Long Story Short ~ Ten Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God

Written for use in family worship, this book could also serve as a valuable resource to teachers in Christian school classrooms.  Check it out . . . and let us know what you think!

Long Story Short ~ Ten Minute Devotions to Draw Your Family to God

Click here to order from Westminster Bookstore

(Publisher's Description) ~ Christian parents know the importance of passing the gospel story on to their children, yet we live in a busy world filled with distractions. Schedules collide, there is homework and yard work and dishes and laundry, the car’s oil should be changed, there are phone calls to make...and before you know it, everyone is getting to bed late again.

The Bible can seem like a long story for an active family to read, but when you break it down into short sections, as Marty Machowski does, family devotions are easy to do. Long Story Short will help busy parents share with their children how every story in the Old Testament points forward to God’s story of salvation through Jesus Christ. You won’t find a more important focus for a family devotional than a daily highlighting of the gospel of grace. Clever stories and good moral lessons may entertain and even help children, but the gospel will transform children. The gospel is deep enough to keep the oldest and wisest parents learning and growing all their lives, yet simple enough to transform the heart of the first grader who has just begun to read.

Ten minutes a day, five days a week is enough time to pass on the most valuable treasure the world has ever known. Long Story Short is a family devotional program designed to explain God’s plan of salvation through the Old Testament and is suitable for children from preschool through high school.

Pipes and Reservoirs

Originally posted by Tim Challies on his blog:  Challies.com
Click here to view the blog.

Tim writes: Yesterday I began reading Michael Emlet’s CrossTalk: Where Life and Scripture Meet. Just eight pages in I had to stop and reflect on this quote. Though targeted primarily at those who are in vocational ministry, I immediately saw its application even to my task as a father. - or (Nancy adds) as a Christian School teacher.

*****

A temptation in ministry is to think that just because we prepared a Bible study, a sermon, or a discipleship appointment (or wrote a book like this!), we are deeply engaging with the God of the universe. But that’s not necessarily true. It’s easy in ministry to live more as a ‘pipe’ than a ‘reservoir.’ That is, it’s easy to live merely as a conduit to others of the transforming truths of God’s Word, rather than as a changed and transformed reservoir who overflows with lived-out gospel truth. You wouldn’t imagine cooking meal after meal for your family without sitting down to enjoy that nourishment, would you? To paraphrase James 1:22, let’s not merely be hearers or speakers or counselors of the Word, but doers, first and foremost.

Getting Ready for the New Year

It's still December - but, January's coming! Are you ready?

Take a few minutes to read this blog post by Tim Challies. It is his encouragement to begin (with intentionality) the New Year with a commitment to strengthening your devotional life. He concludes the blog post with a list of devotional books for you to consider for 2010 - and it's not too late to order them online for delivery by January 1 - but don't delay!

As we all know, we cannot give to our students what we do not possess ourselves - academically and spiritually! You are always (ok, mostly always) prepared for the academic "demands" of your students and classroom. The question - are you equally (or better) prepared to be the spiritual leader of your students!

From Tim Challies:

The end of the year is drawing close and, if you're like me, you're already beginning to think about what you'll do differently (and, hopefully, better) next year. When it comes to my daily devotions, I've been thinking about putting myself on some kind of a reading plan. I have only rarely done those in the past and don't know that I've ever really stuck with one all the way through to December. But next year I think I will give it a go. I have also been thinking about daily devotionals--something I could read either by myself or with the family. I've drawn up a list of a few notable devotionals. There are hundreds available so this is represents a drop in the proverbial bucket. But I think if you are considering a devotional, you are likely to find at least one here that would appeal. Do let me know if you know of others that would be worth investigating.

Click here to read the full post.

A Challenge to "Love One Another Deeply - From the Heart"

This week, Mr. Glenn Clement challenged the Bridgeton Christian School (NJ) faculty, staff, students and families to "love one another deeply from the heart." With his permission, we share that challenge with all of our MACSA schools!

"Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind...and love your neighbor as yourself." Matthew 22:37

As Christians, we face challenges every day. One of the greatest is to love one another deeply from the heart - but that is my challenge this year to myself, our faculty and staff and our students. Throughout the coming months we will be studying the principles of servanthood. Part of our mission here at BCS is to prepare our students to be servants of Christ. Please encourage your children to practice the following principles of servanthood:
Love
Submission
Generosity
Trust
Encouragement
Obedience

We want to serve others without thought of ourselves or gain. We want a spirit of cheerful obedience to authority. We want to be sensitive to the needs of others and to show compassion. We want to face suffering and disappointment with a sincere faith and positive attitude. We want to look for opportunities to do good and help each other. We want a genuine excitement about sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ and His teachings.

