Candy Cane Relay

December 4, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Miniature size candy canes and toothpicks for each participant.
Divide the participants into two teams. Give each team five small candy canes. On signal, the team members pass their canes to the end of the line (one at a time) and back again using toothpicks stuck in their mouths.

Variations
Using candy canes in their mouth as hooks they must pass candy canes or other items.

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Christmas Collection
Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!
=> Tell me more about the Christmas Collection

Teaching Illustrations

Christmas According to Gabriel

December 4, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

“He motioned toward me, and I responded, kneeling again before Him. Handing me the necklace, He explained, ‘This vial will contain the essence of Myself; a Seed to be placed in the womb of a young girl. Her name is Mary. She lives among my chosen people. The fruit of the Seed is the Son of God. Take it to her.’

‘But how will I know her?’ I asked.

‘Don’t worry. You will.’

I could not comprehend God’s plan, but my understanding was not essential. My obedience was. I lowered my head, and He draped the chain around my neck. Amazingly, the vial was no longer empty. It glowed with
Light.

‘Jesus. Tell her to call My Son Jesus.’ … .

On a wave of worship I flew, this time alone. I circled through the clouds and over the ground. Below me was the city where Mary was born. The Father was right; I knew her in an instant. Her heart had no shadow. Her soul was as pure as any I’ve seen.

I made the final descent. ‘Mary.’ I kept my voice low so as not to startle her.

She turned but saw nothing. Then I realized I was invisible to her. I waved my wings before my body and incarnated. She covered her face at the Light and shrank into the protection of the doorway.

‘Don’t be afraid.’ I urged.

The minute I spoke, she looked up toward the sky. Again I was amazed.

I praised My Father for His wisdom. Her heart is so flawless, so willing. ‘Greetings. God be with you.’

Her eyes widened, and she turned as if to run. ‘Mary, you have nothing to fear. You have found favor with God ….

‘Yes, I see it all now; I’m the Lord’s maid, ready to serve. Let it be with me just as you say.’

As she spoke, a Light appeared in her womb. I glanced at the vial. It was empty.” [The Angel Gabriel]

Source: Max Lucado “Cosmic Christmas”

Food for Thought

Blessings

December 3, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Today I stood at my window and cursed the pouring rain,
Today a desperate farmer prayed for his fields of grain
My weekend plans are ruined, it almost makes me cry
While the farmer lifts his arms and blesses the clouded sky.

The alarm went off on Monday and I cursed my work routine,
Next door a laid off mechanic feels the empty pockets of his jeans.
I can’t wait for my vacation, some time to take for me,
He doesn’t know tonight how he’ll feed his family.

I cursed my leaky roof and the grass I need to mow,
A homeless man downtown checks for change in the telephone.
I need a new car, mine is getting really old,
He huddles in a doorway, seeking shelter from the cold.

With blessings I’m surrounded, the rain, a job, a home,
Though my eyes are often blinded by the things I think I own.

Game Ideas

Candy Cane Pick-Up-Sticks

December 3, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Candy canes, wrapped or unwrapped, stacked into a pile. You can use some candy canes of a different color and give them a higher point value. Traditionally, there are Blue Sticks – 50 Points, Green Sticks – 40 Points, Red Sticks – 25 Points, Yellow Sticks – 10 Points. Change this according to the frequency of colors and rarity for your candy canes.

Activity
Played like traditional pick-up-sticks, the objective is to remove one candy cane from the pile without disturbing the remaining candy canes. Use a small stick such as a kebab skewer or chopstick as a tool in picking up the candy canes. The first player picks up candy canes, one at a time, until he causes any other candy cane to move besides the one he is attempting to pick up. The other team then gets its chance to do the same.

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Christmas Collection

Games and Activities helping youth discover the Reason for the Season.Get more than 200 creative ideas for planning a Youth Christmas celebration or Christmas Party party. You can immediately download my best Christmas Icebreakers, games, illustrations, Christmas activity ideas AND MUCH MORE in a useful ebook!
=> Tell me more about the Christmas Collection

Game Ideas

Candy Cane Horseshoes

December 3, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Candy canes and a stick. Be sure the candy canes are wrapped in plastic as they are almost guaranteed to break into a number of small pieces during game play. For indoor games you can either drive a nail into a flat piece of wood or turn a table or stool over and use one of the legs as the post.

Activity
In the manner of playing horseshoes, the objective is to take turns to toss the candy cane at an upright stick. Place a stick vertically somewhere in the ground. Then participants take turns throwing candy canes (underhand) at it. A game is divided into rounds and each round constitutes the pitching of two candy canes by each contestant. In each round, the one with the highest score goes first.The objective of the game is to get your candy cane closest.

Scoring
A candy cane must be within six (6) inches of the stake to score. A candy cane that first strikes the ground outside the target area or rebounds from behind the stake cannot be scored, nor can any candy cane thrown from an invalid position. A “ringer” (3 points) is a candy cane that encircles the stake so that a straight edge could touch the two prongs without touching the stake. The closest cane from each pair scores 1 point. A leaning shoe has no value over one touching the stake. The points are scored according to the position of the shoes at the round’s end, that is, after the contestants have each thrown two candy canes. This means it is possible for the second player to knock the opponents candy canes either away or closer to the stake.

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Christmas Collection

Game Ideas

Candy Cane Hockey

December 3, 2005 kensapp 1 Comment

Materials
Miniature size candy canes, candy goal markers, and a candy hocky puck.

