From the very beginning, God has shown patience with people. All the way back in the garden, when Adam and Eve first chose their own way instead of God’s, God started His plan to give all of us a chance to come back to Him. And time and again, God is patient with us when we make daily choices that separate us from Him. He waits for us to turn back to Him.

As a fruit of the Spirit, patience is a foundational way that we reflect God’s character. When we show patience, we are less likely to hurt our relationships with others. We are more likely to trust that God has something better for us in the future.

Patience is waiting until later for what you want now. Waiting isn’t always easy. When having patience seems too difficult, the Lord will give us strength to wait. At its core, patience is fueled by faith. We trust that what we’re waiting for is best for us.

But patience is more than just waiting. It’s also about our attitude while we wait. A patient person can wait with joy even when the situation might be stressful or anxious. A patient person avoids searching or settling for a quick fix.

The monthly memory verse is: “Wait for the Lord. Be strong and don’t lose hope. Wait for the Lord.” Psalm 27:14, NIrV Sometimes it feels too hard to be strong while we wait, but our trust in God gives us the strength to wait well.

In Week One’s Bible story, Esau comes in from hunting and is very hungry (Genesis 25:24-34). Because he can’t wait, Esau ends up trading his entire inheritance for a full stomach. Our Bottom Line is: When you think you can’t wait, think twice. Don’t give up what’s best for something immediate.

In Week Two’s Bible story, the Israelites grew impatient waiting for Moses to finish meeting with God (Exodus 32:1-35) and asked Aaron to build an idol for them. Our Bottom Line is: When you think you can’t wait, don’t forget what’s true. God had put Moses in charge of the Israelites and led them out of slavery. But in a moment of impatience, they forgot everything they’d experienced.

In Week Three’s Bible story, Hannah wants to become a mother but is waiting for a baby (1 Samuel 1:9–2:1). Even through the sadness of her prayers, God gives her the strength to wait until the time is right. Our Bottom Line is: When you think you can’t wait, tell God about it. God wants us to talk to Him when we’re facing a difficult time.

In Week Four’s biblical principle, we learn the wisdom of being patient (Proverbs 14:29). Our Bottom Line is: When you think you can’t wait, don’t lose your cool. We can work hard to keep control of our words, actions, and attitudes while we wait. That way we can avoid doing something we might regret.

For God, it seems as though patience is all about relationships with people. Even after we sinned, He still pursued us. He waited time after time for people to repent and work to make things right. Something He still does today.

By Jessica McKee ©2013 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. www.ThinkOrange.com *Used by permission.

Posted in Families, Kids, Parent Connection Activities, Parenting Resources by Nic Allen No Comments

Rolling Hills Family Ministry has identified six key milestone moments in the spiritual development of a child. Are there more than six moments that count along the way? Sure. We have focused in on six that we would like to celebrate alongside families to mark these special moments.

Because these moments are spiritually significant, scripture is a central feature. In several occasions, parents are asked to choose a special verse or passage to pass on to their child. The first is Family Dedication. Parents at RHCC who choose to have their child dedicated participate in our Family Dedication class and service, both offered several times each year. As part of the ceremony, parents are asked to identify a life verse. At the next milemarker, kindergarten graduation, parents are asked to use this life verse or another of their choosing to “bless” their children. Choosing a life-verse can be a daunting task, especially when picking it for your child. Here is a simple guide to point you in the right direction.

1. Take a deep breath. This is not as big as naming your child. You did that well. You chose something that is meaningful and special to you. You chose a name that you would say every day for the rest of your life and never grow tired of hearing. Making big choices definitely goes with the parenting territory. As far as choices go, you’ve already tacked way more difficult tasks and even tougher ones lay ahead. So breathe easy.

2. Start with prayer. Ask God to direct you to a special verse you can use to love, lead, and bless your child. It’s God’s word so you can’t go wrong. Well…it would be difficult to go wrong. Some verses, such as 1 Samuel 25:38 are obviously not great life-verse candidates. “About 10 days later, the Lord struck Nabal dead.” Simply start by asking God to lead you to passages that are inspiring, celebratory, and even prophetic. Choose one of those.

