Memory Monday: Tackling 9/11 (John 16:33)

Unless you live in a cave, this week is going to be filled with stories and remembrances about 9/11. Unless you have very small children, you're going to find yourself answering questions this week about that horrible day 10 years ago.

I don't know about you, but it's difficult for me, even 10 years later, to process exactly what type of people would celebrate killing so many innocents. Watching those towers fall qualifies as the single most horrifying experience of my life. I've never felt so helpless, angry, sad and overwhelmed. It seemed as if in that one day, the world had gone crazy.

My kids don't remember that day. My oldest was three months old. They have no memories of the horror and the tears. They don't remember watching New Yorkers stream across the George Washington and Brooklyn bridges on foot, their shocked faces covered in ash. They don't know what it was like to see two buildings that we knew were full of people simply disappear in an instant. To them, 9/11 is something they hear about every now and then. It's still incomprehensible, but it's not a personal experience.

Unless you have older teenagers, our kids don't remember a time that they didn't have to take off their shoes to go through airport security. They don't remember a New York skyline that included twin skyscrapers. The word terrorism has always been a part of their vocabulary. Our kids are products of a post-9/11 world, and as we remember the tragedy of 10 years ago we have to keep that in mind.

When we talk with our kids about the events of that day, we have to remember that their lens is different from our own. They need us to be able to share with them both the tragedy and the heroism of that day. They need to know that God did not forget us in the face of evil on that day. They need to hear our stories, so they can begin to process that event and understand how it affected their world.

It's natural to want to shy away from talking about 9/11. Even 10 years later, the horror of that day is still fresh. It changed all of our lives, and our kids need to know that. All this week, the blog is going to look at ways we can talk with our kids about what happened on Sept. 11, 2001. It's important for our kids to hear our stories and our perspective on that day to help them process through it. If we let media coverage and teachers be the lead communicators on this, then we miss an opportunity to help our children sort through the issues of bad things happening even though God is good.

Start today by learning John 16:33 together. In these verses, Jesus said, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”

Talk with your kids about what this verse means. Explain that even though bad things happen because there is sin in the world, Jesus defeated sin when he died on the cross. That doesn't mean that He always keeps bad things from happening. We all get to choose what we do, and there are consequences for our actions. 9/11 happened because a group of people chose to do a horrible thing. We all felt the consequences of those actions. But that doesn't mean that God wasn't there. That doesn't mean that in the end, God doesn't triumph.

Bad things happen, but God is always there. He offers comfort. He offers courage. He brings light out of the darkness and good out of evil. God is always there.

The events of 9/11 are nearly incomprehensible. Boiling it down so our kids can grasp what happened is a tough task, especially when we are still trying to process it ourselves. But God offers us wisdom as well as comfort. Lean on Him this week as you talk with your kids. He will provide the words to help your kids understand.

Summer Fun: Jello Fight

We're on vacation this week, so I'm re-running some of my favorite posts from the last year. Enjoy some of my favorite ideas, and I'll be back with you on Monday.

We are currently on vacation with my extended family. For the first time, all the kids are sleeping together in one room. We have six kids ranging in age from nine to two. Of course, lots of talking and giggling ensue after everyone gets in bed. The other night, we went in and told them to be quiet. We had to go back several times to persuade the kids to be quiet. The next morning, my youngest daughter explained to me that it wasn't her fault that the kids were talking and got in trouble because the other kids in the room made her talk. We had a long discussion about being responsible for your own actions, but that reminded me so much of the way all of us look at sin. We all want to blame someone else for making us sin.

The truth is everyone sins, and that's an important concept for our kids to understand. If we didn't need someone to wipe away our sins, then Jesus didn't need to die on the cross, and we wouldn't need God. If we could just pass the blame and the consequences off on someone or something else, there would be no need for grace. These are big concepts that might be tough for your kids to wrap their brains around. One great way to point out how sin can dirty up our lives and only God can wipe it away is to have a Jello fight.

I'm sure some of you are thinking "Is she crazy?" Well, probably, but I guarantee they won't forget the fight or the lesson behind it, so let go of your reservations, find some old clothes and let the kids have a great time and learn something in the process.

Dress your kids in old clothes and make up a big batch of Jello. Give each child a different color of Jello to throw. Take them out in the yard and let them throw Jello at each other until they run out. They will be covered in it when they are done. The thing about Jello is that it's sticky and hard to get off of you and your clothes.

Explain to your kids that sin is kind of like Jello. It sticks to us and covers us up. It separates us from God, just like the Jello separates them from other people, because who is going to let a Jello-covered kid into their house? No one would probably take a hug from a kid who's just been in a Jello fight. God can't get close to us when we're covered in sin.

