There’s nothing as much fun as 150 kids plus their leaders singing VBS songs at the top of their lungs, and doing the hand motions with every ounce of enthusiasm they can muster! Our church’s week of VBS is just behind us, and I can’t stop thinking about it.

First of all, we are so blessed to have a coordinator who has a love and passion for VBS. She loves kids, absolutely, but she loves Jesus even more. While running a ministry for moms, she started realizing how many of them first came to know Christ as children. When asked, so many of them said “VBS” when asked where they first heard the gospel. That created an absolute fire in her heart for our local children. She won’t turn anyone away – even if we seem full, she will find a way to include one more child, one more family, one more set of siblings. She knows how much it matters for eternity. I want to say thank you to her, for listening to the still small voice of the Lord in leading this ministry.

I had the absolute joy of getting to teach the Bible lesson again this year, and the spine-tingling, goosebump-producing honor of giving out God’s Word to those children that do not have a Bible of their very own. Every single day, we tell the kids where to find that day’s lesson in the Bible. Every single day we teach them it is important to look into God’s word and read the lesson for themselves. Every single day we try to help them understand the reality of Scripture by connecting the times and places they find in their Bibles with the history and geography they already know.

And you know what? They get it!

Last year, I told you we had a real, honest-to-goodness miracle when we went to hand out the Bibles. We just didn’t have enough. We raided the Sunday school shelves, and yet needed more. The precious and amazing fact was that like the oil & the flour of the Old Testament, we did not run out. Each child who needed one was able to take home their very own Bible.

So, this year we were ready! Our VBS coordinator ordered 60 Bibles – MORE than enough by half. We figured we may have ordered enough for two years, really.  On Tuesday we asked the kids how many of them had their very own Bible. We noted who did not, and planned for that many Bibles. I thought we would be giving out about 26, and brought three dozen into the classroom just in case.

But, then the amazing thing happened. The kids SAW the Bibles, and started saying, “OH, these Bibles have all the WORDS in them!” Many of them had little preschool Bible storybooks, and just realized that the Children’s Bibles we were giving them had “all the verses.” These NIRV Bibles are set at about a 3rd or 4th grade reading level, so they are very accessible, but they really do have every single verse of Scripture (and some cool maps and pictures too!). 

So how many children do YOU think did not have a Bible with “all the verses” in it? How many needed God’s word in their hands? Remember, we had sixty Bibles.

Yes, sixty children needed God’s Word that Thursday. Not one Bible was left. Not one child asked for a Bible that did not get one. God made sixty appointments happen that day.

I don’t know who was more excited! The adults handing out the Bibles, and helping the kids write their names in the front were thrilled. The kids receiving the Bibles were over-the-moon happy. And their friends who brought them, the children watching, they were jumping up and down excited too – so happy for their friends.

Isn’t God just good?

Jesus called the children to him and said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these.” – Luke 18:16

For the Sake of the Gospel!
Cara & Patti
Classic Christianity

Trucks are being packed with food and backpacks, sleeping bags are being stuffed in the corners, and tents crammed into the spaces between. Tomorrow, our church youth group for camp and the preparations are immense. The scale of the work that goes into such a thing leaves me breathless and so thankful for a youth pastor who loves these kids enough to really shepherd them, an amazing group of youth staff who have been so faithful to love this group, and for such a great group of friends.  

It really takes me to my knees – and I hope you will join me there, on your knees before the throne of grace for these kids – for all of our kids.

I love the verse Eccl. 12:1, “Remember now your Creator in the days of your youth; before the difficult days come, and the years draw near when you say, ‘I have no pleasure in them’.” I challenge you to pray this verse this summer for the students you know. Hang it on your frig, write it on your bathroom mirror, have an index card on your car dashboard. Do whatever it takes to remember. Let’s flood the gates of heaven with prayers for our kids – OUR kids – the next generation. Share this challenge. Pray this challenge.

It is just incredibly important to follow hard after the Lord in your youth – for one thing because you CAN. There is a best time for everything, and the best time to learn is when we are young. Our minds are receptive, our souls unbiased, and our lives unembittered by past mistakes and unhampered by the evils of prejudice. I am praying that these kids start loving and studying God’s Word young, and it will be there to guide them – as a “light to (their) path.”

