TODAY'S CHURCH

For centuries there has been a thrill in the hunt of treasure for adventurers of all ages. Many of us grew up watching Indiana Jones as he pursued the legendary and the fantastic archeological finds. My kids even live out the quests today, just as Harrison Ford did in the epic adventure films, when they play Lego Indiana Jones on the Wii.

Since I have seen the movies, played the games, and imagined myself doing all the things that Professor Jones did in his expeditions the sound of a real life treasure hunt has a certain appeal to me, as it does to my two boys. An age old activity for archeologists is now something that you can enjoy with your own family on a Saturday or say on a Spring Break outing. They call this form of treasure hunting geocaching.

Geocaching is a worldwide game of hiding and seeking treasure. A geocacher can place a geocache in the world, pinpoint its location using GPS technology and then share the geocache’s existence and location online. Anyone with a GPS unit can then try to locate the geocache. (Referenced from http://www.geocaching.com/default.aspx)

Isaiah 58:18 I have seen his ways, but I will heal him; I will guide him and restore comfort to him,

Psalm 23:3 he restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

John 16:13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.

A friend sent me this message via facebook.

Is it normal for a 22 month old to know all the letter of the alphabet by sight? Here's what my friend wrote:

i'm writing letters down and she knows what they are. and then i write a bunch down and kinda quiz her an she gets all of them right

thanks for your expertise! (Lezlee Williams)

I replied:
The mind is an amazing thing! Just as it can memorize faces and signs it can memorize shapes of letters, even words. Drake (my son) was able to recognize his letters at 24 months. The key is to remember that the letters don't make up the words, the sounds that represent the symbols do! Your friend's child would benefit more from recognizing the sound the letter makes instead of the name of the letter itself.

Do you have any comments or questions? Please send them my way - I would love to hear from you! jasontoxley@yahoo.com

“Exhaustion means that the vital forces are worn right out. Spiritual exhaustion never comes through sin but only through service,” -O. Chambers/Feb 9 My Utmost for His Highest.

"Jesus said to Peter - "Feed My sheep," but He gave him nothing to feed them with. The process of being made broken bread and poured out wine means that you have to be the nourishment for other souls until they learn to feed on God… Before other souls learn to draw on the life of the Lord Jesus direct, they have to draw on it through you; you have to be literally "sucked," until they learn to take their nourishment from God."  -Chambers

Here is a fun way to play UNO or other games you may have lying around the house. As you are playing UNO whoever is changing the suit/color will also determine the persona of all the other players. For example, as you change the color from yellow to green, you can challenge all the other players in interact in “cowboy style”. (other style suggestions listed below) As you play, all players will speak with a southern drawl (if you live in Texas like I do, this might sound the way it always does) and use appropriate vernacular whenever possible. “That’s rite boys, fetch me them ther cards, its time to

Just before we went up in the tiny Cessna airplane, I remember being filled with a healthy bit of anxiety. It was a cool December afternoon and a few spectators had arrived to witness my first jump. (for video of this-click here.) Believe it or not, skydiving is relatively safe statistically speaking. I know, you may be skeptical; I had to convince my wife of this too. You are twice as likely to die for instance while scuba diving. Maybe you didn’t know that skydivers have 2 chutes,

We have a 3 year old who can be clever and at the same time quite strong willed. Time after time well thought out (and some not so thought out) responses come back starting with the abrasive sound of the word ‘NO’. I am sure from time to time I have modeled this poor behavior. I have to say I am truly repentant at this point and vow to do better at choosing my words, even when the answer may ultimately

I wanted to take a moment to share this video with you. Britt Hume is on the 'edge' of witnessing on national TV in the segment they are discussing. I would encourage everyone to be so bold as the simple suggestion he makes to Tiger. "You should consider the Christian Faith." Jesus Christ offers redemption. I think what Britt does here is a baseline for all believers whether on national TV or in a one on one conversation on the sidewalk. Moms and Dads need to discuss this idea with your kids and see where you might be able to put it into practice as a family! God Bless, take a look...

I don't know if your impression of Christianity could be classified as "the good life". It is not necessarily supposed to be. Jeremiah 29:11 is a verse I cling to, but it means something different to me now than it did when I first heard it. My prosperity is not comfort or luxury. My hope and my future is Heaven. Anything I sacrifice in the meantime is worth giving up for His sake. If you don't believe me, study the life of Paul.

Please take time to watch this. I hope you will be blessed, especially at this Christmas season as John Piper talks to us about what we should expect. Is there always going to be suffering in the Christian life? You bet. How does this change your perspective on life, career, illness, real estate, parenthood? God is good, but he is not concerned with making us comfortable. Why not?

Have you ever been out with your family, enjoying a picnic under a nice shade tree or playing at the park, when an unwanted pest comes buzzing around. Well good news; a friend told me of this simple yet ingenious (and free) way so create a bee-free environment for your picnic.

The cool thing about bees is that they are easily attracted to sweet things. So the trick is so make something sweet that they can easily access but not easily exit. Here is how you do it:

Question: do your kids feel like they contribute some value to your family?

Every child needs to feel like they contribute something that is not only necessary, but that will be appreciated by the family. Something that gives them a vested sense of belonging to something where they can give as well as receive.

