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)

This video will further explain...


Last weekend I took my whole family on our first geocache trek. I must admit the hike may have been more than my kids were prepared for, but they were so excited to look for ‘Treasure’ that they stayed the course. There are more settings on my GPS than I knew about. Be sure to use the off-road setting and change to pedestrian mode. I could even view the path I had traveled on my Garmin Nuvi 205w (which is nice for returning to your car).

When doing your first geocache with your kids take advantage of the teachable moments! Take the opportunity to praise God in song and point out His marvelous creation as you pass through it. There will be great joy and excitement when you find the prize that you have been seeking! Celebrate and rejoice together; high five, fist bump, sing a little Kool and the Gang! 

But then have them stop for a moment to think about how you arrived at the treasure. The GPS was our guide to this very spot that we hoped all along that we would discover. The GPS revealed if we got off course and steered us back on track. We never had to question the GPS only whether we were following its direction. If we had decided to quit using the GPS as our guide the opportunity for us to find the prize would have vanished and we would have missed out on the great joy that we just experienced.

The Bible says that God is like our GPS in life. Check out these 3 verses:

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.

God does not want us (our family) to miss out on the prize in life. He promises to direct us in righteousness and keep us on track! If we get off course he will guide us back to where we should be. We must be careful that we are paying attention to where God is leading us or we will wander aimlessly right past the treasure and never know it was there.

Pray “God please guide our family each day. Help us to be comforted and restore us when we are exhausted. Guide us in righteousness and help us to make decisions that will glorify you. Guide us Father in truth so that we won’t be deceived. Thank you God, for being a guide to each person in our family!! Thanks for the fun time you have blessed us with today.  Amen!”

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.

As you minister to others and as you parent your kids spiritually, spiritual fatigue will come into play. Exhaustion is the natural result of spiritual acts of service.

"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

As I read Chambers today, I thought about the mom who is pregnant with

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