Isaiah through the eyes of 8th graders...

"Why would you ever complain, O Jacob, or whine, Israel, saying, "God has lost track of me. H e does care what happens to me"? Don't you know anything? Haven't you been listening? God doesn't come and go. God lasts. He's Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn't get tired out, doesn't pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. He energizes those who get tired, gives fresh strength to dropouts. For even young people tire and drop out, young folk in their prime stumble and fall. But those who wait upon God get fresh strength. They spread their wings and soar like eagles. The run and don't get tried, they walk and don't lag behind." (The Message, Isaiah 40:27-31)

This is the scripture my group of girls were assigned tonite...the idea was that they would talk about the verses, try to understand them and then figure out how to teach it to the rest of the youth group next week. SO...my gals came up with a skit: they are "jocks" coming in from the 1st 1/2 of a very tough game (I believe they are on the losing team, 32-0!)...by the way they try to talk like dudes, so they lower their voices, do "body slams" and punch each other a lot (this would be their interpretation of football guys!)...one of the team members is an illiterate student who has dropped out, but miraculously is "healed" of their illiteracy and can suddenly read and understand things (I have NO idea where that came from!)

Anyway, they applied the words to trying to win a game that was very tough...they needed strength from someone who: doesn't get tired; doesn't have to catch his breath; knows all the strategy and ways to win; can energize others and will stick with the team...pretty insightful, eh?

God does that for us, He comes in when we most need Him and gives us strength, makes us fresh and ready to play that "2nd half"...He listens, prepares us and keeps us moving when we want to sit down and quit. He is the team captain that never, ever lets us down.

You know what? I think they did a pretty awesome job understanding the key points of this passage and God really did show me something fresh through their eyes...is it too much to hope that I can keep them from burping/scratching as part of their "role-playing" football dudes? :-)