Today's story reminds us that when we need help, we should make our need of help be known, just like Bartimaeus did.... We should call out for help to our friends, our family, to Jesus, and to God. When we do, there will be voices that tell us to be quiet because others are too busy or too important to help us - that God is too busy and too important to help us. Today's lesson teaches us that Jesus and God are never too busy for us.

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We want good things for our children: to become well-rounded, moral people; to learn to provide for themselves, and perhaps a family; to be happy and perhaps contribute to society in some way. Well, what's the problem with that?... According to this week's lesson, as Christians, though, we have a completely different purpose and authority in life! That purpose is to love and obey Jesus! That means that our ultimate desire for the next generation should be far bigger than just these things that I just mentioned. These things may be really good, and important things, but they may not the MOST important things.

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In today's lesson, Jesus tells his disciples that the Pharisees are pretending to be people that they are not. In many ways, some people today do the same (pretend to be someone they are not).... Well, one person that never pretended to be someone He was not was Jesus. Since Jesus wasn't pretending, then we can actually learn from Him what he was teaching and doing. We can do this by reading and talking about the Jesus' stories in the Bible - just like we're doing.

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When things fall apart..., Jesus reminds us that God is always with us, and is always wanting to help us know what to do for ourselves and others.

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Jesus is the kind of king that invites people to follow him, unlike a regular king who is king "over" people whether they like it or not.... Jesus is not a king who tells people to do things for him. Each of us get to choose if we want Him to be our king.

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As a society we are preparing the way to Christmas. Few are ready and many will not be totally prepared until the last minute.... Historically the season of Advent was a time of meditation, worship and penitence. It was a time to withdraw from worldly activities and be a time of quiet reflection. But for us the season of Advent has become busy, overwhelming and frantic. Although we are preparing for the arrival of the "Prince of Peace," the days of Advent are anything but peaceful. In this week's lesson we learn that Zechariah's preparations for the coming Lord were quite different than ours in the days prior to Christmas.

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John the Baptist was also known as John the Baptizer. He must have been an interesting person. He didn't live in the city. He lived out in the desert, or wilderness.... He didn't eat hamburgers and French fries; he ate locusts and honey. He didn't wear a suit, or even jeans and a tea shirt; he wore clothes made out of camel's skin and he had a leather belt around his waist. So what did John do that was so special?

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Have you visited a frind who is expecting? Have you visited them during their hospital stay?... It is very common to visit friends and family when they are expecting a new family member. The same occurs in this week's lesson as Mary visits her cousin Elizabeth. It may have been a glorious visit as both were expecting...

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