Wise Counsel - Lisa Clark

Moms, are you the wise counsel your children need you to be?

Proverbs 3:13-18“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who gets understanding, for the gain from her is better than gain from silver and her profit better than gold.  She is more precious than jewels, and nothing you desire can compare with her.  Long life is in her right hand; in her left hand are riches and honor.  Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.  She is a tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called blessed.”

Wisdom.  It’s not what we wake up longing for is it? We want to be thin.  Beautiful.  Loved.  Adored.  Thin. 

But wisdom probably finds herself way down on our list of things we long for.  It’s just the way it is in 2015. 

But I’m here to say that we need it more than ever, Mom.  Our children are longing for us to counsel them with wisdom straight from the word of God.  That’s where we will find wisdom, grow in it, long for it and find our beauty, riches, honor and peace. 

SkyMom Testimonial: Drop off and Pick up - Lisa Tyson

July 29, 2015

We have three children—16 and 13 year old boys and an 8 year old daughter. Everyone gets to pick “one thing” for summer. This year, my middle (Chase), chose Sky Ranch. This is not Chase’s first “camp experience” but it is his first Sky Ranch experience. I was not worried about him being away for a week at all. He is all about having fun, so from what I heard, this is the perfect place for him. 

I expected excellence and was not disappointed upon arrival. We looked around camp, got him to his cabin, met his counselors, unrolled his sleeping bag….all excellent. What I did not expect, was the feeling that overwhelmed me when the covered wagon trailer pulled away from his cabin and I waved goodbye. I realized that, while he has been away before, he has never been away when I was not able to call/text/FaceTime….I had left my precious handful of “all boy” middle child in the care of people I did not, and would not, know. Would they keep him safe? Would they make sure he did not get too hot or dehydrated? Would they make him wear sun screen and a life jacket to ride the jet ski? Would they make him take a shower and brush his teeth? So many questions run through a mom’s mind as you drive away leaving a child behind... But my ultimate, and most important question was this: Would they point my son toward the Cross of Christ? 

My questions were answered as I listened to the parent CD on the way home. YES. Yes to everything! He would have fun. He would be kept safe. He would be allowed to be “all kid” and “all boy.” Most importantly, He would be pointed to know the Lord. This week, my Daily Update Email tells me that he is learning about the Names of God. I cannot wait to hear all about it. From the smile on his face in the pictures, I am certain I miss him far more than he is missing me.  

He Directs and Delights - Terrie Chevaillier

             

The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives. Psalm 37:23

Hey Moms!  School is about to start and I know there are lots of details to be talked about, thought about and prayed for.   Who wants their 2015-16 school year steps directed? 

This promise found in Psalms tells us that when we are seeking to follow Him and His way that He not only directs our steps but He also delights in every detail of our lives.

So who are the Godly?  Godliness is characterized by having an attitude that recognizes that God created the world and everything in it and therefore seeks to develop a relationship with Him.  It is someone who has a reverence and a respect for the ways of God and the things of God.

Some of the school year details we are starting to think about is who will my child sit with at lunch?  What if she doesn’t know anyone in her class?  Will he make the team and actually get to play? What if she doesn’t get into her first choice college?  What if the group he hangs out with breaks apart and his friends start making bad choices?  What if my child makes bad choices?

Any thoughts sound familiar? If so, claim this promise from Psalm 37:23.  Post it in your car, write it on your chalk board, text it to your children, pray it over them out the door and back into the door of your home.  Tell them that He delights in every detail of their lives.  They need to know this.  Teach them how to claim His promises for themselves and encourage them to have a detail journal that they ask God to delight in and then encourage them to listen for how He wants to direct them in the detail.

And when you come to the end of this school year, prepare to stand amazed as you look back and see just how He directed the steps of your family!

2015-2016 SkyMoms Theme!

Jesus, Take The Wheel! (Of this Mini-Van!!!)

Moms, it’s so hard to stay in our lane isn’t it? We get so sidetracked on other things, that it’s hard to keep the main thing the main thing when raising our children.  But when we LET GO AND LET GOD, we relinquish control to the One who SHOULD BE in the driver’s seat!

Our key verse for our SkyMoms Luncheons and gatherings during the 2015-16 year is – 

“FOR I AM THE LORD, YOUR GOD, WHO TAKES HOLD OF YOUR RIGHT HAND (the wheel!!!) AND SAYS TO YOU, DO NOT FEAR; I WILL HELP YOU.  ISAIAH 41:13

Don’t you love it? He will take hold…if we let Him! Remember, God is a gentleman.  He will not bulldoze His way into our lives.  We have to admit we need Him and make room for Him to take the wheel.

Red Light – STOP  

  We must ask ourselves, “Am I ready to stop looking around and comparing my children to every other child out there and accept him for who God created him to be?”

Yellow Light – Slow Down

  We must admit we are not perfect parents and will never be, and know that when we drift into other lanes, it’s okay! We can get back on course!

Green Light – Go!

Go and build a firm foundation for your family, keeping Jesus at the wheel of your life and your families lives.

Can’t wait to see you at one of the SkyMoms Luncheons this year all throughout the D/FW metroplex, and beyond!

My Top 10 Things I Wish I Had Known - Sue Beddingfield

1)  That when she was little, she might use her swim goggles as a headband - in every picture, all week, daytime or nighttime.

