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Category: Devotional

Day 22 – Thankful for Tennis Balls

This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving. DAY #22: Tennis Balls OK, this post isn’t really about tennis balls, it’s about my grammy, but I knew that title might generate some curiosity and therefore some clicks! I am Thankful for My Grammy! (and Tennis Balls… keep reading!) I do not mean to elevate any relative above any other… I am thankful for ALL my relatives, and love them all differently and in different ways. But my Grammy B will always hold an extra special place in my heart. One of those reasons she and I kept secret. It wasn’t until after she passed away, that I finally let the secret out. In fact, at her grave side service, they let the children draw on her casket, and I drew a tennis ball on her casket with the words, “I win.” Relatives looked at me a little confused (and perhaps slightly shocked!) Here is why. One of my “Kidologist Secrets” of relating to kids is to have fun games or “inside jokes” with the kids who I…

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Day 9 – Thankful for Mercy and Grace

This is part of a series called 24 Days of Thankfulness. These posts are in RANDOM order, NOT priority order. Each is something I am thankful for leading up to Thanksgiving. DAY #9: Mercy and Grace Mercy and Grace are two words that are often used inter-changeably, but while similar, are actually very different – but I’m thankful for both of them today. I was recently somewhere where the guest preacher’s sermon was titled, “The Power of Mercy” but the entire message was on Grace. While it was a GREAT message on Grace, he kept using the word “Mercy” to describe “Grace,” – I wondered if he had gotten any formal training for the pastorate? He had shared that he had been a worship pastor and that the former senior pastor had appointed him to replace him, so perhaps he never went to seminary or had any biblical training. I’m not trying to be nick-picky, just pointing out that often these words are confused, even by senior pastors! So what IS the difference? I explain the difference, even to children in “kids church,” because I think the difference is important to understand, so that we use the words correctly. They…

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Father Knows Best

How could my dad give MAGNIFIERS to my sisters?!?! It is one thing to talk about something in the abstract. Kids need real stories from real people they know. Have you ever had a bad attitude that cost you something? Too often we give the impression that we have always done everything right and it is only the children we teach who make mistakes. Telling our students real stories of times we have blown it can help encourage them in profound ways. I remember a time when my dad came home with a gift for all three of his children. To each of my sisters he gave a gift of a different type of magnifying lens. I was in shock! Didn’t my dad know, it was I who collected magnifying glasses?!?! My older sister got a magnifying sheet the size of a full page of paper! Then my younger sister was given a magnifying ruler. You could place it over what you were reading and as you moved it down the page the words would magically grow as it passed over them. I was so jealous! How could my father DO this to me? Again, didn’t he understand that it…

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Choices

This morning I am teaching on free will to a group of first and second graders. It’s really only a lesson into, but nevertheless, it’s got me thinking – how do you get people, adults or kids, to grasp the sheer Power of their Choices? Our free will is the greatest and yet most dangerous gift God has given us. When I say “dangerous” you may immediately think I mean because of how it can be misused. And of course, that is true. But I am more thinking of the loss when it is NOT used. Missed opportunity, missed potential, kids or people who failed to reach their potential in life because they simply refuse to make the big or little choices daily that would get them there. How do you motivate or inspire others to grab a hold of the Power they have to Choose?! This AMAZING POWER we have to CHOOSE what we want to do each day and with our lives? Now some will be quick to point out that there are many things we can’t control or can’t change or can’t choose. Of course! I can’t go buy myself a Ferrari this afternoon, nor (more painfully)…

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Worshiping Thru My Lens

Everyone worships God differently. The Bible says those who don’t worship God, are fools. (Creation indeed leaves them without excuse.) But how they worship God, varies based on personality and interests. Some sing. Some paint. Some build. Some create. Some meditate. Some think. Some write. Some serve. While I find many means of worship enjoyable and meaningful, one that I find most pleasing and satisfying I call “worshiping through my lens.” It is simply enjoying and attempting to capture God’s Creation through the lens of my camera, and then taking some time to edit with iPhoto. I enjoy the compliments I get and people are often surprised I’m not a “Photoshop” expert and do everything I do to my photos with only iPhoto. So I thought this time, instead of just posting photos from my Father’s Day outing to the Denver Botanic Gardens (where we have a membership) I’d go ahead and give you my “before and after” pics to show you the difference between the pics I took and the way they look after I had some fun on the computer with them. NOTE: All pics can be clicked to be viewed larger. White Daisies (BEFORE) White Daisies (AFTER)…

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