Children's Moment: Love Your Neighbor

(Dressed as a farmer – dirty shirt, handkerchief, dirty work gloves, jeans, boots)

Do you like my outfit?  Do you think this is an appropriate outfit for church?  What about going on a date?  Or what about going shopping?  Do you think if you saw me eating in a nice restaurant you would want to say hi to me or come give me a hug?  It might be embarrassing to some people.  Some might even turn the other way to avoid being embarrassed by knowing me.

You see, this is how I dress just about every single day.  I work really hard on our farm.  Most days I look worse than this.  I have sweat dripping from my face and dirt all over my clothes and I may even stink after working outside all day.  My job is to work the earth.  If you look out in the audience, you will see people that don’t always look like they do today.  There are car salesmen, lawyers, doctors, construction workers, ministers, gardeners, teachers, plumbers, and all other sorts of gifted and unique people in our congregation. 

Do you know people who look different than you?  Do you know anyone who acts different than you? It’s really easy to not want to love someone because they look different or act different isn’t it?  Do you know what God has to say about this though?

When I was reading Mark 12:28 a scribe asks Jesus which commandment of all the commands is the most important of all.  ²⁹ Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. ³⁰ And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ ³¹ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

Did you hear that last part?  “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  There is no other commandment greater than these.”  So God doesn’t tell us to love someone if they look or act a certain way does he?  He just tells us to love them.  You are going to meet many different types of people in your life.  You never know what someone is going through or how you might be able to help them.  My hope and prayer for you today is that you will show God’s love to everyone, no matter their appearance.  You might be the only friendly face that person sees.

I also hope that the next time you see me as a farmer; you won’t be embarrassed to give me a hug!

Let us pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for this day.  I thank you for bringing these children into your house of worship to hear your word this morning.  I ask that you would help each one of us to love our neighbor as you have commanded.  We love you and praise you forever, In Jesus name, Amen.

Do YOUR Part!

PLEASE take the time to READ and SHARE this posting. I am writing this with the knowledge that this may upset, even anger a few AND with the knowledge that MANY will agree and support this writing. We have a local organization,Ozark Share and Care. This organization was established in 1987 to give Harrison and surrounding county residents a CENTRAL location to accept HELP when or if they needed it. Help in the way of food, clothing, household items, bedding, furniture and other emergency services. For 27, that's right TWENTY SEVEN years, they have operated through the sale of donated items in their thrift store and the generous donations of community members through financial and material donations. Ozark Share and Care was created through a UNIFIED effort of MANY community members, organizations and churches. Reread that last line . . . UNIFIED effort. Before Share and Care existed, people went from church to church, organization to organization and requested goods, services and money. This was too much for individual organizations to shoulder, so they UNIFIED and pooled their resources to do a BETTER, more efficient job at assisting those in need.

Share and Care doesn't turn people away. They love people regardless of race, religion, nationality, physical, or mental abilities. That's right, there is no discrimination. This organization is run by volunteers. Volunteers with HEART. Volunteers who have given hugs, fed the hungry, clothed the naked, cried and prayed with a man or woman in need.

Share and Care is EQUIPPED to handle FRESH and FROZEN food items for distribution. They are EQUIPPED to handle large truckloads of food. They distribute to over 600 families EVERY single week! 600!!! They BUY LOCALLY and invest nearly $10,000 a month into our LOCAL economy in grocery purchases.

I have been VERY disheartened in the last few months as I watch numerous churches and organizations start-up their own food banks and charitable organizations. I am not saying these are ill-intended, I am saying that this is weakening the strength of a FANTASTIC community resource. This is BREAKING apart a community resource. When you ask that people donate to your charity, whether it's goods or money, it is taking a necessary resource away from a well-rooted, rock-solid, community resource. I have heard every reasoning from "we want to feed the children" to "we want to save souls". You really want to do that? Team up with Share and Care. Volunteer your time and efforts. Head-up a kids food pantry, solicit donations or stand in line with folks and talk to them about Jesus.

Since I know this facebook posting isn't going to change the way people are operating, I PRAY PRAY PRAY that it will spark a conversation. I pray that you will take time to UNIFY and GIVE BACK to an organization that is in GREAT NEED. Clean out your closets/houses and donate to Share & Care thrift shop. GO SHOPPING at the Share & Care thrift store, it's chalked full of great finds! Give-up fast food for a month and donate it to Share & Care and feeding those in need. Give-up a Saturday morning and donate your time and efforts to Share & Care.

