A share about Wiphan Care Ministries…

As most of you know by now, my family is involved with a sweet ministry in Zambia called Wiphan Care Ministries. Many more of these to follow…and God bless all of you who shared Wiphan last week on your blogs, on Facebook and word-of-mouth. We got lots of kiddos sponsored last week! Praise Jesus! AND the widow program…it’s JUST around the corner…as in—THIS WEEK! Stay tuned—and please ALWAYS feel free to embed the code from Vimeo so you can share our videos on your blogs, websites and Facebook. NEVER underestimate the power of the ministry in being a voice for the voiceless! You NEVER know who God will raise up to join us just because you posted it on your site. Thank you for sharing…and for being a part of what God is doing in this really cool way.

{One Year Bible Study – Dueteronomy 6, 7, 8 & 9}
Verses from today’s reading that I love…

Chapter 6 –

“Listen, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. And you must commit yourselves wholeheartedly to these commands that I am giving you today. Repeat them again and again to your children. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up. Tie them to your hands and wear them on your forehead as reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.”

As we drove down the road last week, Parker was trying to figure our all the responsibilities of policeman verses firemen. We were classifying the different things each did. He get the fireman role. But struggles with the policeman role.

If they are good, Mommy—then why do they have guns?

Hmmm…not a conversation you want to have with a 5 year old. So I tried to skirt around going into shoot-’em-ups, and said, “Policeman like to keep us safe. They make sure people drive safe. IF you drive to fast, they might pull you over and give you a ticket…”

Oh mommy! AND THEN…THEY’D TAKE US TO JAIL! And there we’d be! In JAIL! And daddy–he’d have to come to the police station and say, “LET MY PEOPLE GO!”

I couldn’t help but laugh and then smile–that conversation showed me scripture is sinking in. He is getting the stories—and he understands. And in a little kid way, he is applying it to his life today. So we obviously recently studied the story of Moses (one of their FAVORITES). One thing I have learned as a mommy (which isn’t much…but this is one thing that I have learned that is worth it) is that you will always reap the rewards of spending time with your children, teaching them scripture and explaining it more deeply to them. Talk about them when you are at home and when you are on the road, when you are going to bed and when you are getting up.

Some things that help us in our family…

We memorize a verse a month with our preschoolers.

We listen to Seeds Family Worship when we are in the car (OR audio Christian plays like Antsillevania…you wouldn’t believe how much my kids BEG for this!)

We monitor carefully what goes in their little minds…we choose to not let them watch cartoons or do video games…but we will watch a movie a month as a special family treat. (You wouldn’t BELIEVE the difference I saw in my kids when we made the decision to turned cartoons off.)

We teach the Bible by reading children’s books, doing things like the Lent Tree and with kid friendly things like Betty Lukens felts.

Those are just a few thing we do regularly that help our children have His Word written on their hearts and help us to teach them. I would LOVE to hear from you…things that YOU do with YOUR children to creatively teach them scripture! OK, so Betty Lukens felts look really old school…but my kids LOVE them and it’s so funny to walk by and see them re-inacting the Bible stories. A popular quote by William Glasser says “We learn… 10 percent of what we read, 20 percent of what we hear, 30 percent of what we see, 50 percent of what we see and hear, 70 percent of what we discuss with others, 80 percent of what we experience, and 95 percent of what we teach to someone.” My kids LOVE to reteach one another the felt Bible stories…but they sure are a pain to cut out…but WORTH it! (They do have 5 pre-cut stories to start with!)

Chapter 8

“But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt.”

What a warning. When you are overflowing with blessing—and you are COMFORTABLE…this is the time to be careful. Do not forget the Lord–and what He has commanded us to do. Oh Lord, keep us from getting trapped in activities and a busy life. Protect us from getting wrapped up in what activities to sign our children up for…what camps to send our kids to…etc, etc. Oh…that we would NOT forget His instructions—how to spend the blessings He has given us. How to spend our lives…if we are His. Let us not forget to serve the poor, the orphan and the widow. Need an opportunity to do so regularly? We are in need of families to sponsor our widows program for $25 a month…for families to sponsor an orphan for $39 a month…would you pray about this? If already sponsor a child, could you wiggle and get uncomfortable a bit…and sponsor a widow too? If not with Wiphan, pray about joining God some where. Let us not become comfortable. Our society seems to be good at coming up with money when we really want something…like building that garden I did for Rich last week. But do we fight and push and shove to make room for the things God asks us to?

Help us to follow you Lord and not forget You in our time of plenty. For when we serve the poor, the widow and the orphan…we are truly serving and remembering You.