The young are bold. Maturity is great for holding the kingdom, but youth is bold in pushing the frontiers of the kingdom forward. God can use the daring, the passion, the endurance of the young. I am praying that the hearts of our kids are ignited with a desire to be the hands and feet of the gospel to a hurting, needy world.

And, when you dedicate your life to God whole-heartedly young, it leaves you with no regrets. Sure, you can come to Christ later in life – but so many of us live with remorse over wasting our time and energy in destructive ways. God is gracious, and His mercy extends to the limits of our life. But I am praying that these kids don’t waste a single day, following the example of Christ all the days of their lives. Let’s make that prayer a daily cry to the heart of our Father God this summer.

Father God, I pray today for these students. I pray that the teaching of the Word will be like water to their thirsty souls. I pray that they will be able to shut out the world and focus on You. Lord, please shutter their hearts to temptation and soften them to hear Your call. Guide them, direct them, draw them to You, Lord I pray. I pray for this next generation to be emboldened by your Spirit to meet the needs of this world in Jesus’ name – giving a cup of cold water to the thirsty, food to the hungry, and pointing the way to You with every grace given. I pray for protection over them. I pray for grace and blessing over those who diligently work with them in Your name. For the sake of the Kingdom, in Christ's name I pray, Amen.


For Him,
Cara & Patti
Classic Christianity: A Year of Timeless Devotions

               I wonder how much difference it really makes? I had to wonder this morning, as I read an online article about the differences between two very popular study Bible translations. It was a great article. In fact I’ll link it here, in case you would like to read it for yourself. 
http://blog.precept.org/home?utm_source=PMI_Homepage&utm_medium=SmallAd&utm_campaign=Blog_Homepage_Jan13

                    I have to admit I found myself wondering if picking which Bible translation to use was really that big of a problem for most of us. When Patti & I have gone out to speak - whether at conventions, at churches, at street fairs, or women’s meetings – concern about translation has only come up once. 

                What DOES come up over and over and over again, however, is the desire people have to become familiar with God’s word. In fact, people seem to remember the Scripture passages that talk about the benefits of studying the Word. They all know Psalm 119, with its declarations that “I have hidden your word in my heart   that I might not sin against you.” and “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” 

       Most people also remember reading the 2 Timothy passage, “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting, and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” In general, Christians seem to agree that knowing the Bible better, meditating on how to apply it in our lives, would be a positive, grace and joy building habit to form.

                Yet, statistics say that so few of us follow through. Lifeway Research has discovered that the number one predictor of   spiritual maturity is reading the Bible on a daily basis. Yet only 16% of churchgoers read the Bible daily. The impetus is to desire spiritual food. The temptation we all too often succumb to is to push this most important habit to the rear burner in favor of the crisis boiling over right in front of us.

                So, reading the article about translations made me think. Sure, I have my favorite translation, I’ll admit it. I’m an NASB girl. But I just want people to fall in love with God’s Word. I don’t care if it’s NASB, KJV, NKJV, NIV, ESV, NLT, or NIRV! Our grandpa had a shelf full of Bibles. Some were to study from, and they were carefully selected scholarly translations. One was because of the music in the poetry of Psalms. He had a Darby, and a Phillips. He had a Moffett hiding somewhere. And virtually all of them were worn, had bindings that threatened to loose their pages, and had edges worn impossibly thin from constant handling. 

                Which version is the best? The one you will read. If that’s a CD version of the New Testament being read to you as you drive, so be it. If it’s a NIRV kid’s Bible you can read with your children at prayer before dinner, great! If it’s the NASB study Bible you keep on your nightstand to start your day, wonderful. If it’s ‘The Message’ downloaded from iTunes for while you workout- well, awesome! We chose to use NKJV for the Classic Christianity books, to keep a little of the feel of Papa's time while making the Scripture references easy for anybody to understand. 

                I have faith that God can protect His Word, and use His Word, whatever version it is! So, let’s stop worrying so much about how to read it "right." Like the folks over at Nike say, “Just DO it!”

Blessings,
Cara & Patti
Classic Christianity