A Hundred Years from Now . . .

We are already nine days into 2015.  So, how are you coming along with your New Year’s resolutions?  The gyms are full, and our fridges are stocked with salads as we try to remedy the mistakes of 2014 with better health and fitness.  January is often a month of renewal as we use the stillness of a quiet schedule to reflect how our daily decisions affect the overall direction of our lives.

 

One area—in fact, the most important area--of our lives that is worthy of serious reflection is our spiritual welfare.  Jesus said, “What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul?”  In today’s vernacular:  What shall it profit us, if we live healthy, productive, successful lives but forfeit the eternal significance of our existence? 

 

Our church often receives calls for assistance, and we are thankful for each opportunity to share Christ’s love with those in need—no matter how small our effort may seem.  We have a stipulation, though, for receiving assistance from our church:  You have to come to a service.  We don’t hand out hundred dollar bills on the street corner.  As I often tell the callers, “A hundred years from now, it will not matter to you that we provided a bag of groceries or helped you with this electric bill.  But it will matter to you that we shared the Gospel with you.”   The question lingers for each of us:  A hundred years from now, what choices will you wish you had made today? 

 

The answer to that is found in a simple phrase that will change your life:  “The daily presence of Christ.”  Too often, Christ is given weekend status.  He is a “Sunday God,” only to be shut back up into silence for the rest of the week.  Letting Christ rule our lives Monday – Saturday, and not just for a few hours on Sunday, will determine the choices we make.  And a hundred years from now, we will not be disappointed. 

 

There are several simple ways to let Christ’s presence rule our lives each day.  I hope these can be an encouragement to you.

 

1.  Study God’s Word each day. 

 

Whether you read through the entire Bible or just a few books this year, there is no such thing as “failure” if you are reading the Bible each day!  In teaching our own children how to study the Bible, Jason tells them to “find the verb.”  (The verb is the action part of a sentence.)  If you are struggling to understand the Bible, maybe it will help to start looking for the verb.  It will help you to find the meaning of each verse more quickly. 

 

2.  Take it to God.

 

 It is easy to get very self-absorbed, either by our perceived successes or our troubles.  Either way, the best way to sense the daily presence of Christ is to take everything to the Lord.  Give Him the credit when things go right; give Him the burden of fixing things when they don’t.   The apostle Paul said, “Pray without ceasing.”  We don’t live with our heads bowed and eyes closed, but we ought to live with a constant conversation in our hearts to the Lord.  When a parking space opens up just in time—thank the Lord!  When the bill is higher than expected—take it to the Lord!  Conversation with God helps us to recognize His daily presence with us. 

 

3.  Spend time with people who love the Lord. 

 

Most people think “church” = “sermon.”  But there is so much more to church than the message.  Hebrews 10:24 tells us that part of our purpose in attending church faithfully is to encourage other people.  Proverbs tells us that “iron sharpeneth iron.”  Christians who love the Lord and walk with Him have a way of sharpening the walk of those around them.  We spend much of our lives getting battered by the world and its unbiblical philosophy.  Time spent with Christians who have been in the Savior’s presence all week is a precious gift!  Value other Christians.  Value church attendance. 

 

4.  Make every decision count for the Lord.

 

We are faced with choices and ideas every day.  The internet is bulging with “human device,” most of it stemming from a worldview that runs counter to God’s view.  The question that rescues us from slipping into worldly thinking is this:  “Where is that in the Bible?”  Brimming with principles and illustrations, the Bible is our foundation.  Every idea we read, every blog we skim through, every venture we consider ought to be tempered with that question in the back of our minds:  “Where is this in the Bible?”   

 

Many online authors these days want to delve more into psychology than the Bible, as though the Bible is not practical for every day life.  The authors are missing something:   The Bible is practical.   When the Bible seems out of reach of my daily struggles, the problem isn’t with the Bible.  The problem is with the reader:  me.  God really does want to teach us how to raise children, how to keep our marriages thriving, and how to handle our money judiciously; and His instruction manual is the Bible.   The daily presence of Christ changes us when we give God His due platform:  a constant awareness of how His Word addresses our daily lives.   

 

Let Christ be the center of each day, and a hundred years from now, He will be the central story of your life. 

