As the Awana year ends, you may be thinking of how to thank your leaders, or maybe thanking your commander. The best way… a handwritten note sharing specifically what you are thankful for about them.

As a commander, and pastor, I appreciate getting hand drawn and hand written notes from children, families and parents. I received one recently from an Awana T&T club. I got it along with two others as part of a large group time message. On mine was a small note from one clubber that touched me. It was a small.personal, note that let me know that I’ve had an impact on their life.

I’m not a fan of Christmas cards, birthday cards, etc. If you send me a card and only sign your name to it, you can almost guarantee that it will be in the recycle bin. But if you’ve taken the time to write a small note, it means so much more and will be “filed” to be looked at again on days when I’m discouraged.

Don’t over think how to show appreciation, just send them a note. Yes, it will take more than a few minutes, but it will show you care and will have a great impact on your leaders.

We are in the midst of college basketball’s March Madness. It is an exciting time for college basketball fans, or the casual spectator as several games come down to the final seconds to determine the winner. Everyone watches the clock hoping that there favorite team, or the underdog, can pull it out in the end.

It can be the same in your Awana club. Most clubs are entering their final quarter. The last few weeks of meeting for club before the Awana year is over. Are you hoping your team (your clubbers) come out on top, or have you grown weary and just waiting for the clock to run out so you can rest?

The Bible repeatedly encourages us not to grow weary in well-doing (Galatians 6:9, 2 Thess. 3:13, Hebrews 12:3) and that when we wait on Him, He will renew our strength (Isaiah 40:31).

So finish this year strong, reaching boys and girls for Christ. Guiding them to come to know, love and serve the Lord Jesus.

The one thing that has “bugged” me about God, is if He is perfect, why did He create such an imperfect being as me (speaking of mankind in general as well). Didn’t He know we wouldn’t follow Him? Didn’t He know we would do vile and despicable things? Didn’t He know we would turn our backs on Him? Why would He create something that would so despise Him that He would send His Son for them knowing that He would be killed in a brutal fashion by His own creation? Why?

Then one day it hit me, literally, like a ton of bricks. HE KNEW and He still created us. It has to be a part of His master plan! Hebrews 2:5-9 tells us that Jesus was made a little lower than the angels for a time (while on Earth) so He could taste death for everyone. So we are lower than the angels. It is generally accepted that 1/3 of the angels fell with Satan. With that knowledge, God must have known that greater than 1/3 of mankind would reject Him as well. (Making an assumption since we are lower than angels and they having seen God turned their backs on Him). So even as believers, we must realize that a large population will reject God and we have to accept that it is their decision to do so.

The Bible also repeatedly tells us that we are not perfect (Jeremiah 17:9, Romans 3:23, etc). So stop trying to be perfect, we will NEVER attain it! Expect mistakes to be made because that is how we were created.

Now please don’t get me wrong, we should not strive for mistakes. Just as Romans 6 reminds us that we should not sin that grace may abound, we should not make mistakes so grace may abound either. We should strive to do our best, but not become burdened if we fail.

I put together a PPT presentation put to music for an Awana closing program. As a person in the seat in front turned around and shared how nice it was, I couldn’t help but think that it was 1/2 second off with the transitions and the music synching the way I wanted it. Why was I so upset by that? No one else even noticed!

Once you understand that we were created to fail, and that Jesus is our only way to perfection, then it opens up an understanding of others when they fail and let us down. A new understanding of why God’s grace is so great. This basic thought has been transformational for me personally.

So stop trying to be perfect, you will never make it. Just do your best, and let God do the rest. After all, that’s the way He made you.

I know that it is wrong to take advantage of people. Lately, I’ve felt like I’ve been stealing ministry resources from publishers, developers and all. You see, I’ve been getting some amazing resources at deep discounts, sometimes free and if you’ve seen the pictures from Black Friday early sales with people waiting outside and then rushing to get in, then that’s what this is like. Children’s ministry leaders poised at their keyboards looking for the early bird deals. We’ve all gone crazy!!!!

And do you know who else has gone crazy? Jenny of about Only144.com. She and the crew at Only144.com work to get these amazing deals together for you to help you with your budget, and once you take advantage of them, you may also feel like you should be locked up.

Why is the website called Only 144? Because you only have 144 hours to get the deal and then it’s gone. So now you’re wondering what kind of deals you can get…. how does about $2,000 worth of materials for $97 sound? It sounds too good to be true doesn’t it, but it is TRUE! I’ve gotten in on several of these deals and it is the real deal.

The next sale begins tomorrow (Friday, March 16, 2012) at high noon EDT and will run for 144 hours. At 11:45 am, many will be poised by their keyboards waiting for the “doors to open” to be one of the first to order to get in on some extras.

Whether you catch this deal or not, I encourage you to check it out and look for future deals. There will definitely be something that you can use.

To check out the current deal and all that is included, click on the banner below, and tell them Commander Bill sent you!

Once again Tony Kummer at Ministry-to-Children.com has set up a children’s ministry blog March Madness tournament. This is a fun exercise to draw attention to various children’s ministry blogs. I’m honored to be the #4 seed in the West Region.

In this first round, you can select four blogs from each region and the top four blogs make it to the sweet 16 where the tallies are cleared and voting begins again to get the Final Four.

Last year I was the #14 seed and a “Cinderella” story making it into the sweet 16 and making a run for the Final Four, but was out voted by Sam Luce, who is in my region again.

This is a fun contest and I view it that way. Yes, I’m competitive and enjoy the challenge, but win or lose, I’ll have fun with it and when the fun goes, and it is taken to seriously, I’ll step aside. Last year I donated $200 toward Awana International based on votes I received. Some said I was buying votes. But the winner of the “tournament” last year would receive an iPad2 and I had trouble asking people to vote for my blog so I could receive an iPad (though I’d like one). Donating money for votes was simply my way of showing that it wasn’t about me, but was for fun and I wanted to do something positive from it. Because of the comments last year, I will not be doing that.

I know that I haven’t kept up with my blog as much as I’d like these last few months, but I would be honored if you would vote for my blog and help me advance to the Sweet 16.

You can vote by clicking here. Again, I’m the #4 seed in the West Region.

Thank you.