Blinded By the Light

   Have you ever been in your house, your place of work or somewhere else dark during the day? I'm sure you have. Then, for some reason or another you need to go outside to do something. How does it look outside? It's really bright, to the point of you are squinting. Then, as you are outside for a bit you get used to the light. Everything finally seems commonplace and normal.
   This is just like our Christian walk. We come out of our darkness and sin and we are overwhelmed by the light because it's new. We like the light, in fact we love it. We are on fire for God. We want to spread the good news. Then, as time goes on, we start to get used to the light. We stop telling others about God. We start thinking we know all there is to know about God. We start only thinking of ourselves.
   If our jobs were done on earth God would've taken us away. He has us here for a reason and wants us to grow in him. We need to let our lights shine for him. Once we come out of the darkness we give off his light. I don't know about you, but I want my light to shine bright for him. I don't just want it to be dull, that doesn't make a difference for the kingdom at all. We must tell others about what Jesus has done for them so that as many as possible can come to the kingdom.
   So, has the light become commonplace for you? Is your light becoming dim? What can you do to let your light shine for God? 

   Matthew 5:15-16
   Image from here. 

Jesus Washes Us Clean

     I enjoy doing object lessons to bring the Bible to life. One object lesson I have done a lot with my preschoolers is a germs experiment. We take Crisco, rub it on their hands, then put colorful sand on their hands to represent germs. If you try to get the sand off with just water, it does not come off. The children need to use soap and water to remove the "germs." 

   At camp when I was teaching the elementary children in vespers, I told the children the sand represented sin. They tried to get the sand off by themselves and it would not come off. Then I gave them soap which represented Jesus. They were able to remove the sin because Jesus came to remove it for them. 

  As hard as we try, we cannot remove our own sin. It does not matter how good you are. It does not matter if you try not to do bad things. You are a sinner. God is holy and cannot abide with sinners. That is why Jesus had to come to rescue us from our sins. He was the sacrificial lamb who died to wash us clean.

   To help you remember this I am going to mention something you may be tired of hand sanitizer. I gave each child their own hand sanitizer after the lesson to remind them that Jesus has washed us clean of our sins. Each time you put on sanitizer remember what Jesus has done for you and thank him.

   So, are you washed clean of your sins? How can you share with others about Jesus each day? 

   1 John 1:7

Ride the Wave

  We all go through them: seasons of stress. Maybe there are health problems in your family, maybe work is causing your eye to twitch, maybe someone in your family is making your brain explode. The list could go on and on but you get the idea. 

One time I was going through a season of stress a friend sent me a video. In the video someone was surfing a wave. The person fell as he was surfing. He went under the water. He was under the influence of stress. The problem is if we choose to wallow in that stress we will drown and die. 

The surfer got back up on his board and got ready to ride the next wave. The next wave was bigger but the surfer was more prepared. He was able to ride the wave. In life we can choose to stay down when stressful times come. We can have pity parties or we can get back up and ride the wave.

Psalm 118: 5-6 says "Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?" It is important to remember that we cannot learn how to ride the waves on our own and in our own strength. We need to ride with God. When hard times come we need to call upon the Lord. Sometimes that's easy other times it is not so easy. We may feel so beat up that we question if it's even worth getting up. That's when we need to call on the Lord. He will lift you up. He will prepare you for whatever wave you face next. He will remind you that with Him on your side man cannot do anything to you. 

So, will you choose to get up and ride the wave with God?

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Who You Spend Time With

    At the school I teach at we have begun to grow different plants. One time we were growing tomatoes. I could not believe how many tomatoes grew when we planted them! Then we picked them. Each child pointed to the one they wanted, and teachers helped them pull them off if they needed it. 

   One child saw a large tomato that was hidden within the tomato plants. It looked plump and big. I went to grab it but as I did another tomato came with it. On the opposite side of the large tomato, it was squishy and rotten because a tomato beside it was connected to it, and it was rotten. This large tomato that would have been good to eat was no longer good to eat because of the tomato next to it.

   Humans can act like those tomatoes. You can be a Christian who is following the Lord, but others can impact your walk with the Lord. If you spend time with someone who sins and encourages you to sin, then you can become rotten. You cease to bear good fruit. That's why we must be careful who we spend our time with. We need to have a body of believers who are encouraging us in our walk with God.

