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Hi Friends!
We hope you enjoyed a wonderful
Christmas with your families. We loved being able to see so
many of our family and friends. After school was out, we
headed out to Fort Mill, South Carolina (just south of
Charlotte, North Carolina) to visit Jason’s mom, Patricia,
and younger sister, Elizabeth. We spent the night in
Nashville which was beautiful! It was fun to eat at a
restaurant downtown and see more of the city. Then, we went
through the Smoky Mountain National Park (through
Gatlinburg, Tennessee) and saw three bears!
We loved spending time with Patricia
and Elizabeth, meeting their friends, seeing where they
live, and visiting their church, Morning Star. Of course,
there was much relaxing, movie watching, reading, and game
playing! After about five days with them, we headed back to
Texas (taking I-20, which was a bit faster). We got to see
our good friends from Alaska while they were in Dallas as
well as Beth’s brother and sister in law, Drew and Hilary.
We celebrated Christmas with the rest of the McKenney clan
in Waxahachie and then stayed a few days with friends in
Denison.
It was such a blessing to have time off
from school to rest and get refreshed in the Lord’s
presence. School has started back up for us. Jason has
taught on Isaiah, Solomon, and the nature of sin in School
of the Bible. The SOTB students have given us a lot of
positive feedback as we have been studying what the Bible
teaches concerning the following topics; The Nature
and Character of God, Nature of Man, Nature of Sin, and Old
Testament History. Pray for us as we move into the New
Testament and study the Christian Life. This is an
important part of the year as we look at God's power to
overcome sin and walk in a manner worthy of His calling!
For Beth, it has been fun coming back
to the kiddos. One student has moved with her family up to
Colorado, and she is dearly missed. That leaves 10 lively
children in the Reading Class! They are enjoying learning
how to read more and more (as well as counting to 100 in
arithmetic). She’s discovered that one of her favorite
times of the day is reading aloud to the students. She
usually reads a picture book during snack time and chapters
from Little Pilgrim’s Progress in the afternoon.
In Beth’s Teachers for the Nations
class, they have been reading John Locke, Charles
Montesquieu, and William Blackstone – studying how God’s law
is the basis of all valid law and Biblical principles of
civil government.
The foundation of the Christian view of
God, man, and government is summed up by the following quote
from one of our books. “Christianity then appeared with its
central doctrine, that man was created in the Divine image,
and destined for immortality; pronouncing, that, in the eye
of God, all men are equal.” ~ Richard Frothingham. It has
been so amazing to see how America’s founding principles as
a nation came straight from the Bible. The idea of a civil
government existing to serve the people by protecting their
property upon the consent of the governed is starkly
contrasted in history by monarchs who seemed to be “above
the law.” It eye opening and inspiring to see God’s desire
for all nations to walk in liberty ~ internally from sin and
externally with civil government. Beth has become convinced
of the importance of teaching the Christian idea of God,
man, and government in order to see true transformation of
nations by the Kingdom of God.
We love you,
Jason and Beth
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