When I was young, my family and I took a couple of vacations to South Padre Island. South Padre was my first experience with the ocean and I always looked forward to these trips. On one of our trips, my aunt and uncle traveled with us. The day came for us to head to the beach. As a kid, we were ready to go when the sun came up. But, we had to wait around on the adults to get ready. I am sure that what was only an hour or two felt like an eternity. However, I will never forget watching my aunt and uncle get ready. To go to the beach, they were truly making themselves look beautiful. My aunt, who always looks done up, had to do her hair and make-up. And, my uncle was ironing his clothes for the day.

Finally, the time came to load the car. When we got there, we set up camp on the sand and headed, with boogie boards in hand, to the water. It was a great day. The best part of the day came when a group of sea gulls flew into our camp. We had no control over these birds. Of all the miles of beach available, they chose our beach camp. They flew high above us and then they came swooping low to the ground.

Then, it happened! My aunt was walking along the sandy shore and a sea gull flew above her. Out of nowhere, it dropped a most precious, big gift upon her beautiful hair. For a moment, the world froze…then, a loud, shrill scream bolted from her mouth and that crazy, hand flopping, high knee dance followed. That hour or so of morning beauty preparation ended with a dive into the salty ocean waters. We laughed so hard. It was the best bird poop bomb incident I have ever, even to this day, witnessed. We still talk about it, some 20 years later, at some family gatherings.

Have you ever had a bird poop in your hair, or on your clothes, or on your newly washed car? I am sure we have all had an encounter with a bird or two in our day. There isn’t much we can do about it. Thankfully, the poop washes out and we can continue on our day. Even though we can’t control a bird flying over our head, we can control whether or not we allow it to land in our hair and make a nest there.

At this point, you all are probably thinking…why in the world is Kara spending so much time talking about bird poop and bird nests? Well, despite the fact that poop from any animal is a funny topic with kids, Here goes the real reason…

Thoughts continually come into our mind.

About a month ago, Gary and I took Judah to the zoo. When we were pulling in to park, a huge sign was displayed advertising the Science Museum (Omniplex). The sign read, “the human brain can process up to 70,000 thoughts a day!” Wow…the human mind is facinating to me. The mind is similar to the ocean, vast, powerful, and has unchartered territory. Just think about that for a moment…70,000 thoughts a day.

We don’t have control of a bird flying over our head or dropping an occasional poop bomb on us, just like we can’t control what thought comes into our mind. At least I can’t! Some thoughts are good, some thoughts are bad, some thoughts are ugly, some thoughts are rude, some thoughts are lovely, some thoughts are random, etc…but, I don’t have to let the thoughts “build a nest in my mind!” BINGO! There, I got it out.

Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

We must put every thought through the filter that God provides to us–His Word! If the thought doesn’t line up with the word of God, throw it out, wash it out…don’t let it nest there. Could you imagine…go there with me for a moment…if our mind can process up to 70,000 thoughts a day, I bet half of those would not be what God says, but rather jabs from the world. So, what would our “hair” look like if we let approx. 35,000 thoughts build nests in our head?

I don’t know about you, but I am going to be cleaning out some nests today and everyday. Taking captive every thought, my mind must be renewed by the Word of the Lord. Then, I can know what God’s will is–his good, pleasing, and perfect will. If you are searching for God’s will in your life, make sure you are renewing your mind with the WORD!

My 28 Thanks:

1. My mind can be renewed.

2. My mind is renewed by the Word.

3. I can know God’s pleasing and perfect will.

4. My brain is so amazing.

5. I can filter out bad thoughts.

6. I can keep thoughts that are pure and holy and of a good report.

7. Family memories.

8. Experiences that make me laugh.

9. The kids message last night spoke to me…hence, the blog post this morning.

10. Even though some of my main leads were gone on vacation yesterday, kidz ministry was smooth.

11. I have a faithful, talented team.

12. The kids made some awesome cards representing their thankfulness to the Lord. This project is a huge help to the women’s ministry arts/crafts fair.

13. A little girl, who is dealing with PTSD after the tornadoes, hasn’t been coming to kids church. This weekend, she attended every Back 2 School Fuel service with no tears and no parent! So proud of her.

14. Sweet emails and texts from friends and parents about how much their kids love kids ministry at Crossroads.

15. Spontaneous, life-giving hallway conversations.

16. I met several new families at church.

17. I had more than enough help for our Back 2 School Fuel services. My team even stayed late and helped with the set tear down.

18. Kids were saved and baptized in the Holy Ghost this weekend.

19. The PM, Big church services ended at 7:30. This really helped us start set tear down early and still leave the church by 9:45 p.m. My KidMin team loved the early night too.

20. Judah had two really long days at the church. But, he did awesome.

21. I saw two leaders, who have never done “stage stuff,” really shine this weekend.

22. Two new recruits to our Elementary team, Rich and Deanna Inabnit, had a blast this weekend and they were a great help.

23. Judah was able to take a 3 hour nap in between services and get some rest.

24. Bob and Debbie hosted our kids evangelists for lunch. So, I was able to come home and let Judah take a nap.

25. Because we put scriptures to rap beats this weekend, I remember all 3 of them.

26. Creativity that helps kids remember the Word of God.

27. My responses to certain negative thoughts, negative people, and negative behaviors from others, have shown me that I am growing up in some areas.

28. Growth.