You know what family I mean. The family that everyone talks about. The family that is wacky and does things differently. '
It shouldn’t come as a surprise. I think that we have been different since the beginning. Sarah and I dated for three years and … Eek … there is 10 years difference between us.
Then God blessed us with an awesome son that was diagnosed with cancer at 15 months old and has an artificial eye. That was 20 years ago and he has been cancer free ever since. Five years later we were blessed with our second child and then, after another five years, we were blessed with our third.
In the meantime we became full time missionaries and became a homeschooling family. As you can see we do things just a little bit differently around here.
However, that’s not all! A year ago God showed us the perfect house he wanted us to have. We moved in and soon became foster parents to three awesome young men. Well, today we made it official. They are ours!
We also have another wonderful young man living with us that we call our son as well. So, within one year we went from a family of five to a family of nine!
Yes! We are “that family”! We are crazy! We are wacky! But we are all very much loved by one another. It hasn’t always been easy, but throughout the process we have never doubted God’s plan.
Thank you God! And thank you all for your prayers. Please continue to pray for us! This ridiculous family sure does need it! Also pray for some decisions that need to be made in the next few weeks. If you thought we were crazy before wait until you see what we think God wants us to do now!
As I sit here beginning to write this review and thinking about this product I have tears in my eyes. The tools that I have used from the Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sampler Pack from Let the Little Children Come has changed lives forever! Before I get too mushy though, let me explain what is going on.
A few weeks ago I talked about another product from Let the Little Children Come. Because they were sending us two different products for two different reviews they mailed both at the same time to save money. So, the Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sampler Pack was sent in time for me to use in my end of summer ministries including my trip to Canada to teach at Mill Stream Bible Camp. They were a hit! The kids loved them and these great products were used to tell children about the Lord!
Before I tell you what is included in this great pack of evangelism tools, let me tell you a little story. When people tell you that things come and go in cycles believe them. They really do. Even in the computer age where kids are fixated with iPhones and tablets, they can still be fascinated with old things. When I first received these items, my first thought was that these things were cool when I was a kid but I wonder how todays modern kids would respond to them. Well, as I said they were amazed. They had never seen things like this before. Things that actually looked like they were moving even without being on an electronic device. That made them seem “cool” to the kids and they all crowded around while they I was demonstrating them.
So what are these amazing tools. Well, we got three Animated Tracts, two Pop-up Tracts, two “FlipAbouts”, two Evangelistic Bracelets and a Wordless Book.
Now, most of the kids that I ministered to had seen the evangelism bracelets and the Wordless Books. I use these awesome items all of the time to demonstrate how the dark color represents sin – we all have sinned and fall short of God’s glory – and how sin separates us from God. Because we are separated from God, we can’t get to Heaven – represented by the Gold color because Heaven has streets of Gold. Jesus, however, didn’t want us to die in our sins, He wanted us to go to Heaven, so He came down to earth, lived a perfect life, and died on the cross for our sins to take our punishment – Red. If we believe that He died for our sins and receive his free gift of eternal life then our sins will be washed away and we will be white like snow – white. While we are still on earth, however, we need to continue to grow in Christ – green – by reading our Bible, praying, going to church and obeying what God tells us to do.
These items are excellent tools to where around your wrist or carry in your pocket to tell others about God and about Jesus dying on the cross for us.
However, it was the other items that really fascinated the kids and kept their attention. Items such as the flip books that magically “flip” to reveal different pictures that talk about salvation.
The Pop-up Tracts were also popular. Who would have thought that a simple but scripturally based tract that had pop-up pictures would be so attention getting. Those were big years ago for today’s kids they are new and different.
The items that kids just couldn’t put down, however, were the Animated Tracts. I don’t have a video of those, but I know you have seen them. They are the ones where you have a little piece of see through plastic with black lines on it. When you put it in front of a special picture and wiggle it back and forth it looks like the picture is moving. That really fascinated the kids! Who would have thought? That was the tract that was used to lead two kids to the Lord! What a blessing!
I am going to continue using the items from the Gospel Tracts and Evangelism Tools Sampler Pack over and over again! They are that great. In fact, all of the items from Let the Little Children Come are great. I am going to continue to go back to that company for evangelism tools over and over again. To find out more about their products just click on any one of the highlighted links above. To find what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew had to say about these items click on the banner below. I pray that God will use you to tell many others about Jesus by using these great tools!
One thing that amazes me about children on the autism spectrum, especially those diagnosed with high functioning autism or Asperger’s Syndrome, is that they are like little professors. They latch on to things and want to learn all about that topic. For Joshua it was Thomas the Train when he was younger. Then it was trains in general, helicopters, bowling, WWE wrestling (ugh!), flags, and more. His most recent phase has been geography. It has been for the past few years, thankfully. When he first began becoming interested in geography it was very difficult to find material that would actually interest him but also find material he could actually use. You see, he devoured almost everything he could find on the subject, but his level of knowledge soon out grew his reading level. His knowledge was on a high school level (I would say he knows more now than the average college student) but his reading comprehension level was a lot lower. I really wish I would have known about Let’s Go Geography way back then. I think that he would have loved this.
