If Animals Talked:
Kids react:
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Monday, May 23, 2011
A Good Cup of Customer Service
I have a slightly un-healthy habit... coffee. I can't help it, I crave the stuff. Hot, cold, as an ice cream mixed with chocolate fudge sauce and almonds.... I need to stop, I'm drooling on my keyboard. Basically, I like coffee. A few months ago, I treated myself to one of those fancy one cup brewers. It was love a first sip. All was perfect java-induced euphoria until the water tank accidentally slipped, hit the tile the floor, and cracked. Like whipped cream on a hot caramel macchiato, my blissful morning had melted away. Faster than you can say "mocha", I was on the company's website to order a new part! The part arrived, literally, a couple days later and much to my unexpected surprise, it was a BIGGER water tank. Now, math has never been my best subject, but even I was able to instantly calculate: bigger water tank + coffee = more coffee FASTER! Wait... there's more! Samples of the new iced coffees! I had been desperate to try them but, I lacked the justification for further increase to my already maximized coffee budget. Yet there they were, like an answered french vanilla prayer.
Now, I know what you're thinking... either, I'm easily impressed or I need to cut back on the caffeine. And while both are true, that's not my point. My point is that, the frustration of ordering a broken part had somehow managed to turn into a great customer service experience! My part arrived quickly, it was better than I thought it would be, I received something I didn't expect, overall I got a better ordering experience than I expected!
It all reminded me of an email I received from a parent:
My daughter loves waumba land and all the workers there. As a parent this makes me feel so good seeing her run into her class every Sunday and have no problem telling me and my husband bye.
Because of you, this family got more out of their church experience than they expected.
Because of you, this family got more out of their church experience than they expected.
Coffee companies are the only ones who can provide great 'customer service'. When we are prepared, when a child feels safe and cared for, when we can share a small moment with a parent about their child... families get a better 'church' experience than they thought they would. And ultimately, our ability to influence children for God goes from 'tall' to 'venti'-size!
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Waumbaology 101
This was a recent post by Rick Warren, author of the book "The Purpose Driven Life". It directly addresses the importance of two of the three foundational truths we teach in Waumba Land.
This is a brilliant 'must read'!
Children Need to Know God Loves Them
by Rick Warren
“You (God) created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11b (NLT)
So a parent's primary responsibility is to teach their children to love God. It is the first critical choice a child has to learn because it is a choice they will be faced with over and over at every stage in their life.
Out of all the conversations parents need to have with their children, one of the first and most important is telling children that God created them and loves them.
Until our children understand that they were made by God and for his pleasure, life will not make sense. Isaiah 44 tells us, “I (God) am your creator. You were in my care even before you were born” (Isaiah 44:2 CEV). Children need to know that God thought them up. They were not an accident. They may not have been planned, but they were not an accident because God knew them and loved them from conception.
Now, no parent is perfect. They can have their good days and bad days. But God does not. His love is not based on his mood. He doesn’t love us one day and dislike us the next because his love is unchanging – that’s his character. It has nothing to do with who we are or what we do. We can’t make God stop loving us. He created us and made us to love us.
Our children need to understand this. And then we need to talk to them about how we respond to this love because God also gave us the capacity to love him back It is called worship. So we need to talk to our children about this key issue – what will be the center of my life?
Whatever is at the center of your life is what you worship. As children grow up, they can center their life on what other people think (peer pressure), sports, school, family, career, having fun, money, or collecting things. And there’s nothing wrong with any of those things. God created all of them for our enjoyment. They just don’t belong at the center of your life because they don’t last.
If you center your life on you career, it can go away. If you center your life on money, you can lose it. If you center your life on your appearance or health, they can fail. All of these things can disappear and you’re left growing up with insecurity. But a life centered on God is solid because God cannot be taken away from you.
So a parent’s primary responsibility is to teach their children to love God. It is the first critical choice a child has to learn because it is a choice they will be faced with over and over at every stage in their life. Will they choose to live a self-centered life or a God-centered life?