Saying I am PASSIONATE about this is an understatement. Think of your favorite beautiful, warm, winter sweater. If you remove one strand from the sweater, it will start to come apart. Remove two strands and it will weaken and fray even more. Continue this and eventually you will have no sweater that protects you from the storm. PROTECT Share & Care, guard this organization and do your part.

Religious or not, you can agree, taking care of those who cannot take care of themselves is our duty!

Thank you for reading this.Here is a link so that YOU can donate to Share & Care today https://www.npcsecure.com/formbuilder/Vpos2.aspx

Proverbs 22:9 Whoever has a bountiful eye will be blessed, for he shares his bread with the poor.

Children's Moment: Love HIM Like You Want to be Loved

Do you know someone that loves you?  How do you know they love you?

Do they make you dinner?  Wash your clothes? Take you places?

Last night Adam took me on a date.  He opened the doors for me, prayed over our dinner, gave me a good hug and kiss and told me he loved me during our date.  We had a wonderful time.  While sitting in the restaurant we were sitting between two couples and we got to listen to both couples since they were both very vocal. 

The first couple didn’t say much to each other unless the husband needed something.  When he needed something he would say “Woman, go get me a spoon” or “go get me a bowl of jello”.  He didn’t say please or thank you and the wife never said a word, just did what she was told, but she looked sad and tired. 

The second couple were quite a bit different.  All during dinner the husband kept telling his wife “Honey, I love you.  You are such a good partner.  You are so beautiful.  Thank you so much for choosing me.”  Without a word, the wife would fix him a plate, cut up his food and even wiped her husband’s chin when he spilled sweet and sour sauce out of his mouth.  She did all of these things lovingly and even got up out of her seat several times to give him a kiss on the cheek and a quick hug and would whisper in his ear “I love you”.

These couples reminded me a lot about our relationship with God.  God loves us, but do we tell Him how much we love him or do we just talk to God when we need something like the first couple?  Be kind with your words to God, praise Him all the time not only through our actions but also in our words. Psalm 150:6 states Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.  Praise the LORD.

Can you think of words to praise the Lord?  How about “I love you Lord”, “You are my rock”, “You are awesome”.

Make sure to take time this week to praise the Lord, not just by your actions but also by your words.

Let’s pray.  Dear Heavenly Father, thank you so much for being such a wonderful friend.  You are the best.  You are magnificent.  We love you and praise you forever and ever.  Amen.

Church Moments for Children

I was recently asked by a few friends if I would share some of the short sermons which I have presented in the past to our children's group at church.  Our church refers to these as "Children's Moments", so I also referred to them as such on my blog.  I have posted these on my blog in no particular date or order (sorry).  I often read stories that spark an idea, so hoping this does the same for my friends.  Thank you for allowing me to share!

Here is the link to my blog:http://iwisheverydayweretoday.blogspot.com/

Children's Moment: What do I say to God?

Have you ever tried to think of something to say but you just couldn’t think of anything or at least anything right to say?  Well, that’s what happened for today.  I put on my thinking cap and still nothing came to mind.  I couldn’t think of some great story or fun topic.  I think my brain went on vacation and forgot to tell me.

While I was thinking about not having anything to think about at all, I was reminded of something Adam said to me on the way to school one morning.  You see, each morning before school, we pray as a family.  I give each of the kiddos a turn to pray.  On this particular morning, it was Adam’s turn.  He had a really good question “What do I say to God mom?”   Adam has prayed many times before and had never asked that question, so it kind of caught me off guard. 

Have you ever felt like that?  Have you ever felt like “What do I say to God? Is he even listening? I can’t say all those fancy words the preacher says. I don’t really have anything to ask for and I can’t think of anything interesting, so what do I say to God?”  I gave Adam an answer that morning, but thought I should turn to the Bible and find out what God says about prayer.  Some of the scriptures I ran across.

Psalms 55:17 - Evening, and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and he shall hear my voice.

Matthew 21:22 - And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.

