God's Word - Weapon or Protection?

I had someone ask me this week, "Is it ever inappropriate to share God's word with a child and if so at what age?"

On the surface this is an easy question; right? Given some basic Bible knowledge, it's always appropriate to share God's word. However, with a little deeper knowledge of the Bible, there are some stories and verses that, in my opinion, are not age appropriate for children 4 and under or even some of the elementary aged crowd. Yes, I realized this was a loaded or trick question but from the person who asked it the trick was their motive. They worded the question to serve their purpose. They were also attempting to use my position in children's ministry to force my answer; i.e. "As a children's ministry director, at what age do you believe it inappropriate to share God's word with a child?"

Have you ever used God's word as a weapon? I mean, a weapon to justify your actions or to make someone else feel guilty? Have you ever used it to win an argument even if you knew you were taking His word out of context to do it? Maybe pulling out the verse about wives submitting to their husbands to "put a wife in her place" (Ephesians 5:21-33; read the whole thing) or the verse about money being the root of all evil, to blame money instead of our greed. The verse says the "...love of money is a root of all kinds of evil" (1 Timothy 6:10). I've had to read it myself.

I have so much yet to learn but in my relationship with Christ, He has never used His word to hurt me. His word builds me up, corrects me, comforts me, directs me, (directs me again and again) and gives me strength, grace, peace, joy, conviction, wisdom and love. His word is for protection against evil. it is an integral piece of the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18). It is not ever to be mistaken for a weapon used in personal gain or justification.

So- let's think about how we use the Bible. Is it an every day part of life? Is is something only heard about on Sunday? What about only when there is one of those "controversial" stories in the news?

Please take the time to read it today and this week. Not just a verse or two or even a chapter- how about one whole book of the Bible? The books referenced above are some I would recommend, but really I suggest reading where you are led. Pray for God's guidance before opening the Bible. I'm genuinely interested in learning what you have to say about what you find.

And as for my answer to the question: As a children's ministry director and child of God I believe if you are sharing God's word to share His love, then there is no age limit. Pray with me that we continue to learn and grow in His word and will.

Wisdom and Joy in Christ,
Amy

But Why Can't I Please Everyone?

"Hi. My name is Amy, and I'm a people pleaser."

And the crowd says, "Hi, Amy."

Yes, I admit it, I am a people pleaser. I want everyone to be happy; in particular, happy with me. If you are a people pleaser (or maybe even if you're not) you have learned, as I have, that you can't please everyone. It can not be done. "Why not," you ask? Well, the first and most important reason is because people are different. God made them that way for a lot of important reasons. If people are different it means they don't like the same things and that includes not liking the same people.

That was a hard lesson for me to accept. The first time I remember having to accept this reality was in high school. I was not in any one clique; I knew a lot of people because (I talk a lot and) I tried to be nice to everyone. My Daddy taught me this was the way to live- so, I did. Well, there was a girl in school who was not known for being nice. As a matter of fact she was known for being tough. Not mean exactly- just tough. You didn't mess with her and she didn't mess with you. No, I didn't get in a fight with her because I tried to make her like me and she did not pick on me or anything. I just heard from someone that she didn't like me and it bothered me because we didn't know each other well, I had never done anything to her and, OK, I just couldn't accept that she didn't like me.

It bothered me so much that I finally just went up and asked her why she didn't like me. Yep, I did. I actually had the sense not to talk about her behind her back or start a rumor about her to get back at her (because that would have ended badly in addition to not being nice). I just went up to her one day in the hall and calmly asked her, "Why don't you like me?". I know it sounds pitiful but I had to know. Do you know what she said? "Because you're too nice." Well, what could I say to that? Nothing. I basically said, "Okay" and went about my business.

What did it teach me? Everyone is not going to like me and you guessed it, I just can't please everybody. Since being nice was not something I was willing to change, I had to accept that she just wasn't going to like me. Over the years that acceptance has grown into the understanding that, while I still want everyone to be happy, I don't need them to be happy with me.

