Saturday, February 21, 2009

Put not your trust in princes…

I was really proud of several of our kids today. The story did not go super well; it was about Israel wanting a king. Most of the action consisted of little scenes of what a king would do that would make them wish they didn't have one. I think when we have stories with more of a plot, the adults are more interested. Funny how when they are paying more attention, so are the kids. Mr. Lei did the story, so here it is in Chinese again:

撒母耳現在老了。

加爽身粉

他有兩個兒子﹐但他們不是好人。不適合跟撒母耳作以色列領袖。

介紹兩個男子﹐推他們坐低

他們應當怎樣行﹖

(問大家)

但百姓不禱告﹔已經有自己的意見﹕建立國王

大家說﹕我們要國王﹐我們要國王﹗

撒母耳答說﹕你以為要國王﹖豈不知國王會怎樣﹖

一個男子戴冠冕

那﹐你們先以為約櫃必叫你得勝。有沒有﹖

看看約櫃。又問大家

你們可能以為我叫你們得勝。是不是﹖

指著自己。又問大家

錯﹗﹗只是神叫我們得勝﹗

指著天

還有﹐神又愛我們。你以為國王會愛你們﹖

(問大家)

哈﹗我給你們知道﹐國王會怎樣﹕

 

他會將你們的兒子﹐逼他們拉自己的車

國王揀選兩個男子﹐就坐在椅上叫他們拉他

又會將你們的兒子﹐逼他們耕他的田

國王叫一個男子推掃把

又會將你們的兒子﹐逼他們建造他的王宮

國王叫兩個男子堆起凳子

又會將你們的兒子﹐逼他們作軍兵

又叫兩個男子把槍﹐比彼此打死

又會將你們的女兒﹐逼他們為他煮飯

又叫一個女子同時炒三鍋

又會要你們將你的糧食的十分之一給他

一個人去廚房將食物交給國王

又會要你將你的牛群﹐羊群﹐十分之一級他

一張紙有十隻牛﹐要將一隻給國王﹔

另外一張紙的十隻羊的一隻要給他

撒母耳又說﹐除了這樣欺壓你們﹐他若不聽神的話﹐都不能叫以色列得勝﹗

 

但百姓怎樣回應﹖

大家說﹕我們要國王﹐我們要國王﹗

所有其它國家有國王﹐我們要如他們一樣﹗

撒母耳很不滿意﹐向神禱告

撒母耳歸低禱告

神就答他說﹐你不要怪自己﹔他們不是嚴棄你﹐乃是厭棄我。你要聽他們的意見﹐給他們有國王﹐叫他們了解自己的錯。

天使(戴光環)
來先安慰撒母耳﹐然後拉他起身。

撒母耳叫百姓聽﹕好﹗神說﹐你可以建立國王。你們下個星期回來﹐你就知道誰是神所揀選的。

大家拍手

Since the story involved a king "blindly" taking various people to become his servants, for our game we tried a variant of blind-man's bluff. But our kids didn't quite get the idea of trying to get out of the way of those looking for them, so it didn't go over very well. Sigh.

For craft time, if you have a king, you should have a national flag too, right? (Say yes, okay? Smile) We had three flags: Israel (anticipating by a few millennia!), Macau, and China. The Macau and Chinese flags have several small stars on each flag. Each child received a sheet of paper with three rectangles—white, red, and green—and a little baggie containing the different elements to be pasted on the flags following the model. When I started cutting the elements out, I cut out the little stars for the first set of flags, but it was way too fussy. So for the rest of the sets I just cut them out in tiny circles of the background color. I gave the one "perfect" set to our one neurotypical girl, both because she would appreciate the neatness the most, and because it was the hardest to work with, being the tiniest. The boy she was sitting next to managed to lose track of a couple of his stars, in spite of their being a little larger. Entirely unprompted, Wing Tung gave two of her stars to Ka Ho so he could finish his craft. Which meant she couldn't finish hers. I did come up with a couple of extra stars for her (I usually prepare more craft stuff than I expect to have kids, just in case). But of course they weren't "perfect." I was really proud of her for being so unselfish. She's just nine years old.

Our oldest (21) boy and his mom have a habit of coming extremely late—hoping we'll have a meal, is what we suspect. The odd thing is, when they do come early they seem to enjoy themselves. So, they didn't arrive until adult Bible study/kids' free play had already begun. Ying Wai usually doesn't want to do anything but work on arithmetic workbooks during this time, but we were fresh out. I asked him if he would like to do that day's craft and he said yes. So I gave him the materials and then got distracted by a little altercation going on between two other boys (who allowed me to mediate their problem of both wanting the same game at the same time with NO temper outbursts; I was thrilled!) That done, I looked in on Ying Wai and he'd finished the flags beautifully! I was impressed!

Bible study was on Psalm 146:3-6, about (you guessed it), "Put not your trust in princes, in whom there is no help." Choosing this passage was good for ME. To be reminded that it's not that we're not supposed to not trust our authorities, but that we're not supposed to count on them for our ultimate security. My own application was to thank God for special friends whom I can trust with my heart, but not to be too disappointed when they're too busy to write or whatever. To remember that God is the true joy-giver, and the one who gave me my good friends because He loves me.

So, all in all, a good Sunday at Merciful Love Family Fellowship!

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