Well, all week I have had the best intentions of working on the memory verses with my kids. It started great, right after church I asked the boys if they remembered theirs and my 6 yr old was able to repeat it right away and then the 8 yr old chimed in too! BINGO… this week is going to be great, they already knew the verse, now all I needed to do was work with the 3 yr old and I’d be a rock start mom. HA! It is now Friday morning. I woke up at 6am when the 3 yr old climbed into bed next to me and I decided to let her have my place in bed. So I got up and went to sit, think and pray on the couch. “Make good on your good intentions” I felt as if God were whispering into my ear. As I was thinking about what that meant my 3 yr old sleepily came from the bedroom and I realized I needed to make good on my intentions, to be intentional in breathing God’s word into my children’s lives. So after she turned on the Halloween lights I had her climb up into my lap, get cozy and we reviewed the memory verse for preschoolers. It took a few tries but she got into making the hand motions. And even if she didn’t repeat the verse word for word, I know that by practicing it I have helped her hide God’s word in her heart.
For the word of the Lord is right and true - Psalm 33:4
Hand motions- Word = make a book with hands
Lord = point up to the sky
Right = point right
True = hand over heart
Good luck in being intentional with your children this weekend and see you on Sunday for Don’t go to church, be the church!
Family Life is a new blog for communicating with parents by a parent. My goal is to present fun ideas to incorporate what our children are studying about in Grace Place and Life Kids into daily family life. And along the way you’ll probably read some silly stories about ways that my family brings God into everyday activities!
My name is Ann and I am a stay at home mom of three kids. An 8 year old boy, a 6 year old boy and a 3 year old girl. Each day I strive to keep up with them: feeding them, making sure they are dressed and ready to take on the day, finding time to get homework done and keeping the toys under control! The number one priority in my day is to be God’s hands and feet in my children’s lives and to teach them how to have a relationship with Him.
This coming Sunday, October 3rd, the kids will start a new unit : The Bible is True
The memory verse for this unit is : Psalm 33:4 NIVFor the word of the Lord is right and true…
I want to encourage you to find time this next week to read the memory verse with your children and together start to memorize it. I know this will be a challenge for our family, but I’ll let you know how we are doing as the week progresses!
Growing up in a rural town going to fairly traditional churches I spent a lot of time singing old hymns (I’ve never understood the silent “n”) and I remember one in particular that begins with the line, “I heard an old, old story, how a savior came from glory” and goes on to speak of our “Victory in Jesus” (also the name of the hymn). So is this a blog about the value of hymns? No, it’s about the amazing power that lives in stories. Stories were the primary form of education long before schools were invented as the entire history of civilizations were passed from one generation to another as children sat at the feet of the parents and grandparents hearing stories. It is the story that brings us all together to learn about and celebrate our collective history.
The great thing about stories is that we all have one too, and it’s alive, and it’s uniquely ours, and we have the opportunity to live a new chapter in it each day as we join God in the creation of the story of our lives. It’s so great too that our stories connect with the stories all around us and sometimes we even get to have stories WITH others. This makes me excited. Why? Because I know that this means that the greatest part of my story and I believe even of OUR story as Grace is yet to come. Don’t get me wrong, we have some outstanding stories from times past, but I believe that God has even more in store and is doing more even as I write this as we have folks creating stories in Haiti, doing church online, doing church at Watterson Court, doing life all around town (which some could argue is not much different than doing church), and who knows where all we will do church in the days to come! Yeah, we have some great stories.
So, in honor of our stories I would like to hear from you. What is one of your favorite stories about Grace Community and your life? And/or what are you most excited about as a future story line?
Grace Community Church is taking October 10th and having a day of service “Don’t Go to Church be The Church”. I have the privilege of contacting some of the folks who the church will be serving on October 10th. The purpose of this day is to “serve without agenda”, Grace Community believes that Jesus in and through the church (which is people) should make the community a better place. I just left one of the homes that needs some yard work and general cleanup. The lady I talked with, who might be the sweetest person ever, told me that when our leadership came to lunch at the senior center and volunteered to do “anything that need to be done” she went home in tears. Her husband is not in good health and things are starting to pile up. As I talked with her she said the most precious life-giving thing to me. We were talking about the different things the volunteers could get accomplished when she stopped me and spoke with passion and hope, “you know Jerris, when the church serves the community in this way I believe it makes Jesus smile”…..tears….. hugs. I can’t think of a better way to spend Sunday, October 10th then doing something that makes Jesus smile.
Have you ever wanted to have a worldwide impact? Sounds ambitious, grand, and exhausting to me at times. But I’m learning that with God all things are possible, and they’re not always difficult. Just last night a team of 6 of us from Grace Community and a former Gracer in North Carolina were able to minister to over 100 people from 46 different countries including:
American Samoa, Argentina, Asia/Pacific Region, Australia, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Czech Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Finland, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Indonesia, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Korea, Republic of, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Russian Federation, Senegal, Singapore, Slovakia, Sudan, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Yugoslavia, Zaire.
That’s pretty amazing and honestly a lot of fun. While I love the staggering numbers that we see come out of the ministry of Church Online what really gets me are the stories of individuals and families who are changed forever because of God’s intervention in their lives.
