lemonade lemonade! get your ice cold lemonade! :]

so this morning.. i participated in a lemon stand. :] that’s right. you guys are all jealous! haha! i babysit these 3 boys every monday and wednesday. the oldest is 9.. and then there’s the twin 6 year olds! let me just tell you all that these children never fail to make me smile :) they are literally like my little brothers. today.. they wanted to set up a lemonade stand to raise money for buying tickets to see toy story 3. their mommy wanted them to earn the money on their own so they could learn what it is like to work for something. aw. it was so much fun. i think they ended up getting around 5 bucks! it might’ve consisted a little of their mommy coming back to get refills.. every few minutes! and their mom also calling up some of her girlfriends to stop by and get some lemonade. hahahah. so much fun.

anyway; after that the twins went to go watch a movie and i stayed in the dining room with their older brother. he insisted on me teaching him a bible story even though i didn’t have a craft this time. ps, i’ve been hired to do like a VBS thing for them all summer :)

i was planning on doing adam and eve.. so on i went. let’s just say the lesson went waaaaay further than i had planned! i was so encouraged by his faith, & by his desire to learn more about this ‘God’. at youth group tonight.. they pretty much taught the SAME EXACT THING me and cory had talked about earlier today. what are the odds? God may just be trying to remind me something. and its the most amazing truth out there, if i might add :]

so here goes (a more detailed, in-depth version of Adam and Eve) ;

When God made Adam and Eve.. everything was still perfect. God was in perfect communion with His creation. His dwelling was among them.. and everything was good. They were even naked, and they felt no shame. God created a garden for them to live in and take care of. He entrusted them with it all.. yet told them that they were not allowed to eat off the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He said if they were to eat of it, they would surely die. and of course everyone knows the part where the serpent comes in and tempts Eve into biting into the fruit.. and how Adam ends up having some of it too. Right after they ate of the tree.. they realized they were naked.. and they actually DID feel shame. They heard God calling for them.. and they felt GUILT. They hid. The moments Adam and Eve bit into that fruit.. mark the fall of man. God punished them.. and kicked them out of the garden. They were now dead.. not physically.. but SPIRITUALLY. they were dead in their sin.

God.. is holy. He is a holy perfect God. and He HATES sin. In those moments.. Adam and Eve broke the connection they had with God. He was no longer able to dwell with them.. because He is holy and they were not. From that moment on.. every single time a person committed a sin.. if they wanted to be right with God.. there needed to be some sort of shedding of blood. Throughout the old testament animals were sacrificed all the time. Of course, this was never enough. That relationship between God and humanity was broken. God’s wrath laid upon us.. and it had every right to.

This is the part where Jesus comes in. Jesus, the son of God.. came down to earth in the form of a man, to live a perfect life. He came to show us how to live the way were CREATED to live, and He also came to save us. Jesus died on the cross for our sins. JESUS, was the ultimate sacrifice. His blood covers us all. God poured all His wrath out on Him, instead of US. Jesus rising from the dead 3 days later gives us hope. He has conquered sin. He has conquered DEATH. through Jesus.. we can have eternal life.

(For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life -John 3:16)

We are all going to be judged. EVERYONE. and when we are judged.. you’re either gonna have Jesus standing in your defense, or not. We are made righteous.. through Him. Jesus bridged the gap there was between us and God. We can now restore our relationship with our Creator.

The bible is literally GOD SCREAMING OUT HIS LOVE FOR US. yet we are blinded by this world and all the distractions there are in it. After the fall, satan gained power over this world. He doesn’t necessarily have power over US.. but he can def. influence us and distract us from knowing God and following Him. what people don’t know is that this world.. is going to come to an end. we dont know when.. but if you read the end of the bible.. aka a revelation to the end of the world.. Jesus wins. Jesus is King. Satan and everyone else who chooses to live for themselves during their short time on earth are cast into this eternal separation from God. I dont know. to me, that sounds horrible. and in the end.. everything is going to be made RIGHT. God is going to dwell with His people again. There will be no more pain, death, sorrow, or ANYTHING. Everything will be good.

Don’t ask me how.. but somehow I shared all of this with a 9 year old today. (wait, not the last paragraph.. but everything before) and somehow he understood some of it. I later wrote out a verse for him..

“But because of His great love for us, God being rich in mercy, made us alive in Christ, even when we were dead in our transgressions.”

I asked him..

“Why were we dead in our transgressions?” He said Adam and Eve

“What does it mean to be alive in Christ?” He said Jesus saved us and gave us eternal life if we believe in Him

“What do you think mercy means?” He didn’t know.. and I told Him mercy means not getting a punishment that you actually deserve. I explained that us not being punished for our sin.. shows us God’s mercy.

finally i asked him.. “WHY would God do this? look at the verse..” and very unsurely Cory said.. because of His great love..?

of course! that was the answer! and i am really glad i didn’t forget to mention that part. so many people tend to think God is this angry guy up there who just wants everyone to listen to him and wants to ruin everyones fun. um NO. re read everything i just wrote. God didn’t HAVE to send us Jesus. God could’ve punished us. He had EVERY right to punish us. Everything He does is out of love. and people tend to forget that.

I actually tend to forget that. I forget that I am loved by a perfect all knowing all powerful amazing God. I forget that His mercies are new every morning, and He shows me his grace every moment by even allowing me to breathe. i forget that i am called to love others because He loves ME. i forget that He is worth my everything and that living for myself is the dumbest thing i could ever do. i forget that life in Him.. is everlasting. and full of love. more love than ever. its overwhelming. :)