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Category: Kidology Update

Home from Yosemite Summit

Yosemite Summit Guys 2011 This isn’t the “Official” report – I have thousands of photos (and video clips) to sort through and a highlight video to create for that – BUT I wanted to at least let y’all know I made it back alive and we had another great UNconference in Yosemite National Park! Despite some negative weather forecasts, we had actually perhaps the best weather of all four years – maybe tied with year #1, though that was a bit warm, so I think the best weather of all four years for hiking. That was fantastic! Just for fun, Pat arrived a day early to help me shop for all the food. Here he is at Costco in Sacramento: BEFORE: AFTER: And that is even before the Super Wal-Mart trip for the stuff Costco doesn’t sell! It takes a lot to feed a lodge full of hungry hikers! (And we eat well!) Soon we were all gathered and ready to head to Yosemite… all but one Californian who was meeting up with us farther South. Soon we were off! It was a great four hour drive getting to know each other, and the guys had absolute trust in my…

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Why Yosemite Summit?

Every year when Yosemite Summit rolls around, I am never ready for it. And that is exactly why I do it. I have projects that are not where I want them. Deadlines I’m behind on, so many to do’s unchecked they are overwhelming at times, countless more items floating in my head that need to get on a to do list. Even more dreams and ideas of things I’d like to do. The reality is, I’ll never be “ready” for a week off of work to just relax, refresh, renew and re-create. I am too driven by my life Mission and Calling. But I am also driven by disappointment. We all have this ideal in our mind and hearts of the way life is supposed to be – and when life turns out differently and we don’t get want we want (the core of sin is selfishness) we bury it in busyness, and as Christians we can bury it in Christian service and “Godly” busyness – whereas the rest the world may attempt to hide it in entertainment, the accumulation of power, wealth or pleasure – if not outright debauchery. (Some do seek to redeem it through a life well…

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Quiet Times Break Out Everywhere!

Quite Times Break Out Everywhere! Wouldn’t it be great to start getting reports from parents that children in your church were starting to have Quiet Times all on their own? Imagine hearing that your students were carving out special places in their closets, lofts, or backyards club houses and scheduling when they were going to meet with God! It has happened to me many times over! I’ve even had kids draw me pictures of their “top secret” places where they meet with God. And you must know, these meetings have life-long, even eternal results! But they don’t happen without INTENTIONAL and PRACTICAL training! That is why I have written HOW TO MEET WITH GOD. I urge you to make this next installment of DiscipleTown a part of your disciple-making strategy and work it into your educational plan for Kid’s Church. It is AVAILABLE NOW! Karl. During this unit, your kids will learn tried-and-true techniques for enjoying a personal “Quiet-Time” with God so that they can learn how to deepen their friendship with God. Next, they will learn how to enjoy His company throughout the day and how to call on Him in times of need. Meeting with God is something…

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A Happy Grace-Filled Easter to YOU!

Happy Resurrection Sunday… Hello Friends. Grace = Getting what we don’t deserve. (vs. Mercy = Not getting what we DO deserve!) That’s what this weekend is all about. It’s about the Grace God showed us by looking past our short-comings, our failures, and our imperfections… and loving us anyway. It’s about wanting us to be Family in spite of us. It’s about Him DYING to make us Family, even though we were wrapped up in ourselves and our needs. We’ve all got people in our lives (and families) and drive us nuts and who are wrapped up in themselves. People who have let us down. People who don’t deserve a second chance. People who don’t deserve forgiveness. People who are a “lost cause.” Christ was demonstrating for us what He expects of us by what He did for us. While WE were a lost cause, beyond hope, undeserving, selfish and wrapped up in OURselves – He died for us, and then did the biggest “come back” in His-Story to redeem us. We have no excuse to hold anyone at arm’s length or hold a grudge. Those who have truly experienced Grace, find it so much easier and natural to extend…

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Just Thinking About Kids… and Behavior

Children get enough discouragement from adults telling them constantly what they are doing is wrong or needs to be better. They need to hear more often how they are loved, forgiven and believed in. They need to be encouraged and reminded that while their behavior may not always be good, their value and worth is good beyond description! They are good kids in God’s eyes because He made them and whatever God made IS good! After all, every day of creation God finished by saying, “It is good.” As we shepherd the children in our ministries it is critical that we focus on their hearts more than their behavior. When we see bad behavior, our impulse needs to be not to correct the behavior, but to mold the heart that determined the behavior. There are plenty of techniques out there that can shape children’s behavior, but if we only succeed in changing behavior, we will have only created little Pharisees who know how to behave at church. But it will be unlikely that we will impact much how they behave at home and even less how they behave at school and after they outgrow children’s ministry. But if we reach…

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