Your Vote: Make It Count

Your Voice, Your Vote: Make It Count!

Last Saturday, we met up with family at a local breakfast hotspot.

We had the best time!

Of course, the youngest in our party stole the show. At five years old, she is adorable and hilarious.

We colored together at the table and all of us got to hear about her latest adventures in kindergarten.

My husband and I love that precious little girl.

I look into her eyes and wonder what her future will be like.

Sometimes, it’s a frightening prospect.

This is not the same America I grew up in. I used to feel relatively safe, but not anymore.

Our country needs prayer and a major spiritual revival.

Here’s another thing . . . everyone needs to vote.

Election Day 2024 is right round the corner and early voting has already begun.

Have you heard the disturbing statistic that over 40 million Christians do not vote?

Not only that, why aren’t more churches encouraging their congregations to vote?

I find that beyond comprehension.

Your Vote: Make It Count

Your vote counts

From what I’ve heard, one of the reasons some people give for “not voting” is:

“Bad moral character”

Friends – we are all sinners and, even more importantly, we are not trying to elect a Savior.

There is only one Savior through whom we can be saved – Jesus Christ.

However, we are electing a President and Vice-President.

Whomever wins will be sitting at the same table with other world leaders over the next four years making major decisions that will affect our great country deeply – and that’s you and me on a personal level.

As evidenced in the Bible, God has, and still can, use “flawed” leaders to accomplish His will.

Besides praying, the best we can do regarding the election is to vote for the candidate whose platform most closely aligns with the Judeo-Christian values our country was founded upon.

Think of all of the veterans who have fought tirelessly for our freedoms.

You matter, and your vote matters.

Please pray for the election outcome, and also for peace in our nation no matter who wins.

Please vote, and encourage others to do the same.

The future of the next generation is at stake.

The next generation

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Bring the Bible to Life for Children

Creative Ways to Bring the Bible to Life for Children

Bring the Bible to life for children

When I first started reading the Bible, I couldn’t wait to look up photos of the places that I had read about in Scripture.

For instance, when a Bible passage mentioned the name of a town, like Jericho, I would look for a map and all of the pictures I could find. I used the same method for looking up important rivers and other Biblical landmarks.

The Bible really came alive for me after that – confirming that everything the Bible says is true and the inspired Word of God.

The Nile River

The Nile River

Using pictures as well as audio commentaries along the way – I was able to read through the entire Bible in a year. Every morning, I looked forward to my “quiet time.”

Parents who assign a “family time” for reading Bible stories together with their kids are, in my humble opinion, to be admired.

It’s also encouraging that there are many creative ways to bring the Bible to life for children.

Bring the Bible to Life for Children

Recently, I was reading through the most recent issue of Focus on the Family.

I love this little magazine and highly recommend it for helping families to grow together in their faith.

There are some great tips in there, including creative Bible lessons that might work for your family as well.

For instance, why not take a field trip?

Kids love going to the zoo!

Creative Bible lesson at the Zoo

As you see all of the amazing animals, that’s the perfect time to talk about Noah and the Ark.

19 And of every living thing of all flesh, you shall bring two of every kind into the ark, to keep them alive with you; they shall be male and female. 20 Of the birds according to their kind, and of the animals according to their kind, of every crawling thing of the ground according to its kind, two of every kind will come to you to keep them alive. – Genesis 6:19-20, (NASB).

Here are a couple more great ideas mentioned in the magazine.

“Don’t be afraid to take your Bible time on the go. A botanical garden might work for a story about the Garden of Eden. A seaside read could help your kids better understand the reality of Jesus calming a stormy sea.” – from Focus on the Family.

These creative ideas not only help children remember Bible stories, but can also help them foster a deeper connection to their faith.

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1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

2 Author Jenny Nanninga quotation, Oct/Nov 2024 Newsletter, “Let’s Read a Bible Story”, Courtesy of Focus on the Family , n.d. para. 14. Web. Accessed 18 October, 2024.

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The Ultimate Move

Moving

The Ultimate Move

“We are never moving again!”

Sound familiar?

If you’ve ever moved to a new place, then you know what a hassle it can be.

I remember when my husband and I moved to our current house.

We were so excited!

That is, until it came time to pack up everything at the old house. Lol.

We had a two story house at the time and, as you can imagine, there was a lot of carrying boxes of different sizes up and down those stairs.

Stairs that seemed to grow longer each passing moment.

Over and over . . .

While my husband was at work, I took it upon myself to get the upstairs packed as much as possible.

Boxes, peanut stuffing, and packing tape were everywhere.

I was going along at a good clip until . . . two sprained knees and a swollen ankle later, my role as most enthusiastic helper was completely obliterated.

The move

Actually, a lot worse than this!

My old knee injury reared its ugly head in a very painful way.

You can bet after that, we declared “We are never moving again.”

