This month we are talking about the virtue of responsibility - showing you can be trusted with what’s expected of you. The Bible says that when we are responsible with a little, we will be given more: more opportunities, more relationships, more ways that we can use what God has given us to reflect His character to the world around you.

Your kids’ memory verse says it this way, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much,” (Luke 16:10, NIV).

So how will we be asking you to put this virtue into practice? Take a look at this video!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Parents, this month your kids will be responsible for making the most of what God has given them. They have abilities, skills, talents that are amazing and can and should be used to make a difference in the world around them. That’s what we want them to think about and do this month. Now, what are you responsible for in this project? See to it that it happens. Help them make it happen. And then, we want you to send us pictures or video of your kids in action.

Email your pictures to elementary@ubcmiami.org. If you make a video, burn it to a disc and drop it off at the Filling Station or the FamJamz Tech Booth. Share your stories of responsibility with us.

Record them in your Family Yearbooks as well. And speaking of Family Yearbooks, if you’ve kept one, we need for you to bring it on Sunday, May 20th. Bring them to Cindy at the tech booth; she’ll have further instructions for you that day.

Responsibility is a good virtue to learn about. It is a really good trait to have. Every day we have opportunities to take what God has given us… stuff, words, relationships… and use them wisely. When we respond to God with the abilities that He has given us, we are responsible.

Think about all you saw when you stepped outside this morning. Was the sun shining? Did you hear birds or see squirrels making the most of their morning? Did you take a deep breath?

Without our thinking about it, life happens. The sun keeps shining. The seasons change. We have air to breathe.

From the beginning, when God created the world, He set systems in motion. He takes responsibility for what He creates. Even when we failed Him, He promised a way of escape through Jesus. He made good on this promise, and after we take our last breath we can trust that we’ll be with Him forever. God has proven that you can trust Him no matter what.

But God doesn’t want for us to move through our life simply trusting Him. He wants us to become more like Him by showing others that we can be trusted as well. Every day, you have opportunities to take what God has given to you: your stuff, your words, your relationships and use them wisely. When you respond to God with the abilities that He has given to you, you are responsible.

And when you are responsible with a little, the Bible says you will be given more: more opportunities, more relationships, more ways that you can use what God has given you to reflect His character to the world around you. Our memory verse says it this way, “Whoever can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much,” (Luke 16:10, NIV).

This month, as we learn about responsibility, take a look at the stories we’re gonna dive into:

Week 1: Matthew 25:14-30. Everyone’s been given something and we can choose to invest what we’ve been given to make a difference in the world around us. Bottom Line: I can be trusted when I make the most of what God has given me.

Week 2: Ephesians 4:29. When we show responsibility with our words, we create trust between us. So, one of the best things we can do for our relationships is to learn to choose our words carefully. Bottom Line: I can be trusted when I choose the right words.

Week 3: Luke 10:30-37. We don’t want to be people that say the right things, but then don’t act on them when they have the chance. Bottom Line: I can be trusted when I choose to help others in need.

Week 4: Matthew 22:34-37. Our greatest responsibility is loving Someone who loved us first and loves us most. When we choose to love God more than anything else, our other responsibilities (like using our stuff, choosing our words and acting to help others) are much easier to live out. Bottom Line: I can be trusted when I put God first.

It’s important to remember that we can’t do any of this on our own. But God isn’t asking us to! God is the One who’s proven He’s responsible and trustworthy since the very beginning. Our responsibility is really a reflection of God and His character showing up in us.

By Cara Martens. ©2012 Orange. All rights reserved. www.WhatIsOrange.org * All rights reserved. Used by permission.

We hope you’re planning on joining us this weekend in FamJamz. We have a special event planned for your family you won’t want to miss… a Photo Scavenger Hunt!!!

Here’s some information we need you to know (PLEASE READ):
1. If you’re attending, check your kids into FamJamz at the kiosks as you would any regular Sunday. They will be walked down from Highway 252 at the end of their class and meet you in the FamJamz Theater when you arrive from the worship service. Please be on time. We need time to tell you how to play this awesome game.

