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Published 10/10/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... It’s June, and almost the end of school. Every year our family plans our summer vacation around church camp. Camp is always a blast—the games, the archery, the cabins and food, even the music and speakers are good. You wouldn’t miss it. In the past, you’ve tried to get some school friends to go, but when their parents hear t

Published 10/9/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... You and your younger brother get along pretty well most of the time. Yes, there are those occasional fights, but nothing too serious. Why do you get along so well? You have to sleep in the same room, that’s why! If you didn’t get along, you’d have killed each other by now. Each of you has certain habits that tend to get on th

Published 10/8/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... It’s almost the last day of school and we tell you that you can do something special to celebrate. You suggest a sleep-over with a bunch of girls from your class. We agree! A few days before the end of the school year, you make your list: Amy, Susi, Lisa and Barb. I’ll start with those four, and then see if I need to invite m

Published 10/7/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... Mom, you’re home with us kids on a hot summer morning. The weatherman predicts it will get up into the nineties. That means it will be miserable unless someone can think of a way to keep cool. When we say “Water World,” your eyes light up a little, but then you remember. “It’s expensive to spend a day at one of those places.

Published 10/6/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... It’s Friday after school and the day is perfect for soccer. After getting Mom’s permission to call a few friends and go down to the school to play, you grab your soccer ball and head out the door. After about fifteen minutes later there are eleven of you who have converged behind the junior high. One guy even brought four ora

Published 10/5/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... When you got your dog a few years ago, you promised you’d take care of it. But now, just as we predicted, Mom and Dad do most of the work. Oh, we don’t complain too much about it. We realize it comes with the territory of being a parent. Even though you don’t always have to feed Max, you still have to keep an eye on him. For

Published 10/4/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... You’re playing baseball against a team that you’ve always considered your archrival. The players are from another grade school in your area and you know a few of them. You’ve grown up playing against them... and you don’t like them very much. In fact, the parents of the teams don’t even like each other. The other team beat you

Published 10/3/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... You’re a pretty good student in almost every subject–except math. When it comes to desiring to do homework in that subject, well, let’s just say you’d rather do anything but that. Unfortunately, of course, you can never get out of it. You’ve begged Dad to help you with it, secretly hoping he would just tell you the answers (wh

Published 10/2/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... Mom, you have been working at the same company for many years. It’s been a good job because it’s kept Dad from having to work a lot of overtime. Plus, the money has come in handy for summer vacations, braces and the holidays. For months now you’ve been hearing rumors that your company is preparing to cut back on employees to s

Published 10/1/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... “So, what would you kids like to do this Saturday?” Mom asks you and your sister. “Dad’s going to be out of town and I’ve got a few extra hours. Let’s all do something fun.” That sounds great to you. You’ve been racking your brain in school the past few weeks and doing homework every weekend. You’re ready for a break. “I know

Published 9/30/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... “It’s going to be a blast,” you tell your best friend on the phone. “First we meet at the church with our sleeping bags, pillows and pack, then we load up the vans and head out into the wilderness1 It only takes about an hour, and when we get there all the leaders cook the food while the kids go exploring. We get to stay up as

Published 9/30/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... This is a typical day in your life. From midnight to about 7:00 A.M. you sleep in your own room and nice, warm bed. The sheets are clean, a small light is left on all night, and your clock radio is on your nightstand. When the alarm wakes you, you immediately put in a tape of your favorite radio series, Adventures in Odyssey .

Published 9/29/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... Your class is usually pretty organized. When there is a disruption, the teacher deals with it right away. It’s nearing the end of the school year, however, and your teacher has become a little more lax. He’ll often leave the class for a few minutes to go to the office, or he won’t look up from his desk when there is noise duri

Published 9/28/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... You’re outside working in the yard while we kids are out riding bikes. You look around the neighborhood and see that there are a lot of folks outside doing yard work. This is a good neighborhood, you think. You know how important it is to try and share your faith with neighbors, but so far, you haven’t had a lot of opportuniti

Published 9/27/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... It’s Sunday morning and you’re getting ready for church and Sunday school. Though you haven’t always absolutely loved going to both, it’s what our family does. Getting out of the car, you know exactly where to go. It’s been quite a while since Mom or Dad has had to take you to class. Once inside, you see a few of your friends

Published 9/26/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... You and Mom decide to go to Target to do a little shopping. When you get there, you ask if you can just head for the toy section, where she can catch up with you later. She says that will be fine, so off you go. Looking through toy sections at stores has always been one of your favorite parts about shopping. You know that when

Published 9/25/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... You’ve definitely noticed who the popular kids are at school. And as you get older—unfortunately—you notice them even more. Popular kids get most of the attention from others. They are noticed more by the opposite sex, teachers seem to like them more (usually), and they have lots of friends. At your school, there’s this girl n

Published 9/24/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... You’re riding your bike home from school. You had to take care of a few things after class, so it was nearly 4:30 before you left. The clouds are getting thicker and it’s starting to get dark, but you know you have plenty of time to get home. You live in a suburb close to the city. Almost every neighborhood there has a large b

blished 9/23/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... Mom, you’re a good employee. You’ve been with your company for many years. Your job is very fulfilling and has good benefits, but it doesn’t pay that well. You’re able to help with the family budget, but there’s rarely enough for extras. Most of the time, your vacations are spent doing work around the house or relaxing with us k

Published 9/22/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... It’s Saturday morning—allowance day! For three dollars a week, all you have to do is take out the garbage, empty the dishwasher, fold a few clothes, sweep the garage, do a little yard work and keep your room clean. Not a bad deal considering... considering that Mom and Dad could choose to not give you anything. We could decide

Published 9/21/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... Your Sunday school class is usually pretty fun because the teacher is young and lets you get away with a lot. Plus, many of your friends attend. After that, however, comes church. Sometimes you can follow what’s happening, but it seems like it’s geared more for adults than kids. Because you’re getting older, you ask us if it’s

Published 9/20/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... Each day it’s the same faces. Thirty-two kids, all in their assigned seats. At the beginning of the school year it’s fun, waiting to see who’s in your class, but by Thanksgiving you’re ready for a change. It’s another weekday morning as you’re getting ready to head out the door. “Anything happening in school these days that’s n

Published 9/19/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... You’re industrious like your older brother, always looking for ways to make money. You do your chores to get your allowance, and you’re always asking Mom and Dad what you can do to earn some extra cash. One day, your brother tells you he’s going to give up mowing lawns to start a paper route. He wants to know if you’d like to tak

Published 9/18/19 101 Five-Minute Meal Time Devotions: Fun and Creative Ways to Teach your Kids Spiritual Values By Greg Johnson What If... Dad, your brother and his family are coming over for dinner this weekend. Because he lives in another city, you only get to see him once a month or so. You both have kids that are the same ages, so it’s usually a pretty good time. He arrives promptly at 3:00 P.M. on Sunday. Immediately all the kids go outside to play, and your br