Copyright 2009 Scott Turansky and Joanne Miller - All rights reserved - Used with permission.
http://effectiveparenting.org/ - For free e-mail parenting tips sign up: www.biblicalparenting.org
The language of children is activity. When teaching children spiritual truths it's best to speak in their language. A family devotion time should be the most fun part of the week. If you use their language they'll not only enjoy family time but they'll be eager for more.
Here’s one idea: complaining can be a problem in any family, and not just among children. You might start by reading the story in Numbers 14 about the time that the Israelites complained about the food. You’ll learn that God disciplined them by sending a plague. Then get out the cold oatmeal and play the "Cold Oatmeal Plague Game."
Have kids pretend to complain like the Israelites and then you put some cold oatmeal on their bare arms. You can have some "grace wipes" handy to illustrate how God's grace cleans up our lives. Kids will have a lot of fun with this and most importantly, will remember the lesson forever. As you take time to talk about complaining versus gratefulness, you're teaching a practical application of God's Word in family life.
A great resource containing many activities to teach spiritual truths to children is available on our website. We published six Family Time Activities books. In fact, we're offering you a special on these books to buy one and get the second one at half off. Just use this coupon code FTT07 when you check out.
Learn more at www.biblicalparenting.org/familytime.asp
http://effectiveparenting.org/ - For free e-mail parenting tips sign up: www.biblicalparenting.org
The language of children is activity. When teaching children spiritual truths it's best to speak in their language. A family devotion time should be the most fun part of the week. If you use their language they'll not only enjoy family time but they'll be eager for more.
Here’s one idea: complaining can be a problem in any family, and not just among children. You might start by reading the story in Numbers 14 about the time that the Israelites complained about the food. You’ll learn that God disciplined them by sending a plague. Then get out the cold oatmeal and play the "Cold Oatmeal Plague Game."
Have kids pretend to complain like the Israelites and then you put some cold oatmeal on their bare arms. You can have some "grace wipes" handy to illustrate how God's grace cleans up our lives. Kids will have a lot of fun with this and most importantly, will remember the lesson forever. As you take time to talk about complaining versus gratefulness, you're teaching a practical application of God's Word in family life.
A great resource containing many activities to teach spiritual truths to children is available on our website. We published six Family Time Activities books. In fact, we're offering you a special on these books to buy one and get the second one at half off. Just use this coupon code FTT07 when you check out.
Learn more at www.biblicalparenting.org/familytime.asp
THE BOMBARDIER BEETLE
Source: KneEmail, www.forthright.net/kneemail/
Though less than an inch in length, the bombardier beetle is noted for its unique defense system. When threatened, the insect sprays boiling, foul-smelling liquid and steam from its posterior, warding off spiders, birds, and even frogs.
Consider: This beetle is equipped with "a pair of glands which open at the tip of [its] abdomen." Each of these has a reservoir that stores an acidic compound and hydrogen peroxide as well as a reaction chamber filled with enzymes dissolved in water. To protect itself, the insect can squeeze the solution from the reservoirs into the reaction chamber to trigger a chemical reaction. The result? Noxious chemicals, water, and steam--at a temperature of about 212 degrees Fahrenheit--are sprayed onto an attacker. The chambers are less than sixteenth of an inch long, yet the beetle can change the speed, direction, and consistency of its toxic spray.
Source: KneEmail, www.forthright.net/kneemail/
Though less than an inch in length, the bombardier beetle is noted for its unique defense system. When threatened, the insect sprays boiling, foul-smelling liquid and steam from its posterior, warding off spiders, birds, and even frogs.
Consider: This beetle is equipped with "a pair of glands which open at the tip of [its] abdomen." Each of these has a reservoir that stores an acidic compound and hydrogen peroxide as well as a reaction chamber filled with enzymes dissolved in water. To protect itself, the insect can squeeze the solution from the reservoirs into the reaction chamber to trigger a chemical reaction. The result? Noxious chemicals, water, and steam--at a temperature of about 212 degrees Fahrenheit--are sprayed onto an attacker. The chambers are less than sixteenth of an inch long, yet the beetle can change the speed, direction, and consistency of its toxic spray.
Researchers have studied the bombardier beetle to learn how to develop more effective and ecologically-sound mist systems. They have discovered that the beetle not only used one-way inlet valves to allow chemicals into the reaction chambers but also has a pressure-relief valve to expel them. Engineers hope to use spray technology based on the bombardier beetle in car engines and fire extinguishers, as well as in medial drug-delivery devices, such as inhalers. Professor Andy McIntosh of the University of Leeds, England, says: "Nobody had studied the beetle from a physics and engineering perspective as we did--and we didn't appreciate how much we would learn from it."
What do you think? Did the bombardier beetle's complex system of valves, combustion, and explosion develop by chance? Or was it designed? (Awake)
"Then God said, 'Let the earth bring forth the living creature according to its kind: cattle and creeping thing and beast of the earth, each according to its kind;' and it was so. And God made the beast of the earth according to its kind, cattle according to its kind, and everything that creeps on the earth according to its kind. And God saw that it was good" (Genesis 1:24-25).
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