Fall is definitely here and is it ever beautiful outside! God is so good to give us beautiful turning leaves to marvel at as we go about our busy days. It won’t be long until some of you will be carving out those pumpkins with the kids. I can’t carve one anymore with out thinking of Liz Curtis Higgs’ children’s book The Pumpkin Patch Parable. The story talks about scooping out all that yucky stuff in the pumpkin just like God can take all the yucky stuff out of our hearts when we give our lives to Him. He then puts His light in us to shine for others to see just like we put lights in our pumpkins to light up the nights. If you are not familiar with this book, I highly recommend it. That way, you might take this opportunity to have a conversation with your children about sin and God’s plan concerning it.
This month our 3-5 yr. olds will hear true stories of Old Testament kids: Miriam, David, the Little Girl who helped Naaman, and Josiah. During the first lesson, they will hear the basic truth that God is with us. Through the rest of the unit, they will discover that God wants us to help others and that we can obey Him.
Continuing through the Old Testament, the K-1st kids will hear stories out of the life of Moses. It begins with baby Moses and teaches about the ways God cares for us and protects us. The second lesson in the unit is the exciting account of the crossing of the Red Sea. The children will discover that God is our helper. The last lesson in this unit teaches about God’s provision through the story of manna, quail, and water in the wilderness.
We are asking the 2nd-3rd graders to Think Big. We define this as thinking about things that are important to God. The first two weeks, Big Heart and Big Ten, will be spent studying the Ten Commandments. The next week’s lesson, Big Gifts, is a presentation of the salvation message. The final week is called, Big Thanks. In this lesson, we will study the story of Joshua and the people of Israel crossing the Jordan River, and learn about remembering to be thankful.
The 4th-5th grade will experience the world of Moses. Through the drama that is presented each week, the kids will recognize anew (or possibly for the first time) the challenges that face Moses. Following the Exodus story presented in Lessons 4-6, Lesson 7 will present the message of salvation by comparing the events of Passover with the events surrounding Jesus’ death on the cross for our freedom.
A couple of reminders for parents, your children will shop at the Promisemart store on October 16. It has been suggested to accept used items for the store to save on money spent to keep it stocked and I think that is a good idea. If you have items you are getting rid of and think the kids would like them, please remember us when you purge. Last of all, thank you for being patient with us as we implemented our fire drill last Sunday. It went really well, we had your children out of the building in about 60 seconds and didn’t seem to traumatize too many of them. There were 22 children that were not checked in on our Check-In charts so we potentially could have lost those children and not have known it, soooo…parents, I hope you see the importance of checking in your child properly each week. Our safety procedures are only as good as you follow them. With that said, have a good month and take time to enjoy the beauty all around us that God has so generously provided.
Serving Together,
Dar Muehlhausen