God Is Wild About You – VBS Day 3

Steven Cribbs    Life     adventure, Children, Vacation Bible School

Hundreds of kids everywhere you look.  People dressed up in costumes telling stories from the Bible.  Leaders on stage doing silly things just to get the attention of kids.  And special guests conquering amazing feats.  It can only mean one thing… Day 3 of Vacation Bible School!!

[This is part of the Why We Cannot Wait For Summer Series.  Have you seen the other posts yet?  Click here to see the list of posts for other days of Vacation Bible School!]

Giant Panda Cookies

We had several friends bless us this morning with cookies of all types.  A definite God Sighting for us.  This picture shows a couple of those cookies – although, I think I would call them more of a work of art (not to be left as art…they sure were yummy)!

Smelly Dark Places

Not necessarily where I would choose to go for fun.  However, it was the ultimate destination read more

God Is Wild About You – VBS Day 2

Steven Cribbs    Life     adventure, biggest event of the summer, Children, PandaMania, Vacation Bible School

Day 2 of our wild adventures in Vacation Bible School!!!  I love being a part of a bigger story than my own small story.  This week is definitely shaping up to be a God-sized story and I am excited and honored to be a part of it.

[This is part of the Why We Cannot Wait For Summer Series.  Have you seen the other posts yet?  Click here to see the list of posts for other days of Vacation Bible School!]

As I mentioned yesterday, we love to worship.  We use simple, yet meaningful, intentional and fun motions in our worship.  Here are some of our passionate worship leaders leading the way as we got started this morning.

Kung Fu Masters

One aspect of this big event, that we always find to be a lot of fun, is the opportunity to read more

God Is Wild About You – VBS Day 1

Steven Cribbs    Life     adventure, biggest event of the summer, Children, PandaMania, pandas, Vacation Bible School

Today was the first day of the biggest event of the year! At least the biggest event of the year for our Children’s Ministry. Today we began the amazing adventure known as Vacation Bible School!

[This is part of the Why We Cannot Wait For Summer Series.  Have you seen the other posts yet?  Click here to see the list of posts for other days of Vacation Bible School!]

Of course, Vacation Bible School for our church is not your everyday VBS.  And this was definitely a day of leaving the ordinary behind. For starters, check out our tech crew:

As you might have guessed, our theme this year has something to do with pandas.  Specifically, our theme is PandaMania…Where God Is Wild About You!  And, today was an incredible kick-off for a wild week.  Here are a few must-see highlights from the day (more to come over the next few days). read more

Why We Cannot Wait For Summer

Steven Cribbs    Life     adventure, biggest event of the summer, excitement, God Is Wild About You, Vacation Bible School

Everyone I know looks forward to summer vacation. A chance to leave the ordinary behind and experience an adventure that will be talked about for years to come. For me and my family, and a thousand of our closest friends, the next week will bring one of those adventures.

At my church, we love Vacation Bible School! It is the biggest event of the year. It brings a ton of excitement to the people of the church and the community; and, it infuses energy into our Children’s Ministry that we feed off of the rest of the year.

Over the next few days, I will share with you some of the adventures that we experience, the lessons we learn and a little of what it takes to make the biggest event of the year happen.

Keep checking back all week for new posts and updates. In case you miss any, check back to this page for links to each post.

• God Is Wild About You – VBS Day 1 – God Made You
• God Is Wild About You – VBS Day 2 – God Listens To You
• God Is Wild About You – VBS Day 3 – God Watches Over You
• God Is Wild About You – VBS Day 4 – God Loves You, No Matter What
• God Is Wild About You – VBS Day 5 – God Gives Good Gifts
• God Is Wild About You – VBS Weekend Celebration
• 7 Foundations For Creating The Best Event Of The Year
• 5 Key Ingredients for Managing Chaos
• Why You Should Spend A Week With Kids (upcoming)
• (more)

Question: What big thing can you not wait for this summer?  You can leave a response by clicking here.

The Small Little Voice That Changes Your Night

Steven Cribbs    Life    

It never fails. The middle of the night. That tiny little voice at the door to my bedroom. It has a variety of things it says, “Daddy, I had a bad dream“, “Daddy, I’m thirsty”, “Daddy, I need to go to the bathroom”, “Daddy, I can’t go to sleep”. In a sense, it doesn’t matter what is said. That little voice changes the course of my night.

