Hi everyone!

Happy Monday!

Our family devotional reading for today is John 6.

It’s one of my favorite stories: Jesus feeds the 5,000.

You may be very familiar with this story.  It’s a famous one.  We read it, and then had  a fun time imagining this story in our own personal terms.  You may want to try this too.

Here goes….

My youngest son goes to a very big elementary school.  They have over 1,000 students.  So we said this crowd was as big as his school five times.  That seems huge!

We also said, this is like Jesus seeing you and saying, “Excuse me, I need your lunch box to feed your elementary school times 5.”

He basically fed EVERYONE with one kids lunch box, and then had twelve baskets of leftovers.

THIS IS AN INCREDIBLE MIRACLE.

No wonder all the people were trying to make him be king.

But, instead of agreeing with them, he hid from them.

I asked my kids why Jesus did this.

My oldest said, “He wasn’t here to be King, he was here to die.”

Boom!

He gets it!

Jesus came to die for our sins.  He is King in heaven and will be King on earth, too, someday soon.

Miracles are amazing.  Keep praying for God to show us his miracles even today!

 

 

 

Hello there!  Well, today is going to look a bit different from our usual family devotional formats.

But, first, I want you to read John 5:1-18

This is a story of Jesus healing a man at a pool.

Read the story in the Bible first.

Then I want you to put on your imagination hat.  It’s fun to think through more details of Bible stories.  To imagine deeper.

I love to imagine!  It’s one of my favorite hobbies?  Do you enjoy it?

Ok.  Here is how I imagine in between the lines of John 5.  This story will be told form the perspective of the invalid man.  Let’s call him Jude.

____________________________________________________________________________________________

There is a public pool in Jerusalem by the sheep gate.  Some say the pool has magical healing powers.  I’m wasn’t sure if I believed that or not.  But, it was my last chance.  Somehow, when you have no other options, you start to believe in magic.

You see, I can’t walk.  I got trampled by a horse when I was 15. Now I’m 53.  You do the math. I have no family left.  My mother died a few days ago.  She was the only person that took care of me.  Now, I had no job.  No food.  Nothing.

I guess you’d say I was angry. Angry that she’s gone.  Angry that I am this way.  Reliant on others to help me, because you see – no one would help me.  Sometimes I wondered if I was invisible.

At this point, my only option was to make my way to this pool called Bethesda.  I’ve always been a realist.  I knew I was dead man.  But, somehow I had this tiny bit of hope that the pool could make me well.  Maybe it’s because hope was all I had.  I was desperate.

My mom had some money saved, not much, but enough for me to convince and pay a beggar to carry me to the pool.  He did as I asked. The pool was full, not even a space for him to set me in.  So, he put me on my mat next to the pool.

“When someone get’s out, ask them to put you in,” he said.

And, then he left me.

It had been two days, and no one had helped me in.  I’d been here a long time.  I told you I felt invisible. I was beginning to feel light headed.  But, I wasn’t going to ask anyone for help. That’s not what I did.

Suddenly, I heard someone say, “Do you want to be healed?”

“Are you talking to me?” I thought, “What a stupid question.  Of course I want to be healed.”

But, I didn’t say that.  I just laid on my mat.

“Take up your bed and walk.”

I tried to stand.  I don’t know why.  But, I tried.  And, then all of a sudden I was upright.  I forgot what the world looked like form this position.

I started screaming, “I’M HEALED!  I’M HEALED!”

Suddenly, I wasn’t invisible anymore.  A crowd of people rushed around me.  Everyone began talking at once.

“Where did the man go?  The man that healed me?” I kept asking.

But, no one knew where he went.

I didn’t even know who he was.

I was going to do EXACTLY what he told me.  I took my mat, and started walking.

Once I was outside of the pool, I saw a group of Pharisees.  They reprimanded me for carrying my mat on the sabbath.  Because, in Jewish tradition on the sabbath you are not allowed to carry anything.

I told them what happened, and what the man had asked me to do.  They wanted to know the man’s name, but I didn’t know.  All I knew was that I needed to do what he said, and also go worship God.

Somehow God had seen me, and had given me my life back.

I ran to the temple.

Yes, you read that right.  I RAN.  It felt so good.  I had forgotten what it felt like to have my heart beat hard, and for my lungs to burn.

Once I was inside the gates, I went into the temple courts.  I knelt to pray.

As I arose, I felt a hand on my shoulder.  “You look well!” he said.

