The Bible Story Man & John 3:16....

...When I was in first grade, I was taught by the same teacher that had taught my dad 20 years earlier. Pretty cool, huh? Also cool is the fact that every single day we said the pledge of allegiance and prayed, and learned John 3:16...in class ....in a public school!! We also had a man, Mr Turner aka The Bible Story Man, come once a month and tell us a Bible story using his felt board, his loud and thrilling voice, and songs that were printed on cards of all shapes and sizes so we could sing along.

I'm telling you this for a couple of reasons. I know that alot of people who went to the same school I did read my blog and I'm not sure I've told them what I'm about to say about the man I know they'll remember with the same affection I do, and...I have another point that I'll be getting to in a minute.

Now, in the county where I live there is a ministry called Bible Release Time. The church I attend is literally in the back door to the school in our community. Once a week at several schools throughout our county kids grades 2-6 walk to the church to learn about Jesus. How awesome and amazing is that?? I don't get to help out with Release time these days, but I used to make Thursday my off day from work so I could participate, and I can't begin to tell you the blessings I received in this ministry.

Something else....Mr Turner, The Bible Story Man, he comes once a month to Bible Release Time!!! I KNOW!! The first time he came I was like a kid. I was so excited! The entire time he was trying to set up his stuff I was babbling on about how I remembered him coming to my school as a kid, and on and on. And you know what else? He still sings those same songs...

"Stop and let me tell you what the Lord has done for me....Stop and let me tell you what the Lord has done for me!........." This one is printed on a stop sign.

And the Go song,...and the Extra song...and on and on! (if you were a kid then and remember this, I know you are singing along! I just know it!)

The guy who was in charge of BRT at that time was giving me some of the strangest looks the entire day. I sang super loud, gushed each time I talked with Mr Turner, and was pretty giddy in general the entire day! (if you know me, you know that I am not giddy nor a gusher, but I'm sure everyone there that day remembers this pretty vividly if you want their numbers.)

Anyway, all of that to say this, it's amazing how things we learn so very young stay with us for our entire lives, isn't it? These last weeks in Awana, we have been working on learning John 3:16. I have the Kindergarten class, so this is a pretty big verse for them and is broken down over a few weeks. As we were doing our lesson this last week something hit me that I'd never thought to ask them.

"How many of you know how to tell someone...anyone!... about Jesus?"

They all just looked at me.

I went on to tell them that John 3:16 was really all they needed to begin telling someone about Jesus, about how to be saved.

So often when I think of witnessing to someone, my mind goes to Romans 10, or a number of other scriptures throughout the Bible, but here is this verse.....this verse I learned in FIRST grade...this verse that I am helping these kids learn who are in Kindergarten, so simply explains the way, the truth, the very path to eternal life.

I almost had a shouting moment right there in the midst of those little 3.5 foot bundles of energy! Were it not for the fact that the girl helping me was out of the room at the moment, and I might very well send all 13 of these little ones running from the room in sheer terror (they are already on the fence as to whether they are afraid of me or not!)....I probably would have!

They were pretty excited about being able to share Jesus with others. I hope they are acting as little missionaries to everyone they see this week using their newly learned Bible verse!

On that note, have you watched the news lately? I have, and I can't help but think of how quickly things are coming to pass right before our eyes that signal Jesus' return. It's true, we know not the day nor the hour, but with that said, do we really want to miss an opportunity to share the message of salvation with a lost and dying world? Do you? Do I?

During times that we are living in whether my Jesus comes tomorrow or in a hundred years, I ask myself.....How can anyone make it through one single minute of one day without knowing Him?

I pray that I never miss an opportunity to serve my God. I pray that I will share the name of Jesus with everyone I meet just as we are called to do. Please! Help me to do this, Lord Jesus!

Scrapbook

typing & thinking......brace yourself!

Yesterday I had the rare pleasure of dropping my babies off at my MIL's and heading off for a mani/pedi!

