This Just In: Neighbor Boy Becomes Christian!

Despite the fact that the second Ebola-affected nurse's parents live uncomfortably close to us, and she visited them this past weekend, there is something else on my mind.

Landon, a 9-year-old neighbor boy who has been coming to our children's Bible study for almost two years now, and playing here after school for longer than that, became a Christian today! My Peter is quite the evangelist and he could have done it, but he brought a very interested Landon into the house today so I could lead him to Christ. And I did! It was magnificent--the first time I've ever led someone to Christ. I hugged him and told him how exciting it was, and inside my soul rejoiced.

Here's this child who all this time would never pray with us, though he'd listen well enough during the studies. We could never quite figure out how receptive he was, but last year it was clear that he wouldn't identify himself as a sinner. We didn't think much fruit was coming from the Jesus Storybook Bible Study, which has nine lessons left, and now this!

Today Landon complained to Peter about the cussing his grandma and aunt do, and somehow Peter turned that into asking Landon if he wanted to become a Christian. Landon said yes and willingly went through three steps with me:

~ Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, and that his death on the cross completely covers your sins? Yes, he responded.

~ You need to ask God to forgive all your sins. Are you ready to do that? Yes, he responded, and he repeated a simple prayer of forgiveness.

~ Would you like to ask God to come into your life to be your Lord and Savior? Do you want to live for Him now? Yes, he responded, and repeated a simple prayer asking the Lord to come into his life. 

So simple, but so long in coming. Such an illustration that God is faithful, and that his timetable is not ours.

While the Bible doesn't speak of a "salvation prayer", which is more of a recent thing in our churches, it does teach that we have to believe, to confess, and to make Jesus our Lord.

Whether you consider yourself an evangelist or not (I am not one), it's always good to remember these three simple steps:

ABCs of Salvation

This simple method is easy to remember:

A - All people need forgiveness from God (Romans 3:23).


B - Believe that Jesus is the Son of God and has died for your salvation (Romans 10:10).


C - Confess that you have sinned, and invite Jesus to take control of your life (Romans 10:9)

In a church sermon a couple weeks ago, our pastor went over the past, present, and future of our salvation. Our salvation wasn't and isn't just a momentary thing involving a salvation prayer--it's an on-going miracle :

1. Past - When you first became a Christian, you were justified.


2. Present - Right now you are being sanctified.


3. Future - When you get to heaven, you will be glorified.

Justified, sanctified, glorified.

Thank you, Jesus! May fruit abound in Landon's life, and may his grandmother, who is raising him, come to you very soon. May there be many more who come to you from the list of people we know and love, and from random and regular readers of this blog. Bring them, Father, and may we never be too busy or too embarrassed to speak of our Hope...our first Love...our Beloved Jesus. Thank you for the privilege.

Amen.

Teaching Literary Analysis in Your Homeschool

In just a wink, my oldest will be in high school, and with that comes new homeschooling challenges as well as exciting beginnings. Think: transcripts, grading, rubrics, credits. While Peter is very well read (thank you, Sonlight), there are some holes in his literary knowledge, specifically in the area of literary analysis, which is essential for writing high-school and college-level essays.

Not to mention, literary analysis is always an outstanding higher-level thinking exercise. He's done plenty of discussing, but not enough written literary analysis, so as a teacher I must morph myself into a secondary-education specialist. Homeschool mothers by necessity must reinvent themselves; never does boredom set in.

As I find middle- and high-school literary resources, I'll be sharing them here, for the benefit of the homeschooling readers. Happy writing, fellow mothers. You'll definitely be writing samples with your child, before asking him to write his own five-paragraph literary analysis essay. Or, there will be tears--yours, his, and the traumatized siblings'.

