Standing on the Promises

"Standing, standing,
standing on the promises of Christ my Savior;
standing, standing,
I'm standing on the promises of God." 

When I saw Sweetpea today, this is what popped in my head.  She is standing on our Illustrated Family Bible and I had to smile.

I hope you remember to stand on God's promises...but maybe not so literally!

What's In the Bible?

Jon bought Buddy and Sweetpea the first five "What's In the Bible?" DVDs and they love them.  I'll admit I was a little skeptical before we watched but we were all hooked after one lesson.  Buddy especially asks to watch these repeatedly.  Phil Vischer (VeggieTales creator) has created this series of DVDs to take children and their parents through the entire Bible.  Not only does he highlight the stories in each book, but church history and Biblical theology is explained on a child's level.  Recently we were watching the DVD while I prepared lunch and I stopped to listen as they defined apostasy.  The great thing is Buddy and Sweetpea are enraptured by the puppet characters and they are learning too!  Buddy has even wanted to find the Pentateuch in his preschool Bible.  By using the puppets and catchy songs, hard truths are easily learned.  For more information, check out "What's in the Bible?".  This website has resources for parents to use along with the videos and activities for kids to do that pertain to each lesson.  If you are looking for new movies to add to your family's collection, give "What's in the Bible" and try and see what you learn too!

New Year's Resolutions

As usual, Jon and I have made our list of New Year's Resolutions.  The top one for me was to read my Bible through again this year until Jon showed me Professor Horner's 3650 Bible reading plan.  This entails reading 10 chapters of the Bible a day from different sections of the Bible, hence the 3650 in the title (though this year is a Leap year so it will be 3660 chapters). 

"This means that over the course of 2012 anyone who uses the plan will go through all the Gospels four times, the Pentateuch twice, Paul’s letters 4-5 times each, the Old Testament wisdom literature six times, all the Psalms at least twice, all the Proverbs as well as Acts a dozen times, and all the way through the Old Testament History and Prophetic books about 1.5 times."  -- Tim Challies

I know today is January 2nd but it isn't too late to join in!  How changed do you think your life would be after reading God's Word daily?  I have enjoyed both days of reading so far and today Buddy woke up from his nap while I was reading.  He cuddled with me while I read about 7 1/2 of the 10 chapters aloud to him which made the reading time even more special.  If the 3650 plan seems a little much for you right now, feel free to check out youversion.com which has several different Bible reading plans.  The important thing is that we are reading Scripture and soaking in what God has to say to us.

I hope 2012 brings you closer to God!