Small Moments

By now, most of you have guessed that I love to blog about my kids. It is not that I am this super proud dad with a sense of "My kid is better than your kid!" However, I am a super proud dad of my kids. They are three of the biggest blessings in my life. My son is at the top of his Kindergarten class. He never gets in trouble. He loves to play ball, wrestle in the floor, and loves all things boy. My oldest daughter is my weak spot. She is always the last one to tell me bye in the morning, and is always on the porch waiting for me when I get home. Her favorite thing to do is crawl in my lap before bed, and either watch "Tom and Jerry" or have me read a book to her. This time is filled with "I love you daddy" and an abundance of hugs and kisses. My baby girl is a little angel. She was a band aid to broken hearts after the loss of two pregnancies before her. At 6 months old, she almost never cries. Every time you look at her, all she does is smile, laugh, and try to talk in her own way. My wife and I have been blessed far beyond what we deserve in this life.

This brings me to the thought of, how do I teach my children about the love of God? As I certainly see them as a wonderful gift from God, what am I doing to ensure that they grow up with the knowledge and love for God that I have? My only answer is that I do my best to teach them of God, and what he wants us to be in this world.

Psalm 34:11
"Come, you children, listen to me; I will teach you the fear of the LORD."

Now some people suggest the best way to instruct our children is with nightly bible devotion time. I agree with this to a point. We must make sure that the lesson is child friendly. In other words, put it in a way the child can understand, and do not endevour in a 30 minute to an hour bible study with a three year old. It just does not work well. When they get older, yes. Planned bible studies or devotion time is great. However, this begs the question on how to do it with small children. Being blessed to be an educator, I understand a little of what small children can and cannot handle. Instead of specific devotional time everyday, we look for small moments.

Small moments are times during the run of the day in which something happens, or a child notices something different, that we are able to relate God to them. It does not have to be a long sermon quoting many scriptures. But just enough to get them to think about God. For example, my kids have noticed in the past in grocery stores and other places of business when someone drops something, that my wife and I help them to pick things up. My son asked me one time why I did that. They were a stranger and we are not supposed to talk to them. Now I was proud that my son knew not to talk to strangers, however, a small moment appeared. I took the time to explain how helping others, even if we do not know them makes God happy. I got a moment to share with him what is meant by loving your neighbor, and to have compassion on those who are less fortunate. My oldest daughter loves to get dressed up for church. She loves to get her dresses on, and little necklaces to look like a princess to go to church. She asked one time, "Daddy, why do we always go to church and wear our prettiest clothes?" Well, there was another moment. I took a couple of minutes to explain the importance of church, and that we want to give God our best. I used the scripture Acts 2:42 to help with the point.

Acts 2:42
"They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer."

My wife and I not only look for the small moments to teach our children, but we try to model it as well. We try to read our bibles everyday. One day my son asked what the story I was reading was about, think that I had this big story book like he likes to read. It took no more than two minutes to convey the importance of reading your bible. And he and his sisters see us doing it. Children are the greatest lie detectors. They know what we say they should do, but what does it mean to them if we do not do it too. I once caught myself telling my daughter, "Do what I say, not what I do." What does that really teach my child? It teaches them that it is okay not to do what we are supposed to. They will grow and emulate everything that we say and do. If we teach them what is the right thing to do, and then do the opposite, we are teaching them to be hypocrites.

So, how do I teach my children of God's love? I look for the small moments. And you must be careful. You never know when they will come, and you can be assured, that your kids are always watching what you do.

Thanks for reading, and God Bless You all this week!

Constants

I love being a teacher. I love the opportunity to have a part in helping young people to figure out what they want to do with their lives, and to be a positive influence for them. In my science classes we have to learn about constants. Constants are things in an experiment that do not change. Something that we can control in order to measure whatever it is that we want to figure out. They can be things like temperature, the amount of light, and pH. By having a constant in an experiment, the data that is collected is more accurate. Meaning, the facts that we learn have more accuracy and are more reliable. This makes me think about Christ. Christ is a constant in our lives. He never changes. And because He never changes, we can rely on and have more faith in Him than anything else. Sadly, there is a growing movement that believe that the bible and Christ change with the times. They believe that the scripture has a different meaning today than it did when it was actually written. As far as I am concerned this is a falacy. The Word does not change. No where in the bible can you find a verse that explains that scripture will have a different meaning for other people in different times. It was not meant to. If you think about the scriptures themselves, they were written over thousands of years, by all sorts of people with different backgrounds. There where shepards, kings, fishermen, doctors, tentmakers, travellers, and taxcollectors that all had a part in producing the God inspired teachings that is our bible. Over all of that time, the bible remains perfectly cohesive with no contridictions. How could this be possible if it were meant to change over time. When Christ died, He died for all of our sins; past, present, and future. Christ was there in the beginning. Christ will return in the end. And how He judges who will be raptured with Him before the tribulation, and how He judges who will enter His kingdom afterwards will be based on the Word. We learn that Chirst and the Word are the same. John chapter 1 verse 1reads "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." And verse 14 in the same chapter reads "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." We must look at the bible as a constant. It does not change. By doing this, we ensure that how we are measured is accurate. We will ensure that our final result is approved and acceptable by our God. Just think, if He were not a constant, how would we know if what we were doing was going to provide good results. I honestly believe that the teaching that the meaning of scripture must change with the times is spoken of in 2 Timothy Chapter 4 verses 1-4. "I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by His appearing and His kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth and will turn aside to myths." Be wary of those who try to make the bible fit their desires, not their desires to fit what the bible teaches. My hope is that by using the right constant, I can recieve a passing grade and enter the Kingdom with Him.

Thanks, and God Bless You all this week!