"As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he," the radio preacher quoted. Howard and I were in the car half listening as we ran errands. "Just slap him across the face and you will find what is in his heart," the speaker emphasized, catching my attention.
"You know they used to do that in WWII," my husband informed me. "When someone approached looking like a U.S. soldier on the battlefield, they would kick him in the shin. Whatever expletive came out of his mouth would be in his native tongue, and they would know whether or not he was an enemy."
Wow! That reminded me of what happened the night before when we were having Kids' Church. I was assisting a child in a teaching game where the player tossed a marker on a floor poster, landing on any one of short prayer segments he was to finish, such as "God please help me _____," or "God I need you when____," etc. I was leaning in to see the words, when he abruptly tossed his marker, popped up like a spring and slammed his head into my nose! Thankfully, all that came out of my mouth was a yelp of pain!
Our lesson was "Do not doubt Jesus," dealing with Jesus walking on the water and Peter doing the impossible by also walking on water, however briefly. This segment where we stuck masking tape to the floor in the shape of a "boat" went well, with the "disciples" rocking in the boat while the others were "wind" and "waves," with fluttering sheets of paper. The other applications, not so much.
Teaching them to focus on Jesus, we made memory cards out of sheets of paper on which they drew matching pictures for the game. They had to focus on the cards to remember where they were when they had been mixed up, then try to match them as they turned them over. The problem was, the pictures they drew with markers were slightly visible through the copy paper to their sharp eyes, so they finished that game in record time.
The lesson suggested making a masking tape "balance beam" on the floor, having the children walk the ten-foot length without looking down, only focusing on the leader (Jesus) at the other end, who would direct their steps. With their expert balance and young agility, they each sailed down the beam in record time with no missteps!
An illustration of doing the impossible was when we had them cut a piece of paper into a shape that they could walk through. I was surprised at their ingenuity when they simply sliced the paper in two, laying the pieces side-by-side, indicating they could walk through it! A more complicated way was when we showed them how to fold and cut the paper in such a way that when they opened it up, it formed a large circle that a child could actually step through.
They had done the impossible. And so had we!. With the Lord's help, we had another successful session, implanting truth and faith to the youngest among us, and, coming out relatively unscathed, probably learning as much from them as they learned from us!
No comments:
Post a Comment