He is Supreme

We opened our first night of Children Desiring God with the reminder that God is the king of every king -- and of every Pharoah. God showed He is sovereign over all when He sent miraculous plagues on a stubborn Egyptian ruler who set himself up against the Lord.

It was fun to meet this new class as we gathered in the art room. While we waited for all to arrive, we matched up different varieties of frogs. The frogs spelled out our verse, but we never did get the verse completed before we were ready to start our large group activity. Once all the children had arrived, Mrs. Salsamendi taught all the children two new verses for this week: Genesis 1:1 and Matthew 6:24. We sang the verses to jingles and then Mrs. Salsamendi played the jingles on a stringed instrument while the children sang. She told the children that they will have a turn to take the instrument home during the year and practice playing the verse jingles for the group. We dismissed to our separate classrooms.

Our little group went outside first to see some Egyptian sand. I had brought a little sandbox and the children dug around to find a clue for the day's story. They found 12 different colored frogs. I told them that in today's story there would be lots of frogs. Then, to get some of their wiggles out, we practiced hopping like frogs. Hunter was our line leader and Melanie the door holder. Melanie was so helpful during class because she already knows all the routines!

Back in our room, the children chose colored squares on the rug. They stood on their squares and we did some fingerplays and songs, ending with "Clap, clap, clap your hands, shake them in the breeze, stomp your feet and turn around and sit down if you please." It was fun to teach this old fingerplay to a new group and see them grinning as they did it.

I tried to keep our story short this first time, and plan to gradually increase the length as they get used to sitting and listening. I opened the story by reminding them of all the frogs they had dug up, and then inviting them to imagine frogs everywhere -- in their hair, in their stove,in their food. We went on and on with all the places frogs could be and they got laughing. Then I told them that we would hear a story from the Bible about lots of frogs! At this point,I told them that the Bible story is the most important thing that we do in here because it is God's Word -- it is how God talks to us. So we want to listen to what He has to say so we don't miss anything. Faith comes by hearing the Word of God!

I told them that some of the books they read at home or at school might be made-up stories, or pretend, but every story in the Bible is true. Then I told them about the Pharoah in Egypt treating God's chosen people like slaves, beating them and making them work harder and harder. They prayed to God for help, and He chose Moses to deliver them. The battle began because Pharoah did not understand that he was no match for the Lord. Pharoah thought he was in control, but God was going to show everyone that He is supreme. We talked about each of the plagues, or bad things, that God sent and how each was a miracle, mocking the false gods of the Egyptians! God wants everyone to know that no one is greater than Him. He is supreme, the greatest.

When we finished, I had the children get up and put pieces of paper shaped like lily pads on tables and chairs all around the room. (My intention was for them to get some of the wiggles out by moving around for a bit, so we really spread the questions out and this time was a bit wild.) Then they all sat back down again. Each lily pad had a number on it, so I would choose one child to go find a certain numbered lily pad. Hunter found Number One. I read him the question: What did God send when Pharoah refused to let the Hebrews go? Hunter answered very quickly: Plagues. Then he started to name them! After naming several, he trailed off, so I said, "That's okay, you don't need to name every single one." He said, "But I want to!" So we tried to name all the plagues and got them all, after ruling out some sweet and hopeful guesses from others in the group, such as, "Umm ... turtles?" and "Alligators?" (Alligators would have made a pretty terrifying plague.)

Trey did a great job answering his question: Why did God send the bad things? He answered right away, very clearly and confidently, "Because he would not let the people go." That's right! God wanted to show that He was the most powerful.

We got a few wiggles out by singing our verse. (In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1) I explained that God is in charge of everything, because He made everything. God is the greatest because He is the One who created everything you see, out of nothing!

Then we moved to our table to work on the first page in the book we are working on for the Bookmaking Badge. This project is about God's very character, particularly how the Ten Commandments point us to those shining unchangeable attributes. In our story today, God displays His Supremacy over all other beings. The children colored a picture of the frog plague and we glued it in a folded booklet that says "God is Supreme" on the front. The children each picked a different variety of frog from a collection of paper frogs and used glue sticks to glue them to the front of the booklet. Mia did a great job coloring and drawing on her background paper.

Next week, we will add to this page as we learn the First Commandment: You will have no other gods before me. We use hand motions, and the children find it very easy to remember the Commandments in order this way. They receive a special little coin once they know all 10 Commandments.

Our night concluded with Closing Time with all of the classes together again, and several of the older children played the stringed instrument, while children sang the jingles, reviewing the two verses taught earlier. Our class listened and sang, while playing the frog-matching game one last time! A great beginning! We look forward to seeing you all again next week.

NOTE: If anyone is interested in working on extra verses this year, we have an alternate set of scriptures listed under the "Advanced Verse Jingles" and "Advanced Verse Schedule" links to the right of this post. Please e-mail me if you have any questions.