My wife and I send our kids to a preschool where one daughter attends the class the meets in the morning and our other daughter attends the class that meets in the afternoon. This means prepping the kids for a trip, loading them in the car, driving to school, unloading all of them, walking in, dropping off, loading back up, traveling back home and unloading them, FOUR TIMES A DAY! That may not seem like much, but it is a hassle.

When the government came out with their response plan to COVID-19, our preschool shut down for two weeks, and rightly so. When we heard, my wife said, "I don't know which will be tougher, driving them back and forth to school or having them all at home all day for 14 days?" While it may be easy to look at what's going on with social distancing as a benefit for staying at home and getting rest, it can easily lead to restlessness. For families with young children, staying stuck at home can lead to hysteria, insomnia, and is a surefire way to see John the Baptist's words, "[Jesus] must increase, I must decrease" become the reality in your spiritual life (side affects are not clinically proven or researched, so don't quote me). Therefore, I wanted to help get some activity ideas for parents whose kids can't leave the nest, and I found a great resource compiled by Dan Nichols from Princess Awesome and Boy Wonder. Here's the list:

CREATIVE IDEAS FOR KIDS AT HOME
(Princess Awesome & Boy Wonder)

• Have each kid pick a topic they'd like to learn about and spend 30 mins each day on that topic
• Spend one day reading every single picture book we have in the house
• Go through all the old mail laying around (ok, that one's not for kids although they do enjoy helping tear stuff up)
• Bake something every day
• Have each kid write a letter and/or emails to a different friend or family member each day
• Use all of our building toys on one giant structure
• Wash our hands!!!!
• Races of various kinds in the backyard (hopping on one foot, crabwalk, walking backwards, etc.)
• Try stop motion animation with playdough
• Facetime grandparents a lot
• watch everything on Disney+
• inventory the plants & wildlife (from bugs on up) in your yard.
• learn the parts of plants/flowers & how they function (bonus if they learn the Latin names).
• if you aren't too squeamish & have a spare clear shoebox size tote or 5-10 gallon tank, catch some pillbugs (rolly pollies, sowbugs) & observe them (if you really do this, i can tell you how to set them up. i have about a thousand of them currently because it's too cold here to thin the herd & they've been reproducing all winter. they're pretty interesting).
• write a short story & illustrate it.
• learn how to do simple book binding.
• make paper (from your old mail!)
• have the kids help with yardwork in between playing games outside. They're little, but they like getting dirty and "working" in the gardens.
• GoNoodle! Great for guided movement, relaxation, etc.
• Board games, card games
• Legos.
• We have some extreme dot to dot books (1400 dots) that the kids love, especially the 5 year old!
• Lots of reading, playing with the dog,
• Working on learning to sew using stuff we have on hand.
• Card making/scrapbooking projects (mostly for me but kids can do it too).
• Getting the garden ready, we need to weed and work the ground. I might get seeds and we'll set up to have our own starts this year.
• Make tents and reading caves : ) flashlights, tidy snacks, books, and pillows!
• Have a shadow show in the reading tent (we used blankets over chairs or a table)
• Get binoculars and learn about the birds near your house, look them up on google and search for their birdcalls on YouTube
• Learn how to make a stuffed animal
• Play with cornstarch and water and cheap action figures
• many educational websites are waving fees if your students school is closed
• Here’s a list of all of them that are waving fees
• Collect a bunch of tape markers and cardboard boxes. That'll keep them busy for a day or two.
• Watch all the hand washing videos & vote on your favorite. 
• Discuss why each good, helpful, funny. The Holderness parody one is hilarious, the Vietnam Tiktok one is great choreography, some have good songs etc.
• Also pick your favorite song with a 20 second refrain or verse perfect for hand washing length of time.
• Family puzzles. Ones that are 500-1000 pieces and a challenging but not frustrating picture
• We homeschool (4 kids) and honestly, just have fun!!!!!
• Team up and really clean and organize each kid's space, making a donation box for each. Parents are included.
• Have a board game day
• kids can also make their own games! Board games, card games, you name it! My daughter spent a lot of time this winter creating soccer and football games played with cards for moves and pieces made out of legos
• Write a story cooperatively. One person picks a character and the other picks a setting and then go gangbusters together.
• Any and all art is fun at home: beading, painting, drawing, play dough or kinetic sand, sewing, etc. when my daughter was young we could do art all day.
• Massive board game tournament with all the (mostly forgotten) board games we own!
• Stolen from “growing up global fb page”
• We've done scavenger hunts, indoor treasure hunts where they follow clues through the house to a "treasure" at the end (could be candy, a movie, whatever), and a lot of charades.
• I made videos with my 3rd grade daughter teaching kids how to write code. Check out the videos here
• My daughter wanted a doll house for her 18" dolls. We saved cardboard boxes and got more from Dollar general and got to work. The closets and couch are cardboard as well.
• There are a few easy "kitchen chemistry" type science experiments that are easy to do, like making slime, baking soda and vinegar reaction, etc.
• we put food coloring under the baking soda in a mini muffin pan and used Pipette to drop vinegar in and then you can see the color!
• Last summer we did an experiment to learn what each ingredient did for a cake (so we made one following the recipe, one without eggs, one without milk, etc.). We then compared and contrasted the different cakes ... Then we ate a lot of weird cake.
• There are a bunch of ideas on the lab section of our webpage! And we have letters from women in STEM around the world!
• give the dogs a bath and brush
• wash and clean out my car (mostly their food trash and dirty socks)
• mow the lawn (my 11 year old just learned!)
• play sidewalk chalk outside
• glow stick party
• popcorn + movie marathon
• Listen to kid podcasts - we love story pirates and smash boom best.
• Declutter toys!
• Have an Olympics with a bunch of events competitions - funny ones, helpful ones like cleaning and really fun ones like minute to win in style.
• Learn new card games
• We’re going to learn to make sushi!
• Lots of art projects!
• Dig up all the activity books, presents, etc that never got played with, and use those!
• There’s always time tested building a tent in the house with blankets and chairs. Great for just before nap time.
• We are going to bust out our hiking gear and try new hiking paths. As long as you stay away from over populated areas you will naturally stay a safe distance from others and sick people generally don't hike!
• Do a study on planets, then have the kids create their own planets- how big is it, where in the universe is it located, atmosphere conditions, can it sustain life, how long is a day/year, name it, etc.
• you could even spread the planets out around the house to show "approx." distance from each other.
• Design a new space craft, draw plans, then create out of legos or household items. Spend some time pretending you're on different planets with different gravity, you could seriously spend a whole week on just fun space activities.
• PuppetMaster: an app where you can animate anything from a drawing to a stuffed animal.
• Practice spinning poi - my daughter is just learning how to spin and it’s been fun practicing together.
• Puzzle races: put several puzzles (20+ piece puzzles) in a paper bag and shake it up. Pour pieces out and give each person the puzzle box they are to put together. Go! (Cooperation tends to be a result as pieces are traded.)
• Dig through cabinets and figure out recipes for that thing you got at the grocery store and thought "this is interesting surely it can be used for something!" And then make it!
• Audible!

