Bible Archives - Page 7 of 7 - The Sparrow's Home

An Ode to Scout: Life Lessons from the Love of a Dog

September 7, 2016 by Susan 18 Comments

Even a word like ‘unconditional’ doesn’t do justice to the complete, every inch of his soul adoration that a dog truly smitten offers.

No one has ever, or will ever, love me as much as my dog. This is not to demean my husband’s love for me … he totally agrees with this assessment.

Even a word like ‘unconditional’ doesn’t do justice to the complete, every inch of his soul adoration that a dog truly smitten offers. I’m pretty sure if he could speak, what Scout would say to me is, “My whole life is in you…all I am and do are wrapped up in you…my sun rises and sets on your existence.”

After a couple of misses with dogs, we decided to try fostering from a local rescue so we could find out if a dog was a good fit for us. Scout was our first foster. He came from a Kansas City, Missouri animal shelter. Slated to be put down, some blessed soul saw in him the gentle spirit that needed to be someone’s sweetheart. One trip to Minnesota later, he was ours.

From Toddlers to Teens: Raising Kids Who Pray

August 29, 2016 by Susan 7 Comments

Teaching kids to pray doesn’t have to be formal instruction. Tangible ways to integrate prayer into our lives and raise kids who pray.

When I was in college, I was part of a youth ministry team. We taught classes, led activities, and were tasked with mentoring the young people in our community. Part of the training we received in mentoring encouraged us to spend time with the teens outside of class. Real discipling happens in the day to day. The “Hey, I’m going to the mall, would you like to join me?” and, “Let’s cook dinner together” moments.

That’s when real parenting happens too, you know.

After all, parenting is–at its heart– discipleship. God tells us what parenting our kids should look like in Deuteronomy 6 when He says,

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts.Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
-Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Family meetings, lectures, classes, going to church… all of those are good and beneficial things. But that’s not where our kids learn how to really follow God’s commandments…how to serve… how to pray.

Online Protection for Your Family: Keep Porn Out of Your Home

August 1, 2016 by Susan 15 Comments

We protect our family in every other way. Why do we forget this? We’re sharing real ways to protect your children and family from pornography online.

I don’t know a single mother that would let her child play near a street without supervising him. We make sure that our whole family is buckled in before we leave the driveway. I could make a list of 100 things we all do to protect our families every day.

Why in the world do we let our computers, cell phones and other devices go un-monitored?

You want to know why I think? I think that we want to believe that our husband, our children…that we are not susceptible to the myriad of temptation that awaits in cyberspace.

If you think that, I’ll start out nice. I’ll give you that one. Maybe your family is not ever tempted to do wrong online. Ever. But guess what? The bad stuff is so pervasive and sneaky that it shows up even when you’re not looking for it.

Soul Detox for Spiritual Growth

July 25, 2016 by Susan 4 Comments

I have never taught material that so resonated with people. After the first lesson, numerous people order the book for themselves. It hits home. It’s real.

I am teaching this in three different formats this summer. I’m leading my church’s Wednesday night adult class for 13 weeks, teaching an adult class at the annual Family Camp we attend, and teens, at a National youth camp.

The two camps are each a week long. So it was definitely a challenge, using the same material to teach for 4 days and then also as a course to span the whole summer…not to mention teaching both groups of teens and adults.

Here’s the publisher’s description of the book:

As standards of conduct continue to erode in our shock-proof world, we must fight the soul pollution threatening our health, our faith, and our witness to others. Without even knowing it, people willingly inhale second-hand toxins poisoning their relationship with God and stunting their spiritual growth.

Soul Detox examines the toxins that assault us daily including: toxic influences, toxic emotions, and toxic behaviors.

By examining the toxins that assault us daily, this book offers the ultimate spiritual intervention with ways to remain clean, pure, and focused on the standard of God’s holiness.

One Pastor’s Observation

June 29, 2016 by Susan 6 Comments

What do you think this pastor said creates most of the problems that come through his door? The answer might surprise you!

For the past 9 years, every June, my family spends a week in Indiana at Midwest Family Camp, held at lovely Camp Mack on Lake Waubee. Last week was that week!

During our first worship service, I prayed that God would direct my conversations for the week. I so look forward each year to good conversation with people who make me better. I prayed that God would lead who I talked to and what we talked about, that I would hear and receive what I needed to and that I would share with others what He wanted me to.

Printable Truths

June 6, 2016 by Susan 4 Comments

7 FREE printable truths that are frugal with color. Encouraging words and Bible verses to plant truth in your heart that won’t break the bank in ink usage.

When I was in college, my roommate and I had a giant sign on our closet door that said, “ALL Things”. And when we needed a little pick-me-up, we would play The Donut Man song and sing along with him, “I can do all things, all things, all things…I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, Philippians 4:13” while marching around our apartment.

I still like to have encouraging words hung up around the house. And it’s nice to be able to change them every once in a while, which is why I like searching for free printables that I can use.

The problem is, it seems that when people are designing them, they don’t take into account the HUGE amount of ink that their beautiful designs take to print out. Whole pages covered with saturated color. Lovely on the computer, but not the pocketbook.