   Now, that is not to say that we should not spread the Gospel as the great commission calls us to. We should tell others about Jesus. We just should not allow others to influence us to sin. It is a fine balance. We must be confident in our Lord and trust in him so much that when temptation comes, we can overtake it. That is how we will bear good fruit.

   So, who do you spend your time with? Are you walking with the Lord? How can you spread the Gospel today?

   Psalm 119:105

Can You Repeat That?

    For those of you who know me, you know I am a teacher. I teach 3–5-year-olds every week. That in itself is a challenge. But I also have to repeat myself many more times than the average teacher because, if you have never worked with preschoolers then you would not know, they have a hard time listening.

   One day I was in my classroom in the morning. A mother was dropping her child off. The child ran through the door with the mother walking quickly behind her. The mother looked at her daughter, let’s call her Quail, and said, “Quail, you need to wait for mommy to go into the classroom with you.” I chuckled to myself because this is one of the children who likes to do things her own way.

   The mother shook her head and said to me, “how many times do you repeat yourself a day?” I stood there and began to think. I was actually going to try to give her an estimate. Then she said, “maybe I should change the question: how often when you ask a child to do something do you not need to repeat yourself?” I laughed and replied, “it is quite often that I do repeat myself.”

   This whole scenario reminded me of patience and how patient God is with us. How many times do you think God had to repeat himself to the Israelites? According to impactus.org, he says “I am The LORD your God” at least 150 times alone. How many times did God remind them that he was with them? The word “love” appears over 300 times in the Bible according to christianity.com. The Bible talks about loving others, how God is love, and that God loves us over and over. You would think we would remember this because of how many times it is repeated. Yet, like children, we forget.

   2 Peter 3:9 says, “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.” God is willing to repeat himself because of his patient love. He created us and wants us to grow in him. Thus, while we are here, we are to show his love to others.

   So, are you showing patience with others? How can you remember God’s grace and patience each day?

He Doesn't Make Mistakes

    The movie Mom’s Night Out is one of my mom’s favorite movies. It does a nice job balancing comedy, family fun, and Christian messages. One of the most impactful scenes is when a biker named Bones is talking with Allyson, the main character, and a mom. You can find the clip at the end of this blog post.

   In this clip, Allyson is beating herself up. She does this for much of the movie. She seems to be a bit of a perfectionist. She thinks she isn’t enough. That she isn’t doing enough. I am sure some of you mothers may have felt that way before.

   Bones starts talking about his mother and the impact she made on him. He reminds Allyson about an undeniable fact: God loves you. God loves you no matter what you have done, what you think, what you say, etc. He loves you. It is amazing to think about.

   Then Bones goes on to remind Allyson of another fact: God doesn’t make mistakes. He says: “Let me tell you something, girl. I doubt the Good Lord made a mistake giving your kiddos the mama He did. So you just be you. He'll take care of the rest.” God put you in this place, in this time, in this moment for a reason. We may not always know what that reason is, but we cannot doubt that God is with us and that he doesn’t make mistakes.

   So, do you believe that God is with you and loves you? How can you remind yourself of those facts each day?

Clip: https://youtu.be/K_aY2M5hxyw 

Needing Light In the Darkness

   When I was younger I really, really liked glow in the dark things. Something that doesn't light up in the day but does when it's dark, how cool is that? In fact, I still have some glow in the dark stars in my room. I was looking at those stars as they glowed the other day and I thought about something.
   Those stars don't glow in the light. Yet, those stars need to be charged by light before they can glow in the dark. You may be saying, "that's kind of obvious. That's why they are called glow in the dark." Well, as always, I have a point.
   We also need light before we can glow in the darkness. No, we don't physically glow but we are in darkness. Our darkness is sin. We live in a fallen world. Sin is all around us. Sin is in us. Sin runs our lives until we choose to let Jesus take the wheel instead. Jesus is our light. If we don't walk with him and spend time with him we won't be "charged" enough to be a light in the darkness. Then we will not be an impact on the world like we are called to be. We are to be a light to the world.
   So, are you a light in the darkness? Have you been spending time with Jesus so you can be "charged" by him? What can you do to spread the light today?

   Matthew 5:14-16, John 8:12, and 1 Peter 2:9

   Image from here.