Precept Upon Precept

“For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept;
line upon line, line upon line;
here a little, and there a little:”
Isaiah 28:10

Hello,

You haven’t heard from me in a while, and I apologize for that. You are on my mind: Sunday school teachers, children’s ministry workers, parents. In whatever way you are working to teach children the Bible, it is always a challenge, and the last couple of years have been extra-challenging. We may have lost connection with some of our students and their families, and that burdens my heart.

I desire to share ideas and encouragement with you: things that have worked for me that might help you. The last few years have brought many interruptions to this process. But precept upon precept, line upon line, little by little I am still learning and teaching children the Bible. I hope you are too!

Last Saturday when I was preparing for Sunday school, I had such a wonderful time. As I sang along with the worship songs--some from Seeds Family Worship and some with lyric videos I made with Superstring Lyric Video Maker --I could feel God right here in my kitchen. As I fine-tuned my lesson plan, I took joy in the Word of God. My faith rose as I prayed for an outpouring of the Holy Spirit during our lesson on the Helmet of Salvation. armor-of-god.html

That was Saturday. On Sunday morning my heart was heavy. A message I had listened to on The Biblos Network was stirring in my mind. It contained a simple but hard truth about wolves. They are necessary for a healthy ecosystem in Yellowstone National Park, and they are necessary in our lives. We need wolves. They are part of how things work together for our good. All Things Work Together

During prayer time in my classroom before the kids arrived, I cried out for my students and for my own children. My heart was heavy for them all. I was thinking, God, I am willing to cry and pray like this, but why this morning? Where is the joy of yesterday? I need energy and joy to deal with the kids when they arrive.

I knew from previous experience that God would get me through teaching, heavy heart or not, and He did. But afterwards, looking at how the class had gone, I was a little disappointed: I had a student who was distracted and distracting the entire time about Valentines she brought to hand out at the end of class. Kids did not respond during prayer time as I had hoped. They did not seem to feel what I had felt in preparing for class.

Now it is the next Saturday, and as I make my final preparations for tomorrow, God reminded me,