Thankfully, however, I still have a chance to use this awesome three year geography program with my youngest Jacob. I am very glad to say that he has also taken a bit of an interest in geography and history as well. Maybe not as much as Joshua but still an interest and I am always glad when a child of mine takes an interest in something other than video games!
Let’s Go Geography is really a fantastic program that’s listed for grades kindergarten through four but I have learned a bunch from the program myself so I think that it can be used, at least as a supplement, for a lot higher than fourth grade. After you purchase a membership (there are different plans to fit nearly any budget) you will be emailed the link to your first country. You can see the three year plan below. You can also just log into your account and download from there.
Each week is packed with a lot of great information and projects that you can work with at any pace that you want, but since all of the information is divided into five sections then doing a little each day for five days works great. The five chapters cover Mapping the country being studies; the flag of the country; the music of the country; exploring the country; and creating a craft that represents the country. What makes it great is that all printables and links are provided. All you might need are things like colored pencils, glue, etc. (all extra materials that you may need are listed) and, of course, a printer to print off everything.
We love this program! There is so much information but it is covered in such a way that it is very interesting. Let me talk about everything we learned about Canada – week three of the suggested plan. We love Canada and we travel there every year to help out at a camp run by some friends of ours.
The first thing we learned was where Canada was located and a little bit about the country. Younger students are just required to color in the map (sites to printable maps are provided). Older students identify the different provinces and territories as well. All students talk about the countries that border Canada, the rivers, lakes, and the climate.
Next we learn about the countries flag. There are printable flags provided that can be printed off and cut out for multiple students if you have more than one in your family. The student colors in the flag, and either pastes it there “Flags of North America” page or in their passport book that can be purchased separately.
We love the third chapter of each weeks lesson. That chapter is the music from that country. Almost always there is a link to the anthem for that country and most often there is a link to other music from that country. We love the anthem for Canada. Although we are United States citizens through and through, the beautiful national anthem of Canada reminds us of the kids that come to the camp and sing the anthem while raising the flag every morning. We also love hearing music from countries so this section is one of our favorites.
The fourth section is also a favorite of ours. It’s the “Let’s Explore” chapter where there are a ton of links and information to videos and websites that you can use to explore your section. The lesson on Canada has five tremendous links to videos that tell about the people of Canada, the landscape, and popular places to visit. There is also a link to a wonderful site where you can read about all things Canada! I really like that the author of this curriculum also provided the exact area in the library that you would go to find books about Canada. There is also a section with writing suggestions for older students if they want to notebook about the country being studies complete with colored pictures to print and cut out if wanted. Of course, the notebooking page is also provided!
Finally, the fifth chapter gives you craft ideas and coloring pages that can be printed out and created. The craft ideas often feature something that represents a native craft or a craft that uses something that is very distinct to that country. For example, one of the crafts for Canada uses the maple leaf which, of course, is one of the major symbols for Canada. As mentioned before, most of the things needed are provided to print out, and any outside materials are listed at the beginning of each week.
We are absolutely loving Let’s Go Geography! Even Joshua takes a peak at what we are doing and gets interested sometimes. To find out more about this product just click on any one of the highlighted links above. Other members of the Homeschool Review Crew reviewed this company and you can find what they had to say by clicking on the banner below. Happy Homeschooling!
I was never fond of many of role playing/strategy games growing up. It seemed that a lot of the ones available were ones that were controversial in the Christian world. A few years ago we were introduced to some new strategy/role playing games that weren’t necessarily Christian but didn’t really have anything controversial about them. We really enjoyed playing them. Last year were introduced to Chara Games when we reviewed their game Christian based board game - Commissioned. We loved it and were very excited when we were chosen to review another of their games this year. This time it is a very cool card game called Unauthorized.
Soon after the game arrived I gave it to my oldest son John Allen to look over. He is the strategy game expert and, since so many times strategy games have complicated rules, I thought he would be the best one to figure them out and explain to the rest of us. I am not one that is good at explaining rules – I usually need them spelled out to me – and because this game requires at least six players I knew I would need someone that would be able to communicate effectively to a number of people. What we happily discovered was that the rules were simpler than we thought. They still needed some explaining but weren’t really that difficult. Even I was able to understand the rules and was able to build a strategy the first time played.
To begin the game, you are dealt a Role Card at random. Depending on the number of players at least one person is always a pastor and at least one person is a policeman. The other players are neutral players such as the matchmaker, clerk, merchant, counselor, teacher, thief, etc. Thankfully all of them are two sided with a woman on one side and a man on the other so, for example, if you are a man, and got the thief card, you turn your card over to the man thief and leave it face up on the table. Each person has a different role power that I will briefly explain in a minute. The players are then dealt seven random Experience Cards. The only exception is that the policeman is always starts off with seven red cards and the pastor with seven green cards. Those cards determine if you are loyal to the church or loyal to the state. If you have more green church cards than red state cards then you are loyal to the church. If you have more red cards than green then you are loyal to the state. The number of green and red cards you have during the game can change so that may change your loyalty and you must then change your strategy. Your goal is to make sure you stay loyal to whatever you are loyal to, and to sway other players to your side.
