The Things Kids Say!—

   Larry watched, fascinated, as his mother smoothed cold dream on her face.  “Why do you do that, Mommy?” he asked.
   “To make myself beautiful,” said his mother, who then began removing the cream with a tissue.
   “What’s the matter?” asked Larry.  “Giving up?”

- via THE SOWER, a weekly publication of the Arthur Church of Christ, Arthur, IL. Ron Bartanen, who serves as minister and editor, may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.arthurchurchofchrist.com

Changing As We Grow Older

By Alan Smith

    A young boy was looking through the family album and asked his mother, "Who's this fellow on the beach with you with all the muscles and curly hair?"
    "That's your father."
    "Then who's the old bald-headed man who lives with us now?"
    Let's be honest -- we all change as the years pass, and some of the changes are not for the better!  Physically speaking, few 50- or 60-year-olds have improved physically from what they were like when they were 20 or 30 years old.
    But the more important thing is how we are changing spiritually.  In Ephesians 4, Paul talks about putting off the old man (sinful actions and attitudes) and putting on the new man (Christ-like qualities).  That's not a once-in-a-lifetime activity.  It's an ongoing process.
    If we are going to grow, we must change.  And what is the goal?
    "...so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more." (2 Corinthians 3:18)
     Have a great day!

- Alan Smith, author of the popular "Thought For Today," and minister for the Fayetteville Church of Christ in Fayetteville, NC, may be contacted at alansmith.servant@gmail.com

Children

By Steve Higginbotham

     Maybe you’ve heard the story about the school teacher who was helping one of her kindergarten students put on his snow boots. Even with her pulling and him pushing, the little boots just didn't want to go on. Finally, after much struggling, she got both boots on only to hear the little boy say, "They're on the wrong feet."
     She looked, and sure enough, they were. It wasn't any easier pulling the boots off than it was putting them on but she managed to keep her cool as together they worked to get the boots on the right feet.
     He then announced, "These aren't my boots." She bit her tongue rather than scream, "Why didn't you say so?" Once again, she struggled to help him pull the ill-fitting boots off his little feet.
     No sooner had they gotten the boots off when he said, "They're my brother's boots. My Mom made me wear 'em." Now she didn't know if she should laugh or cry. She mustered up what grace and courage she had left to wrestle the boots on his feet again.
     Helping him into his coat, she asked, "Now, where are your mittens?" He said, "I stuffed 'em in the toes of my boots." - (Biblical Parenting)
     (Psalm 127:3,5) – “Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord…Happy is the man who has his quiver full of them…”

- Steve Higginbotham preaches for the Karns Church of Christ in Knoxville, TN. He may be contacted through the congregation's website at http://www.karnschurch.org

Children Are Quick

Teacher: “Why are you late?”
Student: Class started before I got here.”

Teacher: Glen, why do you get so dirty?
Glen: I’m a lot closer to the ground than you are.

Teacher: Now, Simon, tell me frankly, do you say prayers before eating?
Simon: No sir.  I don’t have to ‘cause my Mom is a good cook.

Teacher: Clyde , your composition on “My dog” is exactly the same as your brother’s.  Did you copy his?
Clyde: No sir.  It’s the same dog.

Teacher: Harold, what do you call a person who keeps on talking when people are no longer interested?
Harold: a teacher.

 “He that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast” (Proverbs 15:15).

- via THE SOWER, a weekly publication of the Arthur Church of Christ, Arthur, IL. Ron Bartanen, who serves as minister and editor, may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.arthurchurchofchrist.com

Free Medical Advice

   Six-year-old Judy complained, “Mother, I’ve got a stomachache.”  “That’s because your stomach is empty,” her mother replied.  “You would feel better if you had something in it.”  That afternoon the minister came to visit, remarking in conversation that he was suffering a headache.  Little Judy perked up.  “That’s because it’s empty,” she said.  You’d feel much better if you had something in it.”

- via THE SOWER, a weekly publication of the Arthur Church of Christ, Arthur, IL. Ron Bartanen, who serves as minister and editor, may be contacted through the congregation's website: http://www.arthurchurchofchrist.com

The Last Day of Your Life

By Alan Smith

   The following quotes are reported to come from an actual newspaper contest where entrants ages 4 to 15 were asked to imitate "Deep Thoughts by Jack Handey":
      Give me the strength to change the things I can, the grace to accept the things I cannot, and a great big bag of money. --Age 13
      It sure would be nice if we got a day off for the president's birthday, like they do for the queen's. Of course, then we would have a lot of people voting for a candidate born on July 3 or December 26, just for the long weekends. --Age 8
      Democracy is a beautiful thing, except for that part about letting just any old yokel vote. --Age 10
      For centuries, people thought the moon was made of green cheese. Then the astronauts found that the moon is really a big hard rock. That's what happens to cheese when you leave it out. --Age 6
      As you make your way through this hectic world of ours, set aside a few minutes each day. At the end of the year, you'll have a couple of days saved up. --Age 7
      Often, when I am reading a good book, I stop and thank my teacher. That is, I used to, until she got an unlisted number. --Age 15
      The only stupid question is the one that is never asked, except maybe "Don't you think it is about time you audited my return?" or "Isn't it morally wrong to give me a warning when, in fact, I was speeding?" --Age 15
      If we could just get everyone to close their eyes and visualize world peace for an hour, imagine how serene and quiet it would be until the looting started. --Age 15
      I believe you should live each day as if it is your last, which is why I don't have any clean laundry because, come on, who wants to wash clothes on the last day of their life? --Age 15