Of course as Bible-believing Christians, we know that some day we will make the ultimate move to our eternal home.

Now that’s a move we can look forward to!

We will reunite with our saved loved ones, but most importantly meet our Lord and Savior!

In the meantime, we must trust in God’s plan.

His timing is always perfect.

May these words of Jesus encourage you!

And if I go and prepare a place for you, I am coming again and will take you to Myself, so that where I am, there you also will be. – John 14:3, (NASB).

1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

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3 Tips for Picking Family-Friendly Movies

Who Could Use 3 Tips for Picking Family-Friendly Movies?

3 tips for picking family-friendly movies

Have you ever picked the wrong movie to watch?

That would be me.

Recently, I rented a remake of a popular older movie from our local streaming service. Spoiler Alert – remakes are never better than the original.

When it first came out, the reviews said it was well-cast and the soundtrack was good.

Against my better judgment, I didn’t take the time to check out the movie’s content first.

Big mistake.

From the opening scene to the next 10 minutes (that was all I could stand), I was hit with very strong sexual content.

If those scenes had been left out of the movie, it wouldn’t have made a difference to the message of the movie at all.

So why was it included? The original didn’t need it – why now?

No thanks, Hollywood. I don’t want what you’re trying to sell.

With that in mind, here are 3 tips for picking family-friendly films.

I’ve mentioned the movieguide.org website before. It’s not only good for parents, but really anyone who likes to go to movies or rent them at home.

You simply search for a movie by name.

The website will detail for you what the content of the movie is as well as some important topics like any use of foul language, political agendas, sex scenes, and spiritual references if any.

Parents especially – you would be wise to check a movie review site like Movieguide, before letting your child see a movie.

3 Tips for Picking Family-Friendly Movies: Protecting Children

Parental guidance recommended

If you don’t teach your kid Godly values, most of the material coming out of Hollywood, song lyrics from the music industry, and numerous other forms of media (and sadly some school districts) will expose them to the opposite.

It’s a fact – we live in a rapidly falling world. 

Besides movieguide.org, there are a couple of other websites that are helpful for finding family-friendly movies.

PluggedIn.com

Kids-In-Mind.com

All easy to remember.

I will definitely be more discerning in the future.

When it comes to choosing movies that your kids are allowed to see, please take the time to check the content first.

Protecting children from inappropriate content will not get you any fans in the entertainment industry or, the “anything goes” political agenda, but what’s more important?

Children deserve a safe upbringing where their innocence is preserved for as long as possible.

 # # # 

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A Time To Laugh

A time to laugh

Things are so serious right now, who could use a good laugh?

Do we think Jesus only wants our tears and fears and prayer requests?

Bring Him your laughter too!

The Bible says there is a time for everything – including sadness and joy.

A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance. – Ecclesiastes 3:4, (NASB).1

God created laughter.

We are gifted with the ability to laugh at ourselves, and often at our own circumstances.

With that in mind, I’ll share one of my own, “I can’t believe this really happened”, moments.

A Time To Laugh? Can You Believe This Really Happened?

My husband and I used to have an RV.

One weekend – that promised to be gorgeous – we headed to the lake.

We set up our clam tent right beside our rig.

By the way, I love clam tents.

Have you ever seen one?

Best camping thing ever.

The flying clam tent

You can set it up anywhere, secure it to the ground, and read your book or eat a meal or whatever and the best part, mosquitos can’t get in!

Take that, skeeters!

That is, until that one day . . .

Out of nowhere, the wind picked up.

A lot.

The RV started to rock a little.

I questioned the credibility of our local meteorologists.

Stuff started flying around outside so I went back inside our RV.

It took awhile, but the winds finally calmed down. 

Ahhh – back outside to my clam tent hideaway.

Wait a minute . . . where is the clam tent?

My husband and frantically started searching throughout the camp site.

We even split up to cover more ground.

A short while later, I heard his voice, “Found it!”

I went running over.

Where?

“Over . . . there.”

No kidding, our clam tent actually flew “Wizard of Oz” style all the way across the lake.

It had sunk until there was nothing left to see except a tiny bit of the roof.

Help!

This is when you know you have good friends (the kind who will drop everything to come to your rescue).

Two mighty husbands drove the long way around to get to the opposite side of the lake.

Somehow (must be those muscles!) they managed to get that sopping wet, and now stinky with lake water, tent out of the water.

It flies

To this day, my husband and I still laugh about that flying clam tent. 

How crazy that must have looked to anyone else seeing that thing flying through the air.  🙂

At least it wasn’t a flying cow and a twister.

A Time to Laugh and Baby Animals are Hilarious

Ready for another laugh?

Another thing that cracks me up are baby animals.

Have you seen this viral video of a baby porcupine eating corn on the cob?

Who knew that a porcupine could be so doggone cute?

Meet Rico.  🙂

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1 Scripture quotation is from the New American Standard Bible (NASB) Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation.

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