Activity
Make a goal at each end of a table using markers attached to the table… These markers can be a piece of candy or even candy canes stuck to the table with some blue tack adhesive. Make the goal posts about 4 inches apart. Use a jelly bean for a hockey puck. (It moves but doesn’t roll off the table to easily) Using the candy canes as hockey sticks try to shoot the jelly bean through the net of the opponent. The opponent is allowed to block the shots, but only with the candy canes. If at any time a body part touches the bean or your opponent, it’s an instant disqualification. The first to a set number of points wins. You can also determine the winner by who has the most points after a predetermined amount of time.

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Christmas Collection

Game Ideas

Candy Cane Connection

December 3, 2005 kensapp

Materials
Miniature size candy canes broken in half.

Activity
Use this game to break your group up into pairs as a mixer. Mix up the halves of the candy canes and hand them out to participants. When everyone has arrived, have participants try to find the other half of their candy canes!

Read about the significance of the Candy Cane to the Birth of Christ in the “Legend of the Candy Cane”

Christmas Collection

Music

We Are the Reason

December 3, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

As little children we would dream of Christmas morn
and all the gifts and toys we knew we’d find.
But we never realized a Baby born one blessed night
Gave us the greatest gift of our lives…
WE are the reason that He gave His life;
We are the reason that He suffered and died.
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live.

As the years went by we learned more about gifts–
The giving of ourselves and what that means.
On a dark and cloudy day a Man hung crying in the rain,
Because of love–because of love.
WE are the reason that He gave His life;
We are the reason that He suffered and died.
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live.

I’ve finally found a reason for living;
It’s in giving every part of my heart to Him.
In all that I do, every word that I say
I’ll be giving my all just for Him…for Him…
WE are the reason that He gave His life;
We are the reason that He suffered and died.
To a world that was lost He gave all He could give
To show us the reason to live…
He is my reason to live!

Words and Music by David Meece

MORE IDEAS? See “Creative Object Lessons”

200 page e-book that explains everything you need to know when planning your very own object lessons. It contains 90 fully developed object lesson ideas and another 200 object lesson starter ideas based on Biblical idioms and Names / Descriptions of God.

Learn More…

Inspiration

Focused on the Goal

December 2, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Her goal was the California coastline –a 34 km swim from Catalina Island. It was no more distant than the width of the English Channel, a goal she had already conquered as the first woman to swim it from both directions. Although she was a seasoned long-distance swimmer with incredible stamina, she trained arduously to prepare herself to achieve her goal.

July 4th, 1952
Millions watched on national television, as 34 year old Florence Chadwick began her swim. The water was icy cold; the fog — so thick she could hardly see the support boats alongside her. As the hours passed, she was repeatedly stung by jellyfish. Sharks had to be driven away with rifles. Yet she pressed on, determined to achieve her goal.

15 hours later
Numbed with the cold, she was ready to give up. Her mother and her trainer were in a boat at her side. “Florence. You are almost there. Don’t give up now.” Encouraged by her mother’s admonition, she continued to swim.

Failure
Fifteen hours and fifty minutes after she began her swim, the support team reluctantly agreed to pull Florence from the water. Several hours later, after she warmed up, she realized she had given up only a few hundred meters from her goal! If she had continued just a little while longer, the waves would have carried her to the beach. “If I could have just seen the land for myself, I would have made it!”. She told reporters it was not the sharks, the fatigue, or even the cold water that defeated her. She had been defeated by the fog alone. It had obscured her goal and blinded her reason, her eyes and her heart.

Never give in to defeat.
1952 was the only time Florence Chadwick ever quit. Two months later she swam that same channel. The water was still ice cold and still inhabited with sharks. Once again fog obscured her view. But this time she pressed on, BELIEVING that somewhere beyond that fog, her goal would be reached. Not only was she the first woman to swim the Catalina Channel, but she beat the men’s record by two hours!

What are YOUR goals?
Have you lost sight of your goal?
Don’t quit just before your goal is achieved!
Stay Focused!

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith”
– Hebrews 12:2

Go for the Gold
Need an evangelistic Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series with an Olympic Theme?

What is salvation all about? What does it mean to be saved? This sports themed Bible Study / Camp Curriculum uses the Olympic Flag to introduce the concepts of sin (black circle), forgiveness (red circle), purity (white background), spiritual growth (green circle), heaven (Yellow Circle) and (Baptism) blue circle.
-> Tell me about “Go for the Gold”

Destined to Win
Need a Youth Camp/ Bible Study Series on “Running the Christian Race”?

The race as a metaphor for the Christian life is used in several places in the Bible. This series is a great follow up for new Christians or to re-emphasize the basics of our spiritual Journey in the Faith. This Bible Study / Camp Curriculum has a sports theme and is great for athletes as well as a tie in to the youth Olympic Games.
->Tell me about “Destined to Win”

Parents Ministry, Teaching Illustrations

Golden Gift

December 2, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

A father punished his 3-year-old daughter for wasting a roll of gold wrapping paper. Money was tight, and he became infuriated when the child tried to decorate a box to put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the little girl brought the Christmas gift to her father the next morning and said, “This is for you, Daddy.” He was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, but his anger flared again when he found that the box was empty.

He yelled at her, “Don’t you know that when you give someone a present, there’s supposed to be something inside of it?”

The little girl looked up at him and with tears in her eyes said sadly, “Oh, Daddy, it’s not empty. I blew kisses into the box. All for you, Daddy.” The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little girl, and he begged her forgiveness.

He kept that gold box by his bed for years. Whenever he was discouraged, he would take out an imaginary kiss and the love of the child who had put it there.

In a very real sense, each of us as parents has been given a gold container filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children. There is no more precious possession anyone could hold.

Source: Unknown

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