Sweet Easter

"Sweet Easter" is a short talk about Easter for children which may told at a school assembly, a church service or shared as a family devotion.
 Link :  Sweet Easter Talk

Also check out the Easter 'pass the parcel' game on the same page above
https://www.eliab.com/sweet-easter.html

The Lost Coin Poem

LOST COIN POEM- (Luke 15:8-10)  (c) Eliab.com

A Story to Share at Christmas

A young man was teaching in a mission school in East Africa.Before Christmas, he had been telling the local children how Christians gave each other presents as an expression of their joy at Christmas time.
   On Christmas morning, a boy around ten years old brought the teacher a seashell of great beauty. When asked where he had discovered such a magnificent shell the boy said that he had walked many kilometres to a certain bay, the only spot where such shells could be found.
  " I think it was wonderful of you to travel so far to get this lovely gift for me," the teacher exclaimed.
     His eyes brightening, the boy replied, "Long walk part of the gift."

Jesus made the long journey to earth to show us how much God loves us.
"God so love the world that he gave His only Son that whosoever believes in him will have eternal life." John 3:16

Sam the Snowflake Story

Sam, the snowflake

SPLAT !  SAM     the snowflake loved the wintertime. He enjoyed being rolled into a ball and thrown at someone in fun. He also loved seeing the children rolling and tumbling in the snow around him. One day as Sam was waking up, he heard some children coming towards him. They started picking up handful of cold snow and building a large snowman !! The children giggled as they put stones down the front of the snowman to make buttons and two big eyes. They also used sticks for arms and a bumpy nose. Finally they were finished and they stood back to look at what they had made. One small girl took off her hat and scarf and then she ran over and put them on the snowman. “He looks great !”, said the boy with the curly hair. Sam agreed that the snowman did look great, in fact, Sam longed to be part of that snowman but he knew that he couldn’t be a snowman without the help of lots of other snowflakes. He needed someone to come along and squeeze him into a big snow ball. He couldn’t be a snowman by himself. He was just too tiny by himself ! The children enjoyed playing until it started to get dark then the little girl went over to get her hat and coat from the the snowman’s head. As she turned to leave, she bent down quickly and scooped up a handful of snow, pressed it tightly and with a loud giggle she made a snow-hat for the snowman. What a big surprise for Sam as he now found himself right up on top of the snowman. He was so happy that he almost melted with joy ! Are there times when we feel so small that we aren’t noticed or feel important ? Who can we ask to help give us a hand at times like this ?

(C) Don Stott, 2000

Rich Man, Poor Man

Rich man, Poor man  - based on Mark 10:17-31
You could have a narrator (or chorus), Jesus, & a Rich man to read the various parts. 

As Jesus was starting out on his way

A man ran up and called out “hey

Good teacher tell me what must I do

To receive eternal life that’s true ?”

“No one is good ‘cept God alone..

Keep the commandments that you’ve known.

“Teacher, I’ve tried since I was small

To obey the Law. I’ve kept it all !”

Jesus looked him in the eye.

With love he said, “Now you must try,

Sell all you have; support the poor

Your rich reward’s in heaven stored.

Sell all you have. Come follow me.

But rich man turned reluctantly.

The kingdom of God is hard to attain

Wealthy people will grapple to gain.

Can’t push a camel through a needle’s eye,

Many first will be last when they die.

Who can be saved ? Can you see ?

“Sell all you have. Come follow Me !”

Don Stott, Feb 2003, http://eliab.com

Sam the Snowflake story

• Sam, the snowflake

  SPLAT ! SAM the snowflake loved the wintertime. He enjoyed being rolled into a ball and thrown at someone in fun. He also loved seeing the children rolling and tumbling in the snow around him. One day as Sam was waking up, he heard some children coming towards him. They started picking up handful of cold snow and building a large snowman !! The children giggled as they put stones down the front of the snowman to make buttons and two big eyes. They also used sticks for arms and a bumpy nose. Finally they were finished and they stood back to look at what they had made. One small girl took off her hat and scarf and then she ran over and put them on the snowman. “He looks great !”, said the boy with the curly hair. Sam agreed that the snowman did look great, in fact, Sam longed to be part of that snowman but he knew that he couldn’t be a snowman without the help of lots of other snowflakes. He needed someone to come along and squeeze him into a big snow ball. He couldn’t be a snowman by himself. He was just too tiny by himself ! The children enjoyed playing until it started to get dark then the little girl went over to get her hat and coat from the the snowman’s head. As she turned to leave, she bent down quickly and scooped up a handful of snow, pressed it tightly and with a loud giggle she made a snow-hat for the snowman. What a big surprise for Sam as he now found himself right up on top of the snowman. He was so happy that he almost melted with joy ! Are there times when we feel so small that we aren’t noticed or feel important ? Who can we ask to help give us a hand at times like this ?

