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children's ministry cartoons church cartoons webcomic

Stealthy Vacation Bible School

It comes out of nowhere. Most children’s directors and pastors get just a moment to rest before it hits like a lightning bolt. Yes, I’m talking about the shock of a stealthy vacation Bible school!

Stealthy Vacation Bible School Cartoon. A boy says, "Hey Mrs. Petersen! VBS is almost here!"

The plight of children’s pastors everywhere is when to begin planning for Vacation Bible school. Christmas takes precedence in December. Easter dominates late winter. Then before you know it, summer is here and there aren’t enough popsicle sticks empty toilet paper rolls, or school glue to satisfy all the VBS planning needs!

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Exercise motivation

Strength Under Pressure

Physical exercise makes us stronger. When we run a distance, or lift weights, the resistance causes our muscles to strengthen. It prepares us for when we face a physical challenge and gives us strength under pressure.

Cartoon of a girl watching a boy stir with effort. The girl says, "That does it. You need to exercise more."

If you fail under pressure, your strength is too small.”

Proverbs 24:10 NLT

Mental and spiritual exercises do something similar. When we feed our mind and spirit, when we make ourselves do the hard work, it will help us when we face bigger challenges.

Does that mean we love exercise? Hardly! Self discipline can be difficult, especially when we have weak areas that we know needs to be strengthened. When we haven’t been exercising for a while, and we discover how weak we’ve become in such a short time, it’s humiliating and discouraging.

And when conditions aren’t optimal, it can be even harder. We may try to job, but the weather is nasty. Then there are the times we are exercising our minds, but we are tempted to turn on the TV and watch some mindless program. Maybe the kids are loud and demand our attention. Self discipline isn’t easy, is it?

But the long-term benefits far outweigh the short-term challenges. When we set a long-term goal, it helps us get over the short-term reluctance.

Few of us are in optimal shape physically, mentally and spiritually. We may be overwhelmed in one or multiple areas. It’s okay! Choose one aspect to focus on today. Start with small steps and know that we will improve in the long-term. Here are some suggestions to tory today.

  • Read something challenging
  • Pray
  • Meditate
  • Journal or do some other form of writing to clarify your thoughts
  • Memorize something
  • Try a puzzle
  • Do some physical exercise

Any of these could be useful when we face pressure. And who doesn’t eventually need strength under pressure?

Editor’s Note: I originally published this blog on October 6, 2015. I revamped and updated it for timeliness and comprehensiveness.

Categories
Running

Lessons From Marathon Day

Cartoon of a jogging coupleThe marathon is over. I completed the goal, which was to finish. The weather was cool until about two hours into the race. The sun began affecting all of us. For a time, I wondered if I was going to make it. My hamstring started bothering me around mile seventeen. Around mile twenty-three, I had to stop and a nice security guard helped me stretch it out. After that, I walked most of the way until I was within sight of the finish line.

There are a few lessons I’ve learned from this race:

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Adobe Illustrator cartoon children cartoons Illustration Friday

Graduation Beginnings

This is an illustration of a baby in a cap and gown. I drew this for Illustration Friday. This week’s word is “beginner.” It reminded me of how young we are when we go out into the world with our degrees. We think we are prepared and ready, but really, we are so naive about what is to come. We can never predict the good and bad that will come our way.