Before Abraham was, I am

Yesterday we stayed home from church since we were all still sick.  On days when we stay home, we try to watch a sermon by one of our favorite preachers to listen to, John Piper.  You can check out his sermon archive here. I believe that if you are capable, you need to be a part of church body , but there are times you just can't go.  If you ever need to stay home from church, I would highly recommend listening to him.  He is a sound preacher of God's word, unlike many popular  TV evangelist.

So, we had church in our living room.  We were all still in our jammies, Hannah sat on my lap, Nathan slept and Nicole ran to get her Bible while Jeremy cued up the video.  This is something I love about her.  She is so stinkin' smart!  Any time we are talking and a story in the Bible is referenced, she goes to get her Bible to show me the story.  She's done this for at least a year now. 

Yesterday, Piper was preaching out of John 9, about the man who was born blind that Jesus healed.  We found that story in her Bible and she looked at the picture as she sat and listened.  A few minutes into the sermon, Piper referenced a verse at the very end of John 8 when Jesus said, "Before Abraham was, I am".  Now...this verse is HUGE, but I'm not writing this post to explain the verse to you...you should listen to the sermon as he briefly goes through it.  So...just after Piper reads that verse, Hannah looks over at me and starts making her little "talking" sounds and "raising the roof".  Why would she raise the roof when she hears that verse?  Well...because she is also very smart.  Jeremy has some really great Christian rap that he likes to listen to and we have a lot of fun in the car listening to his music and "raising the roof" with the girls.  One of his songs, by CrossMovement, is called "I am".  And one of the verses in the song, quotes that John 8 verse, "Before Abraham was, I am".  Immediately when Hannah heard Piper say that...she correlated the verse and the song and started raising the roof.  She did it several times during the sermon...isn't that funny?

Remember that song , "Oh be careful little ears what you hear?"  Man oh man, I learn almost daily how true that is to my little children.  Hannah isn't even two yet and she clearly knows and remembers things she hears.  She may not be able to express much in words, but she KNOWS!  A great reminder to me to be careful what I allow those little ears to hear (and maybe to you too if you have little ones)

OK, back to Nicole who is so patiently sitting there with her Bible open.  She also hears Piper talking about Abraham, and she quickly turns her Bible all the way back to Abraham and looks at the pictures of his story while she's listening to the sermon.  A while later, he mentions Job's friends.  If you remember way back here, our children have a slight obession with Job (Hannah's in on it now too...she screams and claps her hands when she finds Job in the Bible).  So, of course, Nicole diligently turned her Bible to the story of Job.  I am pretty much amazed at this and think she is incredibly clever.

You know, she doesn't know how to read, but she's been read that Bible so much that she knows the basic stories...and she knows where to find them.

Oh be careful little ears what you hear. 
Oh be careful little ears what you hear.
For the Father above is looking down in love
Oh be careful little ears what you hear.