top of the blogosphere as she operates in these, and get ready to find your niche.  Open yourself up to God showing you your extraordinary ordinariness.


This is me (Christina) now.  Check out more stuff by Dr. Mark Hancok on his blog, http://leavethegate.com