The Camel and the Eye Hole

I love teaching children!

Ok, so I just love teaching in general, but I REALLY love teaching children.  There is an open-ness of their hearts that is unparalleled in any other age group.  It's what I always imagine Jesus was thinking when he told us that we need to receive the Kingdom of God like a child.

It is also fitting that tonight, when I noticed this difference between adults and children so profoundly, we learned about the Rich Young Ruler, which is the very next story in the book of Luke.

God had tonight's plans already completed, but hadn't shared them with me.  In fact, I started my night with the kids frantically thinking and searching.  But like I said, God had it all taken care of.

We began the evening with our normal routine of reviewing the story video and practicing the Bible Verse and The Point, then went to snack.  I had found a 'game' outline online to try and got it ready, but I was concerned about how it would work out.

The idea behind this game was to have one child 'purchase' various boxes with labels attached, then put them in a backpack and try to get through a tiny space while wearing the backpack, illustrating the Camel and Needle concept.  Well, I didn't have play money AND I wanted to involve all the kids AND I didn't want to wrap all those boxes, so I switched it up a little -

I have 'Tribes' in my class - my group is divided into 4 tribes, each with a tribe leader.  The tribes are small groups.  They always stay the same, and the leaders (older students) are encouraged to get to know more about the kids and really bond with them.  So, each tribe came back from snack to find 5 gold coins in their space. (I use these coins in a variety of ways - they are common items for us)  They were instructed to work as a group to choose 5 items from the room that they would like to purchase or take home with them.  I was concerned about what they would choose and whether it would fill my backpack enough.

I shouldn't have worried.

God took over at this point.

The first item brought to the front of the class was the new 5ft. wooden cross.  The second item was the green butterfly chair.  The third item was our 4ft carnival tiger.  It was going to work out just fine.....  :)

We filled the backpack to the point of barely zipping, then the kids took turns putting it on and attempting to crawl under the chair I was sitting in.  (Actually, my daughter and I were BOTH in the chair to keep it on the floor as they struggled to get through!)

 There were some close calls - two children almost made it through - determined little stinkers!  LOL

But my favorite part was when a girl made the connection to the story before I ever went there through our talk time!  She was so excited about the connection when she got it!

We settled back down and I emptied the backpack and asked if they thought they could put it on and get through this time - of course they could!

"Like the camel and the eye hole!" one young guy blurted.  Yep!  That's exactly it!

There's a camel in the eye-hole, dear Liza, dear Liza
There's a camel in the eye-hole, dear Liza, a camel! - yes, I really sang it!  :)


We talked and we talked.  They stayed close and engaged as they lounged around among all the items they had 'purchased' earlier.  We talked about the things we own.  We talked about toys and video games and tv.

Then we talked about friends and family.

I challenged the kids to identify one item that they use too much and they could put aside so they would have more time to work on their personal relationships.

I even went as far as to talk about how God will let them know what that item is the next time they play with it!  Then we talked about what it 'feels' like when we get a whisper from God - and the kids already knew what it felt like for them, because they had heard from God before!  :)


I am so excited to hear about their weeks this Sunday!  I have some kids who are on fire and I get so psyched hearing about their interactions with God!


But what about you?

What do you have in your life that is getting in the way of building a deeper relationship with those in you family, friends, and neighborhood?  What could YOU put away for a while so that you could detox from it for a while?

I know that God will talk to you about it just like I know He will talk to the kids.

Are you ready to hear what He has to say today?

Tacks as a Defense

Tacks are a part of everyday life.  Well, at least the everyday I remember.  I think I see more magnets than tacks these days...

But I digress - tacks are around.

My daughter uses tacks in her bedroom to hang her pictures and posters.  Her MILLIONS of pictures and posters!  :)

Tonight she came downstairs and announced, "Hey!  I know a great defense mechanism!  I will use my bag of tacks and dump them all around me!  Nobody will want to mess with them to get to me!"

Now, I know what she was talking about - she was thinking about protecting herself in the event of some horrible break-in or attack.  (It is sad that an eighth-grader plans for things like that, but that's not a discussion for this post...)