There are only four rounds in the game so the game goes fairly quickly. The first time we played, of course, took a little longer because we were just getting used to the rules, however, the game usually only takes around 30 minutes. At the beginning of each round all players either play one or two cards face up in front of you, or pass a card to another player and then play a card. Each round instructs you to do something a little different at the start of that round. Then each player takes a turn and can choose one of four actions. You either use your role power to do something, speak to a neighbor and ask him to show you his cards, seek parole if you are in prison, or conduct a public execution if you are a policeman.
At least with us, most of the time we chose to use our role powers. Each player has something different that they can do with their role power. For example, during one game I was the merchant and I could swap one card with another player. I have also played as the teacher and I could draw a card from the pile, look at it, and give it to a player of my choice. Remember, as I am doing this, I am always trying to sway another player to my side as well as make sure I maintain my loyalty.
At the end of four rounds we put down the cards in our hands beside the cards that have already been played in front of us and that determines which side wins the game. The game can be very fluid. At one point you are loyal to one side and are working toward that goal, then someone could play a card that would change your loyalty and your entire strategy changes. It’s really a lot of fun and strategic.
John Allen is very smart when it comes to things like this and caught on to the strategy right away. He loves playing this game. It took me a little while longer but I am getting the hang of it now. Poor Sarah. Even now she is having a hard time figuring out the ins and outs of it all. The rest of the kids are in between but we all agree it’s we really like the game.
It also makes one think about real life in countries where the goal of the state is to really crush the church and the goal of the church is to just stay alive! It is really though provoking.
I think you’ve gotten the idea that we have really enjoyed playing Unauthorized by Chara Games. To find out more about this game and other games by this great company click on any one of the highlighted links above. Many other members of the Homeschool Review Crew reviewed this game and you can find what they had to say by clicking on the banner below. Remember, Christmas is coming and this would be a great gift! Happy Game Playing!
Like many Christians I have a difficult time with what to do on Halloween. When I was younger it was just a fun day to dress up. There were no terrible masks or dressing up like hideous or satanic looking characters. There was also no talk or even rumors of demonic worship. Unfortunately the days of innocence at Halloween are long gone. So, I have struggled with what to do. Thankfully many churches have trunk-or-treat events or other fall celebrations and that is what we usually took our kids to. Now that most of my kids are older, though, what do I do now? Do I lock my doors and turn out the lights and ignore the kids to make a point. Or, do I try to use this day for God’s glory knowing that what man meant for evil God can use for good (Genesis 50:20). When I was invited to review the Is There Anything Better Than Candy? Box-Tract from Let the Little Children Come I had my answer.
Let the Little Children Come is an awesome company that provides innovative and unique evangelistic tools for children. I used some of them, including the Is There Anything Better Than Candy? Box-Tract recently at a camp that I taught Bible at and the kids were really amazed. I’ll write more about the other amazing tools later, but first lets talk about this great product.
I love the idea of a small box to put the candy in and pass out to the kids. However, this box is much more than a carrying case for candy, it’s much more! It’s a complete salvation tract on the inside! Take a look at the picture below.
As the child unfolds the pumpkin to get to the candy, a simple and concise but very accurate and Biblical salvation message appears explaining that a relationship with God is much better than candy! It explains the plan of salvation step by step in much the same way that I would explain it to a child or group of children. You can read the six “pumpkin slices” above to see what I mean. It is really neat!
It’s very easy to put together. The pumpkin tract comes ready to punched out and put together. The easy to assemble illustrations are printed on the part of the “punch out” that’s not used.
I can’t wait to use this with my Bible Club kids as it gets close to Halloween, but you can also use it for Sunday School classes, special parties, fall festivals, to use when children come to your door, or just as a special gift. There was a counselor at camp that had a birthday the week that I was there and I put some candy inside of one of the Pumpkin Tracts and gave it to him at lunch. He loved it! There are infinite ways that the Is There Anything Better Than Candy? Box-Tract can be used. Use your imagination!
To find out more about Is There Anything Better Than Candy? Box-Tract and the other evangelistic tools from Let the Little Children Come just click on any one of the highlighted links above. You can also check what other members of the Homeschool Review Crew had to say by clicking on the banner below! And, of course, stay tuned for my other review coming up in a few weeks. Have Fun!
I just got back from my annual trip teaching Bible at Mill Stream Bible Camp in Canada. Don’t get me wrong, I dearly love the United States. I don’t want to live anywhere else. However, I do love Canada. It has to be my second favorite country outside of the United States. I so love traveling to Mill Stream and teaching Bible and I love the time that we have had to play tourist in Canada.
