At the beginning of the month, I felt moved to tell my older kids about one of my favorite parables: The Parable of the Dry Bones. I became a Christian when I was in high school, but didn't really do too much studying of the bible during those years. My freshman year of college, I took a class called Intro to the Bible. It was, essentially, the bible from a non-christian view, but it was fascinating! I loved hearing the history behind the bible, following maps along the route that Jesus was thought to travel, and studying various stories. It was during that class that I heard the Parable of the Dry Bones. There was something just so amazing to me about dead things coming to life. I actually got teary eyed and played it off as a big yawn, so I didn't embarrass myself in class. It is a story that I think of often.
Last month, I heard the story told again on the local Christian radio station, with a new spin on it. I was so moved that I decided to share it with some of my kids. I decided not to share it with my younger kids because the image of a pile of skeletons growing muscles and skin and forming an army is a bit of a scary image.
A few months ago, I attended a concert of my favorite worship band; Rend Collective Experiment. If you haven't heard of this band, it's a folk band from Ireland who sought to find a way to make worship a fun, dance-y, whole body experience. Their concerts are some of my favorite ways to worship. I jump up and down, sing at the top of my lungs, dance, raise my arms, and just worship. This is my second time seeing the band live. This time, it was part of a Compassion event, so before the event, during intermission, and after the event, I helped people sign up to sponsor children. While the band was performing, the other Compassion volunteers told me it was okay for me to go worship with the band. The awesome part about volunteering with Compassion at concerts, besides finding sponsors for kids, is the fact that you get to attend the concert for free.
The last time I saw Rend Collective in concert, I wrote about it to my kids, posting photos of the band, and sharing bits and pieces of my favorite songs. This letter is literally just a list of lyric quotes that I love. I can only hope that my sponsored kiddos read a lyric or two that inspires them.
Plus seriously, the photos are fun! There were bubbles and confetti!
Lastly, I wrote to my kids how how I celebrated Christmas with my family. The letter was basically just a retelling of past letters, our Christmas traditions remain the same. Baking cookies, eating dinner, playing games, listening to Christmas music, and opening gifts. The main point of this letter was to send updated photos of my family members. And with Compassion's new ability to attach two extra pages of photos, I was able to send more than usual!
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