The Unexpected Christmas

I love this take on Christmas.

We watched it with the kids last night at WOW Worship, which is the family-geared worship service that happens before their small group at church. It was a Christmas theme, clearly, as we are only days away from our favorite time of the year.

What I love about this, is the way the angels suggest things to God about how the person should act or who the person should be. Instead he says it should be a regular person born to regular parents. That's it. Plain and simple.

If only Christmas was that simple "these days." I mean it could be, but we don't let it. Watching this reminds me of the real reason we give, we prepare, we share our hearts…it's all because of Him.

And rightly so!

Sky!

The first week of summer around these parts was successful. It started off with loads of fun at VBS (Vacation Bible School). If you remember reading this, then you already know what I'm talking about. 

The kids have gone to VBS at our church for the last 3 years and have loved every minute of it. Our house is full of singing, Bible stories and Bible buddies along with "things that fly" science experiments done at the Imagination Station. Pretty cool stuff if you ask me.

One of my favorite parts about this week is that they get to do it with 2 of their friends who don't even go to our church. That's what it's about. Really. Because when you can infect others with Jesus, really, what is better than that?

All you have to do is trust God. That was the theme for the week. No matter what the situation, trust in God. Can you see it in this picture? "Everything is possible with God."

And that is SO true.

What will happen when...

What will happen when my kids continue to talk about their love of Jesus and all that He stands for, and lots of their friends have no idea what they're talking about? Not following? Let me give you some background...

This week our kids are loving every moment of their time at VBS (Vacation Bible School) at our church, the theme being "Sky." Their time during the 3 hours every morning this week includes reading Bible stories, playing games, making crafts, having snack (the most important part of the day) and doing really cool science experiments. They sing lots of songs (we have the CD) and pray. There is a Bible verse they learn every day, of which they remember, but I do not. They LOVE everything about it.

Today at C's t-ball game, A was playing with her friend Olivia. They were at the park, swinging away, and apparently discussing big thoughts and beliefs. We had been home about 15 minutes, only to have A say, "Mommy, did you know that Olivia and her family don't believe in God? They don't believe there is a God or Jesus or anything like that. Why?" Wait, what? "Oh, really? Well, how did you get talking about that?" "Well, I was talking to her about VBS and telling her about everything we were learning. And then that's what she said to me." "Well, there are some people who don't believe in Jesus. It's just the way they think." She didn't say much about that and stood thinking about what I had said. 

It is so interesting to have these conversations with our kids about beliefs we have verses beliefs their friends have. I distinctly remember an interaction C had with a friend around Christmastime: He had been playing with the Little People nativity scene and had put Joseph on top of the stable. He thought this was hilarious and said something to the effect of, "Hey! Did you see what I did to Joseph?" His friend looked at him and said, "Who's Joseph?" I knew that wasn't going to be the last time our kids would be explaining the ins & outs of the Bible story characters. 

What's hard about this for me is that I struggle with how to handle it. It certainly isn't my place to tell the child what is right or what is wrong. I certainly can't talk to the parents about it and tell them what's right or wrong. The one thing I DO know is that our kids are sharing their faith the best way they know how. They are singing the songs when they don't realize they're singing them. They are talking about the games they played with their small group. They are reciting the verse of the day with the Bible buddy they were introduced to that morning. It's the small things they do that I know will make a difference as they interact with their friends who believe, but even more so, with their friends that don't.