This year, though, because our foster kids couldn’t get passports quick enough, only Joshua and I went while Sarah stayed home with the rest of the family. This year was Canada’s 150th Birthday, and the theme at Mill Stream reflected that. Below are some pictures of the decorations at the camp. Also below is a recording of the song from Epcot’s Canada Pavilion that first sparked my desire to visit Canada. It is still a favorite song of mine even thought the pavilion’s movie has changed and this song is no longer performed.
Howdy folks! Here is my second podcast on the Fruit of the Spirit. As I said before, I don’t know how many I will do a week, but I’m doing them as the Spirit leads. These are geared toward the Teens that Sarah and I work with, but anyone is welcome to watch. Enjoy and leave me a comment below!
I have mentioned it before in my reviews that we love history. Because of that, we have explored many different curriculum options. One option that has always seems to come up is Drive Thru History®. I have heard wonderful things about them but we have never had the chance to really use any of their great videos. When it was announced that I might get the chance to review of their video series I was super excited. However, it wasn’t the history part that made me excited, but it was what the series, Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels”, was about. I don’t usual quote from a company’s website in my review but this time I am because when doing my research on the series before I was selected for the review, this really caught my eye:
Dave travels to over 50 ancient sites in Israel to deliver the Gospels in a fresh way, show the evidence for the truth of scripture, and encourage families to get excited about reading the Bible again.
Most of you know that my wife and I are full time missionaries and work with low income families in our community. We do Bible studies, mentor, provide rides and help with food banks, and a lot more things where we try to show Christ the families that we work with. A couple of years ago God led me to begin a Bible study for teen boys. The boys that God has led to our study are kind of a rough lot. They have been through a lot of things in life and have a lot of questions. Many of them question the Bible and it’s validity. They want proof! When I read the above statement I thought that this would be a fantastic study for my boys. I was not disappointed! It has been wonderful.
Before I tell you about the great discussions we have had, let me tell you what is included in the series. This series once again features Dave Stotts who is hilarious and very entertaining. He really makes the videos fun to watch. The Special Edition set that we received (pictured above) comes with three DVD’s and super nice study guide that also serves as a case for the DVD’s. On the DVD’s are 18 lessons that cover every aspect of the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John) in 18 approximately 30 minute long videos that cover Jesus’s life and ministry from before birth to his resurrection. Here are the 18 Episodes and what they cover:
Episode 1: The Historical Landscape Episode 2: The Announcements Episode 3: Jesus is Born Episode 4: Jesus Grows Up Episode 5: Jesus Starts His Ministry Episode 6: Jesus Returns to Galilee Episode 7: Jesus Begins His Miracles Episode 8: Jesus Teaches with Authority Episode 9: The Sermon on the Mount Episode 10: Jesus Travels the Sea of Galilee Episode 11: Jesus Travels North Episode 12: A Final Trip to Jerusalem Episode 13: Jesus Arrives in Jerusalem Episode 14: The Last Supper Episode 15: The Trial of Jesus Episode 16: The Crucifixion of Jesus Episode 17: The Resurrection of Jesus Episode 18: Who is Jesus?
The episodes are indeed fascinating as well as funny (as I mentioned before). Dave travels to over 50 places in Israel and surroundings areas to give you historical information and to show you exactly where different events in the Bible happened. I haven’t been able to watch all of the videos yet, but so far we have seen dozens of fascinating places that really help us understand what the times were like and help us put into perspective Jesus’ life and miracles. Just recently we were fascinated with the palaces of Herod and how powerful of a man he was. When Dave talked about the supposed place where Jesus was born we were in awe. Those are just two of the many spots he travels to and really helps us understand scripture even more. I’ll talk about that late, but first let me tell you about the accompanying study guide.
The 100+ page study guide is equally as interesting. For each lesson it provides a summary of what is going to be covered, scripture that goes along with the lesson, five discussion questions to ask if you are using the series in a Bible study, and a brief section called “Side Road” for each lesson. The “Side Road” briefly discusses things that might not have been covered in the video, or maybe could have been covered in more detail but time didn’t allow. The guide also has dozens of pictures of many of the same places that are talked about in the video. We have really had some lively discussions in our Teen Boy’s Bible Study, which leads me to my next paragraph.
Above are two pictures from just last night. In the top picture you may see Jacob, my youngest – 11 years old. He has found these videos fascinating. The videos are geared toward middle school to adults, but all ages can can enjoy them.
We have had some super lively discussions after watching the videos at our Bible Study. Of course the teens seem bored at times when they are watching, but they sure know the answers to the discussion questions and have some great questions themselves. Because Dave Stotts uses a lot of outside history texts from Biblical days intertwined with the Gospel accounts, and also travels to all of these spots to show historical evidence that these events did happen, it has made the boy’s think. We have great talks about why the virgin birth is important, the wise men, Herod and more. It is really getting everyone to contemplate the scriptures which is what I really wanted. It has been great.
