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Path Lighting
Joshua 4:1โ7; Joshua 8:30โ35; Proverbs 27:17 What do you remember? What โtraditionsโ or practices do you remember from your childhood? What did that teach you? Over the years, the church universal developed many practices to teach the faith to its people. It often had a hard journey, as it had to teach people from varying
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Thieving Glory
Matthew 24:42โ44; 1 Thessalonians 5:2โ6; Revelation 16:12โ16 Calling God a thief seems more than just a little ridiculous. Yet, Jesus uses the imagery of a thief to talk about the Day of the Lord. The Day of the Lord is an ambiguous phrase. Many (perhaps even most) Christians, think of the โDay of the Lordโ
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Peace-Filled Traditions
Matthew 15:1โ9; Luke 11:42โ46 Yesterday (or the weeks prior to it), all Americans had the opportunity to participate in a great traditionโฆvoting. Regardless of whether your candidates won or lost, there is something great in this tradition. People choosing their leaders is a great gift, and should not be squandered. As Halloween and All Saintsโ
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The Tax Man Comes
Mark 2:13โ17; Luke 19:1โ11 Zacchaeus has been a staple in Childrenโs church for yearsโฆโซโชโZacchaeus was a wee little man, a wee little man was he.โโชโซ His stature makes him identifiable for children. They understand being too short to see things that all the adults get to see. What gets lost for the children is Zacchaeusโ
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Dripping Prayer
Proverbs 27:15โ16; Luke 11:5โ14; Luke 18:1โ8 Persistence is often a good thing. However, blind persistence can also be incredibly limiting. As my younger children are about to begin their college journey (yes, still a few months to go), I look back to my time in college. I chose a major I wasnโt skilled at. I
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Saintly Ones
Matthew 5:1โ16; Revelation 7:1โ17 โป Q: What is a Saint? โป You would think that this question is easy. However, the meaning of saint depends on the context and even timeframe. Chasid (ืึธืกึดืื) and Kaddish (ืงึทืึดึผืืฉื) are the Hebrew words that are most often translated as saint (not always, though). Chasid (ืึธืกึดืื) means faithful or
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Cast Off
Matthew 23:13-15; Acts 15:1โ22; Colossians 2:4โ13ย There is no question about Jesusโ attitude toward the scribes and the Pharisees in this verse. It seems pretty straightforward. What if it isnโt? What if Jesus was instead using their language in a way so as to make a point? The Pharisees, with their belief in the afterlife, would certainly not want
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Wall Repair
Ezekiel 13:1โ16; 2 Peter 2:1โ3 If you ever lived in a dorm or rented an apartment (especially a college one), you may have been โenlightenedโ by friends or acquaintances about tricks to get your deposit back. One of the biggest items has always been holes in the walls, whether nails, tacks, pushpins, or anchors. The
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Incomplete Armor
Psalm 27; Zechariah 10:12; Ephesians 6:10โ18 This passage from Ephesians is one of those common favorites. Building and putting on the armor of God is still a popular activity for children. As a formation tool, it was and remains powerful. From the point of the Ephesians, they were very familiar with the attire of the
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Foundational
Matthew 19:16โ26; Hebrews 9:1โ14; Romans 10:8โ13 The story of the rich young ruler, in my experience, has always been presented in one wayโฆhe cared too much for his stuff. This is trueโฆto a point. Is the conclusion that we have often been led to actually correct? Or perhaps we, too, are missing which point Jesus