Bumper Sticker Conversation

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Tuesday's Grand Connection Thought

by Mary May Larmoyeux

I was driving to work earlier this week and got stuck in traffic behind a truck with some interesting bumper stickers that included:

· If going to church makes you a Christian, does going into a garage make you a car?

· A Buddha Fish (the fish symbol with BUDDHA inside of it)

After being behind that truck for maybe a minute, I felt like I knew something about its driver. There’s got to be a story behind his bumper stickers!

I wondered if he had been hurt deeply by someone who professed to follow Christ. Does he understand that churches are filled with sinners and that Christians are far from perfect? I wondered if he realizes that most people would agree with his rhetorical question about going to church. Why, if going to church made someone a Christian, then going into a bank would make me rich (at least it would have a year ago).

I wondered why the driver appeared to follow Buddha and whether he had ever been introduced to what it means to have a personal relationship with Christ.

Those bumper stickers got me thinking, and I realized that they can be great conversation starters with our grandkids. When we are in the car with older grands, we may want to ask them to read some bumper stickers aloud and discuss what they mean ... imagine the "stories" behind them.

Here are a just few other bumper stickers that I’ve seen and some ideas about how we can use them to communicate with our grands:

· My child is an honor student.
· The Christian fish
· Tolerance
· Stand up for Decency
· Peace
· Vote for ____
· Abortion stops a beating heart
· My dog is a _________

The bumper stickers about the honor student might prompt discussions about how our grandchildren feel about grades. Are they honor students and grades come easily for them. Or, do they struggle to get homework finished on time and feel panicked when taking a test?

What would it look like to have peace in the world, in the church, in the home? What does the Bible say about peace?

If our grandchildren could have any type of dog, which breed would they choose and why? What have been their favorite pets and why did they like these pets so much?

If you have long-distance grandkids, you could ask them to share their favorite bumper sticker sayings with you through an e-mail or a phone call. And you might share your favorites with your grands.

If you see some interesting bumper stickers this week, please share them by leaving a comment below, or by sending an e-mail to mary@marymaywrites.com, and I’ll post it as a comment for you.

He is able,
Mary
The Grand Connection: 365 Ways to Connect With Your Grandchild's Heart

Article 2009 © Mary May Larmoyeux. All rights reserved.

Believing God

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Tuesday's Grand Connection Thought

by Mary May Larmoyeux

As you look at the world today, do you ever wonder what challenges await your grandchild? I do. It's so comforting to remember that God is not surprised by anything that happens. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow (Hebrews 13:8).

I think that the words of Psalm 78 are especially fitting for grandparents:

I will utter hidden things, things from of old— things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us. We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. ... so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.

Beth Moore, in her wonderful Bible study Believing God, asks "Do you take God at His Word, believing what He has told us, or do you just believe in his existence and the salvation He offers?"

Beth says that after she said to God, "... I've believed in You all my life," she realized that He was saying to her: "I didn't ask you to believe in Me. I asked you to believe Me."

I've thought a lot lately about the difference in believing in God and believing God. When Jim and I were first married we had a dog named Rocky and he had a bad habit of getting out of his yard when Jim and I went to work. Strange as it might seem, Rocky would not run around the neighborhood. Instead, he'd just sit in the carport and wait for Jim or me to come home (our stay-at-home neighbors told us this). He didn't just believe that Jim and I could provide food and shelter for him—he knew it and patiently waited for our arrival.

I want to believe God in 2011—not just believe in Him!

Would you like to join me in a 10-week online Bible study of Beth Moore's Believing God? If you have an older granddaughter, she might want to join us. Wouldn't it be fun for you to chat with her in person, online, or by phone about this study?

On February 1, 2011, I'll start going through this timely study with a small group of ladies. You can join us by enrolling in the online version of Believing God from Lifeway ($23.95). You can watch the same videos online that we'll watch in person. And then we can all share what we are learning on the blog Want to Study the Bible (and you can join in the Lifeway online discussion).

If you are interested in knowing more about this Bible study, please e-mail me: mary@marymaywrites.com.

I'm looking so forward to learning more about believing God!

He is able,

Mary

Mary May Larmoyeux

The Grand Connection: 365 Ways to Connect with Your Grandchild's Heart

© 2011 by Mary May Larmoyeux. All rights reserved.