Proverbs 22:6 “ Train up a child in the way he should go;even when he is old he will not depart from

This is a familiar verse for those of us in the Church. It’s a promise from God but not a guarantee. We see children in a playground with our children, playing and happy. But that’s not the case for all. Some kids are bullying others, not taking turns, older siblings teasing the younger ones, some parents on their phones, some yelling at their kids, or just talking to other parents and ignoring their children, etc. This verse says to “train or teach.” It doesn’t say “Parents teach“ which tells me that we all have a responsibility for our community of children.

Some children learn by hearing, some are visual learners, some by hands on. That tells me that those children are learning by the way I treat their families, by how I carpool, how I act at their sporting events, how I treat my family at the table next to them at McDonalds and oh and did they see us pray thanking God before we ate? Did we ask our neighbors if the wanted to go to Church, VBS or some other church event? All these little things are teaching moments. I know when my teenage boys were going to church and I would ask the teenage friends next door if they wanted to come, they would always say, “Are you stopping at the Chinese Buffet after?” Whatever it takes to get the God’s word into the teens right! We are preparing our BACK TO SCHOOL BACKPACKS for children in need of these supplies. What an opportunity to encourage the children. We give a backpack, filled with school supplies, hygiene items, snacks and we also try to put a daily devotional for the older kids and a Bible story and/or craft in for the younger children. It’s a great way to let your own child or grandchildren purchase an extra backpack and let them pick out what goes in for supplies, pick out the craft or bible story. To teach your children stewardship, get them to ask the Sunday School teachers if they have any left-over crafts or Bible lessons in their closets and donate them to the Christian Caring Center. If your family is ordering from Amazon, teach them how to use AMAZON.SMILE.com first and then do your order and AMAZON SMILE will donate to the Christian Caring Center at no extra cost to you-PTL! The Christian Caring Center also has wish list up in Amazon. If you can’t come to the Christian Caring Center because of a work schedule you can use Amazon or YOUGIVEGOODS.COM to purchase items and they will ship them to us. We also encourage children and adults to put an encouraging note in the backpacks like, God loves you, I’m praying that you have a blessed year, etc. We will be distributing the Back to School Back Packs on August 18th and 19th at the Christian Caring Center Drive thru from 10 AM to 3 PM. There are so many ways to teach and give to those who are in need. The best way to bless all of the children, parents and teachers, staff, bus drivers this year is to pray for them daily. With everything that has been happening in the past few months they really need our daily prayers. As prices continue to rise, this will be a great blessing to the families, especially the children. These are times that the church rises to be a blessing! Thank you so much for all your CONTINUED support, for sharing your prayers, time, and financial gifts to spread this wonderful Gospel to the people we serve at the Christian Caring Center.

Abiding in Him,

Madelyn Sutton,