This is Part 2 in our series: The Public Christian Journey. Today we focus on giving "free" gifts, just like Christ sacrificed for us when we didn't deserve it. We focus again on Mark 12: 29-31 and also talk in the Podcast about the connection of Christ's death to the metaphors of The Good Shepherd and the Tree of Life. We look very closely that the prison of unforgiveness and how to apply that to our daily lives. If we are in a state of unforgiveness then we are also in a state of incomplete grief. We also discuss the activity sheet and journal activity for the week.

Series Summary:

Week 1: We built our theology of loving others from Mark 12:29-31 and then defined love (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) and forgiving others as honoring Christ's sacrifice. (Ephesians 4:32) On a practical level we look at the value and blessing that others bring to us in our journey. For the kids there is an activity sheet and for teens there is a journalling prompt.

Today we start our next big series: The PUBLIC Christian Journey. We pivot from talking about our (marriage) relationship with God in solitude, to our relationship with others in COMMUNITY. We build our theology from Mark 12:29-31. The first blessing of the bible is to love God and your neighbor as yourself with all that you are (mind, body, heart and spirit). We see a spiritual win-win-win as our main purpose in life. In the episode we also look at defining love (1 Corinthians 13:4-8) and forgiving others as honoring Christ's sacrifice. (Ephesians 4:32) On a practical level we look at the value and blessing that others bring to us in our journey. For the kids there is an activity sheet and for teens there is a journalling prompt. You can visit us at www.littlepiecesclub.com.

This marks the fifteenth(for kids)/sixteenth (for teens) episode in a long series devoted to "The Private Christian Journey." In this final episode we talk about being open to the mission God has for us. This includes a reminder of how we can use our choices to develop our minds, bodies, hearts, and spirits to get ready for the moment when God reveals which mission(s) He has for us. Until then the mission is to love God, and neighbor as ourself.

SERIES SUMMARY: The Private Christian Journey refers to our private walk with God. (As opposed to our public and viewable walk with God). This is where we encounter His love for us and the free gifts He gives us, developing a secure attachment to our heavenly Father. We first looked at the power that exists in our ability to choose. (Like choosing to accept His free gifts) But also look at the complicating factor of "The Rider and the Elephant" as coined by Jonathan Haidt. Next we looked at the character of God both as God the Father and Jesus. We get to CHOOSE to get to know him. We choose to put our hope and trust in Him as we train the elephant. (See how the skills build upon each other?). In the forth week we looked at how we respond to His free gifts, and choosing to ASK GOD FOR HELP. We then built our private space to encounter God. Next we explored the definition of integrity and last time we looked at Lectio Divina, a way to read the Bible as a love letter, rather than boring textbook. We then looked at Job and Joseph to see how they dealt with adversity from God, in case anyone is feeling scared, shy or mistreated, when it comes to approaching God. We looked at less verbal prayer time with God. We next learned our physical body is like a temple and we need to choose to keep healthy. Last week we reviewed Chapter 6 in the Sacred Rhythms book by Ruth Haley Barton. We look at a self-examination with God. We touched on Attachment Theory. How we attach to others impacts our attachment to God. We begin to consider securely attaching to God. After this, we talked about sensing if we are holding God far or near and then making decisions with his input. It should feel like we are walking through life holding God's hand and just having a conversation. We then learned about Sabbath and then we reviewed our capstone chapter of the Sacred Rhythms series on creating a Rule of Life. Next we realized that making good choices was about walking with God always.

This marks the fourteenth(for kids)/fifteenth (for teens) episode in a long series devoted to "The Private Christian Journey." We talk about the Kingdom of God and what that vague (to our western minds) concepts should meant to the biblical authors when they wrote about it 2000 years ago. We walk through King Jesus' unpside down kingdom where the weak who sacrifice become exulted.

SERIES SUMMARY: The Private Christian Journey refers to our private walk with God. (As opposed to our public and viewable walk with God). This is where we encounter His love for us and the free gifts He gives us, developing a secure attachment to our heavenly Father. We first looked at the power that exists in our ability to choose. (Like choosing to accept His free gifts) But also look at the complicating factor of "The Rider and the Elephant" as coined by Jonathan Haidt. Next we looked at the character of God both as God the Father and Jesus. We get to CHOOSE to get to know him. We choose to put our hope and trust in Him as we train the elephant. (See how the skills build upon each other?). In the forth week we looked at how we respond to His free gifts, and choosing to ASK GOD FOR HELP. We then built our private space to encounter God. Next we explored the definition of integrity and last time we looked at Lectio Divina, a way to read the Bible as a love letter, rather than boring textbook. We then looked at Job and Joseph to see how they dealt with adversity from God, in case anyone is feeling scared, shy or mistreated, when it comes to approaching God. We looked at less verbal prayer time with God. We next learned our physical body is like a temple and we need to choose to keep healthy. Last week we reviewed Chapter 6 in the Sacred Rhythms book by Ruth Haley Barton. We look at a self-examination with God. We touched on Attachment Theory. How we attach to others impacts our attachment to God. We begin to consider securely attaching to God. After this, we talked about sensing if we are holding God far or near and then making decisions with his input. It should feel like we are walking through life holding God's hand and just having a conversation. We then learned about Sabbath. And last time was our capstone chpater of the Sacred Rhythms series on creating a Rule of Life.

