There is no doubt about it. Even a casual glance through the Bible tells us God expects us to serve others and share our faith. It is even more obvious from reading about the lives of Jesus and the Apostles, sometimes the cost for doing those things is high and even fatal. As I am not a fan of danger, I am always interested to read about people whose service and faith sharing has put them in situations that would terrify me.
Kent Brantly is a name that was in the news for quite awhile last year. You may recall, he was one of the ebola patients who was an American citizen serving others in Liberia and contracted the Ebola virus. Kent and his wife Amber have written a book about their experience, Called for Life: How Loving Our Neighbor Led Us into the Heart of the Ebola Epidemic
The book tells the story from how they met, through how they ended up serving God in Liberia to the Ebola experience. The narrative ping-pongs smoothly between Kent’s and Amber’s retelling of their personal feelings and recollections of the events. By the end of the book, you feel as if you know them well without feeling as if you have eavesdropped on personal conversations.
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This probably never happens in your home, but have you ever had one of those parent miming conversations? You know, when one parent is taking a very strong conversational path with the kids while the other parent is desperately signaling to switch topics immediately. Which, as the signals are ignored, get more obvious and often end with the signaling parent muttering “don’t you know ‘this’ means stop talking?”
With the constant barrage from media and social actions groups, caring for God’s creation has increasingly mixed secularism, politics and earth worship with what should be a thankfulness for God’s creation. Your children are probably participating in Earth Day activities this week at school or in scouts or some other activity. While most of the activities are innocent, sometimes the teachings that go with them point your children away from God.
Gardens are one of the best tools for teaching kids about God. The plants themselves hold lessons from Proverbs, parables and other places in scripture. Working in the garden can help kids practice lots of godly characteristics from patience to “working as if working for the Lord.” The resulting produce can be used to serve others in lots of ways.
by Karen Newcomb. Even though I was raised with a very large one half acre garden in our yard, much has been forgotten over the years of living in inner cities and suburbs. This book fills in any gaps for those who have forgotten things and has everything a true beginner will need to know to succeed.