I took some pictures of the kids playing around yesterday. They were posing for the camera while eating hot dog buns LOL. Yea I have some crazy kids but they sure are cute :)

Brett fell asleep in the middle of the floor today. He was probably tuckered out from getting a hair cut today. Him and Logan both got hair cuts today :) The next picture is one of Brett with his new hair cut. He's all sweaty cause he was riding around in the truck while we were working on the paintball field.

On to a whole different subject... For anyone who doesn't know my husband Chris and I teach a Bible Study class at our church for the teen kids on Wednesday nights. This was kind of something we got roped into doing and we aren't really qualified to teach. We do however enjoy the kids and we have developed great relationships with most of the kids in our class. I really do enjoy learning more about the Bible but I've only been a born again Christian for 6 years so I have so much to learn.

Well we just finished our summer vacation Bible school and are back to regular Bible study on Wednesday nights. Chris had to miss this week so I was basically on my own. I wanted to start something new so I could find out what the kids wanted to learn from the Bible and I really wanted us to focus on reading the Bible instead of just "doing" a lesson I copied off the internet. So I had all the kids write a subject on a piece of paper and pass them all to me this way no one else would know who chose what. Well the subject for this week was "The Cross." I was totally at a loss of what to read and one of the things I am trying to learn and pass along to the kids is how to study the Bible. So we looked in the back of our Bibles and picked the first listing for Cross in the glossary.

We ended up reading Matthew 16:22-28

22 Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.

23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.

24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.

26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?

27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works.

28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his Kingdom.

This was such a test for me because we read these scriptures and here I was expected to shed some light on what they meant and teach the kids something. I just prayed for God to please help me and this is what we gathered together from the scriptures we read.

Jesus had just told his closest disciples what would happen to him in the near future vs 21 and then in vs 22 Peter basically tries to deny that Jesus is going to die. I think Jesus knew exactly what was going to happen to him and that he was going to suffer terribly and when Peter started denying it Jesus could easily have been comforted with that thought and thought to himself "surely there could be another way." But he didn't, he told Peter in vs 23 "Get thee behind me Satan" I think he said this because he didn't want to be tempted to think there could be another way.

Then Jesus began to tell his disciples more of what was to come. To follow Jesus is to sacrifice our own desires and wants in life, not everything but God might not always give us everything we want and life will probably not be as we always desire. But to follow Jesus and deny ourselves we are taking up our cross to follow him. As a Christian I find myself sometimes unable to share the gospel with people I know who don't believe in Christ. I am usually afraid of being ridiculed or I am afraid that the person will no longer wish to be my friend. Therefore a lot of times I find myself trying to hide the cross. Jesus was crucified on a hill on a cross for all to see. It wasn't done in a hidden dungeon it was out in the open and Jesus bore that cross for my sins. When we were talking about this in class I realized that I have been hiding my cross and not letting it be out in the open for everyone to see. Some of the kids in class realized this also and we talked about how we can make sure that we as Christians make visible the cross we bare for Christ.

I know I want to trust in Christ and not be ashamed of the cross I bare to serve him. His cross was so much more to bare and for me to be embarrassed is just so horrible. Vs 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it. Vs 26 For what is a man profited if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? It shouldn't matter to me if I lose a friend, or if I am ridiculed and made fun of, or persecuted in any way for standing for Christ. He bore the burden of my sins! The least I can do is bare the burden of my cross and let it show in my life!