3. Consider lots of options, especially those about growth and blessings. Here are a few options to get you started. Joshua 1:7, Colossians 2:7, Zephaniah 3:17, Micah 6:8, Psalm 91:11, Proverbs 21:21, Psalm 1:1-3, Ephesians 3:16-19, Matthew 5:8, Matthew 22:37-39, Luke 2:52, and Isaiah 30:21.

4. Consult wise council. Perhaps it’s grandparents, godparents, a special aunt, uncle, mentor, or close friend. Seek special people in your life to help you land on just the right verse. This also gives you a great chance to share how important scripture is to you in raising your child. It’s a great opportunity to include them, share your faith, and gain confidence in the choice to use the verse or verses you have found.

5. Choose a verse as a parent for yourself too. Not only should you work on choosing just the right verse to bless your child, you should choose one for yourself too. What about Joshua 24:15 or Deuteronomy 6:4-9, verses that talk to us about raising our kids with godly fervor! Make sure you concentrate at least some of your creative brainstorming on a special verse or passage that inspires you to go God’s way as a mom or dad.

6. Celebrate. Once you have your special verse…celebrate. Have the verse painted on a canvas for your child’s room. Add it to your fridge door or bulletin board so it takes a prominent place in your home. Find someway to display the special selection so you can continue to pray the verse and share it with your child. Make sure you thank God too for leading you there.

The life-verse is a special feature at Family Dedication and Kindergarten Graduation. At milemarker 1, the verse is announced to the body of believers when introducing the child. At milemarker 2, the verse is shared with the child who is now old enough to read and memorize the verse. Essentially, it is passed by the parents to the child. These are both special moments worth the time and effort to consider just what verse might mean most to you as you raise your child to know and follow Jesus well.

If you have any questions about choosing a life verse, or about the events surrounding milemarkers 1 and 2, please give me a shout. I’m here to help.

Nic Allen, Family/Children’s Pastor

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God told Abraham that he would be the father of a great nation of people—he was. God told the Israelites that He would provide for them in the desert—He did. God told Joshua that the wall of Jericho would fall if the people marched around it for seven days—it did. God told Mary that she would have a baby boy—she did.

Jesus said He would die and rise again three days later—He did!

Honesty is important because it builds trust. Honesty is choosing to be truthful in whatever you say and do. What God says is true; He has shown us that time and time again. And that’s one of the reasons we know we can trust God.

But the same should be true in our own lives. If we want other people to trust us, we need to live honest lives. When we tell the truth and we follow through with our promises, other people learn to trust us. But when we cover up who we are, what we’ve done, or we constantly break our promises, then the people around us stop trusting us. They begin to wonder if, in the Moment of Truth, can you be trusted?

The monthly memory verse is: “An honest person has respect for the Lord,” Proverbs 14:2a, NIrV. Living a life of honesty shows that we respect God and the people we care about. We can find a way to be truthful and still careful of the feelings of those we care about.

In Week One’s Bible story, Jacob’s sons lie to him about what’s happened to Joseph (Genesis 37:17-36; 45:25-28). They broke their father’s heart by telling him Joseph had been attacked by animals. Our Bottom Line is: When you are not truthful, you can hurt the people you care about. Regardless of our reasons for lying, someone eventually gets hurt.

In our Week Two Bible story, we meet Gehazi, Elisha’s trusted servant (2 Kings 5, NIrV). When Gehazi lies about accepting gifts, he can no longer be trusted and suffers a great loss. Our Bottom Line is: When you are not truthful, you lose trust. Honesty is also about consistently speaking and living truthfully and acting on what we say.

In Week Three’s Bible story, Zacchaeus was a thief and considered a traitor to his people (Luke 19:1-10). When he decided to follow Jesus, Zacchaeus worked hard to earn his community’s trust. Our Bottom Line is: When you are truthful and make things right, you build trust. When we admit we have not been truthful, we can earn back other’s trust.

In Week Four, Judas betrays his Teacher and Friend for thirty pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16, 20-25, 45-50; 27:1-5). Judas spent every day with the Truth but still chose dishonesty. Our Bottom Line is: You can lie so much that it’s hard to remember what’s true. So often in our lives, one lie leads to another as we have to cover up the stories we told before.

