As you prepare to wrap up 2020 and welcome 2021, do you want to strengthen your faith? Iron Stream Media has books that will help you! As part of Birmingham Christian Family’s 12 Days of Christmas Reader Giveaways, you could win five great books including The Name of the Stars by Ann Tatlock, Say Yes by Britt Mooney, Daily Acts by Lalla Lee Campsen, Enjoy Today, Own Tomorrow by Laine Lawson Craft, and Seek by Jennifer Kennedy Dean. Visit newhopepublishers.com to purchase these books and others that make great Christmas gifts.
Follow Birmingham Christian Family’s Facebook page to learn how you could win these books on December 11!
After months of neglect and abuse, Josh is rescued! The summer is ending and rising fifth-grade scholar, Meg Wilson, prays to be kind to those classmates who taunted her in third and fourth grades. Most of all she prays for a “powerful purpose” this school year. As Divine providence would have it, her purpose unfolds when she steps off the school bus and witnesses a crime against a neighborhood canine named Josh.
A South Florida blustery night, a frightening confrontation with the dog’s abuser, and parental objection, propels Meg into action. With the help of her younger brother, Ryan and two best friends, Lindy and Alex, Meg is determined to make things right. Her young faith is put to work to forgive, even the likes of Josh’s abuser. In a twist of fate, the mistreated canine, lovingly renamed the Big Balooka, becomes the hometown hero.
For the Love of Big Balooka by Kathleen M. Barrett introduces the amazing pencil sketch work of up and coming artist, sixteen-year-old, Phoebe Yablonski. Phoebe sketched the book’s cover, taking thirteen hours to create a striking image of the real life, Josh. Read her inspiring bio on page 135 and see her colored pencil sketch of the dog’s collar on the last page.
You may find the book: on Amazon and through all Barnes and Noble locations, order internationally from your favorite bookstore or contact the author by email, [email protected].
You could win one of three copies of For the Love of Big Balooka on December 21 as a part of Birmingham Christian Family’s 12 Days of Reader Christmas Giveaways. Like and follow Birmingham Christian Family on Facebook to learn how you can be entered to win.
The Birmingham Bulls Hockey Team will start their season on December 26, 2020 at the Pelham Civic Center. The Bull’s take on the Pensacola Ice Flyers at 7 p.m. followed by home games in January, February, March and April. Besides the excitement of a live hockey game, Bulls games offer themed nights of fun activities and games that honor military members, church groups, and charity organizations. Birmingham Bulls Hockey is great family entertainment. Whether you fully understand the game or not, you will be on the edge of your seat and will leave the arena wanting more. Tickets go on sale December 1, 2020. Learn more at www.bullshockey.net or call 205-620-6448. Special thanks to the Bull’s for giving a Birmingham Christian Family(BCF) reader four Gold Seat Tickets( $88 value) as part of BCF’s 12 Gifts of Christmas Reader Giveaways.
Like and Follow Birmingham Christian Family on Facebook for details on how you can be entered to win. Giveaway is December 19, 2020.
Whether you are walking, jogging, standing, cross fitting or just have issues finding the perfect fitting shoe, the experienced, knowledgeable staff at the Trak Shak Shops can help you! Since 1995, the Trak Shak team has been helping Birmingham area families find the shoes they need to live life to the fullest. Get to know the staff and find the shoes for you at three convenient locations- The Trak Shak 280, 4700 Highway 280 East, Inverness, 35242; The Trak Shak Homewood, 2839 18th Street South, 35209 and The Trak Shak Hoover, 1031 Brocks Gap Parkway, 35242. Learn more at www.trakshak.com.
December 15, 2020 Trak Shak will give away a $75 Gift Card as a part of Birmingham Christian Family’s 12 Days of Reader Christmas Giveaways. Like and follow Birmingham Christian Family on Facebook to learn how you can be entered to win.
As we celebrate the Christmas season, all of us at Birmingham Christian Family wanted to do something special for readers like you who spread that Good News with your family and friends each month- either sharing a print issue or reading and sharing one of our articles on-line. So, get ready to enjoy another 12 Gifts of Christmas Giveaway! Every other day we will share a gift with one of you! Click each giveaway date for more details on each great gift.
December 21- BONUS DAY- Copy of For the Love of Big Balooka, a delightfully inspirational tale beautifully illustrated, www.kathybarrettwrites.com, 3 Winners, Value $15 per gift,
To be entered to win the giveaways, simply subscribe to Birmingham Christian Family’s (BCF) E-news/online subscription and tag 3 friends in the comments of each Facebook giveaway post. If you already subscribe to our E-news, simply tag three friends in the comments of each Facebook giveaway post and message BCF your email address on Facebook. For an extra entry, like and share the giveaway post. Winners for each giveaway will be announced every other day, as a new giveaway begins.
With every child that is placed in our care, every mouth that is fed, every story that is shared, every prayer that is uttered—lives are impacted. Lives like Becka’s* . . .
Before foster care, 5 year-old Becka lived an unpredictable life. She was often left alone to care for her little brother, with no knowledge of when they would get their next meal. They sometimes walked throughout their neighborhood hoping that neighbors would give them something to eat.
After coming into our care, with her foster parents’ love and consistency, she has blossomed into the child she was meant to be. Our foster parents taught her about Jesus, and she began praying fervently for everything, including her dad. She began sharing about Jesus with her dad at their visits and asked if she could pray for him several times.
