Showing a Jack-o-Lantern Light!

I have been praying for God to give me a blog message because I have missed writing (voice typing) and sharing with you. I'll bet you understand because we have all had situations where we really wanted to do something but knew that we needed to wait for the right time. Well I thank God for putting something in front of me this morning that He wants us to think about at Halloween.

A friend and I were discussing the next story to tell the kids at Centenary UMC PreSchool next Tuesday. I had found a story about a Jack-o'-Lantern, which included a Biblical teaching moment. It came from a website entitled “sermons4kids.com”, and I have added to it. So here goes!

One day a teacher walked into her preschool class carrying a pumpkin. She asked the kids how many had ever made a Jack-o'-Lantern. They looked rather puzzled. After all, they were only 2, 3, and 4 years old so they didn’t understand the phrase “Jack-o'-Lantern”. She proceeded to explain what she meant and then told them that they would make a Jack-o'-Lantern for their class. Everyone was excited!

She explained that the first thing you do is to clean the pumpkin by washing off the dirt and mud. Then cut a hole in the top of the pumpkin and clean out the inside. Scoop out all the seeds and yucky stuff.

The next thing is to carve a face by cutting out the eyes, nose, and mouth.

Then we put a candle (battery-operated, of course) inside the Jack o' Lantern. When the candle is turned on, the light will shine through the eyes, nose, and mouth. By this time, the kids were amazed! They saw the washing, cleaning out, creating a face, and the light inside in the making of the Jack-o-Lantern.

Now doesn’t this sound like something Jesus would do?? This is a pretty good picture of what happens when we invite Jesus into our hearts.

When we become a Christian, Jesus picks us up and cleanses our life from sin. He removes all the yucky thoughts and the seeds of doubt, hate, and selfishness that we have inside. Then he puts a smile on our faces and puts his light inside to shine for all the world to see.

I don't know what you think of when you see a Jack o' Lantern, but I hope that this Halloween you will think of Jesus. Think about how he came to take away the sins of the world and put his light in our hearts to shine for him.

“In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven" (Matthew 5:16, New International Version).

Let’s put a smile on our Jack o' Lantern.

Thanks for stopping by,

Rachel

(Update: Healing well! About 4 more weeks to go!)