Friday, March 24, 2017

Noah's Ark Trip

As many of you know I am the children's ministry leader @ WBBC. I teach Sunday school & children's church. When working with children one of the most popular Bible stories is Noah's Ark. I think over time it has developed as maybe a cutesy theme where the 2 of each animal is focused on and made to look cartoonish in church nurseries all over the country. You'll see it in baby bedding. I am not criticizing either of those things but I have been thinking a little deeper on it since I am leaving for a trip with several church families to see the Ark Encounter and the Creation Museum.

From a teaching standpoint it's hard to describe to children the massive size of the ark. It's hard to explain 300 cubits while in a room. It's hard for kids to visualize what you mean. So I am excited for my kids to see the size of the ark and be able to put words to an actual vision.

But it's still more than seeing it.

Now remember I am not a Bible scholar, not schooled in theology, as a matter of fact my college education is wildlife bio and I never completed my degree.  I just couldn't get thru genetics! I am  just a mom serving where and how I believe God has lead me. As you read this know that I didn't research the ark or Noah these are just my thoughts, correct or not. This is how I see it in Kristi's head.

So I was thinking about how bad the world must have been during Noah's time for God to say people were so wicked that he wanted to end the human race. Noah was a righteous man who was obedient to God. Can you imagine being the only man in your society, your camp, your neighborhood  that had a desire to love God?  I imagine that would have been tough for Noah. It would be tough for me. It is so easy to cave to the ways of the world even with a strong Christian family around you but having nobody around you striving for what God wants.. that's bad!   Can you imagine the ridicule Noah received when he started building the ark? His neighbors, friends and family had to think he had lost his mind. I can imagine they made fun of him and called him names. My neighbors would think I was crazy if I started building a huge boat behind my house. Then let's talk about perseverance. It's not like Noah could call up Joey Jones Construction  and ask them to come build an ark or drive down to Buck's boats and pick out his favorite pontoon boat. He had to build it himself with primitive tools. Can you imagine the amount of time this took? The days that he got up tired, with people ridiculing him and he still kept going out there day after day, year after year and working on that ark. He persevered because God gave him a job to do and he was obedient to God. Noah's family had to think he was all kinds of crazy. I can hear him now telling his wife, sons & daughter in laws to hurry up and load the boat that the rains were coming. What about their faces when the animals started to load? Not all the animals but just 2 of each.  Then God shuts the door. Noah had to feel some relief, some vindication. Then towards the end he demonstrated even more faith as he sent the birds out several times believing that eventually God would provide dry land for him and his family.

So out of this Bible story I see a righteous man, a man who was obedient to God when nobody else was,  a man who placed God first in his life before family, before friends, before his own image. I see Noah's faith in God, his belief that whatever God said was going to happen, was going to happen. Noah had faith that if he preserved thru whatever God was asking of him, that God was going to save him and his family.

Then in the Bible you will see that Noah was naked in his drunkenness. That shows me that even though Noah had a great faith, love and obedience to God, he wasn't perfect. He was a man.

We aren't perfect but we can be obedient to God's call, we can preserver when times are tough or challenges come, and tough times will come.  We can know that God does what he says he will do.

Say a prayer for my group as we travel.  Pray for safety. Pray that our minds and hearts are open to all that a God wants us to see and learn. Pray for the families going that we continue to bond and make our friendships even deeper. Pray for the children and that the loved Bible story of Noah and the Ark becomes real to their hearts.  Have a great Spring Break!

Yes I know this isn't the actual ark! lol I was asked that!


Sunday, February 26, 2017

Are You Investing In Your Child's Spiritual Life?

I know it's been forever since I blogged. Those of you who know me, know that I don't sleep a lot. I think at night, many times I am in prayer for a while.  I was praying late Saturday night and God gave me some thoughts.  I was thinking about how people invest in their own spiritual lives, by praying, reading the Bible, by doing extra Bible studies, going to Christian events,  and reading Christian books but do we invest in our children's spiritual lives? Are you reading the Bible with your child, do you do a Bible study with your child, are you discussing with your child what they learned at church (almost every Sunday your child has a paper with the lesson and Bible verse we studied in Sunday school, most the time the kids do not take them home and they end up thrown away), are you praying with them, taking them to Christian events and worshiping with them. As adults we invest in our own spiritual life but isn't our child's spiritual life just as important if not more since they might not have asked Jesus into their heart yet? You might say, well I have them in church Wednesday nights and Sundays. You have yourself in church Wednesday and Sunday too but do you only pray on those days because your Pastor is there with you? No.. you pray daily.  Do you listen to worship songs only Wednesdays and Sundays? Most of you probably listen to some sort of worship music during the week. Do you only look at scripture on Wednesday and Sunday? Probably not. My point is if you are investing in your own spiritual life, why would we not put that same emphasis or concern or even drive into investing into our child's spiritual life. Take notice.. I am not saying anyone is or isn't and this sure isn't to criticize or critique anyone it's just to make us all think, all of us no matter our kids ages. It made me think. Do I invest in my children's spiritual lives? Not as much as I need to.  Think on it!