By: Pastor Scott Brodd

I came across another gem in my devotionals this morning from Charles Spurgeon I felt compelled to share here.

One thing I greatly cherish from other believers and some of the dearest moments in my own life are when we (I) catch a solid glimpse of the reality of our (my) sinfulness in light of God’s holiness and goodness. Those precious sightings of God’s glory that lead to the bold and humble confession, “Woe is me,” are what I believe ought to be a daily occurrence in every believer’s life.

Yet, there have been seasons in my own life where I stay stuck in the “Woe is me,” and fail to push my mind and heart into the gospel joys purchased for the Church by Christ on the cross, joys like I am forgiven, I am clean, I am loved, I am adopted, and I am still sent for God’s purposes regardless of my brokenness. I’ve found such a “stuckness” is like quicksand: once you initially fall into it, unless you have a friend to help pull you out, soon enough you will be drowning in depression, distraction, and a kind of false-humility that looks godly to others, but fails the test in the courtroom of heaven. True humility always moves itself into the good news of Jesus and stands in victory.

I’ll be honest, I have been in a season similar to this for some time now, in the ebb and flow of seeing my sin, experiencing conviction, and yet not seeing freedom from the pull of those worthless things for failure to seek God’s power through the gospel. In fact, this morning’s devotional began with me begging God for grace, discipline, change, and growth because I’ve seen more areas in my life that qualify me as a broken man. Usually, after my initial conversation with God in my devotional, I crack open a devotional for men called Stand Firm published by LifeWay. This morning, however, I felt the pull to randomly open Charles Spurgeon’s devotional Morning and Evening, and I read this morning’s devotional. I believe such a pull was of God, for it connected with me in many ways, and I wanted to share it with you all as well.

