$1,000 Challenge laid down by our 8 year old

A few nights ago my wife and I were watching a movie late at night when my 8 year old son, Luke came downstairs. My first reaction was a stern "get in bed!" Then Luke, proceeded to tell us that as he was lying in bed that he felt God tell him to raise $1000 for Project Rescue & Africa's Hope. Immediately my demeanor changed (had that eye contact/smile thing going on with Jenelle) and we discussed how to raise $1,000. He suggested to sell some of his books, toys, clothes, holding a garage sale, etc... He then thought about shooting a video to put on youtube and facebook which would be "cool"- yeah, he is 8 years old. (the video is coming this weekend) I suggested he get a matching gift, so dollars could be matched. He's working with us and some others on making this happen. We asked him (knowing the answer) what the money would be used for. This is what he said in his own words, "Project Rescue helps get people out of human trafficking and slavery, over in India and all over the world. There are bad people who take kids and do bad things to them. I want to help the kids be safe and rescue them. Africa's Hope is helping pastors get Bibles and books to tell people about Jesus. They don't have any supplies because they are poor, so I'm gonna help them." WOW!!!! So, my 8 year old son, just laid down awesomeness. Kind of hard to get mad about being up late at night when he comes up with that. All this comes as he is watching his pastor, John Miller, challenge the church kids to give to missions. We're on board to contribute and help him earn this $1,000. Being the little business minded-mission minded kid that he is, we told him the importance of working for it and then getting people to catch his vision. We told him if God gave him the vision and idea, then we will be of help and teach him the ways to go about raising and earning this money to help others. These websites give you more info on these phenomenal ministries he is trying to help:
www.projectrescue.com
www.africashope.org

Here is how you can get involved and help Luke's vision come to fruition:

Make Checks Payable to: ECC or (Evergreen Christian Community)
memo line: Project Rescue & Africa's Hope
send to:
Attn: Phil Wilson
1000 Black Lake Blvd
Olympia, WA 98502
*this is a gift to a non-profit and will be recorded as that for your tax purposes.
Any monies that come in will be turned by me, so I can help Luke track outside gifts. Luke is currently working on securing and trying to raise a matching gift(s) totaling $500.

All I know is when this gets to a point where he is unleashed in his endeavors to help people, it will be great to watch from our perspective. Thanks kid for challenging us to do more and to think big. Somehow I think this challenge is bigger than just me, but for a lot of people reading and hearing his vision.

Re-Alignment: My Life Appreciates You

As I cruise down the highway in my car, every once in a while I notice there is a need for my car to be re-aligned. Really this is about adjusting the proper orientation to line up in the right relationship that my car needs to run smoothly. IT means technically that if in alignment it will last longer. What I also realize as I race through life is sometimes I need to pull to the side and I need to RE-ALIGN my self. That is I need to adjust into proper relationship or orientation so I can be most effective. I have signs that tell me I am in need of realignment. They include laziness, exhaustion, sarcasm, quick to anger, tiredness, and pure lack of energy. These are like the gas light in my car that goes on its time to refuel. These act as signals to pull over, realign myself by choosing some form of activity like quite time, exercise, reading, solitude, a run by myself, a date with my wife, or special hangout time with my kids. I need a realignment every so often. It is good for the soul and state of mind. Sure I have things that keep me aligned, but every once in awhile there is a need to take care of myself. I have certain parameters that I put in my life to help me keep balanced, and every once in awhile something can derail me from that balance. Some of the tools I use to keep me balanced are a weekly schedule, a 6 x 6 project list, a Life Plan, a calendar system, and relationship with peoples. Just like a car which can pull to one side at even low rates of speed, I can find myself getting off track. This leads to wanting to lash out at everyone and everything that gets in my way. But more often than not, I am my best gauge for deciding when realignment is necessary. Recently I decided realignment was necessary-and let me tell you, afterwards I felt like a new man. So, what about you? What areas of your life do you need to think about realigning? Re-alignment in my life helps me appreciate life, loved ones, and time much more. So my advice to you is get realigned-it is a life lesson I have learned that is necessary for me to be at the top of my game as a husband, dad, friend, pastor, son, bro, leader, and coach.