I didn’t write up anything for November 25 because I
didn’t have to lead the children’s session, woo-hoo! Grace graciously substituted for me. But then last week, back to me again. We continued with the story of Joseph in Egypt.
We
introduced a new Bible verse, “God helps me, I will not be afraid.” To illustrate the point, we had the kids walk
on a small balance beam, which they all did just fine. Glad I was prepared with a blindfold! Also glad all the kids were willing to wear
it. We’ve had some fussing about
blindfolds in the past, so in an activity I forgot to report last time, I had
tried simply placing a paper bag over their heads. No way, not one kid would keep it on! But they all tolerated the mask-type
blindfold today. And they all found they
did not want to try walking the beam blindfolded without someone holding their
hand. Application being, it’s a lot less
scary if someone is holding your hand.
And God is willing to hold your hand through every scary thing, if you
will let Him.
God
held Joseph’s hand through all his scary times too. Even though he was a slave in Egypt, God
helped him and his master trusted him completely (he gets a gold star). Then one day, the master’s wife wanted him to
do something he knew the master wouldn’t like.
He refused. The wife begged,
Joseph continued to refuse because it was wrong. Finally the wife says, you will regret this! So when her husband gets home, she tells him
that he wanted to do this wrong thing but she stopped him. The master believed his wife and had Joseph
thrown in prison (twine “fetters” around ankles). In prison, did Joseph lose his temper or
decide that God didn’t love him anymore?
Nope. He remembered that we are always
happier if we pursue the things that make for peace, so that’s what he did in
prison. He might help wash the windows,
or bring water to the other prisoners, or comfort those who were unhappy. So even in prison he was trusted (second gold
star), and sure enough, that made it nicer for him too.
One
day two of the other prisoners had some dreams and Joseph was able to tell them
what they meant. He told one of them
that in three days he would get out of prison and go back to being the king’s
servant. Joseph asked him to tell the
king that he was stuck in prison for something he didn’t do. The man said he would—but then he
forgot. Only several years later, when
the king had a dream he wanted to understand, did the man remember Joseph. So they took him out of the prison and had
him wash his face and comb his hair. The
king told about how he saw seven fat cows (picture of fat cow walked back &
forth across the front of the room seven times), and then seven skinny cows
(picture of skinny cow does seven passes).
Then the skinny cows ate the fat ones (fat cow picture covered by skinny
cow) but they looked just as skinny as ever.
Joseph explained about this meaning seven years of plenty followed by
seven years of famine, and suggested that the king appoint someone to take care
of arranging for food for the seven bad years.
The king says, I’ll appoint you, because I’ve never met anyone so
smart! Joseph gets a royal medallion to
place around his neck.
We
reviewed the story’s highlights and lowlights, and then we all worked together
to set up a game about the alternating ups and downs of Joseph’s life. When you’re “up” you walk tall with your back
straight; when you’re “down” you walk kind of hunched over. So we had two rows of eight desk/chairs
facing each other. Each pair was labeled with one of the ups & downs of his
life. For the “ups” we taped string from
one seat to another; for the “downs” we taped string from one desktop to
another. Then each kid had to go through
the obstacle course, walking tall over the lower “up” strings, and crouching to
go under the higher “down” strings. The
last up string, though, was taped between desktops, because it was the biggest
up, Joseph becoming the #2 leader of Egypt.
We practically had to lift our shortest girl to get her leg up that
high, but she made it!
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