May I Come In?

May I Come In? By Doug Bastian God came in among his earthlings Cloaked, concealed in human frame, King to be, clothed first in swaddling, Given Joseph’s revealed name. He grew up a pure example For the work he was to do, Shocked the rabbis in the Temple With his wisdom which shone through.   Worked like all men to make ends meet, Helped his dad make things of wood, With rough hands and dusty, tough feet Fit right in where e’er he stood.   Blended with his people’s goings, Did not tell from whence he came, Saw their plight and their souls’ longings, Saw their leaders’ crafty game.   Then his cousin John came calling By the Sea of Galilee, Choosing hides to be his clothing— Locusts with his daily tea.   John called out for true repentance To the crowds that gathered there, So that they’d avoid the sentence Holy God will bring to bear.   Look! Watch your Messiah enter, Breaking on the earthly scene, Heaven’s dove shows John his Mentor, “This your Lamb may now be seen.”   We are glad he came to show us How to step into the Light, How to bear our…

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Would You Toss Your Kid to Sharks?

PARENTS? Would you toss your kid to sharks? You say, “Of course not! Silly question!” Then, let me ask you some some other questions, as a dad who is try to save my own son from some very real sharks. Do you let you kids have Shapchat? Do you not have a filtering on their Internet? Do you monitor their texts, chats and web browsing? The sharks are out to get your kid. If you don’t believe it, you are living in intentional ignorance. Scripture says, BE ALERT AND SOBER-MINDED. YOUR ENEMY, THE DEVIL PROWLS AROUND LIKE A ROARING LION, (aka Sharks!) SEEKING SOMEONE TO DEVOUR. 1 PETER 5:8 Are you leaving your children unprotected? As a pastor, I’m disheartened by parents who give up – “It’s just too hard.” As a father I get angry because it makes it harder for me to lead my own son when I hear, “but my friends parents let them,” and these are Christian parents. Is is hard? Yes. Is it worth it? YES. Parents, especially those I know –  I can’t do this alone. We need to be a team. We need to FIGHT THE ENEMY, not our kids. Our kids need…

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Drawing Easter!

My mom was a Chalk Artist. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a lost art from a day when people didn’t need everything to be fast and instant. An artist would draw to music while an audience watched. My mom and dad meet in college where she was drawing and he was playing his flute. Chalk that up to romance! One of my favorite drawing she often did was of the Easter Story. I don’t have her talent, but I loved the image she would draw. She would end with dark light revealing a hidden image of Jesus risen! A few years ago, while waiting to build the amazing kids church set I know enjoy, we put up a black board wall that I would decorate for each series. For Easter 2018, I attempted to draw my mom’s drawing myself. Since our culture likes things fast, I don’t expect you to watch the two hours I worked on it, so here it is sped up! ENJOY and Happy Easter!

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What Matters Most?

Time for a trip down memory lane… here is a video I filmed with Luke on New Year’s Even nine years ago. He’s now 14, but it’s as true as ever. The video was my contribution to the Online Video Conference to answer the question: “What Matters Now?” My “One Word” was Relationships. I filmed the video on the Eve of Dec. 31st, 2010 and brought in the New Year with my young son while filming. I could think of no better way to answer that very critical question. I hope this will challenge you to think had about the relationships in your life that Matter Most. I hope you enjoy it, and as we head in to a new year, I hope it reminds you to prioritize your relationships – not just with your children – but with whoever is most important to you. Happy New Year!

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A Mother’s Legacy

Happy Birthday, Mom. My mom passed away in 1996 – but her presence and influence has never left me. I am so thankful for a mother who saw past my craziness and energy and hyper-activity and saw only God-given potential. I can remember countless times when she would hold my head between her hands and though exhausted (exasperated even!) she would say to me, “Karl, if you can ever figure out how to focus all this creative energy for God – watch out world.” Even when my creative energy was getting me in trouble, she was instilling in me HOPE that God wired me the way He did for a PURPOSE – that I wasn’t a screw-up – that He made me for a reason! That I would someday help people, even if while I was young it meant getting in trouble for being misunderstood. Today my puppets do the things that once got me in trouble. People buy DVDs of toys doing things that I once got taken away in church. Through Kidology.org and the other things I do, I have so many creative outlets now to equip and encourage other kid ministers and impacts kids, she no way…

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