tammymelchien.com

Random Package

I received a random package yesterday. It wasn't expected. Just went to the mailbox after work and saw that sight that can make your heart flutter a bit. The padded yellow envelope. Tucked away within the grocery store flyers and credit card solicitations I found the parcel with my friend Erika's name written as the return address. It had been a somewhat draining day but that little bubble-wrap-lined object instantly brightened my countenance.

I love the random package. It just might be one of the best things in life.

It's been a while since I've sent one. I'm thinking I need to do that soon. Anyone want to join me? We could just pick a day...say next Saturday, July 8th...and all send a random package to someone just because.

...then we could make a movie about our random kindness only making sure the little boy doesn't die in the end.

Go To Stories

Had brunch with a couple of my best friends yesterday. We were laughing as we reminisced about past vacations and experiences. Several of the stories shared were my "go to" stories. You know, those funny or unusual stories that come out during parties or social gatherings. I've told these stories over and over again in different contexts and with different people. Until yesterday I never thought about the concept of "go to" stories, but I think these are three of my best:

1. Getting caught in the middle of a government coup in Haiti.
2. Being stopped by two Secret Service Agents at the White House for having a can of Easy Cheese in my backpack.
3. Watching police divers pull a dead body out of the pond behind my apartment while I was hosting a reunion for Campus House alums.

Interested? You'll have to ask me to tell you one of them the next time I see you. And I want to hear yours. What are your "go to" stories?

Two New Blogs...

I love it when people I want to hear from start blogs! These two new blogs are going straight into my "Favorite Blogs" folder:

Mark Nelson has been a friend and ministry-partner for 12 years. We first met at a campus ministry conference where we were paired as small group leaders for the week. 5 years later I met his wife Monica and she became one of my dearest friends in the world (and the rumor is her blog is coming soon). Mark is one of the most gifted teachers I know and I have no doubt his new blog will be worth the read. Follow the link on his name to check it out!

Janet McMahon was one of the first friends I was drawn to when I moved to the Chicago area. We don't get to spend nearly enough time together so I'm glad I'll be able to read about her life now on her blog. Janet is a mom of 3 and a Small Groups Director at our church. She is a great listener and observer and I'm sure she'll have great insights to share with her readers.

Family

I have never gone this long without seeing my parents. It's been 6 months and there will be a seventh until I make the trek home to Ohio for my mom's birthday. It's strange how much time can go by with only 6 hours separating us. My busy schedule. My parents taking care of my grandmother. Those are the reasons that keep us apart.

I talked to my nephew Andrew on the phone the other day. I asked him what his summer plans were. He said, "I'd like to come to your house." I replied that I didn't think that was going to happen this summer. But then I added, "But I'm coming to your house in July." "Oh, that will do then," was Andrew's reply. How precious to know that your 10-year-old nephew just wants to spend time with you.

This week I participated in a Church Planting Assessment Center. My job as an assessor was to analyze and critique the 15 people who were going through the process. We had to learn tons about their backgrounds and spent hours observing and interviewing them in order to make a recommendation as to whether or not they "had what it takes" to lead a church plant. You can delve pretty deeply into a person's life in a 60-hour period. My heart broke listening to some of their stories. So many people have so much to overcome. Sure there are the willful mistakes they made on their own, but there are also incredible odds stacked up against them simply because of the family they entered at some hospital somewhere decades ago.

So many family stories break my heart. But I am humbled by my own. Everyone deserves to miss their parents. Everyone deserves to be someone's summer plans. Family. It's amazing how this one concept can be the source of so much joy in some circumstances and in others so much pain.

Future

Met with a financial advisor today to set up some retirement stuff. I am determined to be able to eat when I'm 80 so I know I need to get serious about saving. It's so weird at 35 to have to think that far ahead. It can start freaking you out if you are not careful. Ultimately I know the future is about trusting God, but I also know it is my responsibility to make wise choices now to prepare.

I wonder...how long will I work? Most people think about retiring at age 60 or 65. But I have one grandma who is still ticking at 87 and another who died at 96. I can't imagine spending 30 years watching the Price Is Right and making mental lists of all the things I've eaten in a day so that I can recall them to people who stop by or call. If my earliest memories are from about 5 that means I've consciously lived 30 years to this point. An amazing amount of experiences, learnings, and offerings have characterized those 30 years. I hope the 30 between 60 and 90 are filled with as much purpose.

I don't know if my church will still want me on staff when I'm 70. I might have to make a career change at that point. But I want to prepare to be productive for the long haul. I'm realizing now that means not just preparing for my financial future but for my physical, spiritual, mental, and relational future as well.

Right now getting older doesn't freak me out. It just makes me more determined. Determined to make wise choices. Determined to consider more than my present comfort. Determined to live with intention.

Tree Fight

I had a fight with a tree this weekend. And I lost. The confrontation happened at Starved Rock State Park near Utica, Illinois. Our Kids' City staff went there Friday-Saturday for our annual retreat. When I arrived on Friday at 4pm only a few others had trickled in. It was 90-some degrees outside so they opted to stay in the air-conditioned lodge to play a board game. It's against my religion to choose a board game over a scenic nature park so I headed out on a trail alone.