I have also narrowed my focus of who I want to please and why. I have wasted a lot of time and energy through the years taking responsibility for other people's happiness. Caring for someone is never a waste of time. Believing that their happiness is based changing how you behave, look, or give to please them, is a big waste of time.

I still have a lot to learn but here are the reasons I know this to be true.

• I am not the origin of happiness; Christ is. He is the giver of all good things (James 1:17). I am just His servant and am to be most concerned with pleasing Him.
• He has a plan for me. If I am willing to change who I am or try to be good at things he has not gifted me with in order to please whoever is in front of me at the moment, it will not only  displease God, it will be tear me apart.
• The people God puts in your life to love and support you and for you to love and support back, do not need you to be somebody different to like you.

If you know me, you know I haven't stopped wanting everybody to be happy. I still work to remember I am not the one who is responsible for their happiness. I pray to do my best to share my joy and help everybody know where it comes from and then trust God to take care of the rest.

Peace and Joy in Christ,
Amy Gieger

It Is Well

We live in America where there is plenty of everything. Plenty of the good stuff and plenty of the bad stuff. Plenty of what we need and plenty of what we “want”. How could anyone be unhappy in America? How can anyone not have enough? Why is it possible to live in the richest country in the world and be poor?

There are lots of complicated answers but one simple answer is because we don’t know how to be content. We don’t know how to be thankful for what we have. We have not learned how to say, “It is well”. An old hymn that I can hear in my heart and want heard at my funeral someday, says “It is well with my soul”. (If I get to see Jesus before my Uncle Lloyd, he would be my choice of singers too. Just sayin’.) I was reminded of it yesterday when a friend shared a beautiful, acapella version of it on Facebook. (click here to see it), or look up Chris Tomlin’s version on YouTube. Both are glorious.

This song to me is a precious reminder of what Paul says in Philippians 4:12-13 NIV. “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength.”The key of course is the last verse. “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”

Paul is not saying I love being hungry as much as being full, or I am just as thrilled to be in jail or without a home as I am to be in my home surrounded by the people that love me. What I believe he is saying is that we can find peace and comfort no matter what is happening in our lives by looking to and living for Christ. Paul is telling us what it means to say, “It is well”.

When we find our peace in Christ instead of money, it means that we don’t confuse storing up treasure with wanting to be a millionaire. When we find our strength in Christ instead of worldly power, it means that “looking out for number One” has a whole new definition. When we find our joy in Christ instead of in fame or worldly success, it means that we have joy to share for richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health. When we let Christ’s provision fill our hearts and meet our needs, it means we understand success is not about how much we can have but how much we can give.

We’re coming quickly upon the “holiday” season. Yes, I just had to go there. Thanksgiving and Christmas are such important opportunities as Christians to give instead of get as we are called to show others who Jesus is by how we live. The most important ones we can show being our children. Pray with me to be able to walk so closely with the Lord that we can truly know and share that “It is well.”

Can I skip this season and say I didn’t?

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV).

I was reading my devotion this morning and this was the verse that inspired it. The devotion was about a mom who is homeschooling her children and on that day felt like she would never get past the lesson they were learning that week. We all know how that feels. It may be the assignment we have in school, the particular job/account/mission we’re assigned to at work, the age of our children and the specific difficulties that come with it, (you know potty training or junior high or dating, etc.), the stage our marriage is in right now, our health or the health of a loved one, or the state of our finances. Some days it feels like we will be there forever and we so desperately wish to be through it, over it, even just away from it for a while. We want to escape- right?

