You have a role in this

At our opening time, Up & Away Sing & Play, we were busy! There were more songs to sing and time for each “Flight Crew” (what we call a group of kids) to get to know each other. We shared our God Sightings: instances where we saw God in our daily life; a smiling face, a pretty sunset, a helping hand… all of these are pictures of God! To remind us of these God Sightings, we created “clouds” that spelled out “GOD.”

We also met today’s Bible Buddy: Orville, a pig who would rather fly than wallow in the mud. I wonder how a flying pig relates to today’s Bible Point? See if your kids know.

What was today’s Bible Point? (So glad you asked!)

No matter how you feel… trust God!

(Ask your kids what the response is suppose to be when they hear the words: “No matter how you feel…”)

Flash stopped in for a visit. Was she feeling down! She didn’t even want to be seen! We managed to convince her, however, that bad stuff can happen in your life. Yep, we all will experience times of feeling bad. But, no matter what, God has a plan for you and you can… Trust God! Our key Bible verse was: “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God”
 (John 14:1). Don’t you think it would be a good idea to store this Bible verse in our heart, where we can pull it up just when we need it? Visit here for some hints about “memorizing” Bible verses.

Our Bible story was about how Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. (Read it in John 11:1-44). It’s a story loaded with feelings and illustrations of no matter how you feel… For instance, Lazarus had been dead for four days! His sisters Mary and Martha were feeling bad, especially becuase they had asked Jesus to come to heal Lazarus. Yet Jesus didn’t come right away! He waited for four days! We’ll talk more about these sorts of feelings a little later in our stations.

Speaking of stations… The preschoolers did the following:

• Games – Today we played parachute games. We used a parachute to pretend like we were running in and out of a tomb, just like Lazarus came out of the tomb. We also had time to just play!
  
• Crafts – Today we heard a story about feelings and we made bookmarks.
• Drama/Bible Adventures – In this station we heard and experienced our Bible story using our senses. We felt rocks and gauze bandages. We smelled tuna! Pee-yew!
• Bible Buddies – The kids had another visit from Sklyer the puppet. Today Skyler was frustrated because Orly the orangutan was cheating on the rocket building contest! Orly’s dad had college students building his rocket for him. That’s not fair! I wonder what we were doing in that picture on the right?

Meanwhile elementary kids visited the following stations:

• All-Star Games – We started off experiencing some frustration. How could we help a blindfolded crew member to find things hidden in the grass!? The game which was the most fun was called “Jet Scream.” Kids were challenged to see how far they could run on one breath, while screaming!
  
• Wild Blue Bible Adventures – In this station kids get to experience the emotions in our Bible stories. Ask them how they came up against Mary and Martha’s feelings. (It had to do with Rock-Paper-Scissors).
• Sky High Movie & Missions – Today we watched Chadder deal with some cheating contestants in the “Catch Some Air” contest. I wonder if Chadder will do the right thing?



• Imagination Station – We certainly get lots of chances to use our imaginations in this station! Ask your kids why they were eating clouds? And ask about that feeling you get, like you are about to burst. (And how this turned into bursting balloons with interesting results.)

Our “older” elementary kids in our Grad Group spent the morning on a field to Chelsea Retirement Home. They had a personal tour and visited with residents, handing out blank note cards and bookmarks with the VBC verses.

Mid-way through our time this morning we all gathered at Sky Dive Diner. Our snack was “Miracle Cookies.” Hey! They look like a wrapped Lazarus. Thank goodness for the recharging effect of a couple of cookies!

At the end of our morning everyone gathered together again for Fly Away Finale. There was more singing and we got to fly — just pretend — though there were sound effects and clouds that we flew through. We also got to see a visual presentation on how the “clouds” in our life can be dissipated.

Finally, here are some Links of interest (click on the highlighted words):

• Slide show of photos from Monday.
• Slide show from Tuesday.
• A fun site where kids can play games based on Sky Bible Buddies, download coloring pages, and watch for a clue about each day’s segment of Chadder’s adventures.
• Community Action Network (CAN), the organization behind the school supply kits (our local mission project).

And, some conversation starters on our global mission project to collect coins to assist children in attending RAWANA Youth Camp, a United Methodist Church camp located in the Rivercess County of Liberia.

• Tell me about the smiley face sticker you are wearing.
• Where is Liberia?
• How do the children in Liberia get to camp?
• I wonder what other differences there are between our life here in the U.S. and life in Liberia?
• For 1st grade and up: I know there is something interesting about the president of Liberia, do you know what I’m thinking of? (The president of Liberia, Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is a woman. She is also a member of United Methodist Church and a Nobel Peace Prize recipient.)

See you tomorrow!
~~Carol (on behalf of the VBC Team)