As part of our swim classes, our students play lifeguard as we teach water safety. We pose the question, “How do you save someone from drowning?” Their method typically involves leaning over to offer a hand or an object the victim can grab in order to pull them to safety. When the student does this,…

Workout for the Week: Worship Worthy Memory Verse: Matthew 2:10-11b Meditation Passage: Choose one from below. Key Thought: Jesus was worthy of worship at the first Christmas, and He is worthy still. Our Christmas carols ring with worship. Can you identify these carols? “O come let us adore Him.” “Born is the king of Israel.”…

Workout for the Week: Are We There Yet? Memory Verse: Luke 2:15 Meditation Passage: Luke 2:8-20 Key Thought: If God said, “Get up and go,” would you? Are we there yet? Family travel tests our patience. Snacks, videos, and “I Spy” help, but travel takes a toll. Imagine travel in Mary and Joseph’s day. Let’s…

Workout for the Week: Track Your Christmas Package Memory Verse: 2 Peter 1:21 (NIV) “For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.” Meditation Passage: Matthew 2:1-11 Key Thought: Track God’s prophecy to fulfillment. The big brown truck rumbles…

Workout for the Week: Outside the Christmas Box Memory Verse: Tailor to the Christmas Bible character of your choice Meditation Passage: Tailor to the Christmas Bible character of your choice Key Thought: The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. –Marcel Proust This week, I want you…

Workout for the Week: Set the Story Straight, The Christmas Story Memory Verse: Acts 17:11 (NIV) “Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.” Meditation Passage: John 1:1-18 Key Thought:…

“While I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice.” (Daniel 9:21 NIV) “The angel answered, ‘I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you [Zechariah]…

He felt the rumbling in the village long before he heard the news. Word traveled fast in a small town like Nazareth. Groups of women clucked together at the market or by the village well. God help their next victim. He would be pecked to pieces by morning. Joseph checked his tools and headed for…

God supplies our every need, and the Christmas story gifts us with many such examples. I love how He pairs Mary and Elizabeth. A young teen and an aged lady of great faith. Both fulfilling prophecy. Both experiencing pregnancy for the first time. One whose shame of barrenness had haunted her for a lifetime. One…

“A baby? Now? After all these years?” Her husband gave her a puzzled look as he tried to read her lips. Unable to speak. Unable to hear. He’d been like that ever since Jerusalem. Elizabeth began a nine-month game of charades. Zechariah’s eyes followed her every move. He had frightened her when he first arrived,…