  (C) Don Stott,  http://eliab.com    2000

Willing to die

A story to share at Easter

He died for another

Over two hundred years ago, the French Revolution brought fear and terror to France. Rich and powerful people – even the king and queen -were killed by the revolutionaries. Every day, hundreds of people were arrested, dragged from their homes and flung into horrible prisons. They were given hardly any chance to defend themselves, but were sent off to the guillotine to be killed.

Some of those who died probably deserved to be punished, for they had been cruelly thoughtless of the poor and hungry peasants and city workers. But in those terrible days, many good and honest people suffered, too.

Francois-Simon Liozerolles was a young man of twenty two when he and his father, General Loizerolles, were arrested.

First, young Liozerolles was tried. The case went against him and every morning he wondered if it would be his last.

One afternoon, tired and miserable, he flung himself on a couch to rest. His father sat beside him and talked calmly till he fell asleep. When he awoke he looked around for his father and excitedly asked some friends what had become of him. They told him.

While he slept, the tumbrils* had arrived and the warder entered with the list of those who were to die. The name of Francois-Simon Loizerolles was called. The General promptly stepped forward, saying, “I am Loizerolles”. He walked out and climbed in to the cart and was carried away to die.

It was then too late to correct the error. Within a week the reign of terror came to an end and young Loizerolles walked out free!

But he was a changed man and for him the world was a changed world. Everything seemed different after that awakening. He went to sleep, unwilling to die and longing to live. We awoke to love life less and understand it more, because by dying in his place, his father had shown him how to live. All his days he lives as a man for whom another gave his life.

(*Tumbrils were carts used to take prisoners to be executed.)

Are you lost?

A grandfather was out walking with his grandson one day. "How far do you think we are from home?" he asked the grandson.

The boy said, "Grandpa, I don't know."

The grandfather asked, "Well, where are you?"

Again the boy said, "I don't know."

Then the grandfather chuckled and said, "Sounds to me as if you are lost."

The young boy looked up at his grandfather and said, "I can't be lost, I'm with you."

Ultimately that is the answer to all that worries or threatens us too. We are never lost; we are always safe- safe in the truest sense of the word when we are with God.

Easter Fanfare

An Easter illustration -

A Sunday School teacher had just finished telling her second graders about how Jesus was crucified and placed in a tomb with a great stone sealing the opening. Then, wanting to share the excitement of the resurrection, she asked : "And what do you think were Jesus' first words when He came bursting out of that tomb alive?" A hand shot up into the air from the rear of the classroom from one of the little girls. Leaping out of her chair she shouted out excitedly, "I know, I know!" "Good" said the teacher, "Tell us, what were Jesus first words." And extending her arms into the air she said:: "TA-DA!!"

Jesus' resurrection is the "TA-DA!" of Christianity.

A Father's Laws Concerning Food and Drink

Check out this very humorous look at family life by Ian Frazier.

Household Principles, Lamentations of the Father

One with the Lot

A father was reading Bible stories to his young son. He read, "The man named Lot was warned to take his wife and flee out of the city, but his wife looked back and was turned to salt." His son asked, "What happened to the flea?"

Two Little Boys

Two Little Boys ~

After a hardy rainstorm filled all the potholes in the streets and alleys, a young mother watched her two little boys playing in the puddle through her kitchen window.

The older of the two, a five year old lad, grabbed his sibling by the back of his head and shoved his face into the water hole.

As the boy recovered and stood laughing and dripping, the mother runs to the yard in a panic.

Why on earth did you do that to your little brother?!' she asks as she shook the older boy in anger

'We were just playing 'church' mommy, ' he said.

'And I was just baptizing him..... In the name of the Father, the Son and in...the hole-he-goes.'

David and Goliath Play

I have recently posted a short script for children on 'David and Goliath" at my other website- http://eliab.com .

Please check it out if you think you could use it sometime.

David & Goliath script