When Life is Sad – God is Good

I just can’t help myself. The inspirations at VBS keep coming so I must keep sharing! This has been a week of watching so many precious children get all caught up in God’s goodness and yesterday was off the charts. We had a departure of wandering in the wilderness with the Israelites to a day that was all about Jesus. Rather than the boisterous exclamation “God is good”, this day our theme was “When life is sad – God is good” so in our Faith Station, we whispered those words. It’s amazing how children respond to the atmosphere they’re in and this day, the atmosphere was created by the wooden cross in front of the sun (how appropriate – the sun was the spotlight for THE SON!), that was enhanced by the little strands of lights and ivy. We were amazed at the somber posture the kids took on as soon as they saw the cross. They respected it.

On a personal note, I came into yesterday’s VBS Faith Station in prayer for a dear cousin who was having serious brain surgery at the same time. I’ll be honest with you – though I was absolutely in a positive “Do not fear – only believe” mindset, still I thought about the theme “When life is sad – God is good” and wondered if God was giving me that theme just in case the surgery didn’t go as well as expected. But, thanks be to God, at 11:10 am, I heard from his sister who said all went well and heading to recovery..."Praise God!” But I wonder, had it been the other way, I think that I had been so immersed in the goodness of God this week – that I would have still exclaimed: “God is good”!

This day was all about Jesus Who was on the earth to show us God’s goodness and love. We talked to the kids about betrayal and how Jesus knew He was going to be betrayed. We asked them the question: “If you knew that something really bad was going to happen to you at a certain place, would you still go there? What would you do?” The common answer was “Stay at home!” From our script: “But, Jesus went to the garden even though He knew something terrible would happen. He was betrayed, arrested and He knew He’d be beaten and mocked and He knew that after all that, He’d be crucified – nailed to a cross to die. Jesus’ friends and family watched it happen. Can you imagine? They were so upset and sad. Have you ever been sad? We’ve all gone through sad times, but we’re learning about God’s goodness and we’re learning that when ‘Life is sad – God is good’. Jesus was willing to die to take the punishment for our sins, the wrong things we do.”

Here, we gave each child a stone which represented their sins, and said, “You know, this stone kind of reminds me of sin. Stones are usually kind of dirty, aren’t they? That’s like sin. Sin makes our hearts dirty, and if our hearts are dirty, we can’t be close to God. Sin separates us from God. Another thing about a stone is that it’s hard. Is anyone’s stone soft? No? That’s like sin, too. Sin can make our hearts hard. It can make us turn away from God. Remember Pharaoh? His heart was hard, and he turned away from God. What if you had to carry the weight of every sin, every day of your life? Imagine how heavy that would get. But Jesus made a way for us to be forgiven of our sins. When Jesus died on the cross, He took the punishment for our sins. We don’t have to carry them anymore. Jesus overcame the world! Let’s ask Jesus to forgive us for our sins.” Then we invited the children to place their stone in the basket in front of the cross as a symbol of their being forgiven.

The simple message of the cross. In children’s language – young and old. It is the same message no matter what age we are. This blog today is even longer than my usual lengthy blog, but perhaps there are those that need to see how simple it is to turn over a new leaf by receiving Christ into your heart. We walked the children over to the chapel where they sat in adoration of our Savior. I was amazed at the reverence and tenderness of each child. Yesterday, my blog was about the open arms of Jesus to children when He said, “Let the little children come to me and forbid them not,” and I believe He has His arms open wide for you today. Our chapel speaker said these words: “Jesus loves us so much that He was willing to be nailed to a cross so He could forgive our heavy sins. What amazing love! Remember what amazing love He has for you. It was a sad, sad day when Jesus died. But we know that when life is sad…..God is good! And God was very good because that wasn’t the end of the story. On the third day after Jesus died a few of His friends went to the tomb and were amazed. There was an angel in the tomb who said, “Why are you looking among the dead for someone who is alive? He isn’t here! He is risen from the dead.” Luke 24:5-7

Because of Jesus, we can remember that God is good, even when life is sad. Jesus gives us a reason to celebrate every day! And, that, my friends, is the Gospel message that is as fresh today as it was on the day of Christ’s resurrection. It is so fresh that it is a brand new day that affords a brand new start for children of all ages. If this blog is nudging you toward the cross, you can thank all these precious children for it as scriptures says: “A little child shall lead them…….” Isaiah 11:6

Here, There and Everywhere!

