Happy Birthday, Melanie Potts

Happy Birthday to youuuuu,

Happy Birthday to youuuuu,

Happy Birthday dearest Melanieeeeee,

Haaaappy Biiiiiirthday tooo Youuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!

VISIT WITH IZZY

Today a group of us (Vicki, Jessica, Samantha, Susie and Peggy) had lunch with Izzy, Johnny, Lisa, Michael, Chris, Lori and Christian at Roundtable. We had a great time just chatting and catching up with Izzy and her family.

Izzy is doing very well after her triple bi-pass surgery. As you can see from the pictures above she looks great. Izzy and Jessica sat and swapped surgery stories and Jessica showed Izzy her album of pictures from when she had surgery. Izzy was a bit over come with emotion when she first walked in and saw all of us there. She has been truly touched by the love she has felt from everyone who sent cards, called and came to visit her in the hospital and at home. She asked me to thank all of you who have poured out your love for her during this trial.

Izzy is up and walking more every day and is beginning to venture out a bit. She LOVES company and encourages anyone who wants to come visit to give her a call. She is still a bit sore, so if you see her PLEASE do not give her a big hug! A kiss will do. Her doctors are pleased with her progress so far and she is on her way to a full recovery.

We loved our visit with Izzy, she is an extra special lady! Please continue to call and visit Izzy, she says that she loves every second of it! Keep this family lifted up in prayer, they have been through a lot in a very short period of time with Izzy’s surgery, the passing of Johnny’s mom and the decisions they are faced with Izzy’s mother.

Elvis at the Clontz

Friday Night

7:30 pm (note the later start time)

Movement 4...John 4

See you there!

FLOOD SACRAMENTO

My sister, Valerie, lives in San Diego and attends an amazing church called "Flood". It is a church that does many of the things that Brian and Candace WANTED to do at FBC, but was unable to move it to that level. This church seems to have amazing worship that incorporates the arts (dance, painting and many others). Valerie has absolutely RAVED about this church and she has grown so much spiritually since she has been there. It really seems to be a church that is built on community and vertical worship.

She had told me a long time ago that there is now a Flood church in Sacramento. So, I went to the website this morning and I think this is a church we should go visit. As I explored the website I was excited about what I saw. The link is www.floodsacramento.com and I encourage you to read the vision and mission statements AND read about the staff. These men sound like they have many of the same visions and ideas we have. The Flood service is Sunday nights from 6-7:30pm and they are located probably 45 minutes away. If this sounds interesting and we want to take a group up there, I will be happy to plan our excersion by providing maps and planning a carpool to go up. So, check out the site and let me know what you think!

Also, Valerie said this Sunday's message at Flood San Diego was amazing and she thought about us and everything we have been through while she was listening. She is encouraging us to download the sermon and listen to it as a group. I will keep checking the site for the October 22nd message and if we can download it we will. The San Diego website is www.diveintoflood.com.

Elvis at the Thornbrugh's

Friday night...7pm...Movement 3 and John 3

See you there!

changing times

we are now going monday night at 6:30pm. meet at cheyenne. sorry. chantoll is not available at that time on sunday

Pireced!

Chantoll and I (Melanie) are getting our noses pirced for our birthdays This Sunday. we are going to urban Body in Davis. If you want to come meet us at the Cheyenne House around 4pm!

Worship Conference

A friend at work told me today about a Worship Conference being held by The Fathers House, this Thursday and Friday. The evenings concerts are free. I apologize for not having more details...I cannot access The Fathers House website right now. I will post more detail tomorrow morning. I do know that Reuben Morgan, from Hillsong Australia is leading worship on Thursday night. http://www.reubenmorgan.com/newindex.asp

I will post more detail tomorrow morning.

UPDATE... You can look up each of the people listed below on google

Thursday @ 7:00pm = A Night of Worship with Reuben Morgan
Friday @ 7:00pm = Worship with Jared Ming; Word with LaMar Boschman

ATTENTION: Friday is now Saturday

Huh?

Yes...this week we have officially changed Friday to Saturday...actually we've just moved our regular Friday night gathering to Saturday night so that more people can attend.

We will still be talking about ways to starting getting "out" (see "Let's Get Moving" post from October 1)...and we'll still be meeting at our home (The Crocketts) at 6:00 p.m. We'll also be discussing ways to get together weekly going forward so that the most people possible can attend.

Last week we thought it would be fun to make it a "bring your best dish" potluck. Translation: bring the one (or 2 is fine :-) appetizer, soup, salad dish, dessert, etc. for which are best known...or you think you make the best. For example, Rich will be making chicken adobo...his specialty! If I wasn't married to him, I'd order Wah Shine...MY specialty :-) We're not concerned about having the perfect balance of foods, rather the BEST foods! Call me or post here if you have any questions about that.

See you then!!

Enough is Enough

Today, I was surfing back over some old blogs looking for a link to a friend's blog, when I came across the following comment from someone to the post on grieving on the CRASH blog. I realize that by posting this today, that I may be opening a can of worms that many would like left closed, but if you all know me at all, you know that open communication is one of the things that I am most about. For that reason I am choosing to publish on both the Cheyenne and CRASH blogs for the widest dissemination. Following is the comment and my response.

