From Caterpillar To Butterfly

My son Josh found a box with a caterpillar magnet in it and asked what it was. So I  showed him my original post from March 2, 2007. Here it is again:

My three year old son Joshua received a package in the mail the other day from our district superintendent. I didn't think this too odd, since she has made a habit of sending birthday, Christmas, and Valentine's Day cards with small gifts to all three of our kids. However, Josh was the only one to receive a package this time... and I couldn't think of what the occasion might be.

Turns out, it was a visual aid learning devise to help small children understand Lent & Easter! Titled "From Caterpillar To Butterfly," it is a magnetic caterpillar made up of a head (labelled JOY), four body parts (labelled PEACE, LOVE, HOPE, & FAITH), and a tail (labelled PRAYER).

 

Along with the caterpillar comes a child friendly prayer card with an explanation and a prayer for each week.

On Easter Day, you rearrange the pieces of the caterpillar and get a butterfly! What a GREAT explanation of Lent & Easter!

Josh, who absolutely LOVES magnets to start with is enthralled with this gift! He arranges and rearranges it several times a day... In fact, to walk into our kitchen and look at our fridge is almost to see the little caterpillar move around the fridge. (And when he gets 'out-of-shape' I've noticed the older girls reconnecting him back into his all-together caterpillar shape!)

The original posting can be found by clicking here.

Jesus, First Fruits

I wrote this devotional originally as the Easter Day entry for a Lenten Devotional my church in Patton, PA compiled in Spring 2001.
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“But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.”

–1 Corinthians 15:20 (NIV)

I grew up around a farm. I didn’t really live there, I just hung out there a lot. It was my grandfather’s and I basically just visited on the weekends and stayed most of every summer, but I proudly considered myself a “farmboy.”

Truth is, I helped in the haymaking each summer, and usually got to go out with Grandpa gathering sap once or twice each Spring, and a couple of times gathered eggs from the henhouse. That’s it. Not much of a farm life after all.

BUT, I remember the wait for the fresh peas and green beans from Grandpa’s garden. Oh, and the corn on the cob, too! I could hardly wait for Grandpa to say they were ready, ‘It’s about time we tried some of those peas and beans.’ (He actually liked the onions and turnips and asparagus too, but even grandparents can’t always be perfect, I suppose).

And that first small serving of fresh vegetables, that first taste of the fruit of Grandpa’s hard work, was delicious! But with that first taste of those “first fruits” came the knowledge that much more was on its way! We wouldn’t have to wait much longer!

It doesn’t take much of a farm boy to recognize the parallel in our Christian walk when Paul talks about death and uses Christ’s resurrection as the “firstfruits” of the resurrection to eternal life that all believers will experience. If we have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior, then we can look at Christ and recognize that His resurrection is merely a “firstfruits” of ALL believers’ resurrections to come. There is HOPE of what is yet to come! For us… and for our loved ones in Christ who have already “fallen asleep” through death.

Oh Christ, You are only the FIRST fruits of resurrection. HALLELUJAH!!!