Family time at my Dad’s house includes relaxing by the fire, playing games, lots of sweets and always, always a family project.

This year it involved cutting down 3 VERY LARGE trees in the backyard.  My dad doesn’t do anything small scale.  He rented a lift, recruited a crew of 11 and had a job for each of us.  I was tasked with burning all the brush and I sufficiently managed to singe my eyebrows and eyelashes.  Wouldn’t be a good family project without a little drama.

Enjoy this little snippet of our family fun!

Family Time from Jenni Catron on Vimeo.

What does your family do for “fun” on the holidays?

We parted ways because of circumstances really beyond either of our control… some other people in our lives made decisions (poor ones) that resulted in my friend needing to distance herself from that particular place and season of her life.

I loved her like a sister and I felt like I had failed her in many ways.  I wasn’t personally responsible for all the pain, hurt and confusion she was facing, but I absorbed some guilt for not doing more to protect her.  (Yes, I have trouble with a savior complex, but that’s another post for another day.)

So over the last several years I have prayed for her often.  I have wondered how she is and whether she was pursuing her dreams.  I have begged God to protect her, heal her and keep her safe.

And He did.  Of course He did. That’s what He does.

Reconnecting with this friend was such a beautiful moment.  We laughed big.  We shed a few tears.  We shared old memories.  We caught up on six years of each others’ life story.

The most humbling part of our conversation was when my sweet friend shared the influence I had been in her life.  We had spent years working and traveling together… just doing what life required.  I always hoped that I encouraged her and inspired her to be her best.  I always dreamed that she would find a mentor in me and that I could be a trusted support and confidant.  I just never knew if God had really used me in that way.

But apparently He did.

I don’t share this to give myself a big pat on the back… “Way to go, Jenni.  You are such a great mentor.”   I share this because you just never know… you never know how or when you are influencing another’s life.  You never know what interactions will be critical to help someone make it through another day.  You never know how God is using you without your full understanding.

You Just Never Know.

And because you just never know, let me challenge you to embrace every interaction as if life depends on it.  Because it just might…

All this pain
I wonder if I’ll ever find my way
I wonder if my life could really change at all
All this earth
Could all that is lost ever be found
Could a garden come up from this ground at all

You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of the dust
You make beautiful things
You make beautiful things out of us

All around
Hope is springing up from this old ground
Out of chaos life is being found in You

Gunger “Beautiful Things”

The lyrics of this song have been a bit of a chant in my head the last few days.

As many of you may have heard from Twitter, my sister lost everything in an apartment fire Friday afternoon.  Fortunately she wasn’t there when the fire started… in fact we were over at her new home cleaning and preparing for her to move in on Saturday morning.  Some things just don’t make sense.

Sadly, she lost her little buddy… Sammy Mac… whom I affectionately referred to as The Great Sam I Am, Sammy Sam or Devil Dog depending on the day and what mischief he had been up to .

But God does make beautiful things.

He has made beautiful things out of the family and friends who have loved and supported her.

He makes beautiful things with the peace that passes all understanding.

He makes beautiful things with the strength he has provided for each day.

He makes beautiful things.  He does.  We don’t even know the beautiful things yet to come.

He makes beautiful things out of us.

If you have a moment, could you leave an encouraging word, prayer, or promise from scripture in the comments for my sister Jessica?   I know it would mean the world to her!

Rest in peace Sammy Mac.  We love you and miss you!

Just a few days ago my husband and I celebrated our 12th Anniversary.  It seems crazy that 12 years have passed… in many ways it feels like just yesterday that I walked down that aisle and in other ways it feels like we’ve always been together.

12 years of marriage have brought their shares of highs and lows but I’m blessed with a great husband… more importantly a friend that I’m more grateful for today than the day I said “I do”.

I want everyone to feel the way I do.  That’s why I’m excited about the new series that we’re starting at Cross Point:

5 Things That Will Destroy Your Marriage

The essential guide for anyone who is married.

A cheat sheet for anyone who isn’t.

I wish we had had a resource like this in the early days of our marriage.

Here’s a quick video from Pete sharing more about this series that begins this Sunday, March 6th.

5 Things from Pete Wilson from Cross Point Church on Vimeo.

My collision with Kat Davis was less than a spectacular one (or so I thought at the time.)  We were two young twenty-something interns competing for power and influence and our chance to make our mark.  Truth be told, I think I was the one competing for all those things, Kat was just being passionate about the things she loved.  And sometimes that annoyed the crap out of me.