 

 

Our Triumph

Near our home here in rural Illinois, there is a shelter care for adults who find themselves in need of a place to live.  It was once a nursing home, but now most of the residents are simply adults of any age who are in desperate need of assistance—sometimes because of mental illnesses and disease, and sometimes from past mistakes that have robbed them of the ability to support themselves. 

For our December service, I found myself sitting by Gary.  Gary has lived at Mt. Gilead for as long as I have known him.  His youthful mannerisms and childish words disguise his real age (approaching sixty).  To most of us, Gary is four years old.  His favorite hobby is art—especially creating elaborate, detailed scribbles with as many colorful markers as he can obtain.  Gary suffered a brain injury as an infant, and this is who Gary has been for about fifty-five years.

 

During song time, we passed out the hymn books and watched to make sure everyone was able to find the right number.  But Gary didn’t want a hymn book.  Holding his head between his arms, as he often sits, he just shook his head.  “I can’t read.  I don’t need a book.”

 

As we sang, I noticed that--hymn book or not--Gary was singing.  His music was muted, as he sat with his face bent downward into his shirt, but he knew the words to the Christmas carol we were singing.  And it was his low, garbled words that caught my attention with irony: 

 

“Joyful, all ye nations rise,

  Join the triumph of the skies. . .” 

 

Triumph? What could Gary know of triumph?   Hardly a family member left on earth; trapped in a child’s mind and a frail, aging body; eyes closed and head encased in his arms as he sat rocking back and forth in his chair—the word was mocked by its own confused muttering.   Triumph seemed to have skipped Gary long ago. 

 

“Hark, the herald angels sing, ‘Glory to the newborn King!’”

 

Suddenly, sitting by Gary, the triumph of those skies was recaptured for me.  Because of that newborn King, Gary will someday be free of the handicap that has shackled him for almost six decades.  Our triumph-- not native to this old troubled earth, nor bound by human success and prosperity—comes only through Jesus Christ.  Greater than our sin or the sorrow that often dims our lives here on earth, Jesus Christ offers forgiveness and eternal life to those who choose to call on Him for salvation.  Because of that newborn King, the sufferings of this life are only temporary for me.  They will be conquered and forgotten.  Because of Jesus Christ, heaven is my real home.     

 

Jesus Christ is our triumph.   

 

And someday, with a new body and mind, Gary will understand exactly what that means. 

 

 

 

“Thanks be unto God for His unspeakable gift.”  (II Corinthians 9:15)

 

The Gift of Being a Giver

I don’t know if she’ll be there tonight—my 83-year-old friend at church.  We have our annual Thanksgiving supper and praise service, and she has been shut in for about a month with health issues relating back to the two major cancer surgeries she had this year.  But she told me yesterday that she wanted to come tonight, and she even sent her daughter a chicken to “do something with” so she’d have a dish to bring.  She’s a giver.

        

My life is rich because of givers.  As a pastor’s wife, I can assure you that no pastor’s family could cultivate a healthy church ministry without the givers—the unsung heroes of ministry whose names are memorialized, not on plaques or marquees, but rather in the deeds of kindness they scatter everywhere.  Like Dorcas (Tabitha) of Acts, their works speak for them.   

 

Are you a giver in your church?  They are easy to spot, rare to find, and a treasure to keep.  If you aren’t a giver, maybe you can find encouragement from my 83-year-old cancer survivor and become one of those rare gems. 

 

1.  Givers notice other people.   

 

It’s easy to notice the problems in a church—the typos in the bulletin, the gaps in the ministry, the wayward notes from an inexperienced musician.  Givers notice people.  They view the people who share their pews as people with needs, and they seek to meet those needs.  Givers do not wait for someone to notice them.  They do the noticing. 

 

2.  Givers use the prayer sheet. 

 

Most churches have a prayer sheet or operate with a prayer chain—usually from their weekly prayer meeting.  Givers take diligent notice of the forgotten people—the shut-ins, the military, and the missionaries.  They pray for people they don’t know.  They pray for new requests, and they follow up on others.  Their prayers sheets are marked with dates and notations, folded carefully into a Bible where they will remember to pray for others each day. 

