VBS

As so often is the case, God uses the lessons for the kids to reach ME, too. This year's Bible School theme was "Journey off the Map." How many times do we have our days, weeks, our very lives all planned out, and even have a map in our minds of how we will get there. THEN we ask God to guide us. But, God calls us to follow HIS path and HIS plan for our lives...and it may be off 'our' map.

Sometimes we balk when God tries to adjust our steps, when instead we should be oh, so grateful. He is the ultimate guide, He sees up ahead that we cannot see and He sees where our planned steps will take us. It might even be a good route, with great things along the way. But HIS plan is the BEST route, with only the best learning experiences along the way, steps that will lead us closer to Him.

So, I hope this theme sticks in my mind, as well as the motto and verse....THIS is the way, walk in it. I pray I will listen to the voice of my guide, and I will remember that I know my guide, and so I need to trust and follow Him.

Action Figure

Like most boys who grew up in the sixties, I went through my action figure stage. Mine was a little different, though. My parents wouldn't buy me the GI Joe I wanted, so I had to make do with my sister's Ken doll. My GI Joe was the best dressed soldier in the entire armed forces.

The problem with action figures was not their name or their wardrobe; the problem with action figures is that they really didn't do anything. You could bend their arms upward, but that only made my GI Ken look like he was surrendering. The "action" had to be supplied by me.

This week, we look at a passage of scripture that describes a love that does more than just look good. I John 3:18 calls every believer to love with action and truth.

Hope to see you Sunday!

Vaughn


Listen to this message at http://www.nationalheights.org/messages.html

Good Friend

Growing up, I had a good friend named Jerry. I'm not sure how I met Jerry - I'm guessing our parents knew each other from church or something. Jerry and I did everything together. We swam, played baseball, waited for the ice cream truck - we did every summer activity known to childhood.

And then I moved. I never saw Jerry again. I always wondered how his life turned out, and regretted not being able to continue our friendship. Good friends are hard to find.

This week is Friend Sunday at NHBC. Sometimes, we may wonder how to be a good friend, usually basing our efforts on the friendships we have experienced in life. Sunday, we will see the perfect example that we have in Christ, described in 1 John 3:16.

Hope to see you Sunday!

Vaughn

Listen to this message at http://www.nationalheights.org/messages.html

One Thing

My next door neighbor set out a display of Christmas decorations every year. She had collected incredibly intricate porcelain manger scenes, glass ornaments, and more. Each December she filled her home with them, and then invited our family to come and see them. My mom took me aside and said, "You have one job - don't touch anything!"

So that's what I did. I went through the house and did not touch a thing. I knew when my mother was serious. "Don't touch anything" meant "don't touch anything." I didn't even scratch my nose.

This week, the scripture points out one thing we are supposed to do as believers that, if we get this right, it will transform our witness and ministry.

1 John 3:11 (NIV84)

This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.

Hope to see you Sunday!

Vaughn

Listen to this message at http://www.nationalheights.org/messages.html

Curb Service

In a parking lot outside a grocery store, the space in front of mine was empty. Instead of having to back out, I could go forward and drive out of the spot like all the professional drivers who back into their spots in the first place. I put the car in drive and hit the gas, but instead of going anywhere, I heard a loud "clunk."

It didn't take long to figure out what had happened. My parking space had one of those curbs they put in parking lots to keep people from doing the very thing I was trying to do. Even though I couldn't see it from my vantage point in the driver's seat, it still was not going to let me go forward, no matter how much I pressed on the gas.

Sometimes in our spiritual lives, we seem to be stuck. No matter what we try, we can't seem to move forward. Often, the problem is unconfessed sin. In this week's message, we will read from 1 John 3:3-10, where John comes to the same conclusion twice: sin is serious business. If we are going to live out our faith, we are going to have to allow Christ to deal with the sin in our lives.

Hope to see you Sunday!

Vaughn

Listen to this message at http://www.nationalheights.org/messages.html

Mom

This Sunday, we celebrate Mother's Day, a day commemorating the longest name in most children's vocabulary. At least it was in my house. When I got my foot stuck in the sewer, when the neighbor's chihuahua had me cornered in the backyard, when I had to have a salt dough volcano for a school presentation tomorrow, I knew the name to call: MOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.

Mom's are those folks who are there when we need them. They help prepare us for the catastrophes of life. My mom helped prepare me for my greatest need of all - she told me about Jesus. The message this week, from 1 John 3:2-3, describes that greatest need and how everyone can be ready.

Hope to see you Sunday!

Vaughn

Listen to this message at http://www.nationalheights.org/messages.html

The Keepers

I read this in The Baptist Messenger today. We have so many wonderful people at NHBC who serve by letting God love up on kids through them. So blessed by them!

The keeper is a term I use in my teaching. It comes from 1 Sam. 17:20, “So David arose early in the morning and left the flock with a keeper.” But the keeper’s name is never mentioned in the Bible. Keepers stay in the background doing what the world calls mundane. David went on to challenge Goliath, become king and get both princess and palace. The keeper stayed out in the field, and all he got was the sheep and whatever they produced. But David would have had no victory if the keeper hadn’t kept, and he wouldn’t have become king if the keeper hadn’t kept.

David’s experience is no different from what happens today. Those middle school students wouldn’t have a Sunday School teacher if the childcare workers hadn’t kept. And those people who came to Christ this morning? They might not have found salvation if the church hadn’t provided some keepers who kept their children. If it weren’t for the keepers, the world would come to a standstill.

When God decided to send His birth announcement, He didn’t send it to the kings or the palaces of this world. Instead, He sent it to “shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night” (Luke 2:8b). God reveals Himself to the keepers first.

This week, let the keepers in your life know how much you appreciate them. And especially the one whose job it is to find that certain smell.