It was the man that had healed me.  He said his name was Jesus.  I’ve heard people speaking of him.  That he’s the Messiah.  The one to save our people.

I never really believed that the public pool could heal me, but I certainly believed that the Messiah heals.  I’ve read all the prophesy.  I’ve studied the Torah.  This is what we have been waiting for.

I rushed to tell the Pharisees, feeling certain they’d want to know the amazing miracle that happened to me.  Feeling certain they’d want to talk with Jesus and move him into a position of power.

But, instead, they brushed me aside.  I heard them plotting to kill him.  Saying that he breaks the Sabbath and calls himself equal with God.

I didn’t care if I was in danger, I had to tell Jesus.  I ran back to the temple, desperately trying to find him.  To protect him from those plotting against his life.

 

 

 

 

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Hey guys!  How are you hanging in there?  Have you started online school?

Today we are reading John 4…still…I know.  It’s a long chapter!

Read John 4:31-54

Jesus is talking a lot about the word harvest.  He says the fields are ripe for gathering fruit.

Do you know what a harvest is?

Have you ever gone to a blackberry farm, or a strawberry farm?  We have those in Oklahoma, and it’s really fun when it’s harvest time.  You can go out and pick a bunch of ripe fruit.  It’s exciting.  And tasty.

It’s fun to think that something so delicious came from a little seed that was planted and cared for.

Jesus is making a comparison for us.  Much like he always does.  He loves to make spiritual comparisons to physical things.  He must know that helps our brains get spiritual concepts.

So, Jesus is saying that we (and HE!) plant seeds in people’s lives.  Seed planting looks like – telling others about God, praying for them, serving them, making others dinner.  There are a million different ways to plant the seeds of God’s love in other’s lives.

Then, Jesus is describing how we care for the seeds.  We show others how to worship and spend time with God.  Jesus also speaks into their hearts.  This is caring for the seed..watering it, removing the weeds (pulling up sin by the roots).

Lastly, the fruit blooms!  This is the harvest.  The harvest can look so many ways, but the main fruit in the harvest is when someone gives their life to Jesus.

Does that make sense?

My 12 year old son, during our prayer time felt like God gave him a picture in his mind.  He wrote it down for me and told me I could share.  He said, “God gave him the example of popcorn.  It’s hard on the outside but when you add heat and light, it’s soft insides show outside and the hard shell is broken.”

I thought this was AMAZING!

Do you like to eat popcorn? This is a great way to see in the physical something that is spiritual!

Right now, we are going thru some HEAT.  We are having to stay at home.  Do school at home.  Cook at home.  Not see friends.   But, I think what God was talking to Reese about was that when you are in a hard time (the heat), and you let God come in (the light), he will crack your hard heart (the kernel) and your soft insides will show on the outside.

This is so beautiful.

I’m never looking at popcorn the same.

Maybe go make yourself some.  And pray that God will show your soft insides on the outside…with his light in the middle of the heat.

 

 

 

Hello friends.  Today we are reading John 4.

This is a very powerful story.

In Jesus’s day, Jews and Samaritans didn’t get a long.  They lived in the same area, but the two groups of people didn’t like each other very much.

You know how today, sometimes on TV you see Republican and Democrats getting REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY mad at each other, because they have different opinions?  Well, this was even bigger than that.  The Jews and Samaritans REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY didn’t like each other.

They didn’t eat together.

They didn’t talk.

Sheesh…that’s rough huh?

Anyway, Jesus was a Jew, but Jesus did not act this way.  Jesus saw a Samaritan women getting water at a well, and he went up to talk to her.

We don’t know all the specifics about this women or all the specific about her sins.  We don’t need to know that.  Sometimes our sins are “obvious”…like you can see what we are doing and see that we are sinning.  This is what this woman was doing.  She was an “obvious sinner”.  All of us sin.  Don’t we?? Sometimes we try to hide it and make it not obvious.   But, she eventually after talking with Jesus she was honest about her sin to Jesus.  And that’s really great.

Jesus didn’t care that this woman was an “obvious sinner”.

He cared about her heart.  He could see her pain.

My 8 year old asked why Jesus does this?  Why does he really want to be with sinners?

Well, it’s because when we realize how much we need him, we open our hearts to him.

My 8 year old said, “So it’s hard for a KNOW IT ALL to open his heart to Jesus?”

Exactly.

Jesus tell us that he is the only one that can satisfy our hearts.  He says he’s like LIVING water.

Does that feel confusing for your heart to be thirsty?

