Frazzled

Some nights are just tough - particularly when I'm doing the dinner/bath/bed/storytime thing all by myself. Patience wears thin, and I find myself struggling to keep a civil tone as the kids go nuts (they're tired and crabby, too!).
Colin Buchanan's written a song for families to remember in times like this:

Press On, Mums

Press on, Mums
In all the chaos
Look to Jesus through the tears
Press on, Mums
God will guide you
Through those precious, tender years

Chorus
And in all you do do it for Jesus
Who won you life and free forgiveness
Yesterday, today
He is the same
All you do
Do it in Jesus' name

Press on, Dads
Love your wife
Serve your children
Set the pace
Press on Dads
Seize the moment
Show them Jesus
Run the race

Chorus

Press on, kids
God adores you
He will hear you when you pray
Press on, kids
Love your family
Honour, serve
Forgive, obey

Chorus

...and when all your human energy is gone
Look towards your Jesus and press on

Words and music by Colin Buchanan (c) 2007 Universal Music Publishing (Aust)

Those last two lines are what I need to remember on nights like this. Strength to love even when you're bone tired...

:)

A model to follow...

Ruth Bell Graham (wife of Billy) passed away recently, and her funeral was held yesterday. She left behind a great testimony of a life lived for Jesus. One of the things that really hit me was the testimony of her children. One of her daughters summed things up this way:

Anne Graham Lotz, second daughter
“I would go down to my mother’s room early in the morning. Her light would be on, and I would find her at her big, flat-top desk. She would be reading and studying her Bible, with about 14 different translations spread out around her.

“When I would go down to her room late at night, I would see the light on underneath the door and I’d go in, and she would be on her knees in prayer.

“As I look back on my childhood, I cannot remember any impression whatsoever that my mother was ever lonely. She may have been lonely, but I never saw it.

“I believe that our heavenly Father, our Savior, saved my mother from loneliness because of her daily walk with the Lord Jesus, He was the love of her life. I saw that in her life. It was her love for the Lord Jesus, with whom she walks every day, that made me want to love Him and walk with Him like that.”

- Quote courtesy of Christianity Today

What a great witness to her children.

As I read through all the tributes on the CT website, there were interesting things that came out about her marriage to her husband, and I don't know whether that's a model that I would want to emulate. Phrases like "for all practical purposes, as a single parent". On the one hand, she was praised for her role as the "rock" to her husband, and the love the couple shared is beyond question. But her children make it clear that there were long periods when they were without a father, as he went away on his many crusades around the world.

I don't know. I'm still thinking through this. God used BG greatly to bring many people to know Christ (including my grandparents). His work was incredibly valuable, and there's no doubting the importance of evangelism. Maybe that was rightly priority number one. Maybe I'm just looking through the worldly eyes of a mother and wife who'd find it difficult being away from her other half for so long. I guess God gave her the gifts she'd need for the task she had, and from the sounds of it her children benefitted by her ministry, too.

Simple Illustration, No 1

I'm doing a lesson tomorrow on the God who wants us to call on Him (well, not using those exact words). One of the concepts I'm looking at is the role of the Holy Spirit in revealing the truth about Jesus to us. I found this great picture that can really help. It looks like a rather abstract landscape. But if you place a cylindrical mirror (i.e. roll of aluminium foil) on the well, a completely different image emerges.

There is no such thing as a perfect analogy, but the point I'm making is that without the Holy Spirit, Jesus' message and mission can seem confusing, strange and alien to us. But the Holy Spirit shows us who Jesus really is, convicts us of our need to turn back to God, and helps us to see the real picture.

I hope it helps tomorrow!

Picture attribution: Istvan Orosz, The Well.

Why I like working with Kids, #467 and #468

#467 - they don't mind if you can't draw stick figures properly. I gave my first "chalk and talk" today, and they liked it, even though my pictures would have failed year 5 art.

#468 - they don't hide their feelings from you. I was hugged by one of our kids today, who said it was good to see me after his holiday away with his dad. I'm glad he's hanging in there with our program!

Things I love about ministry

Ok, so last week I published the negative list. Today, I'm trying to be a little more positive, so here are some the things I really love about my job...

• Helping people to get to know Jesus
• Watching kids' eyes light up as they finally understand something we've been telling them for years
• Finding new ways to bring the bible to life for kids
• Being an idiot in public (You can do this very well with small children. They actually enjoy it when you're over the top)
• Being thrown back on the bible when you are asked the tricky questions
• Legitimately being able to play with textas, glue and coloured cardboard
• Being able to listen to young people who are wrestling with the big issues in their own lives
• Watching young people take on faith for themselves
  
• Reaching kids who have had no contact with God or church whatsoever
• Seeing the evidence of God working in and through people.
• Having prayers answered in a visible and powerful way (the simple and mundane answers are also wonderful to see!).
  

Along with the highs come the lows. Every year it's hard to say goodbye to our year 12s who go away from town to uni. It's painful watching kids make the same mistakes you've seen others make. It hurts me to see them walking blindly into screwed-up situations where they end up making a grand mess of their lives (and you can't do anything other than pray for them). It's excruciating when you want to say something horrible to parents who walk away from their kids in the name of "finding themselves". But it's all worth it when just one child realises that Jesus loves them and died for them, too.

Quote of the day

I used to hate coming here, but now I love it!
- Small child in week 3 of SRE classes