My wife and I have been married for almost 24 years. On our anniversary weekend last May, I took her to the Indianapolis 500. Over the years, I have taken her somewhere for our anniversary at least 20 of the years. We may only spend one night or we may be gone for a week. This was a one-day trip since Indianapolis is so close to where we live.
Over the years, I can only think of two of those anniversary trips that she has known where we were going before we left. And she planned one of the trips. She is a curious person, so she always tries to get some clues to where we are going. For example, she will ask if she should bring her swimsuit (to find out if we are going south). My answers are usually evasive, like: sure, you can always use it at the pool. Anyway, this trip I decided that I had better ask to be sure, and she was excited about going (what a woman!).
One of my favorite parts of these trips has been time away together alone. I remember our tenth anniversary. I took her away from our sons for the longest time of their lives to that point. She and I took a road trip: drove over 600 miles to Jekyll Island, Georgia, where we had honeymooned. We spent two nights there; drove more than 400 miles to Ft. Myers, Florida and spent one night; drove more than 300 miles to Key West, Florida, and spent three nights; drove over 800 miles to Destin, Florida, and spent two nights; then drove over 500 miles home.
Eight days, seven nights, and nearly 3000 miles, and you want to know what the best part of the trip was? Conversation in the car. We talked more on that trip than we had talked in months–something about a captive audience!
Sharing a journey can add much to its enjoyment. And the same is true for our journey in preparing our Sunday School lessons. Share your preparation time with someone, and it will make it more enjoyable as it adds new ideas to your efforts. With time is in short supply these days, consider these fun and potentially time-saving ideas for preparing your lesson with someone:
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plan a weekly lunch time with another teacher in your church or another church who is teaching from the same literature series;
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plan a weekly lunch time with one or members of your class who can help you talk about, think through, and plan the lesson–serves double duty by strengthening relationships and helping you prepare your lesson;
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trade e-mails and phone calls with another teacher;
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work on your lesson with your spouse, your child, or your family as a whole–this serves double duty by creating a great reason to have family devotions as you also prepare your lesson;
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ask one or more teacher to join you at church on Wednesday or Sunday night to prepare next week’s lesson together;
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start a blog to share your preparation thoughts about the lesson–can help your class to read the blog and begin advance thinking about Sunday’s subject but can also help other teachers and Christians in other churches; and
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most importantly, share the journey with God–spend time with Him in His Word, listen to Him, and ask for His guidance, help, and blessing as you prepare.
If you have some additional ideas to share, press Comments below. Multiply your efforts in preparing. Increase your fun in doing so. Share the journey with someone. And don’t forget to join God on the journey! Be revolutionary!
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