Crossway Life

We all have hard days. Wednesday was a hard day for me. I had a lot to do…..I didn’t feel real good physically……I had the female-hormone-thing going on (!!)…….and my soul was heavy with many things. It was just one of those days that I had to hang on to God and keep doing my work.

By the afternoon I was feeling very “fragile”. You know, like if anyone yelled at me or even scowled I felt like I would cry. If you don’t know what I mean by that, you are either a man or you are a VERY even-keeled woman who isn’t old enough yet. (Smile—and we thank God for you because someone needs to be even-keeled!)

I had to go to the store for my “final shopping for the Thanksgiving meal”. I do this every year. I actually plan it. I know that I will forget something…..so I always go to my local grocery store the day before Thanksgiving. I think I’m on to something, because the store is packed with hundreds of over 40 year old ladies. It’s like a cultural club–we all toddle around each other. It’s kind of a “belonging” feeling.

Well there I was sandwiched between a lady looking at the bananas and the employee who needed to stock the salad bar. I was clearly holding up the employee. I looked at her and said, “I’m sorry.” She smiled at me and said, “Honey, you aren’t in my way.” The tone of her voice was full of warmth and kindness. Her words wrapped themselves around me and gave me a strength that I didn’t have when I walked into the store. She couldn’t know how her words impacted me. Because of the day I was having, her words soothed and calmed my soul. I was freshly aware of the power of kindness.

There are people all around me…..especially this holiday season……weighted down with anxiety and care. What an opportunity to extend God’s kindness to those around me. Lord, help me think of others as more important than myself! Help me to speak kindly.  Help me to drive kindly this month! Help me to spread kindness.

As I sit this Thanksgiving morning looking out my back window at the birds my thoughts turn to God and to each of you. Among the many things that I am thankful for this year, I am thankful for Crossway Church. When I think of the past 26 years, the first thing that comes to mind is the faithfulness of God. More than all the meetings and programs and projects we’ve shared, I am aware of the individual lives that have been profoundly and eternally affected by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Each of you has a personal story to tell of how God has opened your heart, drawn you to his truth and made faith and repentance a personal experience. When I think of my own sin (in it’s awful detail) and what Jesus did on the cross to forgive me I am deeply moved. Then when I consider that he did the same for each of you I am left without words. What a Savior!!!

21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.

As our family gathers today around the table I will be struck by the fact that God’s faithfulness is continuing into the next generation. I will be sitting down with 5 sons, 2 daughters (in law), three grandchildren and two in our hearts! When I am tempted to think that the future will be harsh and uncertain I am reminded of what God says about the sparrows in Matthew 10:28-31 and I am comforted that he will continue to be faithful to us as a church and to each of our families. May the faithfulness of God through the gospel of His son Jesus Christ bring encouragement to you today as you enjoy Thanksgiving Day.

I will close with this video I recently took of the sparrows bathing in our pond.

photo by vtpeacenik

With this post we will be beginning the occasional spotlight of long time members of Crossway Church whose life stories may not be well known but are worthy of being shared.  This post was written by Paul Schwarz who also conducted the interview.

Spend any time around Richard and Lois Sensenig and you’ll encounter two people whose hearts have been captured by the gospel. They can’t recount the stories of their conversion to faith in Christ without being brought to tears. And like you’d expect from a couple that on New Year’s Day will have been married for 54 years, they have a way of finishing each other’s sentences as they tell their stories.

Richard and Lois met in 1953 at a social at Lois’ church while he was working near Chambersburg at a sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. “It was infatuation at first sight,” Richard recalls. “When everybody went around the room and introduced themselves later, I made sure I met her.” The Sensenigs both came from church backgrounds; according to Lois, though, “We weren’t saved, but we thought we were.” Richard wasn’t even sure he believed God existed, saying that “whatever faith I had, I lost [in college].”

In 1974, Lois began to experience a spiritual hunger that wasn’t being fed in the context of her church, where the gospel wasn’t being taught faithfully. Through the influence of some genuine believers there who held prayer meetings, Lois began seeing the power of answered prayer, which opened her heart to the realization that Christ alone had paid the penalty for her sin.

“He thought I was crazy,” says Lois about Richard’s initial response to her changing life. Within a year, however, when facing a particularly stressful work responsibility, Richard asked Lois to pray for him. “Within a minute [of that request],” he says, “I had what I now categorize as a conversion experience.”

The process of growing together in Christian maturity eventually brought them, in 1978, to the house church in Lancaster that later evolved into what became CrossWay. This was despite the fact that “Lois was 43 and I was 46,” Richard observes, “and everyone else in the church was 25.”

That didn’t matter to them, though, because they sought accountability, deep fellowship and sound teaching. “I need the protection and covering that God provides through His leaders,” Richard confesses. “There have been times when pastors have come to us with major issues so as to help adjust us.” Lois adds, “I see us getting deeper and deeper in doctrine and in finding our identity in the cross.”

