Free Throws for the Garrys

Today we are announcing a month-long fundraiser for the Garry family, who was displaced after they lost everything in Hurricane Dorian. The Garrys are now living here in St. Augustine with a Good News Church family. As you can imagine, they have many needs. Their full story and GoFundMe page is here. Called "Free Throws for the Garrys," the fundraiser relies on each child seeking as many sponsors as possible for a 100 Free Throws Challenge. Each participating child solicits donations for every made free throw out of 100. For example, if there is a donation of $1 per made free throw and the player makes 75, the total donation would be $75.

The fundraiser is intended for 3:23 Basketball participants but is open to anyone over the age of 8.

The timeline is as follows:

- Monday, November 11 - Sunday, December 8: Solicit donors

- Monday, December 9: Free Throw Challenge (in the Good News Gym from 4:15-5:30 PM)

- Tuesday, December 10 - Sunday, December 15: Players collect money from donors

- Monday, December 16: Money is collected at 3:23 (at the Good News Gym from 1-5 PM)

- TBD: Time to present the money/gift cards/presents to the Garry family

Note: The child who raises the most money will earn a free 5-week cycle to any 3:23 program (Sons of Jesse / Daughters of Song / Basketball Academy)!!!

Is Transparency the New Masculinity?

Is Transparency the New Masculinity? Let's hope so. 

Tomorrow I will fly from St. Augustine, FL to Louisville, KY with three colleagues for a three-day Sojourn Network Conference. The theme of the conference is "Healthy Leaders | Whole Churches." I am beyond excited to be there, immersed in good teaching & worship, fellowship, and great coffee. Louisville (and Sojourn J-Town, specifically) is the place where my wife and I were transformed in the way we view the church. It's the place where we first encountered what it means to serve, to place ourselves in a role of serving the church and not the other way around. It's where we developed friendships with deep roots. Louisville is a place I never thought I would live but often find myself pining to go back to. I am so grateful I'll be back there, soaking up information to bring back to my church home at Good News Church - Wildwood. 

Yet

I am scared to get on that damn plane. The anxiety/panic attacks I developed last summer have been severely lessened with time, prayer, and medicine. But a plane ride has always been my biggest fear. The fear resides in two things: 1.) That I will lose control on the plane and have a panic attack and 2.) That a panic attack will then send me back to the bad shape I was in last summer. 

So if you pray, please pray for me. Pray that God would rid my brain of any fearful, anxious, or worrisome thoughts--and that I would instead meditate on what is true, noble, right, pure, lovely, admirable, and praiseworthy. Pray that God would lead me beside quiet waters and restore my soul. Pray that I would fix my eyes on Jesus--that I would set my heart on things above, not on earthly things. Pray that my heart is not troubled. Pray that God's grace is sufficient for me. Pray that I hold unswervingly to the hope we profess. Pray that I am like a tree planted by water!

Three Favorite Things

Last weekend I (Kim) was able to host my annual Three Favorite Things Gift Exchange. If you've never heard of this, it's simple: Each woman brings three of her absolute favorite things. I like to keep it simple, so I put a suggested $5 cap on each gift. Once everyone arrives, we take turns explaining what our gifts are and why we love them. The gifts are then taken into a different room, and each woman is assigned a random color. When your color is called, it's your turn to enter the gift room and choose one gift. The rotation continues until all the women have chosen three gifts.  

It's such a special night, and I look forward to it every year. I love this event so much for so many reasons, but here are just a few:

• I love where I live, St. Augustine, FL, and I love the brave entrepreneurs who open their own businesses here. I always choose my three favorite things from local businesses, many of whom are kind enough to give us giveaways that I can assign to random winners throughout the night.  

• In addition to the gifts, we also sponsor a local charity and take a collection that night. This year we chose Compassion International, and we raised close to $100.

• The fellowship! It's always fun to get together as women, relax without kids, drink wine, and eat dessert.

• The variety: We get so many different kinds of gifts: plants, coffee mugs, wine, snacks, jewelry, socks, books, journals, candles, ornaments and a million more.  

• The growth: When I started this three years ago, 12 ladies were able to show up. This year there were 31 women in my house!  

• The laughter. Usually this event takes place in December, and there is something about gathering moms in a room with a Christmas tree and hot cocoa that makes for laughs, laughs, and more laughs.

Live in St. Augustine and want to know more about the local businesses I love? Here are a few of them--swing by sometime and take a look for yourselves!

Gifts: Declaration and Co., Juniper Market, West to East, Two Sparrows, The Coconut Barrel, Rose and Pearl, Market Street Boutique, and The Red Pineapple

Drinks: The Hyppo Coffee Bar, Cultivate Tea and Spice, The Kookabura

Plants: Feather & Bloom

Eats: Fiction Donuts, The Cookie Camper, Crave, The Floridian

Questions, comments, or suggestions? Send them to kim323music@gmail.com.