Food for Thought

Every Earthly Hope

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It is precisely when every earthly hope has been explored and found wanting, when every possibility of help from earthly sources has been sought and is not forthcoming, when every recourse this world offers, moral as well as material, has been drawn on and expended with no effect, when in the shivering cold every stick of wood has been thrown on the fire, and in the gathering darkness every glimmer of light has finally flickered out—it is then that Christ’s hand reaches out, sure and firm, that Christ’s words bring their inexpressible comfort, that his light shines brightest, abolishing the darkness for ever.

– Malcolm Muggeridge

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Father’s Day Ideas

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There are quite a few creative ideas for Father’s Day on the website. Some are listed below:

Father’s Day Stories
Build Me a Son
Dream Car
Poem for Moms and Dads
My Father
The Origin of Father’s Day

Father’s Day Games
Father’s Day Relay
Searching for Dad
Who’s Father?

 

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

Creative Holiday Ideas has over 300 pages of ideas to help you plan your next New Year’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Halloween or Fall Festival, and Thanksgiving event. If you’ve ever wondered what you’re going to do for all these holidays and how you’re going to do it, this resource is for you.

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Game Ideas

Sardines

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Game Description
In this classic variation of hide-and-seek, youth search for the hidden persons and then join them in their hiding place.

Game Materials
None

Optimal Group Size
Any size group.

Game Venue
Preferrable a large facility with lots of places to hide.

Game Preparation
None

Game Play 

  1. Break up into teams (usually pairs or trios) until everyone is part of a group. Turn off all the lights in the building, and send one team to hide. Give them enough time to hide.
  2. Then, everyone goes out to find them.
  3. The purpose is to find the team hiding, and then join them. The game ends when all teams are hiding together except for the last one.
  4. Then, the next to hide is the first team to find the hidden group.

Get Icebreakers ebookIcebreakers Ahead: Take It To the Next Level

This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.

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Teaching Illustrations

Value in Disaster

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Thomas Edison invented the microphone, the phonograph, the incandescent light, the storage battery, talking movies, and more than 1000 other things. December 1914 he had worked for 10 years on a storage battery. This had greatly strained his finances. This particular evening spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room. Within minutes all the packing compounds, celluloid for records and film, and other flammable goods were in flames. Fire companies from eight surrounding towns arrived, but the heat was so intense and the water pressure so low that the attempt to douse the flames was futile. Everything was destroyed. Edison was 67. With all his assets going up in a whoosh (although the damage exceeded two million dollars, the buildings were only insured for $238,000 because they were made of concrete and thought to be fireproof), would his spirit be broken? The inventor’s 24-year old son, Charles, searched frantically for his father. He finally found him, calmly watching the fire, his face glowing in the reflection, his white hair blowing in the wind. “My heart ached for him,” said Charles. “He was 67–no longer a young man–and everything was going up in flames. When he saw me, he shouted, ‘Charles, where’s your mother?’ When I told him I didn’t know, he said, Find her. Bring her here. She will never see anything like this as long as she lives.'” The next morning, Edison looked at the ruins and said, “There is great value in disaster. All our mistakes are burned up. Thank God we can start anew.” Three weeks after the fire, Edison managed to deliver the first phonograph.

Author: Charles Swindoll
Source: Hand Me Another Brick, Thomas Nelson, 1978, pp. 82-3

 


MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

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Devotional

Well Established

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When an old farmer was asked about his spiritual well being, he described his Christian experience by saying, “Well, I’m not making much progress, but I’m well-established!” One spring when he was hauling some logs, his wagon wheels sank down to the axles in mud. He tried everything he could, but he couldn’t remove the wagon from of the mud. Defeated, he sat atop the logs, viewing the distressing situation. Soon a neighbor who had always felt uncomfortable with the farmer’s wornout testimony came along and greeted him, “Well, brother, I see you’re not making much progress, but you must be content because you’re well-established!

Many Christians dream to be like the wagon and the farmer. They want to be well-established before they allow God to bring about the spiritual progress he desires. The journey God has prepared for them waits while they are content to be stuck in the mud. “Let me establish some order in my life first.” “I want to get my family in order.” “I am engaged and I want to wait until I’ve settled down into married life.” “I have a new job and I want to settle down in it first.” “I want to wait until my children grow up.” “I want to wait until I settle down and retire” But the truth of the matter is, they will spend their entire existence settling down into the mud of life until the only time when they are truly settled down – 6 feet under in a grave. But even then, they won’t truly be established… because the graves will one day release their dead and all will go before the judgement seat of Christ. “I wonder if we will use the same excuse then… I never served you, never progressed in my Christian life, but I was well established.”

“Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out — those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.” (John 5:28-29)

Author: Copyright 1999 by Ken Sapp – Permission granted for non-commercial use.


MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…

Food for Thought

The Line Separating Good and Evil

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The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil. It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person.

– Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Source: The Gulag Archipelago

Game Ideas

Red and Black

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Game Description
In this classic simulation game, youth learn that not everything has to be an “I win” “you lose” scenario. It can be win-win.

