JOYFUL WORDS
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Writing
  • Hospitality
  • About Sheri

Hell in a hand basket!

7/2/2012

10 Comments

 
Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose HOPE is in the Lord. Jeremiah 17:7

 Maybe it’s just a Kansas thing, but growing up I often heard older people talk about the woes of the day and it would very often be followed by the phrase, “It’s all goin’ to hell in a hand basket.”  As a kid, I wasn’t even sure what a hand basket was! Then I watched The Wizard of Oz, and when Elmira Gulch showed up on her bike with a basket to take Dorothy’s dog Toto away, I figured out what a “hand basket” was!  Among the things on the list of woes were teenagers.  It seemed older folks didn’t have much hope in them.

This past weekend I had the privilege of chaperoning two busloads of high school students from our area to a conference at Franciscan University in Steubenville, Ohio. We joined more than 2,000 others Friday evening in the university field house and the atmosphere was like a rock concert. Kids clapping and singing their guts out, passing beach balls above their heads all through the crowd and forming human trains and running through the aisles...ELECTRIC is the word that came to mind. (It’s ok if you need to take an aspirin before you read on.) But here is the amazing part, it was praise and worship music…these kids were going crazy for their Faith!  Their love of the Lord is what brought them together and fed their frenzy!  I was awestruck about 30 minutes later when  all those teenagers dropped to their knees on the bleachers and hard gym floor in complete reverent silence to pray, praise , worship and adore the God who had created them! I watched teenagers laugh, pray, weep, and scream with delight as they drew closer, dug deeper and became more connected to Jesus!  I’m not sure I even have words yet to describe what I was so blessed to be a part of this weekend.  I went to help, but left with more HOPE than I can even describe.

On the 7 hour drive home, I thought about that “hell in a hand basket” phrase and realized that if those teenagers were goin’ somewhere in a hand basket…it sure wasn’t where the older folks from my childhood thought.   To be quite honest…we’d all be lucky to climb in the basket with them because they’re goin’ somewhere alright, and based on what I saw this weekend, I wanna go too!  The Steubenville Youth conferences will reach more than 40,000 teenagers this summer…talk about setting faith ablaze! This is the generation that will design, construct, operate, manage and decorate the nursing home I’m gonna live in!  They are also the generation that is going to renew the spirit of the church and they will do it well!

In a world where bad news is pretty easy to find, today’s verse from the Prophet Jeremiah is the key to settle our troubled hearts. HOPE in the Lord is our comfort!  We get worried and anxious about the woes of the day and we forget that our blessings will spring from the trust and HOPE we place in the Lord.  Those teenagers I spent the weekend with get it!  They renewed my hope because their faith is alive, real and contagious!  
 
A seed to plant:  Hope is rooted in God’s plan. Pick three things from your “I’m worried about” list and pray specifically for each one to be blessed by God and then replace the worry with expectant hope!

Blessings on your day!


 
10 Comments
Sandy Wolniakowski
7/2/2012 07:18:15 am

After the seven hour bus ride, many of those young people attended a rosary for Trent Bengel in his backyard. I feel honored and blessed to be in this community!

Reply
Rachel Kowatch
7/2/2012 08:06:05 am

Thanks for reminding me about hope....the Catholic Church in our neighboring town (Kentwood) was just destroyed by a fire on Sunday morning. This has been very devestating to the entire community who have attended this 50 year old church, many of whom my husband and I know well. Please keep them in your prayers and I will continue to replace my sadness with hope that God will strengthen their faith and our parish's faith as we work to support them through this loss and transition

Reply
Kristen Simon
7/2/2012 08:07:30 am

Just what I needed to hear today. Thanks!

Reply
Ellen Boliski
7/2/2012 09:33:01 am

Enjoy your blog, and your wit, you roll them into a message that makes you think, and I thank the Lord for the faith that my parents installed in me...it is so enjoyable to read. Keep it coming!!

Reply
Tawni
7/2/2012 10:11:59 am

Thank-you Sheri so much for sharing! I was so blessed to be able to spend this past weekend with the people I love and inspiring people like you who helped me realize so many things and drew me nearer to God. You are truely an inspiration to me. Not only did you take time out of your busy schedule to go on a religous retreat with a bunch of crazy kids (hehe), but you also left behind something that's priceless on each of our hearts, an understanding in our faith. I enjoyed having you as our group chaperone and getting to hear things from you that never made sense when anyone else said them, but made TOTAL sense hearing you say them. You have a gift from God being able to make the impact that you do on people. Thanks again, and may God bless you!! --- Tawni =))

Reply
Ann Lehman
7/3/2012 03:21:45 am

Sheri - Yes it was a truly rewarding experience, spending the weekend with these kids who, by watching their faith in action, inspired me to try and bring some of that "fire for Christ" back home. My Mom was telling me recently about a program she saw on TV that made her so mad - it was two people who were going on & on about how Christianity is a farce and how in 50 years it will have died out. And how by that time, if there are any believers left, they will feel foolish for believing in a God who doesn't exist. I told my Mom, these people certainly don't know about Steubenville and the youth of our time, and how passionate they are about their faith! These kids are our future, and I pray that these conferences will explode across our country, inspiring more & more teens and waking up the faith of us "older generations". Thank you, Sheri, for being a great "roomie"!

