Overview

Okay, well (again) it's been a while since I've posted much. Here is a brief update of the past few weeks:

February 3rd/4th I started Kidzone & Vis. Kidzone is a program Koinonia has been doing for 20 years. It is an inner city Waterloo kids program.  We do games, snacks, activities, trivia and a lesson. Kidzone Vis, which is every other week on the day before Kidzone, we go out to all the families houses and give them a reminder about Kidzone - and we give the kids a card that can get them extra "points" at Kidzone the next day.  I am not a huge fan of either yet, but you never know how God will change my heart if it's His will.  This past Thursday, I enjoyed Kidzone a tad better, though I am still glad that it's only for one month.  
February 7th was our SLI Superbowl fundraiser. It was definitely a lot of fun, though I don't know how much we made yet - we do have quite a bit of left over snacks (which we hope to sell at Twenty20 tomorrow).  Wednesday night I gave the main lesson in our life group. I am helping lead The Shift (grade 5-8 boys).  Our theme for this section of 10 weeks is comparing a super hero to a bible character.  There are 4 of us leading it, so we split the class up into 4 parts: someone opens with a little Ice breaker; someone shows a 20-30 minute video clip from the superhero movie of that weeks superhero (the video is either the Hollywood kind or the Animated old cartoons); then someone gives the main lesson for a half an hour; followed by the last person leading a 15-20 minute game.  I was teaching on the comparison of Joshua and Captain America.  I have been enjoying giving the oral reports in our SLI class, so I figured that this would be similar. In all of my Oral reports, I have found it helpful to compare an object or something to the book. However I found it difficult to compare a single object to the comparison of Joshua and Captain America. So I gave an analogy of the Bible at the beginning by comparing my Drone with some colored pencils - I was really trying to push the importance of the colored pencils.  My notes are below (at the bottom of this post).
This coming Wednesday I am doing the Video section, and the superhero is Iron Man. This is a bit harder though, even though I have the first two movies, it will be harder to find a 20-30 minute clip that is wholly "appropriate" (no violence, tense scenes or even slightly questionable language or anything of that sort) for this age group. I might just take a bunch for 5-10 minute clips and smash them together.


My Notes for the past Shift Lesson:

The Shift

Introduction

a.     I’ve heard a lot of people say “the Bible isn’t interesting”, and “the Bible is boring.”  Are Superheroes as exciting as people in the Bible?  A lot of people would say that superheroes are a lot more exciting than the people in the Bible.  I would beg to differ. When you look at the Bible, you have to look at more than just the front cover and the pictures, you have to dig into it and see what it really has to say.

b.     For example let me show you these (colored pencils).  These are kind of cool; there are a bunch of colors and there kind of neat.  Now let me ask you are these cool? 

c.      Now lets compare them to a drone. Now this looks cool! Are the colored pencils as cool as the drone? (response likely will be no) Okay, lets look at each one a bit closer. 

d.     The drone can fly, it can video while it’s flying, it gives you a whole new view of the earth around you. It must really be cool. I agree it is very cool.

e.     But now look at the colored pencils, they may be kind of cool   at first, but they seem quite boring now that they are being compared to a drone.  But look at what they can do: Look at this coloring book. It’s got a ton of black and white pages in it, that seem kind of boring.  But look what happens when you use the colored pencils for what they were designed for. They add color to this page what was black and white.  They give it a new kind of life! It’s something I could look at for a long time, thinking of all the cool little parts of it.  And look, there are tons more pages that they can be used for, the possibilities of the amazing work the colored pencils can do are nearly endless! 

f.      If the drone crashes (which I’ve found is not hard to do), it is very painfully expensive to fix. But when a colored pencil breaks, you either sharpen it or send a dollar or two to by another one. It’s a lot better

g.     My point is, the coloring book is like the bible, and the colored pencils are like God’s Word in the bible.  God can do some awesome work in the bible through something that looks to be boring at the beginning. There really are some cool people in the bible, you just have to get to know them better… `

Superheroes of the Faith

Lesson 3: Joshua (Read the Book of Joshua for more on him)

1.    Joshua: One Life to Another

·      Captain America was Chosen to get special abilities. He spent his early “Captain America” days fighting off enemies.  These enemies were, mostly, human just like he was (except maybe the red skull).  He devoted his life to doing the work that needed to be done, the work that others wouldn’t and couldn’t do.  He used his special shield to protect him.  He had his shield with him almost all the time.

·      Joshua, in the book of Joshua, fought the battle of Jericho. But what else did Joshua do?   He was a spy, he was a leader, and he was responsible for protecting others.  When the Israelites were slaves in Egypt, Joshua was there.  He was a slave, and likely had to do the work that needed to be done because the Egyptians wouldn’t do the work. But then something crazy happened; he and the rest of the Israelites were freed from Egypt. But then the Bible doesn’t tell us much about Joshua for the next 40 years.