2. If you typically bring your preschooler to FamJamz, we encourage you to consider leaving them in Discovery Land this Sunday. Playing the Photo Scavenger Hunt will have you traveling around the building, up and down stairs, etc. Still, we leave the decision up to you.

3. Parents, please be present. If your child is checked in to FamJamz, please come to FamJamz as well. This is not the weekend for drop-offs!

4. When you arrive at the FamJamz Theater, sit with your family. If you bring guests, they are part of your family group.

FamJamz personnel will be ready to give you further instructions on Sunday. Wear comfortable clothing! If you want, wear matching t-shirts and come up with a creative team name. You will be competing against other families for some pretty cool prizes!

That’s all we have for you at the moment. If you have any questions, please email us at famjamz@ubcmiami.org. See you Sunday… happy hunting!

This month, we are talking about the virtue of hope: believing that something good can come out of something bad. Puzzles are our theme. In our lives, Parents, there are times when we can only see one piece of what’s going on and it can be hard to picture something good coming out of it, isn’t it? It can be hard to see the big picture.

But hard times shouldn’t surprise us. In fact, your kids’ memory verse this month comes out of John 16:33b, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Amen!

Yes, there will be trouble, BUT the good news is Jesus is in control. That’s it. Whatever happens, God is stronger than anything.

Hope is the one thing the church has always had to offer the world, and that’s our challenge this month. We want you to think as a family of a way you can spread hope to the world around you. Look for ways to help others in our community: your neighbors, the elderly, the homeless, even helping clean our environment, whatever.

Sit together as a family and come up with one project this month that you will take on to spread hope. It can look however you want it to look. To help you get started, you might want to consider serving as a family in UBC’s City Serve on April 14th. Or as a family, head to the grocery store and purchase items to help refill our Feed Miami Pantry. This is actually the missions project kids are up to this month in Hwy 252.

As always, we hope you write down your experience in your Family Yearbooks. If you want to, share your stories with us! Email them in at famjamz@ubcmiami.org. We’d love to feature a few of these in our weekend productions.

God never promised that if we love Him, we wouldn’t have any problems. But He does promise to be with us through it all. He says, “never will I leave you and never will I forsake you.” Remember that.

Don’t forget what we always say… the tools only work when you take them out of the box.

HOPE is the one thing the church has always had to offer the world.

So this month, we’re focused on how we can have hope because of all that God has done. We have a chance every day to respond with hope to show that we trust God and His plan for the world. And the people around us are watching to see where, and what, and whom we put our hope in.

Our theme this month is Puzzled: Believing There’s a Bigger Picture. In all of our lives, there are times when we can only see one piece of what’s going on, and it can be hard to picture something good coming out of it. We’ll define HOPE as believing that something good can come out of something bad. We’ll look at four different Bible stories focusing on Jesus and some of the people who knew Him best.

Week 1: (John 14:1-14, 18-19, 27-29). Bottom Line: Whatever happens, remember what Jesus promised.

Week 2: (John 20:1-18). Jesus is all the evidence that we need. Bottom Line: Whatever happens, God is stronger than anything.

Week 3: (Luke 24:13-35, Romans 15:4). Bottom Line: Whatever happens, remember God has a bigger story.

Week 4: (Matthew 28:16-20, Acts 1:3, 8-11). Bottom Line: Whatever happens, remember Jesus is always with you.

God never promised that if we love Him we won’t ever have any problems. But Jesus promises to be with us through it all.

By Cara Martens. ©2012 Orange. All rights reserved. www.WhatIsOrange.org

* All rights reserved. Used by permission.

This month we are talking about the virtue of conviction - standing for what is right even when others don’t. Standing for what is right can be a very challenging thing to do. Can we honest about this? Most of the time when we choose not to do the right thing, it’s not because we don’t know better. We know what the right thing to do is, but we don’t do it because we don’t want to. Or maybe it seems too hard to do… or maybe it would make us unpopular; make us not be cool.

The memory verse this month comes out of 2 Thessalonians 3:13, and it says, “And as for you, brothers and sisters, never tire of doing what is good.”

So here’s the challenge this month… for everybody, kids, big kids, volunteers: pray for God to show you an area where you haven’t shown conviction. Where does God really want you to take a stand for what is right?