As you can see I am a complete fan of Drive Thru History® – “The Gospels”. It has been fantastic. I would really encourage you to use it either in your homeschool setting or perhaps in a teen Bible study setting such as what we have. To find out more about this series and other Drive Thru History® products just click on any one of the highlighted links above. You can also check them out on social media through the links below. Many other members of the Homeschool Review Crew reviewed this great product and you can find what they had to say by clicking on the banner below. Happy Bible Studying!
For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.
Jeremiah 29:11
As I sit here and contemplate what a crazy day it's been, I can't help but thank God for his blessings and for using Sarah Trull Tinkel and me in ways that I often don't understand.
It all began while I was doing my devotions and praying this morning. I got a call from the social worker for our foster boys asking if we could pick up their brother a day early to come and live with us. Originally we thought that they were going to wait until the end of the school year for Robert to come and live with us. Then, last week, we were told it would be Thursday. However, the boy's home where he was at needed another bed so they asked us to pick him up today. I quickly went to tell Sarah then went to finish the review that I was working on.
While finishing the review, I got a call from a strange number listed as a Nevada number. My caller ID said it was listed as a spam number so I didn't answer. A few minutes later the same number came up on my phone again. I thought I swiped my phone to reject the call but apparently answered it. I heard a voice coming from the phone so I picked it up to ask who it was. It ended up being one of John Allen's friends who had gotten into some trouble and had spent the night in jail. We consider him like a son. We quickly jumped in the car to make arrangements for him to get out of jail. He is staying with us for the night and Sarah is going to go to court with him in the morning. Please be praying for our young friend. Because we live in a small town, I’m not going to mention his name but God knows the whole situation.
While we were dealing with him, a friend who volunteers at a local food bank called to say that they had a lot of food today and suggested we come by. Knowing that we would have a full house of seven wonderful young men to feed, we gladly stopped by. While there I was introduced to a man and asked if I would pray with him. We ended up talking for about an hour while he told me his life story including his running from God. He knew that God was calling him back. Through tears we prayed together and I promised that I would be in contact with him again. Please be praying for Chuck.
After picking up David and Skiler, stopping by McDonald’s to get everyone something to eat off of the dollar menu, and going home to unload the McDonalds food and food bank food, we were finally on our way to pick up Robert in the boy’s home an hour away.
Robert quickly got settled in and soon all of the boy’s wanted to go to the city park to play basketball. They had heard of Sarah’s basketball skills (she played in college) and invited her to come. I watched from the car since, as many of you know, I am not an athlete. Soon, a young man came over to the car. I quickly recognized him as a boy who used to come to our day camps a few years ago with his brother and sister. He apologized for not coming to any of our events for the past couple year or so and explained that the reason was that his mom had left them and he and his sister were now living with their father. The two youngest brothers who were too young to come to day camps were living with their father (a different father from the two oldest) and the middle brother who had still another father, was living with the mom in a homeless shelter in Nashville. After talking for some time with him, I found out where he was living and invited him to come to our teen boy’s Bible study on Thursday nights. Please be in prayer for Christian, his sister and his three younger brothers. It is a tough situation.
Finally, while I was talking to Christian, I look up to see Sarah and another boy sprawled out on the court. Yes, Sarah and the boy had gotten tripped up and their was a wipe out. As I type, Sarah is beside me in the bed and Jacob, our youngest is between us after he got sick and threw up in the bathroom. Please pray for both Sarah, who is aching from the fall and Jacob.
So, I am here contemplating and listening to the sound of a full house of boys and young men settling down for the night. As I do I wonder what tomorrow will bring but know that whatever it is God will be with us.
God has indeed blessed us and met our needs. The house he has given us is a real blessing and we want to use it for his glory. Not only does it have enough room for my ever increasing family – soon there will be 6 awesome boys living in our home – but it also has enough room and is a beautiful location for ministry.
The view from our huge front window is absolutely gorgeous. We placed some of our bird feeders in our front yard the other day and the birds have already found it and they are swarming it.
God knew our needs and has truly blessed us with a beautiful home for our family, a wonderful location for ministry, and an awesome place of relaxation.
Thank you Lord for your wonderful blessings. Thank you for taking care of our needs by giving us overly and abundantly more than we deserve. Please help us to always use our home for your glory. ~ Amen
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. I John 4:8
I talk a lot about my ministry on my blog. That’s one of the reasons I started writing on Families Again. Sometimes my ministry posts are informational, sometimes they are joyful, sometimes they are not so joyful.
Today was a long day of ministry. Of course we had our regular Sunday morning fellowship, but then I went full speed for over seven hours. Over five of those hours was dealing with a torn apart family and trying to help them pull the pieces back together. Three of the family members, teen brothers, are in state custody in two different boy’s group homes. They are the three that are going to become our foster sons for at least a few months.
I enjoy my Sunday afternoon visits, but often they are very difficult.
But I've found somewhere in this heart A Friend for life To hold me close, 'til all my fears subside
You can see it on the boy’s faces. Hurt – Pain – Hopelessness - Anger is written all over them. Many times it is self inflicted, but more times than not it is caused by outside circumstances.
