Saul Chosen as King

The 22nd was a rather wild and crazy Sunday! Our story combined three chapters in I Samuel (9-10, and 12), but skipped chapter 11 to use this coming Sunday.

在以色列國﹐有一個人叫基士	介紹基士
基士有一個兒子﹐又高又俊美﹐叫掃羅	介紹掃羅
基士養驢子﹐但有些走開了	基士有一張紙﹐有驢子﹐有空間
他派他的兒子掃羅去找牠們。掃行來行去﹐找三天都找不到。	掃羅行三個圈﹐找驢子
那三天後﹐去到城市。他對自己說﹐那位先知撒母耳住這個城市。不如問他那些驢子走去哪裡﹗	介紹撒母耳
同時候﹐神對撒母耳說﹕一個人就來敲門。你要膏他為以色列王	天使戴光環﹐飛去撒母耳道﹐對他的耳子說話
掃羅來敲門。撒母耳歡迎他。
撒母耳說﹕很開心見你﹗我今天擺宴席﹐請你與我一齊入席喇﹗
掃羅說﹕不要客氣﹐我只要求你幫我找出我父親的驢子。
撒母耳說﹕不要怕﹐那些驢子已經找到了。神只使牠們走開為帶你來我道﹗來喇﹐一齊坐席﹗	基士有一張紙﹐全部有驢子﹐沒有空間
全城市的人一齊坐席。	大家一齊坐圍桌子。
撒母耳派僕人擺食物。又叫他們將最多﹐最好的送給掃羅。	派心形糖給大家﹔掃羅的是特大
吃完了﹐大家走﹐只有掃羅和撒母耳還在那裡。	執桌子﹐大家坐低。
撒母耳用油﹐膏掃羅的頭﹐說﹕願神祝福你﹐以色列王﹗	撒母耳澆一些香水在掃羅頭上
掃羅回家去﹐不說甚麼	掃羅入煮方等候
過了幾天﹐撒母耳叫以色列聚集在一處	大家起身
他對眾人說﹕今天你就知道神揀選誰為以色列王。他就開始抽名	從袋裏取一張紙出來
他讀出﹕便雅憫支派﹗	人群的坐低
第二張紙﹕瑪特利族﹗	取第二張紙﹔人群的一半坐低
第三張紙﹕基士的兒子掃羅﹗	取第三張紙﹔找不到掃羅
後來找到﹐他你在行李中。有人拉他到撒母耳道。	拉掃羅到撒母耳道
撒母耳將冠冕放在掃羅頭上﹐這是你的新國王﹗	戴冠冕。大家拍手
撒母耳叫他們安靜﹐就說﹐還有事要給他們明白	大家安靜坐低
你們要知道﹐神雖然聽你的聲音﹐給你建立國王﹐但他對你的態度很不滿意。為了給你知道你們的罪--現在時收割的時候﹐晴天﹐不會降雨。但現在神怎樣表達他的怒氣﹕
突然﹐打雷閃電﹐降雨。	打雷聲﹐降籃色紙﹐閃電箭
大家恐怕﹐了解自己的錯。但撒母耳安慰他們﹐說﹕ 雖然神不滿意﹐但你和你的王﹐若從今以後聽神的命令﹐就不要怕。神會一樣祝福你們。只要小心﹐不要輕看神的話﹗明不明﹖	問大家。撒母耳和每一個人扼手﹐對每一個說﹕神祝福你。

We had a couple of new kids—hurray! And also another father, whose 18-year-old son was sick but who wanted to take the opportunity to find out where our place is. We hope they will come back this week.

One of our new boys, age 11 or so, is very smart and Mrs. Lei, who was leading the story, chose him to play the role of Samuel and had him read the speeches verbatim!

As part of the story, we talked about how Saul was head and shoulders above everyone else. So for our game, we divided into two teams. The first/next person on each team would be tested for "kingly attributes" which ranged from tallest, to longest hair, to highest jumper, etc.—the last one, and the favorite, was who could guzzle a juice box the fastest!

I had included chapter 13 in part because I wanted to talk about God's caused a thunderstorm to show his displeasure with Israel's demands. It gave us a good craft, ha! We made "rainclouds", by taping tinsel strands to cardboard cloud shapes and then gluing cotton balls over the shape. They look pretty good, as long as you don't think "jellyfish"—ha.

We chose Psalm 103:8-13 as our Bible study, trying to bring out that though God gets angry, He also forgives those who are willing to walk in His way, just as He was willing to bless Israel's king if he and the nation did what was right.