My Epic Journey

TOPIC: The NeverEnding Story: Participate In

TEXT: Luke 1.26-55 (New International Version)

How Can I Participate in the Story?

1.Know the STORY.  Mary felt more assured that everything was okay because she knew God’s story.

2.Know your ROLE.  If you are either young or old, big or little, male or female, God has a role for you and the sooner you know it the quicker you will be able to participate in the story.

3.Don’t be AFRAID.  It had to be scary for Mary to tell her parents and Joseph about the new role she found herself in but that didn’t stop her.  Don’t let fear hinder you from doing what God wants you to do.

4.Just DO IT!  Most of us are really good at coming up with excuses.  Stop!  Instead of putting all your energy into excuse-making, just do what God asks you to do.

ORANGE.  Where Faith and Family intersect.

Activity:  Letter to God

I am not sure what it was like at your house when you children were younger and it was Christmas time but at the Smith house, our kids are excited about gifts.  In fact, they are so excited that they write Santa letters so he knows what they want from him.  Anna is keeping these letters so we can look back on them years down the road and just remember these days.

These letters got us thinking at EPIC.  How often do we write a letter to God with the same passion, desire, love and anticipation that our kids do to Santa?  Probably not that often, if ever.  So we recently did a new worship experience where we encouraged our students to write letters to God.  What an amazing experience.  The heart that these students poured out broke my heart.

Application:

Scour the attic, basement, boxes, etc and see if you can find old letters your kids wrote to Santa, or better yet, to God.  If you don’t have any, look up “letters to Santa” on the internet and read some of those.

Then, as a family, sit down and write a letter to God.  Share your hurts, desires, passions and anticipations.  Store the letter in a safe place.  A year from now, pull the letter out and read it.