But it didn’t take long for Kat to win my heart.  We shared a cubicle wall, and day in and day out I would hear her pray for her customers, ask about their life, celebrate their wins and generally encourage everyone she came into contact with.  How can you not like someone like that?

Around the same time Kat began The Daily Verse as a way to inspire her friends and coworkers.  It was just a simple email with a scripture and Kat’s thoughts and insights on the passage.  Nothing flashy but always timely and profound.  Her faithfulness to this simple act of encouragement really inspired me.

Fast forward 11 years or so… Kat is one of my dearest friends.  We’re both still attempting to conquer our little corners of the world.  And recently Kat accomplished one of her biggest dreams – publishing her first book!

What began as a simple email to encourage friends turned into thousands of daily subscribers and now the first published version of The Daily Verse.

The Daily Verse is a collection of Scripture passages from the English Standard Version of the Bible, along with short, simple and real-life commentary from Kat.  I particularly love the space for personal reflection.

If you are not already a subscriber, be sure to sign up for the free, online subscription of The Daily Verse HERE.

I also encourage you to order a copy of the book at The Daily Verse website.

It’s a great gift book too! I’m getting ready to place my Christmas order (my family – pretend you didn’t read that).

Congratulations Kat!  I’m so proud of you, friend!!

So despite my indifference and a little sticker shock over the cost of this “most wonderful place on earth”, I was ready to engage my inner princess and enjoy the experience.

We kicked off our Disney adventure with Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party.  While I failed to be properly costumed, accompanied by my young friends Belle (the princess) and Alice (from Wonderland), I seemed to be ok.  Although a bit rusty, I stuttered out the pass phrase “trick or treat” and promptly began bartering trades.  “I’ll give you a Milky Way for your Peanut M&M’s.”

We watched the parade, we devoured a turkey drumstick, we oohed and aahhed over the fireworks at Cinderella’s castle, we wandered the countries of Epcot and rode Space Mountain multiple times.  We even tracked down Mary Poppins and asked to have our picture taken.

[WARNING: If you are a super Disney fan, you might want to quit reading now because this is where the magic ends.]

But as much as I tried to find my inner princess, I couldn’t ever fully connect to the magic that I thought I was supposed to experience.  Here I was in this perfect, beautiful existence and it still felt so hollow… so empty… so not real.  Everyone was trying to create a perfect world and convince me it’s the most wonderful place on Earth and yet I felt cheated and deceived by a world that just isn’t real.  (I kept relating myself to Truman from The Truman Show.)

Disney to me is our greatest attempt as humans to restore the beauty of God’s original plan, to recreate the Garden, to create the perfect life.

Don’t misunderstand… I really don’t think there is anything wrong with Disney.  In fact, I was enamored by the attention to detail, the commitment to excellence and the overall exceptional experience.  (Another more positive post to come with those observations.)

My Disney experience was just a reminder that for all our extraordinary attempts to restore God’s perfection, we’ll never accomplish it here on Earth as humans.

So as great as Disney is, imagine how amazing God’s perfection will be!

We just got back from a family vacation in Orlando.

Tons of fun at Magic Kingdom, Epcot, Downtown Disney & SeaWorld.  I’ll post more about our experience soon, but for Friday Fun I would love to hear…

What is your favorite place to vacation?

This month we’re going to be talking about the power of influence.

We’ll be celebrating stories of women who have influenced our leadership in a significant way.

Was there someone in your life who believed in you even when you didn’t believe in yourself?

Is there someone in your life that is a constant support and encouragement to you?

We want to hear YOUR stories and we want to inspire you with the stories of others.

Here’s my story…

I was 15.  shy.  insecure.  timid.  nervous.  scared.

Standing over to the side of her busy ice cream shop, I waited patiently for an opportunity to inquire about a job.  I’m quite certain that I nearly bolted out a few times, but I needed to do this.  I wanted to work here.  I needed a job to earn money for college and I was going to stretch myself to branch out.

But she noticed me. This kind, outgoing, sweet woman noticed me.

** Hop on over to the Cultivate Her blog for the rest of the story and the details for the August event.

Need I say more?

But I will…

Jes and I are having a blast getting away for a few days.

So far we’ve:

• Sat on the beach
• Read on the beach
• Shopped
• Eaten
• Sat on the beach
• Read on the beach
• Walked on the beach
• Shopped
• Eaten

Today we’ll:

• Run/walk on the beach
• Eat
• Lay on the beach
• Lay on our rafts on the water
• Read on the beach
• Eat
• Shop
• Eat again

Totally predictable & fabulous!

What are you doing this weekend?