I hurt for these boys. Many of them don’t know love. Many of them aren’t even sure they believe in love – at least not real love.
Unfortunately these hopeless feelings aren’t restricted to just boy’s in a boy’s home. I see those same looks on the teen boys that I have a weekly Bible study with.
I want to grab them! I want to look into their eyes and say that there is hope! They don’t have to continue to go from one hopeless situation to the next. They don’t have to throw their lives away. They can find true Hope and Love.
True love doesn't come and go Here today then gone tomorrow
That Hope and Love is Jesus Christ.
Although I don’t always grab them, I do tell them about the God of Hope and Love. I pray that God will speak through me when I speak to them. There are some where I see a glimmer of hope but then there are others where I still see despair.
As I was thinking about today’s visits, God put these two songs into my mind. I may have posted them before but I really feel like God wants me to post them again. Perhaps it’s for one of my readers or someone that they know. I’ll post the lyrics below the songs.
RUSS TAFF
Believe In Love Lyrics
After we have listened to everything There is left to say. Watching ev'ry pretense of reality Slowly fade away Why is all we desire Taken from our hands Every dream is drifting away
There is understanding for everyone Who has ears to hear No more looking over your shoulder For someone to appear Well maybe, you should be looking Right into His eyes Say goodbye to someone elses lies
Chorus: I've got to know, Do you believe in love In all the things You searched the world to find But know nothing of. Through the sun, Through the fire, and the rain Nobody will ever hurt you, yeah If you believe... In love.
Somedays I get up in the morning And I wish I wasn't there Life seems so incredibly lonely When no one wants to care But I've found somewhere in this heart A Friend for life To hold me close, 'til all my fears subside
I've got to know, Do you believe in love, In all the things You searched the world to find, But know nothing of Through the sun, Through the fire, and the rain Nobody will ever hurt you, Nobody will break your world in two If you believe In love
(break) Don't be afraid Oh NO NO Don't be afraid Of the questions anymore The answer lies waiting. Nobody, nobody, nobody, Will hurt you again I still believe
I've got to know, Do you believe in love, In all the things You searched the world to find But know nothing of Through the sun, Through the fire, and the rain Nobody will ever hurt you, Nobody will break your world in two If you believe, In love... Surrender to Love... Believe in Love...
Chorus
CHARLIE PEACOCK
Almost Threw It All Away Lyrics
I remember when you were just a girl I was a boy in a big man's world We had no idea what time would reveal Little did we know that Over a million tears had to fall That is no exaggeration 'Cause I've counted them all Every sad and senseless incident Has been mine to recall
You never gave up, you never gave in You didn't say no... I can't take anymore of this You never gave up on me, you never gave in You refused to believe that love had come to and end
I almost threw it all away Traded truth for a lie, diamonds for clay Oh I, almost threw it all away
Through some clever thinking and a strong imagination I could twist the truth into any configuration And find myself doing things That I never dreamed I could do I've know the kind of pain Where you can't catch your breath You say if this is life Then please bring me death Thank God that that wish I made never ever came true
You never gave up, you never gave in You didn't say no... I can't take anymore of this You never gave up on me, you never gave in You refused to believe that love had come to an end
True love doesn't come and go Here today then gone tomorrow Doesn't speak the wicked word That breaks the heart in two Doesn't renegotiate What it knows is true Doesn't give up, give in, throw it all away
I led a teen boy’s Bible study tonight. I have been talking about Jonah the past couple of weeks. Our pastor preached a fantastic sermon on Jonah and compared him to us. Tonight I talked about why God does things and how God wants to use us. I remembered the following video, looked it up, and played if for them.
I thought I would post it for you all to see as well. What is your purpose in life? Why has God created you? What goals has God given you? As you watch this, think about those things. Think about how you are conducting yourself everyday. If you are like me you often think only of yourself and not of others. I desire to show Christ in everything I do.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. I Corinthians 13:4-8
I don’t know if the man in the commercial is a Christian. It is a Thai commercial so chances are he may not be. However, he is demonstrating the actions and love of Christ more than many people that call themselves followers of Christ demonstrate.
My goal is to be more Christ like. to demonstrate God’s love like this man is doing. I want to bring God’s joy, happiness, love to people.
This just hit me like a ton of bricks tonight - or maybe I should say God laid it on my heart tonight – as I was thinking about what to write.
Aren’t you glad that God doesn’t require paperwork?
I have spent hours upon hours the past two or three weeks getting together statements, signing documents, downloading, faxing, filling out, copying, calling on the phone, you name it – all to get paperwork done for our home purchase and for the foster care of our three fantastic foster sons.
I have had super full days the past two days and half of the time it was ministry and half of the time it was getting paperwork done.
As I was preparing to blog this evening I thought to myself that I am so glad that God doesn’t require paperwork.
He accepts us just as we are - with all of our faults, flaws and baggage. He loves us even though we aren’t lovable and we don’t deserve it.
