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For the past twenty-three years, my children have provided me with a wealth of writing material for my weekly devotionals.  However, now that they are older, it is even more enjoyable when they even realize that their own antics or bizarre experiences would make a great correlation to a Biblical truth!  Last week, I knew it was going to be an entertaining story when my daughter's text message started out with the words, "Have I got a great newsletter story for you!" Thus...enjoy and see if you can relate...

"Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me." Matthew 25:40

Many years ago, a student of dear friends of mine decided to use his guinea pig as the focal point of his 8th Grade Science Fair project. Starting in September, he wrote his hypothesis revolving around the research that he planned to perform, and throughout the remaining months, the guinea pig was the focus of all of his data. Weeks before the final January submission date, he woke up and discovered that the Lord had taken his beloved guinea pig to Heaven while he slept. His scream caused both parents to rush into his bedroom, where everyone was frozen with shock at what they saw. Finally, the young man broke the silence by saying, "Well this is very unfortunate timing!"...

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord. "Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

One of the most fascinating aspects regarding working with children is watching God grow and cultivate their individual gifts, talents, and personality traits throughout their lives.  Often, teachers will notice certain qualities and wonder how God is going to develop and use that characteristic in the future.  For example, we've watched students fascinated with science and space grow up, attend MIT, and work for NASA.  We've watched children who were fabulous at fixing broken items around the school grow up and become engineers or accomplished mechanics.  We've had students, who were wonderful tutors, attend the Concordia colleges and now are high school math teachers.  We've had kids that were fascinated with dissection become surgeons; while one student who was famous for doodling is now employed as an animator for Sony and Play Station...

"My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you."   John 15:12

It was approximately sixteen years ago when my husband was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Although he has been very blessed with a slow progression form of MS, the doctor gave two immediate pieces of advice at his initial diagnosis. The first suggestion was to take up swimming, as swimming utilizes the most muscles during one workout. In addition, due to his unpredictable instability, the second piece of advice the doctor shared was "stay off tall ladders". Two jobs that Ken quickly became ineligible to accomplish were painting the outside of our house and hanging Christmas lights.
 
Having two brothers that are professional painters helped to resolve the first problem...