Because of the love she was shown in foster care, now two years later, this precious little girl is a believer in Jesus Christ and seeks Him. Our donors, churches, and other friends in ministry are making a difference every day in lives like Becka’s and for so many other children like her.
Through the foster care ministry of Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes & Family Ministries, hundreds of children every year are provided a safe home, warm meals, loving foster parents, the opportunity to learn more about the God who loves them, and so much more. Providing this care would not be possible for us without the prayer, volunteer, and financial support we receive from friends and families all across Alabama.
December 1 is Giving Tuesday, and we want to invite you to join us and hundreds more on this special day, as together, we make a big giving impact in the lives of children and families in need, all across Alabama! In just six years, Giving Tuesday has grown to become our most exciting and biggest giving day. In 2019 alone, friends like you gave a total of $617,210 through this effort. This year, our Giving Tuesday goal is $650,000, and gifts made that day will be doubled through generous matching gifts! We are asking all who desire to come alongside our precious children and families to prayerfully consider making a gift that day to help us meet this goal and help us continue our mission to protect, nurture, and restore children and families through Christ-centered services.
Learn more about this effort and how you can be involved on Tuesday, December 1 and all year long at alabamachild.org/givingtuesday. On December 6, 2020 you can also take a virtual visit of Alabama Baptist Children’s Homes and Family Ministries’ Gardendale campus. Learn more here. †
*Name and photo have been changed for privacy purposes.
Sometimes “thanks” is hard. Remember that Christmas morning when you opened the gift from the long-lost relative? The relative was clearly clueless about you and kids in general (thus their gift selection), yet your mom still expected you to smile and say “thanks.” The global pandemic has made 2020 that kind of a year. We begrudgingly say “thanks” hoping that the 2021 box that we will soon open will have a more desirable year inside.
In Psalm 117, we find two verses that help us to better look beyond the current moment to what we can truly be thankful for: “Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol him, all peoples! For great is his steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord.” (ESV) This year as we gather with our CDC approved number of people, in our CDC recommended location, smiling through CDC sanctioned masks of protection, here are three gospel truths that we can truly be thankful for in this less-than-perfect year.
1. The Lord Deserves Our Praise. The psalmist begins by calling all the nations to worship God. Everyone in every moment everywhere is called to lift high the greatness of God. When it is difficult to see greatness around us, we can look up and see the greatest One of all. He is worthy of our acknowledgment of His greatness through our praise even when “thanks” is hard to come by.
2. The Lord Pursues Us with His Love. God chases after us with His love. In his poem by the same name, Francis Thompson described God as “the hound of heaven.” The Heavenly Father is like a hound dog following after the rabbit waiting for the moment to strike. In the same way, God follows hard after us waiting for the moment we surrender to His love. We can say “thanks” in 2020 because God chases after us and woos our hearts back to Him with His love and grace.
3. The Lord Remains Faithful. In years like this, it is hard to know who we can trust and what we are to believe. There is one who is faithful, steadfast, and secure. Our God never changes. In the middle of the constant change we have experienced this year, we worship a God who does not change. His faithfulness has no end, and for this, we give “thanks.”
This different kind of Thanksgiving season, we can be truly thankful because things are still secure. God is the greatest, His love chases our hearts, and He will be faithful even through whatever next year’s gift box may bring.
Collectivus Church sponsored a Drive-Through Trunk or Treat with Calera Main Street on October 29. More than a thousand people attended the event. 45 vehicles with decorated trunks lined a parking lot and families never had to leave their cars! “Masked and gloved participants at each decorated trunk placed treats in the bag as the vehicles slowly drove through,” Pastor Ben Nelson of Collectivus Church explained. †
Pumpkin Day was a fun and educational event for the first graders at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School. They began their day with a visit to a special school pumpkin patch created by teachers and volunteer room mothers.
What would you do you if you couldn’t take a field trip to a pumpkin patch due to COVID-19? Well, you bring the pumpkin patch to you! That is exactly what the first-grade teachers and room mothers did for the first-graders at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School. “Since our annual first-grade field trip to the pumpkin patch was cancelled due to pandemic restrictions this year, we felt adjustments could be made,” said first-grade teacher Ms. Jessica Taff. “This is typically a big field trip as we conclude our study of plants and the life cycle of the pumpkin,” she said. “We really didn’t want to disappoint our students, so we created a Pumpkin Day.” †
Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic School first grader, Luke Pierce, enjoys counting pumpkins seeds during Pumpkin Day.
Senior adults enjoy some free fun hosted by the Hoover Senior Center.
Over a two-hour period nearly 150 senior adults drove into the Hoover Senior Center parking lot to enjoy a drive by trick or treat event hosted by the Center for area seniors. On October 30, 2020 seven sponsors handed out treats and volunteers/staff engaged with the participants- many of whom chose to dress in their trick or treat best! Seniors received candy, apples on a stick with dipping caramel, a copy of Birmingham Christian Family magazine and the choice of a travel bag or first aid kit. Learn more about the offerings of the Hoover Senior Center at www.hooveralabama.gov/451/Seniors. Read about their upcoming event, Thanks-for-Giving 2020 here. †
-Ben Birdsong