So what does this mean for us?  God doesn’t tell us that we must use fancy smancy words when we pray.  He simply says “PRAY”.  Pray all the time and he will hear your voice.  Kind of cool right . . . no matter what time of the day or night, God hears us.   Did you know God is our heavenly father?  Since he is our father, our dad, we should speak to him like we would want to speak to a father right?  Tell Him how much you love Him. Tell Him about your day – all the good and bad things.  Ask Him to help you with what you cannot do on your own and tell Him thank you for helping you each day.  God just wants to spend time with us and that is what prayer allows for us to do, spend time with our heavenly Dad.  He LOVES to hear your voice and He LOVES to spend time with you.  The more time you spend with Him, the more you will know how to talk with Him.  Just remember, it’s not the words we use, God just wants to be with us, just like a dad wants to be with His kids.

Let us pray: Dear God, thank you for being my best friend, my helper, my strength, and my dad.  Thank you for this beautiful day.  Thank you for always being available to talk with us and for hearing us when we talk.  It’s in Jesus name, Amen.

Children's Moment: Hope in sunflowers

Wooo hooooo!!!!!  Does anyone know what tomorrow is?  It’s the first day of school for most of you.  How exciting right?

Have any of you ever gotten nervous about returning to school?  Or trying a new activity? Or meeting new friends?  Or even sharing your faith, sharing Jesus with someone?

Well, I have.  I have gotten nervous about starting new jobs, making new friends and about sharing my faith with others.  I am a planner, which means I like to know exactly what is going to happen, all the time.  I don’t always know how every situation will turn out and that sometimes causes me to worry or be a bit nervous. 

When I think about my feelings of “not knowing”, I think about my sunflowers.  Sounds funny right?  Early on in the summer, we had great rains.  All of our crops were washed away – corn, squash, beans, okra.  We replanted and again, all of our crops were washed away, or so I thought.  I was beginning to think we wouldn’t have a single crop this year, I was getting pretty worried.  After a week of dry weather, I decided to go out once more to look at our crop fields to determine what we needed to do.  I walked past our first plot and saw only weeds had survived the rains, the same for the second plot . . . only weeds, I was becoming very disheartened, but proceeded on to our third plot.  In front of our third plot stands a cross which is about 10’ tall.  I made my way over to the cross and stood there saying a little prayer “Lord, I don’t know what we should do or if having a garden is even a good idea, but I have faith that you can make our plants grow”.  As I had my head bowed, I noticed something green and in a straight row growing. Guess what?  It was the sunflowers I had planted.  They were growing straight up, despite the wind and washouts.  Those sunflowers gave me hope.

We replanted our crops again and have had a bountiful harvest despite the rains this year.  One of my favorite harvests was yesterday.  We harvested our first batch of sunflowers.  From this tiny little seed, 8 foot tall plants grew and now we have thousands of sunflower seeds which we will get to enjoy.

God tells us in Matthew 17:20

Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

As you return to school this week, I hope you will remember, nothing is impossible for God.  He can help you with anything you need.  Next time you get a little nervous, remember the sunflowers and God’s promise – nothing is impossible.

Let us pray: Dear God, thank you for this beautiful day.  Thank you for letting us worship in your house today.  Thank you for all that you provide.    I pray that each one of the children is able to trust you, to have faith even as small as a sunflower seed.  It’s in Jesus name, Amen.

Children's Moment: Rotten to the core

WOW! What beautiful rain we have had this week!  What a blessing to have rain during the summer heat.

With all this rain, my garden is thriving.  I have more cucumbers, squash and zucchini than I can pick each day.  Yesterday was an exceptional day for gardening.  In the morning we had a cool breeze flowing so it was a perfect time to work in my tomato patch.  As I worked staking up my tomatoes and pulling weeds, I ran across some beautiful red and yellow tomatoes.  Of course I was soooooo excited to see these little jewels, they are my favorite summertime garden pick.  Aggie was kind enough to pick and wash the tomatoes and then she bagged and gave most of them to some special friends who visited the farm yesterday.  She kept a few back for me to enjoy though and for that I am soooo grateful.  They were delicious!

I was a little hesitant to eat the tomatoes though.  You know why?  Well, the other day I found the perfect, round, red tomato.  I was thrilled as it was our first tomato of the season!  I carefully picked and washed it, then sliced it in half.  Do you know what I found?  It was awful!  The bloom had never fallen off the tomato and had grown inside the tomato causing it to rot inside the tomato.  Do you know what would have happened if the tomato would have been left alone?  It would have eventually rotted all the way to the outside becoming as ugly on the outside as it was on the inside.