 

3.  Givers make contact with church attenders outside of church services.

 

While every pastor is thankful to have a healthy relationship with each of his church members and attenders, a truly healthy church is networked like a spider-web, with members reaching out to one another as well.  Givers make that happen.  A phone call to a missing member on Monday morning; a pot of soup to a shut in; a birthday card through the mail:  Givers find ways to reach beyond just a Sunday morning hand-shake.  If your only contact with your church family happens at a church service, you are missing a valuable opportunity to edify and encourage! 

 

4.  Givers give. 

 

They give their time—on a Saturday workday, or helping to clean up from a fellowship.  They give their money—tithing 10% of their income, and giving above that to offerings for missionaries.  They give their resources when special projects come along.  We recently collected ibuprofen for a missions trip to Haiti, and “givers” worked together to send almost 9,000 tablets to a needy village in Haiti!  I have observed the giving knows no financial bounds.  I watched last Sunday as one of our elderly widows folded a bill and tucked it into the missionary Christmas box.  Givers always have something to share. 

 

5.  Givers are dependable. 

 

My elderly friend who longs to be back serving has been such an example in this regard.  When she is able to drive herself to church, she comes early enough to welcome visitors.  She comes to every service.  She comes to our fellowships and watches to make sure newcomers have been greeted.  Givers are just . . . there.  When my friend is missing from a service, we usually realize it by about fifteen minutes prior to service time—since she surely would have been there by then. 

 

The demands on churches (and on their leadership) are extremely high.  People come to church with many expectations of what a church should be able to provide for them—financially, emotionally, socially, and of course, spiritually.  In many churches, those demands and expectations are placed on just a few shoulders. 

 

But to have one person who comes faithfully, ready to give: 

 

Givers are a gift.    

 

 

 

The Bait to Debate

I once watched an intriguing documentary about some members of the United States military who were being given a test.  The leader of each small group was assigned the task of helping his group through a difficult obstacle course.  What the leader (and his group) did not know was that the obstacle course was purposely designed for failure.  It was, scientifically, an impossible course.  The real test was not how well the small groups could build a bridge or navigate a difficult maze.  The test was how well the leader could keep his group unified through an impossible situation. 

 

Sounds kind of like life, doesn’t it?  Many of our trials down here are not the real “test.”  We are not really being tested on how clean we keep the house; how fast we can get ready for church; how much we know when asked a loaded question.  We are being tested on how well we respond to humiliating and impossible situations.

 

Of the situations that tend to be the “test behind the test”, one is in the area of debate.  Christians can differ on many areas—some of large consequence, others not so big.  As I’ve often shared here before, I love healthy debate because I think it helps to strengthen our logic.  Unfortunately, my selfish flesh also loves unhealthy debate--but the Holy Spirit is working on me there!  We are trying to help our own children learn how to avoid the “bait for debate” when the debate is of the unhealthy brand. 

There are three traps to avoid in debating.  Avoiding these traps can keep your blood pressure down, your testimony up, and better yet:  enable you to pass the real test! 

 

1.  Engaging in debates that are “too high” for me.

 

The internet has changed the way we relate to one another.  There are blessings—such as being able to post short videos for far-away grandparents to watch.  But, as one preacher has pointed out, one of the negative impacts is that young people are given an opportunity to engage in debate with their elders.  Almost every article, every Facebook post, every video has comments enabled, where teenagers can “school” their elders, often in ridiculing tones. 

 

The Bible instructs us not to rebuke an elder, but to entreat him as a father.  This verse is based on the assumption that we understand how fathers ought to be treated in the first place (Ephesians 6).   While there are situations in life that invariably place younger people over their aged elders (trying to coax an elderly grandparent to surrender a drivers’ license, for example), there is still an attitude of honor and respect that is often missing in today’s dialog.    

 

Another debate we can decline to attend is when the debate involves things that we have not fully studied.  It is very easy to quote excerpts from other people’s study and to adopt it as our own.  Kids sometimes like to argue by quoting things they have heard their parents say, even without understanding the real gist of the subject they are debating.  With just a little work and good listening skills, we all can be Sean Hannity or Rush Limbaugh.  While it is good for us to have a teachable spirit and to be educated by knowledgeable people, I am always thankful when someone gives credit to a source rather than claiming to own information they read on a blog just an hour earlier.  There is a difference between a debate and a book report. 

