Thanksgiving Weather Report

November 23, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Turkeys will thaw in the morning, then warm in the oven to an afternoon high near 190F. The kitchen will turn hot and humid, and if you bother the cook, be ready for a severe squall or cold shoulder.

During the late afternoon and evening, the cold front of a knife will slice through the turkey, causing an accumulation of one to two inches on plates. Mashed potatoes will drift across one side while cranberry sauce creates slippery spots on the other. Please pass the gravy.

A weight watch and indigestion warning have been issued for the entire area, with increased stuffiness around the beltway. During the evening, the turkey will diminish and taper off to leftovers, dropping to a low of 34F in the refrigerator.

Looking ahead to Friday and Saturday, high pressure to eat sandwiches will be established. Flurries of leftovers can be expected both days with a 50 percent chance of scattered soup late in the day. We expect a warming trend where soup develops. By early next week, eating pressure will be low as the only wish left will be the bone.

Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Creative Teaching Ideas

Count Your Blessings

November 23, 2005 kensapp 1 Comment

Materials
1. A blank sheet of paper and something to write with for each person.
2. A timer

Activity
1. On your signal to begin, everyone should write down everything they are thankful for that can be described in two words or less.
2. Set a timer, for two minutes (or less) and tell them to begin.
3. When the timer goes off each youth must count how many items they have.
4. The person with the most items should read their list and if anyone else has those items on their list also, then everyone who has the items must cross them off the list. Only unique items remain.
5. The next person continues in the same way, calling out the items that remain on his/ her list. If the item is unique it remains. If someone else has the same item than all who have it cross the item off their lists.
6. Continue until everyone has gone, then each person must count up the unique items he or she has on the list.
7. Award a prize for the person with the highest number of unique answers.

Discussion
1. What was the most surprising thing that someone was thankful for?
2. How did creating your list affect you?
3. Did you have more or less items than you thought you would have?
4. How did it make you feel when you discovered that others felt blessed for the same things as you?
5. Of all the things on your list, which is most significant for you?

Scripture
Colossians 3:17: “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him”

Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Game Ideas

Mayflower Memory

November 22, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
None

Activity
1. Sits everyone down in a circle.
2. The first person says, “I am sailing on the Mayflower, and I am taking…” [The first person then says something that starts with “A” like apples.]
3. The second person says, “I am sailing on the Mayflower, and I am taking…” [The second person then repeats what the first person said
and adds something that begins with “B.”]
4. The third person must remember what the first two people said
and then adds a “C” item.
5. Continue through the alphabet. If you complete the alphabet go through a second or third time, adding a new item at each letter to those previously stated before.
6. If a player can’t remember all the items, that player drops out,
until there is one player left. Award the winner!

Variation
The first player starts by saying, “At my Thanksgiving dinner I ate turkey.” Each adds a thanksgiving food. In this variation, the items do not need to follow the alphabet.

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Inspiration

Flawed

November 22, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

In working around the flaws, some of the world’s greatest masterpieces were created.

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Inspiration

Flawed (Text Version)

November 22, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

We all admire perfection, and are disillusioned when things dont measure up. Often quick to reject that which is flawed, we dont realize that, in working in spite of the flaws, some of the world’s most perfect masterpieces have been created.

A massive, solid piece of Carrara marble sat in a field, a large gash scarring its side. It had been abandoned and forgotten, discarded and left to the elements. Today, that same piece of marble stands in a massive quarter dome, resting on a tall pedestal. Visited by millions, the abandoned, scarred stone was transformed into one of the world’s greatest masterpieces.

In 1501, Michelangelo won a commission from the Florentine elders to work on the huge flawed block of marble. Other Florentine sculptors assumed the block would break under the strain of the huge gouge in its side. Yet Michelangelo was able to see behind the ruined surface something that no one else could see. With chisel and mallet, he worked around the flaw. Weeks, months, and years passed, as the master hammered and hewed the scarred stone, until finally there emerged from under his skillful hands the figure of a man which was said to be so perfect that it lacked only life itself.

After four years of painstaking carving, Michelangelo was able to release the beautiful image of “David” from flawed marble. In doing so he transformed the block rejected by others into the most striking sculpture in Florence. Davids eyes are watchful…the veins in his hands and arms reveal his strength…a stone rests in his right hand, his body, seems a reservoir of energy, standing poised for action.

When asked how he accomplished such an incredible transformation, Michelangelo said that “David” was already in the piece of marble…. he merely removed everything that wasn’t “David”, including the flaw.

In the same way that Michelangelo saw “David” in a block of stone, then chiseled away the flaw and the excess until David appeared, envision yourself, your life as God wishes it to be, and remove everything that is not true to that image. In doing so, you will discover that inside every person, even the scarred ones, there is a masterpiece waiting to be brought to life by the hand of the Master.

“..being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
– Philippians 1:6

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Creative Teaching Ideas

Thanksgiving A to Z

November 22, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
None

Activity
Get everyone into a thanksful spirit with this memorable activity. Using the alphabet as a guide, the first person tells everyone the things he is thankful for that start with the letter “A,” like apples and aunts. The next person uses the letter “B”. Keep going around until all the letter are used up. If people still have things to add, go a second round.

Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Mentoring Youth

Why Mentor?

November 22, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Jesus instructed His disciples both in group settings and one-on-one. He taught them by example as well as by precept, and His teaching was incidental rather than formal.

Jesus instructed His disciples both in group settings and one-on-one. He taught them by example as well as by precept, and His teaching was incidental rather than formal. He called them to be with him, to follow him. He told them to “come and see.” “Jesus made disciples by His life. One does not teach faith and love with words alone. Disciples’ hearts cannot be set on fire by theories. Fire kindles fire; iron sharpens iron; faith calls forth faith; life begets life.” (Roger Fleming in Rabey, 188) Learning was deeply relational and involved not only instruction, but guidance, counsel, imitation, affirmation, rebuke, correction, encouragement, and even friendship.

Jesus arranged retreats for special instruction, but the disciples’ characters were mainly developed in the highways of life rather than in isolation. They learned from their failures as well as their successes. Their experiences in daily life provided the opportunity for developing spiritual principles and values.

In today’s church we do almost everything in group settings. Our spiritual instruction is confined to classrooms, workshops, and videos. Learning about the Christian faith was never intended to be an academic pursuit, disconnected from family and life, taught conceptually and in abstraction to the masses. Waylon B. Moore in his book Multiplying Disciples: The New Testament Method for Church Growth provided 12 solid reasons in favor of individual discipleship (Rabey, 180-181).

Listed below are his 12 reasons for individual discipleship adapted to apply to spiritual mentoring
1. Anyone in the church can mentor. He simply shares with his protégé what the Lord is doing in his life, and leads him in the steps he has already taken.
2. Individual ministry already is modeled in the church by personal counseling to the lost, the sick, the bereaved, and others with expressed needs. It is equally logical to give personal time to people who desire spiritual growth.
3. Christ’s ministry was to love his disciples and to lay down his life for them. Working with an individual reflects the kind of commitment Christ had for each of his men.
4. Few people have the time or capacity to be intimately involved in the lives of a large number of individuals. Anyone can make time for working with one person.
5. Spiritual mentoring has the closeness of friendship and the precision of a teacher-apprentice relationship.
6. The method of spiritual mentoring is flexible in schedule and intensity. Training and Bible study assignments can be paced according to individual needs. Spiritual growth is thus more rapid and effective.
7. This method of spiritual mentoring is readily copied. We do unto others what has been done unto us.
8. Exhortation, correction, and admonition can be quickly and easily given in individual relationships.
9. The life of the mentor reinforces the truth of the message and can be closely observed by the protégé.
10. The needs of the protégé come to the surface in the privacy of individual ministry.
11. Both the relationship and the results seem more lasting in spiritual mentoring.
12. Mentoring on a one-to-one level is the most rapid way to develop spiritual leaders who can multiply disciples.

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Game Ideas

Turkey in a Tree

November 21, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
This is a high energy game adapted for the Holiday. All that is needed is an open space where kids and youth can run around.

Set-up
Have kids get in groups of three. Two of the kids hold hands so that there is an open space in the middle btween them, as a hollow tree. The remaining participant stands in the center between the arms and is the “Turkey in a tree”.

Game Play
There are three options that participants must respond to in this game:
1. If HUNTER is called, all the trees remain where they are and the turkeys must flee and duck into another tree. A tree may only contain one turkey. The last turkey to find a tree to hide in is eliminated from the game along with the tree.
2. If LIGHTNING is called, all turkeys remain in their positions and the trees must change position and partners. The last two people to position themselves holding hands around a turkey are eliminated.
3. if EARTHQUAKE is called, everyone, both turkeys and trees, must change positions and find new partners. Turkeys can become trees and vice-versa as long as there are new groups of three. As with the other options, the last group to form is eliminated.

Continue the game until there is only one one group of three remaining and give them a prize.

Holiday Collection
Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Game Ideas

Thanksgiving Twister

November 21, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

Materials
Instead of a twister game sheet, cut Thanksgiving shapes from construction paper and use sticky-tack to adhere them to the floor. Make a twister spinner that includes right hand, left hand, right foot, left foot and another that contains the various Thanksgiving symbols.

Some optional symbols are:
Autumn Leaf, Corn, Cornucopia, Cranberries, Family, Mayflower ship, Pie, Pilgrim, Plymouth Rock, Pumpkin, Puritans, Turkey, Indian

Activity
Play a game of Twister, but instead of colored dots use pictures of Thanksgiving items taped to the floor. Change the spinner to reflect the pictures. If you don’t have a spinner you can easily make one.

Variation
Instead of playing on an individual basis, divide the group into teams. The team with the last remaining members in the game wins.

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Games and Activities in Celebration of common Holidays.

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Teaching Illustrations

George Washington’s 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

November 21, 2005 kensapp Leave a comment

“Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me “to recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:”

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted’ for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have show kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

(signed) G. Washington

More Thanksgiving Quotes

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