When I was thinking of the rotten tomato it made me think of us and how sin can do the same thing in our lives.  Sin comes in many different forms such as lying, taking something that doesn’t belong to you, being disrespectful to parents or friends, talking badly of others, or being unkind to someone.  If we do not ask God to forgive us of our sins and ask Him to help us do better, we are like the rotting tomato . . . we may look good on the outside, but rotting on the inside.  Eventually our sins will begin to show themselves to others and we will be like the rotting tomato, not only will our sin be in our hearts, but it will show on the outside to others as well.

Psalm 51:10-12 states my prayer for all of us the best

¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God,
    and renew a right spirit within me.
¹¹ Cast me not away from your presence,
    and take not your Holy Spirit from me.
¹² Restore to me the joy of your salvation,
    and uphold me with a willing spirit.

I pray that we will be able to turn to God and ask Him to forgive us of our sins and ask him to help us to become more like Him.

Let us pray: Dear God, thank you for this beautiful day.  Thank you for letting us worship in your house today.  Thank you for all that you provide.    I pray that we can turn from our ways and look to you for help today.  It’s in Jesus name, Amen.

Children's Moment: Cavender's . . O taste and see that the Lord is good!

Good morning!  Has everyone had a good weekend?  Happy Father’s Day to the Dad’s out there!

Does anyone know what this is?  This is Cavender’s “special” seasoning.  Has anyone ever tasted this before?  Well, let me tell you a little story.

When I moved away from Arkansas to live in Washington state MANY years ago, I realized something horrible during one of my first grocery shopping trips.  Do you know what it was?  I realized that I could not buy Cavender’s seasoning in any store where I lived.  I searched specialty markets and grocery stores.  Couldn’t find even a single bottle!  I was soooo frustrated!  I called up my mom and had her send me a case of this “special seasoning”.

This seasoning made my potatoes taste better and my steaks more flavorful and my veggies just down right delicious.  I always had people ask me what my secret was to my awesome opossum oven roasted potatoes and when I would share my secret I would also share a bottle of this special seasoning.  I just couldn’t imagine my life without this fantastic seasoning.  It has made me a superstar at potlucks and family gatherings and with my kiddos.

This special seasoning reminds me of our relationship with God.  Without God we are just people without a true cause.  When we add God into our lives, we are like deliciously seasoned and flavorful roasted potatoes.  We become wonderful to those around us.  Do you know what it takes to have God in your life?  All you have to do is ask.  Ask God to make you more awesome today than yesterday and ask him to season your life with good things so others can see His goodness.

Psalm 34:8 states, O taste and see that the Lord is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.

I encourage you today to trust God and know his goodness.

Let us pray: Dear God, thank you for this beautiful day.  Thank you for letting us worship in your house today.  Thank you for all that you provide.    It’s in Jesus name, Amen.

Children's Moment: On my knees in the tomato patch

Good morning!  Has everyone had a good weekend?  Anything exciting going on?

Yesterday while I was on my hands and knees planting tomato plants, I was thinking about how busy everyone is these days.  With Mother’s Day, Graduation, Crawdad Days, end of school year field trips and events, Memorial Day is approaching and yes, the end of the school year.  Mr. Ladd and I also just celebrated our 10^th anniversary.  Needless to say, with all of the “stuff” going on plus all of our normal day-to-day tasks like cleaning house, cooking dinners, getting all of our crops planted, and working our full-time jobs, I get to feeling overwhelmed.  My focus is not really what it should be.  Do you know what focus is?  It’s the center of somebody’s interests or activities.  In other words, it’s what is most important to that person at that time.

During this time of the year, I find myself skipping church so I can travel and see my mom for Mother’s day or traveling with Ladd for our anniversary.  I also find myself skipping my morning Bible reading time so I can get 20 more minutes of sleep.  And I find myself praying in the car on the way to work because I didn’t take time at home to spend in prayer with God.

So yesterday, while I was thinking about all of these things, I was reminded of a simple truth from Psalm 119:105  Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.

When I quit focusing on God and His word and truth and start relying upon myself, I lose my path.  I start feeling overwhelmed and lost. 

It is good to be in God’s house today.  It is good to spend time reading God’s word.  It is good to spend time in prayer with God.  I just wanted to remind you of that this morning.  I know you have big plans of summer fun ahead, but make sure you take time to include God in all the fun.