I was feeling like that myself this past week and then I went to an early childhood education conference on Saturday. The keynote speaker was a woman who has been in early childhood education for more than 30 years. She shared specific instances God has used in her life where there have been parents who seemed as though they were so far from God and from being good parents that no matter how she tried to help and care about their child and family nothing seemed to change or reach them. Time after time they would show up late or walk in high on something, send their children to school in the same diaper they had left in the evening before, etc.  She would get so frustrated and discouraged that she would finally decide to tell them they could not be in her school anymore. She would get to the point where she was telling God, “I’ve helped all I can.” “I’ve tried hard enough. I’m done!"

Of course, that was the point where that family, that Mom or Dad would finally ask for help, or open up and want to know more about Jesus. She was honest enough to say how hard it was to put her anger aside at that point. To not look at them and say, “Oh, now you want help?”. But, praise God, she would stop, let go of how she was feeling and let God work through her to say "Yes, He really does love you. It really is as simple as He says it is. He loves us, He sent His son to die for us and all we have to do is admit what we already know about ourselves and choose Him."

There were some amazing stories of life change and Godly restoration and healing! Each story was a clear reminder that He can do anything but is so often patiently waiting, while preparing the way for me or you as believers to share Him. He is waiting for us, as the ones who have lived in His love and forgiveness, to be the salt and light (Matthew 5:13-16 NIV). Preparing us through these seasons of testing to be the person that is trusted with the question, “Is it true? Is it true what you are teaching my child? Is it true what I see by how you live your life? Is it true what the Pastor says?"

Rest in His love today and remember with me that no matter what season we are in we can trust God’s timing and purpose. We can trust Him to show us grace so that we can show it to others. We can trust His forgiveness so we must forgive. We can trust Him to speak when we are out of words. We can trust Him to use even us, in our weakness, to show others how to reach Him and find what we’ve found- peace, restoration and hope.

Amy Gieger
Children's Ministry Director

Listening To My Own Advice (as said to my kids)

I make my sons do workbooks over the summer. Actually, I am the enforcer but it is my husband who is so passionate about them maintaining brain function. Most days in the summer, they come to work with me so I get to be the one to tell them why, and hear them complain and try to negotiate. Yes, there are days I don't make them or when my husband holds me accountable that I want to say a few not so nice words about his big ideas. But most days, I suffer through and actually survive being the mean mom.

The reason I agreed to be the enforcer is because my husband is right (I'm not afraid to admit it). He is the better educated, more motivated and disciplined one of the two of us, with four degrees (seriously, four!) and his own business to show for it. While he never uses that against me, I have a lot of respect for him and that reality. I want my kids to have every chance to learn and be better at studying and getting the whole concept of pushing past the "I don't want to", to the "wow, that was worth it." That actually does happen with them occasionally. Praise God!!

The listening to my own advice is the hard part. The part where God steps in and speaks to me and says, "Did you hear what you just said to your son? Do you practice what you preach?"

For example, this morning other staff members/teachers had their children with them and my kids were doing their workbooks, knowing that their friends were waiting on them or playing without them. They were whining and negotiating and manipulating their socks off to get out of having to do any or all of the pages, and I wouldn't budge.

My oldest is the worst about it, going as far as to try to say he had done more pages than he could have in the time they had been working and his brother was calling him on it. I stepped in with "focus on your own work, you are not the parent" to the youngest and "do the right thing" to my oldest. I added, "this is not for me, it is for you. This is to grow your brain and ability to learn so you can be all God wants you to be. This is your job. I have to do things all the time that I don't want to do to keep growing and learning." What a great mom lecture!

Right after all that came out of my mouth, looking at my son eye to eye, that voice in my head said, "Did you hear what you just said to your son? Do you always do what I ask you to do to keep growing and learning?"

If you read my last blog, you know I do- sometimes. But I know I don't do it all of the time. Okay, nobody gets it right all the time- I know that. But I've learned to listen to that voice and stop and evaluate and ask, "what difficult or important thing am I putting You off about, Lord? Is there something more I could and should be doing to learn in my relationship with You and who You are growing me to be?"

