For the past month I have been busy getting ready for the start of Take Me Deeper, a free weekly devotion and art challenge being offered for 2015 in out new faith art community
His Kingdom Come (HKC). We begin on January 2 and I had the privilege to write the devotions for January in partnership with Diane Marra. In all honesty, I don't often read devotions. I lean toward more in-depth Bible study and reading and don't normally let other things, like devotions, cut in on that time. But since our theme is "Take Me Deeper" I found that I really enjoyed writing devotions that utilized my love for Bible Study. I hope you'll join us in January and journey with us through the year. We will have a variety of people writing devotions and offering art challenges, plus we will have a year long journey with choosing and using a word called
logos365.
Anyway, all of this prep for the devotions and getting my art journal pages ready has used most of my art time. And since we are launching in January, I can't share with you until then. This has presented a new challenge for me since I blog about my art and my faith and I have had no art to post! But I can tease you with some sneak peaks from my January pages!
I enjoyed writing the devotions so much that I believe you will see more of them here on my blog in the future. On Christmas day we begin a new series at church working our way through the Gospel of John. I am excited about this on a number of levels. First, I love when we go though an entire book of the Bible. God always shows us things we didn't expect when we journey through a book. Second, John is one of my favorite books of the Bible. John uses some words repeatedly that will be interesting to explore - believe, world, sent, life - just to name a few. We have no idea how long we will be in this book.You can expect some devotions and some art from this book during our time in John's gospel. :)
It is Christmas weekend at camp. We brought 10 kids and two teen leaders to camp this weekend. I love the experience they have here for Christmas. The staff at Youth Haven really makes a meaningful and joyful experience for kids who come from families who are struggling in a variety of ways. Tonight they will be served a Christmas dinner as though they are in a fancy restaurant. We have 11 adults from our church traveling up to camp who will serve as waiters for the kids. If the weather cooperates we may go Christmas caroling tonight. Then tomorrow they will see a skit of the Christmas story, celebrate Jesus' birthday and receive presents. A room full of 50 kids and a dozen teens full of excitement is a joy to experience! I am so thankful to be a part of it and to have these kids in my life.
I'm also thankful for good Internet connection this weekend so I can post this! It isn't always the case here at camp. Have a great weekend!