He doesn’t require us to get our behavior score (credit score) up to a certain level.
He doesn’t require gifts as a down payment.
He doesn’t require proof of sacrifice as paperwork to show that we have everything together for this great thing that we are purchasing. In fact, we can’t purchase it at all!
We can’t act good enough. We can’t do enough or give enough. We can’t sacrifice enough. There is no way that we can get it all together enough.
God has never once sent out a letter or an email say “Congratulations! You qualify for Heaven!”.
Because, we don’t qualify. Only Jesus qualifies. He’s the only one that has it all together. He’s the only one that deserves it. He’s the only one that has earned it by living a perfect, sinless, life.
We can do nothing – nothing at all – to get to Heaven. We are doomed.
Doomed, that is, if we try to do it ourselves because we can’t.
There is no way we can get one of those perfect houses in that perfect place called “Heaven”. We are doomed to live in hell.
Jesus, however, didn’t want us to live on that side of the tracks. He wanted us to live on His side of the tracks. So, He paid the price so that we could get that house in Heaven.
He has the perfect behavior (credit) score.
He paid the ultimate down payment.
He made the sacrifice and filled out all of the paperwork for us.
And He did it so that we could have eternal life and live in that perfect house in that perfect place called Heaven.
He did it all for us as a gift and all we have to do is accept that free gift.
We can do nothing but accept it.
Have you accepted that free gift or are you still trying to get all of the paperwork together and get your behavior score up to par? You can’t do it if you are! There is no way you can get everything together. Jesus is the only one that has it all together.
A few months ago I posted a great video done by a friend of mine explaining how you can accept that free gift. If you haven’t accepted that free gift or aren’t sure if you have please watch this short video carefully. I pray that after watching the video you will accept the free gift of eternal life from Jesus. If you do, leave a comment or send me an email at tink38570@gmail.com.
For by Grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. Ephesians 2:8, 9
It can be said by a husband or wife to their spouse.
It can be said by a child to their parent of a parent to their child.
It can be said to someone very special to you.
It can also be said or written in different ways.
In this case it was written like this – I Y you! And it was written on the back windshield of my car.
Before I tell who who wrote it and why it is so special to me, I need to give you a little background.
I know it sounds cliché, but if you would have told me a year ago where where my ministry would be right now and what my family would be preparing for right now I would have thought you were crazy. I would have never thought that my regular Sunday afternoon routine would be visiting boys in not one but two boy’s homes both over an hour away from my house. I would have never thought that we would be buying a house that is beyond what I thought we would be able to buy right now. I especially would have never thought that we would be preparing to invite three teenage brothers into our home as foster sons.
However, God has grand plans for us if we only seek His will and desire.
All of those things are happening plus more and we are so excited about what God is doing and how everything is coming together. I am also amazed at how the three things listed above all are falling into place to reach the same goal.
We are buying a much larger house than the apartment we live in now so that we can foster three boys who just happen to be in those two boy’s homes that I am visiting every week.
So, what does that have to do with the “I Y you!” sign posted above? Well, it was written by one of the teen boys on my back windshield as he was walking me out to my car this past Sunday after our visit.
This rough around the edges, street smart, low-riding jean, ear ring wearing boy who many would call a delinquent wrote that message.
This kid who was put in a level two home for troubled boys because he was having problems at home, skipping school, and getting into other trouble wrote those special words.
This teen who most people would have given up on but God chose my family to love him and his two teenage brothers thought enough of us to spontaneously write something that very much touched me and my families hearts.
It was written in a place on my back windshield where I saw it every day when I looked in my rear view mirror and, because the review mirror reflects things, it was spelled out perfectly as you can see in the picture above.
Every day for four days I could see it until it began to rain and I snapped a picture of it before it washed away.
To me it was a symbol of what God can do if we just allow him. This boy hasn’t been around real love very much in his messed up and confused life, but God is working in him and allowing me and my family to be a part of it.
This 15 year old kid who not many people cared about is learning to show his smart, good hearted, generous self and allowing himself to love and be loved.
Thank you Lord for loving him and my family and for allowing us to be one of the recipients of his special love.
1 Corinthians 13:13 ... New International Version And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.
After I spent all morning in court today supporting kids that I work with, Sarah and I got tons of things accomplished this afternoon and evening.
However, I still feel like:
I signed tons of papers that needed to be signed for the new house.
I called and talked at length to a fantastically helpful person about beginning classes for foster care.
I called and gathered even more things that needed to be sent to the mortgage people.
I made doctors appointments and got prescriptions filled for all of my families wonderful, interesting and unique health problems.
We went shopping for some much needed furniture for the new house.
And that is just a fraction of the things that got done.
So, why am I saying this? Because I still am not able to get the next blog post in my Goal Setting for 2017 completed.
You all aren’t going to even believe that I set goals when I’ve missed my goal for getting writing Day Two for two days in a row now. After all, though, they are only goals!