Game Materials
About 20 slips of paper, 2 pencils, sweets

Optimal Group Size
Minimum of 8 youth

Game Venue
Can be played just about anywhere.

Game Preparation
(You may want to put these on a poster or give a copy of these instructions to each team)
Divide the large groups into two smaller groups, and explain that an experiment is about to take place. Give the following instructions: Each group will have 9 chances to choose a colour: either RED or BLACK.
Choices are rewarded according to the following guidelines:

  • If both groups choose BLACK – both get 3 sweets
  • If both groups choose RED – both loose 3 sweets
  • If one group chooses RED and the other BLACK – the group that chose RED get 5 sweets; and the group that chose BLACK loses 5

Two Requirements: (these must be stated clearly at the start):
1. Get as many sweets as possible
2. Do not hurt anybody

Game Play
Send the groups to opposite sides of the room and have them decide on their first choice. To make a choice the group simply decides on a colour and writes it on the piece of paper.
Then they present their choice to the facilitator.
The facilitator rewards the groups according to the instructions.
After the 4th or 5th round, ask if the groups want to negotiate – if they do, have them choose a negotiator and give the two negotiators a minute to decide on their strategy for the future choices. Then announce that the next round of choices will be worth three times as much. Continue the game until all rounds are complete.

Game Debrief

  1. What was your group’s strategy? How did you decide what colour to choose?
  2. How did you treat the “minority” voice in your group?
  3. Did your group fulfil the two requirements? How?
  4. Did you trust the other group?
  5. Why did/didn’t you want to negotiate with the other group?
  6. When did you decide to try and beat the other group?
  7. To beat the other group did you have to emphasis one requirement over the other?

Conclusion
No mention was made of competition, beating or winning – this is our natural tendency! If both or one group became involved in competition even though no mention was made that the exercise was based on competition lines, suggest that this is our natural tendency to satisfy our ego through being superior to others, or for selfishness and greed. Ultimately this is the cause of poverty, war and oppression in the world. The Bible calls it sin!

Application
What are some areas of your lie where you can work together for the benefit of others so that all can win?

Get Icebreakers ebookIcebreakers Ahead: Take It To the Next Level

This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.

Click here to find out how to get your hands on this incredible resource!

Food for Thought

Wounded

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How strange that we should ordinarily feel compelled to hide our wounds when we are all wounded! Community requires the ability to expose our wounds and weaknesses to our fellow creatures. It also requires the ability to be affected by the wounds of others… But even more important is the love that arises among us when we share, both ways, our woundedness.

Source: M. Scott Peck, “A Different Drum”

Game Ideas

Aardvark Relay

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Game Description
In this relay game, each person on a team must use a straw in thier mouth and suction to carry an object across the room and back.

Game Materials
beans or dried peas and straws for each person

Optimal Group Size
Any size group divided into teams of equal number. If a team is short a person, then have one person on that team go twice.

Game Venue
Any place with room for participants to run around.

Game Preparation
None

Game Play 

    1. Give each person a straw.
    2. Place a bowl of navy beans, or green peas or other small smooth round objects at the opposite side of the room.
    3. Like an aardvark sucking up ants, each person must suck through the straw so that a bean stays attached to the end and bring the bean back to his team.
    4. Any bean dropped must be retreived. You may need to reposition the bowl closer depending on how difficult you want it to be.
  1. First team to each bring a pea back wins.

Game Variation
Have your participants stand or sit around a table with the bowl of beans in the center and a cup in front of each person. At the signal each person tries to remove as many beans from the bowl as possible, dropping each into his/her cup. The person to retrieve the most beans and the end of a given time wins.

Optional Game Debrief

  • How is this game similar to trying to hold on to material things in life?
  • What are some things you try to hold on to? What are the things you most want to have?
  • At what cost would you get them?

Optional Conclusion
In this game, the things you want to hold on to, often get away. Many times the things in life we are chasing after and trying to hold on to seem to be very difficult to keep. They are always jus out of reach. or when we get them, we seem to lose them even quicker. In scripture we are told that the person who holds on to his life will lose it. The person who loses his life will find it. We are told that we should not pursue the things of this world, but the things of heaven. All the things of this world will one day pass away.

Application
What is something in your life you are holding on to, that you need to let go? Make a commitment to let go of it and place it in God’s hands this week.

Scripture
Luke 12:15-21; Matthew 10:39

Get Icebreakers ebookIcebreakers Ahead: Take It To the Next Level

This 170 page resource not only provides 52 of the world’s most popular group icebreaker activities and games, but also includes lesson ideas and discussion questions to smoothly transition into conversations about the issues common to most groups.

Click here to find out how to get your hands on this incredible resource!

Creative Youth ideas: 1700+ Resources for youth leaders, pastors, ministers to help plan camps, retreats, and meetings using games, illustrations, Children's Worship, Bible Studies, object lessons, sermons, creative ideas,creative activities