Loving God and Dirty Rice

One of my favorite foods in the world in DIRTY RICE! I love to make it, smell it, and mostly eat it! I just had some today for lunch with Jamison. And then we split a pizza, but that's another blog waiting to happen! Man, I love dirty rice. It's even better with green tobasco, but again, that's another blog waiting in the wings to be written!

This week in Kid's Church we're finishing up our "Finding Nemo" series. I love the part when Marlin (the Dad) and Nemo finally embrace! Nemo tells his Dad that he doesn't hate him, and then they both proceed to tell each other "I love you!" It's always blessed my heart alot when someone tells me that they love me. And not just because they think that's what they're supposed to say! Because they really mean it!

In the Bible, Paul and Silas had been thrown into jail because they had sent the demons packing from a girl who made alot of money for her "agents". They could have been depressed or upset, or even mad because of their circumstances. Especially in the dungeon! They weren't just locked up, their feet were in chains! But what they were doing is the remarkable thing! They were telling God how much they loved Him! They were worshiping and doing it loudly! We know this because the Bible says that the other prisoners were listening to them! Before the night was over, there was an earthquake that shook all the doors open, knocked off Paul and Silas' chains, saw the prison director almost take his own life because of the assumed "prison break", he and his family come to Jesus because of Paul and Silas, etc... It's a remarkable story of what happens when we love God and those around us!

Joshua 23: 11 says, "So be careful to love God." Careful? Yes, carefully! Are we sure that the people around us can see that we love God by the things we say, do and believe? Does it ooze out from us? When I eat my dirty rice, I'm CAREFUL to get every last piece of rice and meat. I'm careful not to spill it from the pot I've been cooking it in! I carefully put the "large" spoon up to my lips and enjoy! That's right! A LARGE spoon!

So, be careful to love God! Show him how much you love Him by the things you say and do this week and, if you get a chance... try some dirty rice. If you don't like it... bring it to me!

Asking for Directions

In "Finding Nemo, part 3" this week, Marlin doesn't want to ask for directions. He's nervouse when Dory starts trying to speak whale and asking the big fish for directions to Sydney. At one poit she exclaims, "WHAT IS IT WITH MEN AND ASKING FOR DIRECTIONS?!" Marlin is no different than most men!

It is a family joke now, but every time we went on vacation, my Dad always found a dirt road somewhere during the trip. It was pretty funny! He would get lost, not ask for directions, find the dirt road, and then somehow, miraculously find the right way. He was always proud of himself! But it took alot longer than it should have! Not a good idea with a car full of people who got car sick! :)

Hebrews 4: 12 says, "The Word of God is living and active...!" When we need spiritual directions, the Word of God is ready! The Word of God is living! For being a book that was written many generations ago, it is still alive in this generation! And will be in the coming generations too! But mostly, it is active! If you've ever known a 3 year old, you know what "active" is! It's all over the place! It's full of energy! Yeah baby!

When Josiah became King when he was just 8 years old that was amazing. But when the workers found the Book of the Law and read it to him many years later, what he did next was even more amazing. He had it read to the people and together, they decided that they hadn't been living God's way long enough! They decided right then and there to follow the Law again. It's never too late to start following God's directions. The loser might tell you that it's too late for you, but that's just wrong! It's never too late to start doing the right thing.

When Dory and Marlin followed the directions of the whale, it seemed to Marlin that the whale was trying to eat them. But Dory said, "He says to let go!" And when they did, the whale gushed them out right into the Sydney harbor! We need to trust God's Word even more than that! It's alive and active! Yeah!

Memory Lapses

OK... This week in Kid's Church we'll be talking about MEMORY LAPSES! In Finding Nemo, Dory has, as she describes it, "short term memory loss". But when the time arises for her to remember what's on the mask, she does it! Amazing! She keeps repeating it over and over again... P. Sherman, 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney! Yeah for Dory!

There have been a few things over the years that I've forgotten. Important things, like...

1. Paying my bills
2. Eating right
3. Telling the people that I love that I love them.
4. Pumping the gas after paying for it.
5. The stroller outside the car at the Mall when we were leaving to go home.
6. The pizza on top of the car.
7. Changing my underwear.

The list could go on and on and on...

Psalm 105 verse 5 says, "Remember the wonderful things He has done..." Oh... yeah... note to self. Remember the wonderful things that God has done. Not always easy. It's often because we're too busy. Or too lazy. Or too mad at Him. But when we take the time to remember... it's always encouraging.

I'm sure Jonah was remembering inside the belly of the big fish. He was praying and remembering better days. Days with sunshine. Days with fresh air. Days without stomach acid burning his skin off. OUCH! I certainly hope it doesn't take something like that for me to stop long enough to remember how great God is!