Let me explain.  Right now, while we are stuck at home, my heart is thirsty to have a BIG party.  I want to see all my friends and dress up and eat cake.  My heart is thirsty for that because I’m missing it.

Is your heart thirsty for anything?

Even when we follow Jesus, we will long for things.  But that party won’t make me happy forever.  Even if I got to have it.  I’d feel happy for a little bit, then I’d go back to feeling regular.  Jesus is the only thing that can fill the void in our hearts.

Imagine your heart has a cross shaped cut out in it.  I’ll see if I can attach a picture for you.  Not sure if I’m good enough at blogging to do that yet.

You might try to fill that hole in your heart with TV, or sports, or money, or friends.  But the only thing that will fill the cross shaped hole is Jesus.  Because his love is better than life.

Psalm 63:3 says, “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you”.

Wow.

His love is THE BEST.

Nothing can beat it.

Jesus is for you whether you are an obvious sinner, a secret sinner, a know it all, a tender heart, a cry baby, a tattle tail, a bully…he’s for ALL PEOPLE.

Does that make you feel happy?  It sure does for me.

When you get a glass of water today in the kitchen, use that time to talk to Jesus for a little bit.  Drink your water and then …

Let him help your thirsty heart.

 

Hello friends!

Today we are continuing to read John 3:22-36.

Basically what’s happening here is that John the Baptist has a group of people that follow him. And Jesus also has a group of people that follow him.

John’s guys all of a sudden got stressed out, that they were in a competition with Jesus’s guys. They said, “WAIT! Is Jesus now baptizing more people than you John?”

John had to remind them that he was not the Messiah. And that this WAS NOT a competition. He told them to imagine a wedding. He said, Jesus was like the groom and he was like the Best Man. He was so happy to stand beside Jesus. There was no room to be jealous.

That’s cool to think about.

Then John went on to talk about Jesus more. I love this line…he said, “this is the assigned moment for him to move to the center…”

Can I ask you a question?

Right now we are all at home. We are all trying to do some school and art. Probably having a lot of snacks and tv time. But, what if this VERY moment, while we are at home is another ASSIGNED TIME for Jesus to move to the center of our lives?

What does that mean for him to be IN THE CENTER?

It means he is top priority.

What can that look like in your house today?

It can look like you journaling prayers to God.

It can look like you asking Alexa to play worship music.

It can look like you coloring a picture and hanging it up to remind you of Jesus.

It can look like cleaning up and serving your parents.

It can look a million ways to put Jesus in the center.

John goes on to say that Jesus gives us a LAVISH DISTRIBUTION OF GIFTS.

When I read that to my kids, my 8 year old got really excited. But then my 12 year old told him these were spiritual gifts, not toys…and he wasn’t as excited anymore. 😂

But, maybe if I tell you about these lavish spiritual gifts you will be happier.

These gifts are wisdom, the Holy Spirit, power, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, self control, faithfulness, love, joy…

Imagine them wrapped up for you. John also says that “He does not ration out the spirit in bits and pieces.”

You know how sometimes your mom only gives you one slice of cake? She rations it for you so you can be healthy.

God does not ration the gifts of his spirit. He lavishly pours a whole truckload of gifts out for you. Gifts that will get you thru times that you feel angry or sad or frustrated…especially ways you may be feeling right now stuck at home.

I’m thinking about wrapping up two boxes today to remind me that God has given me the gifts of PEACE and PATIENCE. I’m going to wrap up boxes and write those words inside so I can remember that he has given me those things.

Is there a gift from God you need today?

He’s already offered it!

You just have to open it up!

If you wrap up a box today, please send me a picture!

Hey guys. How is everyone doing?

Kids, today we have a special activity for you. Put on your coat because it’s cold. And just do this for 10 minutes or less. Go get a jar, head outside, and catch the wind in the jar. Then go show your parents.

Parents, you are welcome for the 10 minutes of alone time you are now having. Get some coffee…make a Marco Polo…and wait for your kids to come back in.

Ok, now that everyone’s back…kids, could you catch it?

You couldn’t – could you? We can’t catch the wind.

Jesus loves to describe spiritual things by comparing them to things we know. Today in John chapter 3, Jesus is talking about being Born Again…but he compares it to the wind.

A very important man named Nicodemus is asking Jesus all sorts of questions. His questions really confused my kids. And me too. Do they confuse you?

