Something different...

Each year for the past six years, I’ve written a summer devotional book for children. The children’s ministry materials our church uses provide daily devotionals for the kids to use throughout the school year -- which is when the program runs -- but nothing for the summer. The children’s ministry leaders in our church were very concerned about this lack -- are daily devotions not important in the summer, too? -- and asked me to consider writing something for the kids to use. The devotional books have been greatly enjoyed by the kids each summer, and I’m happy to know I’m helping them to establish the all-important habit of a daily quiet time with God.

I thought it might be fun and interesting for a few days to post some of the devotional pages I’ve written for the kids. As you read them, remember they are written for children, so they will be simple. But perhaps you will find something you’d like to share with a child you know. The pages I’m sharing are from the book I did in 2003. (For the Bible verse for the kids, I leave blanks for them to fill in some missing words. This insures that they actually read the verse.) Here is the page for today:

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AUGUST 19

“He casteth forth His ice like morsels: who can stand before His cold?”
(Psalm 147:17)

Today is National Soft Ice Cream Day! Wouldn’t you like to celebrate with a soft-serve ice cream cone?

Soft ice cream was invented in 1938, long after regular hard ice cream. The inventors were a man named “Grandpa” McCullough and his son, Alex, who had started the Homemade Ice Cream Co. in 1927. They knew ice cream tasted better when it was softer. So they set out to learn two things: 1) Would customers like the taste of softer ice cream? 2) Was there a machine that could be used for serving soft ice cream?

First, Grandpa and Alex got the answer to question 1. They had special sales of the soft ice cream -- “All you can eat for 10¢.” People loved the new soft ice cream! The answer to question 2 was a special freezer that also dispensed the ice cream. A friend of the McCulloughs opened the first store to sell only their soft ice cream. Grandpa named the store and the ice cream “Dairy Queen”. He believed his ice cream was the “queen” among dairy products. Today there are over 5200 Dairy Queen stores all over the world. What a sweet success!

Our verse today talks about ice and cold. It reminds us that God sends forth the ice “like morsels”, or hailstones. It is God who sends the ice, whether it’s in the form of hail or whether it’s the ice that forms on lakes and ponds. It is God’s ice, and He sends it where and when He chooses to. He made the cold weather and the hot weather, and He sends them where and when He wants to. When we complain about the weather, let’s remember that it is really a complaint against God. Let’s remember that He is in control and that He knows best.

• Thank God that He made all things and is in control of all things. Ask Him to help you be content with whatever weather He sends.
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There you have it for today. Hope some will enjoy a look into the pages of QUIET TIMES WITH GOD.