It wasn't a long trail. It led to a beautiful canyon. But it was hot so I was thankful I'd brought along a water bottle. My head was tilted back as I gulped down some refreshment when suddenly my body came to screeching halt. No, I didn't walk into a tree. Somehow a root sticking up was as sharp as a knife and caught my tennis shoe as I passed by. The root cut into the mesh on the toe of my shoe and held on for dear life. My left foot stuck behind me, I began the struggle to stay on my feet. For some reason my biggest concern was to keep from spilling my water. I'm sure it was only 2 or 3 seconds but it felt like a minute as time slowed and I bobbled this way and that. I didn't go down with out a fight. But I went down. Hard onto the roots of the tree with both shins. I was ticked that I spilled 1/2 of my water, but I bounced back up and continued my trek to the canyon.

When I returned to the lodge several others had arrived and were anxious to see some of the beauty of the park. I offered to take them on my little canyon hike and on the way pointed out the vicious tree that had taken me out. It was then that one of my walking companions pointed out that had I fallen on the left side of the tree (instead of the right where I landed) I might have come close to falling off the ledge into the canyon. It was probably about a 40-foot drop.

I guess I'll be thankful for the two black and blue welts on my shins.

I'd Like 50 Ice Creams, Please

Just got back from a day long all-staff retreat. This was our once-a-year gathering where we talk about the hills we want to charge as a church in the coming ministry year. We spent part of the day on our own listening to God, part of it in small groups talking about our next personal and ministry steps, and part of it brainstorming how we are going to tackle our initiatives for the coming year. We ended the day at Cold Stone Creamery. 50 people getting mounds of too much ice cream. Good times.

Every year something happens to me on the day of this retreat. I always have a moment at some point in the day when I am overwhelmed with gratitude for what I get to do and even more who I get to do it with. This time the moment came on the car ride home. I'd drove to the retreat with Mark Nelson who is a good friend dating back to my campus ministry days. As I mentioned in a previous post, Mark is here for 2 months doing a leadership residency with us. As we talked about the day and his experience here to this point, he made some comment about how great it was to get to be a part of this staff community if only for a short time. He talked about the dynamics he saw and how amazing the leadership and staff culture are. I know I stumbled into something amazing when I joined this staff nearly 4 years ago. I really don't feel like I ever take that for granted...I find myself feeling grateful for it almost every day. Yet sometimes there is an extra surge of amazement and I find myself thinking, "I can't believe this has been given to me." As David once said..."The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places." I'm excited about the coming ministry year and the plans we have, but the truth is...I'd charge just about any hill if I got to do it with this group of people.

Can I Get Some Kudos?

We are now entering week 4 of Tammy's attempt to become a healthy, fit person. Yes, just under a month ago I finally was fed up with my sluggish, sedentary life and decided to make some major changes. I started drinking water regularly. I cut out the daily Hostess Ding Dong from my diet. I started taking vitamins. I'm eating more vegetables. I even let them keep the tomato on my sandwich at Panera today and it wasn't bad. And I joined the aforementioned LifeTime Fitness health club and started working out. I'm especially proud of how well I've been doing at the latter. This health club is so nice that I actually want to be there. Every time I am there I see people from church which is fun. And I think one of the Personal Trainers might come visit our church as a result of our interactions. I've worked out 15 times in the past 22 days. I really hope I can keep up with it because I'm feeling so much better.

So anyone else up for a health kick? I'm going public with mine so that you can boo me if I slack off.

I wonder if it is too late to make the US Olympic Women's Basketball Team?

Mixed Reception

Sometimes I feel like I can't win on Sunday mornings. Since taking over the leadership of Kids' City here at Community Christian Church, one of the things I do is travel around to our various campuses on Sundays to observe how things are going and provide encouragement and feedback to the staff and volunteers serving in the children's ministry. What kind of reception do I get? It ranges from..."Hey everyone! Tammy's here! We're so glad to see you!" to "Oh, crap! Tammy's here. Are we being audited?"

Case in point...today I headed out to one of our campuses. The director knew I was coming and also knew I intended to spend some time in the preschool area. When I arrived I was greeted pretty much immediately by the preschool leader telling me she was under-prepared, just had a terrible morning, one of her co-leaders wasn't there today, etc. etc. This was the "Oh, crap! Tammy's here." reaction. I tried to reassure her and 9:30am service started. She and her team did a fabulous job. I was quite impressed. Maybe she'll be happier to see me next time.

Since things went so well I decided to go to the adult service since I had missed the Saturday night service the night before. I left a few minutes before the service was over so that I could make the rounds and say hello to all the 11am service volunteers. When I got to the preschool area the leader for that hour seemed disappointed as she lamented, "I thought you were going to come hang out with us today." I felt bad because she seemed genuinely let down that I didn't come for their storytime. I think I prefer the "Oh, crap!" response to disappointing someone.

Maybe next week I'll just sleep until noon on Sunday to avoid toying with people's emotions. Or maybe I should come up with some kind of costume or disguise so no one recognizes me when I visit? Such Sunday morning drama!

Ready for Some Baseball?

I am...provided there isn't a rainout...going to an Indians-White Sox game today here in Chicago. My beloved Tribe is in town with their best pitcher on the mound which hopefully gives us a good chance to whip up on the World Champions. Now this may be an ugly day because I'm going with one of my co-workers, Tony, who is a huge White Sox fan. There may be pushing and shoving and cursing before the day is over. GO TRIBE!!!!