·      Like Joshua, something crazy happened to Captain America: His plane crashed and he was lost to the world for many decades.  When the world saw him next, he found himself in a completely different world. Instead of having to fight just “bad guys” he was having to fight aliens.  This completely turned his world around and he had to live differently. But he still used his shield and abilities to lead and protect others. 

·      Boom, after about 40 years seemingly ‘lost’ in the desert, we all of a sudden see Joshua in the Bible. He is a leader. He was chosen by God, to lead God’s people when Moses died.  Like Captain America, his life was turned around. He was a slave, he disappeared from our view, and then when he reappeared he is chosen to be a leader.   God asked him to lead His people, and he followed.

·      Has God ever asked you to do something?   We may sometimes think that what God asks us to do is hard, but look at Joshua, he was asked to lead thousands of people.  He had to be an example for the people to see how God wanted them to act.  

Looking Ahead

·      When Captain America was found in the ice, he was faced with a whole new world.  He was use to the old world. He had friends and family in the old world, but he was faced with a new world.  He didn’t keep trying to do things like he did before he was lost, he looked at the new world in front of him and pushed forward.  He looked at what he could do for good in this new life.

·      In the same way, When Joshua was faced with leadership, he didn’t’ turn and tell God, “I want to go back, I don’t want to be a leader.”   He looked forward to all the good things God had promised, and worked toward those things.

2.     A Trusting Servant to Strong Leader

·      In the second Marvel Captain America (The Winter Soldier), Captain America is part of a team.  His team is supposed to work together to accomplish the task Director Fury gave them. 

·      Joshua was part of a team before he became a leader. He was part of the people of Israel, who were all supposed to work together to do what the director asked.  Israel’s Director was God. 

·      When Fury was “attacked” he came to someone he most trusted, Captain America.  The leader (Director Fury) came before the servant (Captain America).  Captain America was given more responsibilities then.  He became the leader of the team he was in.  He still followed the Directors orders, but he was chosen to lead his team.

·      When Moses died, God (Israel’s Director) came before Joshua and made him leader of all Israel.  God Chose Joshua to lead His people.  Again, the leader (God) came to the servant (Joshua). And Joshua was given new responsibilities.  Even though he lead the people of Israel, he still followed God’s orders.

·      Now Captain America lead his team to battle to do what was right. It wasn’t the most enjoyable thing, but it had to be done.   Both him and his team had to trust the Director. He did what was right.

·      Joshua, the new leader of Israel, lead God’s people out of the desert and into the promised land.  Joshua had to trust in God as his highest leader, and had to fight many battles that may not have been all that fun. But Joshua did what was right. He followed his leader (God) and stayed faithful to Him. And God blessed him for it. 

3.     Trust

·      In Marvel’s The Avengers during the battle of New York, Captain America was on the ground fighting.  At first it seemed that his team was doing a ton, but reality soon showed it’s face and we saw they were in deep trouble. It seemed there was no way that Captain America could lead his team into victory. All seemed hopeless, even Captain America himself said that all their fighting wasn’t going to do any good unless they closed the portal.   Captain America realized that there seemed to be no hope. But when Iron Man proposed his idea, Captain America was faced with a decision.  He could trust Iron Man and risk the lives of all the people, or he could give up and assume that all is lost. He decided to have faith in his friend and take the risk.  The Cost was high, but the outcome was even higher. Since he chose to put all his trust into the risky option, the people were saved and able to continue their lives.

·      Now, have you heard of God parting Red Sea so the Israelites could walk across it on dry ground?  Did you know that is not the only time God did something like that?  As Joshua was preparing to take God’s people into the promise land, he encountered a problem.  He realized that he had to take thousands of people across a river to be able to do what God called him to do.  He likely thought at times that it was a hopeless situation, that there is no way across this mighty river. Not only was this a big river, but also it was flooded – so now the river was even bigger, making the problem seem even more hopeless.  But God told him to do something that seemed ridiculous.  It was something that may have even seemed a waste of time. But Joshua put his faith and trust in God and God showed the Joshua and the rest of the Israelites that He was worth trusting. When Joshua obeyed, God stopped the river up stream and the river dried up. So the people were able to walk across this mighty, overflowed, massive river on dry ground without trouble.  All because Joshua trusted God.   If Joshua would of done something foolish, the people might not of trusted his leadership, but he followed God. The cost was high, but the outcome was even higher.

Questions:

1.     Have you ever felt like God asking you to do something before? What was it, and did you do it?

2.      Who do you look up to? (Who do you want to be like? Who in your life is a good example of how you should live?)

3.      Have you ever had a mighty river in your life? (Have you ever had a situation that you didn’t think was going to work out, but you trusted someone else, and it all worked out?)