Week Five is Easter! In this week’s Bible story, we’re examining some of the amazing things Jesus said and the most amazing thing He did (John 3:3, 16; 14:1-6, 28-29; John 18-20). Jesus made some incredible statements about Himself that even some of His followers had trouble believing. But our Bottom Line is: When Jesus came back from the dead, it proved that what He said was true. When we have doubts about God, we can remember He kept the biggest promise of all.

Living an honest life may sometimes be hard. It might mean admitting when we’ve done something wrong or made an embarrassing mistake. It might mean passing up a chance to sneak an extra turn and win the game while your friend isn’t looking. Or it may be as simple as following through on the things we have promised. Whatever the circumstances, this month look for ways to be honest so that others can trust you.

By Daniel Scott ©2013 The reThink Group. All rights reserved. www.ThinkOrange.com *Used by permission.

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It’s time to GET MESSY! That’s right! This month on Main Street is a total mess. Why? Because we’re learning all about peace. Our definition of that important virtue is PEACE: PROVING YOU CARE MORE ABOUT EACH OTHER THAN WINNING THE ARGUMENT. If you have more than one child, you know that kids argue. As a parent, you likely wear the mediator hat on a regular basis settling disputes among your kids. This month, we’re learning about why its important to value peace and how to achieve it in our relationships with others. We’re teaching kids that peace is more than just “not fighting,” but finding a way to show you care more about the other person than you do about being right. Ultimately, peace is messy and it takes hard work and sacrifice. Jesus gave up a great deal to bring us peace with God. When we are willing to keep peace, we are illustrating Him in a really big way!

Think about peace this month and how you demonstrate it in your life and in your home:

1. Do you work to make peace with your spouse so that your kids will see the effort even if its messy?

2. Do you demonstrate peace with your coworkers by valuing those relationships in front of your kids?

3. Do you maintain peace with extended family members even when its hard?

4. Do you help your kids understand why peace is important or just instruct them to “not argue” with one another?

Things worth thinking about this month. If you miss a God Time Card or Parent Cue, you can access those downloads below. As always, if you ever have questions or want more info about our Sunday AM kids curriculum, I’m just a phone call or email away.

Feb 3 God Time Card

Feb 10 God Time Card

Feb 17 God Time Card

Feb 24 God Time Card

February 2013 Parent Cue

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Join us for the ^3rd Annual Daddy Daughter Ball – Friday March 1 6:30pm at the WareHouse

Dads, treat your daughters to a night to remember and demonstrate to them the way they should be treated! It’s a Candy Wonderland Ball for dads to celebrate their precious girls (ages 4 to 12). Tickets are $6 each for the first daddy daughter pair and $3 for each additional daughter.

Here are 5 ways to make it a night she’ll always remember.

1.  Get dressed up in your best!  Not only will she love dressing up for the night, she’ll feel special when you do the same. No tux rental necessary. This isn’t the prom or your wedding day. Nice pants and a tie will be just fine. In case you haven’t worn one in a while, try this link for tie tying demos (http://www.tieanecktie.com/)

2. Leave the house for a while and come pick her up at the front door like a date! Do all the things your dad told you to do on a date (open doors, pull out chairs, etc.) as a demo for how she should be treated. When she’s older, she won’t want some guy honking the horn for her to run outside when she sees how special it is to be treated like a lady.

3. Do dinner before hand, just the two of you (or more of you if you have more than one daughter)! Light hors’dourves and dessert will be served at the ball. Use the dinner hour before as a way to spend even more time together. Take her to a restaurant that you wouldn’t normally go to and enjoy the occasion.

4. Bust a move in the Dads only dance contest! Who knows? You might even win. She might say she’s embarrassed but secretly, she’ll love having a dad who can let loose, act crazy, and wrangle the spotlight for a few moments.

5. Tell her over and over how pretty and how special she is and how much you LOVE spending time with her. Your daughter is going to grow up one day (very soon) and she’ll choose a guy to love her based on the love she’s experienced at home from her father. She’ll build her understanding on how she should be treated based on the way you treat her so use this night as a way to help build that foundation into her esteem and into her future.