But she said the magical phrase - the red light phrase - 'Defense Mechanism' and my mind went in a different direction.

We use defense mechanisms every day in a variety of ways.

Think of them as tacks.

When we spread tacks out around us to keep people at bay - to keep them from getting too close.  If someone attempts to venture in, we will place tacks in their path, or we will move some out of the way.

What tacks are you using?
          How do you keep people away?  Do you deny that you need them?  Act out so that they will leave you alone?  Do you stuff your feelings and put on a happy face?  Do you make yourself unavailable by not answering the phone and staying home more than you should?
          There are many ways to put out tacks and keep people away.  What are you using?

How many do you have out?
          That's the big question - how many ways do you have for keeping people from getting too close?

We were designed to be social creatures.  We were designed to be in relationship with one another.  Our relationships with one another help us build a relationship with God.

Think about those tacks and what you can do to remove a few.  Let a few more in to be close.  A nice challenge....

A Small Gesture Brings Huge Reward

God works in awesome ways.

God also works in some very interesting ways.

I have an 'interesting' story...

To give some back story, we have to go back about 10 years or so to when the Easter teaching product 'Resurrection Eggs' entered the market.  I bought them and loved them and used them a lot - I have 2 sets, even, because they are so awesome!

The one project for Easter that I have always wanted to do was to use egg cartons and plastic eggs to recreate a version of the Resurrection Eggs as a craft project.  If kids were to create it themselves, they would buy into it much more and take the lessons to another level!  But...  the small plastic items found inside are impossible or expensive.  I hadn't found another option for replacing these items, so the project has been tabled - for 10 years!

A couple of months ago, one of our local sister churches, Walnut Lawn, donated large boxes of take-out containers to us.  There were clear plastic square containers, large styrofoam drink cups, lids, and straws.  Awesome gift!  Just after we received them, we did a Shrinky Dink activity and in my research, I found out that those clear plastic containers were made of the same material as sheets of Shrinky Dinks!  Yep!  I gave each kid a container and we experimented and had fun with them!  For some kids it was the first time they had ever experienced Shrinky Dinks.  For others, it was a creative challenge.  It was fun.  First craft I have ever had to stop after 2 hours due to time constraints -
we had to EAT!  LOL

Tracing and Coloring

Going back to how God works, when I revisited the Resurrection Eggs, planning for Easter, I again got the desire to use them as a craft/teaching activity so that they could share the story at home.  Then it hit me - Shrinky Dinks!  We could make 'charms' of the items instead of purchasing the plastic figures!  I stopped for a minute because those sheets of Shrinky Dinks that you buy in the store can be expensive and we were talking about 3 sheets per child.  The Holy Spirit whispered in my ear at this point, "clear plastic containers..." and we were off to the races!  We had so many of those things and we hadn't really had a use for them.  Each container would give 2 charms, so 4 per kid would work....  Yep - we made that craft out    of take-home boxes!

But that's not the end of the story.  We did our activity.  We made the Resurrection Eggs and I sent the kids home.  And you know how it is - some of the kids caught the vision and some didn't, but I had one come back with the greatest story.

A young girl about 4 years old and only attending for a couple of months took her eggs home and was ready to change the world.  She used them to tell the story to her mom, to her grandma, and to all her neighborhood friends.  She took the eggs to daycare and shared the story with all her friends there.  She took it to her grandpa's house and shared it with him, too.  This tiny girl took the story of the last week of Jesus's life and share it and its meaning to all those in her sphere of influence.  Every person she comes in contact with knows the story of the eggs.

Here is one of the students sharing the
Resurrection Eggs with first-time visitors!

All because a church with leftovers listened to the Holy Spirit's prodding to give the extras to a small church plant.

All because those with abundance shared what they had.

God used take-home boxes to spread the gospel.
This little girl used a dozen plastic eggs to share Jesus's story.
If you are reading this, you probably already know the story, and know it well.
          What about YOUR sphere of influence?  Do they all know the story?
                         There's a reason Jesus says that we need to be like little children......