I didn't go to the place I usually do and wasn't really thrilled when I was assigned to this older Asian dude for my spa treatments. And right off the bat, I could tell he was gonna be a talker. GREAT! I don't want to talk while I get mani/pedi's. I want to veg out. Is that too much to ask?

Turns out, his conversation wasn't bad at all. He asked me about this and that, and then if I had children. We talked about that for a bit. Then he told me that he'd left his country because he was exiled 27 years ago and had never seen his parents again. He went to visit their graves when he visited his homeland. He went on to say that he'd married and had 3 children and 4 grandchildren which he rarely got to see because they were so busy and lived a few hours away.

The lady beside me talked to the person doing her pedicure about her granddaughter and the new great grand baby she was about to have. She said that she'd battled breast cancer 3 years ago and prayed that God allow her to live to see her granddaughters have babies.

Today I had the pleasure of attending the wedding of my 2nd cousin, Yolanda. She is such a beautiful young woman, and of course she made an incredibly beautiful bride! It was a lovely ceremony with a whopping 7 bridesmaids and 7 groomsmen! BIG wedding party! Beautiful reception!

Yolanda's dad, Lamar J., is my 1st cousin. We share a really cool bond. I was born on October 9th, 19??, Lamar's 13th birthday! He has always told me that I was the best present he ever got! I agree! HA!

Yolanda told me after the wedding that she almost cried all the way down the isle. Her dad said to her right before they entered the church "I'm not ready to give you away." How sweet is that??? I, as well as most everyone else at the wedding, almost gave way to tears when as the ceremony began, the minister said that there was love felt both present with us and in spirit.

Yolanda's sister, Jill, passed away just a few short months ago at the age of 30. Derek, the groom, lost both of his parents suddenly and tragically about a month apart just a year or so ago. They had a table set up with a picture of Jill, and of Derek's parents in memory of all of them. Jill's son, Alec, 12, was an usher. He did such a great job and looked incredibly dapper, I must say! His mom would have been so proud of him!

I watched the 10M Olympic Diving medal competition tonight. The guy from Australia finished with a perfect dive only to dash the hopes of the Chinese in sweeping the gold medal in the Diving competitions. As I watched that young Chinese athlete, whose hope of gold had just been crushed by that perfect dive, in the background of the Aussie who was in shock at his own perfect performance, I wondered what the consequences of this would be for the Chinese diver, as far as his Olympic team, his country for that matter.

I thought about the old man at the salon yesterday, about how much he must have missed his family both then, and now....

I thought about that great grandmother who this very Sunday will be attending a baby shower for her granddaughter who in a few short weeks will be having her second great grandbaby...

I thought about the hopes and dreams of every Olympian in Beijing these last weeks. How they spend their ENTIRE lives preparing for that one moment......to have their efforts rewarded with gold,....or dashed by the agony of defeat.

I thought about the wedding today. How the families of both the bride and groom must feel such happiness for the new union formed in the house of God, mixed with a bit of sorrow for those they've so recently lost.


"I have choices, every second of the day, to serve my Lord. To honor Him with my speech and with my thoughts, with the way I love those around me and the way I worship Him. Every moment, there is another opportunity, and I want to use as many of them as He will allow. In fact, Scripture tells me that one day I will stand before Him, and I will (symbolically) hand the King of all Kings a tattered scrapbook of my days. It is up to me to decide what the pages will reveal."

(This is from a blog I read often. Bring the Rain. From the post entitled "Blink" . Since I read this about a month ago, it has spoken so strongly to me. )

As I read it again now, I think of all the random scrapbook pages I talked about above.......then I think about my own personal "scrapbook" of my days. Will all the pages be full? Will there be some empty ones on which days I did nothing to honor Him?

I want my pages to be overflowing with entries of service to my Lord and Savior. Not for my glory, but for His......

I am so thankful for the blessings He has given me, and I am so humbled when I think of what an awesome God I serve.