Potato Chips, Sponges And Cabbage
Well, last night was our "Sixth Grade Welcoming Party". This is our youth group's way of helping the sixth graders transition from the church's children's program (AWANA) into the youth group. In the past we've always had a gap of a couple months between the end of AWANA and when we invited the sixth graders to join the youth group. This year I decided not to wait; there's no point in giving them a couple months to "forget" about church activities!So, the party was a big success, I think. We played games (soccer, human clue), sang some songs, had a visit from Jeorge the Dodo Bird (who talked about widows and orphans from Epistle of James), and had some food - tacos, ice cream, and birthday cake.
Of course, someone (not mentioning ANY names) was supposed to bring lettuce for the tacos, but accidentally picked up cabbage instead
...but we got that taken care of, so all was well in the kitchen.I talked to the teens about giving, because one of our main emphases in the youth group is that youth group is not about having fun, going to amusement parks, camping trips, and so forth--we do all those things, but that's not what the youth group is about. Instead, youth group is about teenagers learning and growing, and then putting what they've learned into practice by serving and giving to others.
I talked about how frustrating it is when you buy a big bag of potato chips, and when you open it, discover there's hardly anything in it, because the "contents have settled during shipping".
But the blessings of God are NOT like a bag of potato chips...Luke 6:38 says "Give, and it will be given to you. They will pour into your lap a good measure--pressed down, shaken together, and running over. For by your standard of measure it will be measured to you in return."
This is a full and well-packed bag of blessings!
From there I talked to them about sponges, and how a sponge gets saturated with water, and once it has been saturated it can't hold any more...the only way to add more water is to wring out what's already in there. The same is true with us. We soak and we saturate in the blessings of God, but then we have to "wring out" by sharing those blessings with others, if we want to be filled some more.
Hopefully all those thoughts, on our sixth graders' first night in the youth group, will help them develop a good mindset of what youth group is all about.
We shall see...
Posted On Apr 30, 2005 at 7:56 AM
On Apr 30, 2005 Laura wrote: Wow, last Sunday our worship leader (also named Doug) used the potato chip analogy too, and talked about how disappointing it is when the chip bags are only half full. He said that when we're joyful we're overflowing, and have lots of "chips," which means it's our job to give some to others who aren't joyful and don't have as many. Interesting coincidence...
Doug Replied: Great Dougs think alike...
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