kid's Connection: Paul

An awesome character trait about Paul is that he did what God wanted no matter what people thought of him for it. That is what we wanted the kids to learn this week in KC - that even when people don't feel that it is good or important, if God does, that is all that matters! We began with a great time of worship and prayer. The kids always jump right in to give their prayer requests - written down and orally - and also to tell of answers to prayer.

We enlisted some of the kids to help out with a simple skit retelling the story of the good Samaritan to reinforce the character trait Paul was demonstrating.

Brock was the man who was beaten by theives (just for pretend!):

Caleb was the priest who came by and ignored the injured man:

Jiliane was the Levite who was too busy to be bothered:

Jaycie was the good Samaritan who put the man on her "donkey" and took care of him. It was unplanned but worked out perfect that she was Brock's sister and brothers and sisters would not normally be ready to help each other, but she did what was right no matter what anyone else did!

Next, we separated into small groups for some focused lessons. Brother Mark used a potato head to teach his lesson. If we listen to what other people say, even if it is not what God would want, we end up as messed up as a potato head with a foot for an ear and a mouth for an eye! The kids really seemed to catch on that that would not be good and that it is better to obey God and have things turn out the right way. They got to make their own potato head pictures to take home with a reminder that it is better to obey God than man.

Sister Dawn talked about caring too much about what our friends think. We have parents and teachers to help lead and guide us, but our friends can often tell us the wrong thing. She led the children in praying with and for each other to be set free from worrying about what our friends think and standing up for what is right.

Sister Tammy used pudding to reinforce the truth. She had a box of pudding to make for a treat for the kids, but didn't really think that it was important to follow the directions on the side of the box and just did it any way that sounded good. Instead of 2 c. of cold milk, she just used about 1/2 c. of warm water that was nearby and easy to get to. Then, it said to stir quickly for 2 minutes and she was too tired, so she just did about 30 seconds. (lots of sweet children offered to help when she was too tired!) Needless to say, the pudding was not very yummy looking! She compared that to living for God without following His instructions for us - those found in the Bible - and how yucky our lives would be if we don't follow those guidelines. The kids still got to have some pudding made the correct way!