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Volume 1, Issue 2, September 2018<br />
TRULY GREAT KIDS<br />
Since I'm just a Really Big Kid, I will talk to you like I'm a<br />
kid just like you.<br />
All of us kids want to be 'great'. We want to be better than<br />
all the other kids. I want to hit the baseball better and run<br />
faster and make better grades. Whatever I am doing, I<br />
want to be better than the other kids. Most kids want to<br />
be great at sports and school and art and music. Wanting<br />
to be excellent at what we do is a good thing. It's good for<br />
us kids to want to be great at whatever we are doing. The<br />
challenge is that none of us are better at everything we do<br />
than all the other kids. So, what do we do?<br />
Yes, Jesus expects us to try and be excellent at everything we do, but He really doesn't care if we are better than the<br />
other kids. He just wants us to be the best we can be. You see, Jesus is more concerned about being great forever. This<br />
means He wants us to be great in Heaven after we die. God doesn't care if we are better than the other kids here on<br />
earth. In fact, in Luke 18:14 Jesus tells us that those kids who brag on themselves will be small in His sight, but God will<br />
honor the kids who are shy or modest about their accomplishments. He will consider them to be <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Kids</strong>! Jesus<br />
wants us to help other kids and other people. He calls it 'serving' them. When we help other kids and other people and<br />
serve their needs, God will honor us as <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Kids</strong>! Jesus considers helping and serving kids and other people to be the<br />
same as serving Him.<br />
Here is my definition of <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Kids</strong>: "<strong>Great</strong> <strong>Kids</strong> help, serve, and lead other people by showing them and teaching<br />
them to live like Jesus wants us to."<br />
In Matthew 16:27, Jesus tells us that He is coming back for us. When Jesus does come back, He will judge us all for how<br />
well we served Him by helping and serving kids and other people. God expects <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Kids</strong> to be leaders for our families,<br />
our communities, and our schools. As we grow up, God wants us to teach<br />
the next leaders about Him so that people will live like God wants them to<br />
and our world will be a nicer place for everybody.<br />
A. Because He didn’t<br />
want any advice<br />
on how to do it.<br />
A. A little before Eve.<br />
Moses spent many years teaching Joshua to be the next leader of the nation<br />
of Israel. Moses was a great leader and he taught Joshua well. In Joshua<br />
24:31 the Bible tells us that the people of Israel served God while Joshua<br />
was alive. Joshua was a very good military leader and the one God selected<br />
for His people at that time, but he failed to teach and raise up a Godly<br />
leader for the people of Israel after he died. Joshua lived to be 110 years old.<br />
Do you know what happened to the people of Israel after Joshua died?<br />
Judges 2:10-15 tells us that the people stopped loving God and didn't live<br />
like He wanted them to. God became very angry with the people of Israel<br />
and He punished them and the people suffered a lot because they did not<br />
obey God.<br />
It is important for <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Kids</strong> to live like God wants us to and to teach<br />
other kids and other people how to live like God expects. If we can do this,<br />
then God will be happy with us and the world will be a nicer place.<br />
(continued on page 2)
<strong>Great</strong> <strong>Kids</strong> and <strong>Great</strong> Dreams<br />
page 2<br />
A GREAT DREAM<br />
Today, I got to pick up my grandniece, Nikolette, from school. Nikolette and her mom live with my brother,<br />
Bill, not far from where we live. Bill had jury duty today and Nikolette's mom was just starting a new job and<br />
they asked me to pick her up from school. I was happy to help because Nikolette, now 13, is really growing into<br />
a young lady and I enjoy talking with her. Besides, my brother had helped me quite a bit in the past.<br />
When Nikolette got into the car, I could tell that she was upset about something. I asked her if she wanted to<br />
talk about it and after a minute or two she said, "Some kids were picking on my friend during PE because her<br />
shoes had holes in them."<br />
Then I asked her to tell me what happened. "I ran over and told them<br />
to leave her alone or I<br />
was going to report them for bullying." "That is good<br />
Nikolette! Did they leave her alone?" "Yes." "So", I asked,<br />
"what is the problem now?" It seemed that<br />
Nikolette was about to<br />
cry when she said, "My<br />
friend told me that<br />
her dad lost his job<br />
because of hurricane<br />
Harvey and now they<br />
don't have money for<br />
food and clothes." "How<br />
do you feel about<br />
that?" "Sad", she said.<br />
"How can you help<br />
her?" "Well, I'm going to<br />
pray for her." and<br />
then her face lit up as she<br />
said, "You know<br />
what uncle Mike, we've been<br />
waiting to have a<br />
garage sale. I will talk to<br />
mom and see if<br />
we can donate the money to<br />
her family!" I said, "That's a great idea<br />
Nikolette! Who else<br />
can you get to help with the<br />
garage sale?" "I know, I'll get my<br />
friends from school to donate<br />
things and all the money can go to my friend!"<br />
Nikolette was excited and many<br />
of her friends donated things for the garage sale. It was a big<br />
success and they were able to<br />
really help her friend's family!<br />
(Remember that this was a <strong>Great</strong> Dream and didn't really happen, but it could happen with <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Kids</strong> like you!)<br />
TRULY GREAT KIDS PRAYER<br />
"Father God thank You for our blessings. Teach us to be <strong>Great</strong> <strong>Kids</strong> with <strong>Great</strong> Dreams. Teach us to help kids<br />
and other people. Father God we pray for all those we know who<br />
To<br />
Or provide feedback,<br />
send an email to:<br />
have problems in life and we ask You to bring them close to You<br />
and show them Your love. We love You and thank You for loving<br />
us and answering our prayers. In Jesus Holy Name, AMEN!"<br />
____________________________________________________<br />
wewillbegreat.com<br />
This is an excerpt from Michael Bianchi’s upcoming book,