My name is An.
I am so happy that you stopped to visit! I first of all want to tell you that I really love Jesus!
I go to a school called Good Shepherd Catholic School and I'm in the fourth grade. My teacher is a religious sister. Remember at the very end of Poppy's CK101 Page when she told us her very favorite Bible story? It was about the little girl who died and Jesus brought her back to life! Jesus said, "Talitha koum!" That means, "Little girl, I say to you, get up!" Can you guess what my teacher's name is? Her name is: Sister Talitha Koum. Isn't that an amazing name?
He took her by the hand and said to her, 'Talitha koum!'
(which means 'Little girl, I say to you, get up!'") Mark 5:41
Sister Talitha Koum is so beautiful and so smart! She reads us a story from the Bible every morning. Sister has been teaching us about the Bible. She explained to my class that the Bible is divided into two parts. The first part is called the Old Testament. The Old Testament starts out with the story of Creation. Then it tells about when Adam and Eve disobeyed God and all the hard things that would happen because they decided not to love God back by choosing to sin. Remember when they ate the forbidden fruit? That sure was sad. But then remember how God made a wonderful promise to send the world a Savior who would save us from our sins? The Old Testament is full of stories that have to do with God's promise. God gives all kinds of information or "clues" about who our Savior will be. Remember the story of Cain and Abel? Or the story of the King with the big long name called Melchizedek? Or the story about Abraham and his son, Isaac? (At CK101 we learned about those "clues" in The Story of Ming and the Gift of Jesus.) Our Heavenly Father was revealing through the Old Testament the details of His promise, that one day a Savior would be born and He would save all people from their sins. And you know who the Savior is, don't you? Of course! The Savior is Jesus!
The New Testament is about the promise come true! The New Testament tells us about the birth, the life, the teachings, the miracles, the sufferings, the death and then the resurrection of Jesus, our Savior!
"He is not here; He has risen, just as He said!"
Matthew 28:6
Sister Talitha Koum said that the Bible is like a really long letter written to each one of us from God. There are all kinds of different stories in there for us to learn from. She explained that God had different authors write the many parts or books of the Bible but all the authors were inspired and guided by God. So we say the Bible is the "Word of God!"
Sister reads us stories from her great big Bible. You know, I think God really loves adventures! One story was about a huge boat that sailed during a bad 40 day storm. One was about a man who lived three days inside a great big fish! One was about a bush that was on fire but didn't burn up. Then there was one about a fight between a man who was a giant and a kid. God helped the kid win! Sister reads us all kinds of interesting stories from the Bible.
My baby sisters - Hanna and Maria
I like to think about the stories that Sister tells us. When I come home from school, I don't look on my computer right away. First, I play with my baby sisters and tell them about what I learned in school that day. They don't really understand what I'm saying but they sure are happy when I talk to them! After that, I go into our backyard and I just sit and think. Have you ever done that? Just sit and think? I listen to the birds and look up at the big blue sky and I think.
I think about my family and my friends at school. But my very favorite thing to think about is God and His promise and how Jesus came to save us and that makes me feel really happy!
Sister told my class there is another wonderful thing about the Bible that she wanted us to know. She said God made sure that if we are having a hard day at school or if we are sick or things just aren't going well, we can always look in the Bible for help. And there are many places where God reminds us that He loves us because He doesn't want us to ever forget!
I'll put a picture of a Bible I got for a gift when I received my First Holy Communion. It has some of the stories from both the Old Testament and the New Testament in it. We use this particular Picture Bible for kids at my school too. You can click on the picture to get an idea what is inside this book:
We have this really amazing giant poster that goes across the top part of the walls in our classroom. Sister gave me a smaller copy of it and helped me put it on my CK101 page so I could show you. At the end, I'll tell you how we are using it in our class. It looks like this:
My one great promise in life: the coming of Jesus!
The Gospel of John 1:14
My one great encounter in life: to meet Jesus!
The Gospel of Matthew 2:11
My one great invitation in life: to follow Jesus!
The Gospel of Mark 1:19
My one great school in life: the words of Jesus!
The Gospel of Matthew 6:28
My one great decision in life: to obey Jesus!
The Gospel of Matthew 8:9
My one great work in life: to bring others to Jesus!
The Gospel of Mark 2:1
My one great wonder in life: the kindness of Jesus!
The Gospel of Luke 7:11
My one great protection in life: the power of Jesus!
Mark 4:35
My one great awe in life: the miracles of Jesus!
The Gospel of John 6:1
My one great need in life: the mercy of Jesus!
The Gospel of John 5:1
My one great desire in life: to thank Jesus!
The Gospel of Luke 17:11
My one great joy in life: to speak with Jesus!
The Gospel of Luke 10:13
My one great love in life: to receive Jesus!
The Gospel of Mark 14:22
My one great medicine in life: the wounds of Jesus!
The Gospel of John 19:28
My one great gift in life: to believe in Jesus!
The Gospel of John 20:26
My one great hope in life: to live forever with Jesus!
The Gospel of John 14:2
Isn't that a wonderful poster about Jesus? Now I'll tell you how my class is using it.
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First, Sister explained to us that in the New Testament, God had four different men write the story of Jesus. The names of the four men are Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. We call them "Evangelists." My grandma goes to a Church named Saint John the Evangelist Catholic Church. That reminds me, all four men are Saints! Each of these four men wrote a book about Jesus and we call these four books the Gospels. Gospel means "Good News!"
Sister gave each person in my class their very own copy of the entire New Testament! The first four books of the New Testament are, the Gospel according to Saint Matthew, the Gospel according to Saint Mark, the Gospel according to Saint Luke and the Gospel according to Saint John. Each week we look at a picture on the poster and then look up where it is found in the New Testament. I'll show you how!
Do you see the picture above where Jesus is ascending into Heaven? By the picture it says, "My one great hope in life: to live forever with Jesus!" It then says, The Gospel of John 14:2. The Gospel of John means what book of the Bible, 14 is the chapter in that book and the number after the colon :2 is the verse.
I'll explain how you find it! The first four books of the New Testament are the Gospels according to Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, right? John is the fourth book. That's what the word "John" means in John 14:2. So I flip through the first three books until I come to the Gospel of John. Once there, then I flip through the pages until I come to chapter 14. That's what the 14 means in John 14:2. The first number is always the chapter. When I find chapter 14, I will see that the sentences are numbered. Those are called verses. The verse in John 14:2 is verse 2. When I find verse 2, then I've found it! John 14:2. There Jesus tells us He is going to Heaven to prepare a place for us! His exact words are, "In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you." John 14:2!
That's why I asked Sister if she would help me get a copy of the poster to put on my CK101 page. Everyone in my class really loves looking at the pictures of Jesus' life and then looking up places in the New Testament that have to do with the picture. I really wanted to show you how to look it up too in case you didn't know how to do that yet. Now you can pick a picture and then look it up in the New Testament in your Bible too!
I really am excited for you to look up the stories of Jesus! You can think about them and then talk about it with your family. If you have little brothers and sisters, you can especially tell them about Jesus. And don't worry if they don't really understand you yet. They will still love to listen!
Love your CK101 friend,
An
Luke 1:26
Matthew 2:11
Luke 24:50
Luke 1:26