Click here for tickets or buy them at the Kids Check-in kiosk on Sunday mornings. Plan to be part of another magical Daddy Daughter Ball.

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Fort: Articulate is back and better than ever as kids discover more great truths about what we believe as Christians. This year, we’re using Catechism as our mode. Catechism is the process of teaching simple truths to young believers. It is a method as old as the early church. Fathers of our faith in the early days of Christendom used  this simple Q&A format to teach biblical truths, especially to the largely illiterate masses. Without a Bible in a language that people read and wrote, teaching tools were a necessity. This season of FORT, kids go home with 3-5  questions and answers as well as 3-5 associated verses each week. As parents, why not take the challenge and memorize the truths yourself too? It will be a big help to your kids and it may even draw you closer to Christ too. Access the weekly take home truth sheets using the links below. If you have questions, email Nic Allen. Hope to see you and your kids on Wednesday nights at FORT, 6-7:30pm.

FORT LEARNING WEEK 1

FORT LEARNING WEEK 2

These handouts are available in hard copy on Wednesdays as well as weekly on the Family Ministry App. Search for “Rolling Hills Family Ministry” in iTunes or your smart device app store and download it for free today.

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Are you a frequent runner? If you are, you may be so awesome that you no longer face the issue of wanting to quit. I’m a new guy on the running trend. I have a total of 3 5k races under my belt and I am contemplating what is next for me and my running shoes. My problem with races isn’t the motivation to get started. It’s the determination to keep going. Kids are learning about DETERMINATION this month on Main Street. It means deciding its worth it to finish what you start. When it comes to racing, that is my motivation. It feels good to finish. So when I’m tired and want to quit, I mentally have to picture the finish line and imagine the feeling I’ll have when I cross the line (and get my complimentary bottled water). With kids, motivation is everything. Some kids are easier to motivate than others. Helping them understand that it’s worth it to finish what you start can be complicated. Explaining determination and executing its value can be difficult. So many things that are worthy in life are tough. That usually means they are worth it. So this month, examine your level of determination and that of your kids.

1. Are your kids determined to do their best in school?

2. Are you determined to make the most of every opportunity to seize teachable moments as a parent?

3. Are your kids determined to make wise choices?

4. Are you determined as a family to make Christ and His church a priority in your life?

5. Are you determined to demonstrate Christian service, godly attitudes, and Christ-like character as a parent?

Things worth thinking about this month! Use the links below to access weekly God Time Cards and the Monthly Parent Cue. They are always worth it too.

Week 1 God Time Card

Week 2 God Time Card

Week 3 God Time Card

Week 4 God Time Card

January 2013 Parent Cue (weekly cues available on the Family Ministry App)

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Worship God with your Family on Christmas Day!

We may celebrate Christmas all month long, but December the 25^th is still a special day to celebrate the birth of Jesus. This devotion is an outline for how you might celebrate Christ on Christmas Day as a family.

Sing a song of Praise:

Choose a few favorite Christmas carols to celebrate the birth of Jesus. If you don’t want to go the a cappella route, use the carol links below.

Away in a Manger

O Come Let Us Adore Him

Read the Christmas Story:

Read the Christmas story Luke 2 aloud as a family or view this special reading of Luke chapter 2!

Celebrate Christ at Christmas:

After opening gifts, take some of the discarded wrapping paper and use it to make a paper chain for your tree. If you don’t have wrapping paper leftovers, any white or colored paper will work.

1. Cut the paper into 2 inch x 10 inch strips (approximately)
2. Give each family member 8 strips of paper and have each person write down or draw a picture of the following 8 names/titles of Jesus
   1. Alpha and Omega, beginning and end (Revelation 1:8)
   2. Messiah (John 4:25-26)
   3. Lamb of God (John 1:29)
   4. Light of the World (John 8:12)
   5. Bread of Life (John 6:35)
   6. Word of God (John 1:1-3)
   7. Good Shepherd (John 10:11)
   8. The Vine (John 15:5)
   9. Use each of the sets of names to create one long paper chain to display on your Christmas tree.

