How are you feeling? Are you healthy? Have you ever sat next to someone coughing and sneezing and worried, "Oh I hope I don't catch that!" I have been suffering with Valley Fever for the past 6 months, so I know what it's like to be the person coughing and the looks people give are so strange. I know they think it's a cold or flu and wish I'd go home. They never stop to think if it could be something else. So with all the attention I've been getting, each time I go into a coughing fit, I was reminded of a leadership training session I went to and thought I'd share with you.

Are you sick with faith? If someone was near you, could they catch what you have?

Does your love for Christ rub off on everything you touch, so much so that the ones that touch what you have, are infected with that love?

Do all the people that you know, know that you are carrier?

Do you remember when you first came down with your faith? Think of your last runny nose. It was all you could think of and you couldn't do anything else with your day but care for your infection.

So here's my challenge... Get sick with Faith so you can be infectious! If you are not sure how to catch it, here’s some tips...

Hang out with someone who is a known carrier (I pray I am a carrier of not just Valley Fever but of Christ love too." Touch the stuff they touch, get close, follow them to where ever they are serving and do what they do. If you’re lucky, you'll pick it up! We'll have a bunch of carriers here at church on Wednesday nights 6-8pm. They will be in the Bible study room.

Sit next to the ones that can't stop talking about how God saved them. Also be looking for the ones that can hardly look up (I've found that these sufferers are very contagious and they don't even know what they have yet, but it's about to break out all over them! Some of our youth are carriers too. They will be the ones loving up on the kids at Super Summer VBS, you'll know who they are. They'll be dressed up like a super hero and laughing a lot! I'm praying for a huge outbreak!

As someone that has been around a lot of contagious people for years, I have the honor of sometimes seeing how the faith is spread. Sometimes it happens in Sunday school. Someone had a rough week and they just need love, so we grab their hands and hold them tight and the next thing you know they've come down with it too. They start bringing friends to church and we pray all over them, and of course, they come back, where else can they go, they want to be with others with the same infectious faith. Pretty soon they can't take it any more, and before you know it the church grows, the lost are found. All because someone didn't stay home, they just couldn't keep their faith to themselves.

I pray you are contagious!

God bless you!

Pastor Barb

PS This is the link to the speaker that first shared this idea with me  - Craig Jutila www.whowillyouempower.com barb@hopechurchchandler.com

Children are the living message we are sending to a time we'll never see.