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with Food

One time last week we tried doing the Faith 5 around the kitchen table while we ate a snack.

It's amazing what kids highs and lows are. That day most of the high's were watching the tree man, climb our trees and cut down branches. The really cool ones were the dead branches which shattered upon hitting the ground.

Cardboard and Paperbags

Another way my kids discovered to retell the Bible story for the week, is to use cardboard and paperbags. I walked in and they were walking around with paperbags on their heads running into each other. "What's going on?" I asked. They replied, "We're pretenting that we're blind, like Saul was." :-)

It's so cool! Pass it on.

Our kids are in the FIRST Lego League. Their team meets at our house.
One of the things the kids on the team do before they go home is share their highs and lows of the meeting/activities of that night.

A visiting coach from another team can to help us out one night and he saw that and was very impressed. He really liked that concept. After the meeting I gave him my copy of the Home Journal and showed him where the idea came from, noting that at Lego League we just do the Highs and Lows part of the Faith 5.

It is exciting and fun to share the Faith 5 concepts with others.

I miss it

On Sundays, we don't have to do the Faith 5 because the kids do it at Underground on Sunday mornings. But last night, I (the parent) missed it. If I wasn't so exhausted that night I would have done the Faith 5.

It's cool to have a faith building family tool that is so good that you miss it.

It's worth it!

Hi everyone! I thought I'd share my family's experience with the Faith 5 effort.

We do our Faith 5 time right after supper, with the three who attend Underground, but also the older two, if they're with us that evening. Everyone shares their Hi's and Lo's, and then I do my best to try to apply the passage to whatever we've heard. Sometimes it's a bit of a struggle, but usually you can find something to tie into. After that, we pray. We go around the table, and everyone offers their prayers, either connected to their Hi's and Lo's (usually), or often for something else that is on their mind that they want to talk to God about. The last person to pray around the table adds "in Jesus' name, Amen."

This is our way of doing the Faith 5 in our family, and we have been truly blessed since we started it. Not only does it give us a chance to connect each day, we also get to discuss how God's Word applies to our day. But the highlight, to me, is the prayer time. It is so moving to have each member of our family speak a prayer as a part of a group prayer. The words don't have to be special or formal. It's just speaking from the heart. And I believe it makes all of us more comfortable in speaking to our Lord in prayer, and that's a wonderful thing!

One last thing: my personal prayer is that every family in our Underground program makes an effort to try this and stick with it, even if it's a little uncomfortable at first. I know for sure that the blessings are worth it!

Faith 5 for Couples

Carolann and I just started doing the Faith 5 for ourselves.

After the kids are tucked in we spend a few minutes sharing our highs and lows that maybe are too deep for us to share during the family Faith 5 time. Then we read a section of the Bible together. Not necessarily the same section as what we do as a family. Then we take turns praying.

It's an awesome experience. Carolann usually always has an insight from reading God's Word that I've never thought of. The discussion and process of thinking through God's message and applying it to our life is very powerful.