Let us pray: Dear God, thank you for this beautiful day.  Thank you for letting us worship in your house today.  Thank you for all that you provide.    It’s in Jesus name, Amen.

Children's Moment: Thorns to Corn

Take a look at this picture, what do you think it is?

It’s baby corn!

How do you think the corn got into the ground?  That’s right, someone planted it.

The field where this corn is planted used to be overgrown with thorns, weeds, blackberry bushes and tons and tons of rocks.  Last fall Mr. Ladd got out the weed spray and sprayed the field, then slowly mowed the field.  We walked around the field and picked big rocks and cut down large briars and cleaned the field enough that he could cut the weeds lower.  He then sectioned off the field into 5 plots and tilled up the ground not once, not twice, but three times.  The kids picked rocks and picked rocks and picked rocks.  It was hard work.

Guess what?  This spring all those weeds decided to come on back.  Mr. Ladd did all of it over again – spraying, tilling, and the kids picking rocks.  He added fertilizers and dug rows for planting.  It was then ready to plant.  All that hard work and weeds are still peaking through, so we are continually picking and cleaning out our garden plots.  We have to work at giving our new plants space to grow.

All of this reminded me of the scripture in 2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Becoming a Christian and inviting God into your life does not mean that all the things you were used to doing all of a sudden disappear, it simply means that in order to let God grow in you, you have to work at giving God space to grow.

What are some of the ways we can let God grow in us?

By reading God’s word.

By spending time with him in prayer.

By choosing to do the right things and asking God to help you with this.

By going to church and being around others who believe in God.

Just remember, if you give God space to grow in your life, He will.  You have to let him keep on working on you like we have to keep on working in the garden.

Let us pray: Dear God, thank you today for bringing these children into your house of worship.  Thank you for the blessing of knowing you are God and for the opportunity to know you better.  I ask today that you help each one of us to weed out all the areas in our life that are not pleasing to you.  Help your love to grow in our lives.  We thank you for all things.  It’s in Jesus name, Amen.

Children's Moment: Salsa Faith

Last night I was making homemade salsa and I started thinking about the process it took for that salsa to become real.  Back in November of last year I scoured through the pages of my heirloom garden book carefully selecting which types of tomatoes I wanted to grow this year, then in December I placed my order and anxiously awaited their arrival.  In late January when my seeds arrived I set-up our growing tables in the basement and carefully counted out 2 seeds for each little pot I had filled with dirt.  I watered the tomatoes, placed a cover over my growing containers, moved them under my grow lights and waited with faith that these tomatoes would grow. I waited and waited and waited and then one day, I went downstairs and found 4 of my plants had started to grow.  This happened over and over again for weeks, little sprouts coming-up and reaching towards the light until it was time to remove the covers and place a fan in the room to mimic wind and make my plants strong.  It’s always at this point that Mr. Ladd examines my plants and says “those sure do look scrawny, are you sure those are going to survive?”  Each year I reassure him that I have faith they will not only survive but thrive.  Once the tomato plants look healthy by my standards, I take them outside to enjoy hours of sun until the day after Mother’s day.  Mr. Ladd always says “You better plant those tomato plants or you won’t have any tomatoes!”  I reassure him that I will have plenty of tomatoes and they will be the sweetest most beautiful tomatoes he’s ever seen, because I have faith that all that hard work will pay off.

Once I plant my tomatoes I watch them carefully to make sure they are getting enough sun and water or if they need to be moved or covered.  This year because of the heat we had to water our tomato plants twice a day and the blooms came on later than usual.  Mr. Ladd said “I don’t think you are going to get any tomatoes!”  I reassured him that not only would I have tomatoes but there would be plenty because I had faith that all that hard work was going to pay off.  Sure enough, this week we picked over 5 gallons of tomatoes from our garden – all different colors too – purple, red, hot pink, green, yellow, orange – all of them tasting delicious.  Mr. Ladd always says after our first big picking “I knew you would get lots of tomatoes!”

