Eyes Fixed

Dear families,

I was listening to a talk by Tim Kimmel on Facebook live about a couple of weeks ago. He shared a story that has not left my thoughts so I would like to share it with you.

Tim told a story about a family who were coming out of their safe hiding place after a hurricane. As they were coming out, they looked all around at the damage done by the hurricane. As they were assessing the destruction, their kids did not run off to play. They stayed close. As the parents were looking around at the ruins, their children were not. They were looking up at their parents’ faces.

I have my own story to tell. My dad was not faithful to our family in caring for our needs. His craving for alcohol and other things took precedence. As a child of only 3 years, I took my cues from my mom. I figured out when pay day was because my mom would pace the floors in tears as the minutes ticked by and it became more and more evident that my dad was not coming home. I watched my mom closely. She was so caught up in her fears that she didn’t notice me sitting there watching her. Unfortunately, this created anxiety in me that I would deal with for years to come.

We have been walking through this covid19 crisis for almost 6 weeks now. What have your kids seen on your faces? If fear has been your main emotion through this, it’s not too late for your kids to see a change and watch as the peace of God replaces that fear. Like my mom, you may be struggling to fight off the emotion of fear, but choose today to speak words of hope and watch as the peace of God begins to replace the fear. Take time to pray with your kids and to pray over them as they sleep. God has given us the job to protect our children. You can’t protect them from everything, storms will come. But will you be their calm in the storm? God will give you the strength if you call out to Him and put your hope and trust in his sovereign power.

“For our present troubles are small and won’t last very long. Yet they produce for us a glory that vastly outweighs them and will last forever! So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

2 Corinthians 4:17-18

This week, my pick is something real nice and simple, and perhaps even laughable. It is something that has had a very special place in my life: Veggietales. If you're struggling with activities, or finding good content. or maybe you're still wanting to have some form of Sunday school, but are wanting a break from preparation. Veggietales is a wonderful alternative. You can find tons of Veggietales episodes on Youtube for free; this Youtube playlist contains just some of the options for you and your kids.

Don't forget to check out PAOC's Sunday school curriculum for great lessons and activity ideas! 

Feel free to let us know what you think about the curriculum, or if there's anything else we can do for you! We would also love to hear about any other resources you're using during this time, or any tips in general:)

Have a great week everyone! We shall be in touch.