We want to give Brady and Lindsay a hearty Thank You for joining us at our last Kid's Club meeting. We had a great time discussing how we, as children, need to honor our parents. Each week I ask the kids what it means to honor their parents. One of the first answers is "we need to obey them". I had been holding off on discussing obedience with the kids because it is an area that most of them understand. We are supposed to do the things that our mom and dad tell us to do and yet we so often disobey. Why?

Jenna and I talked about making cookies. We discussed how exciting it is when mom pulls the batch out of the oven and we want to take a bite, but, mom says we have to wait. We don't necessarily want to wait but mom did say wait. Why? Why would mom want to stop me from enjoying the cookies. Is she selfish? Does she want to withhold the cookies from me? Does she want to keep them all to herself? No, the reason I have to wait is because mom knows what is best for me. She knows the cookies are hot and they would burn me. Mom withholds the cookies because she loves me.

In our lesson later that night the kids and I touched upon the reason why we disobey. We disobey because the first man and woman disobeyed God. God told Adam and Eve to leave the tree of the knowledge of good and evil alone. They were not even to touch the tree. But they said in their hearts, "I will decide what is true and right," rather than trusting God to decide what is true and right. After Adam and Eve sinned a terrible thing happened between God and mankind. The perfect relationship was torn in two. Man and woman no longer had a perfect relationship with God, they were separated. The separation was caused by disobedience and we call that disobedience, sin.

The same thing happens when we disobey our parents. The relationship is damaged and things must be made right. Usually there is pain. It may be pain that is caused by our disobedience, such as getting burned by the cookies, or it could be pain that is caused by discipline from mom or dad. Please understand Mom and Dad, there must be discipline. It could be as simple as a firm talking to or it could involve more severe punishment depending on the situation, but there must be discipline. To withhold discipline is to affirm in your child that disobedience is ok - that to disobey is a little thing.

The reality is that disobedience is a BIG thing. When our children disobey us they disobey God as well. If we treat our children's disobedience to us a as a little thing it teaches them that their disobedience to God is a little thing as well. Their disobedience to us provides us with an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the relationship between mankind and God. Use your child's time of disobedience to display what takes place between us and God when we disobey. The relationship is broken, punishment must be made. In His grace God has provided Jesus to take the ultimate punishment upon Himself - death. In the death of Jesus the penalty for our disobedience is met and we can be reunited with God. When you discipline your child take time to share the good news that Jesus provides a way for us to be reunited with God. Encourage them to ask the Father for forgiveness. The real issue when our children disobey us is not that they are sinning against us but that they are sinning ultimately against God.

BK Challenge

Introducing the New Hope’s BK Challenge for Kids

You may be asking, “What is the New Hope BK Challenge?” Well, the BK Challenge is a new Bible Knowledge Challenge for Kid’s who attend New Hope. This is how it works. Each week a new Bible Challenge question will be posted on the New Hope Family BLOG. Find the BK Challenge, post a comment with the answer along with your first name. Each week during Kid’s Club one person will be randomly selected to receive a BK Challenge prize. It’s this simple:

Go to ALL Things Kids!
(Click on the underlined words to go there!)

Find the BK Challenge for that week.
Find the correct answer to the question.
Post your answer with your first name
Come to Kid’s Club to see if you win the prize.

Little Kid's Club

Because we so often don't get to see inside Little Kid's Club on the blog, here are some fun glimpses from last week!!

Honor and Respect

It was our privilege to have Olivia's parents, Gary and Rachel, as our special guests this last week. As a group we talked about how Honor and Respect are closely related. They are often used interchangeably to describe each other. This week we decided to focus in on the positive side of respect. It isn't enough to just not do "bad things" but we must also do "good things". We must be seeking to look for the good and honorable things to do. When we honor and respect our parents we should think of ways to "esteem, show regard or to favor".

Each week we start off asking easy questions, questions that are simple to answer and then we move to more difficult questions. Olivia did a great job as I moved into some of the more difficult ones. We talked about things that we can do for her mom or dad when they are having a bad day. Some of the things that Olivia likes to do for them is to make cards for her parents to show that she loves and honors them. She likes to cook with her mom and may play games with her dad.

Kids, Make it a point to let your mom and dad know that you love them by doing something for them this week. It could be something like helping rake the leaves or do the laundry. It could also be something like making a card or just out of the blue giving them a hug and telling them you love them.

Parents, Last week we encouraged the kids to let you, the parent, love on them. This week we want to encourage you to let your kids love on you. When they come to talk to you, stop what you are doing and listen to them. They are coming to you because they honor, respect and love you. When they want to give you that hug, let them linger, enjoy it, anything else can wait.

Oops!!!

Yes, we had a minor mistake on our Life Groups sheet SO - we WILL have Kid's Clubs THIS Sunday, October 14 but we WON'T have Kid's Clubs NEXT Sunday, October 21 - instead we have a congregational meeting. If you were scheduled to bring snack or be a special guest on the 21st - we will move you to the 14th instead. Thanks so much!!

Special Guests - The Harald's

We had another great evening honoring Nicholas' mom and dad, Mark and Dorinda Harald. It was a joy to get to know the Harald's a little better as well as giving Nicholas a chance to show honor to his parents. Sunday night we reviewed some additional ways that we can honor our parents. Some of the ideas the kids had included respecting, obeying, and listening to them.

We asked Nicholas what he does when he gets hurt. His answer was "my mom puts a band aid on it". We also asked him if he allows his mom and dad to hug him. He said that they give him a hug before going to bed at night. Mom's and Dad's love to show affection to their children and they do it in many little ways all throughout the day. Basically, Mom's and Dad's love to love.

Kids - let your mom and dad love you. It gives them joy and it gives them honor. Parents - let's take some time this week to encourage our children to let us show our love. Explain to them that it is honorable to allow your mom and dad to love you. Mom's and Dad's lets give our kids a few more hugs throughout the day and maybe just maybe try giving them a kiss on the cheek.

As I was writing this it made me think of our Father in heaven. Do I honor Him by letting Him love me? Have I put our faith in the fact that God really loves me? Do I cherish that love? I can imagine few greater hurts than to have one of my children reject my love. Have you hurt the Father by rejecting His love? Spend some time with Him this week. Allow Him to love you. You will honor Him if you do.