February: Kindness

Showing others they are valuable by how you treat them
“Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31

Last nights discussion was on the kindness of Jesus saying "let the little children come to me....." and how that is or isn't played out in our lives today. Not with just kindness to children but to each other too. What does that look like? Are we too busy or too self-centered to notice others or do we take time to?
Here's the questions we said we'd post after last night.
Talk about it:

· Is there a Christ like love and concern within our group? Our Church?

· Do visitors and new members feel welcome? On Wed.? On Sunday?

· Are Bible study and prayer high priorities for our group?

· If you were a visitor would you want to be a part of this group?

These next questions take the previous ones and make them personal
· Do you have a Christ like love and concern for others? How do you develop it?

· Do you make visitors and new members feel welcome? How could you?

· Are Bible study and prayer high priorities for you? How can you make them?

Read: Mark 10:15 “I tell you the truth, anyone who will not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it”
· What does this mean to you?
· How can you apply it? To your life? To wed. night FamilyTIME?

Pray that God would help us grow together and reach out to others

CFC FamilyTime

As we studied tonight about the Sabbath and it's importance in regard to orderliness, we started with an activity of drawing the 6 days of Creation. Usually we have an active, LOUD game but that just didn't seem right tonight as we were going to be discussing REST. There were six groups and here's what they came up with......so cool!


It was also really cool to end the night with the baptism of Daulton Foster at another local church. The coming together of two bodies in celebration of Daulton's committment to Christ was really cool and one of the great things we hope to see more of, churches all coming together for the Kingdom.

Listening to the Silence

Tonight at FamilyTime we talked about the Sabbath, what it is and what it means for us today. I found this article in a blog this week. I think we were all challenged to reconsider for ourselves and our families what resting in Christ really means. I gave this article to the youth to take home. Let us know how it speaks to you to.

Solitude and Sabbath are pretty heavy words, but both are practices we should incorporate into our daily routines (ok, weekly) in order for us to grow and maintain a healthy lifestyle. Solitude and Sabbath are more similar than they are different and should actually be accomplished together. A sabbath, in its biblical context, is rest from a day’s work and is meant to be enjoyed; it is something we should look forward to. This does not mean shutting yourself up in your room and depriving yourself of interaction with others, nor does it mean vegging out in front of the TV all day watching Mythbusters, sports, soaps or Project Runway marathons. Find something or somewhere that calms you, allows you to be silent before the Lord and refills your spirit. Solitude finds its way into your Sabbath almost unknowingly and gives God a chance to catch up with you. Slowing down and making time for solitude and a real Sabbath gives your body a chance to wind down and heart to open up—. Taking a Sabbath and quieting ourselves gets to the root of our lives, and it was designed for us to take advantage of.

Ready to Go Deeper? Start with just 5 minutes each morning to read a paragraph of the bible. Read through a gospel, Acts or one of the letters in the new testament.
Ask your self—what can I learn about God from this? What Can I learn about being a Christian from this? How can I apply this to my life today?

Rest

God took a break and enjoyed the view and so should we!

It's funny, after I read my sister Christians post about how unrestful her Sunday was and her frustration with Sunday supposedly being a day of rest but often isn't, today I read our FamilyTime weekly devotion and it was on a day of rest. For her, Friday and Saturday seem more like a day of rest than Sunday and I often feel that exact way. A great many of us have been programmed that Sunday is supposed to be a day of rest. We have that expectation and then when it's not met we are frustrated. Does it really matter what day our day of rest is? Does it specifically have to mean Sunday? What did/does God mean when He encouraged/encourages us to take a day of rest?

Week 2 of our study of Orderliness.....a day of rest.....interesting. Week 1 was the order in which God created the earth and now week 2, rest.

I also popped in my DriveTime CD today and would encourage you to listen to the parents tip, begins at track 9. Looking forward to our FamilyTime Wed!!! And there's a special surprise to follow!!