Anybody know what faith is?  One of the definitions in the dictionary says it’s believing in somebody or something, especially without logical proof

 Jesus says in Luke 17:6 “ If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea,’ and it will obey you”

Can you imagine telling a tree – get up and move you lazy thing and go crawl in the lake?  I can’t either, but I can imagine having faith that can create tomatoes for a jar of salsa, faith that a loved one will get well after being sick, faith that someone I love will come to know Jesus, faith that God will take care of me when I am tired or lonely or scared or sick or lost.  I hope that you can find that same faith.  Let’s pray.

Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for today, for your love and kindness and grace.  Thank you for this beautiful weather and for all my tomatoes this week.  Thank you for each one of the children here in this church today.  I pray that each one of these children are able to find faith in you.  I also pray that you would reaffirm the faith of those gathered here today.  We love you and praise you and pray all of these things, in Jesus name. Amen.

Children's Moment: Kolbe the Sumo Wrestler

*This was written quite a while back, but just now having time to publish, so dates aren't accurate.

This weekend my family and I went to visit my new baby nephew, Kolbe.  He is only a couple weeks old and is still very tiny and fragile.  He had 10 perfect fingers and 10 perfect toes.  He felt so cuddly warm and was just so handsomely cute.  I love holding new babies! 

Kolbe was baptized yesterday and they had a big party after the baptism to celebrate Kolbe being welcomed into the family of God.  With so many people around, I thought it would be a good idea for me to help my sister with Kolbe so she could continue visiting her guests at the party.  When he got a dirty diaper, I went to change him.  I grabbed a diaper out of the bag and put it on him.  I thought it sure did look big – I mean the diaper went all the way up to his underarms!  I thought maybe my sister had just packed the wrong diapers, so I doubled the diaper over, put his clothes back on him and took my little sumo wrestler looking nephew back out to his party.  It wasn’t long till he messed his pants again, so I took him back in for a change and when I did, I discovered that my sister DID pack the right diapers – she packed big ones for her other son and little ones for Kolbe.  I forgot that my other little nephew was still in diapers.  This time I put the right diaper on him, which fit MUCH better.

If I had taken time to ask my sister about the diapers the first time, I wouldn’t have created a mini-sumo wrestler right?  My sister is his caretaker, the one who loves him and provides for him, the one who packed his bag and knows all about him right?  God is like that with us.  He is our caretaker, the one who loves us and provides for us, the one who gives us all things and knows everything about us. 

Sometimes I forget this and I look to the people around me to try and figure out my worth.  I listen to others telling me that I may not be pretty enough or smart enough or others who tell me I am not a good person.  It’s hard to decide who I am when I listen to others.  The Bible says in Matthew 10:29-30 “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care.  And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.”

The Bible tells us that God knows exactly how many hairs are on your head.  Look around the room, some of us have a lot of hair and some don't have very much.  It doesn't matter how much or how little hair you have, God knows how many hairs are on each person's head!  The Bibles also says that God knows exactly how many birds are in the air and if one of them dies and falls to the ground, God knows it!  If God cares when a little sparrow falls to the ground, can you imagine how much he cares for you?  Well, I'll tell you how much God cares for you -- He cares for you so much that He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross so that you could have everlasting life.  Now, that's amazing love!

The next time you can’t remember how much you are worth, think about God’s words to us.  He created you and loves you and knows everything about you.  Go to God the next time you need to know who you are.

Let’s pray.  Dear God, thank you for creating me and knowing me.  Thank you for loving me the way you do.  We thank you for the sacrifice you made on the cross for our sins.  Help us to remember, our value and worth is in you.  We love you and praise you and thank you for today.  In Jesus name, Amen.

Children's Moment: So when things get tough, I challenge you to praise the Lord

*This was written several years ago and dates are not accurate

My Grandpa Conward passed away three months ago.  I miss him severely, along with my Grandma Wanell who was his wife and passed away 7 years and 7 months ago.  I know I shouldn’t be sad for them, because they are in heaven praising the Lord together.  I just miss their sweet words and hugs and little pats on the back. 

The last two weeks we have been cleaning out their house.  It is really hard to see all of their belongings boxed-up and being moved out of their house.  In each room I enter, I remember things from my childhood.  Like making chocolate covered peanut butter balls in the kitchen with Grandma, or being tucked into bed when I stayed the night, or going with Grandpa to their room and him giving me quarters to wash my laundry or a roll of pennies to buy candy from the store, or the old couch where we sat and read the Bible many times. 

