September 8th Challenge

Hi it’s Christina –

Good morning! Finally settling in to the “new normal”. This morning was smooth sailing. Everyone was up and out of the house, on time, fed, and with lunches packed.

My cousins

I have been meaning to tell you folks about this since our return from Texas, but there always seemed to be something else going on, or I was too rushed to give this the amount of time it warrants.

Remember I told you that while we were in Texas, we went to visit cousins of mine who I had not seen in decades? We had an amazing time, but since we have reconnected, I’m a little sad because now, as an adult, I realize how far away they live, and the limited amount of time I will realistically get to spend with them in the years to come. BUT, that has absolutely NOTHING to do with what I wanted to tell you about.

Debbie and Leo, my cousins, own a company called Solutions by Mobile; and that company developed an app that helps churches communicate with their parishioners called Church by Mobile. The concept is so simple, yet brilliant. It allows for the church leaders to send out messages to their congregation, it allows for donations to come in to the church, and they even have something for you to be able to listen to the sermon even if you can’t make it to church that Sunday.

It made me think of all the folks we have on our prayer chain at church. How great would it be to get a text message saying so-and-so’s daughter just went into labor, please pray for all to go well? Or how about the folks who are in the hospital or rehab or recuperating at home and physically can’t get to church but would benefit from hearing the sermon? OR even something simple like a text saying, “Just a reminder, don’t eat dinner before the youth group meeting tonight, because we’re ordering pizzas for everyone.”

See, I told you it was simply brilliant. It’s one of those forehead smackers with you saying, “Why didn’t I think of that?”

I know many of you have pretty strong religious affiliations, and I wanted to ask you to share this website with your religious leader – not because my cousins own the company, but because it would help your church, temple, mosque, whatever.

I passed on the information to my pastor yesterday. (Yeah, I know, I’ve been naughty. Yesterday was the first Sunday in weeks that I’ve been to church.) One of the best things about the app is that it doesn’t matter if your church has 50 members or 50K members, it will still be beneficial, and the app itself is ridiculously inexpensive.

Okay, no more sales pitch, and I want you to know that I have ZERO ties to the company, and in no way shape or form do I benefit from telling you about Solutions by Mobile; but I thought the Church by Mobile app was amazing, and if I thought it would help you, why wouldn’t I share?

Okay, I am now about to embark on five UNINTERRUPTED hours of writing, and I’m excited. My little pea-brain was working overtime while I slept and I have a fairly clear picture of where FTQ needs to head. So I am off to Ireland.

I hope you have a delightful day, and happy writing!

Your Next Challenge is:

A helping hand…

You have ten minutes (be honest). There is no right or wrong, just write. Spelling and punctuation don’t count, and NO ONE is allowed to criticize what someone else has written. Go.