Children

I must apologize for not being able to post lately. Things have been crazy but God has provided me with all that I need. Yesterday (Sunday, September 22, 2013) I had a very blessed day. I went to the 8:15 worship service at the First Lutheran Church in Freeport, Illinois, and had a wonderful time learning more about God. Yesterday's Gospel lesson was on stewardship.

Now, I could talk about stewardship, but I think you all know what that is. I would like to see some comments if you have a chance and I will try and reply to them. Instead of talking about stewardship, I want to talk about our new generation of humanity, the next generation of worldly caregivers... children.

We all know children are our successors in life and have a mind of their own. Some are raised in a Christian surrounding, but others are not. I have seen both ways of being raised and both have their advantages and disadvantages. I will tell you about some of the children I have met recently and how I believe they are brought up and if they are raised in a Christian setting or not. I am not judging, just merely pointing out the facts.

In June of 2013, I had the calling to volunteer at the First Church of the Nazarene in Freeport for Vacation Bible School. The director of VBS had me in registration for Kindergarten. This is where I met the most wonderful children I have ever had the honor to meet. Two of them, by the way, are blood relations named Brooklyn and Sydney . During that week, I had the chance of working with Brooklyn for a few days and really got to know her. It was really fun.

Day 1: Nothing really happened besides me registering the Kindergarten group and helping the 1st and 2nd Grade group dubbed the 'Jesters' to their stations and making sure they were listening. Ended up playing what I call the 'Game of the Day' with the kids.
Day 2: The most interesting of the week. Checked off the Kindergarten group's names, sang songs with the huge amount of kids we had and went to help the Jesters once more. Brooklyn held my hand and really 'bonded' with me that day. I promised her I would stay with her group throughout the week. (Big mistake to make a promise you can't keep.)
Day 3: Did my job and broke the promise I made to Brooklyn. Didn't upset her as I thought I would have, but she was a bit disappointed.
Day 4: Brooklyn completely ignored me. Apparently she and her mom are a lot alike. Both can hold a grudge for more than a day.

That was Vacation Bible School, but there are other incidents with kids I've had. Since August, I have been staying at a friend's house and had the opportunity to get to know a few of the kids that come around here. Two of them are 'regular visitors' because they come around most often, and they are Courtney and Levi. Courtney is 8 and Levi is 3, so of course things are going to be difficult. Levi is a boy who you learn to like over time. The first question out of his mouth to everyone is "Why are you here?" and then he asks for your name. Courtney is very sweet but has a tendency to -- as my friend says -- abuse the company. My friend Ed came over for a couple nights and Courtney decided to see how hard she could hit him without Ed being in pain. She tried his chest lightly at first but he said it didn't hurt, so she hit harder. (Mean, right?)
Well, after trying as hard as she could to hit his chest, Courtney decided to go for the face. That did it.

Now, I could go on and on about all the kids I met over the years, but it would take too long. If you have any comments about my post, please feel free to express your opinions. I am always open to opinions.

God Bless!

Easter and What It's About

What is Easter about? Well, it's about Jesus' resurrection, that's what. You see, when Jesus died, he rose again three days later. I will not post the full Bible scripture, but if you happen to have your bible handy, please turn to Luke 23:33 and read from there.

The Christmas Story

I know you all heard of the Story of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, right? Well, I' m going to tell it to you again lol. It all started with a couple named Mary and Joseph. Mary was about to have a baby any minute, and she rode on a donkey to Bethlehem. Unfortunately for her and Joseph, all the inns had no room left, so they ended up in a stable with animals. During that night, an angel appeared and told Mary that she was to have a baby boy and name it Jesus. When she did, she put the baby in a manger.

Three wise men saw a bright star in the sky, and followed it east to where baby Jesus lay in that manger. When they got there, they presented him with gifts of gold, frankenscence and myrrh. Now, that's the story that I remember, but the rest of it's a blur to me right now. If any of you know more about that story, please comment below.

The Miracles of Jesus Christ

In the Bible, Jesus performed some miracles. I was really surprised, and somewhat skeptical at them. Jesus healed the blind, the lame, the mute and the people with Leprosy. He also could awaken the dead. The question I always asked myself was, "How does he do it? Is there some kind of mystic power he has? Is it the power of God that he possesses?" 

I never figured that out, and I am still working through it. So I ask all of you who read this. How did he do all those miracles? 

Please comment on this with your inputs. I would like to hear what you have to say.

Sin

Man, nothing is worse than sin. Yes, we're all sinners, and that's cool, but reading Genesis 1 made me think about why we have sins in our world. As you know by the Bible, Adam and Eve were put in the Garden of Eden and trusted by God to not touch the fruit on the tree in the middle of the garden. A serpent told Eve, "If you eat this fruit, you will not die. Your eyes will be opened and you will know right from wrong." Eve trusted it and gave Adam a fruit and they both ate. Their eyes opened and they realized they were naked.

When I read this verse, I was surprised by this. Satan himself told Eve to eat the fruit, and she did. God wasn't happy with them, so he increased her pain in child bearing and said to the serpent, "You will crawl on the ground and bite the ankles of humans. You will eat dust." I couldn't believe how angry God was about it, but I understood his situation.

This is how sin came to be. Adam and Eve were told not to do something, but did it anyway. 

Worship and Praise

Ah, I love to worship and praise the Lord, don't you? It's such a wonderful time of fellowship and getting together with a church, group of friends, or even your family. Now, I don't know how you do it, but I go to church on Saturday nights at 5 PM Central time, and sing from a hymnal and listen to a Pastor talk. It's the same thing on Sunday mornings, but on Sunday evenings, if I'm not to busy, I go to my Nazarene Church and sing with the congregation there.

When you worship God, you do it in different ways. You can spread the Word of God to people you know, shout your praises, or sing like I do. Praise and worship are similar in most ways, and different in others, but to me, they are all the same. So, I'd like to do a weekly question for you all. This week's question: How do you worship and praise God?

You can tell me by emailing me, or commenting on my post. Thank you and God Bless you all!

The Gospel of the Lord

You know what's really awesome about being with God? Sharing his Word, or as a lot of people like to say, the Gospel. It's a wonderful thing. Romans 4 says, "When we were baptized, we were buried with Jesus and shared his death. So just as Jesus was raised from the dead by the wonderful power of the Father, we can also live a new life." (NCV)

When it said, when we are baptized, we were buried with Jesus, what did that mean? I'll tell you. It meant that when we are baptized, our sins are buried with us and we died as Jesus died...by the wonderful power of the Father. This is the Gospel, a part of it at least. The rest of the Gospel is from Mark, Luke, John, and Matthew, but I'm not going to get into that right away.

Here is a question for you. How do we spread the Gospel? Well, we do that by talking with people who want to come to know Christ, and remind those who do know Him.