Now, turn on the hose and hose your kids down until all the Jello is off their skin and hair. Explain to them that Jesus's death and resurrection allow God to wipe away our sin, just like the water from the hose wipes away the Jello. God offers to wipe away our sin for free, just like you didn't charge your kids for the water to clean up. All we have to do is recognize that we are sinners and ask for forgiveness, and God separates our sin from us.

Here are some great verses to use while talking to your kids:

• Psalm 51:7 -- Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
• John 3:16 -- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• Romans 6:23 -- For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. 
• Romans 3:23 -- For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

 When you've finished your Jello fight, take your clean kids inside for a Jello snack. I promise, they'll love it.

Lessons I Learned from My Daughter's Hair

If you're like me, you woke up this morning to the news of a huge earthquake in Japan and a possible tsunami on the West Coast. Please take a moment to pray for those in Japan and those in the path of the tsunami. Everyday Truth has some regular readers in Japan. Pray for them as well. If you're one of those regular readers in Japan, give us a shout out to let us know how you're doing and how we can pray for you.

Some of you will face questions today from your kids about why God lets disasters like this happen. Check out this post on Explaining the Unexplainable for some tips on talking to your kids about tragedy.

My youngest got something in her hair yesterday. Now, that might not sound like a big deal, but my youngest has thick, corkscrew curly hair. To make matters worse, her hair is in desperate need of a haircut, which means it is at its thickest. Some mornings, it's tough to get a pick through it, much less a fine-toothed comb. Top that off with a tender-headed kid, and you can imagine how my afternoon went yesterday. By the time we got done, she was in tears and I was frustrated.

After everyone was in bed last night, I started thinking about how sin is a lot like the stuff my youngest got in her hair. It gets stuck in our lives, and sometimes it's really hard to get out. Once Satan gets a foothold in our lives through sin, he doesn't want to let go easily. And unlike the nasty stuff in my daughter's hair, sin can masquerade as something nice. It can be enjoyable and tempting. In the end, though, it will lead us to the same result I experienced yesterday -- frustration and sadness.

The other thing about sin is that it rarely stays in just one area of our lives. Once it gets its claws into one area of our lives, it wants to spread to other areas. And then it's even harder to get rid of. The only way to get rid of it is to turn it over to God, and let Him work on it. Psalm 103:12 tells us "as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us." But, we have to ask God to forgive us for our sin and to help us stop sinning. 1 John 1:9 promises "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness."

Help your kids understand what sin looks like in their lives and how it can spread if we don't confess it to God.

• Give your kids a coffee filter or a napkin. Drip some water with red food coloring in it on the coffee filter or napkin. Watch the stain spread. Talk with your kids about how sin is like that water on the coffee filter. It starts as a little spot, but if we don't get rid of it by confessing it to God and asking for His forgiveness, it can start to take over our lives, just like the red water spread across the napkin.
• Take a square of fabric or an old T-shirt and use a permanent black marker to draw on it. Then ask your kids to get the stain out. Give them some soap and stain remover and have them scrub the stain. Talk about how it's impossible to get the stain out ourselves. Sin is like that. We can't get rid of our sin without God's help. When we repent and confess our sins to God, He removes them and forgets about them.
• Read Psalm 103:12 with your kids. Get out a map of the United States, show your kids how far it is from the West Coast to the East Coast. Talk about how God separates our sin from us even farther than that because east and west will never meet; they just continue on into space. Ask your kids how that makes them feel to know that God forgives us and doesn't hold our wrong actions and thoughts against us.

Sin keeps us from getting close to God, just like the stuff in my daughter's hair kept the comb from going through it easily. But God has a simple remedy for the sin that gets stuck in our lives. Repent and confess it to Him, then stop doing it. Ask God to show you where sin is stuck your life. Then ask Him for forgiveness and the strength not to repeat it. Don't let sin keep you from enjoying the abundant life that Jesus promised.

Hearing Problems

We're headed to the ear, nose and throat doctor today. My youngest's ears have been stopped up pretty much since November. She's had trouble with her ears for most of her life, and we see the ENT every six months or so. About a week ago, she came to me and asked if we could go see the doctor. You see, her ears are so stopped up that she can't hear very well.

When my youngest's ears get like this, it's frustrating for her and for us. She can't hear what we're telling her, and we think she's just ignoring us (which she's perfectly capable of doing). We know that the issue is caused by a build-up of fluid behind her ear drum, which makes her ear drum not be able to vibrate and makes her unable to hear well. In a sense, the fluid in her ear is blocking the sound.