Maybe you already know the answer and you feel scared or even embarrassed. BUT the truth is we should never be embarrassed about who we are and what we believe. If someone’s not going to like us because of that, then maybe they’re not a friend we want to have.

In your family yearbooks, we’d love for you to write down what God convicted you about. Write down what He told you to do the right thing about. Parents, we want you to do this, too. Share those stories with your kids because it’s important that they see you living out these virtues, too. You are the ones they are watching day in and day out.

Email your stories to famjamz@ubcmiami.org. We’d love to hear them. Remember, the tools only work when you take them out of the box.

This March our virtue is conviction: standing for what is right even when others don’t. Showing conviction is a natural response as we get to know who God is and what He’s done. People with conviction have a clear sense of God’s will and what their decisions could mean in the future.

Jesus was able to live with conviction because He knew the will of His father, and that gave Him strength and courage. In the same way, God has given us the ability to know what is right and the ability to do it. You see, when we are fueled by the character of God, we can stand up for the things that matter to God.

Most of the time when we choose not to do the right thing, it’s not because we don’t know better; it’s because we just don’t want to. Maybe it seems too hard or would make us unpopular. Still, doing the right thing is important to God.

So, this month we’ll cover:

Week One - Daniel 1. Bottom Line: When you know what God says, you can stand for what’s right.

Week Two - Daniel 3. Bottom Line: When you stand for what’s right, others can see God.

Week Three - Daniel 5. Bottom Line: You can stand for what’s right, even when it’s not popular.

Week Four - Daniel 6. Bottom Line: Get in the habit of standing for what’s right.

By Cara Martens. ©2011 Orange. All rights reserved. www.WhatIsOrange.org * All rights reserved.
Used by permission.

This month we are talking about honor - letting others know you see how valuable they really are. There are lots of ways we can honor people and honoring for what they’ve done is great, but we should also honor people because of who they are. That can be really challenging especially because we are naturally wired to put ourselves first, but honor is the opposite. Honor teaches us to see others first. In Romans 12:10 says, “Love each other deeply. Honor others more than yourselves.”

So here’s what we want you to do this month. Parents, as you’ve heard, our widget  is a badge of honor which your kid is supposed to give away to someone they admire. Well, we want you to make sure that this happens. Don’t allow for this widget to become just another toy in your home. Follow up with your kids and see to it that they honor someone this month by giving their badge away.

Kids, in your family yearbooks, write the name of that person down and why you  gave them your badge. If possible, take a picture of them and paste it on there.

As always, we love to hear stories from you so email them in to famjamz@ubcmiami.org.

Honoring others is the ultimate challenge this month. Everyone is valuable. We gotta look at this world and attach value to people.

So, that’s it for this edition of The Toolbox. Don’t forget, the tools only work when you take them out of the box.

Stop and think about someone you really admire.

Are you thinking of someone? Whether that person is a teacher, coach, friend or family member, he or she is valuable to you. You recognize that this person is important because what they do impacts your life.

Every person has value, not because of what they do, but because each and every person has been put together by God. When God created people, He made them in His image. That means every person alive today has been put together in the likeness of God. So every person has value. And it’s our job to help everyone feel like they are valuable.

This February, we’re taking on the Ultimate Challenge of showing the highest degree of honor, and we will define honor as “letting someone know you see how valuable they really are.”

Week 1: 1 Samuel 16:1-13). We’ll notice that God doesn’t see as the world sees; He looks at the heart instead. Bottom line: Honor those who are overlooked.

Week 2: (1 Samuel 18:1-4 & 5-9). We’re discovering that honor can also be shown between friends. Bottom Line: Honor others more than yourself.

Week 3: (2 Samuel 15:1-16a, 18:5-7, 15, 31-33). We’re discovering that it’s important to honor the people in charge of you. If you don’t and you dishonor them, it usually doesn’t end well. Bottom Line: Honor those who are over you.

Week 4: (2 Samuel 6:12b-22a) We’re discovering that another way to show honor is through worship. When we really love God, it’s natural to Bottom Line: Honor God in front of others.

By Cara Martens. ©2011 Orange. All rights reserved. www.WhatIsOrange.org * All rights reserved. Used by permission.