My son and I were alone while I was driving my wife’s car the other day. I noticed that it needed gas. I asked Drake if he would like to be a blessing to his mom? “Sure.” I said, “Great lets put gas in the car for her.” Such a small thing might have been overlooked by others but Drake (kindergarten) takes great pride in filling the car up with gas for his mom. He removes the gas cap, puts the nozzle into the tank opening, (I put in the credit card- Haha), he selects the grade, engages the handle, and we talk while the tank fills up. We are connecting as men at this point; doing the manly task of pumping fuel. I just hope that he will grow up to be as considerate as a teen driver though I am not holding my breath- (well, because that is ten years away; a little too long to hold ones breath) but I do have very high expectations and I think he knows that.

Our kids have a few set chores that we require of them on a daily basis. We don’t go check on the chores unless we ask first if those chores have been completed. This gives the kids a sense of investment as a contributing member of the household. They contribute something that is not only necessary to the family but appreciated by the family. Hopefully this will allow them to express appreciation for others who have contributed to their benefit as well. Ultimately I want them to know that they have something to contribute because they are a part of the family.

There are somethings that we are afraid to address with our kids; its just a fact. We often think if I don't tell them about "_______", they will never hear about it. Well, with all of the media available today, they are bound to encounter things you would not believe or at least hear about it from other kids. Especially kids with older siblings like to talk about things they heard or saw from an older brother or sister. I rode the bus to school starting in 3rd grade. Trust me, I knew lots of kids with older siblings!

In this video, Shannon Ethridge shares on the topic "Proactively Discussing Sex with your Children." Who will your children ask when they want to know the truth? What will they hear when they ask? Be the one that your kids come to. You want the answers they get to be both accurate and Biblical! WARNING: she uses words in the video that most of us are not comfortable with; but please watch anyway- whether you have boys or girls! (this and other great videos available here: http://videovine.com/topics/parenting.php)

1. I suggest to start with teaching about modesty and the reason for modesty. I appreciate the example my wife sets for our boys in this. They have a great example of what to look for in a wife.


2. Teach them about the covenant relationship between a man and a woman- marriage. When we are not modest in our dress we begin to compromise that relationship before it is even initiated.


3. My oldest is in Kindergarten. We have not had the "How are babies made" conversation yet, but I know it is not far away... please pray for me! May God bless you with the wisdom of Solomon, that is what we need as parents!
   

This video about social media blows me away. I mean I am in it like the rest of you, but which statistic is most startling to you? Personal referrals are a big deal, companies are watching what you say about them, 96% of Gen Y has joined a social network... and who is the fastest growing demographic to social media? Interesting! I remember in 6th grade we had to keep a journal for a semester. Today kids will be blogging about their favorite tweets of the week instead of journaling. People are expressing themselves. You can find an editorial on anything.

This is a new paradigm on communication. A chance to express. A chance to listen! Check it out:

Keeping devotionals fresh, unexpected and giving your kids ownership are keys to keeping the whole family engaged in a Family Devotional time! So we decided together that we were going to cover the book of Jonah over a two week period. My 5 year old son seemed to know the details pretty "whale". (ok, sorry about that) So I invited him to help prepare the devotional time with me.

Preparation for the devotional night...
• To make it fun, we started by watching (the first half) of the Veggie Tales movie- Jonah. We discussed it as we watched.
• The next day we read the first two chapters of Jonah to compare and discussed some of the things from the movie that the animators had to guess about and how the characters were not the same as the real people. (especially that the caterpillar in the movie is not really Jonah’s traveling companion in the scripture)
• Then we brainstormed how we could learn the main lesson as a family. We concluded that there were really two themes. Week 1 "Obedience" and Week 2 "Mercy and Compassion"

Finally for Week 1 "devotional time" we agreed on doing an interactive tale in the backyard...

Casting…
• Drake (my oldest would play the role of Jonah so he could articulate what he was learning while he was in the belly of the whale
• Big Fish (played by our dog Chance; yes he is a little over weight, but I would not say as big as a whale, I once caught a big catfish; but a big dog fish?).
• Mommy would hold the sign to Nineveh (representing the authority that Jonah was disobeying).
• Little brother Parker would hold the sign to Tarshish representing the temptation to disobey.
• Daddy would do the voice over for God as he directed Jonah. Hope you don't find that blasphemous, I admit I am far from perfect...

We did some ad-libbing which was hilarious of course. Then Jonah gets on a boat (our red wagon) with some sailors (also played by Parker and Mommy). Mommy pulled the boat around the back yard for a couple of minutes until Jonah fell asleep in the bottom of the boat. Unbeknownst to Jonah and the ‘sailors’ a storm began to set in. I had secretly prepared the water hose to simulate a violent storm that threatened to break apart the ship.
(be sure to have everybody wear clothes that can get wet, after all you will be in the belly of the whale) Also I forgot to mention that Jonah had a costume to play the role of the prophet.

To make a long story short: the storm swelled, they threw cargo from the boat, they cast lots, Jonah was awakened, he had some 'splainin to do. Finally they threw him overboard and the great fish- "Chance" came to swallow the prophet.

We used a wet green towel to simulate the seaweed that was wrapped around Jonah’s head, and recalled thinking he was about to die (rehearsed)! The whole family sat with Jonah in the belly of the fish (on the covered portion of our backyard jungle gym at the top of the slide.) We turned the slide into a water slide and placed a kids pool at the bottom for when the fish would spit Jonah out) In the belly, Jonah talked about the prayer he prayed in the belly of the fish and repented; asking for a second chance to do what God asked.

To conclude everyone had to come up with a phrase to say what Jonah learned by the end of chapter 2. Then we all took turns sliding off of the whale’s tongue (water slide) and shouting the phrase: “I’ll obey God today!”