 

2.  Solidifying a weak position to avoid humbling myself.

 

Some people represent good positions, but they represent them so poorly that I am tempted to turn the opposite direction just to spite them.  Grandma would have calling that “cutting off your nose to spite your face.”  That sort of revenge is like a serrated boomerang.  It will accomplish its purpose but likely reach the wrong target:  Myself! 

 

I remember sitting in a Sunday school class as a teenager.  For a very short while, we had a teacher who was filling the position until the church could hire a youth pastor.  The man was annoying, arrogant, and tended to lure people into odd debates, although he had many areas of glaring weakness in his own life and in his unhappy, rebellious family.  It was no secret that the teenaged boys in our class resented him.  They loved engaging in his debates and arguing with him during the Sunday school hour.  There may have been a few times he was actually correct in his position, but I think most of us would have joined the communist party before we would have admitted that man was right on anything.

 

The world is full of arrogant and unkind people.  In our quest not to be controlled by them, let’s not be stupid just to prove a point.  Isn’t that the same as being controlled by them?  Niceness is not always a prerequisite for being “right.”  And sometimes strange people have obtained knowledge I could use.   I dismiss them at my own peril. 

 

3.  Failing the larger test. 

 

Remember, the debate itself is not always the real test.  How we handle people matters a great deal to God. 

 

I Corinthians 13:2 says, “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.” 

 

The Bible is filled with references to the value of faith and knowledge—yet, without charity, we are nothing.  We may have the knowledge to win every debate, every time.  We may have the ability to understand difficult Bible passages, and we may always have the right answers.  But without charity, that knowledge is meaningless.  I am nothing. 

 

For those of us who would be tempted to enjoy racing out to meet conflict, the caution is clear:  Why, exactly, are you bringing this issue up?  Proverbs talks about the loving reproof of a true friend, but proud contention is destructive.   It is motivated by a desire to claim superiority and spirituality.   It ignores the beam in its own eye, while vigorously plucking at any little moat it can find in someone else’s eye. 

 

 

Proud debate seeks honor for self.  Charitable confrontation seeks honor for Christ alone.  May the Holy Spirit teach us to recognize the difference in our own lives! 

 

 

 

Tips for Teaching Reading

Reading is the number one priority of any teacher.  Your homeschooled child may be an expert on photosynthesis, equestrian skills, the piano, or the Civil War, but without good reading skills, he will always be limited to what other people tell him. His vulnerability to false information will handicap him for life.  On the other hand, an elementary child who has missed a semester or two of science can easily catch up over the summer with a few good books. 

 

Most of what is called “phonics” today is not bona fide phonics.  It’s a half-n-half variety that employs phonics part-time and teaches a bevy of sight words that make kindergarteners look like Rhodes Scholars—for a short while, anyway.  It almost always catches up with the child, though.  By fourth grade, students are encountering many words they have not memorized or even seen before.  If they have not mastered the skill of “sounding out” unfamiliar words, they will become guessers.  Guessing kills comprehension as well as any desire to read the child may have had.   After all, who wants to read nonsense?

 

Here’s a step-by-step plan for teaching phonics.  These tips are not designed to help the “eager beavers,” who have probably skipped through some of these stages on their own just through natural ability.  I hope today that I can encourage the moms out there whose children are not interested in reading, or who are frustrated by methods that are not working.  It’s possible you are not a strong reader yourself and are intimidated by the prospect of setting the course of education for your child.  Maybe these steps will lend a hand for you as well!

 

1.  Letter sounds. 

 

Why teach letter names?  Other than singing the alphabet song, kindergarteners do not need the letter names.  Phyllis Schlafley, the famous pro-life activist, mentioned this on a radio broadcast many years ago.  Consequently, I have used this method on all six of our children, and the older five are all excellent readers.  (Josh is still a first semester kindergartener.)

 

Remember, kindergarteners won’t even be using long vowel sounds until they have mastered the basics of early reading, and they don’t need consonant names until they need to learn how to alphabetize (second or third grade).  For Valentin kindergarteners, the alphabet song is done with the phonics sounds only.  J 

 

2.  Two-letter blends. 

 

Once the child has mastered the letter sounds, begin practicing each consonant joined with each vowel.  Two-letter flash cards (“blend cards”)  or blend “ladders” are very helpful, but you can always make your own and laminate them. 

