I asked Martha Brooks, our Women’s Ministry Director, to write this week’s Pastoral Notes.
Dear Cornerstone Family,
As I type this, we are zooming down I-40 in the pouring rain, Preston is maneuvering our 55 feet of Suburban-plus-camper around semitrucks and other Spring-Breakers, the girls are watching movies/doing the Wordle, and I am congratulating myself on surviving another vacation in 175 square feet of living space. Well done, Me.
Actually, if you talk to us for more than thirty minutes, the camper will come up. We love it more than our luggage. (Kudos if you get that movie reference.) It isn’t that it’s super nice or spacious (see aforementioned square footage), but it’s what it has allowed us to do that makes us love it so much. For the past six years we have researched and planned trips, mapping out routes to take these people to see the Grand Canyon, hike Cadillac Mountain, climb seaside cliffs, remember the Alamo, cruise along Picture Rocks Lakeshore. We have been all the way down to Key West and just down the road to Henry Horton. And while it is such a gift to be able to show the girls these amazing places in creation, the real gift (and what we hope they will remember most) has been in how our family has grown. Having this camper, this ability to be together, has bonded the five of us in a way that just doesn’t happen when we all retire to our individual activities and separate bedrooms after supper. Instead, we open the tiny game cabinet, fight over which one to play, argue and laugh until it’s time to turn the kitchen table into a bed, and chat as we fall asleep within ten feet of each other. (“Good-night, John-boy.” Double kudos if you get that reference!) The camper forces us to get close, to be patient, and to compromise. All this has led to a deeper appreciation of each other, a deeper understanding of what makes the others tick, and a deeper thankfulness for what God has given us in the gift of one another. The camper is the tool that facilitates this deepening.
I recently finished reading Dane Ortlund’s, Deeper. In the weeks since I’ve finished, I have returned to many passages over and over trying to refine what exactly our vision is for the women of Cornerstone. (I really just wanted to write “Read this book. The End.” for the Pastoral Notes today—this idea was frowned upon.) I especially keep coming back to this quote from the introduction:
“Growing in Christ is not centrally improving or adding or experiencing, but deepening.
Implicit in the notion of deepening is that you already have what you need.”
Our vision for the women of Cornerstone is that we will go deeper. Deeper in our relationships. Deeper in our stories. Deeper in prayer. Deeper in Scripture. Deeper in service. Deeper in evangelism. Deeper in thankfulness. Deeper in Christ. Together.
We don’t have to buy a fleet of Cornerstone Campers to facilitate this (Although that would be so fun! Contact your shepherding elder!). We already have what we need: we have the Word, we have the church body, we have access to the throne of grace, we have the Holy Spirit. Our goal in Women’s Ministry will simply be to facilitate ways to access the tools already at our disposal. We will continue (and deepen!) the things we are already doing, and there will be a few new things coming down the pike. We will aim to put good resources in your hands, to continue to get to know one another and access the gifts each woman has been given, to guide you into a deeper love of Scripture and learning to study it well, to encourage you to engage more deeply in life with your Cornerstone family.
Our first “Deeper Together” event will be Thursday, April 21. We will have desserts and fun and fellowship, as well as talk about going Deeper Together in Prayer as we begin this new season of ministry. Mark your calendars and watch for registration to open in the coming weeks. Please make plans to come and bring your youth-aged daughters.
Let’s all go deeper. Together.
Love and Grace, Martha Brooks