Basically in a nut shell, Jesus stops all the questions by telling Nicodemus he must be “born again”. Nicodemus is super confused. He asks Jesus how in the world he’s supposed to get back in his mother’s tummy. Ha ha. I wish I’d have seen Jesus’s face when he asked this.

I bet it was like 🤦‍♀️.

Jesus tells Nicodemus to look at the wind. The wind is the invisible moving the visible.

Go look out your window. You can’t see the wind. It’s invisible. But you can see what it moves. That’s just like God. You can’t see the Spirit, but you can see what it moves. You can see how God gives peace, you can see how sometimes you might cry in worship, you can see how God directs us. I could go on and on. Jesus is telling Nicodemus that we are two parts, physical and spiritual. To be BORN AGAIN happens in your spirit. It’s asking Jesus to let you follow him and asking him to make you new and clean before God.

Sometimes we call this “accepting Jesus into your heart.” But it’s so much more than that. Being born again is asking Jesus to cover your sins. Because he was perfect and never sinned, and offered himself as a sacrifice for us. Isn’t that amazing!!!

If you want to ask Jesus to be born again today, it’s so simple. Just pray. The prayer doesn’t save you, but the turn in your heart does. Just say, “Jesus please lead my life. That you for dying for my sins so I can stand clean in front of God. I want to follow you. Lead me!”

Thats it.

So simple.

And did you know that when you are a follower of Jesus you are PROMISED eternity in heaven! That’s so exciting!

So next time you hear the wind sweeping down the plains, think of God. Think of what it means to be born again. And CELEBRATE the gift that we have been offered of eternal life!

It’s fun to think about the party we will have in heaven some day! What do you think we will do? You can send us your thoughts!!!

I think we will have a big long table of delicious food. A big dance with lots of music, and also endless displays of art to look at, that we all created in heaven while we worship God.

What are your thoughts in heaven? Thinking about heaven is a fun way to pass time, isn’t it. You can color a picture about it too! I’m sure your mom and dad would love to see that!

Have a wonderful day, friends. See you back here tomorrow!

Good morning!

Let’s read John 1:35-51.

You can read it out loud together with your family and take turns. It’s a lot of verses, but you can do it!

These verses are so special because they talk about Jesus meeting his disciples for the first time! He is meeting his best friends!

Do you remember when you first met your best friend? Did it take a while for you to feel like you knew them?

I asked my kids…how do you feel like someone actually KNOWS you? My 8 year old said, “When they know my full name, my birthday, and if I’m feeling sad at all.”

“What if they knew the number of hairs on your head?” I asked him. “Wow! I’d freak out!” He said.

Do you know that the Bible tell us that God knows that about you. He knows how many hairs are on your head. Because he created you!

Psalm 139 tells us he “knitted you together in your mother’s womb.”

I’d say God REALLY knows you.

Now look back at the verses in John. Nathaniel is a guy that I really like in this story, because he’s sort of rude. And I like it when God loves rude people, because sometimes I am a rude person. Are you ever rude?

Nathaniel makes fun of Jesus’s hometown. Jesus was from a VERY poor and small city. People made fun of his town all the time. That’s pretty rude huh?

Nathaniel says, “He’s from Nazareth? You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Then when he meets Jesus, Jesus says, “There is a real Israelite. Not a false bone in his body.” Because Jesus knew what Nathaniel had said about his town.

And Nathaniel feels sort of insulted. He says, “where I’d you get that idea. You don’t know me.”

YOU DON’T KNOW ME.

But, he doesn’t realize yet who Jesus is. And that Jesus DOES IN FACT know him because Jesus is God.

Jesus tells him a story that he saw him under the fig tree. It makes Nathaniel feel very known , and suddenly and shockingly he immediately decides that Jesus is for real. That’s a REALLY quick change of heart.

What do you think he was doing under that fig tree?

Was he crying? Was he praying? Was he being very honest with God about a hurt in his life? Was he doing something bad? Why was this so special to Nathaniel that Jesus knew this? I don’t know, but I do want to meet him in heaven and ask because I’m just SO curious.

NATHANIEL WHAT WERE YOU DOING UNDER THST FIG TREE?

When you feel KNOWN, you feel loved don’t you? When your friend knows you hate pineapples and picks them out of your salad you feel loved. When you are KNOWN you feel special.

God KNOWS you.

He REALLY does.

He knows the numbers of hairs on your head. He knows what makes you laugh. He might even have a nickname for you. You are his TREASURE!

As you sit at home today, I want you to do two things. I want you to thank God that he knows you. And I want you to ask him to help you know HIM more.

