OK, this morning my grandson, Kyle Kenneth called. He must have grabbed his dad’s phone and hit a number. We had a good talk. This picture was taken at Camp Barakel this fall while I was speaking at Family Camp. Lois skipped my session and spent the time with little Kyle. He dutifully posed for this picture. His dad, (our oldest son, Kyle) has been asked to speak at a retreat at Camp Barakel. This is a big deal to me because Camp Barakel is one of my favorite places in the world. It is a wonderful ministry. You should consider taking your youth group to hear Kyle speak in January. Tell him I sent you. Kyle met his wife, Elizabeth at Barakel.
New Beginnings
This song touches me deeply. Watch it and tell me what you think.
A Great Lesson
I get teaching tips from Josh Hunt. Here is one a powerfully agree with:
I was talking to my father-in-law over enchiladas in Hatch, NM (no better place to eat enchiladas than Hatch, NM) yesterday about his lesson that day. He uses Lifeway’s Explore the Bible Series and my Good Questions as a supplement. They are currently in Psalms; yesterday in Psalm 73. Here is the key verse:
Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart. But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold. Psalms 73:1-2 (NIV)
Paraphrased: God, I know you are good, by my life is not going so well right now!
He said this story taken from J. Vernon McGee made the lesson come alive:
It was brought home to me when our first child was born. In the hospital God took that child. I only heard the cry of that little one. All she ever did in her life was cry. I shall never forget the day she died. Across the hall from where my wife was, there was a very wealthy couple who had a baby boy, and their rich friends came to celebrate with them. As I drove into the parking lot in my old beat-up Chevrolet, they all drove up in Cadillacs. They went into the hospital with their champagne and celebrated the birth of the little boy. He was a precious looking little baby — all they desired, I guess. I shall never forget that night. It was summertime, and I went out on a balcony that was there and cried out to God. To be honest with you, I don’t know to this good day why God took our baby and left the baby across the hall. They have money, and, boy, they live it up! I have seen write-ups about them, and they have been in trouble several times. Their little boy is now an adult, as my daughter would be. After all these years, I still don’t have the answer. You may be thinking, You are a minister, and you don’t have the answer? No, I don’t have the answer. Then how can you comfort others? Well, I’ll tell you how. Although I don’t have the answer, I know the One who does, and He has told me to walk with him by faith. He tests me by putting me in the dark. Then I’ll reach out my hand and take his. In His Word He tells me that I can trust Him. Someday He will explain the whys of life to me.
Asaph had a problem like that. Asaph has already said that God is good to Israel — that believing remnant of which he was a part — but this question really bothered him. — J. Vernon McGee.
As we talked about this over enchiladas Billy went around the room and talked about several in the room who had lost a child (including himself) and could really relate to this story. Several were moved to tears.
It is stories like this that are at the heart of every good lesson. Great stories make a great lesson. Everything you can do to find great stories is going to make you a better teacher.
Jesus spoke all these things to the crowd in parables; he did not say anything to them without using a parable. Matthew 13:34 (NIV)
Listen to the first part of my message from Sunday morning and you will see that I strongly agree.
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This Man Has Game
Monday and Tuesday Dan, Wes, and I heard Dr. James Grier preach through the storyline of the entire Bible… the Biblical Drama. What a worship experience that is. If you ever have a chance to hear him in person, go. Be sure you bring your thinking cap. (Wouldn’t hurt to bring a small electronic dictionary either). Dr. Grier used to pastor the church I pastor. Here is audio of a similar message.
https://jamesmgrier.org/audiofiles/glorypresenceworship.MP3]
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Girls Growing Up and Going Away
I can’t help but feel a pang of bitter-sweet emotion when I think of my daughters growing up and going away. My Heidi will marry a month from today. What a joy. What a gift. What a job its going to be to day dry-eyed on that day. Holly found this beautiful film. I would love to take this walk, wouldn’t you?
Raising a Godly Family
“It is a good thing when a man has a house of his own, thus to convert it into a church, by dedicating it to the service and honour of God, that it may be a Bethel, a house of God, and not a Bethaven, a house of vanity and iniquity. Every good Christian who is a householder, no doubt doth this habitually and virtually; having first given his own self to the Lord, he freely surrenders all he has to him.” –Matthew Henry
Here is a worth-while book. Obviously we have our differences about infant baptism, but this is a worthwhile read. When you browse a Christian bookstore and you happen across a book like this one you can tell in just a few minutes that it has much greater “weight” than most contemporary books. I have a weakness for good covers, too, so this one caught my eye and made its way into my library. May God give us homes like the one the great puritan divine describes here.
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