OK people! That's it for now! Remember!! NO MEMORY LAPSES WHEN IT COMES TO REMEMBERING HOW GREAT GOD IS!!!

Finding Nemo, part 1

This week in Kid's Church we'll be watching "Finding Nemo" (at least the first 25 minutes worth!) In this section, Nemo is excited about the FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! But his Dad, Marlin isn't! Learning is hard work! In the Bible, we read a story about Jesus when he was 12 years old. He had gone with his parents to Jerusalem for a feast, but after his parents had been traveling back with the large crowd of relatives (they thought he was with another part of the family), they realized that Jesus wasn't with them. They probably FREAKED OUT! They went back and looked for him for 3 days!! When they finally found him, Jesus was at church! He had astounded the priests with his questions and answers! Now that's a student! Our kids are growing physically! Some of us need to stop growing physically! (ME- I'm wide enough) But there's always time to grow wiser!! (Read Luke 2: 52)

Some of my favorite stories come from school! When I was in 2nd grade, Alex Bravo came out to the playground and told all of us in Mrs. Donaldson's class that we didn't have to go in when the bell rang! YEAH! We could play alot longer! YEAH! When the bell rang, a bunch of us ignored it! We just smiled and thought, "We don't have to go in! Yeah!" A few minutes later we heard Mrs. Donaldson's voice. It wasn't her usual happy voice either! "What are you kids doing?!" she yelled! We tried to explain the situation to her, but she didn't want to hear any excuses! Then we all lined up outside the room and waited for our punishment! This was back in the good ol' days of "whacks". Some of us cried when we got our whack, but not Alex Bravo! In fact, he was sitting quietly in his chair watching us get our whacks and laughing at us! A bunch of us learned something that day! And it was the HARD WAY! :)

BIG VOICE

I've known a few people with big voices. Loud voices that carry many miles! When someone has a big voice, they also have a big, loud, obnoxious laugh too. I've gone to movies with some of these people and been embarrassed by their volume! This week we're finishing up our "Chicken Little" movie series. It's been great! Towards the end of the movie, the alien father speaks with his BIG VOICE to intimidate the animals in Oakey Oak. It works until his wife tells him to put the BIG VOICE away. Then his voice isn't so intimidating.

In John, chapter 12 God uses his BIG VOICE. He also uses it in Matthew, chapter 17. Everyone who hears God's BIG VOICE falls directly to the ground! Have you ever heard God's BIG VOICE? I haven't. I have heard his small, quiet, in my heart voice. Maybe someday I'll hear the BIG VOICE, but for now, I'm content with his small voice. There have been times when I've responded to his voice, but most of the time, I ignore it. It's usually because I can't tell if it's His voice, or just my imagination. When I have heard it, and responded to it, even when I didn't completely understand what God was saying to me, it has always turned out good. I encourage you to get to know God's voice. I'm going to. It's always awesome!

King's Island!

It's been over 10 years! But tomorrow we're going to King's Island. It's an amazing theme park that I first started going to many, many, many years ago when I was a teenager. For our Senior Class trip (High School 1975) we went there. Now, Senior classes go to Europe, or the Bahamas, or some other such nonsense.

Jennifer (our middle child) and her husband Ryan are going with us! Jamison and Adam are going too. Kim gets a day off from work to go! Yeah! We'll be there before 10 to get in line and make the mad dash to the Beast. It's gonna be awesome!

This week for Kid's Church we're starting our summer video series with "Flushed Away". I never saw this movie in the theaters, but it's great! We're going to be talking about loneliness, a major theme in the first 25 minutes.

That's it for now! I'm off to barbecue some chicken!

IT'S BEEN A MONTH?!

People! You can stop bugging me about updating my blog! I know it's been a month since my last post, but c'mon! Give me a break! It's been a busy month.

We've been able to go to church on Saturday night! Yeah! We've really enjoyed it. We are meeting at the old Whitewater Crossing Church building on Glenmore Avenue in Cheviot for the past 3 weeks on Saturday nights only, and it's given us the itch to have a building. To have a place to call home would be amazing. The building is older, but would allow us to settle down. It would take a ton of work to get the basement ready for Kid's Church, but when has the idea of hard work ever slowed us down?! NEVER! I can visualize an awesome Kid's Ministry wing, with a Kid's Church set that will knock the kid's socks off! A space that they will consider their own! Hallways that are inviting and fun! A room for the prize area, check-in, guests, nursery, toddlers, preschool chapel area, etc... It's gonna be awesome!

We're getting ready for summer! I think we're gonna do some lessons from secular movies like RATATOUILLE, OVER THE HEDGE, THE BEE MOVIE, and SHREK 3. We split the movies into 3 or 4 weeks, then have some Bible stories that go along with them! I think the kids will like it!

OK, that's it for now. I'll write more soon! I promise!