Wasn\u2019t that fun marching up the street with our balloons? Do any of you know why we are here?<\/strong> It\u2019s bigger? We didn\u2019t pay our rent so we were kicked out? Why are we here and not in our own church building?<\/p>\n\n\n\n We are retrofitting and renovating<\/strong> our building. That means that we are going to make the church safer to be in from earthquakes and it will have an elevator so that people who need to go upstairs but can\u2019t on their own can in the future. Sounds great, right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remodeling the church takes a lot of planning<\/strong>. Here, I have what is called, blueprints<\/strong>. They are usually blue, but my set is white. Look at all the work our architects have done on these papers. Here\u2019s the elevator<\/strong>\u2014imagine how much fun it will be to ride it! See the doors and bathrooms. Check out the new classrooms<\/strong> on the third floor where you will study the Bible. <\/p>\n\n\n\n It took many days and weeks to come up with all these drawings. Some of the people who helped are Uncle Nelson, Uncle Clarence, Uncle Albert, Uncle Jackie, and Uncle Pungo<\/strong>. In about six months, all of our planning will give us a very nice church home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You know, God wants us to do some planning about the way we live too<\/strong>. God wants us to decide what kind of persons we want to become. Just think about how unorganized and confused life would be for us if we didn\u2019t do some planning. Here are some of the things God wants us to build into our lives:<\/p>\n\n\n\n respect for the feelings of others<\/p>\n\n\n\n kindness at all times<\/p>\n\n\n\n honesty in every situation<\/p>\n\n\n\n patience when needed<\/p>\n\n\n\n helpfulness to those who need our assistance<\/p>\n\n\n\n love that never ends<\/p>\n\n\n\n faith in God<\/p>\n\n\n\n loyalty to Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like we will be building in our church home: new doors, a drinking fountain, an elevator, new classrooms, a library, just to name a few things, we must also build into our lives those things that make us strong Christians<\/strong>. When we finish with our church next year, we will still be working on our lives.<\/strong> We are forever building on the kind of life God wants us to have. The good news is that we have all these loving people to help us!<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let\u2019s pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Dear God, help us to plan our church and our lives well. Amen. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Time with the Children 7 18 99 Wasn\u2019t that fun marching up the street with our balloons? Do any of you know why we are here? It\u2019s bigger? We didn\u2019t