My goal for tomorrow is to get that next post done! We are expecting a snow storm here so we aren’t going to be able to get our much after noon tomorrow! Remember, I live in Tennessee and even a dusting of snow is call for schools to be out for a week!
Thank you so much for all of your prayers and encouragement for me and my family during this adventurous time! God is doing fantastic things!
What do you do when you hear about individuals who were visited by APS (Adult Protective Services) and two other individuals who had DCS (Department of Children’s Services) called about them all in one day? And, you minister to all of the people in one way or another.
Well, first you listen, then you pray. You pray on your own. You pray with the individuals. You go home and pray more with your wife.
That is what my day has been like today. Along with meeting with our realtor this morning; getting called by my elderly neighbor to run an errand for them this afternoon; washing clothes and trying to fix a dryer; and having an adult Bible study with seven adults and teens, six dogs, and two cats in a trailer at the trailer park.
Then, I have to get up early in the morning to go to court regarding the three boys that we are prayerfully going to be fostering as well as being in court a second time to support a teen boy who goes to my Bible study.
Needless to say, my day has been interesting. I usually do my best thinking and blog writing in the evening and night. I often stay up way past midnight writing. However, the second installment of my five day series on goal setting just isn’t going to work out tonight. Oh, I can write something like this where I am just recounting my day, but to write something serious that takes a lot of thought just ain’t happening!
Prayerfully it will happen tomorrow. Until then, please be in prayer about all of the situations I mentioned above. Thank you so much!
Last year was a fantastic year spiritually for me. God gifted me greatly during 2016 in ways that I would have never thought imaginable. So many breakthroughs in so many areas and boldness to do things that I never thought I would do. I want all of those things plus more to continue in 2017. I know that God is there for me, but I must be willing to do what He says and walk in the power that He has given me. To do that I have to continue to grow. Here are some of the goals that I have for myself spiritually to keep myself open for God to continue to challenge me, use me, and grow me and my family. Personal Goals:
Read through the Bible two times in the next year. Well, at least finish what I began on November 1 and then read it through one more time if not more, Last year I was able to complete the one year Bible that I had begun the year before. Then I read another version of the Bible in five months. So, I know that I can do it. I try not to just read through the Bible, though. I also want to pray and meditate over what I am reading. I grew so much! I want that again.
Continue with a concentrated prayer time. I have always prayed, but I never really had a concentrated, down on my knees, prayer time. When I began to do that last year it was fantastic. God spoke in so many ways and did wondrous things in mine and my families life. I longed for more fellowship with the Lord and often I would have three or four prayer times a day. I have begun to get a little lax on that and I don’t like it! I want to remain in close communion with the Lord.
Begin a more concentrated in depth Bible study again. Probably a Precept Bible Study. I have done, many, many Precept studies and love them. I haven’t done one in about two years and I really miss doing them. I don’t know how that will fit in with my daily Bible reading time but I know it will.
One note: I know that some of you may be wondering how in the world I had any other time in my day if I was reading and praying so much. Well, as you have probably heard before, God works in mysterious ways. When I was reading my Bible and praying at least two or three times a day, I seemed to get so much more done. More done around the house. More done in ministry. More done with my family. It was amazing! Family Goals:
Begin to have a family Bible and prayer time. We do that somewhat, but we need to do it on a more consistent basis. We often pray together in the car and at other times, but we don’t really have a set time to sit down as a family and have a prayer and Bible time. With the addition of our foster sons, I especially want to do that. I want all of my sons, biological and foster, to experience the joys of having a personal time with God. I feel that beginning to do that as a family will hopefully encourage them to have a prayer time on their own.
Continue having a special prayer time with my wife. Sarah and I do have prayer times together regularly, but, again, it isn’t an everyday thing. I want that special time to be every day. The bonding that we have during that special time is awesome. God has used our prayer times so much this past year. I needs to continue into 2017 but even more!
Well, those are my spiritual goals for 2017. They go very closely hand in hand with my ministry goals. I know that some of you may have goals for your family that include helping others and missions but, since we are full time missionaries, that is really our life. Not that I don’t have goals for myself and my family in the ministry area, but I will talk about those when I talk about ministry goals. I am going to have to adjust the days, now, since I was going to put Spiritual Goals and Ministry Goals on the same day, but I’m afraid this post will be too long. So, I’m not sure what tomorrow will bring yet. However, you can always click on the banner below to get to the introductory post for this series where you will find links all of the posts in this series as they are completed. I pray that this inspires you to make some spiritual goals for you family this year. I was going to include a linky for you to add your posts to each day and still might. Until then, please feel free to include links to your goal setting blog posts or just talk about your goals in the comment section. Until tomorrow! Tim
I’ve joined a “Round
Up”
What’s a Round Up? Well, it’s
where a bunch of bloggers share posts centered around a specific theme. This
particular round up is from the Homeschool Review Crew and the theme is 2017
Goals! Just click on the banner below and it will take you to all of the great
posts that have been added. The post above is one of the posts that I’ve
entered. Stop by to check out the other two posts that I also I linked
up.