For the last 30 years, Crossway Church has had the honor of receiving God’s love and care through the Sensenigs.  Their warm and inviting home seems to always be open for gatherings. Whether it’s hosting Care Group meetings or throwing bridal showers, celebrating special times with church families or conducting meaningful counseling sessions, they open their home and pour out their lives again and again.  One very fruitful tradition they’ve established is their annual Christmas party for people who are new to the church. Each year they scour the regular attenders of Crossway and invite them into their home for an evening of getting acquainted. They are always reaching out, and God has certainly blessed them with a gift of unwavering hospitality and boundless energy.

Richard and Lois have four grown children: Eugene, Regina (Siegrist), Beth and Geoff.  They also have 17 grandchildren and 2 great-grandchildren, each of whom they love and adore.

Last night was the opening meeting of the Father/Son discipleship program Stockades. Twelve sons and their dads met at the New Danville Mennonite Elementary School for an evening of games, experiments, stories and one on one father/son time. I have great respect for these dads who want to invest in the lives of their sons and are making the effort to do so.

At the same time and in another room, the mothers and daughters of the Cornerstone program were gathering for a similar evening of crafts and discipleship that brings mothers and daughters together to grow in biblical womanhood. This evening they made gingerbread houses. Click on the photo below for more pictures of Cornerstones!

Crossway racers

Yesterday afternoon over 25 members of Crossway Church,mostly from IO, participated in Millersville’s annual “Turkey Trot”. The 5k race runs through the Borough of Millersville for 3.1 miles. Kaitlyn Oliver and Benjamin Shoff finished first respectively for Crossway.

For more photos click the picture above.

Proverbs 31 describes this amazing woman that I often fear.  I shudder at her name “The Proverbs 31 Woman”.  A few years back the movie Lion King had just come out.  In one scene the hyenas are talking about Mufasa the king of the jungle.  One of the hyenas says his name and the others shutter in fear, then overcome by the intrigue of his position say, “Oohh, say it again.”  I often interact with the Proverbs 31 woman in that same way.  Fearing all that she encompasses, yet being completely enthralled with the strength of her character.

One of my biggest challenges in recent years has been effective planning.  The operative word being EFFECTIVE.  I made my little “home organization notebook”.  It is very pretty, but relatively useless.  It was not effective for me.  I have made lots of lists to remember things on.  I hate paper trails, so I would often throw away my lists to “de-clutter”, only to realize that important information is now leaving my driveway in the trash truck.  Not real effective.  I have finally found something that is functional and effective.  Functional in that it helps me order every event for every member in my home on a color coded calendar. It makes list making relatively effortless (with no paper trail).  This tool organizes all of my digital photos in a creative slideshow as my screensaver, provides me with space to journal, syncs with Outlook, has a recipe search, AND it is just plain pretty.  Effective in that it is so user friendly that I love actually using it.  Imagine that.

It is a free website called www.cozi.com.  The site is funded by advertisements rolling in the sidebar.  If you are looking for a new home management tool.  I recommend this site.  It has helped me tremendously.

I am so grateful that my growth in home management does not depend on me; therefore boasting and condemnation are excluded. Scripture teaches that God will provide all we need for good works and godliness.  My continual prayer is that He would enable me to ”look well to the ways of my household and not eat the bread of idleness.”  I’ll save the “making of my own bed coverings” for another day.

This past Monday I had the unique opportunity to help my brother unload 100,000 brand new baby chickens into the chicken houses on our family farm.  It’s quite the job and I always forget how hard it is until my muscles are aching in pain.  My brother, on the other hand, has no problem with the workload because he’s done it so many times.  His body is used to the difficult labor.

I believe the same scenario is true with evangelism.  The more we share the Gospel with others the easier it becomes.  Don’t get me wrong, the flesh is still battling inside us, but the more we speak of Christ the sharper and clearer we become at presenting the Good News of salvation.

Mark McCloskey says,“I firmly believe that witnessing is a learned talent. God burdens our hearts to reach the lost, but we must get out there and start practicing those conversations. The funny thing is, though, the more you practice, the easier it becomes.”

So, let’s stay in shape by stepping out of our comfort zones and sharing the gospel with our neighbors, co-workers, classmates, family members, friends and those with whom we come into contact on a daily basis.  As we invite people into our homes, to church and to Alpha, they will hear about our Savior.  May we love them so much that we want them to hear the most important news their ears will ever hear.

Here’s another great quote by Mark McCloskey: “For most of us, evangelism is not a comfortable activity. Here we often face the ‘chicken and the egg’ dilemma. We reason, ‘I don’t want to do evangelism unless it feels natural.’ This feeling is quite understandable. But what we really are saying is, ‘I’ll do it when it’s in my comfort zone.’ And how does any activity get to the point where it ‘feels natural?’ You guessed it, by doing it. Only personal experience broadens the boundaries of our comfort zone.”