Some answers come to mind, like "Where is your consistent quiet time with Me? I reminded you three times this morning and you put it off" and "Are you really trusting Me to provide for your ministry and setting your church and community on fire about Me?"

"We can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us." (Philippians 4:13) You don't have to walk very far down the path with Him to not just hear that verse but to know it's really true. Why do we still put Him off? I'm going to stop typing now and get into His word like I should have this morning so I can get closer to starting that fire!

What is He speaking to your heart about so that you're going to stop reading and start doing?

Grace and Strength in Christ,
Amy

Inspired yet?

Okay, so all that talk about reading and inspiration- I'll go first. Here's a note about something I read that inspired me.

I read a book by John Steinbeck recently called "The Pearl". I can't claim to be a fan of his or to have read many of his books that I wasn't required to read in school. I just happened upon this book at the library and decided to give it a try. The Pearl is the retelling of an old Mexican folk tale and plays out the battle between greed and contentment through the desire to rise above your "station" in life and provide a better future/better opportunities for your family than you had growing up. A relevant topic; I could relate. It was sad yet triumphant; a good read.

What actually inspired me more than the story though was something shared at the back of the book about John Steinbeck. It says that "...throughout his life he signed his letters with his personal 'Pigasus logo', symbolizing himself 'a lumbering soul but trying to fly'". There is a picture of a pig with wings and above it there are Latin words that read "Ad Astra Per Alla Porci". The translation is "To the stars on the wings of a pig".

Of course pigs don't fly, so how is this inspiring you ask? It is inspiring to me for someone who was as outwardly successful as any famous person could be, during his life, that he knows the reality that we are never "all that". I'm inspired when people who achieve earthly fame respect the fact that this is all temporary (Matthew 6:19-20), and don't get caught up in all the compliments- empty or genuine- and the attention/money and remember who they really and forever will be. Just a human being.

Staying humble is a gift. As I mentioned in an earlier post, in our weakness He is strong and that works two wonderful ways. One - He can use us in spite of our flaws and mistakes and work through us even in our weakness. Two - we must stay humble and give Him the glory and honor for all the blessings and success to truly be followers of Christ and lead people to know Him. When we start taking the credit for achievements and forgetting to praise and honor the Lord we are not leading people to Him- we are leading them to us, and no matter how "fabulous" we are, we will let them down. We are not perfect. Period. (Need to hear it again, like music? Just listen to the Mary, Mary lyrics in "It's the God in me".)

It is so good to hear our names called as the inventor, the artist, the author, the champion, the award winner, the hero but when we start believing that we achieved it alone then we are being fooled. We are listening to that prideful voice in our heads that says, "Hmmm, I did do that, look at me, Go Me, Go Me!" I can only imagine how hard it is not to buy into the lies people tell you when you are famous. We want to be told and to believe we are special, accepted and liked. We want to believe we are "smarter than the average bear" and in control of our future. In my own life I have learned many times, many ways, I simply and truly do not have the better plan. When I depend on myself and start chasing my ideas and my plans, I end up going in circles or giving up. When I take the time to pray and seek the Lord's will, His paths are straight and have purpose and bear fruit. His plan is always better than mine!

Take the time to ask Him today, what His plan is for the problem you're solving or the future that you dream of. Stay humble, pray without ceasing and stay focused on Christ. Being a "people pleaser" myself, it has taken me all 40 of my years to understand and submit to why following God is more valuable than chasing my own dreams, chasing someone else's or as nice as I desire to be, chasing the approval of others. Even knowing I will never be able to please everyone rarely stops me from trying. With all the praise and criticism readily available here on earth I can honestly tell you the most precious praise I will forever seek is my Father in Heaven's gentle words when I meet Him. "Well done my good and faithful servant".

Because He loved us first,
Amy

Speaking of reading...

