David and Goliath

We all know the story, so I won't bother putting it into English!

上次我們見掃羅得罪神	介紹掃羅 (戴冠冕)
誰會接他作王﹖	問大家
原來撒母耳已經揀選了和稿了 一個後生子﹐叫大為﹐但他要等神的時候先作王	撒母耳 (穿紅色袍) 倒些香水在大為 (最細的男子) 的頭上
大為暫時要留在父親的家﹐幫他看羊	貼羊群在牆
有時看羊很平安﹐很靜。大為會彈 手琴﹐唱詩歌	大為坐下﹐彈手琴
但有時很刺激﹗試過有獅子來吃羊﹐他要追牠﹐救羊子釋放﹐打死獅子	一個人辦獅子﹐開次吃羊﹐大為打牠
今天﹐大為的父親耶西來找他﹐叫他去軍營﹐問候他幾個哥哥﹐將些母親煮的食物送給他們	一個人將些食物給大為﹐叫他行走
去到戰場就怎樣呢﹖這邊是以色列軍隊﹔那邊是非利士軍隊。	所有人分兩組﹔其中一組有掃羅王﹔第二組有戴牧師。
非利士軍兵其中一個叫歌利亞。他九尺高。他的槍﹐他的檢﹐又長又重。很恐怖﹗	歌利亞 (戴牧師) 企在凳上﹐把槍﹐檢﹐和盾牌
他大聲說﹕不要很多人打仗而四喇﹗你們只要派一個人出來與我一對一 打交。那位死的﹐他的國家就要永遠服侍得勝的國家﹗	(這樣說)
個個都很恐怕。甚至掃羅王都恐怕。但大為呢﹖他反而生氣﹗他對掃羅說﹕請你讓我去殺死這個神必要他死的人啊﹗	大為向掃羅說話
掃羅說﹕你又年輕﹐又沒有打仗經驗﹔你怎能打死他呢﹖	掃羅笑他﹐想退他走
但大為答他說﹕我是看羊的。若有獅子來抓羊﹐神曾賜力量給我打死獅子為救羊群。何況為殺死這個不敬畏神的非利士人﹗	獅子起身﹐辦惡
掃羅看他的膽量﹐就讓他代表以色列。他將自己的戰衣給大為穿上	掃羅幫大為戴頭盔﹐盾牌﹐和護膝﹐有帶檢
大為行幾步﹐就說﹕沒有可能用這些戰衣﹔我不習慣。	大為摘脫戰衣
他在溪水裏揀五塊石頭子﹐放在袋裏。就行出去對著歌利亞。	拾五塊石子﹐放在褲袋裏。行到歌利亞對面
歌利亞見他出來﹐就笑得很大聲	又笑﹐又說些看輕大為和以色列的說話
但他還笑的時候﹐大為將一塊石子﹐扔去歌利亞額頭﹗	辦扔石子
歌利亞跌低﹐大為跑去﹐將歌利亞自己的檢﹐殺死他﹐割他的頭	歌利亞跌落地﹐大為將他的檢為打他
以色列人非常歡喜﹗掃羅就很欣賞大為﹐叫他和自己的兒子一同回王宮住。	以色列人拍手。掃羅恭喜大為﹐帶他一齊走。

Some of our highlights: We like to do more staging than talking if we can, so we had a little segment showing David as a shepherd, first sitting playing his harp & then fighting off a lion. The lion, a guest wearing a mask, grabbed a pillow "sheep". Our intrepid David grabbed the sheep away from the lion—and then started beating the lion over the head with it! Poor little sheep!

We had fun outfitting David in "Saul's armor"—sword, shield, motorcycle helmet, and some splints over the calves. After he (actually a she) shed the armor, he was supposed to take some stones out of a stream. My original idea was to have some little rocks in water for David to put in his pocket, but then to only pretend to throw one at Goliath. Mr. Lei suggested using marshmallows instead, and then David could throw them (we skipped the sling; I don't know how to use one; do you?). So we just used blue crepe paper for the water. Our David threw all five marshmallows, and none of them actually hit Goliath (Bruce on a stool) in the forehead, but he fell mightily anyway.

A sling is a seemingly insignificant little weapon. So for our game we used some other insignificant little weapons—pea shooters!—to knock down some paper giants. I'm not sure if it was actually the peas or the blowing that knocked the giants down, but, whatever!

We made lion faces for craft. Faces were already drawn on paper circles; they just had to glue spiral macaroni around the circle for a mane.

Bible study was from Romans 8:31-32, focusing on why David—and we—could have confidence to fight big battles.