Pray a prayer of blessing:

Dear Jesus, thank You for coming into the world. Thank You for being our savior and our King. Jesus, we honor You today and every day. Thank You for offering us forgiveness of our sins, and making us right with God. We love You and we praise You. Amen.

Other ideas you might incorporate:

• Wrap the baby Jesus and allow your kids to open Him first on Christmas morning.
• Use your nativity as a visual aid when telling the story.
• Make a birthday banner – grab some art supplies and task your kids with making a Christmas/birthday banner for Jesus.
• Sing “Happy Birthday” to Jesus as a family.
• Write the names of family members on little strips of paper and place them all in a cup. Pass the cup and take turns drawing out a name. Pray for each person as you draw their name.
• Family Facetime Caroling.  Use Skype or Facetime to go online caroling. Pick a favorite tune and practice a few times. Contact out of town friends and family and surprise them with your virtual Christmas caroling.

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By now, you are all knee deep in buying and wrapping, planning and baking. It’s the spirit of the season. Our hope and prayer is that you are making the most of advent by seizing every opportunity to point to the meaning of the season which is Christmas. Here are a few of my best efforts to help you do that with your kids this year:

1. What about other traditions? Older kids may likely be asking questions about other traditions like Hanukkah. It’s important that we be ready and willing to answer any questions kids might have and to be able to use those moments to point to the true meaning of Christ. A few years ago, I wrote a note about Hanukkah to explain what the celebration meant and to unpack at least a few of the ways the celebration points to Jesus. Check it out here.

2. Don’t forget the Advent Box – or any other Advent tool you have been using to read scripture and create Christ centered moments each day leading up to Christmas. If you need a simple online tool to enhance your RH Advent Card box or the resource you are using, check out Family Advent.

3. Decide now what fun moment you will create on Christmas morning that is more about Christ and His presence than any of the other presents. We send our girls on a hunt around the house to gather the characters from their Little People nativity set. Then we read the story leading up to the first gift, always the wrapped up baby Jesus. The Westmoreland family has a fantastic tradition that they shared with the kindergarten class this week – the What God Wants For Christmas activity story book. Find one online here today. It’s worth twice its weight in gold in terms of family advent devotion!

4. Finally, every year I get lots of inquiries about what to do with that other Christmas tradition, the one about the big guy in the red suit. Every family can certainly do it differently. If you are honoring Christ first and foremost, I don’t believe anyone will have trouble with the celebration of St. Nick. I did, however, read a wonderful blog from a pastor I trust about the real legend of St. Nicholas. It’s worth a read when it comes to explaining the true meaning of Christmas and why fun traditions like St. Nick ultimately point to Jesus…if you know the real story that is. Keep this one for when kids get older and you need some special answers!

Hope these help you as you help your kids celebrate the real meaning of Christmas.

Merry Christmas,

Pastor Nic

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November on Main Street is all about Cooperation. Kids are learning that you can do more together than you can alone, especially when it comes to serving God. We can do more for HIM and HIS KINGDOM TOGETHER than we can apart. What a great way to spend a month that’s all about gratitude learning to work together for the  good of others. That’s why there are some great opportunities this month for kids to work together:

FORT ON MISSION:

November 7 – Fort on Mission: Operation (Shop ‘til we drop) Christmas Child field trip. Kids should bring $7 to shop at Dollar General for items to fill our boxes. Parents may sign up to serve and chaperon our shopping trips and box making efforts.

November 14 – Kids Ministry Feast or Famine. Kids will bring food for Share Your Shelf and experience a night of what kids in the developing world endure because of hunger. Kids will learn to appreciate what we have while praying and helping those who don’t!

As always, Fort is 6-7:30 Wednesday nights on Main Street.

Plus, there is Saturday Serve on Saturday, November 10th. Sign up as a family to serve TOGETHER, cooperating with others to make a difference!

Also as a family, plan to participate in Share Your Shelf, our annual food drive for people in our community with needs.

Our Memory Verse this month on Sunday mornings is:

Help bring that verse to life this month by serving with your kids TOGETHER so they can see the value of how much we can do when we cooperate to serve God and others.

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