Treasure Digest

• What I Learned From ABC
• Breathtaking Love—God's Love
• Turning the Hearts . . .Enjoy the Feast With Your Family
• Children's Corner - Isaiah's Prophecy About Christ [See PDF version]
• Share Your Treasures!

What I Learned From ABC

I have never been an ABC student, but I have had the opportunity to get to know the students who come through the program.

The mail room where I work is right across the hall from the ABC classroom. This gives me the opportunity to interact with the students on a daily basis. We share the same lunchroom, and I see them in the hall. Many students have also volunteered to help out in the mail room. I also try to attend some of their socials.

By being able to interact with the students, I have come to really appreciate the value of ABC and the impact it has on their lives.

There are two things that seem to help round out the students' spiritual growth. The first is the opportunity to study deeply into God's Word for hours every day. The second comes from interacting with each other, the instructors, the staff and the local congregation.

Students come to ABC from different backgrounds and with different personalities. Some students are extremely friendly, while some are extremely shy.

It is the intertwining of studies of the Bible, the socials, the work projects and the interactions with the staff and dedicated instructors that produces a higher level of growth by the time ABC is over. If the students take full advantage of ABC, the rewards are priceless!

I have been inspired to see students reaching out to encourage those who have a harder time fitting in and drawing them into the group! Seeing students' lives transformed during the year proves what a great value this program is. God has greatly blessed students who have attended ABC.

This wonderful ABC program is just a more intense, but smaller scale, version of what God is doing with all of us. He has called us from many different backgrounds, with different personalities and talents, and has placed us in a classroom of life! Just like the ABC students, little by little God is transforming our lives.

At graduation at the end of the ABC year, the students walk across the stage to receive their diplomas and congratulations. They will remember a year of hard work, endurance, fun, working out personality differences and learning a lot! Hopefully their relationship with God is deeper. The bond they develop with one another will last for years to come.

All of us long for our graduation—the day when God will say to us, "Well done, good and faithful servant...Enter into the joy of your Lord."

No, I cannot overestimate the value of this great ABC program and the impact it has on those who come through it. Nor can I overestimate what God is doing with all of us in the larger classroom of life—in the Body of Christ!

—Janet Treadway
Cincinnati North, Ohio, congregation

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Breathtaking Love—God's Love

I always enjoy hearing new parents talk about their new child. Their eyes light up and they have stories that make me visualize their great joy and love for the baby. As the child grows, the love a parent has for him or her grows to deeper levels. I have seen this firsthand in my family.

My husband and I frequently talk about our girls and how much we love them. I can see the love my husband has for his daughters. Many times during conversations I tell him that he would swim the deepest ocean, crawl through the most treacherous forest and cross the hottest desert for our girls. It is beautiful to see the love he has for them. Nothing, short of death, could keep him from coming to the aid of our girls. Sometimes it is breathtaking.

I think of Paul's question in Romans 8:35: "Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?" Then in verses 38 and 39 he tells us. "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Every parent can see how that scripture can take your breath away.

A personal experience that always brings God's love for us to my mind happened one year when our family was on the way to the Feast of Tabernacles. We had a flight layover. My husband, two small daughters and I were in a gift shop at the airport. We were just trying to make the time pass.

My husband signaled to me that he was going to the restroom. I was in the shop with our girls. The little one was around 9 years old. I turned around one second and she was gone. My heart sank. I tried to stay calm while I gave a description of my daughter to the sales clerk. She had not seen her and seemed rather disinterested in my plight.

I was rapidly becoming frantic. I asked other patrons in the shop if they had seen my child. No one could help me. Absolutely no one had seen her. I ran out into the corridor and started scanning the area. My eyes were quickly filling with tears of panic. It must have only been a few minutes but it seemed like hours.

Finally, I saw her! She had decided to follow her father to the bathroom without letting me know. I immediately burst into sobbing tears. The breath went out of me. It had been one of the worst moments of my life. My love and concern for my child was pushed by emotion to the forefront of my entire being.

When I think of that event I am reminded again of how much God loves us. The love God has for us is magnified exponentially compared to the love we have for our children. In Matthew 7:7-11 Jesus tells us that the good things we give (and do for) our kids are so small compared to the good things He wants to give us.

God has set up a family unit to give us a glimpse of His immeasurable love for His children. He is our Father, and He will do much more than swim the deepest ocean, crawl through the most treacherous forest and cross the hottest desert for us. It is truly breathtaking!

—Camille Ballo
Fort Myers, Florida, congregation

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Turning the Hearts . . .Teach Me to Pray

The Feast of Tabernacles is an exciting time. It is like getting more than two months of Sabbath services in eight days. It is a time of renewing old acquaintances and making new friends. It is a time of devotion and dedication to God's great plan of salvation in picturing the wonderful world tomorrow and the subsequent resurrections.

Service to our fellow brethren is enjoined and appreciated. Singing praises to God in the chorale or instructing children in their lessons at the Feast are noteworthy efforts. Ushering, setup and cleanup are important service opportunities, but taking care of your family is also very important. We must not forget that enjoyment at the Feast also needs to include our families!

In Deuteronomy 14:26, an inspired Moses wrote, "You shall rejoice, you and your household." We parents have God's instruction to bring enjoyment to our families while we go to worship God at the Feast.

What are some suggestions to add to the enjoyment of the family?

• Make time for your family. Too many meals in fancy restaurants with only adult conversation can be a recipe for boredom for the children. Neglecting the family sitting at the end of the table is no way to bring enjoyment to your children.

• Do something unique with the family. Horseback riding together, playing miniature golf, visiting a historic location, hiking to a beautiful vista or dining at a unique restaurant can give a memorable experience that helps the family bond together.

• Buy your children gifts. Some parents have a gift for each child on each day of the Feast.

• Sometimes let the children select the restaurant. Giving each person in the family the choice for a particular lunch means he or she will feel included in the decision making for the family.

• Give your children some money to spend as they desire. This also adds to the enjoyment. Then exercise the character to leave the decision as to what the children want to buy up to them. Watch them enjoy their selections.

• Take photos of your experiences to help remember them afterward.

• Collect memorabilia to put into a scrapbook or photo album or PowerPoint presentation when you return.

• Speak often of how it will be in the wonderful world tomorrow.

• As a family, do something nice for some unsuspecting individuals during the Feast.

• Tell your family members how much you love and appreciate them.

Please make your own list or borrow some ideas from the one above. But remember to rejoice with your family at the Feast! God's instruction in Leviticus 23:40 is, "You shall rejoice before the L ord your God for seven days" (and the eighth day as well). Let's enjoy the Feast with our families!

—Gary E. Antion

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Share Your Treasures!

Do you have any short items of biblical wisdom, humor or practical information that you would like to share in this section? Or if you have any suggestions, please contact United News, P.O. Box 541027, Cincinnati, OH 45254-1027 or mike_bennett@ucg.org.

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