Sharing Good News

About three weeks ago we agreed to lead out in a children's program that would take place concurrent with some adult meetings (Like a VBS but not labeled as such). The meetings began about two weeks ago. The first week we shared with the children God's 'Rescue Plan' as revealed in the Bible Sanctuary.

This past week we shared with them God's plan for protecting them and also enabling them to cooperate with God in rescuing others from sin - the Armor of God.

I suppose this is common but my computer often works well - except when attempting a project like the above. I finally gave up doing the workbooks in color but even then there were multiple challenges - all faced and overcome by the power of God (definitely not by any technical expertise of my own).

The picture is of the children with their 'armor' on, which represents experiences Jesus offers to have with every person to not only protect them but also to enable them to cooperate with Him in rescuing others and bring them into God's family. I reminded them that without the shield of 'faith' all the rest of the armor is of no 'value' in our connection with God's army, so they were holding up their 'shields' of faith in the picture.

The children took their 'armor' illustration and their workbooks home with them Thursday evening. Then on the last meeting - Friday evening - we talked about God's special plans for the Sabbath. After talking a little bit about it we served the children a special 'supper'. We used a tablecloth and pretty dishes to make it look nicer. (Other nights we just 'gave them' some type of snack and usually a drink with it.) Several of the assistants helped the children to get what they preferred. We served strawberries, grapes and sliced oranges along with crackers with a dip and fruit juice for a drink.

After that the children decorated a picture frame and then we divided into groups and they 'acted' out some Bible experience for the rest of the group to 'guess'.

We closed with songs and a prayer.

Sharing these two weeks took more out of me than I realized. Today I had to just rest. I'm doing fine now though. I am so very thankful for all that God did these few two weeks. I felt so unprepared, but God kept leading, guiding and strengthening and to Him be glory and praise.

Due to the meetings we haven't been able to get much more done in our gardens. Our cabbage seems to be doing very well that we planted earlier. There are peas, beans and swiss chard coming up so far. We planted some eggplant plants, herbs and flowers which are also doing well. The tomatoes look quite good. The yellow tomatoes have some small fruit the size of a dime or nickel already. We have picked a few strawberries already and there are more coming on.

This year our Clematis have done very well. Some of them got damaged but the rest have been beautiful. The pansies are still blooming in many colors. The Asiatic lillies are beginning to bloom. The first one to open was a yellow one. We also have white, red and orange ones coming. There are some stargazer lillies near our door that usually bloom a little later.

And remember, when you see a flower bloom remember they are 'I Love You' notes from Jesus.

Until we meet again, May the JOY of the Lord be your strength and His PEACE be with you.

Bringer of Peace