Today is the 30th (final!) installment of 30 days of resources for your family to use to grow together. Each of our daily activities will have the following pieces:
- PLAY TOGETHER: An opportunity to have fun and do something together instead of watching Netflix.
- TALK TOGETHER: Around the dinner table or just two of you sitting on the back porch, take turns asking these questions to learn more about the other.
- ORIENT TOGETHER: In time of need we have an opportunity to renew our vision for Jesus, and pray for His work in our life and world.
We hope these resources are helpful to you as a family. Feel free to share with others as well!
The best way to play ‘Obstacle Course’ is by building several stations, each with their own challenge. Here are examples for stations:
- Hurdle Jumps
- Knock down all the cans.
- Jump from block to block.
- Lap around the house.
- Army Crawl through a tunnel or area in the lawn.
- Drag a heavy object past a line.
- Walk a ping pong ball with a spoon.
The individual stations can be anything and are only limited by space and imagination. You can add special challenges or obstacles. Just have fun and make it challenging.
- Who is someone in your life that has always trusted in you?
- How does that relationship reflect who you are today?
- Is there anyone you know that needs to be encouraged and shown God’s unconditional love?
Barriers or Hurdles?
Barriers keep us from accomplishing personal, academic, and spiritual goals. These barriers will do one of three things in our lives: stop us, distract us, or become stepping stones towards our goals. I believe we all have two choices when dealing with obstacles.: Allow the obstacle to overcome us or we can overcome the obstacle. I believe many times we can become distracted or simply stop striving toward our goals when barriers arise. What if we thought of barriers as a stepping stone? We read so many stories from the Bible where individuals are being tested in their faith and seem to have everything stripped away. Even Jesus was tempted and tested. However, at the end of these stories, that person overcame their obstacles and became a better follower of Christ because of it.
Read James 1:2-18
If we say we trust the Lord, we see how facing obstacles enables us to get stronger, more creative, and more focused so that we can reach newer goals. James 1:2-3 says, “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.” I can’t say there have been several occasions in my life where I have found joy in different trials or moments of doubt in my life. It is a hard concept to grasp. We live in America! We buy into the lie that everything should be fast and easy. We see barriers as a distraction that keeps us from more money, nicer clothes, the best car in the lot, and the list goes on.
One of my favorite quotes that I shared when I coached baseball was, “Losers see barriers, winners see hurdles”. What does that mean? If any of you are track athletes you get it. When an athlete sees a hurdle, they don’t stop or get distracted from it. They see the hurdle and do everything they can to jump over it, and in some cases, run right through it. Why can’t we begin to think of the obstacles in our life as hurdles? If we did, wouldn’t we have more trust that the Lord will provide for us even in the bad times? There have been so many negative comments during this epidemic, such as, “I wish this wasn’t happening” or “I hate being at home all the time” or “when will this ever end?”. If we truly allow ourselves to draw closer to the Lord, wouldn’t we all look back when this is over and say it was just a small hurdle in our life..but because of it, I have a deeper walk with Him?
Faith in the Lord, can help a person overcome these hurdles so that doubt begins to dissipate. Once the barrier has turned into a hurdle, we begin to develop a “real” faith in Christ, not just when things are going easy or well for us. Begin to see the big picture of the work He is doing in your life. Don’t stop or become distracted, seek joy and allow the Lord to use you and your story.
Today’s Family Resource for Growing Together is written by Nate Bowen, a youth pastor in Lexington, SC.
MODGNIK 