Acts 20-22
Today, we started out by asking the kids what they had said no to their parents about this week. Our team dramatized each instance, which is quite funny. Then Sherry asked how the kids had said no to God this week. The kids insisted they hadn't. Sherry explained that when they said no to their parents, they were saying no to God, which shocked quite a few of them.
This led into our Bible story, where God told Paul to go to Jerusalem. God explained that Paul was going to suffer and be beaten there, but He wouldn't leave Paul. Paul agreed to go, much to the dismay of the other Christians, who insisted he stay. Paul left on a ship, which stopped at different ports until they got to Tyre. In Tyre, a prophet named Agabus took Paul's belt and tied himself up, explaining that if Paul went to Jerusalem, this is what would happen to him. Regardless, Paul insisted on obeying God and kept going, all the way to Jerusalem. When he was there, the Jews got very upset with him, saying that Paul had defiled their temple. A mob began to beat him, until a Roman soldier scattered the crowd. The soldier arrested Paul, and was going to beat him as well, but Paul told him that he was a Roman citizen, and was entitled a fair trial.
We explained to the kids that in suffering, there is a sweet fellowship with Jesus. The more we suffer, the more we see Jesus and the more He takes care of us. To show this, we had three kids hold up full water jugs above their heads for as long as possible. This got harder and harder, but as they held up the jugs, Nick fed the kids skittles, and then pieces of muffins and donuts. The more they 'suffered', the more sweetness there was.
Another example was shown by Pastor Josh and his baby son, Zach. Zach was perfectly content to stay in his dad's arms, smiling at everyone, because he knew his dad and felt safe. When Zach went over to Sherry, he started to cry, looking back at dad. The moment Zach was back in Josh's arms, he was perfectly content again, smiling and giggling. In 'suffering', he felt safe in his dad's arms, the way we are safe in God's arms.
We concluded with the puppets, who had to move a tree to help Carl the Camel. However, they didn't want to bother moving the tree because they would suffer if they did. Karlin explained that sometimes God lets the people go through suffering, but He is there with us the whole time, helping us and caring for us.