This is a challenging time to be alive and to possess an authentic faith that hopes in Christ's promises. The Holy Spirit will give to us all that we need and more. As we have heard before from the beginning, Jesus's command is that we walk in love. Let's walk together down that pilgrim road this year and devote our lives and all that we have to Jesus for all that he has done for us. As Saint John recorded in the third chapter of his first epistle, "let us love not in word or speech but in truth and deed."

Sincerely,
Glenn Clement
Administrator

POWER for Living

Every Christian is to grow spiritually. The following POWER acrostic will help you to remember the essential elements to spiritual progress.

P
Pray. The Christian who wants to grow, communicates with God through prayer. He expresses his gratitude to Him, confesses his sins, and come to Him with his requests for himself and for others. God promises to be near to all who come to Him in prayer.

O
Obey. Jesus said that our obedience to His commands is an indicator of our love for Him. We can't do it our own strength, however. That's one of the reasons He gave us the Holy Spirit. As we yield to Him, the Spirit provides the power to walk in obedience.

W
Worship. A Christian's devotion to God is to be continuous. Privately, he should worship God in his thoughts and prayers. Publicly, he should unite with fellow believers in a local assembly to bring praise to God.

E
Evangelize. The good news of the gospel is to be shared. As we tell others what Christ has done for us, we will find ourselves growing by spiritual leaps and bounds.

R
Read. The most direct source of a Christian's spiritual growth is the Bible. It must be read regularly because it is him milk and strong meat. It tells us how to live. It is God's word to us!

God’s Favorite Play

The Sacrifice that Gets Us Home
Phil Tuttle
John 15:13

I've prepared a lot of messages, but this was one of the hardest. What do you tell a group of thirteen-year-old baseball players on a weekend morning when they're focused on a tournament final that afternoon? What do you tell their parents and siblings, many of whom made the long road trip without any thought of hearing an impromptu devotional?

But since my son Philip was the only guy on the team with a preacher-father, I got tapped to deliver a biblical-but-not-too-churchy message. That requires a lot of wisdom, and I didn't know where to start. So I prayed. And the answer came back better than I could have hoped.

I had been thinking about a simple parable and, with the help of my daughter Emily's insights, fleshed it out before the big day. When the morning came, every ballplayer, every parent, and every sibling who had made the trip was there. The boys were all in uniform, seated in the front, thinking of the clutch hits, well-timed stolen bases, and incredible catches they would soon make. They had big, heroic dreams. So I began my parable with a big question: What is God's favorite play?

Silence. No one had an answer, so I offered my opinion: "I think God's favorite play would have to be the bunt."

"'Cause it's not being selfish," one of the boys suggested.

"True, but I think there's more to it than that," I said. "What do we call it when someone bunts?"

"A sacrifice."

"Right, a sacrifice. And look at the language we use for it. You can 'lay down' a bunt, and you can 'give yourself up' for the team. The reason the bunt is probably God's favorite play is because that's exactly what Jesus did for us. He laid Himself down and He gave Himself up. John 15:13 tells us, 'Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.' Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice."

I looked at one of the boys whose reputation for avoiding bunts had become a humorous part of team lore. "Why do you hate them so much?" I asked.

"It's a wimpy thing to do," he said.

"That's what most people think. It makes us look weak. It goes against our nature. Even Jesus tried to shake off the bunt sign the night before He was crucified, but what did He do in the end? He did what was best for the team."

I went on to explain the gospel and then brought the point home—literally. "What's the ultimate goal of a bunt?"

"To move the runner," several said in unison.

"Really?" I asked. "What good does it do to just move a runner? What's the real goal?"

"To get him home."

"That's right. And to get him home how?"

"Safely," they answered. It was starting to sink in.

"One last question," I told them. "What's the worst thing that can happen if you're the one who makes the sacrifice?"

"That the idiot on third base doesn't move," said one.

"That's right. And there are only two reasons that could happen," I suggested. "First, he wouldn't break for home if he hadn't seen the sign. You can't ever say now that you haven't seen God's bunt sign, because I've just explained why Jesus sacrificed Himself for you. And reason number two is if the runner didn't really believe his teammate would follow through on the sign. The question is, then, do you really believe Jesus would make that sacrifice for you?"

There was a long silence. No one moved.

"I think God has enjoyed watching you guys play this weekend," I continued. "And I think His favorite play is the bunt. That's the play He called to make it possible—for whoever is willing to believe—to make it home safely."

Later that afternoon, our boys did whatever it took to make it around to home. But I have a hunch that some of them may have already done that earlier in the day—and they didn't even have to slide.