Out of the mouths of babes...

Two girls in my small group taught the lesson last Sunday night and did a wonderful job! They didn't even shy away from the hard stuff - teaching about standards in dating situations. It was particularly great that it wasn't one of the adults (specifically me) harping at the girls to remember Godly guidelines for dating.

The best part of the evening was a quote from one of the girls that cracked us up - but we decided it to be especially true when deciding who to date or marry. It was:

"You can teach a guy to kiss but you can't teach him to hold a good conversation."

True. So true.

Apple Pie and Voltron

Have you ever tried to explain to a teenager the whole idea that Jesus is the Son of God, yet Jesus 'is God'? You start off by using the verses where Jesus says: "I and the Father are one" (John 10:30) and "The Word was God" (John 1:1) just hoping they get it the first try? It's not an easy discussion, for adults, much less teenagers!

The subject came up in a bible study with Claire and Lindley this week. So - my weak attempt to explain the whole idea was, of course, to reach for the "Apple Pie" explanation. Just how is this discussion related to dessert, you ask? Let me explain:

God is all the ingredients/individual pieces that it takes to make the apple pie.

Jesus is the apple pie itself - the actual physical representation of all of those ingredients.

The Holy Spirit is the smell of the apple pie. You smell it and you know it is apple pie - even without seeing the pie itself.

So it works like this: God is everything - Jesus became the physical representation of God on earth ("He made himself flesh" Philippians 2). The Holy Spirit is the essence of God/Jesus left behind to guide us.

It's not a perfect explanation - but it seemed to work.

The response from Claire: "So - Jesus is God in baked form."

Claire makes me smile. I don't think God has a problem with her sense of humor because it emphasizes her understanding - and its better than her not getting it at all.

For entertainment value, I found this description on-line today from an anonymous writer's response to a question about the Trinity. Some of you will appreciate this more than others:

"I see the Trinity as Voltron. There are a bunch of smaller robots, but they all combine into one huge robot. The small robots are Voltron when combined, yet he can detach an arm and send it somewhere. It's an "arm of Voltron", but it's part of the whole"

OK - so kind of like apple pie, right?

The Bible is Zelda?

There are certain teenagers with whom I love to talk about "God things." Claire Buehler is one of those teens. Tonight during a bible study we were talking about how the bible is always relevant and how you can read a passage one day and it will mean one thing - and a year from now you may have a complete different understanding of the same passage. I explained to Claire and Lindley (my niece) that it was why my dad could re-read the bible year after year and never grow tired of it.

That was when Claire popped up with "The bible is Zelda!" The excitement on her face was not mirrored in mine - because I was confused for just a second. Then she looked over at Lindley and repeated, "You know - the bible's like Zelda - no matter how many times you've played it there's always something more to do or to find."

It's not a conventional connection - but she gets it!

And - I can't wait until the next study!