One of those moments happened for our team last night as a young man came into the chat stating that he wanted to become a follower of Christ. He had been trying to chat with Jerris in the Live Prayer but was having technical difficulties and finally said something in the main public chat. We were excited to talk to him about his relationship with Christ and he professed his faith in Christ with all of the chat participants there to celebrate. THAT WAS COOL, but it gets even better. His sister came into the chat later celebrating and saying that her brother was so excited calling all of his friends. Then she told us how she had been in a place in her faith weeks ago where she felt as though she had fallen away from God and that he would not take her back. She came to church online and was encouraged through a live prayer chat that she was still and would always be loved by God. That prayer time encouraged her to then minister to her two brothers, one of whom had become a Christ-follower shortly after that time and the one who gave his life to Jesus in the chat last night! You never know what impact a simple chat or spending time to speak words of life and encouragement to a person will have.
I pray that as you go, you will be filled with the love of God in such a way that you will be able to minister to everyone you come in contact with. I pray that God will show you the opportunities in front of you to have tremendous impact on the lives of people you may never know.
We received a good reminder this week of how much of a difference it makes in the world when someone takes the time to encourage and believe in someone else. As I look back on my life, I remember the coaches, teachers, scoutmasters, and my mom and dad who gave me so much encouragement and support that helped me to achieve great successes in life. There’s no doubt that as I left home to start college and even as I left college to continue my career, that the continued encouragement and support I receive from so many has given me the courage to trust in God, step out, and live life.
While I am so grateful for those who encouraged me I’m also reminded that there are others now, young and old, who may not have those people in their life and who God has placed in my life so that I can believe in them. Whether it’s a one time kind word or helping hand, or a more invested relationship we can change the world by taking the time to let someone know that you believe he or she has what it takes to do great things in life.
Yesterday at Grace Community Church was amazing! Families dedicating children to the Lord and 5 adults confessing their commitment to Jesus through Baptism! As the church worshiped and celebrated new life the atmosphere in the room was electric…..or maybe the spirit was moving…..I would say the morning was incredibly life-giving!
It’s been said by many and I agree, there is nothing more beautiful or powerful than the local church! I am so humbled, blessed, and excited to be a part of Grace Community Church. I am believing God today for “one more”.
Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:5-7
The Bible tells us the book of Proverbs that the power of life and death are in the tongue and in James we are reminded of the sad reality that sometimes we are guilty of praising God and cursing our brothers and sisters with the same tongue. With Facebook, blogs, and the ability to reach almost any one at any time with cell phones and texting there are a lot of words being sent and received these days. Are the words you take in giving you life or are they bringing death? Are the words you send to others giving them life or are they like poison arrows that have lodged in their heart taking life?
In this week’s sermon we were warned about toxic words that we can give or receive. The challenge was presented, as it has throughout the entire Toxic series, for us to truly examine the level of toxicity that exists in the various influences in our lives. Here’s what I love about this week’s message though. Just as there is incredibly destructive power in words, there is even more life giving power and it is such a simple thing for us to use our words to encourage, build up, and bring life to ourselves and everyone arounds us. Pastor Craig said something like, “Speak life giving words at every chance you get.” If we were to take this to heart the possibilities are amazing.
Just this week I was contacted by an old friend who had seen this message on Toxic words and he was convicted for the incredibly destructive things he had said to a former friend in one particularly heated argument about 2 years ago. He told me that after this sermon he felt a leading to contact this person, to apologize, and to speak words of encouragement. The message he sent was met with forgiveness and encouragement as well and the effects of this simple exchange have been profound on my friend. He was crying tears of joy telling me that he had believed that he was “over and past” the bitter argument that occurred so long ago but after making amends he experienced a surge of life and freedom as the toxicity of past bitterness was removed from his life.
What are words of life that you need to give today? Are they words of encouragement for someone that you see everyday? Or maybe words of apology and forgiveness to remove the sting of a toxic encounter from long ago? I pray that as you read these words you are inspired by God to step out and take hold of the amazing life that he desires for you in the words of your life.
August is always full of excitement with the start of another school year! I want to let you know about a couple of exciting things happening this week:
Quad Day: Sunday, August 22 is Quad Day at the U of I and we will be there to meet some of the outstanding young men and women and let them know about our wonderful Grace Community. Be sure to pray for the volunteers at this event and be on the look out for new faces to welcome over the next several weeks!
Middle School Lock-In: Friday, August 27 the area youth ministries are teaming up with the Champaign YMCA to host a Back to School Bash lock-in for middle school students. The hours of the lock-in are 8:00 PM through 6:00 AM and admission is $10 per student for the cost of facilities, activities, pizza, a live band, and more!
One of my favorite stories in the Bible is Jesus healing a blind man in John 9. The reason I love it is that after the man is healed he is questioned by the religious leaders about Jesus so that they can discredit Jesus. The healed man’s response is awesome as he tells the men, “Whether he is a sinner or not I do not know, but I do know that I was blind and now I see.”
Isn’t it great that so much of our faith simply boils down to the facts. The facts of how we as people with broken lives are made whole again by a God who loves us so much that he sent his son. When we let this amazing fact sink in, we become like this man who simply can’t be bothered by all the distracting questions because he can’t get past what God has done for him. What’s your story? How are you sharing it with others?