Secondly, I want you to be a good friend to a neighbor today. My friend Katy has the idea of chalking verses in our neighbors driveways. This is a great way to show your friends love because you know they want to hear from you. Especially while they are stuck at home.

I’d love for you to share your verses with us if you are chalking driveways today as you social distance.

Thank you God for knowing us!!!

Good morning everyone. We made our family quarantine/isolation/Corona virus prevention schedule today, and it included family devotional time. During our prayer time, I felt God impress on my heart to offer a daily family/kids devotional for everyone at home. So…here we go!

Day 1.

John 1:5 The light shines in the darkness and the darkness can not put it out.

Do you have a flashlight? Go sit in your dark closet with your mom and dad, and maybe even your stinky brother and sister. Yikes. It’s dark in here isn’t it. But if you turn on the flashlight, the darkness runs away. It’s amazing how that works.

God often uses things in the real world to tell us about the spiritual world. Do you know that Jesus is called The Light Of The World? Bad things, scary things, darkness…it all runs from him. That makes you feel less scared of the dark, doesn’t it. It does for me!

My son, Parker…who is 8…had a great analogy this morning. He said we are like flashlights, but God is the battery. He was RIGHT! We have to be able to use God’s power to shine in the darkness. We have to recharge our battery’s by reading the Bible, singing worship songs, praying, and spending time with God.

Is there something you can do today to recharge your battery and shine the light of Jesus while you are at home? Can you serve your mom and dad? Or make your sisters bed? Or color a picture for a neighbor and text it to them? Think of how you can be a LIGHT today.

Jesus is proud of you. You are his child. And he loves you.

Friends.  You need to know something about me.  Plants and I have a very dysfunctional relationship.  I kill them and they die.  We are obviously both at fault here.

This October we moved to a new house.  My husband, who is not at odds with plants, invited me to help him with some Tulip bulbs.

I have never done this before.  I have never planted something and had to wait for it to bloom.

Putting that bulb in the ground on a windy day in October was almost spiritual to me.  I planted the bulb, and then knew I’d have to wait all the way to March to see if it would make it.

And TODAY it came up!! After all this time.  I was amazed.  So much has happened in our lives since October.  But there was that seed, planted long ago…and it all of a sudden bloomed in its full beauty.

This reminds me of God.  Of hard relationships.  Of kids that seem to not get it, or young adults that walk away from Jesus, or sin that grabs and entangles us and pulls us down.

BUT THAT SEED.

Parents, we have to plant it.  We have to plant the news that Jesus is FOR US.  That he speaks to us today.  That he is full of love and grace and mercy.  And always wants to be near you.  That seed is the greatest thing we can plant in our children. In our friends.  And in those that need our love.

Even if we must wait and wait and wait for the bloom.
BULBS TO BOUQUETS…God uses nature to tell his story to us.  Are we listening?

 

 

I’m sitting at the orthodontist.  Blogging.  I know…dream big, kids.

If you have a middle schooler, chances are that you may spend quite a bit of time in waiting rooms of the orthodontia flavor.

You may also spend quite a bit of time talking thru eye rolls, tick tock video etiquette, hydro dipping shoes and endless questions about WHY HE HAS TO HAVE A FLIP PHONE WHEN EVERYONE ELSE HAS AN IPHONE AND YOU ARE THE WORST.

I’m just guessing this.  Not speaking from personal experience.

As I sit here surrounded by HGTV and chap stick tubes, I’m thinking of myself at 12.

I had braces forever.
I wore my retainer forever.
Then I got a night guard for grinding my teeth in my 30s and broke it in a middle of the night during an unconscious stress session last year when we were foster parents.

Now, this year, with nothing to remind my teeth how to be, they have decided to move.  I’ve got a front gap peeking at me.  Oh. The horror of 1st world problems.  But. I’m being honest here.  I see the gap every time I smile.

My teeth have known what to do since I was 13.  But, the year I stopped reminding them how to be, they changed.  After just a year.

Oh, man, does this ever remind me of my life with God.

If I’m not spending time with him.  Talking, reading the Bible, singing, imagining with him…if I’m not doing those things, I start to change.  I forget who I am.  And whose I am.  I need to be reminded over and over and over. I need to surrender over and over and over.  I need to release control over and over and over.

Being a brace face is right where it’s at, I suppose.

God remind us.

Mold us straight.

into your image.

Into LOVE.

And don’t let us forget.