Archive for December, 2009

Hello 2010! What better way to ring in the new year than by starting off with our Five Faith Skills every kid should know! The five faith skills are:

Navigate the Bible – If you want to know God better, read His book
Personalize Scripture – If you want to know God better, remember His words
Dialogue with God – If you want to know God better, talk to Him
Articulate Faith – If you want to know God better, talk about Him with your friends
Worship with your life – If you want to know God better, make Him more important than anything

Those faith skills work together to help us learn our virtue for January, which is:

Discipline… wow. I mean, I’m all for getting stronger, but what if the way I get there hurts? We’re going to chase this idea of discipline all month long and how it applies to our lives. Jesus was the ultimate example of discipline when He was tempted by Satan after fasting for 40 days! He stayed behind at the Temple to learn more about God! Imagine that, Jesus wanting to know more about His Heavenly Father! It seemed like Jesus thought that knowing God, and knowing what the Bible says, is important. Something tells me that if Jesus made a big deal about it, we should, too.

Enter the faith skills. Every week, we’ll look at a different skill in a creative way. By the end of the month, we’ll have a better idea of things we can do to know God better. But more important than the things is the relationship. You can know ABOUT God and not know God. It is my hope and prayer that you all learn both… know God and know about God. Just imagine how different your life will look at the end of January! You’ll be armed with knowledge and faith skills.

::Spoiler Alert!::
Better get ready to do some Cha-Cha… just saying.

…probably because Christmas is only 2 days away! I can’t believe it. There is still so much left to do. Gifts to be wrapped, cards to be mailed, food to shop for then cook. Christmas may still be 2 days away, but I already feel like I need a breather.

And yet.

I think about a baby. I think about the Savior of the world, God’s only Son, and things get very simple, very quickly. God’s Son, sent to earth as a vulnerable infant… for me. For you. So that, through a relationship with Jesus, we could know God and spend forever with Him. All of a sudden, it doesn’t seem like life or death if I don’t perfectly wrap the gifts, or have everything in place. God’s greatest gift of salvation was offered freely to the world and that’s what we celebrate on Christmas Day.

So, instead of adding one more thing to an already crazy season, find ways to simplify. Remember the night that a child was born and hope was restored. Remember that the most important thing isn’t whether or not you got the latest and hottest gift, but that we can celebrate the birth of the One who came to save us.

When you think about it that way, Christmas begins to look a whole lot more like it should.

Hey everyone! Come on out for KidzJam tonight as we take a look at the virtue of… drumroll, please… COMPASSION: caring enough to do something about someone else’s needs.

Doors open @ 6:45pm at our Dickson City campus (think Park Center… think Chuck E. Cheese… think of the wonderful smells of the Chinese restaurant next door… great, now I’m hungry).

So join us for an amazing night as we celebrate the birth of our Savior and the ultimate act of compassion. God saw our greatest need and did something about it. That is a big, big, big reason to celebrate!

::Spoiler Alert!::

They say a picture is worth a thousand words…

See you tonight!