2)  That the things she has learned over her eight summers at Sky Ranch continue to percolate and come out over time. Just this past week while we were in Guatemala on a mission trip, she talked about a game they had played in Morph summer before last and the impact it made on her life.

3)  That if you hang with Rope Myers in Young Riders long enough, you might end up buying a horse!

4)  That, not only do the kids learn, they also have the chance to teach and positively influence others in their cabin - even when they're little.

5)  That Sky Ranch counselors and staff know how to keep any potential homesickness at bay (even in a 6-year-old who insists she's ready to go to camp - primarily because she saw picture of horse on the Sky Ranch website.  See #3 above).

6) That you, mom (and dad!), might very well cry when you drop them off - and when you fetch them - but they're all happy tears, knowing your kids couldn't be in better hands than with the Sky Ranch ministry team and counselors.

7)  That when you see a photo online of your child standing on a horse, don't panic - they're with a World Champion rodeo guy and he knows exactly what he's doing. (See #3 above). Plus your kid has the biggest smile on her face that you've ever seen!

8)  That, year after year, regardless of which cabin or age or camp level, your child will see Jesus in the faces, words and actions of her Godly-role-model Sky Ranch counselors.

9)  That, even though the Sky Ranch system allows you to, it's best not to look at what your camper is buying with her Ranch Bank (milkshake with add-ins, pucker powder, wall cross - gift for mom but I didn't realize it when looking!, Dr Pepper, milkshake, 3 Musketeers bar, milkshake…).  Hey, it's only for a week or two each summer.

10) That one place, through Launch Camp, Summer Camp, Young Riders Camp, Champions Rodeo Camp, Leadership Camp and Family Camp, could so dramatically and positively affect us - from helping us define what our family stands for (Truth, Courage, Love) to finding the place we most love in Colorado to helping our daughter determine what she wants to do with her life to serve the Lord (be a Sky Ranch counselor and possibly work in Camping Ministry)!

What I Wish I Had Known - Lisa Clark

I'm not an overachiever by trade, so getting my girls ready for camp was a breeze.  Just keepin' it real! I always made sure they had enough clothes and one or two things for the theme nights.  I sent some care packages and letters.  I certainly didn't go to the extreme that some moms go to by any means.  So my take on this question is a little bit different...

I wish I had known that this would be the beginning of her personal spiritual journey.  I wish I had known that this week of camp would launch her into a season of personal bible study and devotion.  I wish I had known that this one week would begin a lifetime of hunger for God's word and an eagerness to meet him everyday for quiet time and worship.  I thought it was camp.  But God had other things in mind.

The first year we picked Camryn up from Sky Ranch she proclaimed, "That was the best week of my life!" Well, okay! Can't top that I don't guess.  Life was going to be downhill after this week.  But lo and behold the next year we heard these words, "This week was even better than last year!" What????? Yep.  Relationships and a deeper dive into biblical truth made it all better.  It just got better and better.  The camp hadn't changed.  Her heart had.  Her desire for truth had grown.  She was desiring the things of God.  And that made it better...sweeter.

I wish I had know how valuable these precious weeks at Sky Ranch were for the overall spiritual development of my child.  Every time I see her with an open bible, or worshipping her Savior, or praying with a friend, I'm reminded of the stepping stones that led her there and once again I'm thankful for her time at Sky Ranch.

What I Wish I Had Known - Terrie Chevaillier

I just picked up one my sons from Sky Ranch this past weekend and even though I knew a few things to be true, I found myself wishing again that I had not forgotten what I knew!  If you are a mom, I am almost certain you can relate.

I knew that he would be exhausted, but somehow I forgot as I kept expecting him to be more talkative. Some of these things come out slowly throughout the week as he shares the experiences he wants us to know about.  Even though he says little- it doesn’t mean that big didn’t happen.  I knew all of his clothes would be wet and damp but somehow forgot about that and put it off until the next day! 

I wish I had known that my boys didn’t really care about the care packages as much as I obsessed over them being perfect.  This year it took less than two minutes to run down the candy isle at the grocery store when I was already there grabbing my groceries (no special trip) and picked five different sour type candy bags (enough for the entire cabin as they love to share) and grabbed some manila envelopes and stuffed the candy in there and used a big sharpie and wrote their name on the outside and cabin number.  Done!  What had taken multiple days in years past, was trimmed down to five minutes total by year fourteen!

Perhaps why I grew to not obsess so about the gift bags was because I have come to know the much larger gift that keeps on giving that we get at Sky Ranch.  On year one as campers, I wish I had known when my oldest starting attending at the age of ten that he would gain relationships that were beyond my imagination in terms of mentoring and Christian community that would take him into his twenties. Had I known, perhaps on those days when I was tempted to think all was not well and I had screwed up and hadn’t done this thing or that thing right to help him on the pathway to “success” that some of the most godly wise men and women would be his best companions, I am sure my soul would have quieted itself within me!  The list is so long now of those we love and stay in touch with from Sky Ranch that it causes me to say, “thank you God- you see and you provide.”

What I do know is that I will always tear up at the front gate the minute I see the big Sky sign and when they play the video at closing ceremony, I feel God’s love and care for my children in a depth that I don’t experience any other time of the year. 

I hope that you get to know what I wish I had known and what I now know.  God’s unconditional love is on display at Sky Ranch!  Go see and then tell!