When I was at their house cleaning yesterday, I ran across one of my Grandma’s dresses and I remember sitting at the table with her one day and telling her of some troubles in my life.  My Grandma in the sweetest little voice looked at me and said “Well Carrie, sounds like we just need to praise the Lord.”  When she said that I thought – are you nuts Grandma?, here I am with all these troubles and you want me to thank God??  She went on to explain to me that though there are bad things going on around me and I may face tough circumstances, I should always praise the Lord.

Though I have often forgotten to practice this, I really thought hard on this last night and thought of some praises today.

Psalm 71:8 says” Let my mouth be filled with thy praise and with thy honour all the day.”

Thank you Lord for the beautiful weather.

Praise you Lord for my family.

You Rock God for always taking care of me.

You are Awesome Jesus for giving your life for me.

Thank you Heavenly Father for bringing each of these children into your house today.

So when things get tough, I challenge you to praise the Lord.  I know that each of you can create your own praises and I hope you will share these praises with someone today.

Let’s pray.  Dear God, thank you, thank you, thank you.  We can’t say thank you enough for all of your goodness and greatness, but I do thank you today.  Thank you for allowing your son to die on the cross for our sins, so that we may know you.  Thank you for your unconditional love.  We love you and praise you today, in Jesus name, Amen.

Children's Moment: Syrup to Jelly, Go to GOD First!

Let me tell you a story about learning to make jelly.  I watched my grandma’s can and make jelly many times growing up, but because the pans were so hot and they used old canners which were dangerous, I wasn’t allowed to stay in the kitchen the whole time.  Plus, I was bothersome, I was always up under their arms trying to see everything going on. 

After Ladd and I got married, I decided I would try to make some blackberry jelly.  I read online how to make jelly and I worked hard at making it.  Well, needless to say, when my first batch was canned and ready to try, I put the spoon in to dip some out and my spoon sank to the bottom of the jar.  The jelly was complete liquid – it never set-up.  I was so upset because I was trying to impress my new husband and make good use of all the blackberries he had picked.

I called my Grandma Gregory crying afterwards and she just laughed at me.  She told me to redo my labels and label them “blackberry syrup”.  I did and gave out tons of blackberry syrup for Christmas gifts that year.  Everyone said that was the best syrup they ever ate.  My grandma told me to quit sulking, take a step back and learn from it.  She went on to tell me over the phone how to make jelly the right way.  She was patient and stayed on the phone with me for over an hour while I made a batch of jelly.  I loved the phone call, because during those breaks when my water was boiling and I was just waiting, I got to learn more about my grandma and really enjoy the time with her.  I followed her instructions and now I make some pretty darn good jelly.

I think back to that experience and realize, I often do the same with God.  I wait till I make a mistake and can’t figure out the right thing to do, then I turn to him and ask him what to do.  I will pray and read the Bible and ask God to help me.  He always does, one way or another, but just like my jelly making experience – I should call on God first like I should have called my Grandma first so I wouldn’t have had to make a mistake.  Same with God, if I will just go to God first, I could avoid many mistakes.

Hebrews 4:14-16 says

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess.  For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Just like the scripture says, God isn’t some “guy” hanging out in heaven waiting for us to make a mistake, he knows how hard it is and He is there waiting all the time – he understands – He knows.  So I encourage you today, before you make any decisions or when you need help, turn to God first.  Sometimes you may have to wait a bit on God and his answers, but in the meantime, you can get to know Him better.

Let’s pray.  Dear God, thank you for being a God of understanding.  Thank you for each person here today.  I pray for anyone facing a difficult decision or undergoing a hard situation, that they have the courage to turn to you first and allow you to work out all of the details. We pray all of this in Jesus name, Amen.

Children's Moment: Too tired for a Christmas tree!

Yesterday after I had gotten done working all day, I came home, showered up and got ready to put up the Christmas tree.  Normally every year this is my favorite part of Christmas, the erection of the Christmas tree.  I usually have Mr. Ladd drag our huge Christmas tree out of storage and listen to him murmur under his breath, then out loud about how ridiculous it is that he has to bring up this huge tree. Once he gets it upstairs I never can figure out the lights so he has to figure out how all the lights plug in together and I again get to listen to him talk under his breath about how silly it is to have a tree I can’t even figure out.  He especially was talking out loud the year that our dog had chewed a little hole in the cord and Ladd grabbed it when it got plugged in.  Can we say “zzzzzzzzzzzzzzt?” 