Reply
Teresa Pline
7/3/2012 08:17:43 am

Hi Sheri,
I have enjoyed reading your "messages" of joyful words. This is just what I need on some days :) Keep it up.

Reply
Mary Mc
7/3/2012 04:28:51 pm

Thank you so much for your words and for letting Jesus use you to spread His message. Much love from Va Beach!

Reply
Roxane B. Salonen link
7/4/2012 01:31:13 pm

Greetings! Thanks for pointing the way to your beautiful blog. I love the good thoughts you are bringing forward here. I've had similar experiences with my teens living out their faith life, and it is amazingly hopeful. I really love this line: "This is the generation that will design, construct, operate, manage and decorate the nursing home I’m gonna live in! " How true it is. Thank God we can trust in that! I do believe there is a renewal of faith on its way. Well, it's already here actually. We are going to be called to martyrdom and sainthood. Get ready!

Reply
Dating in Fontana link
10/5/2013 07:30:36 pm

I had no idea it was so easy to create a free blog here at Weebly, thanks.

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Joyful Words magnet picture

    ​Click on the items below to expand the options available to you to explore the Joyful Words blog.

    Categories

    All
    1 Corinthians
    1 John
    1 Thessalonians
    2 Corinthians
    Acts Of Love
    Advent
    Ageing
    All In
    Amazing
    Anxiety
    Armor Of God
    Asking For Help
    Bad Habits
    Balance
    Baptism
    Be
    Beauty
    Being Gracious
    Blessed Mother Teresa Of Calcutta
    Blessing
    Blessings
    Brokenness
    Carry Our Cross
    Catholic Education
    Change
    Changes
    Cheerfulness
    Children
    Choices
    Christian Belief
    Christmas
    Colossians
    Commitment
    Comparisons
    Compassion
    Consistent
    Content
    Contentment
    Courage
    Crosses
    Crumbs
    Dad
    Daughters Of God
    Delight
    Desire
    Desire God
    Details
    Dicipleship
    Die To Self
    Discipleship
    Dissapointment
    Dying To Self
    Easter
    Ecclesiastes
    Education
    Election
    Encouragement
    Enemy
    Ephesians
    Evangelization
    Exodus
    Expectations
    Faith
    Faithfulness
    Falling Short
    Family
    Fathers Love
    Fear
    Flag
    Footstool
    Forgiveness
    Fresh Start
    Friendship
    Fr. Mike
    Fr. Mike Schmitz
    Galatians
    Generosity
    God In Everyday Things
    God In Scripture
    Gods Beloved
    God's Enough
    God's Forgiveness
    Gods Gifts
    God's Guidance
    God's Love
    Gods Love
    God's Plan
    Gods P Lan
    God's Restoration
    Gods Strength
    God's Timing
    Gods Timing
    Gods Ways
    God's Will
    Gods Will
    Goodness
    Good News
    Grace
    Grandma
    Grandpa
    Gratefulness
    Gratitude
    Greatness
    Gretness
    Grief
    Happiness
    Healing
    Heart
    Heaven
    Hebrews
    He Chose Me
    Holiness
    Holy Spirit
    Holy Thrusday
    Holy Thursday
    Holy Week
    Hope
    Humble
    Humility
    Identity In Christ
    Intimacy
    Isaiah
    James
    Jeremiah
    John
    Joshua
    Joy
    Judgement
    Justice
    Kids
    Kindne
    Kindness
    Labor
    Laughter
    Lent
    Lessons
    Light
    Listening
    Little
    Love
    Lovelies
    Luke
    Mark
    Marriage
    Mary
    Matthew
    Meekness
    Mercy
    Mom
    Mornings
    Mud
    Obedience
    Openness
    Parenting
    Parentng
    Patience
    Peace
    Pentacost
    People
    Perseverance
    Perspeceive
    Perspective
    Philippians
    Pioneers
    Pleasing God
    Poor
    Porch
    Positive
    Possibilities
    Pray
    Prayer
    Priorities
    Promises
    Proverbs
    Psalm
    Relationship
    Religion
    Respect
    Romans
    Sacrifice
    Sacrifices
    Sainthood
    Saints
    Samuel
    Scripture
    Seeking God
    Service
    Serving God
    Signs
    Silence
    Simple
    Sin
    Sinfulness
    Slow Down
    Small Stuff
    Steve Ray
    Stillness
    St. Mary's 4th Of July
    Strength
    Stress
    Suffering
    Surprises
    Surrender
    Temptation
    Thanks
    The Right Thing
    Time
    Troubled Times
    Trust
    Trust In God
    Truth
    Understanding
    Unravelled
    Valentines
    Waiting
    Weddings
    Word Of The Year
    Words
    Works Of Mercy
    Worry


    ​Archives

    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012


    Back to Home

    RSS Feed


      HOME                        BLOG                       SPEAKING                        WRITING                        HOSPITALITY                        MEET SHERI  

CONTACT: 989.640.6673
Picture
EMAIL

FACEBOOK

Twitter

Content is the intellectual property of Sheri Wohlfert 2017
Created by dhengesbach
  • Home
  • Blog
  • Speaking
  • Writing
  • Hospitality
  • About Sheri