Pump You Up!

The muscle men were back!  Today's service was all about spiritual muscles, but as you can see above, we were pretty buff with our real muscles too!  Okay, so maybe not.  But hear me now and believe me later, it was a pretty fun morning for all the kids!

Here's Daddy getting everyone pumped up.  You can see a few kids desperately trying to do push ups on the stage.  We basically took a few of the old SNL skits and tied it to an Olympic theme of weightlifting.  We even had a big weight there to pick up.

Of course, it wasn't real.  Madison picked it up with one hand! 

It was a fun morning.   And the kids learned quite a bit with some fun games, and a great message afterwards, as usual, all tied together with this theme of building up spiritual muscles.  Here are the three points that Daddy wrote up for today's service:

1. Build up your spiritual muscles.  It is key to set aside time each day to read God’s Word, and spend time in prayer at home.

"He gives strength to those who are tired. He gives power to those who are weak.” Isaiah 40:29 NIrV

2. Walk with confidence. Train each day and you'll walk around sure of yourself, and your relationship with God. You'll be ready to handle just about anything, because He will give you strength!

“This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.” 1 John 5:14 NIV

3. God is your spotter.  Remember that He is the ultimate weightlifter: when you are weak, He is strong. If you are feeling weary and burdened, cast your cares upon Him and He will carry you. 

“Come to me, all of you who are tired and are carrying heavy loads. I will give you rest.” Matthew 11:28 NIrV 

When we got home, we left.  Seriously, Daddy and Madison went off to the library, and the reason was this:  Madison finished her summer reading program, and it was time to get a certificate.  And a free book!  She put her name on a ribbon that went on the wall with the other summer readers' names, and then she chose a book from a shelf that she could have:  it was a new one to me, but she knew exactly what it was and wanted to read that one.  We got ourselves a few other books as well, and were on our way afterwards.  We dropped by the busy grocery store after that to get a gluten-free pizza for Mommy, a tasty Margherita pizza.  This was a surprise - we got home and cooked it up for her so she could have something nice to eat.  Our house is devoid of a lot of food right now, as we just got back from a vacation, so this was nice.

The rest of the day was spent playing "The Force Awakens" for Disney Infinity.  Pretty much.  Mommy was researching the family line some more with the ancestry tools online.  And then, it was bedtime - an early one tonight.  We read from "Mathilda" and we read from our devotional, and then it was to get some sleep.  Tomorrow, we rise a bit earlier for Nutcracker Camp.  It'll be another fun, full week!