After Ladd does his work, the kids and I usually set about decorating the tree and dragging out every Rubbermaid container and emptying it of its contents.  We will usually have something Christmas on every single wall, table and countertop in our house.  It’s like a Christmas wonderland.  When we get finished, Mr. Ladd really appreciates the beauty of all the decorations and admits, the long trip up the stairs and all the light fixing is worth it.

Well, this year, I just didn’t feel like decorating or putting up the tree.  I was tired from working and Mr. Ladd was helping a friend work on their house, so I didn’t have him as my go-to for setting-up the tree.  I started wondering, why do we even put up a tree?  Isn’t it just more work?  And Christmas isn’t about a tree right?  We all know Christmas is about the birth of Jesus, God’s only son.  This is the meaning of our celebration, so why don’t we just put up a big Jesus in our living room right?

So, I did a little research.  The reason behind a Christmas tree originated a long long long time ago, but here are some of the meanings behind the Christmas tree today.  The lights on the tree used to be candles which celebrated the birth of Jesus, kind of like the candles on the cake.  Now they represent Jesus’ birth and the light he brought into the world.  The tree itself reminds us of the wooden cross Jesus endured to give us life.  We also use evergreen trees which stay green all year round, reminding us of the hope and everlasting life we have in Jesus.  The cutting down of the tree reminds us of Jesus death and the raising of the tree reminds us of Jesus’ resurrection.  The narrow point of the tree points upward, which reminds us to turn our thoughts upward toward heaven.

Well, after reading up a bit on the Christmas tree, it made me excited to put up this symbol of Jesus birth.  We got one of our little trees, placed some of our favorite ornaments on it and a strand of lights.  Nothing fancy, just a reminder of Jesus’ light and love for us.  You know what the best part of it was?  Mr. Ladd didn’t have to set-up the tree!

Isaiah 9:6 says “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

As you get ready for the Christmas season, remember, HE, Jesus is the reason for the season!

Let’s pray.  Dear God, thank you for sending your son Jesus into this world. for giving us a reason to celebrate.  Thank you for your saving grace.  I pray that you bless each one of these children, go with them, protect them, love them as only you can.  Be with their families.  We love you, praise you and honor you in all we do, in Jesus name.  Amen

Children's Moment: Back to School with Jesus

Good morning!  Did everyone head back to school this week?  Was it lots of fun?  Anybody have a hard time getting up in the mornings?

 

Well today we are going to talk about Showing God's Love to Others!

Going back to school is tough, but what I remembered being tougher than anything else when I went back to school was loving others, even when I didn’t want to.  That’s right . . . the boy who pulled on my pigtails, or the girl who talked ugly to me, or the teacher who didn’t understand the things I was going through.  It was tough.

 

Because GOD IS LOVE, I know He loves me no matter what, and He helps me to love others as I love myself.

Do you remember what Jesus said are the two greatest Commandments? What are they? (1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind. 2. Love your neighbor as yourself)

How do we show God's love to others?

First Corinthians 13:4-7 says:

Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. It does not demand its own way. It is not irritable, and it keeps no record of being wronged. It does not rejoice about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Discover God Bible, (NLT).

According to these verses, what is love?

          Patient

          Kind

          Not envious [wish you had something others may have]

          Is not boastful [doesn't brag]

          Is not proud [thinking more highly of yourself than you should]

          Is not rude 

          Is not self-seeking [selfish, desiring the best for yourself]

          Does not get angry easily

          Doesn't keep track of others mistakes

          Seeks truth rather than evil 

          Protects

          Trusts

          Hopes

          Perseveres [sticks with it - doesn't give up easily or quit]

Sometimes it is not easy to do all of these things, but I encourage you to stay connected to God through prayer and Bible reading and to work on these areas.  Work on being patient with others when they get on your nerves or to be nice to the girl on the playground that bugs you or to just forget when someone has done wrong to you.  Protect other kids who can’t protect themselves, trust and hope in God and never give up.

Let’s pray:  Dear heavenly father, thank you for our first week back to school.  I thank you that each of these children here today have the opportunity to know of you and your love and can share that love with others.  Be with each of these children in their day-to-day walk with you, encourage them and help them in whatever ways they need.  Jesus, we praise you and love you, in your name we pray, amen.