Here, There and Everywhere!
Yesterday, Austin....today, Frisco! An old song I remember went like this "Where He leads me, I will follow; where He leads me, I will follow. Where He leads me, I will follow. I'll go with Him all the way."

That really is my prayer, and His leading me has sure taken me on the road A LOT, for the last several months. The Wallace's Speech and Debate tournaments were at Concordia University in Austin last week. How handy it was to stay with Ryan and Shawntel who live just a short distance from there. Now, we're back in Frisco, and Ryan and Shawntel and the boys drove up to be here for the next couple of days because Brennan (their 12-year old) has baseball tournaments here. How crazy is that? Of all the places we could be, as a family, we are either here or there. Of course it's no surprise to God, and neither should it be for us because if we place ourselves in His hands for leading and guiding us, then whether we go, or stay, we'll be exactly where we're supposed to be at any given time.

That's why we should never be surprised by surprises, or suddenlies, because God always has something up His sovereign sleeve. While at the speech and debate tournament, we ran into some surprises that could have taken us off center -- things that came up as somewhat negative and concerning. But, then when we stepped back to look at the bigger picture of what God wants to do in and through us, even the negatives can be used to bring honor to Him. Staci made the statement, "I'd rather that my kids learn from their challenges well -- even more than a trophy or special ranking. Even in the losing.....we learn, tweak and move forward with a fresh perspective." I loved that, because there were lessons to be learned, and victories to be won -- both Alexia and Payton qualified for Nationals. They'll be competing at the National level at St. Paul, MN in June.

Back to that song, "Where He leads me, I will follow" -- it's easy to say that when the roads are flat, wide and the speed limit is 80 mph (Yes, here in Texas, you'll find those stretches of high speed ability -- yikes!), and you think, "eazy peazy"! Then comes along those 2-lane, winding, bumpy and twisting roads, and speeds slowed down to 25 mph, it's still even in those times, God is using the bumps and the ups and downs to get us to His perfect plan for our lives. That's why, at the end of the day.....we just keep on keeping on, following Him -- wherever He leads!

God leads us and blesses us so that we may bless others by what we do, what we say and how we live for Him. Often life’s hardships, conflicts, and needless worries hinder us and we often may fail the test -- not because God is unable or willing to help us, but because we help ourselves too much. The true test of our sincerity and faith is demonstrated by our willingness to trust and obey Him, giving Him the free license to lead us. Since God knows the way through the wilderness and over the mountain -- we might as well stop trying to be the leader and let the ONE who knows the way -- lead. All we have to do is follow!

Remain, or Be Raised?

Tested, tried, and proven fact:
How we talk and complain, and talk and complain about our present circumstances and challenges......determines how long we'll get to stay right there, and, if we keep it up, we'll even get to go around the same mountain again and again and again! Remember the Israelites being stuck wandering in the wilderness for 40 years -- that should have taken them only 11 days (Dueteronomy 1:2)? They complained....and remained!
Oftentimes, we, too, are out wandering in the desert, complaining -- and wondering why it's taking us so long to get from Point A to Point B, and why it seems we're getting NOWHERE fast? Could it possibly be that we're remaining because we're complaining? Wouldn't it be better to try another, tested, tried and proven fact.....when the PRAISES go UP, the blessings come down?
Here's the deal......
#COMPLAIN...and remain!
OR
#PRAISE....and be raised!