“Babes in Christ.”
—1 Corinthians 3:1


Are you mourning, believer, because you are so weak in the divine life: because your faith is so little, your love so feeble? Cheer up, for you have cause for gratitude. Remember that in some things you are equal to the greatest and most full-grown Christian. You are as much bought with blood as he is. You are as much an adopted child of God as any other believer. An infant is as truly a child of its parents as is the full-grown man. You are as completely justified, for your justification is not a thing of degrees: your little faith has made you clean every whit. You have as much right to the precious things of the covenant as the most advanced believers, for your right to covenant mercies lies not in your growth, but in the covenant itself; and your faith in Jesus is not the measure, but the token of your inheritance in him. You are as rich as the richest, if not in enjoyment, yet in real possession. The smallest star that gleams is set in heaven; the faintest ray of light has affinity with the great orb of day. In the family register of glory the small and the great are written with the same pen. You are as dear to your Father’s heart as the greatest in the family. Jesus is very tender over you. You are like the smoking flax; a rougher spirit would say, “put out that smoking flax, it fills the room with an offensive odour!” but the smoking flax he will not quench. You are like a bruised reed; and any less tender hand than that of the Chief Musician would tread upon you or throw you away, but he will never break the bruised reed. Instead of being downcast by reason of what you are, you should triumph in Christ. Am I but little in Israel? Yet in Christ I am made to sit in heavenly places. Am I poor in faith? Still in Jesus I am heir of all things. Though “less than nothing I can boast, and vanity confess.” yet, if the root of the matter be in me I will rejoice in the Lord, and glory in the God of my salvation. [1]

Even though we are in the valley of vision where we see our weak spiritual life, our feeble love and little faith, we are at the same time on the heights of God’s gospel promises. God doesn’t quench the smoking flax, nor does he break the bruised reed, meaning he won’t cast me aside and abandon his work in me. These truths pushed my mind and heart into the gospel’s joys today, and I pray this is a permanent work of God in me.

Can you see how helpful this is for me? Does this help you who are in the valley? Look to the heights, my friends, and see the light.


[1] Charles H. Spurgeon, Morning and Evening (Passmore & Alabaster, Logos Bible Software), October 19 morning reading.

By: Pastor Scott Brodd

For years, as a Protestant Evangelical follower of Jesus, I've dismissed Lent as a "high-church-attempt-to-earn-God's-favor" tradition and refused any and every chance to look into the value of such a ritual. I was wrong. Despite the ways I've seen Lent abused and misused, the merit of the gift of Lent still holds true, especially when understood rightly as a personal fast to prepare our hearts to celebrate the resurrection of Jesus. While observing Lent is not explicitly commanded in Scripture, fasting is often encouraged and commanded as a means to communicate your hunger for God to work on your heart and in your life for spiritual growth into maturity. Lent begins on Ash Wednesday (March 1st) and ends Easter Sunday, lasting approximately 40 days. Just as Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting in preparation to launch His ministry, Lent encourages us to spend 40 days fasting in order to prepare our hearts and minds for the greatest celebration of all time, Resurrection Sunday. "It is a time for fasting and self-denial, though not for denial itself. It is a period to empty ourselves of lesser things so that we might be filled with the greater things of the Gospel. Whereas Advent is a season of ever-increasing light awaiting the incarnation of Christ, Lent is a season of ever-decreasing light approaching the cross."

One of the ministries I look to most to shepherd my heart is The Village Church located in Texas. This year, to encourage their church family to observe Lent, they have published various resources individuals and families can use to help them press deeper into the "common grace" of Lent.

One of those resources is the following video of their teaching pastor, Matt Chandler, explaining why Lent, (when rightly understood) can have a profound impact on your relationship with Jesus. I encourage you to watch it.

​In addition, The Village Church has also published a Lent Guide, a free, printable ebook anyone can access. "This guide walks you through the seven weeks of Lent. Each week includes a reading from the life of Christ in the Gospel of Luke, as well as four supplemental passages to consider throughout the week. Additionally, there is a suggested fast to coincide with each week."

My wife and I have committed to observing Lent this year using this resource. It is free to download, simply click the button below. Will you join me in preparing our hearts to celebrate the Resurrection of Jesus?

Beach Lake FM Church does not claim any rights to this resource; all rights reserved by The Village Church.

By: Pastor Scott Brodd

Just imagine this for a minute: you're behind enemy lines, in territory held captive to a ruthless, malicious adversary bent on your destruction. His ways are cunning, his tactics are plentiful, and he will not relent until you lay in ruins. He sets before you lethal traps and pits and lures you into them with those things that entice your heart. He seeks not just to capture you, but to control you and enslave you to his merciless rule. He is seeking to end you.

Who is this enemy? You might be thinking of Satan, but I'm not (though the same could be said of him too). No, this enemy is Sin, who disguises himself as your friend seeking your good but is truly your enemy seeking your demise. Just as God warns and exhorts Cain in Genesis 4:7, "sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it" (ESV), He also warns us that "when [we] want to do right, evil lies close at hand" (Rom. 7:21 ESV) and exhorts us to, "by the Spirit... put to death the deeds of the body (sin)" (Rom. 8:13 ESV).

Unfortunately, when it comes to this front of the war we won't ever step out of this enemy's territory; on this side of eternity, we will never meander into a safe zone where we can lower our defenses and enjoy our surroundings rather than examine them for enemy advances. Why won't we ever find rest from war in this life? Because...