When our children understand that they were created by God to be loved by him, and they choose to put God at the center of their lives, they will be able to stand strong against any challenge that comes their way.
Children Need to Know God Loves Them
by Rick Warren
“You (God) created everything, and it is for your pleasure that they exist and were created.” Revelation 4:11b (NLT)
So a parent's primary responsibility is to teach their children to love God. It is the first critical choice a child has to learn because it is a choice they will be faced with over and over at every stage in their life.
Out of all the conversations parents need to have with their children, one of the first and most important is telling children that God created them and loves them.
Until our children understand that they were made by God and for his pleasure, life will not make sense. Isaiah 44 tells us, “I (God) am your creator. You were in my care even before you were born” (Isaiah 44:2 CEV). Children need to know that God thought them up. They were not an accident. They may not have been planned, but they were not an accident because God knew them and loved them from conception.
Now, no parent is perfect. They can have their good days and bad days. But God does not. His love is not based on his mood. He doesn’t love us one day and dislike us the next because his love is unchanging – that’s his character. It has nothing to do with who we are or what we do. We can’t make God stop loving us. He created us and made us to love us.
Our children need to understand this. And then we need to talk to them about how we respond to this love because God also gave us the capacity to love him back It is called worship. So we need to talk to our children about this key issue – what will be the center of my life?
Whatever is at the center of your life is what you worship. As children grow up, they can center their life on what other people think (peer pressure), sports, school, family, career, having fun, money, or collecting things. And there’s nothing wrong with any of those things. God created all of them for our enjoyment. They just don’t belong at the center of your life because they don’t last.
If you center your life on you career, it can go away. If you center your life on money, you can lose it. If you center your life on your appearance or health, they can fail. All of these things can disappear and you’re left growing up with insecurity. But a life centered on God is solid because God cannot be taken away from you.
So a parent’s primary responsibility is to teach their children to love God. It is the first critical choice a child has to learn because it is a choice they will be faced with over and over at every stage in their life. Will they choose to live a self-centered life or a God-centered life?
When our children understand that they were created by God to be loved by him, and they choose to put God at the center of their lives, they will be able to stand strong against any challenge that comes their way.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Holy Cow
Have you ever noticed how kids are ALWAYS asking questions? I once exhaustedly asked my 5-year old daughter, "Why are you asking me so many questions?!" She answered, quite matter-of-fact, "Because I don't know much."
Curiosity leads kids to want to explore and learn truth about the world around them. The mother of 2-year-old Waumba Lander recently replayed this conversation for me:
"Mommy, what's that?"
"It's a cow."
"Where did the cow come from?"
"Well... God made cows."
"Show me."
"What? You want me to 'show you' how God made cows?"
The little girl didn't wait for her mother's answer. She went to her room and got her little picture Bible.
"Show me!"
The mother flipped through the pages until her daughter's hand stopped her on the page with the picture of the animals on it, the story of Noah's ark.
"Look Mommy! There it is!"
The mother realized her daughter wasn't looking for cows. She was looking for truth.
The month of May in Waumba Land is devoted to the wonder of creation... the stars, the seas, the land, the animals, the people... EVERYTHING that God created! We will learn the truth about the beginning of it all from Genesis 1:1, "God created the heavens and the earth." We will eat 'Oreo sand', make fingerprint bugs, look for glow-in-the-dark stars on the ceiling, and many other activities to help us appreciate and enjoy the beauty of ALL that God created... especially, cows.
Curiosity leads kids to want to explore and learn truth about the world around them. The mother of 2-year-old Waumba Lander recently replayed this conversation for me:
"Mommy, what's that?"
"It's a cow."
"Where did the cow come from?"
"Well... God made cows."
"Show me."
"What? You want me to 'show you' how God made cows?"
The little girl didn't wait for her mother's answer. She went to her room and got her little picture Bible.
"Show me!"
The mother flipped through the pages until her daughter's hand stopped her on the page with the picture of the animals on it, the story of Noah's ark.
"Look Mommy! There it is!"
The mother realized her daughter wasn't looking for cows. She was looking for truth.
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