Saul follows his own way

 

Last time we saw how Saul started out humble, and was blessed by God. Unfortunately, he didn't maintain this good attitude.	introduce Saul (wears crown)
Samuel had already started to have doubts about whether God was going to let him continue as king.	introduce Samuel (in red paper robe)
Today, Samuel commands Saul: Here is the command of the Lord: King Agag and his people the Amalekites are both your enemies and mine.	introduce King Agag (also in crown), and two or three others near him (then they can sit back down)
You must go to battle against them, and whatever has breath, be it man, woman, child, ox, sheep, camel, or donkey, must be utterly destroyed.	Have a paper with these categories listed; have child (ü)each one as named
Saul led the Israelites out to battle against Amalek.	Saul and 2-3 others fight with Amalek.
Suddenly, Saul says—wait a second. Let's not kill the king; how much more satisfying will it be to capture him and make him our slave!	They stop. One Israelites wraps string around Agag.
And another thing, says Saul: Let's not kill ALL the sheep and oxen. If we take them back and offer them as sacrifices to God, surely He will be pleased with us!	Second Israelite takes sheets of paper with herd of cattle and flock of sheep.
Was this a good idea?	(ask all)
Now they can all go home, but first Saul sets up a monument to himself commemorating the victory.	Put up paper "pillar" and have kids put up the words 掃羅這裏得勝 (Saul had victory here)
Now, Samuel comes looking for Saul. Is he happy?	(ask all)
Samuel says: God is very upset with your behavior today. You had best confess your sin quickly, or you will surely be punished. But Saul responds: what did I do wrong? I did exactly what God commanded!
But even as he is saying this, they here the sound of cattle and sheep. Samuel asks what that sound is.	Have all make moo and baa noises
Saul says, Oh that? Well…the people wanted to spare the best of the animals to sacrifice to the Lord.
Samuel responds: Do you really think the Lord would be more pleased to have you kill the animals as sacrifices at the altar instead of right here on the battlefield like he told you to? Saul says: Sure, why not?
Samuel is very angry!	grabs Saul and shakes him
Saul says, what is the big deal? I obeyed the Lord! I captured the king, and killed all the people, and all the animals except these ones we planned to offer to the Lord. So what's the problem?
Samuel says, WHAT? The king is still alive? Bring him here right now!	have someone bring out King Agag
Sameul grabs a sword and kills King Agag	kills Agag
Samuel says to Saul: That is how the Lord deals with his enemies. And today you, Saul, have become His enemy. Be sure you shall be punished! He turns to leave.	Samuel turns to leave
But Saul doesn't want him to go; he grabs him by his robe and it tears.	Saul tears Samuel's robe
Samuel turns and says—this is a sign from God! Just as you have torn my robe, so your kingdom will be torn from you and given to someone else more deserving! He leaves.	Samuel leaves

The story didn't go super smoothly this time. Too much monologue, not enough action. I think everyone followed it though. We had a little trouble convincing Samuel to keep his robe on, but everyone else cooperated okay!

The game turned out to be too hard. I might like to try something similar sometime, because it was a fun idea. The adults could do it and seemed to quite enjoy it! And at least one boy couldn't do it because he was laughing too hard, so he at least thought the idea was funny! The idea was ("unlike Saul") to leave nothing behind. We had 8-10 2"x2" paper sheep in the first child's bowl (on a stool). He was supposed to move them to the next child's bowl a few steps away by sucking at it with a straw. Child #2 would then move it to the next bowl while child #1 was moving the next sheep to bowl #2, etc., around the circle. Problem was, when I tried this to see how it would work, I was using a small piece of lightweight paper. The sheep were just too heavy. It wasn't impossible, but the lighter paper would have been much better. Live and learn.

For a craft, each child had a picture of "Samuel in his underwear" and, as Saul had torn his robe, they had to tear out an entire robe for Samuel, trying to follow the drawing on the back of colorful wrapping paper. At first at least one parent protested it would be too hard, but then as they got into it, it turned out fun.

Bible study was on Proverbs 14:12—"There is a way which seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death."

Saul Starts Out Well

I am not keeping up with my posting here. Not that it matters, since I don't think anyone is reading it but me! I am having trouble just keeping up with writing the stories etc., so blogging takes a back seat. But, let's play catchup here. On March 1^st, we did this story:

Who remembers the name of Israel's first king?
Usually, where does a king live? And what does he do?	card with different possible answers
So let's see where Saul is and what he's up to.	exchange crown for farmer hat, plow with pushbroom
In time of peace, he's not needed to help his country, so he is humbly working on his father's farm
But today? The Ammonites have besieged a small city	2-3 with swords
The people cannot go in & out; very soon they will have no food or water.	3-4 hide behind table
So the leaders of the city say, enough, we will surrender and be your servants	waves white flag
But the commander of the Ammonites says, that is too simple! We don't really want you for servants anyway. We just want to prove we're stronger than you so you don't forget. Just let us put out the right eye of everyone in your city, and then we will let you all go.
Did they accept these terms? They did not! They send someone to Saul to let him know what is happening.	1 person sneaks out, goes to Saul.
Saul is very angry! He takes the oxen he was plowing with and rips it apart and distributes it among the Israelites. He says, whoever won't go with me to rescue this city, this is what will be done to his oxen!	Saul rips apart craft cow; messenger passes pieces out to others
So a lot of people wend with Saul to fight the Ammonites.	3-4 with swords incl. Saul (with shield)
They win. Everyone congratulates Saul.	Ammonites "die". All give Saul laisih
Then some people say to him, You know, there were some people who didn't want you to be king over us. Now they should be made to eat their words! Let us kill them to avenge your honor!
But Saul said no. Today God has blessed me and blessed Israel. We shouldn't have any killing among ourselves, only thanksgiving!	Saul stuffs his laisih in the offering box.

