Blog Archives
“He’s Here!” from the Jesus Storybook Bible
We were given the Jesus Storybook Bible as a gift when Caleb was born. I had not seen it before and quickly grew to love it. Many pastors endorse this Bible even for adults to read because of the way it connects every Biblical story to Jesus. It helps children learn that all of the Bible even is about Jesus! To help celebrate Christmas, here’s a video put together with the illustrations from that Bible and the narration.
Share this with your children!
Operation Christmas Child report
Our church participated in Operation Christmas Child this year, as did many churches across our country. The impact we can have on children across the world is phenomenal with this effort led by Samaritan’s Purse.
In worship yesterday, we had a “commissioning” time for our boxes, where we had people bring their boxes to the front and then prayed over them, asking God to bless these children who receive them and to bring salvation into many homes as a result. After worship, the boxes were put into my truck and I took them to the drop-off site, which was at the Womens Home on East Center Street, 2 houses west of mine.
As I took the boxes in, I learned something I didn’t know in all the years I’ve done Operation Christmas Child- a salvation message tract of some sort is put into every box in the language of the area it is going to! Before they are finally shipped from Samaritan Purse’s headquarters, they put an age appropriate tract in each box so that the child is sure to read about Jesus as the giver of all gifts, not just someone somewhere in the world sending them Christmas gifts. I thought this was great!
So Central- in all, we packed 33 boxes plus had $60 given to Samaritan’s Purse as a donation for helping send the boxes to these children!! Good job! It’s great to think outside of ourselves to bless and be a witness to others. Let’s keep it up!
Leaving a Legacy For My Son
What do these two Scriptures teach us?
“No longer shall your name be called Abram, but your name shall be Abraham, for I have made you the father of a multitude of nations. I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make you into nations, and kings shall come from you. And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to be God to you and to your offspring after you. And I will give to you and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.” And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations.”" Genesis 17:5-9 (emphasis added)
“The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving iniquity and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.” Numbers 14:18
They teach us that we can leave a positive impact on our children, and that we can leave a negative impact on our children (and future generations).
So the question I kept asking in my mind was “what kind of legacy am I going to leave for my children?”
With Caleb being the only child right now, and only being 7 months old, there’s not much I can teach him yet. But I wanted to start doing something practical now to leave a positive impact on his life and his siblings’ lives.
I thought- what do I value enough to leave a legacy built around?
Scripture. That’s it. I want my children to know that I value the Word of God in my life. I want them to know that beyond what they hear me teach at home or preach at church or write on the walls of our house, I’m spending my life interacting with God through His words.
So I got a journaling Bible, which is just a Bible with wide margins. I have made this Bible my every-day reading Bible where I am writing down my interaction with Scripture- questions, thoughts, connections to other Scripture passages, etc. I want Caleb to know that I spend time with God outside of what he (Caleb) sees, that I struggle in my life, that I don’t know everything about the Bible. But most importantly, I want Caleb to know that I valued Scripture enough in my life to instill it into his.
I can’t wait until one day when we’re older and I give him that Bible. By then, I hope it’s full of writing to show Caleb that his Dad is a real person who spent time with the Lord.
