“What Really Happened at the Hagan House” – (God card #15 – Fort)

We are talking about God card #15 this week – God is my fort. He protects me.

So, we all grabbed our Bibles and found a place on the couches in the living room. For some reason, Carson wanted to go in the living room. Maya and Ada didn’t, but thankfully, the two sisters worked with their brother in this situation. Maya grabbed some paper and markers, and we were off and running.

Everyone looked up a verse from the God card in their Bible, highlighted it and marked in the side margin God card #15! This is so important to get them marking in their Bibles and filling it with your conversations (Study). We read our verses out loud to each other.

When we got to Ada’s verse, everyone started singing the SEEDS song “Never Be Shaken” (SEEDS of Courage, track 8).  We tried to find the song on You Tube, but we got distracted with everything but the song and had to just turn it off, but I love that the song is in them, and it just comes out! So, keep pressing play on those CDs when you are driving in the car.

Then I asked: “In your verse, what word or phrase stands out to you?” We liked the words: “preserve, encamps,  from him, and canopy.”

We told stories about the pine trees in Colorado and how they remind us of the word “encamps” in Psalm 34:7-8 and Ms. Kim’s blueberry jam and how it was preserved.  We actually picked those blueberries at the farm and then she made them into jam, and they were now in a situation where they wouldn’t go bad. We are just like those blueberries. God promises to “preserve” us.

We talked about the fighting in our house and in those moments, they are believing that they must “preserve” their wants or feelings. They are lashing out, because they are fearful of something being lost. But if they believe his Word, they are already “preserved.” So, they can go into the conflict without the anger and figure out a plan. I don’t know that they entirely got what we said, but it was good to name it and remind them there are answers to their issues IN HIM! You can’t be thwarted by the blank stares; something is sinking in!

Next, we drew pictures. To get us going, I will ask: “after reading the verses and telling the stories, what is the picture in your head?”

We all went around and shared our pictures. There was a bit of a fight on who got to share their picture first, and somebody threw a marker instead of handing it across the table, and the marker knocked someone on the head. Then, someone needed the orange when someone else had the orange. But like always, we weather the moments and keep our eye on the prize.

We talked about some possible ways that today we may feel shaken. How are we going to rest in the truth of this verse when that happens? We didn’t have a lot of words about it, but it is good to name it and think through how we will respond.

Last, we prayed. It was a simple time, but a rich time! Yes, there was one possible injury with the flying marker and a You Tube rabbit trail that almost got us watching for the hundredth time “Charlie Bit My Finger,” but there are always those moments. What is most important is: there were Bibles, conversation and all of us together making our way!