   Who can argue with that last statement? But it raises an interesting question. If you knew (with full certainty) that this would be your last day on this earth, how would you live it? Would you spend the day in Bible study and prayer? Talking with people about Christ? Relaxing with your family? Or would you spend it washing clothes, cleaning the house, going to work and doing all the "mundane" things that you do every day?
   We are told to "watch" at all times, knowing that the second coming of Christ will be as unexpected as a "thief in the night" (I Thess 5:1-6). It could be within the next few hours! And since none of us are promised a certain number of years, this may well be our last day of life on this earth. So how should that affect the way we live?
   If we really believed that, it would cause us to rearrange our priorities. It would cause us to ask ourselves, "Is what I am doing important from an eternal viewpoint?" Mundane tasks such as washing our clothes remain necessary, but we all find ourselves spending much of our time doing things that seem to be important at the moment (from an earthly perspective), but which have no eternal significance.
   "Therefore let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober......For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing." (1 Thess. 5:6,9-11)

Source:
http://www.tftd-online.com/content.asp?CID=14479

If We Were Really Wise

By Helen M. Young

Socrates said over 2,000 years ago: "Could I climb to the highest place in Athens, I would lift my voice and proclaim, “Fellow citizens, why do you turn and scrape every stone to gather wealth and take so little care of your children to who one day you must relinquish it all.”

We are concerned about the little training in the bible which the children of America are receiving.  We do not claim to know exactly how it can be done in every instance, but we are committed to the proposition that America's greatest need is spiritual rather than material. We believe we must restore God to the central place in our training program for our children.

If God is our creator, if He is our Father, if He is the one who sustains us, and gives us every blessing, then we cannot really understand anything in his universe apart from Him. Every thing relates to Him. We came from Him. We live to fulfill His purpose for us. We shall face Him in judgment. He cannot be ignored or relegated to the periphery of our life with impunity.

We pray that God will help our generation to restore Him to His proper place in the training of our children.

"I saw tomorrow look at me
From little children's eyes,
And thought how carefully we would teach
If we were really wise."

Source:
Unknown

They Did It All

The little boy listened as the Sunday school teacher read the Bible. He raised his hand with a question, and said, "The Bible says that the children of Israel crossed the Red Sea. The children of Israel built the Temple. The children of Israel did this and the children of Israel did that. Didn't the grown-ups ever do anything?"

Source:
Unknown

What Our Children Need

"It's not better teachers, texts or curricula that our children need most; it's better childhoods, and we will never see lasting school reform until we first see parent reform." - Samuel G. Sava, National Assn. of Elementary School Principals

Source:
Parents Make the Difference, a publication of Cape Girardeau Public Schools, September 1991, p,. 3.

The Land of Rest

By Elinore P. Gates

Mrs. Connie was trying to teach her 3-year-old class how Moses was a leader, but few understood that idea. So she had them all stand and follow her around the classroom, down the hall to the bathroom, and back to the class, all the while explaining that she was the leader. Then she finished the story about leading the Israelites to the Promised Land.

"Now," she reviewed, "can anyone tell me where Moses led the Israelites?"

"To the bathroom!" answered Amanda.

Source:
Christian Woman, date unknown.

Say It With Flowers

A rose can say I love you,
Orchids can enthrall;
But a weed bouquet in a chubby fist,
Oh my, that says it all.

Source:
Unknown

God

One of God's main jobs is making people. He makes these to put in place of the ones that die so there will be enough people to take care of things here on earth. He doesn't make grownups. Just babies. I think because they are smaller and easier to make. That way He doesn't have to take up His valuable time teaching them to talk and walk. He can just leave that up to the mothers and fathers. I think it works out pretty good.

God's second most important job is listening to prayers. An awful lot of this goes on, and some people, like preachers and things, pray other times besides bedtime. God doesn't have time to listen to the radio or Tv on account of this. As He hears everything, not only prayers, there must be a terrible lot of noise into His ears, unless He has thought of a way to turn it off.

God sees everything and hears everything and is everywhere. Which keeps Him pretty busy. So you shouldn't go wasting His time by going over your parents head and ask for something they said you couldn't have.

Atheists are people who don't believe in God. I don't think there are any In Chula Vista. At least there aren't any who come to our church.

Jesus is God's son. He used to do all the hard work like walking on water and doing miracles and trying to teach people about God who didn't want to learn. They finally got tired of Him preaching to them and they crucified Him. But He was good and kind like His Father and He told His Father that they didn't know what they were doing and to forgive them and God said OK. His dad (God) appreciated everything He had done and all His hard work on earth, so He told Him He didn't have to go out on the road anymore. He could stay in heaven. So He did. And now he helps His Dad out by listening to prayers and seeing which things are important for God to take care of and which ones He can take care of Himself without having to bother God with. Like a secretary, only more important, of course. You can pray anytime you want and they are sure to hear because They've got It worked out so one of them is on duty all the time.

You should always go to Sunday School because it makes God happy and if there's anybody you want to make happy, it's God. Don't skip Sunday School to do something you think will be more fun like going to the beach. This is wrong! And besides the sun doesn't come out at the beach until noon, anyway.

If you don't believe in God, besides an Atheist, you will be very lonely, because your parents can't go everywhere with you like camp, but God can. It's good to know He's around when you're scared of the dark or when you can't swim very good and you get thrown in real deep water by big kids. But you shouldn't always think of what God can do for you. I figure God put me here and He can take me back anytime He pleases.

And that's why I believe in God.

Written by Danny Dutton, third grade student In Chula Vista, CA.

Source:
Christian Chronicle, October 1993, p. 11.