Tonight we thought about success - what the world tells us success is and what the Bible tells us.We had a brainstorm of people who are the most successful in their field. (Notice I chose the pic of Jamie Oliver - better than Tom Cruise or David Beckham put together in my books!)
We looked at how the world says that to be successful you need lots of money, a big house, a top job, a beautiful family and friends coming out of your ears.
The Bible says that someone who God's chuffed with is, doesn't need to have any of those things (in fact, it helps not to have too much money and stuff!) God values qualities like gentleness, gratitude, patience, endurance and loves it when we look after each other.
Worldly success does seem to have it's rewards; that's why everyone chases it. You get rich and your life gets generally posher. But does that compare to the reward of having God say about you: "With you I am well pleased"? Not to mention the gift of eternal life... I think not.
It takes a bit of backbone to resist the urge to be 'a success'. Sometimes God calls us to take the quiet, narrow road, where there's no fame or big bucks. Sometimes the thing he puts on our hearts to do, just doesn't make any sense in the world's terms. Be brave and take that narrow path! Be a success in God's eyes.
We also played Trolley Gladiators (I don't know how the brunettes managed to win that one!?) and made flicker books with our ideas of what God is like.
Now I'm not the best one to be writing this up, but Andy may never get round to it, so you're stuck with my take on things. And like Kyle, I liked spotting things like 'that planet's a pretty colour' or 'that star thing does look like a little dog'.We looked at lots of real pics of stars and planets and things (bet you're wishing Andy was writing this one up now) and thought about how God might have started it all by setting the Big Bang off (I know it's not a firework display)
You lot had some great questions. I especially liked: 'God may have made the Universe, but who made God?' It is all a bit impossible to get your head around!
We then got crafty, painting frames in nice colours (much more on my level).
What did you guys make of the whole Big Bang discussion? Interested? Baffled? Amazed at how massive God must be? Leave us some thoughts.
p.s We were very impressed by how knowledgeable some of you are on all things 'science'!
Tonight we thought about how as Christians, we are all in the same spiritual family.
We played the Siblings game (well done to the Winstanleys and Wibberleys!) then watched an animation of Bible verses and photos of you lot put over Jump5's version of 'We Are Family'.
We then had a good talk about why the Bible says we should love each other as brothers (and sisters) and not just as good friends. We decided that siblings are always there for each other, in a way that friends might not be. Also, we love siblings just for who they are, and we don't choose them like we do friends. Siblings can also be quite different in age from us, while our friends tend to be roughly the same age.
We also thought about what we should do when we find it hard to love other Christians. We decided the Bible tells us to 'just do it'!
Tim came up with a great acrostic:
Forget
About
Me
I
Love
You
We took photos to illustrate the family theme, then played the peg game. AND the blondes won both challenges tonight - yay, go team blonde!
Huge thanks to the W sisters for sharing all the news of their trip to the States. We really enjoyed hearing all about their exciting adventures. You girls did so well (teachers in the making!) - thanks a million! Thanks also for the American goodies to eat. I'd never had animal crackers before, but had heard about them in films and stuff.
Anyone else fancy leading runway, let us know. It's not as easy as the girls made it look!
Also loved your murderer game. Though I was a bit miffed that Kyle worked out it was me; I thought I was going to kill you all off!
We've got a few ideas for future films, but wondered if you guys have any ideas.
We're after films that aren't necessarily Christian, but have something in them that makes you think a bit, or reminds you of spiritual stuff.
For example (don't worry, we won't make you watch this!) I thought Finding Nemo spoke volumes about a father's love and a dad that will go to any length to find his lost son. (In fact, I burst into tears at the end of it, but that's how soppy I am!)
Any ideas welcome! I know Kat has one that she saw in the States (can you remind me of the name, Kat?
Tonight we thought about what it means to be a Christian. It's not as obvious as it sounds! We've decided we want to hear more from you guys, hence tonight's discussion. We can all learn things from each other, no matter how old we are and you all had some really interesting thoughts on the topic. Thanks for all your contributions.
We had our new termly traditional game of Chicken Limbo; Dave seemed to be enjoying it a bit too much, perhaps. If Steps ever reform and need a body double for album covers, etc., he's the man.
It was great to welcome along a new runwayer, and with the new posh room too there was a real 'new term' feel in the air. (By the way, we hope you love it and still feel that it's your room. Let us know what you think.)
If you have ideas for things you'd like to do at runway, just let us know. Perhaps you've got an idea for an evening you'd like to lead, maybe you've got a question you'd like us to look at or perhaps there's an activity that you think we should do more of. If not, it'll be more of the same... dodgeball, dodgeball, dodgeball!
Don't miss next week's runway when the Kat and Charlee will tell us all about their trip to the States.