1. From Homeschool Creations, I learned about: Teaching the Classics: A Socratic Method for Literary Education, and Ready Readers

The link above is to a Cathy Duffy review on these products, which are put out by the Center for Literary Education. The products teach and assist the parent in how to provide literary instruction using the Socratic questioning method (very comprehensive instruction here, including all you would need to design a high-school literature and composition curriculum for your student). For the sake of brevity, I'll just have you click on the link if you're interested. Prices range from $29 for a teaching workbook, and $89 for the teaching workbook and 4 instructional DVD's. All these products are explained in Cathy Duffy's review. Most homeschoolers know this already, but Cathy Duffy writes the best, most comprehensive reviews. My two cents: Never buy anything without checking her review on it first.

The Ready Readers (books not included) sell for $29 for each of the four levels. Ready Readers help the teacher apply what she's learned in the workbook and DVD seminar above, using 5 different classic children's books, including the teaching of conflict, plot, setting, characters, theme, and literary devices. There are four levels of Ready Readers, including one that provides teaching instruction on the entire 7-book Narnia series.

2. There are also generic resources you can refer to that are published on the Internet by high schools or colleges, such as these literary analysis questions by Chandler Unified: web view

3. There are also 41 literary terms (web view) the teacher and student need to become familiar with and be able to use in essays.

4. Online also are complete guides (PDF) on writing a literary analysis essay (this document put out by bucks.edu).

5. Along with the writing of formal essays comes the question of rubrics for grading them. Which one to use? Samples abound on the Internet, just like these: Rubrics for teachers. And this one from readwritethink. And this sample, specific to a literary analysis essay, by Lake Washington school district.

So go ahead, reinvent yourself into a high-school lit teacher. Exciting times ahead. 

Or not, but I remain positive, despite the dysgraphia involved for my oldest. The Lord is my shepherd, and my partner in all things homeschool.

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Gems from Jeremiah: Heart for the Lost

Jeremiah...a Rembrandt

Jeremiah the Prophet ministered under Judah's last five kings, approximately 627-586 B.C. Unsuccessful in bringing his people to repentance, he was heartbroken for them, even while angered at their defiance of God.

Notice the ache in these, his words:

Jeremiah 8:18-22

You who are my Comforter in sorrow,
my heart is faint within me.
Listen to the cry of my people
from a land far away:
“Is the Lord not in Zion?
Is her King no longer there?”

“Why have they aroused my anger with their images,
with their worthless foreign idols?”

“The harvest is past,
the summer has ended,
and we are not saved.”

Since my people are crushed, I am crushed;
I mourn, and horror grips me.
Is there no balm in Gilead?
Is there no physician there?
Why then is there no healing
for the wound of my people?

Jeremiah...a Michelangelo

I read these words and knew what God wanted from me, his servant. The Holy Spirit whispered it:

Your heart needs to break for the unsaved, as Jeremiah's did, as Jesus' does. Care not for the things that pass away--for they will be buried with you in death and mean nothing. Care not for your fears, for God gives you everything you need. Care not for the future, for God has planned it already.for his glory. 

But care for these, the unsaved. They are in your neighborhood. He has them come knocking on your door. Open it, and let your heart break for their plight. Speak life into their unsaved hearts. Speak truth. Show them the love of your gracious Father. Imagine them bowing down and declaring Jesus as Lord. That is worth your time...proclaiming Christ to the unsaved. No, I don't expect you to get results, for that is up to me. But let your heart break for them, and be not distracted by this or that nothingness. Abide in me and experience my love for you, and let it overflow.

Yes, all this the Holy Spirit said to me throughout the reading of Jeremiah. And Miss L., my twelve-year-old neighbor girl, now in middle school, doesn't come around so much anymore because she has discovered friends from the bus on other streets, and they talk about boys and make-up and clothes. I don't talk about those things, so I'm not popular with her anymore, and my little girls are too little, she's decided. Oh, the many opportunities I had over the last three years to speak life into her soul! And I didn't have her over enough. I cared about this or that nothingness and said no, you can't come in today.

Now, it's only once a week she visits, mostly when her new friends aren't home, one of whom doesn't like Christians. These girls go by on their bikes and I see her distancing herself from us while around her friends, even as her brother plays here daily.

