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Welcome to our 2nd week of How To Be a Super Hero! Our series is based on 1 Timothy 4:12, “Don’t let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” So, our topic this week is setting an example in life. What does that mean?

A few other translations say “how you live” or “conduct”. And now we’re getting to the heart of it. It stinks to say, but people judge our kids based on how our kids act. Our kids are judged by what their conduct is like. This scripture encourages us to be examples in our behavior. And oh, those times we have to drag our kids out of Target for pitching a fit can make us wonder if it’s even possible for our kids to be good examples! But that is exactly why we have to teach them them God’s view of their conduct now!

I have a list of about 20 scriptures I’d love to teach my kids about this, but the one we did today is one that has been a favorite for Children’s ministries for a long time: Matthew 7:24-27,

“So then, everyone who hears my words and puts them into practice is like a wise man. He builds his house on the rock. The rain comes down. The water rises. The winds blow and beat against that house. But it does not fall. It is built on the rock.

But everyone who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man. He builds his house on sand. The rain comes down. The water rises. The winds blow and beat against that house. And it falls with a loud crash.”

When my husband and I traveled as guest speakers for kids’ camps and churches, one of my favorite puppet skits we did was from a wordless script called, Beyond Words. Two little puppets work on building their houses, one on the rock and one on the land. After the rain comes and the foolish house is flattened, the rock lifts up the other house to reveal the name JESUS. It’s such an awesome picture–that our lives need to be build on the Rock, the Word, Jesus! But I couldn’t very well set up a giant puppet stage in the living room and perform that for the kids this morning!

So, I found a really fantastic video* that we watched together instead. Grab your kids, they are gonna like it…

{subscribers, click over to see the video!}

We had to watch it twice so my kids could understand that the 2nd boy didn’t pay attention to the written rules. Then we read the Scripture from Matthew and talked about how when we hear God’s Words and put them into practice, we’ll be like the first wise boy! And THIS is how we can have Fanstastic Conduct–by doing what God’s Word says!

When the kids wake up from their nap we’re going to paint rocks to remind us to build our lives on the rock of God’s Words! I’m hoping to make some Super Rocks with masks and crests. We’ll see how the kids do—I’ll be posting pics on Facebook, so check them out later today and add your own if you want!

*I don’t know anything about the people who produced and/or posted that video. So, I can’t vouch for them or anything else they do. I just liked this video!

I know I’ve mentioned Veggie Tale’s new Little Drummer Boymovie a few times since Veggie Tales sponsored my trip to Relevant. (I still can’t stop laughing every time I think of that If You Give a Blogger a Drum video.) We even had an interview about Little Drummer Boy with Mike Nawrocki, co-founder of Veggie Tales and voice of Larry the Cucumber. But I still haven’t given you a review of the movie yet!

With Thanksgiving as the doorway to Christmas, I thought you might like to grab this DVD to watch on Black Friday (because I know you’ll be at home buying Truth in the Tinsel instead of running through the mall, right?) and get your Christmas holiday started off right!

It begins with a very Princess-Bride-ish Grandpa Pa Grape reading the story of the Little Drummer Boy to a begrudging Junior the Asapragus. Junior is upset because he thinks his friends ditched him for Christmas caroling.

As Pa Grape tells the story, we see the connections between Junior’s bad attitude and the Little Drummer Boy, Aaron. And here’s where the sensitive alert comes in: Aaron’s house is burnt down by the Romans and his parents gone! (After my brother’s house fire this year, that scene hit close to home.) So, Aaron has a bad attitude towards…everyone!

He ends up meeting a group of traveling gypsy-type circus performers (Mr. Lunt and friends) who want to use his drumming talent (and Aaron’s dancing pets) to make money. In their travels they meet the Three Magi (look out for some funny Jedi=Magi jokes!) and as they travel to Bethlehem, Aaron’s pet lamb, Baa-Baa is hurt.

When Aaron stumbles upon baby Jesus in the manger, I thought for a second that baby Jesus was about to heal the lamb. (Now that would have been something for Veggie Tales, huh?) Instead, Aaron’s parents return and the family is reunited. (Which heals that hard part about the fire from the beginning!)

Aaron learns to have love and forgiveness for those that hurt him. And of course, Junior, listening to the story does, too.

My very favorite part is at the very end when Aaron and his parents are reunited. They are standing in front of baby Jesus and Aaron’s mother says, “God has drawn us back together again.” And I know she’s talking about her family, but I think it was written to remind us that Jesus was born to draw us back to our Heavenly Father! The story of the Little Drummer Boy is actually the story of us! We were lost in our sins and while we were still sinners, Jesus came for us, died for us and loved us! He drew us back to him! Merry Christmas, indeed!

So, yes. I loved Little Drummer Boy! It needs to be in your Christmas classics rotation.

And to celebrate Christmas (ok, the day before Thanksgiving), Veggie Tales is giving away a Little Drummer Boy DVD and O Holy Night: Journey of a Little Drummer Boy CD to one of you today! The CD is a beautiful collection of songs featuring BeBe and CeCe Winans, Wynona Judd, Steven Curtis Chapman, Amy Grant and Matthew West! HELLO! That is awesome!

To be entered to win, just leave me a comment with your favorite Christmas song! I’ll choose a winner this weekend.

Don’t forget to check out Veggie Tales and World Vision’s partnership–give a gift, change a life!

Veggie Tales sponsored by trip to Relevant & gave me this DVD and CD in order to post about it. Opinions and text are mine.

Remember when I went to The Orange Conference last year? It’s a big conference that helps churches and parents link arms and raise their kids for Jesus. My friend Mary and I went together and it was so fun to see all the different resources and meet all the different organization and pastors who were working so hard to get tools into the hands of churches and parents.

One of my favorite tools Orange produces is their music. My husband and I have used this as ministry volunteers AND as parents. Our church uses most of Orange’s songs for our preschool department. I’m in charge of the large group environment and my husband is one of the worship leaders. And sometimes we lead together.

(See? Aren’t we cute?)

Since my husband has to practice all these songs, he plays them on his guitar and in the car ALL THE TIME. And that means we listen to them ALL THE TIME. My kids know them ALL BY HEART.

I love that these songs are on the tip of their tongues. I love that they are hearing the same words of praise and encouragement at home and in church. I love singing and dancing with them in the living room!

Orange’s newest CD is called I Count On You. The title track is ONE OF OUR FAVORITE SONGS EVER! It was the theme song last year when we did our big Superhero theme at church. The lyrics are fantastic:

God you are strong
I am safe in your arms
You make me brave all day long
I count on you, I count on you

One! You’re the one true God.
Two! I belong to you.
Three! Yeah, I believe!
123, You are strong for me!

I love hearing my kids walk around singing this. And I love watching a room of almost 100 preschoolers singing this as loud as they can!

The rest of the CD has some of our faves on it, too: Hosanna Rock, Wherever Whatever, Good Good Friend and even a Christmas song called Happy Birthday, Jesus!

So, would you like to win one of these CDs? In honor of Orange Conference 2012 Registration opening TODAY, Orange is giving away I Count On You to two of you today! Just leave me a comment with your kids’ favorite song (it doesn’t have to be a Christian-church-y song!) and I’ll pick a winner on Monday!

And if you’re interested in more about Orange (especially if you’re involved in children’s ministry at any level–volunteer, part-time, pastor, etc.), please check out Orange’s website and the Orange Conference (April 25-27, 2012)! Registration opens TODAY (Thursday 9/22) with some fabulous perks!

If you can’t wait to win the CD, you can either buy OR download it now on the Orange site or with a subscription to Amber Sky Records!