 

            ta                    ma                  la                     ba                   na                   da

            te                    me                  le                     be                   ne                   de

            ti                     mi                   li                      bi                    ni                    di

            to                    mo                  lo                    bo                   no                   do

            tu                    mu                 lu                    bu                   nu                   du

 

At this stage, keep the combinations in this order, without exception.  With each consonant, the child begins to predict the pattern, which is helpful at first. 

 

Do not move on to step three until the child is able to read the letters as one sound.  In other words, this should sound like “ta,” not “t . . . . a”, with a space in the middle. 

 

Watch out for sound reversals.  You may notice your child reading backwards, substituting “am” for “ma”, or “ed” for “de.”  The key for these children is to re-train the brain by covering up the letters with your hand and uncovering them one at a time.  This tendency does not automatically mean your child is dyslexic, but I would have to guess that it might expose a right-brained dominance. 

 

Right-brained children tend to “clutch” information in clumps rather than walking across a word one letter at a time.  Think of a large claw, reaching down and grabbing the word like a bundle of spaghetti noodles and mixing up the letters in the process.  This natural tendency is what makes our right-brained friends and children artistic, creative, and visionary.  They are demonstrating their ability to obtain large amounts of information at a time rather than relying on steps, words, and lists.  To grossly oversimplify a very complex (and intriguing!) subject, most of us are “word- oriented” or “picture -oriented.”  Picture-oriented children may be more likely to start reversing letters.   

But, the brain can be retrained.  By using a bookmark or 3 x 5 card, children with reversing tendencies can expose one letter at a time as they read, and thus retrain their brains.    

 

(If your child shows signs of dyslexia, there is a great book I can recommend for you—written by a dyslexic.  It’s called The Gift of Dyslexia, by Ron Davis.  You will appreciate your “backwards child” a whole lot more after reading this book!)

 

3.  Two-letter blend cards, mixed up.

 

Mix up the vowel sounds within each consonant group. 

 

            to                                            bi       

            ta                                            bu

            ti                                             ba

            tu                                            be

            te                                            bo

 

This stage is now requiring more careful reading (even though these aren’t words yet).  The child is having to watch closely to see what the vowel sound is. 

 

4.  Blend cards, mixed up even more. 

                            

Mix up the entire set of cards. 

 

            li

            to

            ba

            cu

            si

            ma

 

 

5.  Three-letter words.

 

Add a third letter to the blends he can already read.

 

            to  +   m  =   tom

            ma +  n =  man

            be + d = bed

 

At each stage of the reading process (and beyond kindergarten), be on alert for evidence that the child is reading letters that he has not come to yet in the word.  He may be using his “claw” method rather than letting his eyes reach for one letter or blend at a time. 

 

*Advanced readers see words as a whole, but inexperienced readers should not make this a practice. 

 

6.  More advanced rules for phonics.

 

One of the handy tools that we have used with all of our children is a book that used to be commonplace in Christian schools.  I grew up with it at my school in Ohio, and the copy we have is from my husband’s Christian school in Michigan!  It’s called the Victory Drill Book.  I suppose it fell out of popularity over the years because it employed timed reading, which can be frustrating for early readers and might lead to reading difficulties.  If you search for it, you will have to hunt through ebay or other used book websites.  As far as I know, it is out of print—which is unfortunate.

 

The strong advantage of the Victory Drill Book is that it isolates each phonics rule and gives the child practice at reading words that specifically apply.  For example, here is a partial list from the first page of the Victory Drill Book, using the short “a” sound: 

 

pat

tan

map

dad

van

sad

Sam

map

bag

nap

fan

jam

 

By page 72, it gets pretty exciting: 

 

tomorrow

yesterday

understand

unselfishly

awkwardly

transportation

invitation

Americanism

misunderstand

impractical

patiently

extraordinary

wonderful

Mississippi

 

In our Christian school, passing page 72 was awarded with a great deal of fanfare.  Our teachers presented us a Bible in chapel in front of the entire school.  We even got to select the color of our Bible!  Many times parents came to see the presentation and to take pictures after chapel, with our teachers. 

 

But best of all:  Someone had taught us how to read. 

 

It’s truly one of the nicest things you can do for a child.