And she is not saved I don't think. Yesterday she came and stayed an hour, and I could see she was very depressed. Her ADHD medicine, she said, is doing it to her, and her grandmother's passing. (And hormones, no doubt, and stress with her mom.) My heart ached for her, but how late did that aching come? How obvious her placement in my life, and yet I made idols of other things, whether it was housecleaning or having peace and quiet.

Will I get another chance to speak up for Christ and tell of his glorious desire to bless her, keep her, and give her a hope and a future? 

Tears roll as I type it. I messed up, just as the people of Judah did, and how much I grieve now. Jeremiah wasn't successful with Judah, but I hear his words, I see his heart for the unsaved. I will heed his words.

Her 8-year-old brother, he comes every day and loves it here and he came to AWANA. We have a chance with him. I will remember Jeremiah and I will let all the fluff of life go, like housecleaning and trying to be the perfect homeschool mother. 

The perfect mother is she whose heart breaks for the unsaved--for her children first, and then for her neighbors. There is nothing more worth my time--nothing that should compete with the Eternal things.

Oh, Lord, I pray every child's knee here will bow, claiming you as Lord! From my own children down to every child around here who dares come to my door. And dare them, Lord. Dare them to come--the broken, the hyperactive, the angry, the desperate. I will not say it's too hard. I will not turn them away. I will not fear.

Jeremiah 9:23-24

This is what the Lord says:

Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom

or the strong man boast of his strength

or the rich man boast of his riches,

but let him who boasts boast about this:

that he understands and knows me,

that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness,

justice and righteousness on earth,

for in these I delight." 

Do you know Him, my friends? Do you understand Him? Do you know what breaks His heart? Lay aside all the other things about which you're concerned, and abide in Him. Know him. Understand Him. Live in accordance with His will--Him who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth. 

For in these he delights.

Apples, Pumpkins and Bees, Oh my

Fall leafs me happy! 

Parenting Out of Hope, Not Fear

Are you sometimes astounded by how hard parenting is? Frequently I feel that way, but at the same time, I love being a mom. Even on my worst days as a mom, I never feel like quitting or changing jobs, perhaps because there's much grace showered on the Christian mother.

Sometimes we forget, so preoccupied are we by the hard work.

The Holy Spirit is always there.

So many times He grabs me and says, gently: "Do it this way instead." No, it's not audible like God communicated with Abraham, Moses, Samuel or Jonah, but I know who it's from, just the same

Recently, during an online conversation with another Christian mom, I read her words: "Most of our fears are just that--fear. They never materialize." This spoken from a mom suffering from PTSD due to her own mother's drinking and the effects it had on her life and safety.

She wrestled with fear for years and won those words, and by absentmindedly typing them to me, she shared one of her graces and it became one of mine. I honestly wasn't aware of how much fear I harbored regarding my children's futures--until God's grace showed me that I'm not called to parent out of fear, but out of hope.

Hope. What a beautiful, God-inspired word.

Now when a slight worry or fear enters my mind about a child's future or about the condition of a child's heart, the new idea enters my head and the fear/fret cycle freezes, like a still picture of my former self.

It's just a whisper of a reminder now: "Most of our fears are just that...fear. They never materialize." 

"You're fearing, not hoping. Turn around again."

Grace, showered on me and my children in the form of a sentence...an idea. The Holy Spirit himself made it more than a sentence--he made it a lifestyle. A lifestyle of hope.

Hope is the absence of fear--serving as a filter through which the Christian can live each day obedient, strong, courageous, other-serving.

I am transformed; I am transforming, and there are many issues yet to have their turn, in which the Holy Spirit will have His way with me, leaving me wiser, lighter, fuller in joy.

And it's wonderful to remember that this same grace is available for my children. The same Holy Spirit lives in them, I am fairly certain, and he will lead them as he leads me, to quiet waters, to paths of righteousness, for his name sake.

Amen.

Psalm 23

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He makes me to lie down in green pastures: he leads me beside the quiet waters.

He restores my soul; he leads me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for you are with me; your rod and your staff they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life; and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.