Stephannie wrote:

I am so sad to hear of all the grieving. You are all feeling such a loss of what you have left behind. There was also a great deal of grieving done by those left behind to pick up the pieces as well. The only difference is that our grief was not self inflicted. When we grieve over the loss of a loved one, we don't have a choice......the loss was something we had no control over. It happend and there was nothing we could do about it. That is why the grief is so strong. We missed a chance to say good bye, we didn't get to say I love you before they left.........it is not grief when the loss is caused by your own doing......it is self pity. I am never one to be cruel or hurtful, and I am genuine in my words..........I would not have shared such strong feelings if they were not overwhelming me. Those who have chosen to inflict this "grief" are drawing attention to themselves and taking it away from God. These are people of whom I had a great love and respect. People from whose faith in God I could grow. But in their selfishness have they taken that away from me without so much as a goodbye......it broke my heart. This departure is not in the name of the Lord, but in the name of a man. I feel as though I have been taken advantage by FRIENDS I looked up to and hoped to be like. My faith in God has not changed, but my faith in people certainly has.

Stephannie, I must respond. When I figured out which Stephannie you were, I must say I was taken aback, but I must put your comments down to ignorance of the truth. Our leaving was not self inflicted. It was very much Pastor inflicted, and if you are hearing anything else, I beg you to question more deeply. (And may I say right here, that I love Pastor as deeply as I ever have, and my intention is not to malign, but to speak from a perspective that has not been heard) We were all offered a VERY clear choice, and we chose the only thing we could choose with integrity. Yes, we could have stayed and beat our heads against the wall until our foreheads were bloody and the church was completely fragmented. But that is NOT how Jesus would have us exhibit our love for Him. I have made every effort to stay visible and available to those still at FBC, so that all of you will know that I love EACH AND EVERY one of you and miss you. Those of us who have stepped away from FBC have made every effort to behave with integrity in terms of why we left, and it has been extremely difficult to NOT defend our decision when we hear things like, "I am praying for your salvation," or, "Well, they are just mad at God" or, "Things weren't going their way, so they left" or even more unbelievably, "So, when are you moving to Hawaii?" All of these comments have only served to show us how very much people will assume what they want without trying to get to the truth, and all of these comments couldn't be further from the truth. The assumption is that a bunch of us got together and unanimously decided to leave the church. This too, could not be further from the truth. Each of us, through meeting with the pastor and praying as husband and wife, came to our decisions so independently that we actually avoided contact with each other, so as not to influence or be influenced. So, I beg of you, look deeper than the surface, ask hard questions, and pray for the Holy Spirit to guide you. You said, Stephannie, "These are people of whom I had a great love and respect. People from whose faith in God I could grow." We are EXACTLY the same people and our faith is not diminished. It grows stronger and deeper with each passing moment. If any of you reading this disagree in any way with what I have written today, PLEASE call me. I am just so very weary with God's people behaving like children mad at each other. Or worse yet, as though there has been a divorce, and now, even though we said we loved both sides of the family for all those years, we no longer speak to each other. Enough is enough. If you have questions, or you are hurt, at least find out if what you are questioning or hurting about is based on truth. PLEASE call me. And if you know someone who needs to read this and is not a blogger, please feel free to copy it and pass it on. I truly love you all...

Susie
707-446-9720
707-688-8238
susan.helton@sbcglobal.net

And please, if you agree with any of this, pray about your words in the comment section. Better yet, simply leave your name and phone number. My intention here is not to generate comments, or to start a back and forth debate, but to truly have spoken dialogue. However, if you disagree and are uncomfortable with calling, please feel free to comment in any way, and I will call you!

Corn Maze?

My apologies for posting as Vicki, but I have not added myself as a contributor to the Cheyenne blog, and will not be able to do so until I get home. I do have my own blog now at http://vacasteve.blogspot.com/, so I don't have to mooch of of Vicki's blog anymore...except for this one time. :-)

I'm planning on taking the family out to a corn maze/pumpkin patch on Sunday. We'll bring a picnic lunch or dinner and spend a few hours getting lost and getting pumpkins. Let me know if you would like to join...we could make it a tailgate party.

Let's Get Moving...

The time has come.

A few months ago I posted this:

"Wind moves. Wind is defined by movement. If it stops moving it's gone. If you can't feel it, it's not there. It can't be controlled or contained. Wind can't be boxed. We've never seen the wind, only its effect on what it touches. The wind is now-always current, always fresh.

Jesus says that the Spirit of God is like the wind. We don't know where He's coming from or where He's going. What we know is that He's always moving, and that we should follow."

The wind is moving and it is time to follow. We have created a new box, become stagnate, and as God will...in His perfect time...He has spoken a fresh wind into this movement to go and explore the dreams He has for us.

"What if we...", "Why don't we...", "I've always that we should...", "I think it would be cool if..."

Visions have been stirring in each of us...big and small...in some cases for years and it is time to hear God's voice say "GO..." and put feet to those dreams. You're in charge...make it happen...and know that you're not alone.

This is an open invitation to those in our blog community to join us at our (The Crockett) home on Friday, October 13 at 6:30 p.m. to discuss different ways we can put feet to the dreams and visions God has put in us...and maybe dream up some more :-) (This includes you "shy" folks from around town that don't usually join in, but hear your heart beating in this same rythm as you read this).

If you have had an idea for ways to reach or interact with the community take the next two weeks to research what it would take to make it happen. For example, if you have always thought it would be great to take a group to an assisted living facility, call a few of them. Do they have certain times we can come? Do they have limitations to what we can do? Can our kids serve too? Do they have a specific need that we can fill? Get enough details to pass along to the group so that it is fairly clear what the vision and commitment would be.

We will create a totally safe atmosphere to share your dreams. Bring whatever you have. And as a group, if you come that night, you are agreeing to keep it positive and safe as people share.

"What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us." - AW Tozer

You don't HAVE to have an idea. And not everyone will plug in to every idea. That's ok. God will work out those details. It's about moving. The Spirit will pick the direction.

If you have any questions...feel free to post them here, or email/call someone and ask.

"love God...love your neighbor...on these everything depends." Mt 22:37-40