Summer Time

Heat, sunburns, ice cream and children playing in pools the items needed for summer. It just makes me so happy to hear children playing and laughing. So good to have a break from the school hustle and homework. I don't know, it seems that the parents are going to school also with the kids. Sign papers, fill out forms and get the party items. Wow so glad I have a break to have fun. July and August will be filled with fun for the children and I am looking forward to seeing them come in eager to have fun.

WHAT IS YOUR CALLING?

So the other day I was talking to some pastors and they were talking about the call on their life. As they were talking about it I was thinking what was my call and how do I know that this is it. Well as I went on to facebook to see the status ( I love to see what people are thinking) I found a great way to describe my call into the children's ministry. His name is Roger Fields and he is the owner of Kidz Blitz so here is what children's pastor are this is the calling:

THE CALLING
I am a minister. I minister to the largest mission field in the world. I minister to children.
My calling is sure. My challenge is big. My vision is clear. My desire is strong. My influence is eternal. My impact is critical. My values are solid. My faith is tough. My mission is urgent. My purpose is unmistakable. My direction is forward. My heart is genuine. My strength is supernatural. My reward is promised. And my God is real.
In a world of cynicism, I offer hope. In a world of confusion, I offer truth. In a world of immorality, I offer values. In a world of neglect, I offer attention. In a world of abuse, I offer safety. In a world of ridicule, I offer affirmation. In a world of division, I offer reconciliation. In a world of bitterness, I offer forgiveness. In a world of sin, I offer salvation. In a world of hate, I offer God’s love.
I refuse to be dismayed, disengaged, disgruntled, discouraged or distracted. Neither will I look back, stand back, fall back, go back or sit back. I do not need applause, flattery, adulation, prestige, stature or veneration. I do not have time for business as usual, mediocre standards, small thinking, outdated methods, normal expectations, average results, ordinary ideas, petty disputes or low vision. I will not give up, give in, bail out, lie down, turn over, quit or surrender.
I will pray when things look bad. I will pray when things look good. I will move forward when others stand still. I will trust God when obstacles arise. I will work when the task is overwhelming. I will get up when I fall down.
My calling is to reach boys and girls for God. It is too serious to be taken lightly, too urgent to be postponed, too vital to be ignored, too relevant to be overlooked, too significant to be trivialized, too eternal to be fleeting and too passionate to be quenched.
I know my mission. I know my challenge. I also know my limitations, my weaknesses, my fears and my problems. And I know my God. Let others get the praise. Let the church get the blessing. Let God get the glory.
I am a minister. I minister to children. This is who I am. This is what I do.
Roger Fields

Graduation time!

Sitting at a Preschool graduation and watching the sea of video cameras, cameras and people crowding at the front to get the best picture makes me think what are they doing?
Grandparents not wanting to move out of their seats and parents getting angry because they can't get that perfect picture.
What if they have the same aggression in seeking God and firmly planting their feet in God's Word? Not moving for anyone or anything!
What a society and just watching this graduation makes me realize how much work we have ahead of us to evangelize and to reach out beyond.

Take a good look around and really see what is going on around you. You too will be amazed.

I just love this picture it shows the compassion that Jesus has for His children.

On Wednesday night I had a lesson for the kids on how Jesus can help us when our day is twisted. I did an experiment with a wire and very hot water. I twisted the wire and told them how sometimes we get so twisted that it seems that things just go wrong all day long. When you place the wire in the very hot water it straightens out just as when we go to Jesus he straightens our day out. We just have to come to Jesus and let Him hold us. I must say the worship time with the children leading was so amazing. The Spirit filled the room and the children were just singing praises, this was beautiful.

Do You Smell the Stink?

"Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." Romans 12:2

Have we become so insensitive that we don't recognize the stink of the world? I have heard more and more people say well we can't stop what is going on so I guess we need to accept it. It is time to really smell what this world smells like and I guarentee you will not like it very much. It is like smelling an old sneaker. We need to seek the Lord to help us see what He sees.

When You Can't See Where the Road is Leading You

“Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." Matthew 7:13-14

Have you ever felt like the road your on seems like this picture, trusting you don't end up in the water? I have seen God move just like this in my life and yet see the sudden twist just when I was about to hit the water. This just reminds me of how much do we really trust God to lead us and make sure that the road we are on is the road God has chosen for us. As the scripture says enter by the narrow gate and the narrow gate because it is less traveled might seem weird or the wrong road but if we trust that God is leading us on the right track we wouldn't question the direction we are going in. Although it may seem sometimes scary or to a place we are not sure about we need to trust that even the road ahead of our lives is ordained to glorify our Lord. Don't you think that He will send us down these hills so we can really see His hand extended saving us from falling into the water. It is in those sharp turns that we get shaken up and realize that our God truly is in control. Will you trust Him today to direct your steps even when it gets scary?

Have you ever felt you lost your head? Or maybe you feel if your head wasn't attached you would lose it?

Well, God told Adam and Eve not to eat from one tree but they may eat from any other from the garden. Do you think that maybe just maybe they forgot or were they really looking to disobey God?

If they only stopped and really saw what a beautiful and perfect world they were living

in,they would of never forgotten

or allow Satan to tempted them into causing the sin we live today.

Have you ever lost your head and did something that made you feel like a blockhead or dopey? Well,I have many times but the one thing that I realized from Adam and Eve is that no matter our mistakes and no matter how big they are God forgives us as long as we ask Him to. We do not have to live with the guilt of having done something wrong. Adam and Eve were blessed with many children and lived a long life. Maybe it wasn't the life they should of had but it was fruitful. Our mistakes and sin does get in the way of us having all the blessings God has for us but how great to know that Our Father no matter what loves us and cares so much that blesses us no matter what.

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law was powerless to do in that it was weakened by the sinful nature, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful man to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in sinful man, in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the sinful nature but according to the Spirit "

Romans 8:1-4