Where You'll Find Jesus

As we continue in our "Preparing for Easter" series we look at what many wonder... where is Jesus today? If he is so loving how could we possibly see the evil present in the world today? Fact is, Jesus is here; as we sit around talking about him, he is waiting for us to recognize him.

Calling All Heros

Last week was Vacation Bible School and what a blessing it was. The theme this year was from The Pirate's Who Don't Do Anything and we gave a challenge of "Calling All Heroes" for our kids to be a hero for God; first, to accept his salvation, second, to stand up for what is right and witness.

Each night the kids were welcomed by staff who were adorned like pirates, complete with pirate names. Each learning station was decorated like a fun tropical location with really helped to set the mood for fun and learning. The staff and kids all went by their "pirate names" all week and this added an extra fun atmosphere for learning.

Something new we did this year was the concept that "Every station was learning station". Most VBS programs simply have the story time the move on to an irrelevant game, craft, and snack; not so here. We had an 2 hour long VBS program and to use on 20 minutes to convey the truth of Jesus Christ would be a waste of every one's time. Each craft, game, and snack went along with the Bible story of the day. The verses too were specifically chosen. In the end, each child had a full 2 hours of Biblical learning and Spiritual growth. The fruit of it was great!

On Thursday we gave the heaviest emphasis on salvation and 4 responded. No one was pushed to make a decision for Christ; rather, they made the decision to repent of their sin themselves. Following their salvation they all burst into tears of joy as they had been set free from what would weigh them down and keep them from God.

VBS is a lot of work and will undeniably wear one out by the end of week, but it is worth it. Our staff enjoyed it the most I think. It is a bit sad to now say that it is over for another year, but we are looking forward to next year when we can serve God in this capacity again.

Player One

A couple of months ago a good friend of ours gave my kids a Nintendo Gamecube. That was really nice but we didn't have any games. We got some and the kids began to become addicted. We have the addiction well under control now and they eager look forward to every occasion they are able to play. After turning down many proposals to play with them I gave in an sat down to play a great game of "Cars" the video game. It was entertaining and enjoyable but there was something else I soon realized; my kids have control issues. Yes, my oldest is 4 and he has control issues. No matter what it is we are going to play on the gamecube he is determined to be player one! To some that may not seem like a control issue but you must understand that player one holds privileges that the other players do not have. The entire menu, the initial game setup, sometime the only ability to pause an active game, etc... No one ever told my kids that player one held more power, but if you ever play with them you will automatically be handed the player two controller as they hold the plastic scepter of power. This made me think...

How many times do we do this with Jesus? We know that we need to have Jesus a part of our life so we invite him into it our "game of life"; we are really excited that we don't have to "play it" alone but then we stick him with the player two controller. Yes, he can still play the game with us and we can enjoy His company but at the end-of-the-day we are the ones in control.

We tell people Jesus is a part of our life, we thank Him for being a part of our life, and we experience his grace but we just can't bring ourselves to let him be player one.

"Any one can die for Christ; that's easy. Living for Christ is the hard part," is what a man recently told me. How true that is.