Jungle Jams

 When I was a kid Mom had some cassette tapes that she would play for us in the car. We had "Adventures in Odyssey", "Patch the Pirate" and "Jungle Jams". There may have been others but those are the ones I remember. 

The other day someone's phone went off and the sound caught my attention. It was like I was transported back in time. For a second there, I was a little kid again, sitting in the green Ford Aerostar van listening to "Jungle Jams" with my mom. It was just the two of us. It normally was just her and I when we listened to "Jungle James", I'm the youngest and my siblings weren't big fans of that tape. It was made for kids my age so it was a little young for them. I loved it though. And for just that second I remembered all that joy and excitement as I listened to the animals in the jungle talk about the crisis they were in how to solve it.

I have no idea if we had more then one "Jungle Jams" story. I don't really remember the story line, but I believe that one of them taught the lesson of obedience. I do remember the time with my mom. And I remember that those tapes led me to ask questions and think about what life meant. It reinforced lessons I learned in Sunday school and from my parents.

And when I heard that music and I started thinking about "Jungle Jams" it made me think of some other things I learned as a kid. 

Proverbs 22:6

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."

Jeremiah 31:33

"For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord; I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts. And I will be their God and they shall be my people."

My parents trained me up and they made sure that I knew God's word. They used tapes like "Jungles Jams" and the others, they took me to church, they talked about what they were reading in their Bibles and they encouraged me to read my own. God wrote His words on my heart and to this day He is still my God, and I am still his daughter.

If you're a parent reading this don't neglect spending time with your little ones. Playing a CD or a movie for the thousandth time may set your teeth on edge but it may also be laying the groundwork for your kid's future walk of faith.