This past Thursday, I was once again privileged to lead a group of 4th - 6th grade boys at our church. Our theme this year is Bible Superheroes and we were talking about Peter this week. We talked about the Peter being one of Jesus inner circle and what that might have been like. We talked about him denying Christ, 3 times after having been told he would and saying No Way. We talked about how he was forgiven for that sin and used mightily. But the story we landed on the most was the story about Jesus telling Peter to step out in faith from the boat and to walk on the waves. He was able to do this amazing thing as long as he had faith and kept his focus on God. As I was preparing for this weeks lesson, I wasnt sure what sort of game I could play to help create an object lesson. (sidebar: you cant keep 9-12 year old boys focus if you dont have a game). I finally came up with an idea, but it was rough around the edges and I wasnt sure that would come of it, but God used it and it became pretty cool. The basics of the game were that one of the boys would have to play with his eyes closed and spin around to lose his orientation to the room. One other boy was to guide his friend to the goal. The first group went and the leader stood directly in front of the blindfolded friend and gently guided him, saying follow me. They were able to navigate their way to the goal rather quickly. The rules changed for the next group, the leader had to stand still and give specific directions. The friend was able to concentrate on the directions and with good feedback, he was able to find his way. For the next group, the other boys in the room made as much noise as possible to distract the message, and disorient further to friend trying to reach his goal. This one took a lot longer, but with focused effort they made it through. The second to last group had another wrinkle in their plans. Now there was another person who was also giving directions, but giving wrong directions. The friend struggled to know which voice was the right voice, but eventually was able to determine the right voice from the wrong voice and made it. The last group had the leader standing directly behind the friend and whispering calm and clear directions. Even with background noise, having that consistent direction, made it possible to reach the goal. The lessons werent lost on the kids. They caught on rather quickly that the blindfolded friend was Peter and the leader was Jesus trying to guide his friend. They struggled with whether or not they could trust the directions, and wanted to try and find their own way. We all realize at some point that our ways arent always the best ways, and that if we follow God, we can accomplish so much more, so much easier. There are times when we are focused on God that it seems like there are so many distractions, so many other things that cause us to lose focus. And there are even times when we hear a voice guiding us that we think might be Gods voice, but something isnt quite right. Its hard to say no to that other voice sometimes when it seems like it has some pretty good ideas, but we know that it isnt the right way to go. The best way is when God is so close to us that we can hear him whisper and be right at our back guiding us along the path He has in store for us. It was about 1/4 through the exercise that I realized that God didnt give me this object lesson for the boys - he gave it for me. I can often find ways to distract myself from Him and get off track. I need to keep my eyes focused on Jesus and not allow distraction to occur. Its just like God!
Posted on: Mon, 10 Mar 2014 03:31:36 +0000
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