This marks the thirteenth (for kids) /fourteenth (for teens) episode in a long series devoted to "The Private Christian Journey." This week is Chapter 9 in Sacred Rhythms. We put many of the previous practices together to create a weekly plan that is called a "Rule of Life."

SERIES SUMMARY: The Private Christian Journey refers to our private walk with God. (As opposed to our public and viewable walk with God). This is where we encounter His love for us and the free gifts He gives us, developing a secure attachment to our heavenly Father. We first looked at the power that exists in our ability to choose. (Like choosing to accept His free gifts) But also look at the complicating factor of "The Rider and the Elephant" as coined by Jonathan Haidt. Next we looked at the character of God both as God the Father and Jesus. We get to CHOOSE to get to know him. We choose to put our hope and trust in Him as we train the elephant. (See how the skills build upon each other?). In the forth week we looked at how we respond to His free gifts, and choosing to ASK GOD FOR HELP. We then built our private space to encounter God. Next we explored the definition of integrity and last time we looked at Lectio Divina, a way to read the Bible as a love letter, rather than boring textbook. We then looked at Job and Joseph to see how they dealt with adversity from God, in case anyone is feeling scared, shy or mistreated, when it comes to approaching God. We looked at less verbal prayer time with God. We next learned our physical body is like a temple and we need to choose to keep healthy. Last week we reviewed Chapter 6 in the Sacred Rhythms book by Ruth Haley Barton. We look at a self-examination with God. We touched on Attachment Theory. How we attach to others impacts our attachment to God. We begin to consider securely attaching to God. After this, we talked about sensing if we are holding God far or near and then making decisions with his input. It should feel like we are walking through life holding God's hand and just having a conversation. Last week we learned about Sabbath.

This marks the twelfth (for kids) /thirteenth (for teens) episode in a long series devoted to "The Private Christian Journey." This week is Chapter 8 in Sacred Rhythms. We focus on understanding sabbath. Whether you choose to make it a regular practice or develop the mindset as Jesus taught, it is ceasing from work and delighting in God's gifts.

SERIES SUMMARY: The Private Christian Journey refers to our private walk with God. (As opposed to our public and viewable walk with God). This is where we encounter His love for us and the free gifts He gives us, developing a secure attachment to our heavenly Father. We first looked at the power that exists in our ability to choose. (Like choosing to accept His free gifts) But also look at the complicating factor of "The Rider and the Elephant" as coined by Jonathan Haidt. Next we looked at the character of God both as God the Father and Jesus. We get to CHOOSE to get to know him. We choose to put our hope and trust in Him as we train the elephant. (See how the skills build upon each other?). In the forth week we looked at how we respond to His free gifts, and choosing to ASK GOD FOR HELP. We then built our private space to encounter God. Next we explored the definition of integrity and last time we looked at Lectio Divina, a way to read the Bible as a love letter, rather than boring textbook. We then looked at Job and Joseph to see how they dealt with adversity from God, in case anyone is feeling scared, shy or mistreated, when it comes to approaching God. We looked at less verbal prayer time with God. We next learned our physical body is like a temple and we need to choose to keep healthy. Last week we reviewed Chapter 6 in the Sacred Rhythms book by Ruth Haley Barton. We look at a self-examination with God. We touched on Attachment Theory. How we attach to others impacts our attachment to God. We begin to consider securely attaching to God. Last week we talked about sensing if we are holding God far or near and then making decisions with his input. It should feel like we are walking through life holding God's hand and just having a conversation.

This marks the tenth (for kids) /eleventh (for teens) episode in a long series devoted to "The Private Christian Journey." This week is Chapter 7 in Sacred Rhythms. We talk about the sensing if we are holding God far or near and then making decisions with his input. It should feel like we are walking through life holding God's hand and just having a conversation.

