20170117_094317.jpgThe day was off to a typical start – Our DVD program began with Mrs. Reese welcoming the boys and girls to class for the day and the printer was humming with Mommy’s work efforts in the office. As Bible Time concluded, a pensive yet slightly emotional AbiNoelle rushed to my side and spilled out the depths of her heart in just four simple words.

“He touched my heart!” 20170117_094418.jpg

“He touched your heart?” I questioned.

“Yes, you see, if I wasn’t already saved, I would want to get saved today!” she earnestly declared.

Never wanting to instruct or inform our child that she is saved, I turned and gathered her into my lap and said, “What do you mean -‘If you weren’t already saved’.”

“Well, the Bible lesson was just so…well…Jesus just spoke to my heart today. It felt like He just reached down and touch my heart so much that I wanted to get saved all over again, but I knew I was already saved.”

As I began to try and understand what was creating such a visibly moving instance in my little girl’s heart, I asked, “Well, what was the Bible lesson about today?”

“It was about Nicodemus and how Jesus told him ‘Ye must be born again’. And I just love Jesus so much.”

Then it was clear…AbiNoelle has no doubts that Jesus saved her that night in our living room just before her fourth birthday, but she just wasn’t quite sure what else she could do to please Jesus and thank Him so much for speaking to her in this moment. As we took time to thank Jesus for touching our hearts during the day’s Bible Time, I began to reflect on how precious it is that Jesus does personally speak to our hearts and desires those special moments when we are just so overwhelmed by His goodness that the only thing we can think of to do is to tell Him again, “Yes, I accept you as my Lord and Saviour.”

With purpose and intent we begin each homeschool day with Bible Time. WHY? Because He is worthy of our firsts, we desire His leadership for our day, and we recognize that the ultimate goal of our education program is to grow and learn so that we can be more equipped to faithfully serve Him.

Progressive education seeks to bury the truth of the Bible and coerce the student into discovering and developing his own reality. This individualistic, liberating approach has, as one education specialist said, led to our self-centered society. Instead of putting our self under Sovereign Authority, we are urged to exercise a misplaced freedom that usurps and denigrates all authority.

BLM or the “Black Lives Matter” movement exemplifies the corruption of education in its core philosophy. A news reporter recently spent time with several BLM members. When asked if they were looking for the next Martin Luther King or Malcolm X to rise up and lead them the responses were:

No, we are a bottom-up movement not a top-down movement that doesn’t need a leader to tell them how to protest. We know what we believe. We don’t need anyone to lead us. Social media and hashtags are our leaders.

A college professor who studies such movements went on in the interview to explain that today’s civil rights movement is fueled by a spirituality, but a different spirituality than that which was grounded in the church during King’s day.

Grounded in the church…

How about grounded in the TRUTH.

In all fairness, the fight against authority can even be found within our own homeschool groups, churches, and Christian schools. Many refuse the authority of a curriculum to lead their students in learning, but flounder trying book after book. Many refuse pastoral leadership in giving direction to their lives, but search the hashtags to justify their life choices. Many refuse the teacher’s authority in the classroom, but rally support for their own cause. Many, in fact, go as far to say that just as progressive education urges the development of one’s own reality, the Christian should simply discover their own truth as it relates to the Bible, misapply bits of truth to fit their ideals and stamp God-approved upon it all.

Yet, back to AbiNoelle’s Bible time and Nicodemus. In the darkness, Jesus did not leave Nicodemus to discover a way to Him. No, it was very clear to a searching Nicodemus. “Ye must be born again.” There was only one way and that was HIS way. Many are marching in a dark mess of individual realities. Many are searching. Many are lacking purpose. Many are down-right defiant toward any type of leadership.  But THE WAY is clear. It is top-down!  Hosea 4:1&6 give warning:

Hear the word of the LORD, ye children of Israel: for the LORD hath a controversy with the inhabitants of the land, because there is no truth, nor mercy, nor knowledge of God in the land.
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.

We are so thankful that early on, AbiNoelle learned to listen and be sensitive to the voice of Jesus, and we are thankful for the leadership placed in her path from Mrs. Reese to grandparents….

…to even homeschool group time!

What a blessing to able to take a moment to work on some special service projects to cheer those living at the nursing home. AbiNoelle especially enjoyed working with Mrs. Beverly creating a lovely quilted wall hanging!