One of the books Pastor Ken thinks that every Christian ought to read is Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis. Here is a little taste;

"But the great thing to remember is that, though our feelings come and go, His love for us does not. It is not wearied by our sins, or our indifference; and, therefore it is quite relentless in its determination that we should be cured of those sins, at whatever cost to us, at whatever cost to Him."

Of course, the cost to Him is pretty obvious- the cross. The cost to us is taking up that cross, and it does indeed have a cost- at least in terms of the world. But the benefit is enormous.

Hal Hunter

Who me? Afraid??

I was just reading a recent Perry Noble blog ("dead snakes and screaming like a girl") and though I present myself as a strong and faithful Christ follower and truly have witnessed His power and love so much more than I deserve, I was hit upside the head with how much time I spend being afraid! Not, hide in the storm cellar afraid but the kind of afraid that keeps me from asking questions, keeps me from overcoming simple, stupid habits of not speaking up because I want to avoid conflict, not asking for help because I don't want to appear as weak as I really am, not making better choices about how I save my money or how I spend my time because I am lazy. The kind of afraid that makes a project or decision that should only take a few weeks, take 3 or 4 months or a year or even never happen.

I use the excuse that I am the only person I can say no to but really, by being less than I know I should be, whether it's less organized or managing my time poorly or saying yes to my kids when I should have said no, I am not being all God would have me to be. He can not use me to all of His glory if I am wasting my time and energy being afraid or too lazy to speak up, ask questions, be organized, manage my time.

Now, I know I am a work in progress and I can look back through my life and see all the ways He has grown me for His glory. I'm not saying I will ever be perfect at these things or saying that you have to be either to be used greatly by God. I am so thankful to know the true statement "in my weakness He is strong." However, what I am saying is we have to stop confusing fear with discernment. Discernment is gathering facts and information about a new project or ministry God has laid on your heart before you start it without knowing what it should look like - discernment is praying before you go welcome the new neighbor or speak to the one who has lived next door to you for 5 years and you've never even said hello, much less invited them to church - discernment is talking to Godly friends who have kids (or Godly friends you trust) before you decide where to send them to school or whether to let them have a Facebook account or go to camp.

Fear is never doing any of the above because as soon as the thought comes to mind, you think, I don't know enough, I don't have enough experience, someone else would be better at that - they don't like me anyway so they wouldn't listen or they should have spoken to me first - they will think I am such a bad parent if I don't already know the answer to this, I'm supposed to have all the answers for my kids.

Praise Him for knowing my faults and weaknesses and loving and working through me anyway. But what greater things does He have planned that He is having to do in other ways until I wake up and stop being afraid of what I can't do when I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt that with HIM, with GOD, our loving and all powerful savior, ALL things are possible.

I know that He can use these rantings of mine to speak to your heart because while I am not all that, HE IS!!!

Love and Peace in Christ,

Amy Gieger
Children's Ministry Director

A really awesome short read...

Everyone should take a minute and read this- and think about the times we have been "in the snow." http://www.perrynoble.com/2009/03/19/sometimes-we-have-to-face-our-fears/

The first Wednesday Night Connectiong Point...

was a big success. Over 100 adults and almost 40 kids were here. As always, the meal was suburb. I am convinced there is no BBQ anywhere, from anyone, better than what Chef Leroy serves us. The fellowship was great, and Pastor Ken's presentation was challenging and opened a lot of eyes. He provided some material to take home for further reading and reflection.

We will be doing it again next month. The first Wednesday falls on February 4, so mark your calendars and plan to be with us. We will have sign up sheets in the Welcome Center. If you are bringing kids ages 6th grade and younger, it is especially important you sign them up so Children's Ministry Director Amy Gieger can have adequate workers arranged for the kid's part of the evening. (It's not just childcare; they are doing a growth exercise of their own.)

We also suggest you bring your Bible with you. We will have Pastor Ken's primary scripture references on the screen, but having your Bible with you helps with the context of the references, and to look back to the reference passages during the discussion period.

Hal Hunter
Ministry Pastor