The Land of Green Gables (and a 70 mile Garage Sale!)

WOW! Even though the rain has dampened the day, this place is certainly worth the trip. We've enjoyed eating apples, PEI jellies and jams and some great food. Our daughter Karen told us to take along another suitcase for collectables. We collected lots of rocks from NB and now we're in the hunt for garage sale stuff. Did I mention apples! I've never seen and tasted so many great varieties of apples. Many of these varieties don't make it to the Texas market because of shipping characteristics of some apples.

Our final day on PEI was treasure hunt. We had such fun and met some wonderful people from a variety of people. We'll head for NB and Quebec tomorrow. We'll share some beautiful pics of PEI flowers and other organic stuff.

What a beautiful place.

We arrived on PEI across the Confederation Bridge. It is free to get onto the island, but you have to pay to get off! Our first full day was full of everything but rain. We visited a bottle house, twoactually. A catholic man started recycling empty candle jars and mortared them into the malls of two houses. Quite interesting.

They grow a lot of potatoes and they the even have a potato museum. They are harvesting

potatoes right now. Apples are in and they are good. We tried some Johnny Mac apples and they were good. Fruit and veggies are plentiful and cheap. They have a lot of festivals. This weekend seems to be loaded with opportunities. One place is having a scarecrow contest. I think that what it supposed to be. You judge!

O, Canada!

We made it to Canada! We're celebrating 31 wonderful years as married, Best Friends. It is so much fun doing something with someone you enjoy.New Brunswick is a neat place. We found a really classic place.

We moved briefly into Nova Scotia, but the rain prevented any more than that. Perhaps on the return trip we can spend more time. We are finding some cute fire stations, mostly volunteers. No one could operate without an army of volunteers.

More homemade bread makes a wonderful day. We manage to locate some good coffee shops and that keeps us warm and going! Zing!!

We make it to PEI late in the afternoon. A cute farm house and some gracious hosts make a

good impression. The people staying here came from all over. Some spoke French, Japanese and that other language- Jersey! What an eclectic group.

We made a quick jaunt to the Green Gables area before retiring for the day. This is only part of the charm for the island. Certainly the greatest treasure lies within the people who live here and come here. Tomorrow we will see some quirky stuff and hopefully some great PEI apples and fruit

We're off!

The Lord is so good to give us a church family who allows us some time to recharge. We're on our way north and it is so good to have some wonderful parts of the US & Canada to visit. We weren't long in to Maine before we had to stop for some fresh baked bred and blueberry jam. We made stops at L.L. Bean and the Village Candle factory. Two places Jan and I had wanted to visit.

We stayed at a former governor's home, The Baxter House. Great innkeepers from England. They have great plans to complete the restoration of the home and the gardens.

We are headed for St. John, New Brunswick. More later...

Tuesday- Read, Read, Read!

Spend time reading the passage. Read it in context. Even if you are familiar with the verses above & below the lesson passage, re-read. Look for key words. Note: God, Jesus Christ and Holy Spirit are always key words. Words repeated often in a passage help me to see the point and applications will usually have their anchor in these key words.

Look for contrasts. Proverbs has the best example of contrasts. They usually are polarized words (light- dark, wisdom-folly, sin- righteousness).

Notice any time words such as when, now, or immediately. They help define action, either past present or future. Timing is everything with God.

Begin to study the lesson outline in view of the passage. Usually, the series of lessons will have a common thread. Using this common thread, develop a "POINT" and reinforce this point at the end of each section of scripture, Help learners remember the point through the use of objects, illustration or stories. You may even choose a song to help remember the "POINT." Jesus used everyday objects in culture to help people remember the message long after He was gone.

Be sure to gather any props early in the week. Many good lessons have diminished lasting effect because the teacher forgot to bring the objects, song or other visual aid.

Making a Plan- Monday

It's Monday and time to layout the basic plan for the lesson. There are three basic plans I like to integrate in a lesson:

• Asking Good Questions
• Parable or object lessons
• Discussion

Questions help learners THINK about personal application of a passage of scripture. Jesus would use questions to answer a question others asked of Him.

Objects help focus the learners (and the teacher!) on the focus of the lesson. Jesus used everyday objects to teach a spiritual point. Imagine every time you see a particular object, you think about a spiritual truth. There's not a time I see a fig tree that I don't think about Jesus cursing the fig tree.

Sitting down and talking about an aspect of life was used by Jesus from His youth onward. Discussion doesn't mean lecture. Learners have the opportunity to share their personal take or change option with others in the class.

Resources like the LifeWay Quicksource Leader plan book offer helps for each of these approaches to teaching. Take a moment to blend all three approaches into your lesson each week.

Crafting a Lesson- Part 1

Time is the biggest enemy of preparing a life changing lesson. As teachers, we are able to work with the eternal Word of God. Though we desire to prepare and present a life changing message, time seems to leak away each week. Saturday night comes and we have barely thought about the Sunday's lesson, much less prepared any thing of substance for our class. Sound familiar?

I am not talking about a "Home Run" lesson each and every Sunday, but our Lord and our class deserve much more. So here's ONE 'How to" that may help you use time to your advantage rather than be overcome by the lack of time.

Begin as soon as the previous lesson is completed and presented on Sunday. If I take just a few minutes on Sunday afternoon to preview the lesson direction and a few additional minutes to read the larger passage, my heart begins the process of working through the scriptures and the suggested talking points. Notice I said "heart." That is where the life change takes place in my life and this is the target for the members of the class.

Sometimes there are great teaching tools such as LifeWay's "Quicksource Leader" book for their "Explore the Bible (ETB) Series". My personal favorite is the "Parable Plan". Quicksource suggests a common object to use during the lesson to keep the class focussed on the life change principle.

I find taking an extra look at the beginning of a quarter, will help me stay focused on where the scriptures are headed. Remember, it's only Sunday. We begin by taking a cursory look.

More later...