KathrynWhat Will You Sacrifice in the Next 40 Days?

[KellyTheChef]

My sister recently summed up the Christian faith like this to me, and by the way, this is also her goal for this year and mine as well:

*Pursue Jesus Christ
*Build Relationships with People

The more I thought about it I remembered that Jesus Himself gave us the above in --what He called-- the 2 greatest commandments: Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, soul, mind and strength; Love your neighbor as yourself.

Simplifies things, doesn't it?

I couldn't agree more! I have always told my kids if you follow those two greatest commandments, you can't break any of the 10 Commandments! That is God's Word in a nutshell!

 

[jrstephens]

I have a 5 year old in my Sparks group at AWANA that is already through her book, book review, workbook and last night quoted Phillippians 2:1-27 to me with only about 4 words of help. She has only 3 verses left of the chapter!
She puts me to shame!

Coongrats to your daughter! That is a lot of hard work!!!

I am one of our Sparks teachers at our church. I actually do Sparkie the puppet! It is so fun.

AWANA is awesome!! We are having Family Night This Sunday. My 2 1/2 yr old son is in Cubbies and he is suppose to say John 3:16 for his part. We will see if he actually says it! He knows it but gets shy in front of a lot of people!

AWANA has done so much for our children.

 

[jrstephens]

My increased daily Bible reading has nothing to do with Lent. I am a Southern Baptist. It has to do with a personal convictions of if I can read romance and crime novels all of the time, why can't I read the Bible each day?!

I personally think if you have the right foundation of faith (the virgin birth, death burial and resurrection of Jesus) then it does not matter your religion. We did a study of different religions a while back in our Sunday school class and there are many things I do not agree with but I think as long as you have the right foundation the "in between" does matter if you follow the rules and laws of God. Some peole jsut interpret things rules and laws to fit their lifestlyes and not in the strict context of what the Bible is saying.

Jesus was and is our sacrifice. If making a personal sacrifice brings you closer to Jesus then it is an awesome reason to do it. I think we should all make sacrifices or committments each day to bring us closer to God.

I hope this came out in the right "voice" b/c I am in NO WAY condeming Lent. I think it is great that people can give up something major for 40 days for Jesus. It is much more than a lot of people (inlcuding myself at times) do.

 

[janetupnorth]

Coongrats to your daughter! That is a lot of hard work!!!

I am one of our Sparks teachers at our church. I actually do Sparkie the puppet! It is so fun.

AWANA is awesome!! We are having Family Night This Sunday. My 2 1/2 yr old son is in Cubbies and he is suppose to say John 3:16 for his part. We will see if he actually says it! He knows it but gets shy in front of a lot of people!

AWANA has done so much for our children.

Actually that wasn't my daughter, a girl in my group.
My daughter had her book and review done by Thanksgiving and started in her workbook but then hit a slump and slowed down. I never pushed her because I want her to enjoy AWANA and desire to learn (not because Mommy makes her)...she just got enthused again last week and is back on track.

I am proud of my daughter though too - she's a sweetie. The night after my dad died last year, we were talking and my brother recorded it so we could play it at my dad's funeral...she talked about how Grandpa was up in heaven and that he had Jesus in his heart and how she was going to see him again and quoted John 3:16...it brought tears to EVERYONE'S eyes!

My son will start Cubbies next year...hope yours does well at Family Night!