God's Promises Are Sure

This week we learned that the promises of God prove true and His Word can be trusted, even more than what we see with our own eyes. God's pledge to bring them to Canaan proved true, but Israel failed to trust Him and complained about the giants.
Our night started with a domino game in Opening Time, lining up dots so that when we flipped the dominoes, the words on the back spelled out the Fifth Commandment. Patrick was the only player there for quite a while, and he mastered this game backward and forward. All our students were stars this week and knew their verses! Praise be to God, who will bless their diligence and use His Word in their lives. We missed SarahClaire, who was home with a fever.
Our first activity in our own classroom was to play a game called "Check It Out." Each child had a paper bag sitting at their place (stapled shut) and each in their turn reached inside and tried to guess what they were feeling without looking at it. They were very good at this and guessed all the objects correctly. What was funny was that sometimes a child would make their guess and the other children would nod and say "Yes, he's right!" or they would grin and say, "Nooo, I don't think so!" But they couldn't see in the bags! So I don't know what they were basing their opinions on! They were very into it though.
Then we went over to the story rug, where I had another "Check It Out" object hidden in a bag. I reached inside, but this time I described to the children what the object felt like. Then I peeked in, and I described what the object looked like. Then I had them guess. (It was a screwdriver, which they all got correct.) I said that you can picture in your mind what something looks like just from hearing someone else's report -- which led into our story about the 12 spies that Moses sent into the Promised Land in order to "check it out."
Ten of the spies told the people that the land was fruitful but that there were giants there that the Hebrew people could never defeat. (The children liked the part about the huge bunches of grapes and the giants who made the Hebrews feel like grasshoppers next to them.) The people began to complain and long for Egypt because they pictured such daunting prospects based on the report.
But Caleb and Joshua, while agreeing that the report was true and the prospects daunting, reminded the people of God's promises, that he would bring them into Canaan and defend them against the people of the land. The Israelites had to wander in the desert for 40 more years as a consequence for their unbelieving grumbling. But God was pleased with the faith of Joshua and Caleb, who never forgot that God always keeps His promises.
During the Question and Answer time, we picked bunches of grapes with questions on the back. We had to stop and use the restroom at this point, and when we reconvened, it was hard for the children to remember the answers. So I basically retold the story as we went, and I think it may have been more helpful in the long run in cementing it in their minds. So praise God that He works even little glitches like that for our good and His eternal glory.
We reviewed our Fifth Commandment hand motions, and all seemed to easily master this short verse. At closing time, which Matt Rein led because Kelly was out with sick children, Matt asked for a volunteer to repeat the verse. Jacob piped up with some sort of surprising delivery -- I think it was, "Honor your mudder and your fadder," which cracked up all the parents listening.
Matt did a great job filling in, and it is fun to see the way the children respond to both Matt and Ericka in their role as teachers. Praise God for raising up young people like them, already eager to pass on what they've been given by a gracious God.