SERIES SUMMARY: The Private Christian Journey refers to our private walk with God. (As opposed to our public and viewable walk with God). This is where we encounter His love for us and the free gifts He gives us, developing a secure attachment to our heavenly Father. We first looked at the power that exists in our ability to choose. (Like choosing to accept His free gifts) But also look at the complicating factor of "The Rider and the Elephant" as coined by Jonathan Haidt. Next we looked at the character of God both as God the Father and Jesus. We get to CHOOSE to get to know him. We choose to put our hope and trust in Him as we train the elephant. (See how the skills build upon each other?). In the forth week we looked at how we respond to His free gifts, and choosing to ASK GOD FOR HELP. We then built our private space to encounter God. Next we explored the definition of integrity and last time we looked at Lectio Divina, a way to read the Bible as a love letter, rather than boring textbook. We then looked at Job and Joseph to see how they dealt with adversity from God, in case anyone is feeling scared, shy or mistreated, when it comes to approaching God. We looked at less verbal prayer time with God. We next learned our physical body is like a temple and we need to choose to keep healthy. Last week we reviewed Chapter 6 in the Sacred Rhythms book by Ruth Haley Barton. We look at a self-examination with God. We touched on Attachment Theory. How we attach to others impacts our attachment to God. We begin to consider securely attaching to God.

This marks the tenth (for kids) /eleventh (for teens) episode in a long series devoted to "The Private Christian Journey." This week we are back to Chapter 6 in the Sacred Rhythms book by Ruth Haley Barton. We look at a self-examination with God. This week touches on Attachment Theory. How we attach to others impacts our attachment to God. We begin to consider securely attaching to God.

SERIES SUMMARY: The Private Christian Journey refers to our private walk with God. (As opposed to our public and viewable walk with God). This is where we encounter His love for us and the free gifts He gives us, developing a secure attachment to our heavenly Father. We first looked at the power that exists in our ability to choose. (Like choosing to accept His free gifts) But also look at the complicating factor of "The Rider and the Elephant" as coined by Jonathan Haidt. Next we looked at the character of God both as God the Father and Jesus. We get to CHOOSE to get to know him. We choose to put our hope and trust in Him as we train the elephant. (See how the skills build upon each other?). In the forth week we looked at how we respond to His free gifts, and choosing to ASK GOD FOR HELP. We then built our private space to encounter God. Next we explored the definition of integrity and last time we looked at Lectio Divina, a way to read the Bible as a love letter, rather than boring textbook. We then looked at Job and Joseph to see how they dealt with adversity from God, in case anyone is feeling scared, shy or mistreated, when it comes to approaching God. We looked at less verbal prayer time with God. Last week learned our physical body is like a temple and we need to choose to keep healthy.

This marks the ninth (for kids) /tenth (for teens) episode in a long series devoted to "The Private Christian Journey." This week we are back to Chapter 5 in the Sacred Rhythms book by Ruth Haley Barton. We consider taking good care of our physical body as honoring it as the temple where God dwells with us.

SERIES SUMMARY: The Private Christian Journey refers to our private walk with God. (As opposed to our public and viewable walk with God). This is where we encounter His love for us and the free gifts He gives us, developing a secure attachment to our heavenly Father. We first looked at the power that exists in our ability to choose. (Like choosing to accept His free gifts) But also look at the complicating factor of "The Rider and the Elephant" as coined by Jonathan Haidt. Next we looked at the character of God both as God the Father and Jesus. We get to CHOOSE to get to know him. We choose to put our hope and trust in Him as we train the elephant. (See how the skills build upon each other?). In the forth week we looked at how we respond to His free gifts, and choosing to ASK GOD FOR HELP. We then built our private space to encounter God. Next we explored the definition of integrity and last time we looked at Lectio Divina, a way to read the Bible as a love letter, rather than boring textbook. We then looked at Job and Joseph to see how they dealt with adversity from God, in case anyone is feeling scared, shy or mistreated, when it comes to approaching God. Last week we looked at less verbal prayer time with God.

This marks the eighth-kid/ninth-teen episode in a long series devoted to "The Private Christian Journey." This week we are back to Chapter 4 in Sacred Rhythms by Ruth Haley Barton. We take a look at prayer and how to move past simple word-based prayers.

SERIES SUMMARY: The Private Christian Journey refers to our private walk with God. (As opposed to our public and viewable walk with God). This is where we encounter His love for us and the free gifts He gives us, developing a secure attachment to our heavenly Father. We first looked at the power that exists in our ability to choose. (Like choosing to accept His free gifts) But also look at the complicating factor of "The Rider and the Elephant" as coined by Jonathan Haidt. Next we looked at the character of God both as God the Father and Jesus. We get to CHOOSE to get to know him. We choose to put our hope and trust in Him as we train the elephant. (See how the skills build upon each other?). In the forth week we looked at how we respond to His free gifts, and choosing to ASK GOD FOR HELP. We then built our private space to encounter God. Next we explored the definition of integrity and last time we looked at Lectio Divina, a way to read the Bible as a love letter, rather than boring textbook. Last week we looked at Job and Joseph to see how they dealt with adversity from God without being afraid of Him.