Pilgrim's Progress- VBS 2008

Jude's VBS teacher, "Everyone line up. It's time to go hear Mrs. Bailey read to us!"
Jude, "But I thought my mommy was reading to us."

We just finished part 2 of Pilgrims Progress VBS. It went smooth and wonderful! Pilgrims Progress makes such a great VBS. The lessons taught through the story are life lessons for any believer! I would encourage anyone who hasn't read it to read it. We used Dangerous Journey (the story of Pilgrim's Progress) revised by Eerdmans because the origional 1676 John Bunyon version is very difficult to understand because it was written so long ago. Even Eerdman's version uses words hard for young children to understand, so I revised it even more.

To briefly highlight a little bit of the story, Christian has a burden and lives in the City of Destruction. The book that he's reading tells him that his city will be destroyed and he wants to know what he must do to be saved. No one else sees the danger or has a burden. His family and friends don't want him to leave, but Evangelist tells him to go to the wicket gate and there, he will discover how to be saved. He tells him not to leave the path, the Kings Highway. Through the wicket gate, he walks between the walls of salvation up to a cross where his burden rolls off into a tomb. The Shining ones appear an give him new clothes and a parchment which he must not loose or give away until he reaches the Celestial City.
In the story, he makes wise and unwise decisions. Sometimes he leaves the path, and sometimes he is wise and doesn't.
At one point, he must go through Vanity Fair, a fair that never closes and was put up by Apollyon, the prince of demons, in the town of Vanity. He put it there because he saw that all pilgrims must go through this city on their way to the Celestial City. He put it there to tempt them to love the things of this world more than the King. Christian must fight Appollyon at one point as well.
Another chapter is about Christian veering off the path, when he is weary and despairing, to Doubting Castle where he it tortured by Giant Despair until he remembers his Promise key which he uses to unlock the dungeon door and escape.
In the end, he is received in the Celestial City with trumpets and angels because he has his parchment paper with him which shows that he was invited and came on the right road through the wicket gate.

The story allowed each day to have different themes and characters, which made it exciting for songs and crafts and games and Bible verses. We had a wonderful time.

So even though Jude didn't know who 'Mrs. Bailey' was, hopefully he learned a few lesson about the christian life!

March snow in Arkansas? Well, we had fun!

It's official...

It's official... My 3 1/2 year old son, Jude, has named the new baby for us and is spreading the word- Baby Jesus. Yes, he is spreading the word to family, church, and Wal-Mart. His new baby 'brover' will be named Baby Jesus Bailey (according to him). He is getting a lot of negative responses from older siblings who tell him that he can't name the baby that, but this doesn't phase him. He still spreads the word. To him, it's the most endearing name he can think of, and I just don't have the heart to disappoint him- yet.

If everything would just go the way I planned, I would be happy!

If everything would just go the way I planned, I would be happy!- Or so we think...
Proverbs 3:5-8 says, "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. It will be healing to your flesh and refreshment to your bones." Wait a minute, what?- this verse tell us NOT to rely on our own understanding- and it says that THAT will make me happy. Our understanding is not strong enough to lean on or put the whole weight of our life upon like we think. It will bend and break. When we lean on our own understanding, we lean to what suits us and our particular circumstances. We lean towards selfishness. We lean toward the easy way out.
Obedience to God's ways, even when we feel they don't suit us and it is contrary to everything we want to do, will always lead us to the ultimate blessing. Proverbs 28:26 says, "He that trusts in his own heart is a fool." and Isaiah 5:21 says, "Woe to them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!"
It's easy for us to rely on earthly benefits because they come easy and our temporal. We can feel them or see them. It would be like if I asked my 3 year boy (the one not happy in the picture above) if he would rather have an ice cream cone now, or $100,000 dollars at the time of his graduation. As adults, we know what he should choose, but we also know what he would choose.
Even our best intentions are contrary to God's ways. We belong to a king and a higher calling. Isaiah 55:8-9 says, "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."
So, the question is, whose way are we going to choose? Deuteronomy 10:12 says, "What does the Lord thy God require of me... but to walk in all his ways." His ways are the only ways that bring peace. They are the only ways that lead to success. They are the only ways that will accomplish God's purpose.
This makes me think of a phrase from one of my favorite hymns:
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
So, back to the picture posted above, Robert was choosing to obey Mommy for the picture while Jude decided that his way of being in that picture was best and if it didn't go his way he wouldn't be happy. What will we decide to do- lean on our own understanding (cry in the picture, take the ice cream now) or trust and obey our King?