Sometimes, our spiritual ears become like my daughter's ears -- clogged and unable to hear. But our spiritual ears aren't clogged with fluid. They're clogged with sin. Unconfessed sin gets between us and God. We can't hear God very well if we're busy ignoring His commands. We need to clean out our spiritual ears of sin, so we can hear God when He speaks. Isaiah 59:2 says "But your iniquities have separated you from your God."


When we ask God for wisdom or patience or anything else, if our ears are clogged by our sin, then we won't be able to hear when He answers. I don't know about you, but I need all the wisdom and patience I can get as I parent my kids. I don't want to miss what God has to say because I'm too proud to deal with the sin in my life.

Our kids need to understand that our actions affect our relationship with God. Sin comes between us and God. If we deliberately choose to ignore God's commands and do our own thing, it makes it tough to hear God when He speaks to us.

• Have your kids cover their ears with something -- ear muffs, their hands -- then talk to them in your regular speaking voice. Talk about how well your kids can hear with something covering their ears. Explain that the thing covering their ears is like sin. When we don't confess our sin, it keeps us from being able to hear God as well.
• Stand right next to your child and whisper something to them. Have your child take a few steps away and whisper again. Have your child keep moving across the room until he can't hear you when you whisper. Talk about how when we sin, it moves us away from God. If we confess that sin, we move back to God, but if we let that sin fester and grow, we move farther away from God -- to the point that we can't hear Him anymore.

As you go through your week, be aware that sin can keep you from hearing God. If God seems silent, examine your life to see if sin is clogging your spiritual ears.

Digging Out

Like much of the Midwest and Great Plains states, we are digging out from more than a foot of snow this morning. When we shoveled the driveway yesterday, we had to scoop through 2 1/2- to 3-foot snow drifts. It took us close to an hour to shovel, and by the time we got done the wind had blown so much snow back on the driveway that you couldn't tell we had shoveled.

Sometimes dealing with the sin in our lives is like shoveling out from the great Blizzard of Oz (yes, we live in Kansas). God makes us aware of the sin, but we sit and look at it rather than deal with it because it's so much easier to just maintain the status quo than it is to work to change it. I certainly didn't want to go outside and shovel that snow. It was much more cozy in my house than it was outside. However, the snow was not going to move itself -- just like the sin in our lives isn't going to just disappear without some effort on our parts.

Once we were out shoveling, the temptation was to just shovel half the driveway so we could get one car out and leave the other half for later. It was hard work shoveling a foot of snow. I was hot, tired and my shoulders and back hurt. Digging out of our sin can be just as painful and tiring. Especially, if, like the snow, we've let ourselves become entrenched in that sin. It takes working at it one shovelful at a time. And sometimes we have to shovel the same path over and over until we have purged that sin from our lives.

The most frustrating part of shoveling was getting to the end of the driveway, turning around and seeing the driveway covered with snow again. Sometimes, we dig out of our sin only to return to it later, like the snow returning to my driveway. Yet a little sun and a little more shoveling today will clear my driveway of the snow, just like letting God lead the way will clear that entrenched sin out of our lives.

While I can shovel the snow under my own power, I cannot get rid of sin on my own. Paul talks about this in Romans 7:14-15 when he says "We know that the law is spiritual; but I am unspiritual, sold as a slave to sin. I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." Only God's power and love can do that. My job is to turn away from that sin and tap into God's power to stay away from that sin. It is only through God's power that we can dig out from under the weight of our sin.

So, as you send your children out to help you shovel the driveway, use the moment to talk with them about how difficult it is to dig out from our sin. As you heave that snow to the side of the driveway, remind your kids that it's only through God's strength and power that we can clear the sin from our lives.

Memory Monday: Snow Day (Psalm 51:7)

As I look out my window today, I see a blanket of pristine white. We're having our first snow day of the season. Since I don't have to go anywhere today, I'm enjoying the beauty of the winter wonderland.

I have to admit when I considered the possibility of a snow day today, I wasn't all that excited. I work from home, so any day the kids are home makes it difficult for me to work. The snow has also interrupted a couple of meetings I had planned for today. But, as I gaze out at the beauty created by the blanket of snow, I find myself looking forward to a day of children who look mummified in their snow gear, snowball fights and snowman building (I could really live without the snow shoveling, but I'll do some of that, too).

The picture out my window reminds me of Psalm 51:7, which says "Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow." When God forgives my sin, he makes my life as clean as the snow. When God looks at me, through Jesus' sacrifice on the cross, He sees a soul as pure as the snow on the ground outside my front door.

When you have a snow day, take advantage of the moment to memorize Psalm 51:7 with your kids and to talk about what it means to be washed "whiter than snow."

