Monday, October 31, 2011

What's in Your Brownies?? ~ Take Back the Date!!

...from our archives...we love to repost this on this date...







A modern day parable...

Hey, kids!! You're home! Hey, come on back to the kitchen--we're making brownies today! You get the mix out...O.K. let's see ...what do we need next...
a little sugar {yum, sugar! who doesn't love it?!!}
some eggs {watch out! They are fragile--they might break!}
salt {make sure its the salty kind--we can't use it if it loses its flavor--taste it, test it to make sure--is it salty? a little goes such a long way! great!! you kids are GREAT bakers!!}
What else do we need...Oh, yes!! OIL {It holds EVERYTHING in the recipe together} Let's pour in the oil and mix it ALL through our recipe

Hmmmmn, kids you know what? These brownies are going to taste terrific? Can't wait to eat em huh? Let me JUST slip in ONE more thing before we bake and eat them up--I saw alot of my friends putting this into their brownies recently. Yeah, it doesn't smell so great but...it's brown isn't it? Yes, it looks kinda gross but we're just putting in SUCH a LITTLE bit and maybe JUST this week we will add in this extra ingredient and then we'll go back to making our brownies the way we usually do. O.K. Let's mix this in--this is going to be FUN--does everyone want a turn stirring? Good JOB. Hey, I know, let's share some of these brownies with the neighborhood kids too--so that we all can try em. GREAT! This is fun--now let's pop them in the oven...setting the timer...

Hey, hand me that bowl over there--wow, it really is stinky, huh? But I sure wouldn't want our friends to not like us if we didn't make brownies like this, this week. We might miss out on some great fellowship--I heard they are even bringing brownies like this to church fellowship groups and celebrations this week in addition to all the brownie parties in the neighborhoods and schools this week. You, know if its being brought to church--it MUST be O.K., right?

DING, DING, DING--Oh, that's the oven buzzer let's take out our treat. Who wants a glass of milk with our brownies today? YUM!! FUN!! Oh, you're welcome!! :)
Yummy, soooo good! Should we pack some up and hand them out now? Great?--Yes, honey, what did you say?--Oh, what was the special ingredient? Is that what you asked? Well I just added in what everyone is adding into baked goods this week...

Dog Poop...

Oh, don't look so horrified!:)

...it was only a little bit...
Now...who wants some more?

A little break down of our recipe and why I'm telling this story this week:

Brownie Recipe is what we are pouring into our children's lives and hearts.
Mix is God's best, His Truth for them, the foundation of God's Word

Sugar--the pleasure this world has to offer can be a gift from God and also a distraction for our hearts

Egg--a reminder that their hearts are fragile. As parents we are the guardians of our children's hearts--our wellspring of Life flows up from well-tended hearts.

Salt--Our value to the Lord and our influence for His Kingdom in our World. Just a little of our influence shines SUCH a long way.

Oil--The abiding presence of the Holy Spirit in us. We are to stay in step with Him. Choosing ways that are not of Him actually brings grief to Him. Every bit of us should be "mixed" with God's holiness--His presence--His anointing--His anointing is light and cannot mix with darkness.

And the mystery ingredient? GROSS!! you say! Yes!! Totally Gross!! But a picture of what so many believers in Christ do every Halloween week. Taking just LITTLE bits from a demonic celebration and ingesting them--mixing them into their lives--feeding these elements to their children with much festivity!!

You may have not heard, and if not, you need to know that Halloween is not just about candy, good times, costumes, and acting. NO, the origins of Halloween are downright creepy. As my kids would tell you, I'm sure there are no Halloween celebrations going on in heaven this week and so there will be none at our home either!
Halloween has pagan origins. There is much more history that would be helpful to know but simply, the people worshiped dark spirits and were afraid of the undead who walked on the earth once a year on this night. They would leave treats outside of their door so that demons would not carry them off to Hell--some "trick"!--and the costumes were to hide from the evil spirits as well. Even without knowing this, there are obvious signs that this celebration glorifies death, fear, and witchcraft--

-all things that Christ died on the cross to get VICTORY over!!

There just is NO fellowship light with darkness.
In fact--when light appears--the dark must run away!

Many, many cool and nice people--really likable people that I know celebrate Halloween--some only in measure. But PLEASE remember the brownies--even a little bit -- is dangerous. If I am now not "likeable" for writing this post to you, that's really o.k. with me for although I like you very much, I love you so much more and needed to share truth with you today.

"This is the message, we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in Him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in Spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from all sin. If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to Him, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that His word has no place in our hearts." I John 1:5-10 "And this world is fading away, along with everything that people crave. But anyone who does what pleases God will live forever." I John 2:17

"Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armor of right living...clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ..." Romans 13:11-14

Children of Light--don't eat the brownies!!

Love, Gillian

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Ashley speaks on Comrades :)

Now it's Ashley's turn!

Here is a video about forming David/Johnathon type friendships in our children. School does not have to be a lonely or scary for any children in our midst when Christ-filled children learn how to reach out with God's love to draw in other kids around them. The bond children are capable of creating is incredible and can last for a lifetime.

We call this, "marvelous comaraderie"--its simple, but carries so much impact for children. If you have ever lived through a season in which it was your child who was the one who was left out (or that is a tender memory) you know how weighty relationships are in a child's life. We are watching the fruit of real "comaraderie"--where children are truly for one another--not perfect, but definitely joy-filled and welcoming-- in our family and at school. Makes such a difference in the school experience for the whole family!! The whole video is sweet but if you are short on time, friends, and have not seen Ashley in a while, her part of the video starts around minute 6.26.



Blessings!!

Ashley and our other children would love to pray for any kids that might be lonely or having a rough time with relationships in school or for any other request. The kids will be taking questions as well for how to create a more peaceful/joy-filled environment for friends at school. Feel free to contact them for prayer at tuckergillian@gmail.com or in the comments section below.

"I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13)

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Fire in the Night ~ Anderson takes over the blog this time! :)

This post is really by our Mr. Adorable, Anderson. (11 years old)

His Words:

"Hi this is Anderson, after dinner tonight we were praying for people who do not know or love Jesus. There are SOOoooo many who DON'T. God pressed on my heart and I had to do SOMETHING. First, I made a good news book out of craft materials and asked my mom if I could go out right then and find someone to share the gospel of Jesus with. She said it was too dark and late but suggested I tell YOU on HERE by making a video!! I just needed to tell people about Jesus tonight! This is good news that EVERYBODY needs to hear!!If you don't know Jesus, here are the basics in my videos here. Really. Get to know Jesus, He is so awesome. You will get more than like all the money of the world if you come to know Christ. You only have a little bit of life to know Jesus."

(Yep...I told ya he's adorable!!)

"Please look at my videos. I really want you to know Jesus!!"

"Love, Anderson"


This will blow your MIND!!:




Let's start at the very beginning:



This is VERY important:



The red words bring us life --REALLY!!



Getting Washed is Like Jesus having a car wash



(sorry this is on its side!!)

Be blessed, Love, Your Friend, Anderson