Daily Sheet: Day 109: Peacefulness
Family Book: “Where the Poppies Now Grow”
Travel: Algeria; Tunisia
Song: “God and Country” – Gungor
“You can take my money, take my land, but not my son!
…Those who live by the gun, die by the gun.”
Author Archives: rachelwhitson
Day 108: Perseverance
Daily Sheet: Day 108: Perseverance
Family Book: “The Butter Man”
Travel: Western Sahara; Morocco
Video: “When The Saints” – Sara Groves (images from the persecuted church; with lyrics)
Song: “Mistral” – Roo Panes
Day 107: Fortitude
Daily Sheet: Day 107: Fortitude
Family Book: “Yatandou”
Travel: Mauritania
Song: “Carry On” – Phil Keaggy
The following verses, both written by Paul, will help you answer today’s questions:
Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. -Romans 5:3-5 (ESV)
Even when we are weighed down with troubles, it is for your comfort and salvation! For when we ourselves are comforted, we will certainly comfort you. Then you can patiently endure the same things we suffer. -2 Corinthians 1:6 (NLT)
Questions:
- Discuss the relationship between fortitude and the following words:
- Perseverance
- Endurance
- Suffering
- Patience
- Hope
- Come up with your own definition for the word “fortitude.”
Day 106: Flexibility
Daily Sheet: Day 106: Flexibility
Family Books: “From Kalamazoo to Timbuktu”, “Moonlight on the Amazon”
Travel: Mali
Song: “Time May Bring” – Andru Bemis (scroll down for the song)
Video: Brazilian Pianist Eliane Rodrigues’ performance with a broken piano
Day 105: Alertness
Daily Sheet: Day 105: Alertness
Family Book: “Dawn Watch”
Travel: Michigan; Wisconsin
Video: “Gotta Get Up” – Rich Mullins
Video: “Wake Up Sleeper” – Gungor (live, in subway station)
Day 104: Optimism
Daily Sheet: Day 104: Optimism
Family Book: “Four Feet, Two Sandals”
Travel: Afghanistan
Video: Sara Groves introduces “Floodplain” and talks about the role of positive thinking in our lives
Song: “Floodplain” – Sara Groves
Some hearts are built on a floodplain, keeping one eye on the sky for rain. You work for the ground that gets washed away when you live closer…
Closer to the life and the ebb and flow, closer to the edge of I don’t know, closer to that’s the way it goes… Some hearts are built on a floodplain.
And it’s easy to sigh on a high bluff, look down and ask when you’ve had enough. Will you have the sense to come on up or will you stay closer?
Closer to the danger and the rolling deep, closer to the run and the losing streak and what brings us to our knees… Some hearts live here.
Oh the river it rushes to madness and the water it spreads like sadness and there’s no high ground. Closer to the danger and the rolling deep, closer to the run and the losing streak and what brings us to our knees…
Closer to the life and the ebb and flow, closer to the edge of I don’t know, closer to Lord please send a boat… Some hearts are built here.
Video: “Brighter Day” – Gungor (drum cover)
Love came down and hope was found; Now we’re waking up to a brighter day.
Questions:
- Do you like today’s story? Does it make sense to you? Why or why not?
- Explain Ecclesiastes 11:4.
- What is a floodplain? What does Sara Groves mean when she says “some hearts live there”? Do you think that means these people are optimistic or pessimistic?
Day 103: Attentiveness
Daily Sheet: Day 103: Attentiveness
Family Book: “Good Night, Gorilla”
Travel: Cameroon
Video: “A Message To Myself” – Roo Panes
Going to get out of here, so many voices fill this place; Society is in my solitude. Oh find me the corner of this great space! If I’d heard every word, if I’d read every line upon the shelf, I’d still need a message to myself.
Searching for the elements, the roots of a fundamental love; Been reaching out to find my solid ground, ’cause I’ve never known peace lest from above. So up in the clear, I’ll find the voice that I hold dear, and I’ll send a message to myself.
Video: “Just One More Thing” – Sara Groves
Day 102: Benevolence
Daily Sheet: Day 102: Benevolence
Family Book: “If the World Were a Village”
Travel: Gabon
Video: “Open My Hands” – Sara Groves (talking about her inspiration behind writing this song)
In Psalm 84:11 we read, “No good thing does He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” Sir Richard Baker comments, “But how is this true, when God so oftentimes withholds riches and honor and health of body from men, though they walk ever so uprightly? We may therefore know that honors and riches and bodily strength are none of God’s good things, and the good things of God are chiefly peace of conscience, joy in the Holy Spirit, fruition of God’s presence, and a vision of His face in the next. These good things God never withholds from the Godly.”
Video: “Open My Hands” – Sara Groves (live acoustic performance)
I believe in a blessing I don’t understand. I’ve seen rain fall on wicked and the just. Rain is no measure of his faithfulness; He withholds no good thing from us.
I believe in a peace that flows deeper than pain, that broken find healing in love.
Pain is no measure of his faithfulness; He withholds no good thing from us.I believe in a fountain that will never dry, though I’ve thirsted and didn’t have enough. Thirst is no measure of his faithfulness; He withholds no good thing from us.
I will open my hands, will open my heart.
I am nodding my head, an emphatic “Yes!” to all that You have for me.
Questions:
- Do you think Sir Richard Baker is right?
- Why does Sara Groves say, “I believe in a blessing I don’t understand”?
- Why, if God is faithful, do people experience drought, pain, and thirst?
- What is our role in all this?
Day 101: Belief
Daily Sheet: Day 101: Belief
Family Book: “I Believe: The Nicene Creed”
Travel: Congo
Video: “Creed” – Rich Mullins (with introduction by Rich)
I hope I would leave a legacy of joy; a legacy of real compassion. Because I think there is a great joy in real compassion. I don’t think that you can know joy apart from caring deeply about people, caring enough about people that you actually do something. But I have a feeling like if my life is motivated by my ambition to leave a legacy, what I will probably leave as a legacy is ambition. But if my life is motivated by the power of the Spirit in me, if I live in the awareness of the indwelling Christ, if I allow His presence to guide my actions, to guide my motives, those sorts of things, that’s the only time I think that we really leave a great legacy. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. My ambition to be a good guy is a fleshly ambition. And when Christ calls us to take up our cross and follow him, a lot of us think that what that means is we’re supposed to lay down our vices, and we’re supposed to cling to virtues, but I think that unless Christ is Lord of our virtues, our virtues become dangerous to us and dangerous to the people around us. I think that when Christ calls us to take up our cross, what He means is you must die not only to whatever vices are in your life, which he will eventually kill out, you must also die to whatever virtues are in your life. Your life is not valuable because you are an articulate speaker, your life is not valuable because you are a generous person, your life is not valuable because of any of that. If we empty ourselves of everything and allow God to be present, then it’s no longer us, it’s Him. Then it becomes a spiritual thing. And that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. And that’s when I think Christianity really begins to make sense.
Video: “Creed” – Rich Mullins with Third Day (with Croatian subtitles)
Day 100: Ambition
Daily Sheet: Day 100: Ambition
Family Book: “Uncommon Traveler”
Travel: Angola
Video: “Secret Ambition” – Michael W. Smith (official music video) Uh, it’s 90’s. VERY 90’s…
Nobody knew his secret ambition was to give his life away.
Questions:
- How does ambition relate to purpose, focus, and vision?
- Do you think ambition is a good and/or a bad thing?
- What type of ambition does Paul warn us about in his letter to the Phillipians?
- According to Paul, what should our ambition be? Do you think that is good advice?
- Mary Kingsley was curious and ambitious. Do you consider her wise?
Character core curriculum 