• Before anyone tromps through your yard, have your kids look out the window. Talk about how a sinless life looks like an untouched field of snow. After your kids have played in the yard, take another look at the snow. It will be churned up and dirty in places. Talk about how when we sin, our life looks like the churned up snow. Ask your kids what happens when new snow falls. The yard will look beautiful again. Jesus' death on the cross allows God to see our lives as if they were that untouched, sinless field of snow. He forgives our sins and wipes away the dirt and holes left in our lives by that sin.
• If you live somewhere where it doesn't snow, buy some of the fake snow, and demonstrate the same lesson with your kids.

As you enjoy your next snow day, remember to look at the time with your kids as a gift. Take advantage of the opportunity to spend some unexpected time together, and use the opportunity to provide an object lesson about how God makes us "whiter than snow."

God Who Sees (Memory Monday)

Each day in November, the Everyday Truth blog is looking at a different name for God and providing a family devotional for you to use with your kids. The goal is to keep our hearts focused on giving thanks to God during the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.


Can you imagine what it would be like to be blind? You would never know what anyone looked like. You wouldn't be able to see with your eyes the beauty of the world God created. You would have to rely on other people to be your eyes for you.

Sometimes we act like God is blind. But He isn't. The Bible tells us in Genesis 16:13 that God is the God who sees. A woman named Hagar was running away from her problems. She was ready to die in the desert, but God spoke to her. When He was done speaking, Hagar said "'You are the God who sees me,' for she said, 'I have now seen the One who sees me.'"

Sometimes when we do something that we know is wrong, we try to hide it -- from our parents, our teachers and even God. When you stop and think about, that's silly. God sees everything. We're not hiding anything from Him. All we're doing is not allowing God the opportunity to forgive us for the wrong things we've done.

The Bible tells us in 1 John 1:9 that "When we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." So, even though God can see everything, He waits for us to show Him our sins, so that He can wipe them away. Memorize this verse this week to remind you that God is waiting for you to confess your sins to Him, so He can take them away.

Grab a white board and a dry erase marker. Write down something that you have done wrong recently. Now, take the eraser and wipe it away. That's what God does when we confess our sins to Him. He wipes the white board clean. Psalm 103:12 tells us that God separates us from our sin "as far as the East is from the West." That's about as far away as you can get.

But God doesn't just see our sin. He sees us as the wonderful creation that He made. He knows the number of hairs on your head. Sometimes we pretend to be different than we are so we can fit in with a certain group of people, but God sees us for who we really are. And, you know what? He loves you for exactly who you are. He doesn't want you to be anyone other than the person He made you to be.
Be thankful today that God can see the real you. On your thankfulness leaves today, write down things that you are thankful that God can see about you. Are you thankful that He knows the number of hairs on your head? Maybe you're thankful that He knows about the trouble that you're having with a friend at school.
 
Pray together and thank God for being a God who sees. Thank Him that He is willing to wipe the white board clean of our sins. Thank Him for seeing you for the wonderful creation that you are.

God of Mercy

Each day in November, the Everyday Truth blog is looking at a different name for God and providing a family devotional for you to use with your kids. The goal is to keep our hearts focused on giving thanks to God during the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving.


If you do something wrong and your parents find out, what happens? You probably receive some type of punishment, right? What would you think if your parents didn't punish you when you did something wrong? Would you think there was something wrong with them?

Usually when we do something wrong, there are consequences. If you didn't do your chores, you might lose your allowance. If you hit your sibling, you might get sent to time out or lose video-game playing privileges for a while. If you break the neighbor's window, you might have to pay for it.

The Bible tells us that the consequence for sin is death. It's not talking about being struck dead on the spot when we sin (there would be no one left in the world). The death that the Bible is talking about is an eternal death that keeps us separated from God forever.
But, God is a God of mercy. In Ephesians 2:4-5, Paul says "But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved." God doesn't make us pay the price for our sin. He sent Jesus to do that for us.

Jesus took our place on the cross, so that we could have a relationship with God. He showed us mercy so that we would not have to pay the debt that we owed because of our sin.

Think of a time in your life when someone showed you mercy -- a time when you didn't get what you deserved. How did it make you feel? Did you feel thankful?

God's great mercy should be a reason for us to feel joyful and thankful. Who do you know that would sacrifice their son so that they can show you mercy? That's what God did. Jesus' sacrifice should give us a sense of peace, joy and thanksgiving.

On your thankfulness leaves today, write down how knowing God is a God of mercy -- that He doesn't give us what we deserve -- makes you feel. Write down the reasons you are thankful for God's mercy.

Pray together and thank God for being a God of mercy. As you go throughout your day, look for ways you can model your behavior after God's and how you can show mercy to others.