Sometimes I try to ignore that little voice. Sometimes I tell that little voice to go back to bed. Sometimes I try to get my wife to answer that little voice. Sometimes I get upset at that little voice. And, occasionally, I am overwhelmed with sympathy and love for read more

Sometimes God Has A Different Plan

Steven Cribbs    Life    

Do your plans ever work out exactly like you intended or thought they should have?

There is a story in the Bible where Jesus has the opportunity to heal a good friend of his. However, Jesus waits a little too long to go see him. Instead of a miraculous healing of a sick man, this man dies.

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Avoiding Unintentional Intentions

Steven Cribbs    Life    

A fellow blogger, Josh Hood, recently wrote about avoiding the dangers of distraction in leadership. He used this video that powerfully shows the dangers of distraction while driving…

If you are like me, this video was emotionally intense. It may be causing you to rethink decisions you make while driving. I have been like those kids – thinking that there really won’t be a problem if I focus on various other things for short periods of time while driving.

We are all like those kids. Maybe not with texting and driving; but, in other significant areas of our lives where unintentional intentions can distract us from the more important things. read more

Top Posts For April

Steven Cribbs    Life    

Here are the top five posts for April 2011.

1. How Did You Celebrate?
2. Jesus, Like No Other
3. The #1 Way To Change Your Day
4. Becoming Intentional
5. Why Parents Should Stop Saying “Sorry”

Each of theses posts were published during April.  Although, one came from an email that I wrote for Easter last year.  Can you guess which one?

There are also a couple of older posts that continue to get a lot of attention:

1. 10 Ways to Get the Attention of Kids
2. Twelve Way To Get Your Child’s Attention

THANK YOU for reading and for letting me be part of your day.  I also want to say THANK YOU for those that have taken time to leave comments!  Community is a great way to do life and I learn so much from what others have to say.

Question:  What has been the hot topic of conversation for you this last month?  You can leave a comment by clicking here.

How Did You Celebrate?

Steven Cribbs    Life    

Following are a couple of videos that I found inspiring in celebrating the resurrection of Jesus!

First, “Dance Your Shoes Off”:

Second, “Resurrection Sunday Dance”:

I love the energy brought by so many people coming together in the name of Jesus!  It makes me wonder what kind of a difference it would make if our communities saw this sort of excitement coming from us?

Question:  What excited you or what is one thing that meant a lot to you during this Easter weekend?  You can leave a comment by clicking here.

I’ll go first…

I was totally blown away this weekend by seeing people of all ages realize a desire to have Jesus as the center of their lives and then choose to declare it publicly, on the spot, by being baptized – Easter clothes and all! Many people drenched. Many people with lives changed because of Jesus!

Jesus, Like No Other

Steven Cribbs    Life    

As I sat down to write, I asked the question “do I have anything inspiring to say for Easter”.  Instead of a really great thought, my mind went blank, I didn’t have anything to say, I was at a loss for words.  Then, I had one of those big ‘duh!’ moments.  What could be more inspiring for this week than the man that sits at the core of what this weekend is really about!

We spend our church lives learning about Jesus – sometimes to the point where we begin to gloss over the incredibleness, the awe, that is found in the life of the Jewish carpenter.  A friend of mine made a comment to me today, “Jesus’ brothers couldn’t believe that Jesus was the Messiah – after all, they had heard all of the bodily functions that come from lowly common people – such things surely couldn’t come from the King of Kings.”  Then, I began to think about the journey of Jesus, the essence of who he was and is…

Jesus, a baby born out of wedlock (deplorable even then) and made to sleep where animals eat.  Jesus, a boy who probably skipped rocks in the lake, played in the mud, and was probably told from time to time to stop running with scissors (ok, maybe not the scissors thing).  Jesus, a young man who spoke with wisdom and knowledge beyond his years – yet, respected the authorities in his life.  Jesus, a servant of people and worked with his hands to earn a living.  Jesus, a leader that inspired people to give up everything they had just to follow him.  Jesus, a provider – remember the miracles like feeding the thousands of people from mere morsels of food.  Jesus, healer of sickness, disease and even death.  Jesus, a target of insults because he cared for those that most people would overlook.  Jesus, a target of persecution because he challenged the teachings of the religious leaders.  Jesus, a messenger of hope which would come through his own sacrifice.  Jesus, branded a criminal because he forgave sins.  Jesus, a sufferer of pain and torture that really did not belong to him.  Jesus, The Son of God who set all authority, power, and privilege aside to become like us so that we can become like him.  Jesus.

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