Listening to God’s Voice

God speaks to us in an infinite number of ways. Many times it’s through prayer and reading His Word or from His children who shed light and help us see what we can’t. For me, one of the ways God speaks to me is through creation.

As I sat on a dock this past weekend late at night pondering the glory and majesty of God I was reminded of His divine beauty and power. As the light from the stars and moon shined down reflecting against the water of the lake I was humbled that God would create this for us. I was humbled knowing that I can never grasp how vastly large and wide this galaxy we live in is and how God created it by speaking. I was in awe of the beauty of the stars and moon. How lights that were thousands and thousands mile away we allowing me to see in the darkness of night. I was reminded of so many things in that moment about God.

1. Light casts out darkness. I don’t know about you but I overlook this simple truth time and time again. The light that allows us to see every day is just short of 93 million miles away meaning that the light from the sun travels through 93 million miles of darkness. Light no matter how big or small can always be seen through the darkness. What a huge reminder to me no matter where I am that I can be a light to any number of people and will not be consumed or put out. I will shine with Christ.
2. God is beautiful. All it takes is a quick look around us to see the beauty and power God displays through His creation. There is beauty all around us at all times we just have to see it with the right eyes. Whether it’s mountains, oceans, forests, stars, moon, lake, pond, corn field, a rolling pasture, or a rocky cliff, there is so much beauty out there that God has so graciously given us. Wherever you are, take a moment to appreciate the beauty and wonder that God has granted us to see.
3. I am small. This is a humbling fact to be reminded of and one that more often than not escapes. In the chaos and busyness of life I forget that my life isn’t all about me. I forget that I’m not the main person in this story of life. As I look into the sky and thought about the vastness of creation in the galaxy I’m reminded that this is God’s story and I’m just a secondary character trying to further His story of unfailing love through Christ. This fact is actually very refreshing knowing that God is in control. He was sovereign as He created the galaxy as He spoke it to be. He was sovereign when He created the earth and everything in it by speaking it to be and He is sovereign as He lavishes love and grace and protection on His children every single day.

God speaks to us all the time so I urge you to take time time to listen to what God’s telling you. It could be so simple as a look into the sky but as you hear God’s voice speaking to you make sure you take time to share it with your families. In doing so you will teach your children to look and listen and seek God with all their hearts even in the busyness of life.

Summer Recap!

Morningside Children’s Ministry has had an incredible summer. If you haven’t been able to tell by the gap in blog posts allow me to shed some light in all that’s going on in Children’s Ministry at Morningside Lutheran Church this summer and moving forward!

So what’s been going on this summer?

Our summer Worship at the River has included activity bags with drinks, snacks, and coloring pages to help keep the children active during the sermon. We’ve also enjoyed keeping them active by playing catch before church started. Those kids didn’t care if it was 60 degrees outside or 95 degrees they still ran around, got sweaty, had fun, and killed some energy before praising Jesus with their families. It was always a blast.

Our VBS/Day Camp week was July 20 – July 23 this summer and we had just under 100 children running around the church. We as a team spent many hours, days, and weeks of the summer prepping for this week and it did not disappoint. There was an unmatched energy in the church all week. We played games (Samari, Ninja, Tag, and countless others) had snacks, sang too many worship songs to count, and did crafts ranging from paints, to tool belts, and key chains. We built forts with PVC pipe and blankets, did some science experiments and had some great small group and bible study times. We had lunch outside in the shade of the trees which the kids and leaders both loved equally. We raised enough money and food for the food pantry to pie three of our favorite counselors throughout the week and even surprised the director with a pie to the face from his fiancee. We had a program to share all our songs with our parents and got to watch skits with Storm Troopers, Luke Skywalker, and Darth Vader (including an epic lightsaber battle the last day). We learned lots about Jesus through our rotations and our small group time (Built on Jesus, Built on God’s Instructions, Built to Rise Up, Built to Go). It was a great week for all of the leaders and all of the children. Check our instagram for more pictures of the fun we had!

We finished the week off with a Pool Party at Lewis Pool. We had about 70 people there and it was a wonderful day for families to have fun together. Whether it was playing catch in the kid’s pool, going down the slides together, swimming, splashing, or being a part of our Cannonball Contest (an instant favorite with the children) that went on for about an hour. It was a great day and we will be sure to be doing that again!

What can I expect this Fall?

We are having a MASSIVE “End of the Summer Bash” August 30 at the Anderson Pavilion where our Worship at the River Services are held. It will be from 12 pm to 4 pm and will have food, inflatables, music, face painting, and games! It will be a great party for the whole family and you will have the opportunity to sign-up and register for Sunday School and KidFriendly.

Rally Day this year will be the first day of Sunday School which will be held on September 13. This years curriculum will be aimed at believing, behaving, and becoming more like Christ. Each lesson ties an old testament story together with a new testament story through Christ, I am thrilled for this curriculum and we are going through it as a church show everyone in the family will be going through it together making discussion and teachings at home easier.

In hopes of enhancing our communication with parents we’ll have our own Morningside Lutheran Children’s Ministry page that you’ll be able to follow in the future which will have pictures on it as well as insights on what’s going on in the future!

We are also trying to bump our Parent’s Ministry so be anticipating changes being made in how we interact with you so that we may build you as parents up more effectively and encourage you better. We will be having resource sheets available come the beginning of the year that you can so know where you can locate the best magazine, books, websites, apps, and devotions to help lead your family more efficiently.

We are have excited for this new year and hope you are too!