Spies Among Us

Yesterday at Kidmo (our preteen ministry) was a doozy and not on the good end of the spectrum, I might add. I’m studying creative discipline methods as we speak. Well, today while reflecting spiritual warfare…the thought crossed my mind that the demons were ordered to research the proverbial Kidmo files of the Catch Series, Episode #2. Their findings revealed that the subject matter would be over the Saul/Paul conversion and that there would be a ‘distinct’ possibility that Tammie would take this opportunity to share her testimony and that some preteen would probably invite Jesus to change their life.

Their hunch was right. I am soooo predictable. In my estimation, there were probably extra legions of demons assigned to my case rather than the norm. I don’t jump on the devil bandwagon that often. Let me explain. At first, I dismissed the thought as ludicrous due to the fact, that I blow it on a regular basis and reap what I sow. The enemy doesn’t have to mess with me much because I’m my own worst enemy. Really!

But, today at our elementary ministry we were studying about the twelve spies checkin’ out the Promised Land. My assignment was to dress up like a spy and have a folder with the words ‘Top Secret’ plastered across it. In my teacher prep time, I was fumbling for a manila folder, any would do…finally and randomly grabbed one out of my briefcase (sounds better than ministry tote). A sharpie pen did the job, not as dark as a sharpie marker…but, oh well…good enough. Then I ran to the sanctuary to set-up. ‘Wow, there’s a sharpie marker on the pulpit! Wow, I’m in luck.’

As I wrote over the letters with the marker, I glanced at the tab heading. THE FOLDER that I happened to grab said KIDMO and contained the lesson plans. This is where I threw the planned FWFriends’ manuscript out the window. Oh, we had to juice this one up. Soooo as we began FWF, Daniel was offstage with the Top Secret Folder and I’m center stage explaining to the children how the enemy broke into my office and stole the lesson plans for Kidmo. And I further explained how he tried to foil all of our plans yesterday. “I’m waiting for my spy agent to get here any moment (as I looked down at a watch in which I wasn’t wearing) because he was successful in retrieving the missing folder just this very afternoon.”

Agent Daniel runs into the room (out of breath, good add Daniel) and thrusts the folder into my hands. “Here you are ma’am.” The evil plot for next week has been spoiled. The day has been saved!

Kidmo Kids

Kidmo Kids are my Monday bunch! I enjoy Mondays, the group is small and we can engage in some one-on-one-get-to-know-each-other-better time. Some dayz I don't really know if they 'get' it, like the day they dressed me up in home-made armor. I think they just enjoyed the sillyness of it all!

But, something happened this past Monday that showed me otherwise. We had reward day and we went to the Knox County Courthouse to prayer walk. BJ's Country Store for treats. The War Memorial for enjoying the snacks. I tried to explain the hierarchy of it all...the cost of freedom for soldiers and Jesus, who's in charge of us and protecting us...Mom--Dad--Pastor--City (Mayor/Council)--County (Judge/Commissioners)--State (Govn'r/Legist'r)--Nation (Presd't/Congress)--Heaven (God is on the throne over all).

They were scared of the courtroom and the thought of the LORD as Judge scares me a bit, also. After stressing the importance of praying for our leaders and after the kids prayed out loud in the chambers of Judge Floyd, all I thought they cared about was the government lowering gas prices. But....then, on the way home Bergen said, "Miss Tammie, I know what I'd say to the President if I could talk to him."

I replied, "Oh yeah, what's that?"

She stated, "You need to put prayer back in school and bring God back into your job." Yep, she got it! And she was a witness to everyone in the van and that's when I knew...we all got it.

Truth or Consequences...

Wow, we played truth, truth and more truth on Monday at the Kidmo Christmas party.

You know the kid...the one that has to tell the truth NO MATTER WHAT IT IS! I'm wondering if 'this' type of child has the spiritual gift of prophecy/prophet! See for yourself by the following statements:

1. "Man, Tammie your house is waaaaay cleaner than my Mom's!"

2. "Tammie what's wrong with your Christmas tree? It has gaps and leans."

3. To a friend, "Santa is NOT real, my Mom said so!"

In the end, I tried to redeem the moment. "Ya know so-in-so," I claimed, "Does everybody believe in Santa?"

"No", she stuttered.

And I said, "And so-in-so it's even more tragic that NOT everyone believes in Jesus! But, He's real even though we can't see Him, right? And I don't care if people stop believing in Santa, but I do care if people stop believing in Jesus. Now, quit being a party pooper!"

King's Kids @ Kidmo

Yesterday at Kidmo our lesson challenged us to use the imaginations God gave us to come up with ways to encourage those around us who are hurting or having a hard time. We practiced the verse that says, 'He inhabits the praises of His people."

First we pretended that the President of the United States walked into the room and we rehearsed comments and reactions accordingly. Then, the 'real' thing happened...we sang praise songs to God and reacted as if He was standing in the middle of the room. Kids are sooo 'real'! Based on their reactions, they knew their response to God should be equal if not better than their responses to the president or even the Moguls on Friday night. We were passing out, shouting, clapping and saying 'we love you', to name a few, because He was there, really there. And King's Kids don't doubt that fact for a minute!