That's how I wrote the story, but—oops, I got so involved that I didn't want to keep referring to my paper. So I totally forgot to have Saul rip the oxen apart. He just got his news and rounded up a bunch of soldiers. Too bad; I know our Saul would have enjoyed ripping the oxen apart. Being destructive is something he does well! And it would have been a good use for our craft cows from a few weeks ago. None of our kids ever takes their craft home.

For our game, we had a large picture of a face with the right eye fitting loosely into its spot. We threw "bean bags" (I don't have any beanbags but washcloths folded in eighths and secured with rubber bands work fine) to try and put the eye out.

Craft time was simple, but everyone enjoyed making shields like Saul's. Afterward everyone got their picture taken dressed for battle. Mr. & Mrs. Lei always ride their motorscooters to church, so we had a helmet handy for even better realism!

For Bible study, we used Jeremiah 9:23-24, about boasting only in God. We had some really good discussion about how boasting about ourselves makes God and others unhappy, but boasting about God is fine and better than not boasting at all. Why? Because we all love to complain too much, and words of praise and thanksgiving for all we have are much better! I basically came up with that application for myself, but all our parents, believers and unbelievers alike, identified with it.

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.

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!

God is Bigger Than You Think

I skipped writing last week, because we didn't have a regular program. It was the first Sunday of the New Year, so, as is our tradition, we just brought snacks and ate and chatted. Nothing really to tell! We took some more oxhorn pictures, but enough is enough of those! So: on to this past Sunday, the 8^th.

Our story:

Last time we saw Israel fighting a battle with the Philistines. Who won? (ask all) The covenant ark was captured by the Philistines. (bring out ark) Does anyone remember what is in the ark?(ask all) Is God inside the ark?(ask all) Nope. It's just a box. But what is it made out of? (ask all) So the Philistines decided to give the ark as a gift to their god, Dagon. (show Dagon—monster doll). So they put it in their temple next to Dagon. (Put doll and ark on stools behind tables in corner)

So, the next morning, when they opened up the doors of the temple, what did they see? (monster doll lying on face) Dagon has fallen over! So they thought to themselves, maybe we jiggled him when we brought the ark in. Let's get him more stable here. (set up monster doll with blu-tack)

And the following morning? Yikes! (monster doll with head & arms broken off) It's not only fallen over, its head and arms are broken off! This is frightening! And besides this, people are starting to get sick, with tumors all over their bodies. They said, let's get rid of this thing, please! The people of another city said, hey, we'll take it. So they brought it to that city. (carry ark to another part of the room). What do you suppose happened? (ask all) Yes, they also got tumors, plus the rats started multiplying (throw several toy mice around room/into people's laps), and ruining the harvest. So they said, enough! We really need to get rid of this ark! But we better not just destroy it; that might make God really mad at us! So what shall we do? Any ideas? (ask all)

They decided to send it back to Israel. Then someone said, I've got an idea on that. Let's put the ark on this cart (put ark in wheelchair). Now, let's get a couple of milk cows that have never pulled a cart before and yoke them to the cart. (put horns on two children & "harness" them to wheelchair) So, they've never pulled a cart before, and we are making them leave their calves behind as well. So, if they pull it straight back to Israel, then we will know that it was really Israel's God that has done all this to us. But if they just kind of wander around pulling it any which way, they we will know that everything that happened to us while the ark was here was just coincidence.

So, what do you think happened? (ask all) That's right, it went straigt back to Israel (have the "cows" walk straight to other end of room pulling wheelchair) When the people saw it, they could hardly believe it! Here came the ark! Everyone in Israel rejoiced (all high-five) Obviously, God had forgiven them for trying to manipulate Him with the ark.

As for the Philistines? Do you think they still believed that they didn't have to be afraid of this God's power any more? (ask all)

Just a note--My theology may be wrong on this reason for putting it in the temple, but the Bible isn't clear & I wanted to make clear that they still thought their god had turned out stronger than Israel's God, so I didn't want to muddy that water by suggesting they thought Dagon could use God's help. By the way, I have a cat who loves to chase toy mice, so I didn't have to buy any for this story, we had plenty at home. :-)

 

Game: driving wheelchair in a straight line

 

Craft: craft foam cows

 

Bible study: Psalm 31:21-2

Happy Year of the Ox!










We had only the four of us Sunday morning--Bruce was off preaching in Hong Kong, the Leis were on vacation in Shanghai, and Wing Tung's mom had to work. So we didn't do our story, which was to have included two cows to pull the ark of the covenant back to Israel. We'll get back to that after Chinese New Year. I bought these great horns at a New Year Market near our home. Perfect for this story and future stories involving cows. Great timing, good fun!